How do you make a cheap species of wood look good?

[Richard Venturelli]

Have a customer that wants to go cheap on a TV cabinet to fill a family room niche. I have built many painted and hardwood TV cabinets but the money he wants to spend I'm not sure I can build him a stained natural wood cabinet and make any money. Is there a wood product that looks good with a faux wood stained finish and what would I use to get a wood grain looking finish or something close. And what wood species would you use? Heard poplar doesnt take stain well, but never tried to stain it. I need a cheap species to make this worth while. Is there a website that may explain the process?

Thanks,
Rich

[Jim Becker]

Poplar takes dye very well and is relatively inexpensive. Alder is another popular choice for "faux" premium species such as cherry. Both of these are close-grained woods, however, and you didn't say what your customer wants for the "look"...

[Joe Chritz]

This is free advice so take it FWIW.

Tell him you are to busy and it will be 9 months before you are available to do the project.

If price is his main concern you really don't want him as a customer for a custom project.

Poplar can be stained, dyed or toned to match cherry fairly good but the time involved and the learning curve is likely to kill any profit you stand to make.

I get flat sawn Red Oak as cheap as poplar here and there is less prep for that then paint grade.

Joe

[Richard Venturelli]

This is free advice so take it FWIW.

Tell him you are to busy and it will be 9 months before you are available to do the project.

If price is his main concern you really don't want him as a customer for a custom project.

Poplar can be stained, dyed or toned to match cherry fairly good but the time involved and the learning curve is likely to kill any profit you stand to make.

I get flat sawn Red Oak as cheap as poplar here and there is less prep for that then paint grade.

Joe

I'm thinking the same thing about this customer. I always try if I can, but if it's not worth it then why. Matter of fact it would be a red oak stain or look, I'm in California and Red Oak is not as cheap as poplar.

Thanks to both of you for the input!

[Frank Hagan]

Beech is almost as cheap as poplar here in So Cal; it stains well, by which I mean pretty evenly without sealing, etc. Here's a face frame I did for a bath cabinet, and a portion of the (almost) finished project using Minwax Red Mahogany stain over beech, and then a gloss poly.

[Paul Atkins]

If you aren't going to make any money on it, he isn't a "customer". Do you want to make free furniture?

[Doug Shepard]

How do you make a cheap species of wood look good?
...

Drink lots of beer. If it works for cheap women....

Poplar looks pretty good with just a clear finish too if you can find enough boards that have similar figure/color.

[John Keeton]

Richard, the problem isn't with the wood, it is with his expectations. You may make more money turning this down, than taking the job.

If your customer has higher expectations than you perceive, then he is going to bad mouth you because you didn't deliver on his expectations. In the meantime, you will be laboring on a profitless job, and perhaps miss the opportunity to make good money on a job with a better customer, and better materials.

You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear! Better make sure the customer will be happy with that sow's ear before you undertake this.

[Dewayne Reding]

What everyone else said. If he were here, he would get a quote for sound construction in oak. He could then decide if he was willing to pay that so he could avoid buying plywood from the local Furniture Mart.

John nailed my early life as a mechanic. They may have wanted the car fixed cheap, but when they got it back, it better perform as if we spared no expense, and last for years, or I often got the bad mouth put on me.

[Richard Venturelli]

Richard, the problem isn't with the wood, it is with his expectations. You may make more money turning this down, than taking the job.

If your customer has higher expectations than you perceive, then he is going to bad mouth you because you didn't deliver on his expectations. In the meantime, you will be laboring on a profitless job, and perhaps miss the opportunity to make good money on a job with a better customer, and better materials.

You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear! Better make sure the customer will be happy with that sow's ear before you undertake this.

You guys are right, I'll make money just not what I would usually make. I really have no overhead, it would just be time and that hourly rate would be much less than normal. I only know one way of doing things and that's the right way, I'm more concerned this would not be right and yes he'd probably not be happy no matter how right it was.
He's a foreigner and they can be difficult to deal with. It's all about the barter and getting the best deal possible with them. And my experience with foreigner's has been both good and bad. Mostly different without getting to un politically correct.

Thank guys

[scott spencer]

The problem with using "cheap" materials is that the labor is the same as for expensive materials, so there's really not all that much cost savings for them. You could also find yourself doing what you're doing right now...spending extra time looking for ways to make (as John says) "a silk purse out of a sow's ear". Unless they're good friends or family members, I'd be straight with them and respectfully decline unless they want to workout something that's "mutually beneficial".

[Phil Thien]

Distressed milkpaint?

[Rob Cunningham]

Sometimes it's better to turn down a job then to go through the hassle of trying to please a customer. You will be happier in the long run. If that little voice in your head is saying "Don't do it" , listen to that voice.

[Jim Becker]

Yup...sometimes ya just gotta fire the customer and move on...

[Richard Venturelli]

Sometimes it's better to turn down a job then to go through the hassle of trying to please a customer. You will be happier in the long run. If that little voice in your head is saying "Don't do it" , listen to that voice.

That's what that little voice is saying, think I'll listen to it this time!!!!