Kaleo’s Workshop

So for those of you that are on Twitter you know that recently I had absolutely no desire to go into the shop. I kept telling myself all day, SELF: you need to go into the shop and get some stuff done. I’m still in the middle of making the box for the podcast. I’m trying to make a few stands for some pottery to be displayed on. Just recently I had a friend of a friend find out that design and make furniture. So I think that there might be a few projects coming my way.

But even with all the stuff that I could and should be doing in the shop, I had no desire to go down there. Have any of you ever had this experience? I mean I love it when I am down there. And because I know that I will love it when I get down there, I usually make myself go. Well I learned my lesson while at school. There were just some days that I felt like not doing anything. And those were the days that I should have stayed home.

One such time was at the end of a long day. It was crunch time, a project was coming due at the end of the week. We were all putting is some really long days. One night I was taking the clamps off the project. I had glued corner blocks onto some construction paper and then onto the carcass. This was to be able to clamp the miter corners. Well the clamps came off and the piece was looking good. It was about 10 pm and something told me “that’s enough for the day”. But I wanted to get the corner blocks off and get all the construction paper off as well. So I proceed to pop off the blocks, and thought I’ll sand off the paper. I started to sand a quickly figured out that it was going to take forever to do it this way. So I grabbed one of my chisels and proceeded to pair away the paper. Oh did I mention that this was a veneered piece. Well needless to say, my eyes grew tired and my hands and my brain weren’t communicating. The chisel got away from me and I took out a nice chunk of veneer.

Now I did end up being able to fix it, so that it didn’t look that bad. But of course to me I will always see that flaw first whenever I see that piece.

The lesson is follow your gut. I have found that those time when you do not feel like being in the shop are the times that you shouldn’t be in there. Things just go wrong, you might mess something up that you have spent hours and hours doing. Or worse yet, you might not be thinking straight and end up hurting yourself. So if you don’t feel like it, then take a break and watch some cartoons with your kids. If you don’t have kids, then just watch the cartoons anyways, I just use my kids as an excuse.

So over the 4th of July weekend, I got to spent a little more time in the shop. Although the time that I got to spent wasn’t just my own time. At the moment at work I am making a huge curved floor molding to go around a oval shaped cut out of the floor. So over the weekend I had to joint and edge glue some 12 inch wide Red Oak boards. Yes I know it seemed like a waste to me also to make this molding out of such wide stock. But I had to cut out the initial curve and then glue on the off cut to the back to be able to mark out and cut out the same curve only 4 1/2 inches wide. So that’s how a spent a couple of hours in the shop.

But I also spent some time cleaning and arranging tools. The first thing that I noticed was the my very simple and cheap router table was sagging. So I took the router out and braced the table flat again. But this has lead me to believe that I need to make a real router table. So that will be soon. ( my brother in law has a craftsmen bench top router table that I can use if I am in a pinch.)Then I mounted my planer onto a rolling cabinet that I had and leveled it to the extension wing to the UniSaw. The other big thing that you will notice is the huge snap on tool chest in the shop. That also belongs to the brother in law. But man does it look sweet in the shop. My one experiment last weekend was trying to rig up some poor mans dust collection. At the moment I have access to 4 shop vacs. I guess I should say 3 because my Festool Midi vac, does not qualify as a cheap shop vac. So I hooked on up to the planer and that worked beautifully. I hooked another up to the miter saw and that worked beautifully also. Then I tried to hook one up to the jointer. Let’s just say that blue is a miracle worker in the shop, but it has ti’s limits. And one of those limits is attaching a shop vac hose to the DC port of a jointer. Did I mention that this was a poor mans attempt at dust collection. I am saving up for a decent hopefully used and nicely priced something soon. But until then I’m stuck “jerry-rigging” and blue taping stuff together.By the way there will be a new episode of This Week in Wood, hot and fresh by Monday morning. So look forward to that Monday at work, I know I will!!!

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So here’s the latest update to the box making series. In this part we discuss veneers. Where they come from, how they are made, how to prepare them and how to get them ready.So I said that I would post the recipe for the flatten solution. Now there are many different ways to do this. The way that I do it is this: 4 parts water to 2 parts glycerin. Now many people add alcohol, this is believe to help the solution penetrate the wood deeper. Also they add a little bit of Plastic Resin Glue. This I do not know why they do. But you can also buy this solution pre-made at Rockler or at Woodcraft. I hope this helps, also thanks to everyone for using my Amazon link and the Google Ads and Search. I truly appreciate it.

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So the folks over at Popular Woodworking have just opened up registration for Woodworking in America.  So head over there and take a look at all the presenters and exhibitors.  Register today to get your spot and be there at the show.   Also send in your votes on who I should interview.

Woodworking in America

So I spent the entire day on Saturday in the shop. When I say the whole day I mean for about 9am to about 8pm in the shop. I have been trying to finish up a coffee table that I am making for my brother in laws frame shop. They are having a big city wide open day on Saturday next week. And he asked me to have a few items to display. So I got this table together and one coat of finish on the top.

