I am curious about something I know is HIGHLY subjective. Having been in the cabinet business for some years I am moving into furniture making as I draw closer to finish :). I am wondering how long (actual time)it takes to produce a piece of furniture.. Tables and chairs, bedroom furniture, period furniture pieces such as gateleg table. sideboard, highboy and the like. Power tool, Hand tools or combination.
I’m well aware that on the surface this seems ridiculous. But,
CabinetMaker magazine does a thing where they put out a cabinet job for bid and people from around the country give their price on what it would cost. CabinetMaker then prints the bids in a summary. IT is pretty helpful and rather insightful.
I was wondering if anyone (hopefully,(but certainly not limited to)some professionals) could say something like: I build x chairs and table in this much time. OR I took this long to build a chest of drawers. (actual time again:))
I know I watched St. Roy once in the Dominy shop and they stated that it took about 9 hours for them to produce a pie crust table. With hand tools!
I thought there was a web sight that had some similar info on this but can’t remember where it was. I’m not interested in the price, as much as the time needed.
Any Takers
Dave
Who enjoys E Tenn
Replies
Hi Dave ,
I have seen the comparison bid from all around and also found it interesting from Cabinet Maker magazine. But gosh , what you are asking is a open ended mass of parameters . How long will it take you to build a cabinet or a book case or a Dresser , I think the details pertaining to the individual piece will ultimately determine the time required to build it don't you agree . When a maker says it takes me 6 & 1/2 hours to make these tables my guess is they are already jigged up with templates and jigs and such needed to re create this piece over and over , that is quite different then the way I do one of a kind pieces . I sometimes spend an enormous amount of time planning and engineering and designing before I cut a piece of wood .I personally don't plan on making another one just like it , but if I am asked to I can and will . Approach is up to the individual , I tend to simplify most phases so as to not overwhelm myself . I also spend little time on jigs and templates and try not to keep them unless I know I will need it again . When you are building a set of pieces over and over say a chair then it becomes more important to keep and build your templates for the long term .In building house hold cabinets like a kitchen that has 50 lineal feet of boxes you may have a handle on about how long it will normally take you , so one could say it takes me 2 and a 1/2 hours per foot or something like that , but one of a kind furniture for me , all I can count on is that it takes me longer than I counted on .If I charged by the hour I would be filthy rich by now , but I work only by bid . I say suck it up figure out a bid you can live with and throw it out there and learn from each job.
dusty
I realize the open ended parameters makes this question a w****S nest. I was hopeing to keep it simple and sort of forget about those. I know that doesnt make much sense at first but if you get enough respondants that say "I built such 'n such in this much time" Your eventually gonna get a feel for things. 'and if they add there own parameters that it was built under,then it will make it that much more useful. IMHO :)Dave
Dave ,
I thinks it's a great question. Everytime someone on here mentions time it takes to do a task it tends to stick in my mind. I do think however, it's not really meaningful unless it is componentized. For instance, Rob Millard once mentioned how many pieces he made a year. Sgain, on the other hand mentioned something like 6-8 hours to build a dawer. Rob's stringing and banding along with his finish process greatly adds to the time it takes to make a piece...altough work hours is a seperate issue. Likewise, I'm sure Sgain is not including selection and preperation of stock time or any finishing.
As Dusty mentioned it gets complicated fast but I agree with you, any discussion is going to be better than none...
Edited 2/13/2005 7:31 am ET by BG
BG
I think you have the answer in your own statement. Youve read some posts and the writers have given some (or Most)the parameters which they used to build the article. These have stuck with you and will be a consideration when you do something similar. So if one had a long list like that to compare to I think it would be useful But it doesn't look like were going to get a lot of takers :)Dave
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