Building and Selling $15,000 worth of Charcuterie Boards

➡️ Our community for Makers who run a business: www.studstack.net
➡️ The Morning Show! / jennieanddavis
This video is about how we built and sold sixteen thousand dollars worth of charcuterie boards in our cutting board woodworking business. We show the entire building process from start to finish as well as discuss our business plan to sell cutting and charcuterie boards. Our inventory management system is working because we still haven't run out of boards yet! Thankfully we were able to build 116 charcuterie boards before we ran out!
00:00 Intro
00:21 Cutting and Milling the Walnut
1:15 Cutting strips to widen narrow boards
1:30 Gluing boards together to get ideal width
1:55 How we SELL hundreds of charcuterie boards!
02:28 Cleaning up charcuterie boards with shallow milling passes
03:25 Cutting to length
03:39 How we DELIVER hundreds of charcuterie boards!
04:07 Marking/drilling hole for leather strap
04:15 Marking handle offcuts
04:30 Flush-cutting handle to final shape
05:00 Filling knots/imperfections/sanding
05:46 Pricing and profit from $15,000 of Charcuterie Boards
07:25 Our Pricing Calculator is FREE for you to use!
07:38 A quick note to the haters...
08:05 Want MORE price breakdowns?
08:33 Raising grain after rough sanding
09:48 Branding each board
10:11 Final sanding
Thanks so much for watching - subscribe and try out our channel for a few days!
Buy our scrap wood! [USA-only]
www.samaratableco.com/product...
Fan Mail:
Jennie & Davis
8524 Hwy 6 N
Box 533
Houston, TX
Find us on IG:
/ jennieanddavis
Our Blog:
www.jennieanddavis.com/blog
Music by:
Jaylon Ashaun - Stick to the Plan - thmatc.co/?l=6AFC9F7D
The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
Air Force-related Media Inquiries Email:
[e-mail]
#StudStack #FollowYourFears #WoodworkingBusiness #Woodworking #SideHustle #Business #Furniture #Money #Maker #Project #DIY #DIYIdeas

[@CaptainQueue]

I just retired after 50 years of white collar jobs. You have inspired me to look deep into woodworking at this scale. Thank you so very much for sharing your awesome story.

[@MakeSomething]

My goodness, the price breakdown is SO VALUABLE! So well done!

[@jennieanddavis]

Thanks so much, David! Love your new logo design!

[@jasonroyal5247]

@@jennieanddavis what is the finish size of your charcuterie boards? Thanks in advance.

[@conway573]

Good job… I use to produce “meditation benches” as a contractor…did this for three years…out of my basement…been there done that…just a FYI …you could purchase a cheap drill press to mount your branding iron in a supplied holder…thus making it easier to brand…setting the depth creates a more constant branding without too dark…too light effects… I started with bench tools when I started at the time …late 1990’s…after a couple a months I outfitted my shop with Reliant stationary tools…had to “coach-up” some aspects of the tooling…but over the three years I worked this contract I produced around 4,500 benches… Good luck to you now and in the future…

[@13daniel1974]

Jealousy and Laziness are most peoples problems related to anger. I thank you for your inspiration.

[@spencerhoadley5723]

Price breakdowns are awesome to see, in my opinion. Seeing how you can actually make this type of business work, gives me a lot more confidence that learning how to make things won’t just be a time sink

[@AidanHeronUK]

But learning how to make things is fun in itself at times

[@CountryBoyMoto]

I actually appreciate how open you guys are about your stuff. It’s enlightening for me and I’m an old fart lol.

