OUTSELL the COMPETITION! Laser Engraved Wood Utensil SECRETS

you are in the business of making good stuff even if you start with something that's pre-made the goal is to end up with something that is much better than what you start with and to exceed your customers expectations [Music] hey everybody my name is sam and welcome back to samcraft that's right today we have more spilling of the beans more behind the curtain small business talk about ways to make money with a laser engraver in a small workshop today we're going to be talking about wooden utensils and some certain products that i've come up with to offer customized laser engraved utensils and how i take these to really bring them to the next level and beat the pants off my local competitors this video goes hand in hand with my prior one where i talked about i guess some feelings of being a little bit of a sellout or cop-out using pre-made items to kick-start myself towards the making and offerings of an end product as such we're going to be talking about this wooden utensils things you can get everywhere on the internet from many suppliers and retail stores how do you take something such as this and really add value to it to make it worthwhile for someone to choose to purchase one from you to illustrate and really bring you guys step by step through this whole process we're going to actually make some customer orders today i have some orders for some of these utensils they requested to have laser engraved some monograms and names on them so let's go ahead and go through the entire process start to finish of how i take some off the shelf products make something from them put my own touches improve them and then prepare and ship these out to my customers we're going to start right here this is where i keep my utensil inventory those are some cheap plastic harbor freight tubs they stack on each other and so they work well to allow me to see how many i have of what stay organized and honestly pull them off make the stuff get it out the door in as fast as fashion as possible not because i don't want to spend time on things so much as this being a holiday season the name of the game is quick customer and order fulfillment because everyone's ordering stuff for holiday gifts and they want their stuff yesterday all right i have my utensils this is a spoon and a turner let's go over to the workbench and start preparing these to be engraved all right here in front of you i've got a couple things to illustrate how i take these utensils from store shelf quality which is okay and bring them up to what i consider to be my standard first and foremost i resand these things they do not come anywhere near usable in my opinion from the store so i'm going to re-sand these completely i've got a random orbital sander with 320 grit sandpaper and then a detailed sander with 320 grit the reason i use two is i found that this detailed sander really fits and conforms to the dips and dishes of these utensils i'm able to definitely get in the spoons a whole lot easier get more uniform sanding and it really makes the process a lot simpler this sander was really cheap i got it from walmart but these detail sanders themselves are also cheap you don't need anything fancy the only thing really expensive the name of the game here is quickly finishing smoothing and prepping these for being engraved on the laser what i'm feeling for is that the dishes or recess carbs of these utensils are as smooth as i want them they're notoriously rough when you get them from a store so i'm just making sure these are as good as i like and i don't have any other touch-ups here all right they feel good the dishes are done we're also done with this detail sander now we're going to switch over to the random orbit sander i'm going to clamp this up into my workbench vise and instead of moving the sander around these objects i want to clamp it like this and move the objects all around the sander that's a lot easier way to do these while i load up my random orbit sander here with some paper i want to take a second and talk to you guys about the sander and the paper now i am all about getting good tools when you need them and when necessary when it's required i mean there's one behind me and then there's one over there flashing lights in a box as well however it doesn't mean sam is all about new tools shiny tools and expensive tools this is a 12 year old rigid random orbit sander that was reconditioned when i got it got it from one of those surplus outlet stores it's worked great no complaints the same paper this is not a red brand diablo sandpaper it is not 3m sandpaper this is some stuff off of amazon that comes in a large pack that is a good price gives you a lot of assortment to the grits and honestly works really well i've not noticed a difference in lifespan between this and the name brand stuff name brand per se this is a you know good brand it's got a name but you know what i'm talking about so in this sense sam says save your money get some good budget sandpaper get a sander that works and just rock and roll and go don't waste your money on something like this for this style creation of products and that's going to be very subjective for this project the center does well there might be cases where the center doesn't do good but we're not talking about that today it's another instance where i am stopping to feel my sanding progression see what needs to be done again or if i'm happy with the results i've done enough of these at this point that it's pretty easy to get it done in one