Originally Posted by
Malcolm McLeod
I went looking for a desk one time. 95% of what I found commercially was made of particle board and/or MDF. The other 5% used plywood. The wood grain is painted on, or they splurged and used a printed paper 'veneer'. I could see the moisture in my breath degrading the joinery, even while I looked at the hot-melt and staples holding the drawer boxes together. ...And this was in the expensive stores.
I still have nightmares about the cheap-stuff-stores.:eek:
If you have tools, time, and some skills, you can build the items you find at Thomas Moser. This is one quality, low-volume builder that I'm aware of (perhaps you know of others?), and is of comparable quality to what I see from most of the SMC postings. Moser's production is heirloom quality (IMHO), and is probably what you should compare your build costs against. This from their site:
AMERICAN BUNGALOW NIGHTSTAND
$2,170.00 – $4,340.00
FWIW, I could probably build this in some pretty sharp materials for less...?? Bet you could too. Enjoy!!:D