Those of you out there who build furniture or cabinetry for a living- how many of you choose to outsource your finish work??
I have found that outsourcing simplifies the furniturmaking process, saves time, and frees up much needed shop space. The conveinience seems to justify the cost.
Who agrees and who doesn’t??
Replies
Joseph,
I like to be involved from the begining to end of a project -- conceptualize, draw, implement, finish. There are times when it is worth it to source it out. It depends on how much work you have ahead of you and weather you are comfortable with the application of the selected finish. Currently I have a commission to build a cherry dining room table and am seriously considering taking it to a shop to have a sprayed conversion varnish finish applied to it. I have never used it nor do I have the equipment for it, but I know it is a good hard finish -- being such a large item makes it easier to source it out, allowing me time to do other things. If it is painting, staining, or applying a typical rubbed on finish, I like to do it myself.
That's pretty much the same route I take, outsourcing the larger or more complicated stuff. It just seems that when I write out that check to my finishers, I'm wondering if there was a way I could have done it myself - and put the money into MY pocket. Paranoid I guess.
My shop is small, in the basement, & though I have gotten a real good handle on the dust problem, I don't have enough ventilation to even think of doing any finishing. Both from the safety standpoint & preserving harmony with my wife. That said, the biggest problem has been finding someone good enough to give my woodwork the finish it deserves. When you do find someone to do your finishing, work closely with them to make sure your preparation is adequate so they can give you the finish you want. That is also a good way to help keep your finishing costs down.
Paul
After all the work involved in building my projects, I wouldn't think of letting someone else do the finishing. If it's going to get messed up, I'm darn well going to do it myself. {;) OTOH, if it's going to look great, I want the credit, the FULL credit, for doing it all myself.
--
Lee in Cave Junction, Oregon
On the Redwood Highway
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled