To All:
Shepherd Tool Company, the Canadian-based maker of hand tools and hand plane kits, appears to have shut down, Fine Woodworking has learned.
A visit to the company’s website, www.shepherdtool.com, displays a single Web page with no information or links to its products. The site used to list contact and purchasing information for its planes and plane kits.
Because Fine Woodworking recently published an article endorsing Shepherd’s smoothing plane kit, we are looking into this further and will report back when we know more details about the status of the company.
More to come…
Replies
There's been quite some discussion on this, elsewhere within the on-line woodworking community. Clear enough that they've gone belly-up, which is a real loss!
I just hope one of the other plane-makers buys the assets and sets up production - Lie-Nielson, Lee Valley? Someone else?
Malcolm
< just hope one of the other plane-makers buys the assets and sets up production - Lie-Nielson, Lee Valley? Someone else?>umm.....Malcolm maybe? aloha, mike
Not me Mike!
Too far away, not an engineer, have a day job ... I'd love to, but the assets of this business are mostly in the heads of the two Canadians (and in some tooling and techniques). I just hope we haven't heard the last of them.
Malcolm
I have been to there shop. Seen their inventory. I am not sure that someone could make a go of it. My understanding is that they owned their suppliers, who where not shipping. Essentially shutting off the cash flow generating power of the organization. No inventory to ship, or even one part missing kills your cash flow. If someone gets this company it will probability be a small builder like Sauer & Steiner Toolworks which have a shop only a few miles away, and make the same product line in the finished format.
I will miss their products, I was looking forward to building additional planes. I especially wanted to try there hollows and rounds. I saw the prototypes a few weeks ago. Really nice stuff.
I am currently going to try scratch building. I need to identify sources for adjusters and level caps. Also looking for plans, drawings.
I just finished building what is apparently my last Shepherd plane. Just want to get it ready for a "Photo shoot". It was fun while it lasted.
Will Graham
Wow!
And didn't we just have a discussion after your article about how horrible they ran their business, and how long it was taking over and beyond their stated delivery times. It's truly unfortunate to see a company reap the possible rewards of an article in one of the best woodworking mags in the industry, and end up falling flat less than 6 months later. How could they let this happen with all the 'free' advertising that an article like that must generate.
In the future, I wonder if Taunton will want a background check on these smaller companies before endorsing them in an article. It can't look real good to taut a company, and have them flounder shortly there after.
The article was nice, though.
Jeff
"How could they let this happen with all the 'free' advertising that an article like that must generate." Granted, I know absolutely nothing about this particular company, but I will pass on the experience that Iturra Design had when they got the 'free' advertising" of some magazine exposure back in 2001. Here is what Louis Iturra had to say about that year:
Then he goes on to explain about various disasters, computer crash, loss of a parts supplier, and other things. The point being, even without the other problems, the simple explosion of business can bury the unprepared or unorganized business. They get used to plodding along at a certain pace, and if it suddenly triples or quadruples in activity level, it can cause rapid demise if the human and other resources aren't there to keep up with demand.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG
That's a nice example of the business 'activity' that comes from sudden growth.
The damage, though, often comes from the cash flow implications: rapidly scaling-up means lots of outgoings (parts and services, materials, training new workers, establishing new processes, filling orders but waiting for payment, inventory growth ...) but not much incoming - and hence, a cashflow crisis. It seems counter-intuitive, but rapidly scaling up can (and does) kill!
Don't know about the Shepherd guys, and don't want to, but I wouldn't mind betting that's part of it. The FWW article may have been what did it!
Cheers
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
"suddenly the phones were ringing of the hook"if he'd get a website that you could order his products from he wouldn't have this problem.
I know.....so many people b*ch and moan about them not having a web site, and I'd like to see one too, but given Louis' contributions to the general band-sawing public, I'm willing to give him alot of slack on that. I don't mind an occasional old-fashioned business.