[@ProMainMan]

me too. pretty interesting. They seem like really good people

[@AGlimpseInside]

Interesting to see the breakdown and the margins. That’s pretty awesome sharing that info. Just reminds me of an old addage “good luck and hard work always seem to come together” Keep it up guys

[@Sharkdog11b]

Please keep doing price breakdowns! That’s so great and educational

[@4legdfishman]

The complaints are jealousy. You guys are amazing, energetic and hard working. I've watched you grow from your home shop as you've traversed over all of your hurdles along the way. You should be proud of every single one of your accomplishments. The price breakdown is always a value to anyone watching. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@Eva-xc8oq]

Appreciate how you are showing your work and your money calculations. Having been in business myself for many years, I know there’s a lot more to it. Equipment, building all must be paid for. Keep doing your stuff. Find other products to do too.

[@aaronjonesgospel]

I really appreciate your inspiring videos. Don't worry about the negative people. Some people's only pleasure is in running other people down. Keep up the great work!

[@odarkthirtywoodworks3543]

Phenomenal and extremely valuable content!!! Never expected anything else from you guys!!!

[@mikepetitt9624]

Thank you for sharing all this info really appreciate it! I can’t understand how people would be negative crazy! I really love how you are willing to share what you guys do! I am a wood worker and find the info very helpful! Keep up the great work !!!!

[@alfonsoPina]

Ok, I love the price breakdown. I also love the fact that you address the "anger" in the room with, go out and get you some of the action (paraphrased of course). I am about to go get me some of the action because I fell in love with you guys. I've spent the last day and a half watching all the videos about your process and journey and I'm impressed so much that I want some of that action.

[@johnwhitley2898]

Kudos to you!! Thanks for the breakdown.. It a great help with production to finished product.

[@thevoicesofjohn2933]

I love the transparency. Keep up the great work.

[@MalletCNCWorks]

Nice job showing the amount of work that goes into a simple product.

[@jennieanddavis]

Haha it's a LOT of work that doesn't seem obvious when you start

[@gabihuggins5042]

Very valuable info! Thank you for sharing

[@richardwoodall7809]

Thank you, Thank you for the breakdown. It is very valuable for me. I love you guys...

[@josephsacco4790]

Great video! I'm happy "we" got it done in time.

[@Saintcustomwoodworking]

Thanks for the motivation guys

[@foxberry2047]

@1:55 Well said Jennie - critical to know what the goal of the business is.

[@brostir64]

you guys rock. Always enjoy your videos.

[@thomash6496]

Hey guys thanks for another great video I really enjoy the channel. I also like the price breakdown.

[@southernjoes8372]

Yep I binged your channel a couple months ago. 1st because you’re military and running a woodworking channel plus Davis and I both graduated from the same high school. Talking about coincidence I retired out of the army and love woodworking, go figure us Panthers have a one track path apparently. 😁

[@RonInAVan]

Nice!! Keep up the great work.

[@topicmentor2976]

I love to watch your success! 🤩 The haters you talk about are just insecure and jealous 😔You, on the other hand, have an 'abundance mentality'...keep it going, brother! 💪

[@andratoma9834]

Beautiful dog! Love the dig and you guys!

[@markabernard]

Just to pile on 😄. I like the price breakdowns too. Great information. Thanks.

[@SlickRickTPB]

If you think the board sucks go build a better one and get out of the comments section complaining, finally a content creator that keeps it real.

[@0313bouchey]

People always find a reason to get angry. That’s awesome! Love the price break down!

[@ronniekotler9265]

Great video, I am always surprised how people will take time with the negative and not spend there efforts on the positive. Thank you for sharing

[@breakingthegrain3425]

JLT clamp rack. I had never heard of them, but now I own one. It has paid for itself multiple times in the first year. No affiliation.

[@brandonphilbrick3180]

Hey guys. Glad I found yall. I work in healthcare but want bust into making these boards. I'm starting from scratch. Like tools and everything. Can yall get me a list of all equipment I would need? Love the idea of wood working as hobby to take my mind off work. But also make some coin to provide the hobby and see what I can create. Would def appreciate it if you guys have the time to give a breakdown list etc. Thanks y'all keep it up!

[@OfficialCoachKacy]

This is awesome!

