steviegwood

I appreciate your offer of help but I have no idea what anyone could do to help at this point. I come to realize that we are grossly under insured as I really had no idea of the replacement cost of all of the wood and equipment. Adding a little here and a little there over twenty five years I never really thought about all of the value. Now after calculting everything out I am very depressed looking at the numbers. If I had all of the value in cash in hand the wife and I could retire to a remote island somewhere. Being disabled I will never be able to replace it all. I do hope that the insurance company does not give me any trouble and if they don't I do plan to rebuild what I can. If you would like some advice on safety with your set up pm or email me at [email protected]

The worst part of all of this is after calculating just part of the wood supply that I have been hoarding and gathering over the past 25 years is that I am drastically under insured. I am about half done with the equipment list and barely have enough insurance to cover that. What happened is that I adde a machine here and a machine there and not once thought about adding more insurance. I had thousands of board ft of wood lining the walls of a 40' shop 9' high and the replacement costs are astonishing. If I had that much cash at one time I would have to carry it in an armored truck, I may have forgot to say that the fire did not get my scroll saws as they are in a room in my home. Luckily I do that part in the house but it got all of my wood and my ways of dimensioning wood. It did get a file cabinet full of patterns though.

Yes I had a wood stove in the shop as it made sense to me with all of the wood scrap that was created. I also had a total metal building including the studs. Steel flu 35' in the air. I thought that I was safe from fire.

The only cause that I can think of it had to be the stove or flu.

Well the title says it all. My shop caught fire on Thursday afternoon and is a total loss. I am sure the insurance will not replace all of the machinery,tools and wood supply. Thought I would let you all know. Steve

http://www.woodworkingshop.com/ Klingspors has the best sandpaper deals that I have found. I use their sanding belts all the time and the boxes of sandpaper can't be beat. Great quality and service. I highly recommend them. Steve

Hi, my name is Steve and I am a wood hoarder, not just a member but should be the president.HA HA If a cut off is to small to use for a project it can still be used to test a stain or varnish or shim or etc...etc...

I am still cutting some little forest leaves by Sheila Landry for my shows this year. I got some more of her patterns for Christmas and I am adding stock to my inventory. Steve

I am going to make some smaller things in the manner of the log furniture. Using some cedar and hickory limbs in making end stands, coffee tables and such. Steve

Hi Karen, if you can use the spirals God Bless You Girl. Them things have a mind of their own. I use most all hardwoods and spirals want to travel in the soft grain instead of following the lines. I mostly cut 5/8" hardwoods such as redoak,hickory and maple with a lot of 3/4" also. I use the FD-UR #7 for intricate work and I also use Olson PGT blades for the less intricate work. Steve

Yes, they are going to be expensive. I may have to put a couple of projects to the back burner until I can come up with the funds. Thanks. Steve

Hi Folks, I am looking for a set of mini tenon cutters under 1"dia. Veritas is the only one that I have found so far and they are singles. I was wondering if there might be a set somewhere? Singles might be what I have to end up getting but really want to know what all is available. Thanks for any help. Steve

I have made items and tipped them off with a tip board. Work was always a good place for that if it is allowed. Also by talking with establishments that have tip jars can get you some orders. Some establishments will tip off your wares and split the profits. Just a few other ways to sell your wares. Steve

I have also found that if you have an item that you are constantly selling out of it is usually because your price is to cheap. Don't adjust your prices in front of your customers though. Raise or lower the prices between shows. I have people wanting discounts towards the end of a show all of the time, they think that they can get something real cheap but do not understand that I may have other shows to go to and it would not be fair to anyone who may have bought at full price earlier in the show. That will get you a bad rep if they find out that you discounted also. Just some things learned on the craft circuit. Steve

Another way to get rustic lumber is to check with local lumber mills. Most will have culls or off cuts that they will sell cheap or free. Several lumber mills will have stacks of older warped lumber that did not sell for one reason or other that they will give away or let go cheap. You can still get some great lumber out of these and if you watch what your doing while planing you can leave some rustic marks still in the wood. Steve