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

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

There is another trend afoot. OK, go ahead and smack yourself in the head. But this trend is a byproduct of reality. The reality, in this case, is that we are realizing that we cannot sustain a throw away mentality much longer. (more…)