[@brandonpeters988]

Thank you for the price breakdown great video

[@andrewrochester3493]

Thank you for sharing this price breakdown, I wish it was in pounds and not not dollars ahahaha, but it gives me the confidence to produce something similar in England. Well done as well im so happy that your business is working for you.

[@timdyer7692]

Nice video and very good information!

[@soyburglar1878]

These guys seem like great people to work for. I’m 45 and have over 20 years of experience in sales and warehousing, but I’d be their janitor if I could lol.

[@raffanyc855]

thank you for your videos and information 👍 really helpful

[@hesswoodwork]

I like the video and cost/time breakdown! 30 hours to make 116 boards? You must be efficient!

[@ziggystardink9389]

I think a lot of that has to do with now simple their stuff is. Makes it easy when there is minimal gluing and shaping that needs to be done.

[@robertsmith3518]

Way to go ! I am giving you a standing O ! Keep it up .Love the YTChannel .

[@psalmninety-one4819]

Great job on working towards your dreams.

[@kandiecandelaria3134]

Thanks for doing the price breakdown!!

[@tonykitching5810]

awesome as usual guys. Its been asked a few time but not answered yet. What the brown hotmelt you are using with the hand press ? Clearly you are filling small cracks or holes but what with ?? Lost your razor ????

[@p.3097]

Thank you for all the info, Im just starting doing the same thing, just wondering how and where are you advertising and selling ? thank you in advanced,ill try to post some that i have done, with personalized engraving

[@RandomProjects2112]

What type of hot melt gun are you using to fill voids

[@krahnscarpentershop]

I love when you put the price there like that. I am a carpenter too and like that at least Like that I have an idea what to go off of

[@123joshmallett]

I think those people that are mad or upset or just not understanding mistake your channel for a woodworking channel. Correct me if I’m wrong. But this channel seems to be a “love what you do and make money doing it channel” with how to’s along the way.

[@jerseycornboy]

Thanks for the price breakdown, not sure if most people understand the cost of producing such a simple item, I didn't until I got into woodworking.

[@odbo_One]

Perfect!

[@andratoma9834]

Seven thousand profit woukd be more accurate titke... but 15k is more sensational . Thank you gir your honesty.

[@scorpionbuilds]

I appreciate the cost breakdown... Also what kind of branding machine are you using?

[@michaeljameson1046]

Yep like the price break downs cheers.

[@Kash1596]

Hey Jenny and Davis what are you guys filling holes with in that glue gun?

[@grimall00]

Hii, sorry for the question, but I would love to know how you store the boards so they don’t cup or warp 😢. Are they indoors, stacked, do they have finish on. Some of mine overtime end up warping and the wood is dey so i dont know why

[@MikeJones-dr8os]

thanks for talking about the details, money etc. good stuff. yes repetitive but money is good.

[@chrisoliver3851]

Really enjoying your videos please tell me where you bought your hand held brander. Keepupthe good work!...Chris

[@glenncallahan9037]

Hi, Thanks for the great videos. I was wondering, how did you find sales reps?

[@theoddartisan2923]

Is that brown hot melt glue being used at 5:01? Is it regular hot melt glue or is there something special about it besides the color?

[@MilmoWood]

Jealous, definitely. Angry, absolutely not....more power to you guys. That's absolutely fantastic. I salute you all the way from North Wales UK. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@pambenziger7220]

I absolutely love you guys and your videos! I really appreciate the price breakdown and your complete transparency for us wanna-be successful woodworkers. I'm hoping to join the Studstack one day soon. Can you tell me why you wet the boards? Is that just water? Thanks so much and have a blessed day!

[@mihazibert1582]

So it raises its grain, than when you wash your board it doesnt feel rough.

[@finley888888]

@@mihazibert1582 often reffered to as 'popping' the grain after sanding, it is said to raise grain which can then be sanded smooth again for a further refined finish

[@wenonahsue]

How long are boards are allowed to (from water) til you sand again? Thanks!!

