Very Nice! bottom line 3x’s the cost of materials and then what your time is worth— your time should be worth about the same as above just as a starting point… that piece is unique and brings value itself. … and your right- those tables you see that are being built are going to high end buyers and most are commissioned ahead of time. To the right buyer that table of yours is worth between 8 and 10K if you get a finish on it that is durable and will hold up to abuse, take a look at some of the woodworking youtubers and see what they are using.
I have used a water based poly for work I do that stays inside in a conditioned space, it will last three or four years before it starts to look like it may need to be redone (dining table). I really like a a good oil based finish (Osmos) for most of my projects though, check out Fine Woodworkings forum page and search durable finishes. they reference “Understanding Wood Finishing by Rob Flexner” multiple times and is available on amazon if you want to learn more for future projects you may sell.
Bob Flexner is the God of wood finishing. He researched and tested virtually every finish known to man and then went one step further and varied HOW you prepare and apply the finish to get the results you wanted.
I very much appreciate the insight. I have always worked on double material costs. I do this for a hobby and past time. Well and fund my tool fetish. I can price material cost metal wise and my labor for fabrication easy. One area I struggle with is pricing one off powder coating jobs. I do work for the company I work for I charge a rate per part for welding, powder coating and assembly. Each process has a different pay scale. I do them by the hundreds so profit is great.
This project is probably one of the most valuable time consuming projects I have done. I mostly do one off brackets and of course signage. Signage for the most part I don’t think is nearly as profitable as brackets and such.
I can’t get a good handle on the value of the wood. A few years ago a friend bought a sawmill and we would go around cutting trees and milling cants to sell. This wood was some of the first we milled not going to cants. It also to me has a story because I probably cut the tree I usually did most of the felling. I can attach a story with the wood but to me that is valuable. So I don’t have money tied up in the wood I can’t place a value on it due to inexperience. Woodworking is something I have no experience in other than being a carpenter helper as a teenager.
I am curious if people can actually sell items like this. The area I live in is so close to poverty it really isn’t funny . In the signage department going to a craft fair if it is a over 20 buck you plan on hauling it home.
Oh an YouTube it’s crack! The river table builds as the wood turning I love to watch. I will definitely check out your recommendations also. I see looks like Tom as put his seal of approval there as well. I value anyone’s opinion in almost anything. My machine shop mentor always said you never stop learning. When one gets to the point he thinks he knows it all that is when he begins his fall.
There is selling locally, then there is Facebook marketplace and other forms of media to expand. If a body is willing to pay North of $5k for that table, it’s of little matter that it may be in the other end of the country.
Oh yeah I am sure you could advertise online Etsy and such. Shipping this would kill a grown man. This table isn’t valued anywhere near that kind of money. On Etsy similar are under 1000. I have a brother in mid Kentucky says 800 in a consignment shop easy.
The pricing the wood and woodworking being a inexperienced novice I am “green”.
I am just curious more than anything as to see if anyone actually sees the market for this “higher end stuff”. I go on the first yeah you see it advertised online but is it actually selling.
Everyone that has seen it loves it. I would love to make more stuff like this and would. I just don’t see a reliable market in my area.
I am stumped on the value of the wood and such. The kind of work I normally do is one of things, repairs and things for the company I work for. Pricing in those fields are certainly a different creature. I am not fretting over it just looking for valuable insight is all. It makes a great discussion.
I have learned a lot on finishing since thanks to everyone.
Just a personal opinion, but I think that in my area ( SE Michigan mostly middle to upper middle incomes) I think a piece like that would fetch $1800 to $2,500 pretty easy
It might be interesting to see what the market will bear. I would start at $2,500 and make sure to market it as “custom furniture” and see if it sells.
No doubt there is a lot of Facebook. Me personally I try to stay way from there to many crazy people I would push it over the top. My wife did start a page on Facebook for our side hustle I can’t even see it in entirety because I don’t have a account. When something goes up a lot of likes and stuff just no serious inquiries.
That is great insight on the value of the market up there. My brother is around Frankfort Kentucky. He does some wood working. We are about 5 hours apart. I am going to maybe try a few frames and get them to him to make the tops. The market will be much different there he is around a lot of high-end horse people. I am in the coalfields of the Appalachian mountains. The coal industry is drying up so is the money. Know what I mean?
You could always list it on E-bay as a pick up only and see what interest there is. I sold that fume collector I redid last summer on E-bay and made out very well. I did not plan on shipping, but ended up doing so due to how well I did make out.
I am thinking about doing a celebrity death match thing to make some cash on tickets I am going to let my wife and good ol jimmy duke it out over this one… You know I am kidding @ChelanJim I would never subject to you that kinda torture.
I am weighing the market on these they are a fun project I enjoyed doing. I just hate to invest several hundred dollars and the time just to not recover it. We will see.
If you end up doing more big projects with wood, you might consider investing in a wood moisture meter. Mostly, I trusted my wood supplier to have dry wood ready for making furniture since they sold directly to people that built luxury boats.
I had one project that was really disappointing. It was a wide panel (6 feet wide) of joined boards that provided a decorative finish to the bottom of a room divider/dresser for my daughter’s room. It took about a year but eventually a large split occurred (about 1/2" wide). Since it was glued and nailed onto a piece of 3/4" inch plywood making up the backside of a large cabinet/dresser, the thought of removing/repairing was complicated. I filled it with colored wood putty and wiped on multiple layers of polyurethane. Of course the putty shrank and caused a bit of a depression but at least your eye is deflected from the area now.
Never had that happen since but I always think about it.
All of my wood, now, has been in the garage for more than 20 years. It gets occasional heat and lots of air circulation in the summer. I am certain it has all reached the Equilibrium Moisture Content described in this article. Understanding Moisture Content & Acceptable Levels in Wood
And no, I still don’t own a moisture meter. My father-in-law carried his moisture meter around with him in his shop. He checked the wood like someone checking their oxygen saturation with a pulse oximeter (those of you who know someone with Congestive Heart Failure or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease will understand the reference).
That is great advice also. This wood we milled ourselves several years ago. It was stick stacked in my buddies basement until about a year ago.
Yep I have a super cheap moisture meter.
Oh man Jim you made a memory come back. When mom accidentally found out she needed a pacemaker I bought her a pulse oximeter. Man she was like a teenager checking Facebook or some of us on the forum. She would never sit down for a break that she didn’t stick that on her fingers.
I would smile when a patient was short of breath after walking. They would stop, pull out their pulse oximeter and read “89 percent…see!” My thought was: “You are short of breath. You already have feedback that it is low. Your system is working as it should: when your oxygen is low you will be short of breath. You don’t need the meter to tell you!”
Well, to be fair:
When your oxygen level drops below 88 percent, the brain is beginning to fall asleep. Processing power is compromised. If the individual is aware, they feel “fear” more than anything. It is the feeling of suffocating. Not a good feeling to have.
You know I am kidding 