May
22
2013

Mr. Fix-it

I’ve often talked about how many hats you have to wear  if you run a small business. In the corporate world, everything is specialized, but not in our world. (Read More…)

May
17
2013

Lots of kids

Thinking about family-owned businesses always makes me think about my wife’s family’s ranch. (Read More…)

May
14
2013

All in the family

It used to be that a business was owned by a family and was considered an asset. There was never any question as to what one would be when one grew up. (Read More…)

May
10
2013

Buying local

It has been estimated that doing business with local businesses generates up to 70 percent more local economic activity than buying from big box stores. (Read More…)

May
07
2013

‘New’ woods

A.J. has gotten me thinking again about ‘new’ woods. The thing is, most of these woods are not new. They have been there all along but have been ignored for various reasons. (Read More…)

May
03
2013

The best laid plans

Every project starts out with a plan. Sometimes it’s not an elaborate plan and it may be little more than a sudden inspiration. But even that qualifies as a plan in my mind. (Read More…)

May
01
2013

Getting back to basics

The funny thing about going into the business of woodworking is that it seems like the further you go, the less woodworking you get to do. (Read More…)

Apr
29
2013

Teaching

It’s probably an axiom that when times get tight, people want to do more for themselves. There is lot of this going around right now. (Read More…)

Apr
23
2013

What’s good for the goose

Here in California, we recently voted for a bunch of tax hikes. We did this thinking that it was obvious that the state needed money if we were going to maintain our schools and highways. (Read More…)

Apr
18
2013

Worth preserving

In my last post, I said that 90 percent of the work I had done over the course of my woodworking career has ended up in the Dumpster. That comment elicited a comment which suggested that this had occurred because I was working in the style of the day rather than focusing on a work that might have more staying power. (Read More…)