Replies

1. 
   PlaneWood | Jan 29, 2004 10:06pm | #1

   Can't help you here, but........

   I once made several hundred boot jacks out of walnut.  Had several hundred bf of walnut that I didn't know what to do with.   I had recently bought a pair of cowboy boots and had ask the place for boot jacks. They said they didn't have any.  I went back there later and said I'd make some out of walnut at $7.00 a set.  The first dozen sold in the first weekend at $12.50 apiece.  I then contacted other area boot stores and started into production.

   By the time the market around there got saturated and I had ran out of walnut I had sold about four hundred boot jacks.  I had paid 30 cents / bf for the walnut and total production time for each jack was in the order of 15 minutes.  Oh yeah, the inside of the jacks were lined with tanned deer hides.  I bought several hides from a neighbor for a total of $50.00. 

   This was back in the late 1960's.

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
   PlaneWood

1. 
   Elcoholic | Jan 30, 2004 01:01am | #2

   Check this out http://www.terrco.com/ter_61.htm  A friend has a 2 head, long bed model that he makes woody parts on.  Lots cheaper than CNC.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

   Life is tough.  It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne

1. 
   forestgirl | Jan 30, 2004 03:19am | #4

   Wow, those are cool.  Any idea how much the 4-motor one costs?  (Like, tomorrow, I'm going to need it.  Not!)  Just curious.forestgirl Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)  you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)

1. 
   Elcoholic | Jan 30, 2004 08:46am | #5

   He picked up his 2 spindle unit barely used for $1500, probably a steel at that.  It's pretty cool.  He takes a piece off a woody, partches the rot with bondo and mounts it between centers and does the same with 2 blanks.  He traces the original part with the stylus and it roughs out 2, one for the car and a second part for a future car. John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

   Life is tough.  It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne

2. 
   forestgirl | Jan 30, 2004 03:12am | #3

   "This was back in the late 1960's."  Hey, Mike, that was pretty good wages in the late '60's.  Way to go.  Walnut's a pretty classy wood for a boot jack.

   I can tell you from experience, there's nothing quite like being stuck in a tight-fitting pair of boots without a boot jack!forestgirl Another proud member of the  "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)  you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)

2. 
   Scrit | Jan 30, 2004 01:54pm | #6

   The carver suggested is way cheaper than CNC and probably better at the job, too. To do a high quality shoe tree on a CNC would require at least a 3D (3-dimension), possibly a 5D machine - even second-user these cost seriously big bucks - then you'd need a piece of modelling software such as Rhino and a few months to learn it..... 

   Scrit