Hasta La Ideas

As we saw in Accidental Designer’s True I.D. Story, production work can be one of the biggest challenges faced by an independent furniture designer/builder. Never mind the months you spent getting your prototype right—can you now design a process, using conventional shop tools, to quickly and affordably manufacture consistent multiples of your design? If you can’t, as Accidental Designer learned, it can break your business’ back.

Design-build guru Izzy Swan knows a thing or two about introducing efficiency into production work; he not only runs his own well-trafficked, jig-showing YouTube channel, but he formerly ran his own furniture company and now does consulting for other shops looking to speed their own production times. In this video, he reveals a very simple, gear-based tip that can speed productivity by some 20% (hint: it involves leather). In the second half of the vid, he shows a highly specific, multitask jig he designed to make short work of manufacturing a particular component of a tool he sells. Check it out:

That jig is just one component of a highly efficient and ingenious system Swan came up with to produce that tool (and we’re loving the self-made toggle clamp). Coming up next, we’ll take a closer look at both the tool and the system, which includes Swan’s innovative, socks-knocking method for turning the handles.

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