Head Shop Business

Hello, I have become very skilled at creating wooden bowls/pipes. All different shapes, sizes, colors, styles, everything. It is such a great passion of mine, to take a 5 cent wooden block and carving and shaping it into a beautiful piece is just amazing.

I am saving some money up ($280) to take a glass blowing class at the local community college next semester. That is the next venture I would like to enter.

I do not have a large amount of knowledge on starting business' and shops and stuff like that but would like to get started somewhere.

I will begin to sell my product's within the next month at the local flea market, it's only $20 a table for the weekend and can sell anything you please. There is only one other head there and he has one of the actual "shops" in the back and me and him are cool so there won't be much competition.

Beside's for that does anyone have any advice for other type of market I should use to sell my product??

~PeAcE~

 

Try to make nice heady pieces. ANd try to make things color appealing.

 

You could try to set up a mail order sort of thing, but selling at the flea market is a good idea, I bought two bowls from a guy selling them at one in california

How do you carve pipes out of wood? I would just be interested in trying it since Im taking a stone sculpture class at school so I don't think it would be too difficult. IS there anywhere online to order the wood and tools you need?

 

Thanks for the tips bro, I very much appreciate it

Here is a list of all the material's you will need:
1. Wood (Whichever type you prefer)
2. Flathead Screwdriver
3. Hammer/Mallet
4. Chisel (If you don't have one use the screwdriver^^)
5. Circular Saw/Jig Saw (Used to cut down the piece's to your desired size)
6. Sharpie Marker
7. Dremil Tool (Small and Large sander heads, engraving tool head, buffer head. You can buy the 24/30/50 piece kit's for like $25 at walmart)
8. Sand Paper (You will need Fine, Very Fine, and the AbsoluteFinest you can find)
9. Drill and Drill bits


First you take a wood block (any type of wood you would like, cherry wood and Oak works particulary well in my experience, Cherry Wood is kinda pricey though) any size would be fine depending on how large you would like the bowl. I purchase large piece's then use a circular saw (or a jigsaw if you don't have a circular) to cut them down to your desired block size.

Draw an outline on the bowl for the desired shape, size, etc. and your ready to start, btw I usually use a sharpie/magic marker, it soaks into the wood and is easier to see when cutting.

Next you chisel the piece down to your desired shape. If you don't a have a chisel you can use a flat head screwdriver and a hammer as stated above. Put the end of the screwdriver a little bit outside the lines you would like to cut (so you don't make it too small ya know), keep your hands still and start pounding.

Once you have the desired shape you like (BTW it is going to look rough because your just chiseling piece by piece off the wood, It will all be smooth in the end so don't worry about looks at this stage) it's time for the dremil tool.

Using the Large sander bit start sanding around and around make it uniform/smooth. Again no perfection at this stage just get it smooth and uniform, your going to be doing alot more sanding lol.

Draw a colored-in circle where you would like the actual "Bowl" to be on the top, and make sure it's a centered as it can be.

Next work on the edge's. All arond the bowl you will have a "box-like" shape kind of like an L. Using the sander bit make it rounded out like a U or C shape. And the more you sand one area the more "Shaped" it is going to be ya feel me?? That's where you will get better at as time progresses.

Using the small sander bit start to smooth everything out making it even and more defined. This is the step where you can make certain parts smaller, more curved, cone shaped, etc. (Like I said before the more you do it the better you will become).

Once the bowl is sanded evenly, smooth and uniform, and you have your desired look (for the most part) it's time to cut out the actual "Bowl".

Using the Large (or small, however large you would like it) sander bit start to dig into the circle you drew earlier. Remember you can make it as large or deep as you would like

Once you have it all shaped out and the desired size you want it's time to make the "hitter piece of the pipe". Directly in the middle of the edge of the bowl (wherever your mouth is going to be to inhale the smoke) mark it with the marker as to where you will drill. MAKE SURE YOU LINE UP EVERYTHING CORRECTLY AND DRILL STRAIGHT, IF NOT YOU COULD DRILL THROUGH ONE OF THE SIDES AND YOU'LL HAVE TO START ALL OVER.

Using the drill bit (However big or small you would like, I make mine somewhat even with the bowl size, big bowl big hitter, small bowl small hitter) and drill through the edge directly towards the actual "bowl" part.

Once it has gone all the way through move the drill bit (inside the hole you just drilled) in a very small circular motion to make it as even as possible.

Then stick the drill bit into the "bowl" part where the weed will go and have the tip of the drill bit touching the hole you just drilled. Drill slowly as to not fuck up the outside (believe me it's not fun trying to fix it) to make the hole a bit larger for more smoke to travel from the "bowl" into the shaft.

Next blow through the hitter piece to make sure air is coming in and out. If it is not enough air traveling, you can always make it larger.

