What is it like to be a Woodworker in Australia? What are your challenges and conditions? What types of wood do you use; imported or domestic? I have so many questions, is there anyone out there with some answers?
Thank you in advance for your thoughtful replies.
None
Edited 1/29/2004 12:15:49 PM ET by none
Replies
might want to check with this fellow
http://www.australianwoodart.com/
luck to ya
jerry
It's a job, none.
Fairly competitive and cutthroat.
Salary is hourly rates and it doesn't pay as well as other trades.
To stay competitive, a lot of larger companies are now using point-to-point CNC routers and other similarly large equipment. Those that don't have a large volume are limited in what they can achieve.
There are a few gallery-type places that go well, but it's a struggle.
Here's a gallery with a fairly wide viewing. http://www.bwoodworks.com.au/
Cheers,
eddie
Professionally it might stink - I know a few who are either struggling or doing something else but I gather from the tone of some of the US posts that it is not much different over there.
As an amature, much better. I work as a consultant for a multinational IT company, on my current project i have had one of the client's national managers seek advice on glueing up table tops, new tools are regularly brought into work, the white board has sketches of appraoaches to putting a bar into a workshop including detail of the joinery, and the conference table usually has a scatter of magazines and catalogues.
tool supply is ok, but timber can be a challenge. most people I know dont have a planer or thicknesser, few have a decent table saw. Therefore, much of the dimensioning is also done by the timber supplier or kitchen/bathroom factory.
David
Could you let me know if your IT consultancy requires a furniture making consultant - could be better for business than a corporate box at the MCG :-)
Don
Edited 1/30/2004 11:28:10 PM ET by Dondownunder
No, too much competition from the incumbents,
But in support of your remarks about recompense, Easter last year I 'volunteered' to drive a D9 building a dam for my brother just outside Kilmore. After a week he said "we could make a few bucks doing this - you could put up a shed and build pretty boxes, when you need to eat we could build dams together"
Think I will stick with a regular salary for a while, although a mate and I are toying with the idea of teaching (tax effective tool collection?)
David
Thank you, folks, for taking the time to include the links and personal insights you have provided me. I have found them to be interesting and thought provoking.
Thank you, one and all, once again.
None
Here's a link you might enjoy:
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/
Michael R
None,
I think that being here is probably the same as being a woodworker in any developed nation. I subscribe to FWW & Furniture & Cabinet Making (UK) as well as Australian Wood Reveiw (http://www.woodreview.com.au) so I think I've got a fair idea of what's happening overseas.
Conditions (unless you mean working conditions) are pretty good. I'm inland 300km NE of Melbourne (where the Australian Open tennis finals are being played today).
Its warm to hot in summer, mild in winter rarely dropping below 0*C (32F), then only overnight. Humidity is generally in the 50-60% range year round & snow has never fallen here. However we are only about 90 minutes drive to the chairlifts in the ski fields. For 10 months of the year we work with the exterior doors open for at least part of the day, the other 2 months the AC goes flat out while we attempt to keep the temp reasonable insde.
Challenges are usually in obtaining a fair value for one's work in the face of rising quantities of imported & usually bottom end (but not always) furniture. However I've been at this game long enough now to weed out the tyre kickers from the genuine clients & I guess from also building up a decent rep can now charge what I believe is fair; so I don't get every job - but who does?
I think that as we (an apprentice & I) also make & fit about a dozen kitchens a year (about 50% of our work) we have a financial buffer. We both prefer to work in timber so will attempt to get at least some into every job, be it a built-in wine rack right thru to doors & tops. Other work includes a steady stream of tables big & small, sideboards, entertainment & wall units, office suites & with the odd smattering of repair/restoration work as well.
We tend to use native species more than exotics because the variety & availablity is good, most finish well & price is usually easier on the wallet.
Local timbers I use include Tasmanian blackwood, Queensland walnut, alpine ash, redgum (a eucalypt not Liquidamber Spp), myrtle, jarrah, karri, Sydney blue gum, rose gum, messmate, stringybark, ironbark, hoop pine, Murray pine & celery top pine.
Imported spp commonly used here are red & white oak, cherry, walnut, maple, European beech, NZ beech, Brazillian mahogany, sapele, amongst others.
Its a bit hard to give you comprehensive answers to your questions but I'd also like to say that I'd rather be here than a lot of other places right now.
Feel free to ask any more questions as I'm sure me & my fellow antipodeans would be ony too happy to answer them.
Don
Edited 1/30/2004 11:23:32 PM ET by Dondownunder
Hi Don,
Thanks for this post - far more civilised than my first attempt (note to self: don't post following a bad day at work.)
Did you move up from Tassie - that's where I thought you were?
Majority of my recent work is in either redgum (eucalypt), Surian (Imported species similar to Australian Red Cedar for those that don't know the local market) or Silky Oak (US Lacewood)
I'm about 60-90 minutes out of Sydney.
Regards,
eddie
edit: should say that I'm now a high school wood work teacher, so things are a touch easier now. - the commission work is not my primary income.
Edited 1/31/2004 4:42:59 PM ET by eddie (aust)
Eddie,
Glad to hear you got the job as a chalky; 6 hour days, 40 wks / yr - you're almost retired now :-)
Certainly we would find it tough surviving without kitchen manufacture, but I know of 3 operations in NE Victoria (1 employing 5 people) who do.
I've been here for 15 yrs after moving from the smoke - never been to Tassie but hope to rectify that this autumn.
Don
Don,
Thanks -
I wasn't sure what I was getting into either - I tell you but, the days are split in two - I spend about 2 -4 hours per day outside of work on preparation and after teaching for 10 weeks, where you have to teach kids who want to stab each other and play not-so-nicely, I need the holiday - if it was four weeks per year (standard here for those in the US), I wouldn't cope and go out on stress leave.
Tell you what but, I'm wishing I was retired - 25 years to go.
Cheers,
eddie
Thank You so much for your time and insights. I found your post to be exactly the information I sought.
I am, as I am certain you have guessed, very interested in visiting and eventually living/working in Australia. I have many hurdles to jump with regard to immigration and work visas ect. .
I live in southern Ontario, Canada; I have just come to HATE the winters we have here.
Thank you once again for your time.
None
None
Happy to help.
It's a big country (about 80% of Canada), but a bit closer to the equator so you can pick a climate to suit.
'I have many hurdles to jump with regard to immigration and work visas ect. . '
You might like to have a look at getting into NZ first if you encounter difficulty with direct access to Australia.
Don
i have just started renting a workshop and am trying to put out high quality work into the market. im still working another job to supplement my income because there isnt really a great demand for fine woodworking here besides reproductions ( i live in adelaide). nevertheless, i dont really know were its going to take me, but i think its going to be good fun and hopefully i can furnish some mates places with some nice furniture.
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