Besides, from the way I read it, they weren't ringing off with simple questions, but rather orders. The point was, the rapid escalation of demand came close to overwhelming them, especially when combined with other serious and unforseeable problems. They fact that they perservered is pretty impressive to me.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
"Besides, from the way I read it, they weren't ringing off with simple questions, but rather orders. "all the more reason to hire someone to host your catalog, take orders and spit them out for fulfillment. I don't need to, or want to, pick up a phone when all I need to do is order something.I wish Jeff Jewitt would get one as well, maybe then I could order that gallon of white LAC1228 that I've been meaning to order for the last couple of weeks but never remember to or have time to call for during business hours. Across the broad spectrum of the market a website has become as essential to small businesses as a phone and a fax (in fact, I could do without the fax, I can't even remember when the last time I faxed something was).Ignore my little rant, just blowing off some steam :)
I remember looking at their website last week, almost ordered a kit.
http://www.shepherdtool.com/index
PS- I don't fault FWW for profiling this company at all. The fact is that businesses go out of business all the time, and no sane businessperson is going to reveal any serious issues in their business to a magazine profiling them for a feature article. FWW isn't responsible for "forward looking statements" about a company.
Edited 3/27/2006 1:06 am ET by tangomike
I agree
One of the hardest decisions to make when a business is running into trouble is when to pull the pin. There's always a last chance, an opportunity just over the horizon ... and all those orders, placed in good faith, that no-one likes to dishonour.
The Shepherd guys tried really hard, and in the end, it seems, the 'business' thing killed them. They made excellent products, but didn't (my interpretation) pay enough attention to the fundamentals of cash flow, customer satisfaction, and debt. They were almost certainly undercapitalised, and when that's the case, scaling up fast can be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Lots of outgoings, not enough incomings, credit runs out, and someone loses patience and puts the business into liquidation.
It is a great shame, and a loss to us all.
Malcolm
Edit - here's the woodcentral discussion:
http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/handtools.pl?noframes;read=86713
http://www.macpherson.co.nz
Edited 3/27/2006 2:40 am ET by Malcolm
I wonder how much capital was required to get this business off the ground and to a point of cash flow positive? This is THE issue for any new business, especially one such as this that required a lot of technology and production machinery as an upfront investment. The problem today is that banks don't loan money to small businesses anymore, venture capital doesn't flow to manufacturing startups, and SBA amounts are too small (and then there is the whole area of minority / women owned busienss financing). I'm just speculating but it seems that a lot of Shepherd's problems could have been avoided by:
1- staffing a real customer support function
2- carrying some level of inventory matched to demand. Somewhat related is a demand forecasting matched to actual manufacturing processes
3- better promotion, and possibly more granular pricingWhere I am going with on this is that there is a dedicated community of enthusiasts who would be interested in funding a business like this if the result was that it survived to serve that community. The problem is how to connect that enthusiast community to an actual finance function. An actual example somewhat related to this is my own. For years I used to have to drive 40 miles to a woodworking supply outfit, then about 1 1/2 years ago a Woodcraft opened in the next town from me, not 5 miles away. I buy a lot of supplies and tools from this guy even though I know the prices are a few dollars more than I could get them for online because I want this guy to survive and grow. I recently bought a powermatic 15s planer, found a good price at Amazon (basically all the online prices were the same, but no shipping from Amazon) and went to my local Woodcraft and said if he could meet that price I would buy it from him even though I have to pay sales tax. He did it, I had the planer in a week and he got a credit from woodcraft for selling a large machine (and no doubt made a few dollars). I buy other tools and supplies that I know are a few dollars more, but I've developed a good relationship with the guy and he treats me fairly. Bottom line for me is that if runs his business well and a bunch of people like me continue to support him, then he'll make it and I'll benefit from having a woodcraft 5 miles from my shop. There is another interesting phenomena of person-to-person lending going on. The founder of eLoan just started a new business called Prosper (http://www.prosper.com) that is focused on this opportunity, perhaps something like this could be used to fund busineses where strong enthusiast communities exist, or to do something like a co-op model like REI?
