Why Bringing Products to Market Is Harder Than You Think

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Hey y'all, I'm James Wright. Welcome to my shop and this is a rant. Why is it that it is so difficult to bring products to market? Take for example the Rex Krueger router plane. This was kind of cool. It came with two blocks of wood that had to be shaped. It came with two different irons. It came with a thumb screw and it also came with two threaded inserts. Should be pretty simple. Why not just order the things up, bundle them together as a kit, and sell it, right? Worth the effort with the Make It Pretty. This is a fun little sanding tool. It's a simple piece of leather with some Velcro on it and a few sanding discs. Should be pretty simple. Let's get it to market. The Davis tool systems tool handles. These are actually really cool. A rotating handle that can either be rotating or it can be fixed and locked in place. All of them and more examples of tools that have yet to come to market or have come to market and then had to leave market because this is hard. And if you really want to go to the extreme, you've got to check out Union Tools and bringing the Union XPlane back to life. Product development is really, really hard. Let me show you a quick example from my book. This is a router plane kit that I sell. It's really simple. It's a couple blocks of wood. It's a U-bolt with thumb screws in the back. It's a Chicago screw and a specialty nut, which would normally go on here. This isn't actually the nut that would come with the kit. And then there's a blade that goes in here. You may notice that I'm missing the blade and I'm missing the nut because I've actually cannibalized a couple in my shop so that I can get them out the door and get them in people's hands. And so I don't actually have a working model of my own because development. If we take it apart, there's a simple Ubolt in here. Now, this one is easy. This one I can just order online. I can order this thing from McMaster, Amazon, anywhere that sells bolts. I could probably go down to the local hardware store or Menard's and and pick up a Ubolt that would actually work for this project.

[00:01:52]The thumb screws, those are a little bit harder. I'm not going to find those everywhere, but again, Amazon or McMaster, I can order these just about anytime. Those are off-the-shelf parts.

[00:02:02]The same goes for the Chicago bolt offtheshelf part. I can order those just about anytime. Now, this one is a little bit odd as I need lengths if I really needed to. And a couple times I've actually bought longer ones and cut them shorter to be the exact length I want.

[00:02:14]Sometimes I can get them, sometimes I can't, but most of the time they're relatively affordable offthe-shelf parts. Wood, h, that's easy. This stuff literally grows on trees, so I can I can get this most places. It takes a little bit of time to process and get ready for shipping out, but the wood, not a problem. But there's two other parts in this. Number one, there's a nut that goes on top. And if you can see, I don't have one because it's a specialty item that basically doesn't exist off the shelf. I need to get someone to make these. Especially, that's not a problem.

[00:02:45]Anyone with a lathe can go and make it.

[00:02:47]It's a pretty simple item. It's just a a flat nut with a threaded hole in it. If I really was in a press, I could go buy a lathe and make one myself. But the problem is, I'm not going to sell a ton of these. And when I go and order them, I order them in a batch of a hundred.

[00:03:00]And if I go talk to any machinist for a batch of 100, they're going to look at that and go, "You're stupid. Get out of here." I I have taken this to so many different machinists and they will not give me the light of day because I'm only ordering a hund of them. It's just not worth their time. Thankfully, Tony Row over at Hillview Tools, he actually will take the time of day to make those for me. Amazing guy. But that means I've got to fit around his projects and when he has time for them, he can make them.

[00:03:27]And so that means that a lot of time I I I can't get them because he doesn't have the time right now. And this is actually what I'm waiting on right now. And that's why they're on back order because I can't get those nuts. I don't have one. The other thing that we're balancing when we bring a product to market is price verse quality. I can make something very cheap and very quick and get it out the door, but then I'm going to have a whole bunch of people that are mad at me because it just doesn't live up to expectations. I can also pay a specialist to make something exactly and make it precise and put very high tolerances in there, but then I'm going to be charging hundreds of dollars for something that just isn't worth hundreds of dollars. Thankfully, Tony is an upstanding guy and he's able to make these relatively affordable. Still very expensive for a simple nut, but far less expensive than they would be if I bought them from any other machinist in the world. Then there's the ironed a hardened piece of tool steel shaped in an odd way with a gap up here. I finally got a few of these back in stock and that's why I'm not taking this one out of the package because this one is going to get shipped out as soon as I get more nuts from Tony. I talked to a pile of people making these for me and honestly uh most of them were wanting 50 60 $70 a piece and I was wanting to get this kit out for around $50. So yeah, I I I can't do that. And part of that's because I'm only selling a couple hundred of them and I can't order that many and actually get a decent price on it. If I want to go to China and get someone to order it, I've got to order thousands of them. If I'm having them made here in the US, I've got to buy thousands as well. And if I want to buy a small order, the price goes through the roof. Thankfully, Bench Dog actually uses these router blades and theirs, and they sell these for about 20 bucks a piece. So, I can go buy these from Bench Dog and be exactly what I need. Great. So, I put an order in on there and I order 50 of them and they're instantly on back order because Bench Dog only carries about 10 or so of them. So, now I've got to wait for the next time that Bench Dog places their order from their manufacturer and I'm at their whim. So, then I put in another order of 50 and I put another order of 50 and I put another order. So, I can get a back order of them when they come. I can get a whole bunch of them.

