Kind of OT ramblings

[jared herbert]

I just bought 10 doors from Menards, 6 panel unfinished pine doors. They are for our second home on Lake Superior. The price was right, they were on sale and were just what we wanted. So I get them home and start unpacking them. The 36" doors were made in Brazil and the 32" door was made in Chile. I took the hinges off for finishing and they were made in China. So I put a coat of finish on them and was sanding this morning and looked at the sandpaper [Industrial Abrasives brand] and it was made in Portugal. That being said the doors seemed like reasonable quality for the price and the sandpaper lasted a long time. But how can all of this be? Just the ramblings of an idle mind while sanding for 4 hours. Jared

[John Toigo]

So... your doors are kind of like a UN General Assembly.....

[Bill Bukovec]

When can I come up and see the new doors?

I figure about three days in August will do. ;-)

I work for a company that has manufacturing plants in Minnesota, Ireland and Costa Rica.

Now, if I could just wrangle a one month business trip to Costa Rica next January....

[John TenEyck]

But how can all of this be?

Because we don't buy locally, first and foremost. I'm as guilty as the next person, but most times we buy something we have several companies to consider and choices of which "model" to buy. If we all chose to buy locally more often, there would still be local sources to buy from. Going to the BORG is easy and you almost always get a lower price than buying locally, your doors being a good example. It often takes a lot of work to find a local source for something, such as your doors, but if you do they usually are able (and often happy) to offer something extra (custom design, choice of woods, trim to fit your exact openings, matching or custom molding, etc.). Almost never cheaper, for sure, but you are getting something more as well, not to mention helping a local company or craftsman pay their bills. I'm not criticizing at all, only using your doors as a good example of how this all can be.

[jared herbert]

I guess one reason why I bought the doors where I did is that they are in stock and I could just walk in and inspect each one and put them on the cart and take them home, rather than having to order them and athen waiting a week or two to get them. These doors are for the lower level of our house. For the upper level, the main floor, I bought a higher quality, read more expensive, brand of doors. I believe they were made in Wisconsin. One thing I know is that the hinges were of a much higher quality. They were also prefinished and had a little better surface quality. I was happy with them but they cost about $200 more for each one. I could have gotten the Menards doors prefinished for $70 each, the end result would have been that the higher quality doors were about twice as much money.

[jared herbert]

August on the north shore is a nice time. WE are about a mile from Gooseberry Falls State Park.

[John TenEyck]

the end result would have been that the higher quality doors were about twice as much money.

The company I retired from has a plant in Brazil which I visited a couple of times. All great, hardworking people. The production workers made about $250/month at that time (15 years ago). The production workers at our US facilities made around $3000/month or so, except a special few who sometimes made $2000/week! (And we wonder why things cost so much.) So while those doors made in Wisconsin cost 2X more than the ones made in Brazil, which is real money to be sure, it's actually rather surprising it isn't more. The fact that it isn't probably relates to the higher level of automation of the US company, and lower shipping and distribution costs. Anyway, glad to hear you did source some of them locally. It would interesting to know if you see any differences over time.

[jared herbert]

I can already see some differences in quality. Both are sold as pine doors, however the south american ones have a grain that is much less pleasing to the eye. The US ones have a better job of finish sanding. The hinges on the US ones are much better. I would rate the US ones a 10 overall and the SA ones an 8 but for the purpose they are being used for, both are a good fit. The SA ones will be used on the lower lever which will see much less use over time. The US ones are being used on the upper level which will be our primary living area. Jared

[John Lifer]

I use a good bit of 1" "white" board lumber 1x4 and 1x6. Got a load from local big blue the other day. Taking off the labels, found it was Swedish.
Can't believe that importing this stuff is cheaper than getting it somewhere in the US!

[Rick Fisher]

On the West Coast there is a fair amount of pine coming in from Russia.. They have forests which are larger than California, which have barely been touched..

[Larry Edgerton]

The ones from the box stores may not even be pine at all. Its not uncommon for an inferior wood such as Radenta to be called pine. One of my pet peives with the box stores is that they have no respect for species. If they have a product from Timbucktu, but the common name is decided to be a name that will not sell, they just make up a new one.

[jared herbert]

I think it is entirely possible that the "pine" in these doors is not the same as thepine we have here. It is very wide grain and very soft. It does look nice though. There is a huge difference in the looks of some of these doors. I first looked at these doors at the Menards in Duluth MN. I ended up buying them from the store in Spencer Ia. The ones in Duluth were not the quality of wood that the ones in spencer had. I am sure from a different boat load or whatever.

[Gary Curtis]

We built our new house in the mountains of Northern California. The contractor gave us a few brochures of door styles. The interior doors were the lines carried at most lumber dealers. Front doors, however, are in a category all to themselves. We looked online to choose that when they were almost finished. The nicer doors cost up to $5000. With elaborate carvings and paint schemes.

The one we chose was made of red fir in Oregon. By one of the leading manufacturers. In 2006, that door cost $800. It had quality feel when you opened or closed it. I'm happy. And so is my wife. As far as your thoughts on globalization, I worked in aviation. And Brazil makes some of the best available commercial airliners. Of the smaller type for commuter airlines. Some foreign cultures specialize in certain trades and have a level of expertise we can't match.

I learned how to spray paint cars in my restoration hobby from an Italian guy who trained at the Ferrari factory. His skills were really over the top.