pass but i always do check it over thoroughly before i go to something else because these are different and you never know so looks good now we move on to this one so my wife and i were at a craft show last weekend and we just kind of went through the area looking to see what was available so while we were looking through the booths and everything in the realm of woodworking there were of course a lot of cutting boards a lot of signs a lot of turned bowls and stuff along those lines but what really caught my eye was there was one person who had laser engraved utensils very similar to the ones that i'm making and showing you guys a process of with this video so what's noteworthy about this person selling the utensils was that they had a lot to choose from but i noticed that their prices were honestly dirt cheap like crazy cheap as in man you're undercutting the whole artist realm here cheap however when i picked up one of the utensils and took a closer look i decided that that was an appropriate price given the quality that they were selling so it appeared and this is total assumption on my part so take it for what it's worth but it appeared like they just grabbed the utensils off the shelf or from their supplier or wherever they came in the door to their building or workshop they engraved the things and then threw them in a box to be sold it didn't seem like there was any sanding time spent it did not seem like there was any cleanup after the engraving was done and there absolutely was no oil no wax finish no kind of protectant at all on these wooden utensils that are designed to be cooked with so using that person as an example we can construct the three pillars of samcraft's rule to upselling utensils one make sure you sand your utensils 100 everywhere it's got to be smoother than your baby's bottom that kind of smooth two after you engrave it clean up the soot marks clean up the burns retouch it up after you've marked it up make sure it's just as smooth with a little bit of design as your baby's bottom and then three make sure you put a finish on these things if these are even to be considered just wall art you need to make sure you finish them don't please don't sell your customers bare raw unfinished wood because if it's a utensil or shaped like a utensil they're going to take it home they're going to cook with it and they're gonna be disappointed in the least disappointed you may sour them as a customer or you may completely turn them off to the world of woodware's for cooking or baking or cutting boards so take the time and finish your utensils all right looks like the torah is almost done we'll go ahead and load these up run through the engravings and then i promise i will talk more about the finish because a lot of you are probably assuming that i'm just going to slap mineral on these i'm not i use something that is better something that is more expensive but gives a superior product for my customers the tablet i'm using to run my laser engravers is a fusion 5 tablet it is a cheap affordable windows 10 tablet runs windows 10 as the operating system and is the tablet i've been using for over a year to run both my cnc and my laser engravers there's a link to it down below if you're interested i will say in my experiences it has been perfect and i have never ever regretted buying it i will also say this is not a tablet to be used for designing it doesn't have the power to run your design software it can load your files and run your machines you'll notice here inside my tour i have a quarter inch sheet of mdf down and a lot of engravings and markings on it i consider this both my template and my waste board for using this i have the circle outlines for the coasters that i engrave and then this i have for my utensils a line of dots engraved that basically gives me the center point i then use the fire function on my laser to pinpoint and position it where i want the start of the engraving to take place and go from there this is a very simple way to put them in i do not do more than one utensil at a time i have not found a faster method that is 100 foolproof or sam proof that he will not mess this up by loading more than one utensil in the laser at a time so in my instance these utensils are done one at a time but overall is not very difficult at all as far as man hours machine hours and labor to do such things with [Music] here's an example where sam probably should not be doing videos as he's making customer orders the spoon looks great turned out wonderful the turner that suckers off center so we have a throwaway fancy firewood much better this is the set going to the customer this other one goes into sam's pile of shame now is the time to talk about the finish for these wood utensils and for that let's get my bucket which is out of the shot a bottle of this special fancy pants oil and let's talk about that so here we have the oil bath and it's actually a tote sitting on top of a bucket so that my face and this lid can be in the same shot together so that's why it might seem a little precarious this is a storage tote that i got from the local hardware store and its only purpose in life is to hold this giant amount of liquid that these utensils get plopped into and sit overnight all right so sam's method is very precise very careful i scoop some oil and then i plop it that's it it's not that precise the main thing that i want to do is try and get a good amount of oil in the dish of these utensils and then i sit and allow the liquid just to sit in the utensils there so we'll do these