Custom Crafted letter opener carrying case

Very nice, Mark.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Wow, that is really good looking. Even with email, I use a letter opener every day.

-- Fred Childs, Pasadena, CA - - - Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Thanks! Fred, I’m glad to hear it, there may be hope after all. LOL.

-- Jesus is Lord!

Mark the letter openers are very nice. Don’t give up hope, I get a ton of “snail mail” everyday at my house. My creditors have not heard about email yet :-)). The case is also a good touch. Keep up the good work.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

the case (and openers) is/are wonderful!!

I can see the dilemma of diminishing need. I wonder if there is a second use for the letter openers—hitting a new market?? hmmm

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Vry nice Os,
Letter openers are in the same boat as ink blotters, unless you blot your emails. LOL

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

MsDebbieP, I find that the letter openers work well opening cereal boxes and other glued boxes, as well as slicing that junk mail open everyday.

-- Jesus is Lord!

Nice work on both the case and the letter openers.

-- Sawhorse - Sulphur Springs, TX - www.sawhorseworkshop.com

very ingenius, and a good use of your time. I made one letter opener a few years ago for a Christmas gift exchange at work, the guy was thrilled with it, but I don’t think he had the internet then, and he was about 75 years old. One good outcome of all the emails, is that the amount of bulk junk mail I get has dropped significantly.

Don’t get discouraged about them not selling as quickly as you had hoped. They don’t go bad, so you can hold on to them until you find the right marketing technique. I would suggest that your lumberjocks project posting will be a good source of advertising. So if you included a way for people to get ahold of you in your project posting, then you might be surprised what happens.

Focusing my internet presence on lumberjocks has helped me publicize my website. There are many more folks that find lumberjocks projects than just those of us that are members. People doing google searches find projects based on what they are searching for, and then email me. Selling something to them is still a chore, but at least the communication process and marketing seems to be aided by my lumberjocks presence.

My work is going to be published as a part of two different new books, and that contact information occurred from the authors doing google searches and finding me on lumberjocks. On the other hand, an old girlfriend found me a few months back that I thought I had left behind 15 years ago. Fortunately, my wife intercepted her email and that was the end of that. So, depending on the skeletons in your closet, lumberjocks is a good thing! ha.

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

Hey Mark, are you old enough to remember the Fuller Brush man? It looks like you’re ready to go door-to-door with those! :-)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Nice project Mark.

-- Phil Brown, Ontario

Great jobs Mark. Bills still show up so letter openers are still needed.

Great Job

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Those look great. You have to realize that a slick presentation dose help in selling product. That looks like a great way to present your work. You just need to get more together and do a booth at an art and craft show.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

ah!! A letter opener, I don’t need – -but a cereal box opener!! WOW. I want one of those sitting right on my cupboard. You have a gold-mine sitting there.

Just change the name of these things and I bet you would sell them by the dozen at an event prior to Xmas (actually at any kitchen gadget store… or … .. ) I’m excited about this.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Thanks for the encouragement and comments. I gave some away to the techs at the hospital where I had my two heart operations, as a token of my appreciation of their dedication and caring, and they were well recieved.

Mark, I don’t have a website as you do, but you have definitely given me something to think about. Thanks!

-- Jesus is Lord!

Just saw this one come up, missed it the first time around. I just read in the paper yesterday that only abot 10% of school children in this state have computers (which I find hard to believe, but anyway) so perhaps there is more of a market than you think. – as far as e-mail vs snail mail goes… cereal boxes – brilliant use! Same with all those packages that you order from amazon, ebay, etc… the computer hasn’t lessened our mail, just changed its nature a bit.

great lathe project.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I agree with Scott, maybe you just need to repurpose these things. Instead of letter openers, call them box openers. All those Amazon boxes need to be opened somehow. And, like Debbie said, cereal boxes. And you can even use it to open those plastic bags inside without tearing it all the way down the side and dumping the cereal all over the counter….

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Thanks Scott and Bill. It is an enjoyable lathe project and you can use a drawknife or bandsaw to form the shape of the blade. I prefer the drawknife. Not cutting through the fibers of the wood is essential to maintaining the strength throughout the blade.

-- Jesus is Lord!

I really love the Pulse feature on this site. I’m getting to see projects that I wouldn’t have had time to get to. This is a great idea and wonderful work!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)