[@jarettbrzykcy3462]

What are you guys using to fill cracks and voids in the boards. It looks like some sort of hot glue?

[@LiqdPT]

I've seen branding irons that are mounted in a press. Would a setup like that (maybe there's positioning jigs) speed up and make more consistant the branding? Might also add to the safety that came up a couple weeks ago.

[@jennieanddavis]

Ehh, maybe. But we have bigger inefficiencies elsewhere! One day it will be worth chasing down the extra 5 minutes it takes to do it by hand. For now we need to make boards!

[@tonyaddy7825]

NICE!! question for you what was that silver metal block with the handle on it with hot glue gun??

[@ScottSpeedPro]

What do you do with all the leftover cutoff pieces? So much beautiful walnut! I see all sorts of super simple little knick knack projects people do from scraps like iPhone and tablet stands, coasters, ornaments, picture frames, etc., just curious if you keep any of it for possible future products or maybe barter with or donate to people that do smaller sized stuff.

[@rickmccaskill7888]

What type of oil do you use on your boards and do you soak them or just wipe it on? Thank you.

[@danielt9358]

I like the breakdowns. If it upsets someone, or many, I say who cares Lol!! Jealousy will keep them flat while the others learn and earn.

[@Duckmanloren]

What size is your branding iron, 2in x 2in or 3in x 3in? Great video and price breakdown

[@Bronco10T]

I make a lot of cutting boards for the local realtors in my area. Something that caught my eye in your video was... it looked like you were dunking the boards in.... was that water? Is that to raise the grain so you can do a final fine sanding at the end before you ship the boards? Even though this is an older vid, hopefully you see this comment. I'm really curious what you were dunking the boards in and the reason. Love your videos.... always full of valuable information. Have a great rest of your week!

[@fullere]

Yes it's water, you see him fill up the container at 5:35, a quick dunk to raise the grain before the final sand

[@joelw6215]

Great video. Y’all are motivating me to do the cutting board for the market in alabama. Small time so I can put money away for vacations or our new baby boy. Lol. 🎉😢😂

[@jennieanddavis]

That's a great goal!

[@b.lemire7453]

I was today years old when I learned what a charcuterie board was. Great video. What's the dipping of the board in the water for?

[@chriswilliams5095]

They dip in water to raise the grain of the wood. After cutting to size and thickness the boards grains will raise the first few times it gets wet and feel rough. You can get them wet in the sanding process to smooth this and prevent it from happening for the customer so they always have a super nice product.

[@michaelodds2007]

Awesome work, what are you paying per meter for your walnut, here in NZ timber prices have gone through the roof which makes it rather hard to achieve good sale figures.

[@macp721]

Are you cutting the boards down to prevent cupping?

[@andrewpaterson4672]

Do you guys try to maintain an 8 hour work day or do you work long hours just to get the work done? In real time how long (hours,days) did it take for 115 boards?

[@yellowhammerwoodcrafts]

I’m over here still trying to figure out how that pile of boards didn’t fall off that cart/ table😂 I for one appreciate the cost breakdowns. Love y’all’s videos.

[@jennieanddavis]

Haha I was kind of hoping it would fall over on camera... they held together thoguh!

[@pwisc2115]

Well done guys from a super happy guy that feel sorry for the angry minds out there. Thanks for sharing man

[@TheFlyingCarpenterOfficial]

what grit of paper do you have in your drum sander ?

[@chrisrodriguez8599]

For drying, you should fabricate something using those spare piecec of wood. Has the stack ever collapsed on you?

[@strangecreekcreations7255]

What kind of hot glue is that you use for filling knots? I'm assuming it's food safe??

[@smartlikestick]

Great content including the breakdowns. Couple questions that came up during the watch. Thanks in advance Is the commercial space viable if you only have the actual woodworking stream. I know you have other income streams. I’m assuming labor rates would have additional burdens over the rate noted? The note that 30 hours of work went into manufacturing - how much labor per board / batch is involved in fulfillment.

