What will 2013 Bring?

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Burl Source

Weird Wood Pusher
Joined
Jun 13, 2011
Messages
4,340
Reaction score
7
I am going to implement some changes for 2013. Hopefully they will all be for the better.
If anyone has any suggestions I am willing to listen even though I am kind of Hard Headed.
You guys/gals made 2012 a real good year. More than doubled 2011's numbers. So Thank You!

Some of the wood for the new year arrived today from K&G. Plus there is more enroute and a lot more currently getting stabilized.
I am going to try to do larger batches so there will always be a large selection.

This is what arrived today. Next week I will start cleaning it up to be ready for the Grand Re-Opening of the Web Store on the 1st.

001.jpg


If you have any constructive comments or ideas how to make things better, please post them here.
On the first I will do a drawing and give away a prize to one of you who post your ideas.
Not sure what the prize will be. Maybe my magic rock?
It protects you from getting abducted by aliens. It has worked great for me so far.
 
You used to have a link that would bring you to the new stuff. Not that I mind looking through 6 or 7 pages of really nice wood (not in that way!) but it was just convenient is all.
 
Hey Mark, you always do a great job of informing us of what you have going on at the store. But maybe have a notify me application for some of your out of stock stuff. May help you see what some of us, or others, are waiting for, and you could go on scavenger hunts for it. Would also help some of us that aren't online, and sometimes miss the fantastic pieces you post.
 
work with Gater to do a app. that would be cool. Not like you don't have all the time in the world. ;)
 
I'd like to see some more unusual wood types from the left coast. Plus 1 to the idea of small pieces for ferrules.
 
Have to thank you myself for the beautiful selections you propose. I'm in love with the koa I bought from you and waiting for a local artisan to implement it on my hattori gyuto. Haven't heard from the guy yet, bugger, there's Hobbit frenzy right now in NZ and he's full with work making knives... I'll post pics when I get it!
 
A "new arrivals" page would be cool. This is a long shot but maybe work with a company like benchcrafted and do some very cool burl magnetic bars?
 
001-1.jpg

This is some dyed maple burl that arrived today. K&G just called to let me know some more Karelian Birch shipped out today.
My friends in Russia just mailed several dozen more blocks of the Birch and are looking into getting me some high grade Circassian Walnut.

I will most likely return to posting new arrivals and a high end/collectors grade categories.

As for magnet strips I am looking for a way to make them without using a gazillion individual rare earth magnets.
People seem to like the idea of a natural edge on burl pieces for the strips.

I am looking for a source of magnets that would be a long section strong enough to hold a knife through a thin layer of wood.

I have gone back and forth with myself about ferrule pieces.
What I am struggling with is shipping cost.
If someone purchased just one ferrule piece for $10 or $15 with Free Shipping I would spend $16.95 to ship it internationally.

I like the idea of continuing Free Shipping Worldwide.
I don't want to implement minimum orders or surcharges.
That sort of thing annoys me when I am purchasing online.
Overall I am trying to eliminate any annoyances and make things as customer friendly as possible.
 
Something else I am curious about.
Single piece cutting board blanks.

I have some 10-12 inch wide planks of figured mahogany and bubinga.
This is old stock stuff from the 80's.
At one time I was going to sell it as guitar wood, but I was thinking about use as light duty cutting boards.
My thought was to cut to size, router the edges and drum sand them flat to about 60 grit.
It would not be a finished piece, more like a partially prepped piece.
This way it could be a do-it yourself project that would only require the person finishing it to have a palm sander for tools.
 
Yes more smaller pieces for ferrules :)

I would buy a board if i can finish it with sand paper as i got no tools.
 
Mark, how about you pre-match up the handle & saya material and sell them as a set?? It just one of my ideal, I find there are many wood vendors on the net;but, no body doing that!! hope it will help:)
 
I might try that. Kind of depends on how I get the wood. Some of the wood I buy is milled to about 2 inches thick. Since I like to rough cut blocks about 1&1/4" thick before sending to K&G, it would leave enough to get a saya set.
I know I would be able to do it with some of this mango.
002.jpg
 
Whatever burl you currently have the most, the new current batch, whatever but have a sale on one type of wood each month. A burl of the month. :D
 
Whatever burl you currently have the most, the new current batch, whatever but have a sale on one type of wood each month. A burl of the month. :D
I like your idea of a featured wood to put on sale.
I might have to do a wood of the week though because a lot of the times new stuff sells out pretty quick.

I am trying to time the batches of wood I send to K&G so I will have a lot of new wood coming back from getting stabilized each week.
 
I can see the issue with only sending a ferrule piece. But would it be possible to have as an add-on?
Like if you buy for $30 or $50 or whatever you get to buy ferrule (maybe trade your rebate?)?
 
I have been reviewing reports on 2012 and found out something that I suspected was true.
90%+ of all sales were to repeat customers.
The way the store software was set up for 2012, repeat customers could get a discount by entering a promotional code during check out.

