Who buys this stuff????!!!!!

[Chuck Harris]

OK I know most of us build our own stuff and can do it right. BUT...

The GF wants me to build a bench for inside her apt. We go down to the lumber yard and we get this awesome board for $100. It's 8/4 so I'm going to resaw and bookmatch for the seat. I can make the legs out of the rest and use a peice of curly maple I have in the shop for the strecher. Then I go online to look at some plans. Somehow I find this furniture website selling trestle benches. The $199 bench made of solid durable "pine" was bad enough but the Boos bench made of maple for $500 blew my mind. I could tell from the photo no mortice and tennon everything screwed together.

What idiot pays $500 for stuff thats built like junk?

OK rant over.

[Rich Engelhardt]

That stuff doesn't clash with the Ikea cabinets is why they buy it....

[anthony wall]

unfortunately most people don't have a trained eye capable of spotting junk furniture so if it looks ok it is ok!!!! but to me its a waste of good timber,wonder if it has a save the planet sticker?

[Harry Hagan]

Movie Property Masters

[Jim Rimmer]

Over the holidays I was showing some pictures I had on my iPhone of the A&C Bedside tables I am making (Honduran Mahogany with 50 M&T joints per table) and a couple of the young ladies gushed over them and then said "That's like Pottery Barn stuff!" It was a family gathering so I smiled and bit my lip.

[Zach England]

Over the holidays I was showing some pictures I had on my iPhone of the A&C Bedside tables I am making (Honduran Mahogany with 50 M&T joints per table) and a couple of the young ladies gushed over them and then said "That's like Pottery Barn stuff!" It was a family gathering so I smiled and bit my lip.

I am a potter and once someone looked at one of my bowls and said "It's so nice it looks like it could have come from a store".

[Moses Yoder]

I wonder what that bench would cost if you paid yourself $15 per hour to build it, and calculated your shop costs at $25 per hour? The shop cost includes the inital cost of all the equipment. Now you end up with a $1500 bench. Do you know of anyone who would spend $1500 on a bench when they can get one for $500 that serves exactly the same pupose and in all likelihood will last for a hundred years?

In October I went on a perch fishing charter that cost me over $200. The filets I took home weighed about 5 lbs, so they cost $40 per pound. Who in their right mind would pay $40 per pound for fish when you can go to the supermarket and buy Atlantic Salmon Filets for about $10 per pound?

Just saying, in a hobby you work for pleasure. In business, you work for money.

[Dave Lehnert]

I worked in retail for many years. It all comes down to price. you could make furniture all day long with mortice and tenon joints and most would not even know what it was or care.

[Greg Portland]

I wonder what that bench would cost if you paid yourself $15 per hour to build it, and calculated your shop costs at $25 per hour? The shop cost includes the inital cost of all the equipment. Now you end up with a $1500 bench. Do you know of anyone who would spend $1500 on a bench when they can get one for $500 that serves exactly the same pupose and in all likelihood will last for a hundred years?

Exactly. My wife bought a dining room table and 4 chairs for $99 that we've had for 8 years now. I couldn't even buy the raw materials for that! A better question would be "Who buys from Ethan Allan when a local WWer could build custom furniture for a similar cost?".

[David Larsen]

I like the idea of building something for the home for practical purposes also and would like to think that someday the family would pass it down through the generations as an heirloom. Try that with some of that screw together chipboard!

My in-laws have this cabinet. To my experience and skill level, it looks like junk, but it was made by their grandpa and to them it is flawless!

[Gene Howe]

So true, Dave.
We can only hope that those that own our creations experience as much satisfaction in their use as we do in their making.

[Greg Portland]

I like the idea of building something for the home for practical purposes also and would like to think that someday the family would pass it down through the generations as an heirloom. Try that with some of that screw together chipboard!

Agreed. However, my wife doesn't want to wait that long :-). I let her buy the screw together chip board and replace it with quality hand made stuff at my own pace. This keeps us both happy...

[Mike Cruz]

At my old job, we had plenty of people come in and ask if we could make the "custom piece that they've always wanted (or needed)". With a quick conversation, we'd figure out what they wanted/needed. Would give them a price. And their eyes would open WIDE. "What do you mean $500 for a little table?! I can buy one from Pier One for $75!" The difficult part was explaining that their would be no comparison in the quality of the workmanship. Besides, if you wanted a table from Pier One, why didn't you buy it? "Because it was the wrong size." Well, we're not going to make 10,000 of these things...we're making one...for you...and it will last a LOT longer.

[Moses Yoder]

A while back my daughter brought home this bookcase http://www.meijer.com/s/legare-bookcase/_/R-155890 She works at Meijer, and gets a 10% discount on general merchandise. It kind of hurts my pride (and thus my ego) when someone in my family buys a cheap piece of furniture when I could build something that costs a little more for materials but would be a family heirloom. On the other hand if they waited on me to build everything, they wouldn't have much of anything. I went over to help my daughter assemble the shelf, looking at the directions to see what tools I needed. By the time I was done reading the directions she had the shelf put together and all i did was help her set it in place. It holds all our piano books now. I did build a 1/3 scale Hoosier Cabinet years ago that is my daughter's, and I think she will treasure that her whole life.

[Jim Koepke]

I worked in retail for many years. It all comes down to price. you could make furniture all day long with mortice and tenon joints and most would not even know what it was or care.

This is the bottom line for so many people.

I was fortunate to learn about things from my father. My parents had a furniture and appliance store when I was growing up and into adulthood.

My folks carried quality, mostly maple, furniture.

They had an oak roll top desk that cost about $1600. People always asked why the price was so high when they could go to the furniture store a few miles away that seemed to change its name every 6 months and buy one for half the price.

Explaining never seemed to work. Finally, he stocked one of the cheaper ones and set it right next to the oak desk. He would show them the shaped end grain on the top of the oak desk and compare it to the flat veneer on the ends of the particle board top of the less expensive model. He would show them the joinery on the oak desk and compare it to the pinned or nailed joints on the mass produced model. Finally he would have them lift one end of the low priced unit and then the oak desk, most couldn't lift even the light end of the oak desk. After all of that, most people still wanted the cheap knock off. I think that is what finally got my dad to retire from his business. He could compete on quality, delivery and service but everyone was looking for price.

jtk