I need some help on what I need to do to start

[Hlelo]

I found a need, something to do with bottles and I need to make bottled water in containers made of wood instead of the classical plastic bottled water you’d find in stores, basically the ones youd find in the store fridges but the bottles being wood and not plastic. Im not sure which is more effective in entering this business. here was the plans I was choosing from:

1. I teach myself woodworking and I practice until I equip myself with the necessary skills to be able to make my bottles including my first bottle prototype through online videos, buying my own tools and etc.

2. I go to someone that can teach me woodworking such as classes and schools that will help me also get the necessary skills to make the bottles

3. I find a person/ manufacturer/ woodworker that has the necessary skills to be able to make the bottles already which may be a bit more quicker of a process, it’s just I won’t have much control and it may be a little more expensive to hire a woodworker or find one to make the bottles for me..

im 17 by the way and don’t know much on what to do, I’m completely new and I’ve never made a business before. Could you tell me any other things I need to know or advice on what I may need to do to start or continue and which is more effective route to take in entering this business?

( currently just focusing on making the actual bottle. )

 

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[Maxkaz]

I found a need, something to do with bottles and I need to make bottled water in containers made of wood instead of the classical plastic bottled water you’d find in stores, basically the ones youd find in the store fridges but the bottles being wood and not plastic. Im not sure which is more effective in entering this business. here was the plans I was choosing from:

1. I teach myself woodworking and I practice until I equip myself with the necessary skills to be able to make my bottles including my first bottle prototype through online videos, buying my own tools and etc.

2. I go to someone that can teach me woodworking such as classes and schools that will help me also get the necessary skills to make the bottles

3. I find a person/ manufacturer/ woodworker that has the necessary skills to be able to make the bottles already which may be a bit more quicker of a process, it’s just I won’t have much control and it may be a little more expensive to hire a woodworker or find one to make the bottles for me..

im 17 by the way and don’t know much on what to do, I’m completely new and I’ve never made a business before. Could you tell me any other things I need to know or advice on what I may need to do to start or continue and which is more effective route to take in entering this business?

( currently just focusing on making the actual bottle. )

Just a reminder - there is a reason why all the world uses plastic and can`t get rid of it. The main two being ease of manufacture and negligible cost. Also a huge advantage is optical transparency and chemical inertness - you trust the water you can see and that is clear and not murky. In the wooden bottle it might come to pass that your customer will not be as trustful and your bottle might have some stuff coming out from the wood which would made the water stained or urky when put in the glass. You can always use varnish or epoxy resin to cover the insides though.

I would try to make my first bottle and sell it full of water and see how will it go before scaling up. You may find that wine or beer (which are strongly associated with wooden containers) are better products for such a packaging.

Nevertheless good luck!

 

[Hlelo]

T

Just a reminder - there is a reason why all the world uses plastic and can`t get rid of it. The main two being ease of manufacture and negligible cost. Also a huge advantage is optical transparency and chemical inertness - you trust the water you can see and that is clear and not murky. In the wooden bottle it might come to pass that your customer will not be as trustful and your bottle might have some stuff coming out from the wood which would made the water stained or urky when put in the glass. You can always use varnish or epoxy resin to cover the insides though.

I would try to make my first bottle and sell it full of water and see how will it go before scaling up. You may find that wine or beer (which are strongly associated with wooden containers) are better products for such a packaging.

Nevertheless good luck!

thank you man

 

[Devilery]

Why wood over plastic? Why not any of the metals? What's the advantage? More eco-friendly (can you find data to prove it?)? Better tasting water?

Then, the costs. On Etsy, a fancy handmade wooden bottle costs $50. Sure, you could use a simpler one but how much would one bottle cost you to make? The wood has to be quality and handmade will take a while, outsourcing will still likely cost a few dollars per bottle. So, how much is your water going to cost and why would anyone buy it for that price?

