Hi,
My name is Doug.
I live in Springville, UT. About 50 miles South of Salt Lake City. I turned 62 last October.
I’m looking for some advise on getting back into working and putting together a small shop again.
I’ve been a custom Cabinet and Furniture maker for most of my life.
About 12 years ago I injured my back. It put me into traction and I ended up losing my shop and all the equipment. All because I couldn’t work. Sense then I’ve developed type II diabetes, and lost part of the vision in my Left eye.
About 8 years ago I was approved for SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) but that’s
only $895.00 a month.
I’ve been working with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation in Spanish Fork, UT.
When we started, my case worker told me to put together a list of what I needed to open a small wood shop, and she would see what she could do to help me get funding. Unfortunately, VocRehabs budget isn’t even close to what I need.
What I need is to find a way to to get the machinery I need to get back to doing what I love. And a way to make enough money to live.
I’m looking for help putting ideas together to find a way to open another wood shop. But, It needs to be a shop I can work in and make money with a back injury. I’m not physically able to do the work it would take to keep the shop open.
So, I was thinking of getting a 4′ x 4′ CNC router table that I can use to farm out work to local sign shops, and other places. It would probably need to be a commercial machine to keep up with the demand. This could be the work horse of the shop and make a large chunk of the income needed to stay open. That way I could do smaller projects and maybe make up the difference. I was also thinking about adding a Laser Engraver to the shop. Maybe I can make some money with that machine also.
I’d also like to start a YouTube channel and see if that can help. Maybe I can find a tool company to help by sponsoring me and give me a few pieces of equipment. I don’t know. I guess I’m just grasping at straws for any help I can find.
If you’re still reading, I’m asking for anything you can think of that might help. Funding options, sponsorship, donations? Maybe just someone who has a bunch of machinery their willing to part with! Anything except a load of false hope dealing with grant money.
I’m sending emails to several people on YouTube as well.
So far I’ve emailed John Heisz, Izzy Swan, April Wilkerson, Jonathon Katz Moses, Matt at Next Level woodworking, but I’m also reaching out to others.
If you can think of anyone else I can reach out to, please let me know.
If you would like to talk, my number is 385-219-0049. Utah is Mountain time.
Thank you for reading this.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Doug
Replies
I'm not an expert, but my advice would start by saying focus. Decide if you want to be a woodworker or a You Tuber. Both require a lot of specific knowledge and significant investment in equipment. To set yourself apart on You Tube you have to produce high quality, scripted and edited videos.
Assuming you choose woodworking, acquiring equipment on the cheap is tricky, doable, but tricky. Watch the paper for estate sales, contact schools & community colleges to find out when they plan to upgrade, same for your local Woodcraft or Rockler store. Also keep an eye on e-Bay for deals.
As for the whole raft of other issues you mention, think about getting shop help. Woodworking is very therapeutic for me. Consider contacting retired persons organizations, Veterans associations or, again, community colleges or votech schools. You might find someone willing to trade their physical labor for shop time. Good luck.
Good advice, Beasley.
I'm not as well versed in YouTube as most people, but as far as woodworking, I've done custom work all most my entire life. I started as a finish carpenter when I was just 14 working alongside my dad. By the time I was 20 we were doing high end custom work in So. California. It's been my passion for as long as I could swing a hammer.
As with all such ventures, you need to do your market research first. Will there be enough work from signmakers for instance? What other need is there in your community? Could you perhaps sell custom router templates or make jogs for local woodworkers?
Tubing is tough.
It is very difficult to make money on Youtube.
Especially in a niche like woodworking.
Look at some of the top woodwork channels:
Stumpy Nubs: https://www.youtube.com/user/StumpyNubsWorkshop
Frank Howarth: https://www.youtube.com/user/urbanTrash
Fisher's Shop: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKo6LouIp-TQ1PqxbWNNyAA
These guys are good, and produce really high quality work. They get about 50-100K views per video on average, which equates to $150-$300 US per video (over some considerable time) and they have been around a while and developed followings. I'm not saying don't do it, but do learn from them and understand the level of editing and commitment that is required.
For an injured woodworker though, tubing is good as a lot of the work is done in the edit studio, which is where the money is made, and you can do it in any comfortable position. Within reason....
I don't think many people will be interested in watching the CNC work - it's dull to watch. Frank Howarth, whom I linked above makes it work for him, but TBH I tend not to watch his heavy CNC use vids as they are dull. Vids on how to use the CNC might go down well though. Of course, if you make something truly fantastic... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q this one has had 135 MILLION views and maybe made the creator about half a million dollars... so it may not be about doing the work as about what you make with it, even though the machine is very unreliable and cannot be used for live performances!
