Sweet! Welcome to the chaos! 😅 Ah don’t worry, I don’t let the haters get to me too much. I’ve always found it strange that someone would take the time to leave a hate comment instead of just scrolling by and continuing with their life? 🤷 oh well, creates good engagement 😂
Curious: if you "mass produce" a whole bunch of these, CNC the tops on let's say 15 bricks (or more) at the same time, then the bottoms. Wouldn't this bring the time cost down significantly? Also some consumables would be less, gloves for example, and wood gets slightly cheaper if you buy bigger pieces. If you work very efficiently and create some inventory, you may be able to get the cost down a bit. Lower cost may turn into more sales eventually making you more money in the end?
If you build anything one at a time the cost is astronomical. If you filled the entire bed with blocks, unit price goes way down. That's just simple manufacturing economy of scale. The way he showed doesn't make a lot of sense at all if you wanted to be as profitable as possible.
So it's a valid thought. We can math quickly. Right now with my process 1 brick takes appx 25min in the cnc we'll say, for both sides. Then the next brick goes in the cnc. While brick 2 is being carved I can cutout, router, sand, laser the first brick. Then when brick 2 is done in cnc, load brick 3 and continue this process. Ideal situations would mean first brick takes 50 min all the rest take 25 min, right? So 15 bricks ideally takes 6H45min appx. Carving all 15 at a time first means 15 bricks at 25min so 6h20min appx of the CNC running. Then I have to trim, router and sand each which is appx 15-20min per. So instead of having 15 ready for finish in 6h45min-8hours if we're being realistic, it's another 5 hours of post processing the bricks meaning 11h-12 hours of time. Wood is slightly cheaper if bigger boards are bought, but you have to remember that's a bigger initial investment, more inventory to hold, more time spent to make so it's a much bigger investment to hold and wait for the sales. Anyone that makes products and holds inventory doesn't make money until AFTER that product sells. So basing your inventory in relation to need is important. And sure, might save a few pennies in consumables, but $0.25 in gloves isn't going to be paying my electricity and power bills. I know where you're coming from and appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.
@@HewmanMade Let me preface by saying I don't think there is anything wrong with your price for a bespoke unique product, justification is not required. That said I think your back of the napkin math on the efficiency gain of running large batches on the CNC is wildly off. Just low hanging fruit, you're taking your 20-minute cycle time, adding 5 minutes padding for setup I presume, and multiplying that by the number of parts. That doesn't make sense. So your 6hr20min is at minimum an hour over shot. But there is more, even multiplying straight cycle time isn't usually accurate because there should be a lot of moves that can be shared between parts. Like the deep pocketing around the part. You are currently doing one full perimeter per part. In reality, you should only need to do one half perimeter per part or less. Not only does that save time, it saves tool life, electricity, AND material costs. And then when you are doing a full deck of parts, you can justify a tool change and use a much larger tool for bulk material removal. And eliminate that planer step too! The only way this even sort of makes sense is if you literally have nothing else to do while the CNC is running except wait?
@@bradley3549 Well, that's your opinion and it's valid. And you're right, I don't need to justify myself myself or my prices. There are many ways to skin a cat when working in a shop and with a CNC. I choose to work my way and you might choose to work this way. It's the differences in approach that make make us individual artists, makers and creators.
It’s true, and maybe I will in the future. But I also like to price my work based on what I would pay if buying it from someone else. I can personally justify $40 for a brick, especially knowing what goes into making one. Could I justify $60? $80? Probably not, even if that’s closer to what it’s worth for the time, tools and material involved to make it
You're amazing! I wish more people would just ask about the process, show an interest in learning the steps and properly understanding why prices are what they are first. I always like to educate myself before making a judgement on an artists work/price. But, I'm also an artist so I know better 🤣
I do, it's just not a standard option as the shipping prices can change quite a bit. If you want to send me an email we can chat get an order processed. hewmanmade@gmail.com
The bricks are reasonably priced. But that store's price for the walnut stock was highway robbery! Also, quick question: When you are batching these out, do you leave them all together in the stock and machine both sides before cutting them out?
