I was surprised when I called Trend to order a dovetail cutter for the DS 400 dovetail jig to find that they have now stopped selling it. A fantastic bit of equipment, that when set and the depth gauges made for setting the cutter depth takes ten mins to set up.
It made me consider what exactly the affect of austerity has had on the furniture maker and home enthusiast.
Ten years ago you couldn't log on to a woodworking site without seeing posts from people starting up in business. All showing there wood working shops and the work they were getting,
Kit was being bought and shop layout photos were everywhere. The Axminster catalogue was so thick that if I fell asleep while looking at it in bed I could have woken up with a couple of cracked ribs....or not at all !!!!!!! Not today. Its half the size.
Many of the stock items have vanished. Branded goods replaced by unbranded. Record too would send out flyers all the time, telling us about promotions, which have all but dried up.
Some of the woodworking shows have packed up. Lack of sponsorship I suppose.
It makes me wonder how lower woodworking equipment sales have affected the economy and supply companies, and how many people have abandoned their dream of working at the bottom of their garden in a shed and returned to a regular paid job.
For sure there aren't the same number of people contributing to sites like this. Some days you just couldn't keep up.
I wonder if it will ever come back? Or infact if it's just a figment of my imagination.???
It made me consider what exactly the affect of austerity has had on the furniture maker and home enthusiast.
Ten years ago you couldn't log on to a woodworking site without seeing posts from people starting up in business. All showing there wood working shops and the work they were getting,
Kit was being bought and shop layout photos were everywhere. The Axminster catalogue was so thick that if I fell asleep while looking at it in bed I could have woken up with a couple of cracked ribs....or not at all !!!!!!! Not today. Its half the size.
Many of the stock items have vanished. Branded goods replaced by unbranded. Record too would send out flyers all the time, telling us about promotions, which have all but dried up.
Some of the woodworking shows have packed up. Lack of sponsorship I suppose.
It makes me wonder how lower woodworking equipment sales have affected the economy and supply companies, and how many people have abandoned their dream of working at the bottom of their garden in a shed and returned to a regular paid job.
For sure there aren't the same number of people contributing to sites like this. Some days you just couldn't keep up.
I wonder if it will ever come back? Or infact if it's just a figment of my imagination.???