Since over 90% of the purchases being made in the web store are from repeat customers I decided to do away with the discount codes and just lower the prices on everything in the store. Hopefully this will make things more convenient.

There were also several customers who were placing larger wholesale orders.
So I have programmed the store software to apply a discount based on the total for the order.
Example;
Orders totaling over $200 will automatically get a 7% discount off of the total amount for the order.
Orders totaling over $500 will automatically get an additional 8% discount off of the total amount for the order.

My goal with these changes is to provide good prices without having to remember to use special codes or anything. By automating things it makes it so all you have to do is pick out the pieces you like knowing you will be getting the best price I can give you.
 
I liked when you ran the high grade section separate from the regular pieces for a while this summer. I would bring that back.

Matching gun handle blanks would be good too - those could also be used for western handles.
 
There are a few of the forum members who will call me when I get a new batch of wood back from being stabilized and say "pick me out the piece you think is best from the new **** burl".
Bearing that in mind I could pick out one or two pieces from each new batch that I think are the best and place them in a separate category. Kind of like what I did with the High Grade category during the summer.

As for the ferrule materials I think I will just list the pieces individually with free shipping and take my chances.
I think people will be more likely to pick out a ferrule piece to go with a block they are getting, than to just purchase a single ferrule piece.
I might get bit in the butt once in a while but I am sure everything will balance out over time.

Not too sure about Machine Gun handle blanks though.
:shocked3:

If anyone goes to the store it is still empty with the exception of one piece.
a20792013be8f6f45d3a81_s.jpg

#1001 Old Growth Redwood - Stabilized Block
5&3/4" x 1&1/4" x 1&1/4"
Free Shipping Worldwide
Price: $9,999.00
I am using this as a reference while I am getting the new store inventory ready for the 2013 Grand Re-Opening.
I figured that by placing that price on it would prevent someone buying it while I am using it as a reference for some of the text that is used on each listing.

But....if someone wants to go ahead and buy it, that's ok too.
I would even send a fancy thank you card to the buyer.
 
My goal with these changes is to provide good prices without having to remember to use special codes or anything. By automating things it makes it so all you have to do is pick out the pieces you like knowing you will be getting the best price I can give you.

I like this.
 
lol some ferrul wood too?
In the new batches of stabilized wood I am cleaning up there are some shorts of Sycamore, Buckeye Burl and Black dyed Maple Burl.
Nice, but short, good stuff for ferrules.
 
There are a few of the forum members who will call me when I get a new batch of wood back from being stabilized and say "pick me out the piece you think is best from the new **** burl".
Bearing that in mind I could pick out one or two pieces from each new batch that I think are the best and place them in a separate category. Kind of like what I did with the High Grade category during the summer.

As for the ferrule materials I think I will just list the pieces individually with free shipping and take my chances.
I think people will be more likely to pick out a ferrule piece to go with a block they are getting, than to just purchase a single ferrule piece.
I might get bit in the butt once in a while but I am sure everything will balance out over time.

Not too sure about Machine Gun handle blanks though.
:shocked3:

If anyone goes to the store it is still empty with the exception of one piece.
a20792013be8f6f45d3a81_s.jpg

#1001 Old Growth Redwood - Stabilized Block
5&3/4" x 1&1/4" x 1&1/4"
Free Shipping Worldwide
Price: $9,999.00
I am using this as a reference while I am getting the new store inventory ready for the 2013 Grand Re-Opening.
I figured that by placing that price on it would prevent someone buying it while I am using it as a reference for some of the text that is used on each listing.

But....if someone wants to go ahead and buy it, that's ok too.
I would even send a fancy thank you card to the buyer.

When I wrote that I was meaning with this. I'm sure for 10k you would find some ferrules to throw in.
 
2013 will bring more of these :) And yes...All Marks wood.
P1040170.jpg


Thanks for always making the best woods available to all of of junkies, Happy New Year!!!
 
WOW! Mike I really like that Buckeye/Koa combination. I woulda never thought of that. Beautiful wood and handles!


2013 will bring more of these :) And yes...All Marks wood.
P1040170.jpg


Thanks for always making the best woods available to all of of junkies, Happy New Year!!!
 
More kick ass ironwood! :)

Remember my first ironwood burl = black magic . :)
 
Love the handles Mike. I am saddened by the lack of westerns, but they look great regardless.
 
Thanks guys!!! Mike, koa and Buckeye has been one of my favorites!!!

Love the handles Mike. I am saddened by the lack of westerns, but they look great regardless.
Kalaeb, I have a few of my first westerns in the works. I will be sure to get pics of them up :)
 
Oh, left to right: High grade koa/ivory, mango/blackwood, Redwood/buffalo horn, Buckeye/koa, Ebony/ivory spacer/Spalted curly maple, Spalted maple/blackwood, ironwood/buckeye/ironwood, blackwood/walnut/curly maple/blackwood, spalted maple/ivory/nlackwood and mango/ blackwood
 
Back
Top