Replies

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Feb 07, 2007 01:34am | #1

   How can you make any money making custom furniture when the client won't even pay for materials?  If you're being paid sufficiently, the difference between MDF and poplar and plywood (or what you would normally use for painted furniture), won't be a hill of beans.  You should charge more for the MDF since you have to figure out the differences in construction and finishing. 

   (And pay the chiropractor for having to lug that stuff around.)

   
   

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   Edited 2/6/2007 5:35 pm ET by SteveSchoene

1. 
   Rich14 | Feb 07, 2007 01:41am | #2

   Aubster,

   I agree with Steve.

   MDF is used extensively in the furniture industry and there are many, many connectors and joining methods that make it very advantageous as a material to a shop that is set up to use it, in the hands of craftsmen who have experience with it.

   But if you are not comfortable working with a particular material, for any reason, the results could be really bad. You really don't want to have to learn on the job. Then you're not using the skills that make you efficient and competent.

   Never let the customer dictate the materials, other than to specify ones from a range of selections of your choice.

   Rich

2. 
   miller | Feb 07, 2007 02:47am | #3

   He spent the money for a 50" rear projection TV, and he wont spend a little more for materials.  He should have bought a 40" and used Poplar for the entertainment center.

3. 
   petersonmi | Feb 07, 2007 03:05am | #4

   Aubster,

   I agree with the others' comments.  Your customer is kind of a tightwad if he wants to go cheap on the entertainment center materials.  But don't sweat it if you take the challenge and use MDF.  I have made many pieces of furniture using MDF combined with poplar.  MDF is very stable, and it paints like a dream.  The biggest drawback that I've found using MDF is the edges.  You have to conceal the porous edges with edge banding, poplar, or something else solid, otherwise it looks terrible.  I've read that you can apply joint compound to the edges and sand them smooth when they're dry, but this sounds vulnerable to dents to me. 

   Good luck!

   Mike

1. 
   Aubster | Feb 07, 2007 05:05pm | #5

   Thnaks everyone for your useful comments. If you couldn't tell I am new to woodworking for a business, but I have been making custom furniture to fit in my home for a little over 4 years and I absoltly love doing it. I'm still working for another job that I'm finding it hard to wake up for more and more, and I hope turning something I love to do into a new career. So, you will see more of me looking for some help in my adventures.

   I love a challenge, so I will do it out of MDF, but first my wife just drew up a cabinet she wants built for the office. I will build it first out of MDF so I will know what MDF is like to work with first hand.

   Thanks again

1. 
   Rich14 | Feb 07, 2007 06:35pm | #6

   Aubster,

   Sounds like a good plan. There are some excellent articles from FWW on joinery techniques for MDF. I'll look up the references later and post them, or maybe someone else will do it before I get home from work, 8 hrs from now.

   Also, it's a good idea to consider formaldehyde-free MDF, Medex or Medite II for furniture. Here's a reference:

   http://www.advancedbuildings.org/main_t_finishes_formaldehyde.htm

   Rich

4. 
   YesMaam27577 | Feb 07, 2007 08:08pm | #7

   A couple of years ago, I had a potential customer that wanted about the same thing. An entertainment center for a television that was about 37" front to back, and he wanted it flanked by fairly traditional (12" deep) bookshelves.

   I proposed tow designs -- one with the big bulge in the front, and one with a fiarly normal-looking breakfront, but lots of lost dead space behind the bookshelves.

   When he realized ho rediculous the one looked, and how much floorspace the other took, he somehow thought it was my fault.

    

   Here's another thought about MDF, and why it should perhaps cost the customer more as opposed to less. That dust is horrible! Build it that way, and you'll be coughing for a week after you're done.

    

    

   Unless you're the lead dog, the view just never changes.