Oak Coffee table

[Mattty]

I've just finished this Oak table commission. It is reclaimed Oak with ABW wedges to the through tenons.

It took about 20hrs to make including the oiling and wax.

The photo's make the top appear very 2 tone but the grain and colour match is much better in reality.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,
Like the table but a bit curious/confused about what you have charged for it.
Others on here have quoted £20 per hour for labour costs which would make it that you have to sell the table for £400+. I find it very difficult to find a buyer with the dough, especially in this current economic crisis.

koolwabbit

 

[head clansman]

Hi

go out shopping and try to find one of that standard for that amount of money koolwabbit, don't think you will find one . Hand made, not mass production worth evry penny . Matty really nice job . hc

 

[Beardo16]

I really like this

Do you have any more information on ABW wedges?

 

[woodbloke]

Matty - nice job there...I like the jointing arrangement :wink: - Rob

 

[Mattty]

Hi,
Like the table but a bit curious/confused about what you have charged for it.
Others on here have quoted £20 per hour for labour costs which would make it that you have to sell the table for £400+. I find it very difficult to find a buyer with the dough, especially in this current economic crisis.

koolwabbit

Hi,

I quoted £650 for this. There was about 4 cuft of Oak used so the quote was a bit cheap! Finding buyers is never easy and is covered better by others elsewhere on here. These clients where going to pay over £400 for a rubbish M&S coffee table, so not a big uplift for a quality handmade piece, designed and made just for them.


Beardo- ABW= American black walnut. The wedges were made from a short plank of 25mm stock. I planed all round then re-sawed to about 10mm thick. I then cut the board to the correct width and formed the wedge shape on my disc sander.
I was careful to insert all the wedges to the same depth so they looked the same when trimmed back. HTH

Thanks for all the nice comments,

Matt

 

[BradNaylor]

Nice table Matt.

I'm pleased to see you're getting some commisions.

I quoted £650 for this. There was about 4 cuft of Oak used so the quote was a bit cheap! Finding buyers is never easy and is covered better by others elsewhere on here. These clients where going to pay over £400 for a rubbish M&S coffee table, so not a big uplift for a quality handmade piece, designed and made just for them.

Price seems OK to me - my rule of thumb for a job like this is £250 per day including materials and I would have reckoned on 2 days making and half a day finishing.

4 cube of 2" AWO from my local yard is £120 so my rule of thumb works yet again!

:lol:

Cheers
Brad

 

[OPJ]

Nice table, Matty. Price sounds good to me.

 

[woodbloke]

Nice table Matt.

I'm pleased to see you're getting some commisions.

I quoted £650 for this. There was about 4 cuft of Oak used so the quote was a bit cheap! Finding buyers is never easy and is covered better by others elsewhere on here. These clients where going to pay over £400 for a rubbish M&S coffee table, so not a big uplift for a quality handmade piece, designed and made just for them.

Price seems OK to me - my rule of thumb for a job like this is £250 per day including materials and I would have reckoned on 2 days making and half a day finishing.

4 cube of 2" AWO from my local yard is £120 so my rule of thumb works yet again!

:lol:

Cheers
Brad

Brad - just to go off topic a wee bit...what would you consider a reasonable daily or hourly rate for a hobbyist making for someone at work and not including the cost of materials? - Rob

 

[Karl]

Nice job Matty.

I'm not a big fan of protruding through tenons - wouldn't they get in the way of cups being put down on the table????

Also - can I ask why you have a wedge running the length of the tenon in addition to the two running crossways?

Cheers

Karl

 

[Mattty]

Nice job Matty.

I'm not a big fan of protruding through tenons - wouldn't they get in the way of cups being put down on the table????

Also - can I ask why you have a wedge running the length of the tenon in addition to the two running crossways?

Cheers

Karl

Hi Mate,

Tenons were just a design feature. I decided there was plenty of surface area and if they couldn't find a flat bit then tough luck..

The wedges were just a design feature again. I was going to do diagonal wedges but this was an easier jigging option. Diagonal would definately look better.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[BradNaylor]

Brad - just to go off topic a wee bit...what would you consider a reasonable daily or hourly rate for a hobbyist making for someone at work and not including the cost of materials? - Rob

I dunno...

The trouble is that hobby guys tend to take a lot longer over things than blokes whose livings depend on it. So an average good hobbyist charging £100 a day will more than likely charge a similar price for the finished job as a pro charging £200 a day.

As far as I'm concerned, hourly or daily rates are useful only for the individual maker when it comes to estimating a job. I work out a price by guessing how many days it is going to take me to make and multiplying that by my own personal day rate. My client knows nothing of this however. I simply quote them a global figure for the finished job. I'm sure they imagine that half of the price they pay is for the materials, when in actual fact the proportion is thankfully much lower!

Each individual's day rate they use for estimating is up to them - a function of how much they want to earn and how fast they work.

As you are an ex-pro yourself I would suggest that you should be charging pro rates anyway. Say £150 - £200 a day. Depends on how good the friend is and whether you are doing the job as a favour, for fun, or to earn a little wedge.

Cheers
Brad