I cannot think of a riskier way to invest your money than that idea of person-to-person lending. It doesn't matter how enthusiastic I am about woodworking, tools, planemaking, etc. (and I'm quite enthusiastic), I'd have to have money arriving by the bucket-load at hourly intervals as repayment on my loan to try to act like a bank and assume that kind of risk.
Unlike you, I think it is fairly easy to get an SBA loan, unless your credit rating really sucks badly or your business plan is written in crayon, or something,... But I would prefer the idea of growing a business with minimal, or preferably zero, debt.
I believe that Dave Ramseys' (and most of the other small business analysts that I have ever read) opinion that most small businesses fail because the owner/entreprenuer gets too wrapped up and elbow-deep in day-to-day operation of the business and is completely incapable of telescoping back to see the big picture of what's really going on financially. Big time debt on top of this situation signals the death-knell.
Just my 2 cents worth,...no disrespect intended,...Ed
Ed,
I agree, full of risk. It could work in mortgages where you have industry standard credit ratings, the debt is collateralized, and you have securitization of the large bundles of debt. I'm only familiar with SBA for high tech and biotech where their interpretations of what is "a business" has pretty much eliminated it as an option for this sector. On top of all that, the SBIC program got defunded in the current budget and that took away $2.9 billion in capital that went to investment funds. Most small businesses do fail because they are either under-capitalized or the owner/manager makes poor decisions (we all do, it's not intended to be an insult or anything like that). In almost all of the businesses that I have seen fail I can point to one overriding factor in that failure, the entrepreneur is thinking like an owner instead of like an investor. It's natural to get emotional when you sink your money, sweat equity, and ego into a new business but the best decisions about the future of that business are made by calculating future prospects and returns, not what's been sunk into it, and "hope" is never a good business strategy.
Yes, in fact Ben From Shpeherd Tools had informed me that my order for a 17.5 panel plane would not be delivered and my money was lost. Do I feel regret? Certainly, loosing $580 USD stings but I have several other Shepherd kits that I have enjoyed building and my biggest regret is that for the average woodworker, the infill plane kit market has shrunk significantly.
As Malcom commented, I hope that another producer steps into fill the void!
When the void left from Shpeherd Tool's departure is filled, I will certainly purchase another infill place kit BUT I will only place a deposit on the purchase, and NEVER pay the full amount up front.
Kudos to Ben and Doug of Shepherd Tools for trying to make a go of it!! Money can be replaced, but drive, determination and thank God that the capitalist spirit is alive and well in North America!!
Bob
I've had a few ventures fail out from under me, but I've never stranded a customer without making good.
I'm all for the enterpreneurial spirit, but there's responsibility too.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
I'm not sure I could be so magnanimous about the loss of almost six hundred dollars. If things were that bad, they've know for a long time that they were having trouble fulfilling their obligations.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
The loss of $600 is not pleasant but I do have 2 great Shepherd planes that cost me far below the market price for other planes of similar quality - whether new or used. The third plane in the trilogy, the 17.5 panel plane, will be sadly missed because of the demise of Shepherd tools.
I am like most woodworkers and the money will be missed, and it could easily have found other uses aquiring tools for the shop! I will take this lesson in stride and move on to look for the next opportunity to aquire great tools at an affordable price.
So what's going to replace Shepherd tools? Where can a woodworker find a good quality infill plane kit at a resonable price???
Shepherd can't pay any obligations now, but remember you can and should file a claim in the bankruptcy court. If there is a lot of secured debt (mortgages and the like) you may well be totally wiped out, but if not your claim would share along with the other creditors and you might get a few cents on the dollar.
