My first sale was this jewelry box:

It was sold for $25. I thought this was a reasonable price. I do woodworking for a hobby mostly, but I do try to sell things to recover cost of materials. I don’t really worry about paying myself too much, because the enjoyment I get from building is payment enough for me. This box didn’t really cost that much to make, the wood was free, hinges were about $1.50, magnets about $.25, felt about $.25. So 2$ in materials turned into a $23 profit. It took me about 2 hours of actual “work” to make it, so on this piece I did pretty good. If I did this “production run” style I could probably do quite well, but I like to make one-of-a-kind items. Also I learned this was going to California for a gift, I thought that was really cool to know my work was going for a long ride.

My other sale was this little box:

It sold for $15. I couldn’t believe it sold. It was probably in my opinion the worst project on my table. It was one of the first band saw boxes I made, and was mostly a sawing technique practice piece. I wasn’t even going to bring it along, but my wife insisted. I did line it with some felt before we went though. This wood was free scrap, and the only real material cost was the felt, maybe 25 cents worth.

So all in all trip number 1 to the farmers market was a mini-success, selling 2 items with low customer turn out. I did learn a lot though. Like trays in jewelry boxes are desirable. I hadn’t really put much thought into designing the inside of my items, mostly the outside. I will change gears here. Also I learned that people can’t resist curved wood, or textured surfaces. That crackled bandsaw box I built got a lot of touchy feely action today.

I plan on going back again next weekend, I still have about 15 boxes to unload! If there is enough interest I’ll follow up with more results.

I really like working with this old wood. It has a lot of character to it, which makes picking out where to place the unique features of the wood pretty fun. It finishes real nice with no stain at all, too.

As I am working on sawing and sanding this wood, I find myself wondering who before me has worked this same piece, who cut the tree down, who drove the nails in it. Kind of feels like you are linked to the past through the wood.

Well I still have plenty of it left, so hopefully I will end up with many beautiful projects to come!

The box is made from this wood and stained with watco danish oil and 1 coat of poly.

I would like to make something rustic out of it, as it has lots of wear. There are bug tracks, nail holes, stains, and imperfections in all the boards. They are pretty warped too. Its a hardwood of some sort, not sure of the species, has some spalting in it, and varies in color quite a bit. It really finishes pretty nice, takes stain well, and looks real pretty after a good polishing.

My ideas keep steering me towards a couple of end tables or trunks. Perhaps an old style toolbox. Not sure what to do with it!

Currently in the process of researching old styles and looking for design elements that catch my eye. I would like the design to be completely original, using details and techniques common to the period of the barn’s construction. I am sure this will test my patience because I am not one for hand tools! But I really need to develop my skill in this area because I think my reliance on power tools hurts my projects sometimes, especially in mortise & tenon and dovetail joinery. Dovetails have been kicking my put and usually end up in the fire pit. If I could afford a fancy jig that would probably be the way to go, but that’s out of the question at the moment. Plus I think there is more satisfaction in hand-cut projects when they come out looking nice.

Well hopefully I will come across something that catches my eye. Any suggestions would be appreciated.