There are luxury waters for 5 figures per bottle too, but storing the water in a wooden bottle doesn't seem enough to make it worth hundreds or thousands.

 

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[Hlelo]

Why wood over plastic? Why not any of the metals? What's the advantage? More eco-friendly (can you find data to prove it?)? Better tasting water?

Then, the costs. On Etsy, a fancy handmade wooden bottle costs $50. Sure, you could use a simpler one but how much would one bottle cost you to make? The wood has to be quality and handmade will take a while, outsourcing will still likely cost a few dollars per bottle. So, how much is your water going to cost and why would anyone buy it for that price?

There are luxury waters for 5 figures per bottle too, but storing the water in a wooden bottle doesn't seem enough to make it worth hundreds or thousands.

For the your first question, I pick wood over plastic because there is a rising awareness of the dangers of plastics to our hormones such as testosterone and all other impacts plastics have over even our fertility, there are more and more people becoming aware of this and I noticed my aunt also found out about this problem without me saying anything to her. I noticed this may be an oppurtunity becuase I recognized myself always avoiding plastics and when I wanted water and I was in a store, I would always recognize the bottled water would always be plastic, hence me saying to myself “man, I wish those bottles of water weren’t plastic“, and so I thought if I have this problem, probably a lot of other people do. Becuase plastics = weird chemicals, and so people who are really aware of this problem try avoid plastics and i noticed one of the products that are usually made of plastics are bottled water for example in stores.

therefore this wooden bottle water would be an alternative, a fix to the problem in avoiding these weird chemicals being released into our water. Another point is I chose wood because it is more biodegradable, easier to use, lighter, and probably cheaper than metals,

the advantages are that is more cost effective, healthier for consumers, lighter, re usable, biodegradable, natural aesthetic appealing look, low carbon foot prints.

the taste of water I will solve though proper sealants to make the water not come into direct contact with the wood of the bottle, and using interior food grade liners making sure that the taste is not impacted by the bottle.

for the cost, since I will skew as many possible value attributes from my competition, I aim bring value to the market that I am for it to be noticable, hence making my product less commoditized and giving reason to a higher sales price than all the other competition,

higher price = higher perceived value, and if I actually bring true value to the market through value skewing, then I guess charging higher prices would not be too much of a consideration and people would buy my bottled water for the value and not necessarily because of the price.

in future I would plan to scale to access the law of effection, i could sell the water for profit of $4 dollar unit profits per sale, then scaling or probably franchising if I need to I think would do the trick of actually making good revenue, or good money over time.

im not sure if I’m actually valid with this or there is something I also need to know, keep the advice coming, Maybe I’m wrong on something but yea.

 

[Maxkaz]

L

For the your first question, I pick wood over plastic because there is a rising awareness of the dangers of plastics to our hormones such as testosterone and all other impacts plastics have over even our fertility, there are more and more people becoming aware of this and I noticed my aunt also found out about this problem without me saying anything to her. I noticed this may be an oppurtunity becuase I recognized myself always avoiding plastics and when I wanted water and I was in a store, I would always recognize the bottled water would always be plastic, hence me saying to myself “man, I wish those bottles of water weren’t plastic“, and so I thought if I have this problem, probably a lot of other people do. Becuase plastics = weird chemicals, and so people who are really aware of this problem try avoid plastics and i noticed one of the products that are usually made of plastics are bottled water for example in stores.

therefore this wooden bottle water would be an alternative, a fix to the problem in avoiding these weird chemicals being released into our water. Another point is I chose wood because it is more biodegradable, easier to use, lighter, and probably cheaper than metals,

the advantages are that is more cost effective, healthier for consumers, lighter, re usable, biodegradable, natural aesthetic appealing look, low carbon foot prints.

the taste of water I will solve though proper sealants to make the water not come into direct contact with the wood of the bottle, and using interior food grade liners making sure that the taste is not impacted by the bottle.

