I am a hobbyist turning commercial and will be setting up a small shop with a 4x8 shop bot. I am in a position to penetrate the high end market, where I hope to generate most of my business. Leveraging my own designs in software and the power of the CNC, I plan to use live edge slabs, furniture grade sheet goods and edge glued panels to make furniture (and some art).
I have good sources for slabs and plywood. My challenge is with panels. I can make them, but especially with no jointer and only a 13" planer, they are time consuming and a pain. It's also not where I'd like to focus my energy. I'd rather be designing, running the CNC, marketing and networking instead of jointing and planing rough lumber.
I started investigating buying panels but haven't found anyone local, which means shipping costs and the risk of not being able to "know" the quality in advance. Here's an example: I can get a 3/4" finished thickness 48"x96" solid walnut panel for $700-$800 delivered to the shop. If I make it myself (not including additional equipment investment), it's around $250 in lumber and supplies and my time, which would be valued at around $500 in this comparison.
$500 is real money. But my time and energy are worth something too, especially when I could use the reclaimed time to market and sell. Also, I expect that at my price points, I can still make money buying panels. Just less per panel, but hopefully I could sell more with more time....
Sooooo....what do you think? Am I crazy to consider buying panels? Other ideas? Suck it up and buy a jointer and make a lot of dust? Try both ways?
Also, someone in another forum suggested I could joint and plane rough lumber on the CNC. I get it in theory, but is it really practical to make panels with only a CNC, glue and clamps in terms of time and energy?
Thanks so much!
Brian
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