Guys, any ideas to earn some money?

[Edcraft]

Hi, my names ed and I'm a broke-aholic haha

I've been taking notice of things people have made and displayed on here. I am pretty handy myself and was wondering if anyone actually makes a living out of anything. Leatherwork, carving etc

Can't get a job for the life of me and need to get some income somehow.

Even been looking at Ostrich eggshell carving with a dental drill. Seem to be expensive when done properly, but not sure how much in demand they'd be lol

Any suggestions people?

Not looking to get rich quick or anything, just enough to live on would be good.

Thanks

 

[Kernowek Scouser]

Hey Ed,

I'm not quite in the same boat as you, as I have a (boring) job and although it pays ok, but I'm always looking for (legitimate) ways to supplement my income and have toyed with the idea of seeing if there is may be any commercial upside to my budding bushcraft skills.

I'm not an expert in any outdoor field, so making a bob out of any kind of instruction is a no no. I would have no idea how to make a knife and my needle work sucks, so blade and leather work are out too. There are many other outdoor skills I am also a bit pants at, but as this is not intended to be an essay, I'll just skip them and move swiftly along to one thing I am half decent at doing and that wood be working with wood.

I've always had a reasonable level of competence to working with wood, both for practical and artistic applications, but I've never previously really worked with wood for fun. During my time at the recent Cornwall RV, I took part in the wood carving workshop, spent a couple of enjoyable hours carving a reasonably spoonlike spoon (with a Mora 511 and 162) and by the end of the workshop, was well and truly bitten by the wood carving bug.

I've got myself a 511 and a 162 and now happily whittle away, whenever the mood takes me. So far I've carved a couple more spoons, three cups (two kuksa alike one that is more of a noggin) two deep bowls and one shallow bowl that if you squint your eye, could pass for a plate.

My occasional girlfriend has been sufficiently impressed with my output to suggest that when I have produced a few more offerings, of reasonable quality, I bring them along to the various craft fairs/car boot sales, she makes a reasonable living flogging tat at and see how they go.

She has also suggested I have a go carving an animal or too, which I will do at some point, but I'll hone what I'm doing a bit, before I move on to something new (plus I think I'll need a couple of specialised knives to do intricate and detailed animal carvings and I've spent my knife budget for the time being).

I've no idea if I will make any money out of this and even if I do, I doubt it will be enough to enable me to give up the boring day job. But other than the outlay for the knives (plus care and sharpening accessories) the only thing I am spending is time when carving and as I find the whole process very relaxing, it is a price I am happy to pay.

This might not be the answer you were looking for, as your post suggests you are looking to explore possibly avenues of making a living primarily from bushcraft related handiness. I am sure there are folks on here who do just that and will be better placed to tell you what you need to do to make a decent crust. But if you have time on your hands and the tools and materials already knocking about, there is nothing stopping you using your skills to try and make a bit of pocket money, is there?

Good luck fella,

Colin

 

[Dreadhead]

come up with a product you can make with ease and see if it sells. try etsy.com for selling homemade stuff etc. i wouldnt try and make a living out of it but for a bit of extra cash when times are hard it can be okay it all depends on materials cost and time really

 

[Suffolksteve]

Depending on your level or skill have you thought about taking cheap or old bits of furniture and shabby chic ing them up? Seems some people are happy to pay through the nose for them and it's generally quite easy to get free furniture from freecycle or cheap bits from bootsales. Just requires some imagination, elbow grease.

Ultimately the skill required to do certain things like leatherwork to a saleable standard is quite high and takes time to learn which means it might be more cost effective to get a bar job or something like that.

It also depends on what skills and resources you already have so it's all based around making money out of your existing abilities.

 

[tim_c]

Depending on your skills and patience you could try making paracord things like bracelets, lanyards, bottle covers
http://www.thebushcraftstore.co.uk/paracord-products-86-c.asp
http://stormdrane.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/paracord-lantern-pouchcan-koozie.html (I bet if you made some of these for the crusader cup, cup + bottle they'd be popular on here, for example)

Try cutting into this persons market and make recycled hobo-stove kits and extend the range by making wood burning ones. With some imagination you could make some interesting kits.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/cherylchez1/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHtA-d9hNPk

Perhaps try making char cloth and fire lighting kits in an altoids tin (dispoable lighter, fire steel, couple of tinders, tea light etc). These might not be popular with people who actually go outside but the armchair survivalists will snap them up, I bet...

With evil-bay and amazon market it's possible to sell almost anything. I doubt you'll get rich quick this way... or even make a decent living but combining several methods you might get a few quid eventually.

 

[swright81076]

I did quite well with the para cord bracelets. Double stitched cobra weave.
There's the initial outlay for the cord, buckles or shackles. Then time making them. I got quite proficient with them. Knocking out 3 in 10 minutes.
So the major factor was time.
The reason I sold tonnes of them (I believe) was my usp.
I aimed my bracelets at hikers and armchair bushcrafters. The idea was that if they had to unravel and use the cord, they could return what was left for a free one, so long as they provided me details of how useful it was. These stories became testimonials for the bracelets. Worked a treat.
But the profit is small, so a thousand bracelets might bring you £5k but you've already spent £3.5k on stock and postage that doesn't include time.
so things like that are hobbies to suppliment your salary.

