Replies

1. 
   Sgian_Dubh | Aug 31, 2001 04:45am | #1

   *
   If the total of your job is 100 hours, then it is not very unusual to spend up to 30 of those hours preparing for and applying the finish. It depends on the type of job, the type of finish, the method of application, and your customer's expectations, and what you can,.....ahem,........get away with, but put simply, if you reckon it will take 70 hrs to make the piece, don't be at all surprised if you spend 20- 30 hrs. polishing it to a high quality level. Getting ready for, and applying, a good finish is generally a seriously underestimated part of the job, and most people think finishing is just a last minute slap up. It typically isn't if you want customers to come back or recommend you to their friends, etc.. Finishing is a lot tougher than most people give credence to. When I trained, polishing was a whole seperate trade, but then so were a lot of things, and as far as I'm concerned finishing still is a distinct skill. I'm cr*p at finishing by the way, but I do my best. Slainte, RJ.

1. 
   Michael_Rimoldi | Oct 13, 2001 03:26am | #2

   *Martin, First off, I'm ten times worse at finishing than Sgian is and I spend about 1/3 of the time on any given project finishing. Sometimes, I have to refinish what I've finished if you know what I mean. A quick example... I just built a 48" x 90" island for my new kitchen. Maple top, oak and mahogany base. Took ten days to design and build and one week to sand and finish. Most of my projects are similair in time except the painted ones of course. Those I hold to the MCT. (Multiple Coat Theory) More paint covers the errors better. Sad but true.Mike

1. 
   a_jepson | Jan 13, 2002 02:04am | #3

   *are you spaying your finish or applying it by hand? also, what machines do you have for surface prep? if you have a wide belt sander and a spray system you will spend a lot less time then if you hand sand and hand finish a piece.a quick example. on a table i was building, i spent at least 20 hrs scraping and sanding the top to near perfection. then i applied several coats of oil along with a few coats of wax (probably another 10 hrs). the resulting surface is beautiful, and feels as smooth as glass. on the other hand, once i got fairly good at using a spray gun i could have finished the same piece in 1/2 an hour with a few coats of lacquer and a coat of wax. either way, your left with a very nice looking surface. a wide belt sander would have cut down on the surface prep time tremendously (i wish i had one).

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   Sgian_Dubh | Jan 13, 2002 04:52am | #4

   *Is that a question to me, aj? If it is, then in practical terms spray finishes are generally swifter to apply than hand applied finishes. However spray finishing often means that all other woodworking processes grind to a halt, whereas hand applied finishes mean that you can often go to other tasks, perhaps for your next project. In relationship to the overall proportion of the cost of a job, I've found over the last 25 years or so as a working furniture maker that it makes little or no difference which type of finish is applied to a project, what with preparing for, and actually polishing. On average preparing for and finishing will take about 20% to 30% of a jobs total for b construction time. Slainte, RJ.