The bankrupcy of Sheppard Tools is a loss for the woodworking community but don't feel to bad for these guys. There is really very little excuse for their cash flow problem since they were being paid in advance for product. They were obviously making themselves the first priority with creditors and customers a distant second. Not exactly an example of good ethics.
From a business sense these guys didn't know what they were doing and that should have been apparent in their business plan. They just didn't do their homework, plain and simple.
Claude
Edited 5/18/2006 8:35 am ET by ClaudeCanuck
I've never really understood the allure of assembling hand planes from a kit.
You should try it.
Whether its a plane or something else, converting rough stamped plates into a gleaming finished heirloom can be a heck of a rush.
The people who shop at Ikea don't understand woodworking either.
I should mention, in fairness to Doug and Ben, that money didn't end up in their pockets and, as near as I can figure, they are doing a lot worse finanically due to the situation than all their customers combined.
What can happen is a small business with limited working capital is a delay by a supplier, intentional or otherwise, can sink the ship. I owned part of a business that went belly up when the phone company pulled the plug AFTER we paid their bill and a sizeable deposit which took most of our cash. We shouldn't have got into that position, I know, but it happens.
I ended up with one of the last kits - and I'm short a blade I don't know where to source ...
Edited 5/18/2006 10:39 am ET by Piccioni
Edited 5/18/2006 10:40 am ET by Piccioni
I'd rather convert rough lumber into a gleaming heirloom.
I'm not so sure I buy into the notion of an 'heirloom tool,' any decent tool used frequently but taken reasonable care of will last more than one craftsman's lifetime. As long as it does its work well that's all you can ask. 'Gleaming' 'heirloom' and 'tool' just don't fit together for me.
Price alone does not an heirloom make.
I'm not much into tools for tools sake. Think about a pencil, then think about a pencil in the hand of John Steinbeck. It ain't the pencil.
Edited 5/18/2006 10:57 am ET by BossCrunk
I'm sort of with you Boss. I have no interest in building a bench plane from a kit. I just wan't planes that work. I've got a wee selection of planes really for a furniture maker-- very small compared to most amateurs really, and they're all in good order-- good enough to work anyway. I don't care much about what they look like.
Most of my planes are Bailey pattern Stanleys. I've been buying them new in dribs and drabs over the last 30 years. Some I picked up secondhand. All have standard issue irons, some with their second or third iron. All work fine. They all needed a bit of tuning up, but no big deal. I don't go around hunting for old planes to collect. I only buy or 'acquire' what I use.
I've got a nice Spiers coffin plane, a Clifton or two and a Lie Nielsen or two. Hanging around are a couple of wooden bench planes that work well.
There are a couple of very poor Norris smoothing planes from the late 1940's or early 1950's just before they went out of business-- they're pretty much rubbish really as far as being any good as workers. I suppose I could fiddle with them and get them to work, but I've got more than enough smoothing planes that work very well, so there's not much point really.
In a similar vein, as I'm sure you know from past discussions, I have no interest in building a workbench. I simply want one to work on.
Still, for others there is a great deal of enjoyment in building planes, benches and so on. It's not something that can be knocked if that's what gives a weekend woodworker pleasure-- after all there's no imperative for this kind of woodworker to make money. Similarly, my hobby is rugby and I'll waste whatever money and time I feel like on that. It takes me away from my furniture work. I don't want to be involved with furniture subjects at the weekend. Slainte.Richard Jones Furniture
as near as I can figure, they are doing a lot worse finanically due to the situation than all their customers combined.
As well they should be.
Doug
> I'm short a blade I don't know where to source <
Try Classic Planes (Google) in the UK, Ebay, or the guy at Inchmartine in Scotland (who sells lots of used and unused old irons)
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
Thanks for the tip - I'll look into it
If you need a blade go to http://www.rexmill.com and Johnny might be able to make you one for a reasonable price. I had custom blades for woodies I built for $30 easch made from O1 tool steel. You can also try Hock tools, I'm sure Ron could set you up.
