Another side effect of woodworking...

interesting how that $1200 chair makes so much more sense now doesnt it?

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Exactly!! It’s always made sense that more expensive furniture and cabinets used solid wood instead of plywood and better finishes and all that, but it never occurred to me to see the methods into which the piece was made.

-- Greg, Owner, Quality Carpet One, www.qualitycarpetonecrofton.com

Greg, excellent observations. I have a stool my grandfather made by hand that is still as sturdy as ever. I noticed a similarly designed stool at Walmart recently and as I handled it I could tell this one will never last as long as my grandpa’s. It looked good but structurally it was weak.

-- Sweeping up sawdust in Texas

Welcome to the addiction

-- Gary, DeKalb Texas only 4 miles from the mill

Before I became interested and addicted to woodworking, my in-laws gave us some old furniture from my wife’s grandma that I told my wife I didn’t want because I thought it was ugly(even though we really needed the extra dresser). I always preferred the newer dresser we had but we took it anyways to make my wife happy.

After woodworking for a while, I started to actually examine the new and old dressers. I saw the new one was all nail gun and screws and fake veneered paticleboard and metal drawer slides. Then I noticed the old uglier one and saw it was all handcrafted, solid hardwoods, hand cut dovetail drawers(they aren’t perfect dovetails), wood drawer runners, ogee feet, routed profiles on the edges, crown molding above the top, and a large solid wood top. I now dislike the newer prettier one and love this piece due to its craftsmanship
....The things you take for granted.

-- - Eric Indianapolis, IN

I am with you 100%, when I was a teenager furniture was just another place to sit sleep or throw my keys on. I am not sure if growing up or becoming a woodworker is what made me appreciate and look at furniture in a new light.
Then when you start doing the fine detail work, like the hand cut dovetails you understand the amount of time it takes and then it doesn’t seem that expensive.

-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.

I made new cabinet doors for our kitchen. Now every where I go I’m checking the workmanship of cabinet doors. Friends, relatives, co-workers, the deli we go to, I mean all of them. I get sideways glances sometimes, but I just shrug them off, I am not looking in the cabinets, I’m looking at them.

-- Made in America, with American made tools....Shopsmith

Well the flip side is my wife keeps want to buy a new bedroom set and all that jazz and I want to attempt to build it! Haha I know she would be happy with throwaway furn to replace the good furn we already have and I couldn’t live with that.

-- Greg, Owner, Quality Carpet One, www.qualitycarpetonecrofton.com

My brother and I still have our grandparents’ bedroom set, built probably in the ‘50s. It’s well made, solid wood framework, dovetails, etc., but it’s obvious to the knowing eye that it was economy grade, everything done with machines, large panels veneered, etc. Sadly, it’s as good as “custom” furniture made today.

-- My broker promised me he would treat my money as if it were his own. Trouble is, he did.

Greg it is all ways nice to have an enlighten perspective I agree with you 100%
I purchased an old antique hutch made around the end of the civil war (no I’m not that old)
I fell in love with the highly detailed carvings and leaded glass panels
How can you not just admire the craftsmanship

I think compared to this I am truly a rank amateur
But it does give us all something to aspire too.

-- "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Thomas Jefferson