Adding a "Beekeeping Supplies" Page

There are a few very difficult to get items for Warre hives that we took the time to design and make for ourselves. Those items will be offered here. It doesn't really mesh with the other products that I currently make or am planning to feature on this site but we felt that there might be sufficient interest from beekeepers dealing with the same issues. So we made a page for it and while they are not easy for me to make right now (read the info on the page) they are with some negotiation available.

Not a very long post today. The views, likes and shares on Facebook and Twitter are greatly appreciated. I'm trying to post once per week and there is a clear upward trend in how many people our social networking efforts are reaching. A big thank you to friends and family.

Introducing a New Colour to Our Palette

I promised myself I would accomplish a couple of things with my woodworking this past week and those items will be accomplished once I post this today.

For starters, I have been unhappy with the available colours. I had cherry wood hair sticks but no colour remotely reminiscent of a traditional cherry finish. The cherry stain that I purchased and still offer barely colours the wood much more than highlighting the grain. I'm sure customers will like it but for me, I think of a cherry finish with that old-fashioned rich reddish brown colouration. I have found a stain that gives me what I was looking for. The website will only officially offer it on the black cherry hair sticks but if someone makes a special request I will apply it to any other kind of wood I offer. I just don't show it here because I don't want to misrepresent one kind of wood for another. This is done with cherry all the time. I worked for a rocking chair manufacturer that sold chairs with a cherry finish. No piece of actually cherry wood every went through that factory. The underlying wood was always maple or birch. They are quality hardwoods but they are not cherry. If you buy furniture in any large store unless it is specifically advertised as cherry wood it's just a cherry finish. My black cherry hair sticks are actually made from cherry wood.

I did get some photos of maple hair sticks added to the hair sticks page. I have to put in some more pictures yet but the page is really rounding out.

I have a goal to make a post every week. A big pat on the back for myself for making this two weeks in a row. I have something in mind already for next week so hopefully, I can build up some momentum and see things start to take off.

Update November 11

Haven't written on this website in quite a long time. It isn't because I haven't been working on building this business. It's that I've had so much more on my plate. The plan now is to post some kind of update every week starting today.

Quick updates here: I did make a short slideshow to show off the types of hair sticks that are available. I'm not able to produce them very quickly right now but everything showing on the Rustic Hair Sticks page is available. If they aren't in stock I can make them and I can give a time frame for when they can be ready.

I rough carve all my hair sticks while the wood is still green. The reason is that it is a lot easier at that point. They don't sand or finish well while the wood is green though so I stock the rough carved ones more than at any other stage of production. I recently succeeded in stocking over a hundred pairs of every major type of wood I carry.

Finally, I'm preparing to introduce another colour stain. Not sure if they'll be ready next weekend. The stain has been applied but I have a whole run of other sticks currently in the finishing jigs and they have to get out of the way before these can be finished. I don't have time to make another jig right now.

That's it for this week. Plan to write more in a week.