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Thread: Quality or Price? You can't have it both ways

  1. #21

    Default Re: Quality or Price? You can't have it both ways

    Wow, the Scott James beds are really beautiful, and as you said—heirloom pieces. It’s a shame that there are fewer opportunities for customers to become aware of such high-quality and well-made brands, and that such hand-crafted pieces are a rarity these days. As you mentioned in an earlier post, the less-expensive imports that saturate the market of mainstream chain furniture stores have really changed furniture buying. Your forum routinely highlights in many ways how a majority of customers are completely unaware of the content and construction of their furniture and home goods.

    Had not known about the double-hook joinery of the Durham beds and hope I’ve not made a mistake with that purchase. Have had beds with rails that join both ways, but never really thought about how the bolt-joining is inherently stronger and therefore more durable. Enjoyed watching the through bolt mortise and tenon joinery on the Epic Woodworking video. I was jealous of the beautiful tools in his workshop; it has been nearly 20 years since I stopped woodworking. His chisels were so sharp and not worn-looking! Watching him work the wood to create something not only beautiful but very well made was great.

    Duane, thanks for your insightful comments and the video links. I learned a lot.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,883

    Default Re: Quality or Price? You can't have it both ways

    My pleasure, I really appreciate fine-woodworking having gone to so many small woodworking shops over the decades, they showed me how to make furniture correctly, and unintended education fueled by my natural curiosity. It's not a lucrative business, most wood-workers like you saw in the video don't earn that much. Their pay is about half of what a decent car mechanic makes, but they have a passion for the art of making something by hand and seeing it evolve from wood to a beautiful piece, so they are always willing to chat about it. But it takes hours and hours to make some of those creations and they simply cannot sell them cheaply. I have never quite understood why people will be $ 50,000 for kitchen cabinets, but recoil at the thought of paying $ 5,000 for a decent chest of drawers.

    Recently we had a client ask us to build a high-quality version of a Hooker Furniture import that was $ 2,000 or so as I recall. I said to scratch build that piece properly, as a one-off, will be about five times the price. He asked me to get a formal quote, so we did and it was 5x the price plus another $ 400 or so. He said "Too much" and that was that. Of course it depends on your income and allowance for goods you purchase, but I have mostly very high quality pieces in my own home and never tire of them. My regrets in furniture buying are always the cheap pieces I bring into my house, because as the old adage goes, "you get what you pay for". Most my good furniture is over 30 to 40 years old now, and it holds up plus is still beautiful to look at.

    The conventional double hook rail attachment on the Durham beds you have on order will suffice, but here's the key to longevity and avoiding tear-out with them. Never pull the bed around by a post, that puts huge amount of stress on those attachment points. I know, its hard to avoid doing that, but if you have to move the bed then pick up each post and place furniture sliders underneath. Once those glides are under the post, the help take the stress off the hooks and don't jerk the bed when you move it. And don't pick up any one post more than 1" off the floor when the rails are attached. Do that and you should be fine.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  3. #23

    Default Re: Quality or Price? You can't have it both ways

    i think that important are both of them!

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