Interesting pieces of furniture - 1

[Anonymous]

Hi all

Well, I for one would like to see more furniture on here and less tools

So, with this in mind I though I'd post a photo of a good or innovative piece of furniture at regular intervals on this thread. I will 'bump' the thread up the list of recent posts each time I update it with a new photo and details.


All are welcome to comment on the pieces and please pm me with links to any photos that you would like featured here.

The first piece is my favourite item of furniture by my personal favourite maker/designer

Becksvoort's 15 drawer cabinet (I fully intend to make one this year :wink: )

Chris Becksvoort says:

50H x 15W x 14D
My signature piece and personal favorite. With over 190 individual parts and almost 300 dovetails, it represents a fair amount of work. It holds keys, gloves, coins, papers, camera equipment, or even your collection of antique toys.

His webpage is here


I will copy all items of furntiture I post into a single sticky thread in the Design Forum, thus creating a pictoral 'list' of interesting furniture here

Please do not post any comments in the design forum thread. Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

As I said, all are welcome to comment on the pieces and please pm me with links to any photos that you would like featured here (please include a link to the makers webpage in your pm).

NOTE I will delete any posts not specifically linked to discussion of the furniture itself

 

[Philly]

Good idea Tony!
The chest is a classic piece It looks so simple at first glance but there is some serious work involved. And I bet your dovetails would be real good by the last drawer......... :lol:
Cherry is such a lovely timber to work, too.
Cheers
Philly

 

[Anonymous]

Good idea Tony!
The chest is a classic piece It looks so simple at first glance but there is some serious work involved. And I bet your dovetails would be real good by the last drawer......... :lol:
Cherry is such a lovely timber to work, too.
Cheers
Philly

It's a nice enough chest. It looks pretty simple at second glance as well to me! We knock this kind of thing out all the time.

About £150 worth of cherry
About 4 days work (with a leigh jig)

Yours for £1250 + VAT, sir!

How much does this other bloke charge?

 

[Anonymous]

Yikes!!!!!

I've just seen what this other bloke charges!

My price has just gone up to £2000 +VAT

Brad

 

[Michael7]

$12,750, about £7000, thats ridiculous :shock:

Edit

£6,572 at the moment, still ridiculous.

 

[Adam]

$12,750, about £7000, thats ridiculous :shock: Edit
£6,572 at the moment, still ridiculous.

Why?

After salary, workshop costs including deprecation, materials, how much would you expect it to cost? Indeed, it may depend on how certain parts are made, e.g. handcut vs machined dovetails, and no doubt you could build it cheaper the more the process was mechanised, but if people want to buy mechanised factory built furniture his website is quite specific that those poeple are not his intended customers.

Adam

 

[Shivers]

lets see batch production--lets say 50 hours.

50hrs@50quid an hr(reasonable amount for medium size company)=£2,500.


i'd say the item is grossly overpriced.

 

[Adam]

lets see batch production--lets say 50 hours.

50hrs@50quid an hr(reasonable amount for medium size company)=£2,500.


i'd say the item is grossly overpriced.

Thats the thing, hes quite specific, its not batch produced, and with 900 dovetails, and 190 parts, I'd say it would take quite a while. Its oiled not sprayed.

Adam

 

[Shivers]

lets see batch production--lets say 50 hours.

50hrs@50quid an hr(reasonable amount for medium size company)=£2,500.


i'd say the item is grossly overpriced.

Thats the thing, hes quite specific, its not batch produced, and with 900 dovetails, and 190 parts, I'd say it would take quite a while. Its oiled not sprayed.

Adam

i count from looking 108 parts(excluding knobs/glueblocks ect)


ok small business custom item,40 quid an hr at 100 hrs ==£4,000

still overpriced.

if he's a small business then he won't have elobrate machinery thus less overhead,even being consevative here--he's running at $80 an hr-thats outrageous for usa.


& believe me he has patterns for batch production---why would he have a website advertising a range of furniture if he didn't produce them in batch,advertising claptrap.


edit ammendment.

Fifteen-drawer Chest
50H x 15W x 14D
My signature piece and personal favorite. With over 190 individual parts and almost 300 dovetails, it represents a fair amount of work. It holds keys, gloves, coins, papers, camera equipment, or even your collection of antique toys. Comes with the "clutter police" seal of approval.
$12,750


ok i had a look & he does do one offs --but produces them as a range--hardly custom building.

there's $150 in materials for this piece,so lets say he's operating @$50 an hr from a nice home workshop,


$12,750 -$150=$12,600.

$12,600 divided by $50hr =252hrs.

who needs 6 weeks & 2days to make a small cabinet 50x15x14.

totally unrealistic--anyone with some training could make a masterpiece if they had that long to make it.

Hmmmm do i spend $12,750 on a new car that has thousands of parts & operations involved,or do i buy a chest of drawers.


shivers.

 

[Good Surname or what ?]

Do I detect green-eyed monsters?

I, for one, think Becksvoort's work is wonderful. If I could afford it, and did not already aspire to produce my own work of such high quality, I would buy something from him. A fine investment I think.

