Butchers blocks

[MrTeroo]

I came across a website selling these today and I nearly fell of my chair when I saw the prices!

http://thomasfordltd.com/products/butchers-blocks-stands/

Am I missing something? Are they lined with unobtainium or something?

 

[SteveF]

I think they was made in santa's workshop
they are special timbers using pixie dust and reindeer poo
not available on the high street

Steve

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Make one to the same spec, framed and through bolted, 7 inch thick end grain maple. Then calculate how many hours it takes, add price of materials, workshop overheads, website and advertising costs, retail profit etc, for a commercial operation and I'll bet you won't do them any cheaper. Seriously, don't just rely on your first gut reaction, get pencil and paper and honestly work it out.

I'm constantly bewildered by what people think things can be made for, when the commercial reality is most people who make things are not well off even though the prices they have to charge to even break even, are regarded as an expensive joke.

Mike.

 

[custard]

I came across a website selling these today and I nearly fell of my chair when I saw the prices!

That's pretty much what I would charge for making one of those. If you take the smallest one at £435, after allowing for waste you'd probably need two cubic feet of Hard Maple, so that's about £100-£120 in timber costs alone before you've even lifted a finger to actually build it. Then if you think about it there's actually a lot of individual components, which means a lot of time consuming processes.

And the scale of those things can get pretty daunting very quickly. The largest block in their range weighs about 300 lbs, that's over 20 stone, you'd need some mighty machinery to process a block like that efficiently and accurately!

 

[MrTeroo]

Thanks, that makes sense now and highlights my lack of woodworkery knowledge

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Don't forget also that these things are made for use in commercial environments and not to look cool - they have to have a warranty, so there has to be an allowance for failure.

 

[Roughcut]

Don't forget also that these things are made for use in commercial environments and not to look cool - they have to have a warranty, so there has to be an allowance for failure.

Too true.
I bet they would be fit for many years of daily use in the Butchery trade.
So as a commercial purchase in the grand scheme of things not expensive at all.