Chopsticks

[NazNomad]

Is it possible for something that takes absolutely no skill to be "the most satisfying and enjoyable woodwork you will ever do"?!

Yes.

I made a xmas tree out of a pallet yesterday. it was requested by a friend and her reaction at the finished job made that piece '' the most satisfying and enjoyable woodwork I ever did''... at that time.

 

[lurker]

Why the surprise?

Its only a step or two above all the other gee gaws that fill the boutique tool purveyor's catalogues

Suppliers fulfil needs and the world is full of fools with more money than sense

 

[novocaine]

I found a nice wooden version that's only $180 Australian.

for some reason I see a group of bearded, plaid shirt wearing hipsters being the main market for this.

"oh yar, I only eat with bespoke handmade chopsticks now, those bespoke spoons carved by Tarquin are so last year darling"

 

[thetyreman]

the perfect middle aged hipster christmas gift

 

[bugbear]

It's basically a scaled down version of the traditional tools and fixtures used for 100+ years for making fly rods.
http://www.genuinebellinger.com/store/g ... -form.html

Or indeed arrows;
http://www.3riversarchery.com/10-inch-t ... lding.html

It might be a fun gift from one millionaire to another - too expensive for normal people.

From the writeup, it sounds like a one-off tongue-in-cheek design, that customers kept asking to buy. IIRC this also happened to one of the LV April Fool items.

BugBear

 

[No skills]

:lol:
Does anybody remember Chris Schwarz blogging about making your own chop sticks years ago?, I think somebody has taken that to heart way too much

 

[No skills]

This might be the link..

https://blog.lostartpress.com/2015/04/1 ... toolworks/

Ha! Bridge city toolworks

 

[novocaine]

ahhhh, portland, the mecca of hipsters.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

There will be a Paul Sellers video out soon showing him making chopsticks from pallet wood using only a knife recycled from a kitchen vegetable parer.

(Mind you - Sellers has been going a bit soft lately. He's done favourable reviews of Ashley Iles b/e chisels and Liogier rasps. Both are, as we know, first class tools, but they're both a bit beyond his usual budget of less than five quid including postage.)

 

[Cheshirechappie]

ahhhh, portland, the mecca of hipsters.

Portland? I've been there - it's nowt but old quarries!

 

[novocaine]

Oregan, not Dorset.

 

[custard]

I looked at the link and thought that might make sense for me. I could make up a pairs of chopsticks and send them out to clients as a Christmas gift. It would keep me on their radar and showcase some of the spectacular timbers I generally work in, and the materials would be free as they'd just be off-cuts salvaged from the firewood pile.

But 4 pairs x 2 chopsticks x 50 clients = 400 chopsticks, and at ten minutes a chopstick including rough cutting the blanks that makes 67 hours of mind numbingly tedious work, where as 67 hours would represent another one or two county shows, which would get my work in front of 100-150k people. So after some initial enthusiasm I don't think I'll be getting one.

But maybe there's a market for utilising off-cuts and selling them as "chopstick blanks"? I know a furniture maker who also tends to work in the same kind of extravagant timbers that I use, and he says he makes almost as much from selling off-cuts as pen blanks and knife scales as he does from furniture making, I don't know if that means the off-cut market is big or his furniture sales are small!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Oregan, not Dorset.

Ah! That explains it.

Not quite sure what they'd do with a chopstick in Portland, Dorset. Not sure I want to find out, either!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've never seen the point of chopsticks - if for some mad reason you decide the easiest thing to eat with is a stick, why not just use twigs? :lol:

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I've never seen the point of chopsticks - if for some mad reason you decide the easiest thing to eat with is a stick, why not just use twigs? :lol:

Or a twig with a fat bit at one end that you could hollow out to stop the rice falling off.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

I think Custard might have a good point, it could be a good way of marketing. Perhaps if you didn't make the chopsticks all in one go, but knock off the odd pair when you get 10 minutes spare. Then over a year you'd have a large collection to send out as Christmas prezzies for clients without it being a massive chore.

Mike.

 

[novocaine]

I'd suggest that knocking up your own tapering jig (x 2) and using your own plane might be a better approach Custard. that way you get to go to a show or 2 and between talking about your work you can knock out a few chopsticks. print your own cases with your details on, much posher business card for the potential punter and they can see you making them with your own tools.

 

[bugbear]

There will be a Paul Sellers video out soon showing him making chopsticks from pallet wood using only a knife recycled from a kitchen vegetable parer.

(Mind you - Sellers has been going a bit soft lately. He's done favourable reviews of Ashley Iles b/e chisels and Liogier rasps. Both are, as we know, first class tools, but they're both a bit beyond his usual budget of less than five quid including postage.)

Have you seen the price of his preferred Preston hand router?!

BugBear

 

[transatlantic]

They deleted my comment

I wasn't rude, ..just pointed out that although it looks well made, it seems a very specific thing...

 

[custard]

Thank you Woodbrains and Novocaine, I'm going to think about your comments.