Thread: Selling Brushes?

By time you buy a quality$35 knot,spend 6 hrs turning a composite, complicated handle,than sell it for $125.00 shipped,just do the math.
If you buy those cheap knots in Bulk,Than you have returns because they fall apart,you lose all your profits.
By all Means teach your son to make quality Brushes,to turn a Profit from time and materials making shaving brushes,forget it,JMO

As pixelfixed points out, like most "hobby produced" items, it is likely that you can recover costs and earn not much.

How many hours of work go into a razor restoration and how much can it be sold for? Try building an airplane...cost of kit, engine, avionics and paint plus a couple thousand hours of labor and when it is sold, your labor was for free (if you are that lucky). Sadly, he would probably do better mowing neighbors lawns if it is sheer dollars that he is after...

case in point.I just finished this one,took 10 hrs today.

Originally Posted by Splashone

As pixelfixed points out, like most "hobby produced" items, it is likely that you can recover costs and earn not much.

How many hours of work go into a razor restoration and how much can it be sold for? Try building an airplane...cost of kit, engine, avionics and paint plus a couple thousand hours of labor and when it is sold, your labor was for free (if you are that lucky). Sadly, he would probably do better mowing neighbors lawns if it is sheer dollars that he is after...

Vincent Van Gogh didn't make much money either, but he lives on in eternity,,,,could we be so lucky,,,,,

I think it would be a great idea! It is a learning thing for your youngster to learn labor and value at the same time.
working hard and breaking even has been done by us all at one point in time. That is called learning!!
If he learns anything at all it would be that video games aren't the only thing out there!
Second he learns that there are corners that can be cut to save some time but not at the risk of poor quality.
Let him have a go of it and start simple then progress on up as he goes.
As you said he will take the money from the sales to restock his supplies and do it again. And again. And again!!
He won't be a millionaire making brushes but he will have the memories of dad showing him things! "Quality time"
If we don't do these type of things with our kids they start to drift away.
I was teaching my own son a few weeks ago this very craft. He is 23 yr. old!
We are closer now than we ever have been.
It is priceless to see them succeed in life. Hell yeah! Give him a shot at it.
They are the future and they need some guidance at first. Then they can make their own decisions as they progress.
He is a future wet shaver!!!
I would be honored to have a custom made brush from a 13 year old lad!!
Good luck and pm sent!!

Ray

I think that teaching him a good work ethic and pride in his workmanship is priceless. If he can make a buck or two while doing it that is a bonus. Not everything has to be about the money all the time.

Teach him to use his hands and brain. He will use those tools to make money with his own ideas.

I think at 13 your primary focus should be his becoming a good ethical person, not so much the return on investment. Which I think it is, so as people before me already posted don't worry about how much it will cost or whether there will be profit or loss, as long as you are spending quality time with your son and doing something both of you enjoy it is very much worth it.

Originally Posted by Splashone

As pixelfixed points out, like most "hobby produced" items, it is likely that you can recover costs and earn not much.

God yes.

If you want to go down this route, the ONLY reason would be that you love the activity and may as well make some money off of it to recover costs. Case in point is myself. I make blades. Mostly razors and kitchen knives. I only started doing it because I love doing it, not to make money. And while I do make some money, most of it is spent again on more stock, more handle material, the anvil, the belt grinder (1600 euros or something in that region), the drill press, the smithy I built, the sanding belts, etc etc.

Looking at the overall picture and looking at the investments I made, I am still in the hole for a lot of money. I'll get out of it eventually and might even make a side business of it eventually. Just because I love it. It is great that you want to learn your son the value of making stuff. If anything, it'll teach him just how much effort does go into making something. And he'll learn to use certain tools which is valuable experience for life. And you'll spend quality time with him which is priceless. But unless he becomes a famous brushmaker, doing this for profit is a bit unrealistic. Crafts are about passion, not making money.

Like Mike blue once said to me: the only way to end up with a small fortune as a blacksmith is to start off with a big fortune.

Bruno,

Many years ago I needed a bookshelf. Everything I found was either (turn on the scottish accent) ccrrrrrrrraaaaapppp, or way too expensive.

I decided to save money by building my own. When I was done, my wife added up the cost of all tools, lumber, and time, and quipped, "gosh honey, it's beautiful. And it should be, it's the most expensive bookshelf on the planet!"