[@thevoicesofjohn2933]

depending on the size and intricacy of the laser engraving it takes between 15-45 minutes to engrave each board. That includes the time creating engraving file on the computer. Most of their options are set up as templates so they are easy to pull up and add a custom name and send to the engraver.

[@jennieanddavis]

Wow those are big questions - I'll try to oversimplify our answers in this comment: 1. Yes. Commercial space rent is VERY viable with our woodworking business alone, a couple friends in the Stud Stack have similar spaces without youtube channels or other streams of income beyond product sales. But the other income streams are really nice! I don't know why people always assume that's 'cheating'... Both businesses take a TON of work! 2. We have a flat estimate of $5/board incorporated for board fulfillment labor as part of the materials cost. Again, a streamlined packing and shipping process makes this possible and with scale, it gets even more profitable!

[@fergalhopkins1230]

What finish do you use on the boards

[@denisebergeron10]

The disco ball while you’re using the branding tool. 😁😁 my guess is it works. 👍

[@jennieanddavis]

Haha yeah that was funny to watch!

[@sfoxall1]

Where do you find your sales people ? Do you hire them to work directly for you or are they contracted? I’m needing to find a good one but my market is pretty niche.

[@nmurphy7281]

Have you guys looked into a CNC for cutting out the shape of the boards? I feel like it would save a lot of time over what you’re doing with the router table. You could even glue up boards to the size of your CNC table and cut multiple at one time.

[@simonmarcoux5879]

Here is a bit of math to think about. Let's say that 5 of the 30 hours were routing. This is 150$ per batch. A good capacity CNC is in the 10k ballpark. That is 67 batch before you break even. Granted, you could use it for other stuff too and the router/router table do have a costs (router bits even out on CNC vs router). However, their style of woodworking is: if we need it, we buy it, so I assume they ended up analyzing that it is not currently a good buy for them. another caveat to my analysis, you would need to substract the cost of the bandsaw + the bandsaw time. You also need to calculate the loading time on the CNC. While CNC are nice, you can have more throughput if more people get hired/involved at every step of the way.

[@jothammcmillan8854]

I've wondered about that myself as I come more from the CNC background rather than traditional woodworking approach. For my upcoming products, I'm using the CNC with the idea that I can add flourishes and complexity that is a bit harder for a template to easily handle. It seems to me that if they wanted a CNC to be a significant help, it would need an ATC (fast bit changes) and vacuum table (fast workholding), all of which add to the cost and support what Simon said about break even cost. The major advantage to that approach is if they need more production capacity, just add another of the exact same machine.

[@simonmarcoux5879]

@@jothammcmillan8854 I would be interested to just chat up about CNC work someday. I'm an engineer, but I never really integrated CNC work in my woodworking simply because of the size constraint. I have a small 3018 for some templates. The economics strong and weakpoints of it is fascinating tho. For me, they shine a lot for everything built out of sheet goods for extremely obvious reason. They also shine when doing batch work that require a lot of intricate details (say engraving an absurd amount of letters). They are also rock n roll when dealing with slabs, they automate the flattening process for you. They also shine when a one man show type of business wants to invest without having to deal with more employee (working from home, don't want to bother with insurance or whatever the reason is). In case of labor shortage, a CNC will also always be there! Weirdly enough, I didn't see a lot of ATC in woodworking CNCs (at least on youtube). I see them a lot in mechanical shops and PCB fab house tho.