We Brits have our own fine makers too. It was the purchase of a chest by Waywood in 1986 that rekindled my own desire to make.

 

[Anonymous]

Good idea Tony!
The chest is a classic piece It looks so simple at first glance but there is some serious work involved. And I bet your dovetails would be real good by the last drawer......... :lol:
Cherry is such a lovely timber to work, too.
Cheers
Philly

It's a nice enough chest. It looks pretty simple at second glance as well to me! We knock this kind of thing out all the time.

About £150 worth of cherry
About 4 days work (with a leigh jig)

Yours for £1250 + VAT, sir!

How much does this other bloke charge?

He doesn't use a Leigh jig - and neither will I

 

[Anonymous]

$12,750, about £7000, thats ridiculous :shock:

Edit

£6,572 at the moment, still ridiculous.

Eric

How long will it take you to hand-cut 300 dovetails including sliding dovetails for the casework?

How much is Chris's 40 years experience and the skill he bought to the design worth?

 

[spadge]

Agree with Phil, there does seem to be a bit of green eyed monster syndrome here.

If the guy can sell what he makes and people are happy to pay what he charges I say good luck to him. I also don't think it is overpriced given the work that has obviously gone into it.

Shivers first post recons it is overpriced based on £50 per hour then works out how outragiously long it takes to make based $50 dollars an hour. I don't think the cost of living in the US is about half what it is here.

And going back to the original post I do think it a good idea to show interesting pieces of furniture, whether here or in design. Personnaly I enjoy the making process but the real satisfaction for me comes from the shape, function and finish of the finished piece. Anything that can improve any of those three aspects should be welcomed.

 

[Shivers]

Agree with Phil, there does seem to be a bit of green eyed monster syndrome here.

If the guy can sell what he makes and people are happy to pay what he charges I say good luck to him. I also don't think it is overpriced given the work that has obviously gone into it.

Shivers first post recons it is overpriced based on £50 per hour then works out how outragiously long it takes to make based $50 dollars an hour. I don't think the cost of living in the US is about half what it is here.

And going back to the original post I do think it a good idea to show interesting pieces of furniture, whether here or in design. Personnaly I enjoy the making process but the real satisfaction for me comes from the shape, function and finish of the finished piece. Anything that can improve any of those three aspects should be welcomed.

yes i did quote £50 an hour that was based upon brit companies hourly rate,

after i took a good look at the site i americanized the hourly rate to$50 an hr which most american bussiness charge,you are wrong about it being cheaper in the states --what they can buy for a dollar costs us a pound,you can usually say that as far as wages go,overall expenses such as vehicle,car insur,house rent,premises rent ect is equal pound to dollar,they have the added expense of hundreds per month in medical insurances.yes fuel is cheaper but they have larger houses to heat or air condition,& drive 3 times further a week than the average brit.

to americans his furniture is horrendously expensive ---what he's doing is not typical of the average american woodworker,theres no exceptional skill he has that a well trained cabinetmaker in this country doesn't have.

If some one wants to pay the guy 5-6 weeks wages to make a piddly chest of drawers --let em go ahead,as for the design factor --theres really nothing going on that wasn't already done for him by the shakers.

sorry to be off about it--but the guy is operating for a rich clueless clientel.

how about a nice shaker copied tripod table for $1,700 which converts to £1,700 over here(dont quote exchange rates cos it dont apply)thats what the guy is charging.


shivers.

 

[Good Surname or what ?]

Shivers,

Go take a look at stuff on Waywood's site in my earlier post. People play those prices here in the UK so why not in America where they are generally better-off.

As to your $50 hourly rate - I have no benchmark for this. But I do have many american friends (some quite wealthy) and will ask their views.

I'm not keen on green eyes - but each to his own. :wink:

 

[Shivers]

Shivers,

Go take a look at stuff on Waywood's site in my earlier post. People play those prices here in the UK so why not in America where they are generally better-off.

As to your $50 hourly rate - I have no benchmark for this. But I do have many american friends (some quite wealthy) and will ask their views.

I'm not keen on green eyes - but each to his own. :wink:

no green eyes here at all--why would that be!.

the waywood stuff is far superior,made of exotic hard to work timbers,& has very original design.--ie as in it wasn't copied from anyone.

What waywood are charging for their excellent designed made from the above,the other guy is charging a substanial amount more for.


shivers.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I think it is a lovely piece. It has a classic, timeless elegance.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[LyNx]

Not my cup of tea

 

[dedee]

Well to me it kinda looks a bit plain.

No doubt that there is some skill involved and I do not also doubt that the lines and design are "classic".

Personally I would like to have seen some contrasting timbers used and perhaps some more radical changes in the drawer sizes and positions.

I can't remember where I've seen them but there are some lovely variations on the tall boy type chest featuring curved sides ie the width of the top is narrower than the base which would be a far greater challenge to construct.

Tony,
I am sure you will make a good job if it and I look forward to seeing the WIP pictures on your website :wink:

Andy