There a LOT of money to be made in woodworking - just not how you might at first think. It's a multi-billion pound industry but we're the end of the line, we're the consumer. If you want to make money from woodworking you need to develop a new jig, tool, DVD or widget and then market it and sell it.
It's often said that the only people who made real money in the American goldrush are those who sold the miners their picks and shovels, the hotel owners and the haulage companies - they all got rich and many are still big profitable companies today. Furniture as a "problem for humanity" has been solved by industrial automation - there is no need for handmade anymore and those who might want it are simply not realists most of the time. Furniture is a commodity - its price is based on the average cost of similar items so your prices will always struggle against Oak Furniture Land's average price - you wont win.
If you do make handmade, bespoke furniture for heavens sake make sure it looks it - DONT make it look manufactured - people will pay more for roughly hewn green oak table full of knots and with visible joinery that looks very craftsman and "handmade" than they might for a beautiful walnut one - we live in a world where walnut simply means brown stain, nobody other than you and us will ever appreciate its true beauty and the hard work and skill involved.
If I were you I'd invent a jig, make it and sell it. Here's a free idea for you, I recently thought I'd buy a scratch stock - cant be bought anywhere, unless you shell out £100 for a Veritas beading tool. They could be made cheaply and easily and they would sell because nobody ever has enough tools. Just remember the golden rule of marketing to hobbyists - 90% of them are beginners. The further you go down the rabbit hole in any interest or hobby the more you will forget that.
It's often said that the only people who made real money in the American goldrush are those who sold the miners their picks and shovels, the hotel owners and the haulage companies - they all got rich and many are still big profitable companies today. Furniture as a "problem for humanity" has been solved by industrial automation - there is no need for handmade anymore and those who might want it are simply not realists most of the time. Furniture is a commodity - its price is based on the average cost of similar items so your prices will always struggle against Oak Furniture Land's average price - you wont win.
If you do make handmade, bespoke furniture for heavens sake make sure it looks it - DONT make it look manufactured - people will pay more for roughly hewn green oak table full of knots and with visible joinery that looks very craftsman and "handmade" than they might for a beautiful walnut one - we live in a world where walnut simply means brown stain, nobody other than you and us will ever appreciate its true beauty and the hard work and skill involved.
If I were you I'd invent a jig, make it and sell it. Here's a free idea for you, I recently thought I'd buy a scratch stock - cant be bought anywhere, unless you shell out £100 for a Veritas beading tool. They could be made cheaply and easily and they would sell because nobody ever has enough tools. Just remember the golden rule of marketing to hobbyists - 90% of them are beginners. The further you go down the rabbit hole in any interest or hobby the more you will forget that.