I've never really understood the allure of assembling hand planes from a kit.
Here are a list of things I never understood the allure of: NASCAR, cricket, accounting, Teletubbies, Houston, soccer, chick flicks...
Are you bother by the building a plane part or the from a kit part? As an amateur woodworker building a wood hand plane is a nice little weekend project. I tend to break my projects up a bit. One major furniture project, then a few minor projects.
As for kit's my shop isn't equipped for any type of metal working, so if I wanted to make a plane out of metal that's the way I'd have to go.
If I remember correctly you were a pro, but are not any longer (is that correct?). What I suggest is that you start acting like an amateur. We seem to have a lot more fun.
Buster
I make furniture from unprocessed lumber with tools somebody else made and sold to me to help me make said furniture.
I'm thrilled that you like assembling hand planes from a kit.
I'm not bothered at all. I just said I never understood the allure of it. But again, I'm happy you like it.
Again you seemed to have missed the point.
I'm thrilled that you like assembling hand planes from a kit.
I'm not bothered at all. I just said I never understood the allure of it. But again, I'm happy you like it.
I said "...if I wanted to make a plane out of metal that's the way I'd have to go." I never said that I enjoy making planes, or that I ever actually made one. I never have, nor do I have plans to. Making tools is something that interests some woodworkers, a kit is a simple and logical place to start.
You took time out of your life to make your original post, if not to get an understanding of why someone might build a plane from a kit what was it? I was hoping to give you some insight into the mind of an amateur woodworker. However you seem intent on trying to put us down for some reason. That's something I'll never understand the allure of.
As an amateur woodworker with time constraints I was more interested in becoming a proficient and accomplished woodworker, not an assembler of kits of any kind. I suppose that my accomplishments, as admittedly meager as they've been, have been partially at the expense of learning the skill of assembling kit handplanes.
We all have regrets, I suppose.
Edited 5/18/2006 4:40 pm ET by BossCrunk
Boss,
How are you any better than the amateur woodworker who buys a plane kit? You've invested an enormous amount of time implying this. But you never explain why?
Well said.
Metod,
I have no doubt that there are a few of the 'lower grade' of amateur woodworkers out there, they seem by far the most vocal. I think their numbers are much les sthan you and Boss seem to imply. Most of us amateur are just trying to make nice things.
Even from your description, or Boss's implications, I don't undertsand how making a handplane makes someone a worse (or Lower Grade) woodworker. I don't think most people were buying kits to make themselves better woodworkers. If someone has an interest in making planes, this seems like a logical place to start.
Buster
All,
Isn't it an interesting human trait that we have to have someone to feel superior to? "I only use hand tools" "I'd never build a plane from a kit" "Why waste time with those obsolete hand tools? Plug it in an get er done." "If it doesn't improve my skills, it's not worth doing." Oh, yeah," If they have the audacity to be poor businessmen, they deserve financial ruin."
You all are so pathetic. I'm much better than that, myself. ;-))))
Why can't we all just play nice?
Cheers,
Ray
Isn't it an interesting human trait that we have to have someone to feel superior to?
Yes, it's at least as interesting a trait as the predeliction to speak as a 'voice of reason' and therefore hold oneself out as being superior to those engaged on both sides of the argument.
It's more fun simply to take one side or the other and, in the end, a helluva lot less pompous.
Edited 5/19/2006 12:27 pm ET by BossCrunk
Gee Boss, did I rattle your chain? Maybe you didn't see the ;-))) I added to my pomposity. I'm the last person to take myself too seriously. That's what makes me superior to all the rest of you.
HA HA JUST KIDDING BOSS!
Have a great day,
Ray
My favorite: Taking both eyes to a game of ruby is a waste of the ticket price
Dave
If they are not to make themselves better woodworkers... forget about trying to make nice things.
