At a time when every other market seems to continue to see monthly losses, there is one corner of the marketplace that has seen strong growth in the last few years. The growth rate in December of 2009 was 7.9%, unheard of in the present economic climate. One of its leading websites, Etsy, saw sales of just over $100 million in 2009 and is continuing to grow as it’s international presence takes off. We are talking, of course, of the handmade goods market.
One component of this market is handmade furniture. At a time when you would think that a product perceived as costly would be loosing sales, just the opposite is true. What is more, the web has opened up a whole new marketplace for many small woodshops that previously only sold in their region.
Surprisingly, another reason for the increased interest in handmade furniture is the growing trend towards buying “green”. With traditional mass-produced chains selling furniture that is often built thousands of miles a way, or overseas, and then shipped en masse to the location, local crafters are seen as another way to “buy local”. When pared with the fact that the handcraft tradition tends to create pieces with less waste, the whole concept of buying a high quality handcrafted piece of furniture from a local craftsman appeals greatly to many. With sites like handcrafter.com that connects buyers with local craftspeople the trend continues to grow.
Another part of the trend is the recent emergence of home workshops where hobbyists are enthusiastically taking up everything from furniture design to toy making. The sawdust is flying as websites offer models for development and kits that just need finishing. One of the more popular web offerings are blueprints that do-it-yourself wiz kids use for projects to show off to the neighbors. As the home workshops grow, one of the must haves is band saw tools. With the extreme versatility of the band saw and its ability to both cut complex shapes (for little girls tea party tables) or rip fancy hardwoods for finishes on that new bathroom vanity, this is the tool to covet.
Just as the web offers a new venue for woodworkers to connect with their customers, so too does it offer a bewildering array of options for band saw tools. With a variety of brands, sizes and powers, a portal site for this specific tool, such as http://bandsawtools.net/ is a great help for any home woodworker. A portal site will offer a quick overview of the various types of saws, such as the one on wood band saws at http://bandsawtools.net/wood-band-saw and will show the various options that go with these various saws.
So regardless of whether you want to find handcrafted wooden furniture from a local artisan, a pattern for building your own furniture or the tools to do it with, the web is a great place to start your planning. What is more, with the price of gas, none of us are ready to go out and drive around looking for a bargain. Especially when the biggest bargain is still gong to be found in the kind of sturdy handmade furniture that will be handed down from generation to generation. And you won’t get that at Ikea.
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