So this entire table is made from 2 inch wide by 1 inch thick stock. Making it pretty heavy, but plenty sturdy. The base has a taper going in towards the middle. The table is made from the white oak that I salvaged from the old work bench in the shop. The top has an outer frame that has a single runner down the middle. Then the cross pieces are half lapped jointed to each other. The cross pieces are a half inch short from the sides. This was done on purpose to give the table just that little sense of “hmmm can you do that?” I decided to put 4 contrasting boards of Brazilian Cherry in the middle. Also just to break up the white oak.

So that is that, I went to bed last night and spent the day today with the family. It started to rain here in Virginia pretty hard around 4pm. It hasn’t stopped yet and it is almost 11pm. So as my family and I packed up and were getting ready to go back to Maryland, we went through the shop to get out. And what did I see, the shop was flooded. FLOODED I tell you, my unisaw was almost floating away. So I spent the next 3 hours just getting the water out of the shop, using the shop vac and a small sump pump. But like I said it’s still raining, so the water is still flowing. I made a temporary damn with all the saw dust that I have made over the last few weeks. But I’ll be back down there in a couple of hours to make sure that at least the water doesn’t make it into the basement. We’ll see…

So it’s been a few days and thing are returning to normal again. But I have to say that being back in northern VA for a week reminds me exactly why I left in the first place. So much traffic and to many people make for not a nice place to be.

So let me tell you all about the trip a little bit. We spent the last week in the Seattle area. I say area lightly because we were about a 2 hour drive out of the city, but only a hour ferry ride out. That was really cool to get on a ferry and ride into the city, but I digress. I had a couple of good opportunities up there. I had a chance to get to visit a great gallery in Seattle, Northwest Fine Woodworking.

I have been to a few galleries both here and in Australia. This gallery blew them all out of the water. It was very nicely laid out and had some amazing work in there. Everything that you could imagine was in there, beds, dressers, tables of all sorts, tansu chests, rockers, chairs and little boxes and bowls. The shop manager was really nice and answered all my questions about how to show at the gallery and what he thought sold the best. ( he told me that anything under about 3500$ sold pretty well, especially sofa, hall and coffee tables.)I also got the chance to talk to an owner of a small custom furniture and cabinetry shop, Bob from Saturn Designs I was interested in a possible job there when I finally get my act together and move out to the great north west. But it was good to talk to a guy that was doing it. He expressed his feelings on guys that come out of woodworking schools. He said that it tells him 2 things. First, that you are very dedicated to the craft. To go and spend time learning and developing skills shows that dedication. Second, it tells him that you are most likely very slow at making stuff, which I agreed with.  I’ll talk more on both of those subjects in the next episode of This Week in Wood. Anyways everyone, thanks for sticking around over these last few weeks. I’ve almost got the Sam Maloof Video ready, and I am filming some good stuff for the beginning of my shop set up. So stay tuned. Keep those questions and emails coming.

So I received a great comment the other day. In it was a thought that suggests that woodworking schools produce “disillusioned woodworkers”. That statement got me thinking and you might ask why it got me thinking? Well as many of you know I have just finished my 2 year programs here at The Australian School of Fine Furniture. I am now a university graduate with a degree in furniture design. I am a product of one of these woodworking schools. So I started to think ‘ am I disillusioned’?

So let’s break down a few things first. Why did I choose to go to school? Why did I choose to go to a 2 year program? Why not a 1 week or a few days type program? Here’s my quick story

A few years ago I started restoring antiques and fixing furniture for a living. I have always worked with wood, but I quickly found that restoring and fixing was really boring. There was no creative outlet. So I signed up for a 2 week furniture making course at The North Bennett Street School , an experience that changed my life. It placed a bug in me that I knew I had to nourish. That lead to some attempts at building some furniture for my house, which lead to a desire to do this for a living. With that desire I knew that if I wanted to make that happen with in the next 10 years of my life, that I needed to be trained. That’s where I decided that I need to go to school. Plus I knew that I needed to dedicate time and money to get this training. It wasn’t going to be easy, but nothing worth it ever is. So that’s basically how I ended up here in Australia. That’s why I choose a 2 year program, to full immerse myself in all things furniture making.

These programs are set up to teach you a lot of the skills that you need to make furniture (this done in the first year), then to let you go and use those skills develop more and make some stuff (this is the second year). I was fortunate enough to be taught by a great furniture maker Neil Erasmus. Then to have one on one time with 4 established furniture makers with brilliant skills, guys like Jono Everett, Evan Dunstone and David Up-Field Brown (who is the head instructor at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. Now unlike most 2 year programs in the states I got 5 different points of views and making styles. I got to see 5 ways these masters worked and could decided which I thought was the best, or just find my own. But the best thing that I got from these men was the business that furniture making is.