for the cost, since I will skew as many possible value attributes from my competition, I aim bring value to the market that I am for it to be noticable, hence making my product less commoditized and giving reason to a higher sales price than all the other competition,

higher price = higher perceived value, and if I actually bring true value to the market through value skewing, then I guess charging higher prices would not be too much of a consideration and people would buy my bottled water for the value and not necessarily because of the price.

in future I would plan to scale to access the law of effection, i could sell the water for profit of $4 dollar unit profits per sale, then scaling or probably franchising if I need to I think would do the trick of actually making good revenue, or good money over time.

im not sure if I’m actually valid with this or there is something I also need to know, keep the advice coming, Maybe I’m wrong on something but yea.

I see some problems here:

1. Why not glass then?
2. Those “linens” you would use would be varnish or epoxy which also release some “weird chemicals”. Plastics are also food-grade for a reason and they actually are much more chemically inert than many other materials. That is tge readon they are so hard to reprocess.
3. Bare wood will release far-far more chemicals (everything in the world is chemicals) into your water.

 

[Panos Daras]

Wooden barrels are great for aging wine or beer because they add flavor. But for water, we usually want it to taste just like..... water or fruits. If we use wood for water bottles, the water will end up tasting like wood, and that's not something most people would enjoy. But run a test and gather some feedback to see before going all in.

 

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[Hlelo]

L

I see some problems here:

1. Why not glass then?
2. Those “linens” you would use would be varnish or epoxy which also release some “weird chemicals”. Plastics are also food-grade for a reason and they actually are much more chemically inert than many other materials. That is tge readon they are so hard to reprocess.
3. Bare wood will release far-far more chemicals (everything in the world is chemicals) into your water.

Ok, to the problems you have sighted, here is my response:

1. The reason for using wood and not glass is also another value attribute that I thought about. with glass being the bottle, if it slips, it breaks And it’s done, as compared to a bottle contained in wood which is more durable and far less likely to break when falling, including the fact you can manipulate its durability even further by increasing the bottle thickness whilst still compromising its weight, making it resistant to impact and a better choice as compared to glass which is more sensitive

Not only that but wood I would guess would give more of a natural appeal to specific type of people, and like I said, it’s more biodegradable, environmentally safe, renewable, recyclable, safer for your ’s and fertility

2.there are different linings I can use that are more healthy, natural and environmentally safe such as beeswax or carnauba wax, and plant based liners which are not known to release any toxic chemicals of any sort, making them also more safer.

3. Treating wood, using the right type of wood ( I’ll use bamboo woods ), coating and finishing the wood during production, sourcing from people that adhere to food-grade standards and doing those processes right I assume would take care of the potential dangers of wood releasing any chemicals into the

please correct me if I’m wrong or if you have anything else to say, thank you for spending your time to give me feedback

 

[Brookzo]

Ok, to the problems you have sighted, here is my response:

1. The reason for using wood and not glass is also another value attribute that I thought about. with glass being the bottle, if it slips, it breaks And it’s done, as compared to a bottle contained in wood which is more durable and far less likely to break when falling, including the fact you can manipulate its durability even further by increasing the bottle thickness whilst still compromising its weight, making it resistant to impact and a better choice as compared to glass which is more sensitive

Not only that but wood I would guess would give more of a natural appeal to specific type of people, and like I said, it’s more biodegradable, environmentally safe, renewable, recyclable, safer for your ’s and fertility

2.there are different linings I can use that are more healthy, natural and environmentally safe such as beeswax or carnauba wax, and plant based liners which are not known to release any toxic chemicals of any sort, making them also more safer.