Next (This is optional btw) use your engraving/grinding bit to make out your designs. You can use the engraving tool just like a rotating pencil, you can engrave names, pictures, designs/tribal, whatever you wish.

Once you have done all of the above it's time for some manual sanding. Get out your Fine sandpaper and start sanding away.

Once smooth and looks the way you want it, get out the VERY FINE sandpaper and repeat.

After that get the ABSOLUTELY FINEST SANDPAPER you can find, this will make the finished product.

Once it is the EXACT way that you want it you can paint it OR go right to staining them so they won't burn when lit. You can get a variety of inflamable/fire resistant stains from home depot/walmart, anywhere really.

I really hope this guide helps you and remember it's going to be difficult at first but BELIEVE me after a few times you will be a pro at it.

It will take roughly (depending on the size and how much detail) 4 hours - 11 hours to go from a block of wood to a finished masterpiece. Taking a block of wood and making it into a beautifully crafted bowl/pipe will cost you around 5 cents (depending on the wood) so it is well worth it, and you can make sooo many different kinds, shapes, sizes, colors, endless possibilities. It is an amazing thing to see yourself creating something so intricitly detailed from a wood bolck, it really is.

If you have ANY QUESTIONS at all please DO NOT hesitate to ask me. When I started I knew nothing, now it is a HUGE passion of mine. I would like to teach everyone to do this but not everyone's interested ya know?? But it is so rewarding, I feel like i'm on top of the world whenever I finish one!!

For the wood go to home depot or lowes so you can hand pick it, but as far as tools you can get them cheap on eBay.

BTW I'm working on a "Carrot Bowl" right now lol. It's looks just like a carrot and I'm going to paint it orange with black lines and a green tip, it is going to look wicked awesome. I'll post pics when I can, whenever I take pictures with my camera or camera phone though they are always tooo big to put on this site. When I can figure out how to resize images (Mine are usually 750x500 and 850k - 1.05mb) i'll post.


~PeAcE~

 

gnarly dude

 

I finally got my camera working.....

 

Sorry the pic isn't so good :&

 

nice work

 

I wish I had more done though. The Fells Point Fun Festival is this weekend and booths are only $300!! Last year there were almost 700,000 people, all of downtown fells was packed, the biggest local radio stations, awesome bands......If I had like 300 or 400 finished and sold em for $25-$40 a piece I'd be making bank lol...

~PeAcE~

 

try on e-bay too.


i also had a few experiences selling at a flea market in berlin and i believe it's a good way to get some cash money...i'm selling again on sunday, if the weather helps...last time i made 200 euros selling basically patches and stickers

good luck

 

Now you'll have time to get ready for next year.You should also show your wares to local head shops and give them a good wholesale price.That way you'll get your product to more people,and make some loot while having phun.
-homebudz

 

Just make sure you are doing what other people like as well. If you want to sell it can't just be what YOU like. Think of the customer. It always makes me mad when shop owners arn't open to other ideas. BUT what you posted looks pretty sweet to me.


Good luck, just my 2 cents.

 

Yeah I make a LARGE variety of bowl shapes, sizes, colors, and I mean sometimes I don't want to spend 10 hours making an ugly pipe but I know that SOMEONE out there will like it.

Thanks for the word Brother

~~PeAcE LoVe & GoOd ViBrAtIoNs~~

 

My sister wants to start a head shop in the future. So maybe one day she could sell your pieces.
I like the last one with all the colors. Good work.

 

Heres a tip, make a jig with 2 rods the same diameter as your stems are, connected by a small wooden block so you can slide your pre-drilled pipe blank on one rod and gauge where the stem is by the other rod on the outside.

I always did all my "functional carving and drilling" first as it went the quickest and really cut down on those "Oh fuck!" moments where you drill right through the side of th stem where you spent 16 hours doing elaborate 3-D carvings of double helix strands with a dremel and a needle file set. :cheers2: (That's a fun freaking pattern to carve out b.t.w.)

Another tip,,, Ditch the chisels and hammer, just get a coping saw or watch for one of those benchtop bandsaws at a local flea market for $40-50 bucks, really worth the investment.

And while you're at it, check google for American Science and Surplus in Chicago, they've got all sorts of nicely priced rotary tool bit's and needle file sets from taiwan, like harbor freight tools sort of but way more bizzare stuff.

Those 1' and 3' x 1/8" drill bits are handy to have too but have to go slowly toward the end as they tend to flex as they drill and will off-center pretty easily. On a few occasions I'd use the 1/4" bit for the stem and go most of the way, only using the 1/8" for the last inch as it reduced the walking.

Looking to take it to the next level with some of the local stones round here, just need a new dremel and some diamond coated bit's.

 

Perhaps you should do something more.you will discover the market and make some plans.