I made some cabinets for my shop, slammed them together in a weekend using biscuits and drywall screws. I wasn't trying to make myself a better woodworker, just trying to organize my shop. I in no way feel that this limits my skills or was a waste of time. I make nice things.
On a more relevant note of tools: I built my own bench. When I use it I know I built it, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in that. I also saved myself a little coin, and had some fun doing it.
How is a kit plane different? Your still taking rough materials and making a finally finished item. So what the materials are laid out for you a bit, but it's not a snap together kit. It's not like assembling Ikea furniture. There is metal working, and minor woodworking involved. You are marginalizing the learning opportunities involved.
Now a plane kit may not be for you, it doesn't have to be. I know it's not for me. But there are lots of woodworkers who buy and build these planes for the same reason I built my bench. The satisfaction of using something you built yourself. The interest in actually building something different.
1. "I don't think most people were buying kits to make themselves better woodworkers. "
2. "Most of us amateur are just trying to make nice things."
To have most in both statements seems a bit contradictory.
I don't see the contradiction between two different paragraphs. But I will clarify. In statement 1 'Most People' is referring to a majority of the people buying plane kits. In statement 2 I'm referring to most amateur regardless of if they are buying kits or not.
Regardless even amateurs that buy the plane kit just for fun and not to 'improve themselves' are still capable of being in the group trying to build nice things. The reverse is also true.
Ray is an accomplished woodworker, published in FW several times.
He can deliver the goods so I suppose we shouldn't rough him up too much.
In reality he probably IS superior.
I can live with that.
If you can imagine the intricacy of designing, cutting, and then STEAMBENDING tea table gallery fretwork then tip your hat to Ray.
David Ray Pine (DRP) Affectionately known as DRiP.
Edited 5/19/2006 1:37 pm ET by BossCrunk
Boss,
That's me, a legend in my own mind.
Ex pert: "Ex", definition: a has-been. "Spurt", def: a drip under pressure.
Is that who you had in mind?
Cheers,
DRiP
The DRiPster is a woodsmith and a wordsmith.
Is your talent just endless, or what?
Edited 5/19/2006 3:23 pm ET by BossCrunk
Boss,
Not all that much talent, really. My memory, up until recently, however, has been pretty good. The past year has taken its toll on me.
Regards,
Ray
Metod,
It seems to me that working toward bettering one's self is laudable; belittling the efforts or opinions of others, to make yourself feel superior, is not. The pitfall to avoid in a difference of opinion, is that of thinking "that other person must be of inferior intelligence, or he'd come to the same conclusion as I have."
That's my opinion, and you'd have to be stupid to disagree with me. ;-)) A JOKE
I actually sometimes envy our cat. Her lack of desire to better herself is proof (to her) of her superiority to us; yet she doesn't put herself above eating with us, when we have chicken, or fish.
Regards,
Ray
We don't need to beat ourselves up on this.
Take me: I wanted to learn how to make a metal plane in the infill style.
So how? Find an instructor? Dream on. From books? Which books, and who do you call when the 'book' stops short (think Kingshott - less than complete, in that peculairly British way). Trial and error? Yeah, right. Like I've got years to beat it into me.
Short-cut. Buy a kit. Some of the work done. A set of instructions (including, then, a Shepherd on-line video), some benchmarks to work to. Sucess - a nice fin sihed tool. So what, guys, can possibly be wrong with that!?
Malcolm
Thanks, and sorry for the delay in responding - danged day job!
Productivity taking a dive - southern winter here in force, frosty mornings, cold workshop, need to begin making progress on the house and workshop rebuild.
Here's something interesting. Talking to a local machinist today - 62, soon to retire, a craftsman of the old school, setting himself up with a home shop so he can do some of the stuff he likes to do ... interested in what I'm doing, keen to teach me how to work a lathe, mill, finish.
Now there's the kernal of a viable post-retirement business model. Me and him in a loose alliance, making what we like, doing some bread and butter work to pay the bills, having fun.
Malcolm
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled