The wooden comb business has been keeping me busy.

Congrats to you on your business success…..

-- Measure "at least" twice and cut once

Great to see your business doing well and I am not surprised with the nice products you are offering .
You proved handmade and qualety is still in demand .

Klaus

-- Kiefer https://www.youtube.com/user/woodkiefer1/videos

That’s great. What a wonderful little business.

I have made about a dozen of them and given them away. They are a wonderful joy to hold.

Your examples above look fantastic.
Steve

-- -- I'm no rocket surgeon

I remember reading about you starting up. I’ve visited your etsy store, and see you’ve got a bunch up for sale. I’m very happy to hear you’re enjoying a measure of success. The combs really are awesome, fill a niche, and are selling. A great idea at the right time. Keep it going!

-- Support woodworking hand models. Buy me a sawstop.

Great that your business venture is really taking off, as an entrepreneur, you’ll find the work never ends. Be very grateful for your wife’s help, it would be tough going without her.

-- "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The point is to bring them the real facts." - Abraham Lincoln

Congratulations on getting a product out there that is salable in mass quantities! Time to hire some employees, or figure out a mass production method.

-- Random Orbital Nailer

That’s awesome Brian, I’m so excited for you! Sounds like you and your wife make quite the team. How’d you manage to outsource all the hard stuff? I have got to learn that secret!

Keep the updates coming, it’s great to follow your success. If I’ve learned one thing over the last couple years, don’t discount even the smallest idea or talent. Glad you didn’t!

-- I don't make mistakes, I make design challenges!

Congrats on your success Brian. Being retired, I have never really wanted to try making money with woodworking as I knew it would quickly go from joy to drudgery making multiples of the same thing over and over. It is different for someone like you who is young and wants to work wood professionally, but it is still work after all. I’m not surprised that the combs have sold so well as they are wonderful to use since they don’t create static electricity and they look great too.

-- Mike, an American living in Norway.

Brian, congrats on all fronts. I’ve not seen wooden combs before (sheltered I guess) but yours look fantastic!

-- Dan, TN

Glad things are going well, Brian. You’ve earned it with the quality of your work.

I probably caused a groan or two—had a person in the office mention something about wanting a wooden comb in December and I didn’t hesitate to send her to your Etsy store. :-)

-- In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.

Congratualtions!

Have you been doing to comb business full time? Or were you able to start it on the side?

-- I make great sawdust. -Jon in Warsaw, IN

Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement!

Zac - Honestly, it didn’t take any convincing on my part. My wife is by far the more organized between the two of us, and in a sick kind of way she actually enjoys that kind of work. I don’t understand, I think she’s a bit of a masochist taking on the hard stuff like she has. I just know that I wouldn’t have had nearly as good of an experience if it weren’t for her greasing the gears behind the scenes. Hell, she had to make the gears first, proverbially speaking.

Mike – There is an element of drudgery involved, especially with the large wholesale orders. But by the same token, having done it so many times make it pretty easy and automatic. What does help is seeing the more high end combs come to life once they’re fresh off the buffing wheels. How can I see beautiful pieces of cocobolo and bocote like this, and not have my heart beat a little faster? The more beautiful exotics are a treasure trove of color and figure, and each one is a miniature adventure unto itself.

I’ve had to develop a lot of discipline along the way, to fight through boredom, sore muscles, and an unheated garage. But it’s toughened me up as well as building confidence, and a name for myself. I can imagine how gratifying retirement would be, but that’s pretty far off from where I am in life. For right now, this is what will allow me to work up towards bigger and better things.

Jay - Thanks for the referral! Word of mouth is the best advertising one can hope for.

-- Brian Timmons - http://www.BigTWoodworks.com

Nice work. I hope that it stays something that you enjoy AND can make some money at.

I do have a question.
I can see the process in my mind, but How do you sand between the teeth, without it taking up so much time?

-- Christian, Husband, Grandpa, Salesman, amateur Woodworker.

KDO - These things work wonders. After using them for a few minutes the sandpaper “fingers” spread out to look more like the image below, and they do all the hard work of getting in between and around irregular shapes, like teeth on combs. Trying to sand these by hand would’ve landed me in the loony bin a long time ago.

-- Brian Timmons - http://www.BigTWoodworks.com

Congrats!

-- If someone tells you you have enough tools and don't need any more, stop talking to them, you don't need that kind of negativity in your life.