there we go after i let it sit for a little bit i go ahead and slosh left and right to submerge the ends of the utensils completely in the oil we all know that that end grain is going to soak up these finishes much more than the face grains otherwise it's kind of a you know sloshing around like some utensils in a bathtub that's that's really what it is i can hear you now you're asking what finish are you using why are you not using mineral oil please tell us your secrets tell us your ways oh sam of samcraft well here's a look at the oil that i'm using this is a koran and dusay i'm probably butchering that cutting board oil this i buy off of amazon it is made in canada and this is a 100 natural plant based food safe oil finish for cutting boards wooden utensils bowls plates elaborate chalices whatever you want to make safe preserve and it's made of wood and it's for food contact i will go ahead and warn you this is not cheap this little bottle i'm holding is about thirteen dollars when compared to mineral oil which is what probably ninety percent of woodworkers are finishing their stuff with it's ridiculous it's ludicrous however i prefer and choose to spend the money on this because i really feel it is a superior finish it is not mineral oil based or petroleum based it is completely plant based it is even vegan approved so you can market that to your customers as well and honestly it's just i like it better so it's one of those things that i am fine investing more in yes a little bit of that money does go on to the customer but they are getting a much better product in the end all right it is the next day these utensils have been in here just about 14 hours at this point so now i'll go ahead and get them out of here i'll go ahead and dry these off let out the excess oil get off of these utensils and then i will apply the wax finish and that will be it for these to go out the door to their customer or their owner not their customer their owner all right we are ready to go ahead and apply the cutting board wax again this is made by that same company that i get the cutting board all from there'll be a link to this down below if you're interested this is also 100 natural plant-based no mineral oil so very good stuff i have an applicator foam applicator and i just kind of twist it in the wax a little bit and i got my utensil and i just rub it in thoroughly all over now do not get cheap with the cutting board wax this is your last layer of protection before your utensil gets to your customer and this is your shell coat your exterior protection of your utensils proper application of this in a nice liberal fashion meaning don't get cheap don't get skimpy will make your utensils feel so much nicer and last so much longer which is exactly what you want when it arrives to its destination you are in the business of making good stuff even if you start with something that's pre-made the goal is to end up with something that is much better than what you start with and to exceed your customers expectations little things such as applying the wax will go that extra mile and is something that as of yet i have not seen a lot of other people in this realm do so until they all see this video you'll be ahead of the game where you are all right there's all my utensils done so i'm going to put the lid back on this thing and this applicator goes back in its original packaging keeps it nice and clean pretty well dust free and ready for use on my next set of utensils now i can start with the first one take a cloth and buff that wax into the wood shining it up making it smooth and getting off any excess at this point it's a lot more elbow grease more hand work but this is really where it's going to make your utensil well maybe literally shine there we have it i have two more utensil sets ready to go out the door to my customers who knows maybe my customers are watching and they will realize now wow my utensils are kind of famous this is where it all took off or went down for sam at samcraft who knows i'm here to educate and entertain i'm not here to hoard secrets create elaborate things in my workshop and just sit on them like the golden egg off of jack and the beanstalk my purpose and goal with this channel is to inform educate and entertain usually just entertain rather than the other two but otherwise share with you guys tips tricks ideas and get you motivated and encouraged to get out in your shop or in your maker whatever wherever you may have and do something i'm a firm believer that we all feel better in life when we actually do something tangible so if i'm helping to facilitate that for you that is worth it in the end for me if you guys got any questions or comments about anything you saw in this video or anything otherwise in the realm of samcraft be sure to leave them down below i love to read them and i try to reply to as many as possible otherwise take care and i'll see you guys next time

Channel: Samcraft

Views: 23,807

Keywords: woodworking, small workshop, samcraft, laser engraver, laser engraving, small business, laser engraved projects, laser engraved gifts, laser engraver business, selling laser gifts, laser business, small business tips, make money woodworking, make money laser engraver, laser engraving business, laser items that sell, laser engraver projects, laser engraved, ortur, genmitsu, glowforge, omtech, xtool, lightburn, engraving business, make money, starting a business, business tips

Id: hr5K0qNDGLA

Length: 19min 51sec (1191 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 12 2021