Considering it was S2S 8/4 walnut, the price was actually very reasonable for where I live. 4/4 rough stock goes anywhere from $13-$18/bdft, 8/4 is $20-$25 depending on grade. To answer your question, no. There's a few different ways I'll batch out depending on the day. I'll either do top of one brick then bottom of one brick and repeat so I can process each brick as the next is being fully carved out, like I mentioned in the video. Or I'll carve all the tops in one block, cut them out and carve all the bottoms one after another.
As a bag maker, I charge based on time alone to complete the project. That’s $60 US per hour. This includes cost of all the materials, time used to fabric design and acquisition of materials, and my expertise. It does not include my machine. That’s based on vinyl or woven fabric. Leather would be more. I think you are under charging.
Thank you! It's always great to hear what other makers and creators charge for their time! $60/hr sounds like a very reasonable rate for everything you mentioned! Truthfully, I know I'm undercharging for these bricks, which is kind of what makes the trolls thinking I'm overcharging so funny. But I do want people to buy them and enjoy them so it's kind of that middle ground situation, you know?
I am trying to understand your process because I understand this for a first batch but now you already know these things are going to sell so why not: Get more wood at once (and if that shop doesn't carry what you need, maybe go to a different shop/supplierall together) Have the CNC cut all 8 blocks at the same time instead of cutting one at a time and re-fixturing each? Because that is a lot of seemingly unneccesary interaction with the product which obviously reduces what you make per hour
You’re right with some of these points. For the wood selection in this video I wanted to show the process for 1 and the time for a small batch, because I don’t need to make 30-40 of these at a time. The wood shop didn’t have bigger pieces of darker walnut that I wanted and going to another woodshop would have taken more time and wouldn’t guarantee the piece I wanted. The larger pieces that I did like would have cost appx $300, which I wasn’t prepared to front that day. It would yield more bricks, but the overhead of holding $300 in material inventory, even if it reduced the cost/brick by $2-3 is hard to justify as the bricks could sit for 8-10months before they all sell. Plus the added time to process all of them leaves me with a lot of time and money invested in inventory sitting on a shelf. For the processing, there’s always going to be different ways to skin a cat. If I batch out the tops of all 8 first that’s about 2 hours of time waiting. Then batch all the bottoms is about an hour so I’m 3 hours deep and still have all the sanding and finishing to do which is another 2-3 hours. It takes a little bit of time to load the different programs and carve one brick at a time. But as I mentioned in the video once the first is done, I have appx 20min while the next is on the CNC and I can do the sanding, laser etc on one brick while the next is carving and try to reduce the overall time needed.
I can see how people think this is overpriced if the only point of reference they have is mass produced flat pack furniture from Ikea made from the lowest possible grade of wood. People think "this is wood, it grows in my backyard", but have absolutly no idea how much work it is to transform it into anything usefull/aesthetically. No to mention the tools. Your calcutlation is a bit "wonky", but i think the price is absoluty justified. Handmade stuff costs more then mass produced garbage. No surprise there
Totally! "wood is cheap" right! haha. A big part of the cost is always going to be the time needed and the overhead for tools, utilities, training and education etc. Fair point about my calculations, trying to get it all down to the penny and account for every minute was a very big task and took much more time than I ever anticipated. So ok to take with a grain of salt. I didn't even want to think about things like electricity costs, heating my shop and the gas to go to/from the wood shop also 😅
@@HewmanMade just for future advice. I know that negative comments weight a lot harder then positive ones. No matter how good your arguments are, you will never win them all over. Try to focus on the positive ones, dont give in to the haters. I know, it sound way easier then it actually is. But those people will leave and those who love and adore your creations will stay and keep supporting you. Spend your time on interesting and inspiring content, instead of giving those hatefull people any more of your precious time. Keep creating, your work is awesome.
@@katino5910 You're so kind! And you're right, the haters are jus there and they will go away. The true supporters will always stay. I'm never going to let the haters stop me from creating or making. But I'm also not going to be a punching bag for them as all artists will benefit from people standing up to the negativity and showing that it's not ok to question someone art, work, or prices just because you don't understand how it's made, or what goes into it :)
Amen!
This is sick man, nice bricks!
Thanks Boss 🙌
I'm your subscriber 4301 🎉
don't pay attention to haters! nice job! hope you get more profit soon ❤
Sweet! Welcome to the chaos! 😅
Ah don’t worry, I don’t let the haters get to me too much. I’ve always found it strange that someone would take the time to leave a hate comment instead of just scrolling by and continuing with their life? 🤷 oh well, creates good engagement 😂
Curious: if you "mass produce" a whole bunch of these, CNC the tops on let's say 15 bricks (or more) at the same time, then the bottoms. Wouldn't this bring the time cost down significantly? Also some consumables would be less, gloves for example, and wood gets slightly cheaper if you buy bigger pieces.