3. Treating wood, using the right type of wood ( I’ll use bamboo woods ), coating and finishing the wood during production, sourcing from people that adhere to food-grade standards and doing those processes right I assume would take care of the potential dangers of wood releasing any chemicals into the

please correct me if I’m wrong or if you have anything else to say, thank you for spending your time to give me feedback

There are a few points I'd like to adress here:

Wood can def crack, so it doesnt exactly solve the issues of breaking. On top of that, to make wood not degrade during storage of water you'd need to cure or coat it with special chemicals on the inside, which may or may not be expensive/food grade safe. Waxes are good option, but consistent coating as well as making sure it won't wash away during the use(for example, what if someone uses hot water/bottle gets hot in a sun, making it "bleed" wax)
. I'd suggest considering doing a "wooden" outer later with something like a food grade aluminum/medicalgrade steel insert(basically a small thin metal bottle with an outside layer of wood as a design choice. That would solve both issues probably = if you drop it and wood cracks - it won't leak still).
This way, instead of trying to "reinvent" a bottle at higher price point for small demographic of people, you're making a "unique" spin on the idea of reusable water bottle with no downsides pretty much.
Just my 2 cents ofc

 

[Bounce Back]

I agree on the "Why not glass?" sentiment. If anything I'd shift to finding a way to just improve the glass situation instead of trying to change really engrained consumer behavior. For instance can you wrap the glass with something so that if it does fall/break it isn't a big deal? I've often noticed when beer bottles break they don't shoot the glass that is under the sticker all over the place - what if the bottle had a sticker over all the glass so it acts like a sticky bag? I'm sure a ton more ideas can be had rather than force a more expensive material to be used in non-traditional ways.

 

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[Anon45x4yB]

Seems Interesting
Thoughts :
Option 1) Not scalable
Option 2) Time isn’t scalable too
Option 3) Better. Contact as many suppliers as you can and discuss about production/personalization and delivery time. Then, if you can’t invest, sell before and ship then. But your clients should be aware of delivery time and it can be hard if the supplier applies quantity prices.

Keep it up

 

[Hlelo]

There are a few points I'd like to adress here:

Wood can def crack, so it doesnt exactly solve the issues of breaking. On top of that, to make wood not degrade during storage of water you'd need to cure or coat it with special chemicals on the inside, which may or may not be expensive/food grade safe. Waxes are good option, but consistent coating as well as making sure it won't wash away during the use(for example, what if someone uses hot water/bottle gets hot in a sun, making it "bleed" wax)
. I'd suggest considering doing a "wooden" outer later with something like a food grade aluminum/medicalgrade steel insert(basically a small thin metal bottle with an outside layer of wood as a design choice. That would solve both issues probably = if you drop it and wood cracks - it won't leak still).
This way, instead of trying to "reinvent" a bottle at higher price point for small demographic of people, you're making a "unique" spin on the idea of reusable water bottle with no downsides pretty much.
Just my 2 cents

Alright, how about instead of the coating in the inside of the bottle, I use a glass inner lining. Glass is cheaper and the wooden outer lining would still make the bottle more durable and even when it falls, the wood would cushion the impact and distribute it across the would rather then direct impact onto the glass and having higher chances of breaking, the bottle would be reusable, and easier to use would generally be more safe I would guess, thanks for the suggestion bro, I think that is better,

any more suggestions/ advice/ thoughts?

 

[Hlelo]

I have a problem, for me to get suppliers and make my first prototype, I ofcourse need to find suppliers to create the prototypes/ bottles, only problem is I don’t really have much money to pay and hire them.. what would you suggest I should do?

 

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[Bounce Back]

Alright, how about instead of the coating in the inside of the bottle, I use a glass inner lining. Glass is cheaper and the wooden outer lining would still make the bottle more durable and even when it falls, the wood would cushion the impact and distribute it across the would rather then direct impact onto the glass and having higher chances of breaking, the bottle would be reusable, and easier to use would generally be more safe I would guess, thanks for the suggestion bro, I think that is better,

any more suggestions/ advice/ thoughts?

Please don't take offense by why the fixation on wood for this? Glass bottles with shock absorbing rubber/synthetic sleeves have existed and sell well for a while. Things like this:

Amazon.com

 

[Hlelo]

@Bounce Back thanks i will take it into consideration