However like has been said. If you could find a niche product that is cheap and quick to make then go for it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[Tadpole]

Well made leather belts for the "larger waist", always fetch a good price. 100% profit for the right market.

 

[Samon]

have you tried carving spoons? My advice would be to have a go, have another go, and a few more goes untill you can produce decent results to be sold on the street. Set up a nice place to sit and display your nice spoons and actually whittle them infront of passers by. Doing that in a city where lots of people from all walks of life pass by will give you a good chance to start conversations and make sales.

That sort of thing would interest me and I know I would atleast stand by while they work if not approach and talk. When I was frequent in the city of Bristol, people used to sell (legally back then) lab grown magic mushrooms on the entrance of saint nicks market! people didn't mind and were curious enough to talk , as with all markets and their niche products.. there is always some people who will appreciate it and buy it!

 

[Silverhill]

+1 for the Shabby-chic route. I'm yet to sell anything I've done up for less than 100% profit. My advice is to get down to a local auction and see what doesn't sell, then find a way for purchasing for pennies.

 

[Edcraft]

I love you all haha some great ideas there. More the merrier. Time is something I have plenty of and I never lack effort, so if I can turn my time directly into money doing this stuff I definitely will.

The leather belts idea. Where would I source the leather from to make them, short of cattle rustling? I know I could google it and I will, but someone here might know a decent not well known source.

I think the idea of using beer and food tins is a great idea. Always gonna have those around. So if I sell those, then 100% profit again.

As for a market place, I have a 100% good rep on amazon, so I think selling would be easy for me on there. Mind's racing, thanks guys

 

[Edcraft]

Shabby chic stuff too, would be a good route. Lot of charity shops near where I live so I think tomorrow I'll do a little tour and get some paint

 

[Edcraft]

Not tried carving spoons, but I carved a dolphin with a knife the other day. Looks pretty dolphiny too lol I left feathered wood at the bottom like it's jumping out of the stand. Will put a pic up once I finish it up a bit.

I've got a nice piece of oak I scavanged from my old job and a load of wild rose stems. Was going to turn them into walking sticks, but they split in the shed drying out. Make nice knife handles though. Are there any laws about selling knives? Need a license or anything? I've done that a few times, but never sold any. Even made a machete out of a piece of old weight bench just using a ******* file, 2 strips of wood and a bike inner tube lol

 

[Edcraft]

Mmmm those mora carver look good to me too. I think I'm going to try everything everyone on here's said so far cheers everyone

 

[Kepis]

have you tried carving spoons? My advice would be to have a go, have another go, and a few more goes untill you can produce decent results to be sold on the street. Set up a nice place to sit and display your nice spoons and actually whittle them infront of passers by. Doing that in a city where lots of people from all walks of life pass by will give you a good chance to start conversations and make sales.

If you are going to do this i think you need to get yourself a Pedlars Licence, get permission from the local Council and let the Police know where you are and who you are first, as they would no doubt be round pretty quick if you are sitting in street using sharps, Barn The Spoon is the guy to speak to about this as he already does it, if you are just going to sell on the street you probably also need to get a Traders Licence from the local authorities.

 

[Edcraft]

Parachord hammock going for £80 odd quid ($100) http://www.paracordhammock.com/ hmmm

Be worth it if that blondie came with it haha

 

[Edcraft]

If you are going to do this i think you need to get yourself a Pedlars Licence and let the Police know where you are and who you are first, as they would no doubt be round pretty quick if you are sitting in street using sharps, Barn The Spoon is the guy to speak to about this as he already does it, if you are just going to sell on the street you also need to get a Traders Licence from the local authorities.

haha yeah. Sitting off in Liverpool city centre with a knife in my hand I think it'd be about 20 seconds before the matrix jumped on my head haha

 

[Edcraft]

Might be able to make a crook knife by heating and bending an old blade. Whaddya think?

 

[vizsla]

If you need to make money then you need to choose something that your allready capable of whether its bushcraft related or not. If youv no leather making experiance then it will be a while before you can produce something to sell on and the materials arnt cheap and you will need to buy all the tools.
To be able to make a living from carving you need ro be realy special at it like detailed bird carvings, some of the things i carv take me around 8 hours or more but i couldnt sell them for any were near enough to pay.
Doing up furniture is a in thing at the moment so could work. So id build on something your already good at. Cheers

 

[xylaria]

we make stuff like lovespoons, runes, wand, walking sticks the odd wierd painting, I am going to start doing leather as well. Dont expect to to make much money. the pricey stuff on etsy doesn't sell very well. People havent got a lot of spare cash at moment either. The shop I had a lot of my stuff in closed two weeks ago. Llandielo is a pretty wealthy town, I can find disigner gear in charity shops there, There was a stall selling handmade craft items, I asked why the large hand turned bowl was only 40 quid [the blank wood would cost at least 20] they said they dont sell for the proper prices anymore as people havent got the money.

When the sort of people you get in llandielo run a bit short of cash to buy art and craft, it is time to worry.

 

[Edcraft]

I'm not bragging but I'm a very quick learner, so I'd like to give the leatherwork a go. The belts thing sounds like a good idea. Where's a good place to source the leather guys? Been googling, but mostly foreign sources. Are there any good UK suppliers?