So I’ve got a lot more to say about this, but the post is getting way to long. So let me know your thoughts on the subject so far. I’ll leave you hanging until the next installment.

So after I hit the publish button yesterday, I had a few more thoughts on the subject. I received some really good comments and emails about the subject also.

I used my “Hollow” entertainment unit as an example. Now that piece took me 100 hours to make. Now that is a really long time for a pretty simple form and unit. There are a few reason why it took that long, but I won’t bore you with all of them. It really boils down to lack of experience, with that said I reckon I could make the piece today in about 40 hours. So is that to say that as we gain experience and get better at what we do, that we have to charge less? I say NO.

One of my instructors here in Australia told us that when he first started out that he would make a chest of drawers. He would sell this pieces for 9000.00 dollars. Since then he has made the same chest of drawers of 4 or 5 other customers. Each time the process became quicker and the price went up. Were today he recently sold the same chest of drawers for close to over 25,000.00 dollars.

I recently watched a video on YouTube about Sam Maloof. In the video it said that When he started he made a dining room set that sold for 3000.00 dollars. The same set today sold for more than 150,000.00 dollars. I guarantee that he or his shop make the dining set in more than half the time they use to. Is it worth that much, if someone buys it then I think it is.

So if I build my unit in 40 hours, but I can sell it from 6000.00 dollars, should I charge less for it? I really think it boils down to the market and the clients that you are trying to cater to. Our work is worth a certain amount, which is what we put into. But it is also worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Sometimes we think it’s worth more than we can get for it, thus the piece never sells. Then we have to reevaluate how much we think we are worth.

So what does this all mean, well you figure out what you are worth and then move to a place where you can get that. Ok maybe that’s not exactly what I mean, but if you want to big money for your work then you need to be seen where big money is. Is your work worth big money that is for you to decided, but once again I say YES…

I was recent reading a thread on the Wood Net Forums about what a certain table was worth. The poster said that his friend was thinking about buying a dining table from a furniture maker for 12,000 dollars. This poster’s question was “is this table worth 12,000 dollars?” So this got me thinking…
How do we determine what something is worth? Easy enough, add the material cost with the labor cost and about 10-20 % mark up and “bob’s your uncle”. Well it’s not that easy at first. Whether you are a hobbiest or a professional, if you are going to sell your work you need to come up with your hourly rate. This can be done many different ways, but what I have done is look at my expenditures. How much money do I have going out every month. When I say how much I mean everything, you choose what you want to spend. If you want to buy a coffee everyday, then you need to add that in. Add what your shop cost, what your machinery cost, and if you want to upgrade sometime. With this all together next you have to figure out the total amount of hours you want to work in a given year. So there are 52 weeks in a year, let’s say you want a 2 week vacation and the 10 holidays about the same in possible sick days (now remember that you are the owner operator, therefore holidays and sick leave are yours to figure out.) So that leaves you with 48 business weeks that you have to work a year. At 40 hours a week that makes 1920 hours a year you have to work. Divide 1920 by 12 and you get 160 billable hours a month. Lets say that you need to make minimum 5000.00 a month. Divide 5000 by 160 and you get 31.25, now that is the minimum amount you need to charge an hour to break even.

So lets say that I have decided that I am worth 55.00 dollars an hour. In that 55.00 an hour I have worked in not only all of my overhead, but also my profits that I want to make. When I go to bid a job I take the material cost with the amount of time it will take to make and there you go. So for example my last project was my “Hollow” entertainment unit, it breaks down like this:

-MDF for foam core torsion box… 50.00
-Veneer… 200.00
-Glue… 20.00
-Castor Feet… 45.00
-Oil Finish… 30.00
-Labor…(100 hrs) 5500.00
Total… 5845.00

That is what I need to get in order to make any money on the project. That price doesn’t account for what a gallery is going to add on top. So if you work with galleries you need to know what they mark up. Because if you sell this same piece to a customer privately for your wholesale price, the gallery will never display your work again. But that is an entirely different subject. So to some that seems absolutely absurd, some might think that I must be crazy. But remember that Mr. Sam Maloof gets 50,000 dollars for one rocker.

I think that as makers of furniture we under value our skills and talents. We all know the stories of the customer that saw a piece at IKEA and wants the same thing except made out of solid hardwood and for cheaper. You and I cannot compete with China, we have to offer something that China cannot, that is quality and customization. So is a 12,000.00 dollar dining room table worth it? I say YES IT IS. What do you say?

So here’s a quick video of the show. I tried to get a little footage of most of the steps. The thing that I didn’t film was the actual plinth making. But there is a quick shot of the painting and then the delivery. The rest of the video is set up and the final walk through.

Click To Play

I just want to thank all my fellow students for all the work that went into the show. It came off very well, there was a great turn out to the opening.

So until next time friends… Don’t sweat the technique..