Remember what CNC is best at: Complex custom work (like the signs you mentioned), Repetitive work, and work where a precise match of parts is essential. They can be used for more traditional work, and a CNC could replace a planer, jointer, router, router table and table saw, it is very slow at doing the things those tools do, which is why we still buy those others in the first place.
Nonetheless, it would be a very good place to start making things that are saleable, and coupled with a 14" bandsaw and a spiral cutter planer you could have a pretty good compact workshop that could handle most jobs.
If your budget could run to a decent laser cutter, you could make custom boxes too. People love wine in a box as a gift but you need to get the price way down. You are competing with a chap in the Phillipines who also has a nice laser cutter...
Good luck though. Really.
Any kind of ww'ing is a tough business venture. You have to think of who you're competing with.
That said, I know a couple guys who are running successful cabinet shops out of their house, but they both admitted it really more happened than planned. And now they want to get out so they farm out bigger projects.
Its a tough one if you can into the equipment cheaply and start by making yourself available to local sign shops for side work - small, or unique jobs that might be a money loser for them.
Thank you, Rob & rwe.
I know the YouTube thing is going to require a learning curve, but I also know there's a potential to make a few bucks sitting in my office chair. I had an opportunity to work in a friends sign shop for about 2 years, part time. That's where I learned CNC routing. Although, that was before Aspire. I think the program he used was called Omega? It was the main program for the entire shop. All the plotters and the CNC.
I have quite a few ideas for Custom pieces I can make. Like the wine boxes you mentioned. Custom and one of a kind is what I do best. Pieces I can take my time with and not over work by back. lol Running a full cabinet shop again would just kill me.
My number 1 need right now is to figure out how to get funding for the machinery. As well as a place to set it up. Springville, as well as most cities along the Wasatch front, won't allow home business'. Unless the business is 'Inside' the home. I guess I could park the CNC and a Table saw in the living room. lol Tooele is the exception. I may need to move there and find a house with a large garage.
I know there's an answer to all this, but I can't help getting a bit frustrated. Especially, with everything that's going on in the world right now.
Stay safe, guys. And go wash your hands!!
Tons of good advice given, but not many if any of us has a back injury like you. The one person I can point to who is highly successful at every level you mentioned and had been bound to a wheel chair for a period of time with a back injury that required surgery is Izzy Swann. He, being in that position before, will have that unique but similar perspective that you seek
First I would check and see what is already available in your area for cnc services. You might find yourself competing with a multimillion dollar shop with your little cnc machine you ordered from woodcraft. Also, you mentioned a learning curve. You realize that your going up against a generation that for them there is no curve. I have a 9 year old grandson who has 6 years of experience with machines like that. He'll cnc your sign and have it being held up by some marvel caricature that he built with his 3d printer. If there's a Maker Space around you someplace I'd join that. All the equipment in one place and there will be people around you that know how.
I had an injury,took me out for a long while and longer than I could afford. You would think that there's some help out there but it turns out there isn't!
I found myself one handed,and the wrong hand to boot,bandsawing kitchen utensils ...it was sad. I'm not suggesting this for you but recently I needed to have some chairs recaned. They charge $2.50 to $3.00 per hole. 70 (+ -) holes on a chair 4 chairs we're pushing a grand! More than the chairs are worth. So I did it myself. $50 materials, the only tool you need is an ice pick. It's not hard it is just tedious and 1/2 way through the first chair I was thinking that actually $3.00 a hole is pretty cheap! I also thought at the time that caning chairs might not be that bad of a gig for someone with a disability. There are things like that, skills that not everyone can do , and are not that physical and someone somewhere needs it done. I know someone that regilds picture frames. I know a guy that does pearl engraving. Both of these guys are in high demand and make really good livings. There was a guy who went around to construction sites and would replace wires and plug ends on power tools. Every construction site in the world has 50 power tools with worn frayed cords and bad plug ends and everyone is meaning to getting around to fixing them. Some guy shows up and says I'll fix that for $25 + parts right here at the job and right now and he was busy for the day! Back in the day trying to work this stuff out and doing crafts fairs and all that hustle I discovered that while I was hoping to sell the big stuff or pick up nice commissions I was selling a lot of the little stuff butter trays and turned vessels. Little items that someone picked up for a gift for Aunt Mary..cause it was cheap and different. it was the 70s so if got a 10 or a 20 for something it mattered.. and 10 10s are as good as 100 then a catalog gift shop wanted to handle some of my stuff and in the late summer /fall I would shut everything down and just make hundreds of butter dishes and breadboards for the Christmas Season.. it kept the lights on for the whole year! Bandsaw and sanding, bandsaw and sanding. 2 tools, thats all for weeks! You just need to find that spot...so your 62, can you collect social security and disability or does one cancel out the other? Even with both that's not much of a living.
The OP is about 18 months old. But, if Tryweekly is still out there I'm sure everyone would like to hear how he's doing.
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