If you work very efficiently and create some inventory, you may be able to get the cost down a bit. Lower cost may turn into more sales eventually making you more money in the end?
If you build anything one at a time the cost is astronomical. If you filled the entire bed with blocks, unit price goes way down. That's just simple manufacturing economy of scale.
The way he showed doesn't make a lot of sense at all if you wanted to be as profitable as possible.
@@bradley3549 exactly my point.
So it's a valid thought. We can math quickly.
Right now with my process 1 brick takes appx 25min in the cnc we'll say, for both sides. Then the next brick goes in the cnc. While brick 2 is being carved I can cutout, router, sand, laser the first brick. Then when brick 2 is done in cnc, load brick 3 and continue this process. Ideal situations would mean first brick takes 50 min all the rest take 25 min, right? So 15 bricks ideally takes 6H45min appx.
Carving all 15 at a time first means 15 bricks at 25min so 6h20min appx of the CNC running. Then I have to trim, router and sand each which is appx 15-20min per. So instead of having 15 ready for finish in 6h45min-8hours if we're being realistic, it's another 5 hours of post processing the bricks meaning 11h-12 hours of time.
Wood is slightly cheaper if bigger boards are bought, but you have to remember that's a bigger initial investment, more inventory to hold, more time spent to make so it's a much bigger investment to hold and wait for the sales. Anyone that makes products and holds inventory doesn't make money until AFTER that product sells. So basing your inventory in relation to need is important.
And sure, might save a few pennies in consumables, but $0.25 in gloves isn't going to be paying my electricity and power bills. I know where you're coming from and appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.
@@HewmanMade Let me preface by saying I don't think there is anything wrong with your price for a bespoke unique product, justification is not required.
That said I think your back of the napkin math on the efficiency gain of running large batches on the CNC is wildly off. Just low hanging fruit, you're taking your 20-minute cycle time, adding 5 minutes padding for setup I presume, and multiplying that by the number of parts. That doesn't make sense. So your 6hr20min is at minimum an hour over shot.
But there is more, even multiplying straight cycle time isn't usually accurate because there should be a lot of moves that can be shared between parts. Like the deep pocketing around the part. You are currently doing one full perimeter per part. In reality, you should only need to do one half perimeter per part or less. Not only does that save time, it saves tool life, electricity, AND material costs.
And then when you are doing a full deck of parts, you can justify a tool change and use a much larger tool for bulk material removal. And eliminate that planer step too!
The only way this even sort of makes sense is if you literally have nothing else to do while the CNC is running except wait?
@@bradley3549 Well, that's your opinion and it's valid. And you're right, I don't need to justify myself myself or my prices.
There are many ways to skin a cat when working in a shop and with a CNC. I choose to work my way and you might choose to work this way. It's the differences in approach that make make us individual artists, makers and creators.
It's one of those scenarios, where once you've done the price breakdown, you realise you should have increased the price
It’s true, and maybe I will in the future. But I also like to price my work based on what I would pay if buying it from someone else. I can personally justify $40 for a brick, especially knowing what goes into making one. Could I justify $60? $80? Probably not, even if that’s closer to what it’s worth for the time, tools and material involved to make it
Don’t forget the heat, lights, and tool electricity!
Not to mention internet, phone, pc, gas to go to the wood shop. So many other things 🙌
Yeah I never question woodworkers (as one) and their price. It costs a lot of time and money to do learn and achieve every step.
You're amazing! I wish more people would just ask about the process, show an interest in learning the steps and properly understanding why prices are what they are first. I always like to educate myself before making a judgement on an artists work/price. But, I'm also an artist so I know better 🤣
What a shame you don't send to UK :(
I do, it's just not a standard option as the shipping prices can change quite a bit. If you want to send me an email we can chat get an order processed.
hewmanmade@gmail.com
The bricks are reasonably priced. But that store's price for the walnut stock was highway robbery!
Also, quick question: When you are batching these out, do you leave them all together in the stock and machine both sides before cutting them out?
