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thinking about going into routed wood signs only. no more vinyl. well, at least not as much as I'm doing now. gonna buy a shopbot and do some heavy literature advertising. door to door with a very nice flyer. I think theres a market for them. even with the economy as it is. whatcha' think?
-------------------- Norris Sign Works 102 Doogle Lane Shallotte, N.C. 28470 Posts: 117 | From: Shallotte, N.C. USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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Buddy, are you looking to buy the equipment in the hopes that it will bring the work you want to do or do you already have the demand for routed wood signs and are looking to expand that end of the business?
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Have you got the cash to buy it, or will you be going into debt to buy it?
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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Buddy ......About 65% of my work is dimensional & as much as I'd like to specialize more, it's not going to happen anytime soon. You need a little diversity .....if you sell a nice carved sign to a new B&B for instance, you should probably be willing to sell them the lettering for their van. What you're thinking about doing is going to be a really rough ride. From experience ...... the "door-to-door" doesn't work well. If you appear to be hungry for work, it'll be difficult to make a sale that will actually be profitable.
Unless you already have a market share in your area for dimensional signs, I can't imagine you'll develop one fast enough to warrant the purchase of a router. If there's another shop anywhere close that will do the routing / sandblasting for you, you'll not be risking your neck. You'll eventually reach a "critical mass" where your signs will begin to sell themselves.
After 15 years of doing dimensional work, I finally bought a router. The new software is much easier than the old, but you still need to learn 2 new programs. It'll be several months before I get this figured out enough to actually make some $$$ on my investment. I average about 55 dimensional signs annually, of which about 30% I do for other shops. Although I'd suspect you have a much larger population base than I do, if you already have shops in your local area doing dimensional work, you're either going to have to beat them on design or price. I very rarely lose a job to another dimensional shop ..... I lose them to the vinyl over 10mm coroplast when they realize that their eyes are bigger than their pocketbooks.
I wish you all the luck, but if buying a machine & trying to build a market ..... well, you should probably give that some more thought.
-------------------- Rodger MacMunn T.R. MacMunn & Sons C.P.207, Sharbot Lake, ON 613-279-1230 trmac@frontenac.net Posts: 475 | From: Sharbot Lake, Ontario | Registered: Nov 2003
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I'd do it all over again. There are artists who own a CNC and don't use it very much. It all depends on your vision and desire.
Today's software is cheaper and easier to use. Basic routing techniques no longer have a steep learning curve. For that reason a person can be up and running within a couple of weeks.
I'd suggest easing into the market. It may take a year to develop a client base but it's a much more comfortable process.
Good luck with your search.
[ August 26, 2010, 08:12 AM: Message edited by: Joe Crumley ]
-------------------- Joe Crumley Norman Sign Company 2200 Research Park Blvd. Norman, OK 73069 Posts: 1428 | From: 2200 Research Park Blvd. | Registered: Sep 2001
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When I got back into making signs seriously about 7 years ago, I went with pine and carved by hand. (Most of the time is spent on finishing and fabrcating......NOT carving). I focused on home and property markers. I figured more people owned homes than businesses and since I wanted to keep my projects small, it was a perfect fit. Marketing is different too. Many more doors you can knock on.
Now I'm 99% HDU and latex and looking to expand into wholesale. If it works out well, I'll be looking to outsource the fabrication and possibly the carving.
I'm just sittin over here in my little corner doin what most comercial shops look at as PITA jobs and makin real good $.
Best of luck Buddy.
Joe,
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
-------------------- Joe Cieslowski Connecticut Woodcarvers Gallery P.O.Box 368 East Canaan CT 06024 jcieslowski@snet.net 860-824-0883 Posts: 2345 | From: East Canaan CT 06024 | Registered: Nov 2001
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I admire Joe C. for his creative products and product line. One of the keys to success in this line is to know your market and make samples to show what you can do.
-------------------- Joe Crumley Norman Sign Company 2200 Research Park Blvd. Norman, OK 73069 Posts: 1428 | From: 2200 Research Park Blvd. | Registered: Sep 2001
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Buddy, You're just a few miles north of the "You can make a killin" capital of the world,known as The Grand Strand.People in those campgrounds will pay good money for plaques to display their family names & where the're from.They drive those 100 thousand dollar motor homes and don't mind tellin' the world who they are. There is a big demand for the routed plaques but you never see anyone doing them anymore.Yes sir the market is wide open.I have a concession trailer that we set up at the fair and sell hand painted auto tags.A day never passes that someone ask if we do those kind of plaques.I try to sell them a hand painted plaque,but oh no they want routed. They always say "maybe I can get it at Myrtle Beach.So Your fortune is just down the road..Good Luck..Go For It!
-------------------- Bill Wood Bill Wood, Sign Artist 3628 Ogburn Ave., NE Winston-Salem, NC 27105-3752 336-682-5820 Posts: 397 | From: Winston-Salem, NC | Registered: May 2006
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There is a campground 1 mile from me that doubles the size of our town on weekends.
I haven't sold one sign to any of them.......why? Mine are way too slick.
They drive their mobile cottages' worth REAL BIG BUCKS and want a cheap, hand routed in red cedar, sprayed with black krylon in the letters to hang as their shingle. They don't want to look too austentatious.
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I have to agree with Bill Woods here,Buddy,...the tourist market just about 40 or 50 miles south of you is one of untold clientele with disposable income. All those rental cottages and vacation homes along the coast are a gold mine for a man with the right attitude and sales skills. You could do quite well for yourself if you market yourself properly to that market as there are thousands upon thousands of rental properties along the coast from North Carolina to South Carolina and 90% of them have a small sign of some type so the renters can find them among the many cottages and summer homes along the coastline for a hundred miles both north and south of your location.
[ August 27, 2010, 09:51 AM: Message edited by: Tim Barrow ]
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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That bloke in the video was quick- amazingly so. I wonder if he's as good at doing things other than his own name with that neatness & speed. I'm guessing the wood is pine or something soft- you couldn't work like that in any seasoned timber with some density & resistance like the eucalypts we use.
I also wonder why he didn't start closer to the left end of the board, instead of cutting it off later & wasting the chunk.
It looks like the range of 'cheap' signs you can order here through various hardward stores in Australia.
No class in that type of job, in my opinion, and lasting ability out in the sun is another matter.
Still, the speed & fluency is impressive even if you look the other way as he does his cocktail spins. I'd like to see earmuffs on him.
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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