Second Shipping Day Last Week

[Lobo]

Wow Lobo! Is that what retirement is going to be like? If I'm not mistaken, I think I remember you saying you were retired.

I love to see someone build a successful business, and through your posts on this and other sites, I've got to do just that. Thanks for taking the time to share and congratulations.

Greg:

I was a cop for 24 years, took an early retirement in 1995 with the intention of continuing to work. I have never had to dip into the retirement account yet. I've built houses, run a roofing company, and done insurance investigations while doing a little leather work on the side. After taking the leather business on-line I have been able to drop the other business interests and do leather work full-time. It doesn't happen overnight, and I would not recommend starting from scratch with no other means of support.

Best regards.

[Lobo]

It might be noted that Lobo said 20 hrs, but with a tooler and an apprentice, plus the shop owner, it could have been as high as 60 man hours. Not that it necessarily was, but each person's contribution adds to the whole.

Personally, I'd love to have the space to set up work stations like Lobo has, and perhaps will one day. For now, I'll just have to keep punching them out one and two at a time, and admiring the work and craftsmanship displayed here.

Twin Oaks:

My carver is paid per piece. I always try to send several pieces at a time rather than one here and another there, allowing him to make more effective use of his time. He tells me that he averages about two hours per holster carving, when doing multiple orders, so he is following the same pattern that I use in production. With that information, I estimate about 12 hours for the six carved pieces featured above. So, with my 20 hours, his 12 hours, and my apprentices 5 hours, the total time is about 37 hours.

The 20 hours that I spent took place over 3 days. My apprentice worked 2 hours one day and 3 another day. The carving work was probably done in stages over several days.

For many years I made only a few items at a time. As the business grew I developed my work flow plan to maximize productivity, and started keeping track of time spent so that I would have a better means of determining per-unit production costs, setting prices, etc.

I think we all know that to produce a single holster will take quite a bit of time over several days. By running production in batches I can set up a cutting table and cut a dozen pieces, then assemble those, then stitch them, etc, etc, etc until that batch has been completed. By moving from one station to the next I can cut down on set-up time and clean-up time.

I know of a couple of makers that can average 25 units per day over the course of a week. That probably requires a lot more effort than I prefer to expend, now that I qualify for senior citizen discounts at Denny's! My days are actually pretty relaxed at the current pace. If demand grows significantly I'll have to consider expanding, maybe adding more help, which could also add challenges and stress.

I once read that John Bianchi started out as a young policeman making holsters on his kitchen table. Forty-odd years later he sold the company with over 10,000 square feet of production space and hundreds of employees, having made over 40,000,000 products! In his spare time Mr. Bianchi was in the National Guard and retired as a brigadier general. I seriously doubt that I will upstage that fine gentleman!

[gregintenn]

You have way more drive than I ever will. I don't see a person like you ever retiring. That's a good thing.

[billymac814]

Billymac:

My shop is just a production shop, no storefront. I don't usually take walk-ins, and I don't do business by telephone, as these would interrupt production continually. Everything is done by e-mail, and even that eats up 2 hours or more every day. I generally work in the shop from 3 to 6 hours daily, occasionally going in at night for an hour or two as needed to keep things moving along.

I have a part-time apprentice who has come along very well over the past 6 months. She has developed a real talent for finishing work, which she can come in and do whenever she likes. She also does a lot of the cutting work for me. Imagine a 23-year old woman with a bachelors degree, owns her home, works a full-time job and two part-time jobs, and teaches a couple of nights per week! Not too many young folks with that much top spin!

The shop is 432 sq. ft. of leased space. Most of my work stations are old metal office desks (very handy and practically indestructible), plus the 8-foot workbench and a couple of tables. I am always finding a need for more shelf space.

Nothing wrong with the Tippmann Boss, but they are finicky about timing and have a couple of parts that like to break down (cast zinc gears and drive rack, which I suggest that you keep spares on hand for, and the 1/4"X20 cap screw attaching the handle, which develops metal fatigue in use and will snap off, so I recommend using Schedule 8 cap screws and changing those out about monthly). I still use the Boss for a number of small operations. Speed is actually just about as good as with a power machine (my Cobra Class 4 is set up for about 60 stitches per minute, allowing excellent control), but operator fatigue sets in on larger projects and longer production runs.

When you are ready to invest in another machine I suggest getting one that exceeds your needs; that way you won't be pushing it too hard or struggling with some projects. Lots of throat depth helps greatly. Also, doing business with a good company (like Leather Machine Company) helps because Steve will always pick up the phone to provide answers to questions and help with the occasional glitch.

Best regards.

Is your apprentice married? You are right you don't find to many young people like that. I am younger people though so I shouldn't talk.

I'll look into getting some replacement parts for my Boss. Although operator fatigue can be bad with it it's not near as bad as an awl and two needles. I probably wouldn't have chose the Boss if I didn't get a really good deal on it, I wouldn't have paid "New" prices as it's too close to a powered machine in price. So far I'm happy with it, it cut my times down significantly. I'll use it until I outgrow it and then it'll be replaced with something that I can't outgrow.

I was suprised you don't take phone orders, I would like not to in all honesty, I work a full time job and then this every evening and weekend and people call at the most inconvienient times and I'm not much of a phone guy anyway, but I don't want to turn too much business away(unless I get a PITA customer) at this point and I don't get too many phone orders anyway. I do have my number listed but I also note that they need to leave a message because I'm a one man operation and I'm not stopping to answer the phone. Then I call them back when I can.

Here's my shipment for the week, minus a few. Not near yours, but I'm ok with that. I actually hate shipping stuff, I have a seat going out tomorrow too.

[Lobo]

Is your apprentice married?

She is engaged to be married next year.

I'll look into getting some replacement parts for my Boss.

The parts that I refered to are the helical drive gear to which the handle attaches, and the two-piece drive rack that the gear turns to run the bottom shaft, along with the 1/4" X 20 screw that attaches the handle to the gear. Keeping spares for these will avoid interruptions in production while waiting for replacement parts.

I'll use it until I outgrow it and then it'll be replaced with something that I can't outgrow.

It never hurts to have a back-up machine on hand for those times when one needs repairs. This keeps the work flowing. I have kept mine for that reason.

I was suprised you don't take phone orders, I would like not to in all honesty

Phone orders can take as much time to hash out as it takes to make the order. Then there are those customers who become just like little kids in the back seat on a long car trip (Are we there yet? When are we gonna get there? Are we there yet? When are we gonna get there?). Doing business by telephone leaves you with no control over your time at all.

I like your work!