[00:05:41]But then that means they trickle in slowly as the factory can make them. So for me, that means my kits have been on sale for about six months. Of that time, they've actually been in stock for less than about 2 weeks. So I sell them and they go on back order. And then when I finally get in that missing part, I fulfill all the back orders and then I have a day or so where I have like one or two to sell and then they go on back order again. And then the back orders build up until I get the next part. Oh, I've been missing that one. And then I can make up all those orders. And it's this game of whack-a-ole that is just I spend so much time ordering parts and getting things ready that it's almost not worth it because it's just painful to do. Talking about irons, that's the reason Rex doesn't sell his kits anymore because the irons he ordered are specialty and honestly he couldn't find anyone who could make the set of irons he needed for a price point he could sell this at. He originally got the first set of them done and then politics changed and things became more expensive and different suppliers weren't able to make it anymore. And politics, oh, don't get me started on politics because that's what kills so many things because everything is dependent on being able to get those parts and having a supplier who is reliable and you can get them over and over again. And then politics step in and now you can't order from that supplier anymore because there's tariffs or there's markets and there's all sorts of things that get in the way and you're stuck then trying to find a new supplier because the old supplier can't do them anymore. And that is just getting the supplies in hand and in stock over and over again. That's only the tip of the iceberg. This is a really cool device. This is originally designed and was about to be released by Worth the Effort. It's a solid, perfectly machined flat piece of aluminum. And on one side, you can put your straps on it.

[00:07:35]The other side, you can then put sharpening paper on there. It's got marks on here, so you can actually set the right angle for different jigs. It's got a hole for hangling. It's got a bunch of other little tools around here for different shapes and usage. this is a really cool device, but he just couldn't get it to market because pricing and suppliers and actually getting it out there. And you go and put a ton of money out to get this product developed, to find the resources, to find the different suppliers. You get a website up and running. And then you've got to actually sell it. And if it doesn't sell, you've lost a ton of money. and all of the other things you want to do, all the other products you want to release, you can't because you don't have the capital to release the next one. That's what's killing Davis Tool Systems. He has put a ton of his own money into developing this product.

[00:08:24]And it is honestly a really cool product. Once you've used it a few times and you've actually used it for adjusting things and seeing what that feel is with that rotatable handle on there, it is an absolute gamecher on the file and rasp. I love this thing, but this is an early prototype. Because of the actual getting it to market and selling it, he just doesn't have the capital to make it happen. And then the backers are falling out on him. And then politics are getting in the way. And all of the money he has put into it out of his own pocket is basically getting washed down the toilet because he can't bring it to market in time. And then on top of all that, you get people mad at you of like, why don't you sell that anymore? Or why can't you get this in stock? Or why is that on back order?

[00:09:06]It's because that's the world we live in. But then every now and then you get an email like the one I got this morning from Tony Row saying, "Hey, I just finished the next batch of 100 nuts. I just put them in the mail. You'll get them here soon. Here's an invoice. I couldn't pay that invoice fast enough."

[00:09:23]It's just one of those amazing times where that's the last piece I need. I've got 50 more of these that I can get on the market. 50 more people I can make happy. And that's what you live for.

[00:09:33]that moment when it actually can be fulfilled and you can make it come to market until they they're sold out again and now you're on back order again. And it's one of those things that you're just always playing the game. So, I'm sorry this has been a bit of a rant, but it's one of those things that people don't understand how difficult it is to bring something simple to this, and they look at a project and they think that's just off-the-shelf parts. But it's those one or two specialty items that you can't get, at least you can't get them at a price point where you can sell them. And once you finally do, it's amazing and it's wonderful and everything finally clicks. But getting there is a ton of work and it can take an entire lifetime of pushing things and dumping money into it and getting people behind it and finding the right supplier and hoping that supplier stays on. And that's the world of making something and bringing it to market. So, I kind of wanted to give you a little peak behind the curtain of what all goes in and why things are on back order. Sometimes it's not on back order because they don't care about it. It's not on back order because they want to cause problems.

[00:10:39]They want to get this out of the work and they're doing everything they can to get it in because their reputation and the happiness of the people that they are serving is on the line and if I could do it and snap my fingers I would get them all out of back and I have plenty on hand for anyone who wanted them at any time. But that's not the world we live in. So wanted to do this.

[00:10:58]I hope this answered a few questions for people who have been asking me when are router kits coming back on. Hopefully any day as soon as I get those nuts in, I'll get that order out and for a couple days they'll be live and then we'll go on back order waiting for the next series to come in. So, if you want one, go ahead and order it now. Make sure you get on the list. Don't wait for it to be back in stock because it probably won't be for very long. So, the next time you see the word back order, just realize it's a waiting list. And you will get it eventually, but sometimes it means you just got to wait. And you're not the only one waiting. the person making and doing the supplies is also waiting because if you're on back order, they're on back order, too. And it may be that the company making this is also on back order. And eventually, everyone will be happy once they get fulfilled. But until then, we're all waiting. So, I hope this answered a few questions. If you have any more, throw those in the comments down below. And I do want to say a huge thank you to everyone scrolling over here on the side. They're the patrons who make this channel happen. And without patrons, we wouldn't be here because you are the one who supports this channel and makes everything happen. As well as the people who buy kits. Thank you. It really does mean a lot when you buy something from my store. Any of the proceeds from that go to keeping wood by right going. So if you want to find out more about that, links down below. I think it for now.

[00:12:12]Until next time, have a wonderful day.

[00:12:15]If there's a back order list, why isn't there a front order