At The Shop (10/3)
The last week has been a bit slow for J. Alexander Fine woodworking. We are attributing it to being such a young pup in the custom furniture market and that pesky little thing, the national economy. Even so, we do have things to report from this past week’s activities.
Shop Projects
As mentioned last week, we worked on two projects in the shop, a mortising jig and a new top for our router table. They were both pretty much done except for a few final details on the top of the router table. It was not bolted down because the 2.5″ lag bolts were just a tad too long. Pesky things. We cut them down to 2.188″ and that small problem was solved.
Customer’s Projects
The parts for the easel are finished, and the company in New York shipped them out on Friday. As soon as they arrive we will be posting pictures of them on the blog. We also finished the frame that goes along with the easel and will post pictures of it too.
Quotes
We still have a plethora of quotes floating around in the marketplace, but none have come back with a definitive yes or no. One of the biggest frustrations I am finding is the delay between sending out a quote to a client and waiting for them to make a decision. It would not be a big deal if we were slammed with work, but when things are a bit slower, you don’t want to have to wait for a couple of weeks for a client to make a decision. Like last week we will be hoping to get a few of them back before the week is out.
Sales Calls
During the past couple of months we have been introducing our company to hundrends of interior designers around us, and this week was no exception. We sent out a couple dozen brochures to some new contacts and some of the designers hold some real promise for a long-term relationship. Only time will tell, but we are feeling hopeful.