First sale! - Craftsman Coffee Table

[Bryan Nuss]

I made my first sale yesterday! It was a glass-topped Craftsman style coffee table made from red oak.

The customer had asked me to make him an oak coffee table with a glass top. His wife already had the glass which she had salvaged from a jewellery store display case. It was a real challange to fit the glass! The mitered corners on the glass required some creative work on the top "frame". They wanted a natural finish to the oak to match their new flooring, so I gave it three coats of wipe-on satin poly followed by a wax and buffing. He was more than satisfied and even gave me a tip!

My next project is to make two cedar chests, one for my wife and one for my daughter. I will make them out of local white cedar (with knots and colour). When my local cedar supplier delivered the cedar (he is the owner of a local sawmill), I showed him the coffee table and the Meccano chest I had done. He then asked me if I would build him a Grandfather clock with some spectacular birds-eye maple he has had in his warehouse for a few years, but does not have the time to do anything with it. I told him maybe we can work out a deal ... I'll build his clock in return for more than enough birds-eye maple to build a clock for myself. Do you think that's a good deal?

Thanks for looking.

[Thomas Prondzinski]

Bryan,nice looking table, I sure like the miter cuts on the corners of the glass.Keep posting pics of your work.



Tom

[John Shuk]

Congratulations. You should be very satisfied. I love the table and the corner miters really make it. I'd say if you are happy with getting the wood in exchange for your work than that is a good deal. You never know how far reaching a simple barter like that can be. Makes for good business down the road.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

That's a fine looking table. :)

Make his clock first ti work the bugs out of the design. :D

KC

[Fred LeBail]

Bryan, Very nice job on the table. If that is your first sale you better be prepared for a lot more work !

Fred in Miramichi

[Jay Knoll]

Great job! It is always "fun" to build a project around a specific sized piece. You did a great job with the top.

Regarding the trade for wood -- I think it would be real easy to figure out the cost of the wood for the clock and balance that against what you figure is your hourly rate and the time it will take to build the clock. If the wood would cost $250 and it your craftsmanship is worth more than that, you've got a bad deal!

Jay

[Charlie Plesums]

Beautiful job on the coffee table! Congratulations.

As for the clock, you need to have him sweeten the deal - when I price furniture including time and materials, the cost of the wood is often only around 20% of the final cost (and many people feel my final prices are too cheap). If I use more expensive material, I end up working more carefully to minimize waste, tear-out, or match color and grain, so the ratio stays about the same. Another way of looking at it is that the cost of everything else is often around 4 times the cost of the wood.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

That is a great looking table, congrats on the sale! I think that the mitered corners really make it special.

[David Wilson]

Bryan
Beautiful job on the table.

[Lou Morrissette]

Bryan,

Beautiful job on the table. Fine craftsmanship. With the level of your work, enough stock to build two extra clocks would be a better deal.;)

Lou

[bill walton]

Very nice piece of work. I'm working on design for a white oak bedroom set. Hope it come out half as nice.
bw

[Dave Ray]

Congrat's on your first sale. From the looks of your craftmanship you will have many more sales. As far as wood for labor on his clock, I feel you can/should make a better deal.

Dave

[Stefan Antwarg]

You did a very good job. I made the same table - only I did it exactly to plan. Nice modification!

Stefan

[Frank Pellow]

I like the table Bryan. We have a very similar table that we purchased from a local craftsman about 15 years ago and we treasure it. And, your table looks even better than ours.

Regarding the deal, if it were a one-off thing, I think that you could negotiate something better. On the other hand, having in your debt the owner of a local sawmill who also has a wood supply, could prove advantageous to you down the road.

[Bill Arnold]

Bryan,

Beautiful design and workmanship on your table. The corner pieces appear to be profiled similar to a raised panel. Is that correct? Very nice work.

I agree with Charlie that you should try to sweeten the deal on the clock. Your labor will be worth a lot more than the wood, no matter what the specific material might be. On the other hand, you don't want to run the guy off!

Regards,

[Ted Shrader]

Bryan -

Very nice work! Really like the corner treatment. You took a "fix" and made it into a "feature".

Ted

[Bryan Nuss]

Thanks to you all for your kind comments on the table. Most appreciated are the comments on the mitered corners on the top frame, because those joints gave me the most trouble.

Bill, there was no real fancy work done on the top frame mitered corners. I cut triangles to the same thickness as the top frame main pieces, using one large spline biscuit in the top frame corner and one medium biscuit on each leg of the triangular piece. I then, as my father used to say, threw it all up in the air and assembled it on the way down! It was an intense 20 minutes gluing and clamping and squaring it up. Once the glue had set up overnight, I routed a 1/2" wide lip (by the thickness of the glass deep) around the inside. Once you think it through, it explains why the triangular pieces appear to be inlaid or raised, when in fact they are not. I have attached a blow-up of the corner.

Regards,

[John Scarpa]

Bryan,

Nice craftsmanship on the table. It looks great! On the deal, the clock will probably prove to be a challenge and a learning experience. meaning it could take you some time to complete. I would ask him to sweeten the deal. He may have some other nice stock laying around that mill!. I also agree with Frank though on not getting too agressive as this is an opportunity to establish a great relationship with the owner of the sawmill. Goodluck!

John

[Warren White]

Bryan,
Just a quick note to tell you that the coffee table is just beautiful! A great job of incorporating the customer's glass in a very, very, nice table.

Warren

[Bruce Page]

Very nice!

[Keith Christopher]

GRATS on you sale ! That is an excellent mission piece. Dern good lookin too. nice fit and finish !

[Pete Harbin]

Very nice Bryan. A first sale like that should get you some good word of mouth from a happy customer.

Pete

[Philip Duffy]

Very attractive table and the top is a real eye-catcher! BZ Phil

[Alan Turner]

Bryan
Good work on the table, and congrats on the first sale. AS to the clock deal, I have a smallish brige, in the metro NY area, that I would like to discuss with you. It is FS, cheap.
Seriously, you have proposed a deal with bad economics for yourself. If it is a done deal, then so be it. But if it is still in the talking stages, I think you are on the short end. $250 for a tall case clock? Can you make one for me. I'll just send you a double order of the wood. Hard to price work where the price is fair both to the customer and the maker, but you do need to make more than minimum wage. Let us know how it comes out.
Alan

[Bryan Nuss]

Thanks once again for all the kind comments on the table.

The deal for the Grandfather clock is far from closed. The potential customer is ordering some plans, which we will then review and then discuss a deal / price. Based on all your comments, I think I will ask for birds-eye maple (which can run up to $12.00 CAD/BF around here, if you can find it!) for my clock plus costs for tooling up (special router bits, etc.) plus a few hundred for my labour, with the customer to supply wood, movement, hardware, etc. for his clock. I might get him to spring for the movement for my clock instead of the labour (movements can run $400 to $600 USD). As you commented, dealing with a sawmill owner has potential....

I'll let you know what eventually transpires.