Advice please

[TenguWoodwork]

Hi Woodworkers,
My friend has asked me to build him a half dozen stools similar to the attached photo. They'll probably be painted or stained with dark walnut. It's my first shot at furniture, so I'd like some advice on:

1) Wood selection. The stools will be at his business and probably will see a fair amount of traffic.
2) Pricing. I know this will depend on wood selection, but I'm looking for a guideline.

Thanks

 

[Mike Davis]

Can you list some dimensions? It looks like you will need some large blocks, the size may dictate wood species to some extent. Large blocks are hard to dry in some species. Pine, poplar and mahogany come to mind as good possibilities. Looks like you will need a large bandsaw and either a circular plane of serious sanding equipment. All of this affect cost, so you need to answer these questions first.

 

[Henry W]

Stools like that are not a 'super duper advanced' project, but they're not a beginner project either.

Kelly - the simple answer is as you guessed: It depends.

Wood Species - depends on budget and availability. If they'll be painted that provides a lot more options (like gluing legs to get to the thickness needed).

Pricing - it depends on the goal. Favor for a friend? Or is this a skill building exercise for you where you just meet costs? or is a business for you where you need your time, overhead, supplies, and profit figured in? I can't tell you what your time is worth or how much overhead you have. So it is back to the opener comment: it depends.

I'm not trying to trivialize the question - but this depends on a lot of variables. Just ball park I doubt I would want to do this for less than $200 a piece. Shockingly high? Know what a dining room chair cost? Work out the numbers on materials, overhead, time (including finishing), add in some profit. If he can get them from a website (where they have factory made stuff) that is likely going to be the cheapest option unless you are dong a favor and donating your time and effort.

Henry

 

[Jeff]

+1 to the advice given above. Dimensions will be helpful for advice. Is your friend Oriental and traditional in that way?

Painting them defeats the purpose and hides the wood IMO, but if that's the decision then SPF or poplar will work. Not a show stopper and lamination is an option to make the pieces thicker and bulkier to fit the design.

Unpainted but finished in some way: Maybe consider cypress; it's light but strong, durable, and relatively cheap.

http://hardwoodstore.com/lumber-prices

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

Instead of large blocks it looks like big glue ups

my main concern would be liability when used in a public environment.... the reason bar stool cost so much is for that little sticker that say approved for commercial environment

 

[merrill77]

I'd recommend a close-grained wood for a finish like that. Either that or plan to fill the grain. If it was me, I'd go with maple and stay far away from oak, walnut, mahogany, etc.

 

[Rick M]

To me the style screams oak, maybe fumed or I guess you could stain it although I'd use dye.

 

[FlyingRon]

If you're going to paint it black, I'd glue up. I made some cabinetry (actually the case of a medicine cabinet and a tall cabinet) to match a mirror and vanity my wife had bought. After screwing around with various stains and dyes to try to match, I just ended up using black Valspar enamel over the poplar. It leaves enough of the grain visible to give the ebonyish finish that was on the vanity. The dyes/stains I tried never got dark enough.

Frankly, if you are shooting for the laquer look, traditionally you'd get the wood pretty smooth/grain filled to make a mirror finish. It wouldn't matter too much what the material is.

My one cute design issue was that rather than hinging the mirror to make a cabinet door, I mounted it on two drawer slides to it actually slides to the left to expose the inside of the cabinet.

 

[Jeff]

An interesting project with good questions and suggestions. So I "googled" traditional Japanese furniture to ask what kinds of wood were used. Japanese cypress was common for strength, durability, appearance, and workability. Our locally available Eastern cypress should work too.

http://books.google.com/books?id=R1...od for traditional japanese furniture&f=false

My Sketch Up renditions from the pic. The dimensions are nominal and on the fly. It looks complicated with all of the curvatures but should be relatively easy in practice. Joinery is not included other than the saddle joints for the stretcher in pic 2 which will have an M&T to the legs.

How about critiquing this idea for the original poster whose on our continuing learning curve. :help:

 

[Mike Davis]

The only thing I see is the legs curve in two directions. Sort of like this...

 

[Jeff]

The only thing I see is the legs curve in two directions. Sort of like this...

You're right, but that wasn't intentional. The convex and concave radii should be the same for a sweeping and uplifting look in this Oriental style.

Thanks for noticing that subtle point. You folks see things that I overlook and that's good. Yikes!

 

[Jeff]

The only thing I see is the legs curve in two directions. Sort of like this...

You're right, but that wasn't intentional. The convex and concave radii should be the same for a sweeping and uplifting look in this Oriental style.

Thanks for noticing that subtle point. You folks see things that I overlook and that's good. Yikes!

 

[TenguWoodwork]

Wow everyone. Thanks for the advice. Jeff, you get the Extra Mile Award. I'm meeting with my friend today to clarify some points and I'll post some of the initial questions. I just wanted to say thanks for all the support.

 

[TenguWoodwork]

So this project has dropped into the low priority category but he's looking for 3 stools about 17" tall (somewhere around normal "chair" height). These will be used by himself an 2 other employees, not general customers and once a month for a specific ceremony. The original photo is just a genreral idea. He wants them to resemble torii, but they don't have to be exactly what's pictured. Low cost is key.

 

[DaveD]

I'd say maybe $150-200 each. Solid material isn't cheap. Glue ups are a pita not to mention not a straight cut in the bunch. Go over to Capital City Lumber and check their prices. Or even Woodcraft or Klingspoor up on Capital Blvd.

So bottom line was 'Low cost is key' meant 25% less than some Ikea knockoff?

 

[chris_goris]

Looks to me like youve got roughly 20 board feet of lumber in each one, due to the heavy shapes and sizes. Personally, I would use Rock maple and paint them. With that in mind, youre probably at $120 each for material alone (price based on 8/4 maple $6.35 BF at NC hardwoods in Gibsonville)