[@jothammcmillan8854]

@@simonmarcoux5879 Absolutely, I'd be delighted to give you my non-expert impressions and I'll send you my contact info directly. In a past wanna-be business, I used a Shapeoko XXL (32" work envelope) to route HDPE cutting boards with t-tracks and NPT tapered threaded holes for a third-hand soldering accessory. The business fizzled but I really enjoyed the CNC process. I'm a software developer so working in Fusion 360 with parametric modeling and figuring out the CAM keeps me in my happy place. Plus, I'm working out of my garage as a one man show type of business :) Nowadays, I spoiled myself and bought an AVID CNC 4x4 Pro machine (48" work envelope) with the idea that I could batch out various drink trays/charcuterie etc. While creating the CNC workflows over the years, I've found the slowest aspects to be workholding (I use clamps and double-sided tape) and swapping bits. I probably should do more hand processing but I try really hard to use the CNC even for stuff like chamfers with the idea of it being a batch process (someday). The Avid ecosystem is pretty expandable so what works for a 4x4 also works on a 5x10 etc. The industrial CNC routers definitely have ATC however for something like AVID, you have to go with a 3rd party resource like CNCDepot. That's far from ideal and I suspect the AVID folks know that (hint hint). One example of how my workflow might be different is this: I'll have a surfaced piece that goes through several operations to chamfer all the edges, mill out the holes and then for the final contour, I make sure to do multiple passes where only the last contour pass cuts all the way through the wood. I don't have tabs to remove and the piece comes pretty easily off the table (tape) where I take it to final sanding to make sure any fuzz is dealt with. If I get the depth wrong, the piece comes loose too soon and all goes bad. A vacuum table or pods would substantially reduce this issue. Realistically, a real woodworker (not me) is going to be faster with manual processes but it doesn't scale as easily as additional robots. Also, as time goes on, I want to be able to add additional details such as engraving, laser customization and the precision/repeatability of CNC allows me to make those additions with only a few prototypes per change. I highly recommend the Wyrmwood Gaming channel as they use a combination of hand and CNC processes to produce high end products. That's what I aspire to!

[@jennieanddavis]

This conversation is a lot of theory and NO testing or actual numbers. No disrespect, and I love overthinking things as much as you do, but we could think about "what if" all day and have nothing to show for it. We have to walk before we can run and our current process is solid, repeatable, and profitable. I'm not a huge fan of it, but we need to make money at the end of the day. We have bigger inefficiencies to solve before we need to squeeze a few seconds out of our production process! Also, I would be really shocked if a sub $50k CNC machine could produce 125 boards with handles like ours faster (and ultimately cheaper) than our current method.

[@jimporrata86]

Don't you have to engrave them as well though? Just curious what kind of labor hours goes into that.

[@shandmade770]

God bless America where people buy cutting boards for 128$ :) Good job!

[@rusticwood121]

So is your price as with a finish or unfinished?

[@boninm252]

Where did you get your little Branding iron For your logo?

[@jeremyhendrix5873]

PARTY AT THE BRANDING STATION!!!

[@scottstrite3011]

What product are you using to fill in the knots in your walnut? Is that a glue gun?

[@glenchristensen3689]

i would love to do this. im retired builder, i have the building and the machines. I just don't know how to sell them. but this would be a great thing in my retirement

[@hadyrome5574]

Start with Facebook and Etsy. I’m sure there are other outlets too.

[@nateelmore4358]

Awesome vid. I’m definitely in the likers crowd.

[@chesapeakecustoms7703]

What is your customer breakdown? Just curious who is buying the bulk of these. Thanks in advance.

[@customboatscreensolutions5893]

Hey guys what ever happened to the xcarve cnc ? Reckon you could cut the charcuterie boards out on it ? To save time

[@jennieanddavis]

Nope. Sold that thing years ago! I know if seems like it, but I really don’t think it wouldn’t be any faster in reality

[@markray3733]

I didn't see or hear what the different size of your Charcuterie Boards were? Can you share that? Thanks

[@ProMainMan]

How do you get your wood?

[@My-ASMR-Life]

Hello, who can I get for the marketing and selling of a wood product? Thank you!😊

[@rudyswoodwork7236]

You right it’s lots of work out there ..