Considering it was S2S 8/4 walnut, the price was actually very reasonable for where I live. 4/4 rough stock goes anywhere from $13-$18/bdft, 8/4 is $20-$25 depending on grade.
To answer your question, no. There's a few different ways I'll batch out depending on the day. I'll either do top of one brick then bottom of one brick and repeat so I can process each brick as the next is being fully carved out, like I mentioned in the video. Or I'll carve all the tops in one block, cut them out and carve all the bottoms one after another.
As a bag maker, I charge based on time alone to complete the project. That’s $60 US per hour. This includes cost of all the materials, time used to fabric design and acquisition of materials, and my expertise. It does not include my machine.
That’s based on vinyl or woven fabric. Leather would be more.
I think you are under charging.
Thank you! It's always great to hear what other makers and creators charge for their time! $60/hr sounds like a very reasonable rate for everything you mentioned!
Truthfully, I know I'm undercharging for these bricks, which is kind of what makes the trolls thinking I'm overcharging so funny. But I do want people to buy them and enjoy them so it's kind of that middle ground situation, you know?
I am trying to understand your process because I understand this for a first batch but now you already know these things are going to sell so why not:
Get more wood at once (and if that shop doesn't carry what you need, maybe go to a different shop/supplierall together)
Have the CNC cut all 8 blocks at the same time instead of cutting one at a time and re-fixturing each? Because that is a lot of seemingly unneccesary interaction with the product which obviously reduces what you make per hour
You’re right with some of these points. For the wood selection in this video I wanted to show the process for 1 and the time for a small batch, because I don’t need to make 30-40 of these at a time. The wood shop didn’t have bigger pieces of darker walnut that I wanted and going to another woodshop would have taken more time and wouldn’t guarantee the piece I wanted. The larger pieces that I did like would have cost appx $300, which I wasn’t prepared to front that day. It would yield more bricks, but the overhead of holding $300 in material inventory, even if it reduced the cost/brick by $2-3 is hard to justify as the bricks could sit for 8-10months before they all sell. Plus the added time to process all of them leaves me with a lot of time and money invested in inventory sitting on a shelf.
For the processing, there’s always going to be different ways to skin a cat. If I batch out the tops of all 8 first that’s about 2 hours of time waiting. Then batch all the bottoms is about an hour so I’m 3 hours deep and still have all the sanding and finishing to do which is another 2-3 hours. It takes a little bit of time to load the different programs and carve one brick at a time. But as I mentioned in the video once the first is done, I have appx 20min while the next is on the CNC and I can do the sanding, laser etc on one brick while the next is carving and try to reduce the overall time needed.
I can see how people think this is overpriced if the only point of reference they have is mass produced flat pack furniture from Ikea made from the lowest possible grade of wood.
People think "this is wood, it grows in my backyard", but have absolutly no idea how much work it is to transform it into anything usefull/aesthetically. No to mention the tools.
Your calcutlation is a bit "wonky", but i think the price is absoluty justified.
Handmade stuff costs more then mass produced garbage. No surprise there
Totally! "wood is cheap" right! haha. A big part of the cost is always going to be the time needed and the overhead for tools, utilities, training and education etc.
Fair point about my calculations, trying to get it all down to the penny and account for every minute was a very big task and took much more time than I ever anticipated. So ok to take with a grain of salt. I didn't even want to think about things like electricity costs, heating my shop and the gas to go to/from the wood shop also 😅
@@HewmanMade just for future advice. I know that negative comments weight a lot harder then positive ones. No matter how good your arguments are, you will never win them all over. Try to focus on the positive ones, dont give in to the haters. I know, it sound way easier then it actually is. But those people will leave and those who love and adore your creations will stay and keep supporting you. Spend your time on interesting and inspiring content, instead of giving those hatefull people any more of your precious time.
Keep creating, your work is awesome.
@@katino5910 You're so kind! And you're right, the haters are jus there and they will go away. The true supporters will always stay. I'm never going to let the haters stop me from creating or making. But I'm also not going to be a punching bag for them as all artists will benefit from people standing up to the negativity and showing that it's not ok to question someone art, work, or prices just because you don't understand how it's made, or what goes into it :)
im a joinery apprentice age 16 and i make around about £12 and hour and work 7 hour days
Not actually a bad price
I figured it was pretty fair