David Malicky
06-27-2014, 1:01 AM
My brother is interested in starting a small business to make edge-grain wood countertops, similar to Boos (long hardwood sticks glued together). Employees would be veterans, sawmill would be Amish, wood would be Appalachian hardwoods (maple, cherry, walnut). There is no illusion of competing with Boos or the like – my brother is after a different market. I'm helping him figure out an efficient process for a ballpark production rate of 15,000 – 30,000 bdft per year (if making all 2'x8'x1.7" tables, that's about 20-40 tables per week).
He currently has 7000 bdft of KD 8/4 rough cherry and maple and a 22" Powermatic planer. But it's probably smarter to start with 8/4 S4S, as there are local sawmills that can do those steps for low cost, to keep capital costs lower at business launch. The sawmill would also likely straight-line rip the sticks. Eventually, if more profitable, some of those steps may be moved in-house.
Below is a draft process plan. Steps S1 to P1 would likely be done by the sawmill (I assume they'd have a different process). We both work with wood fairly regularly, but neither of us has done it for 'mass' production.
Surfacing (outsourced initially): if starting with rough stock
S1. Joint 1 face: 12" Jointer (is this economical/safe to do for production?)
S2. Joint 1 edge: Jointer
S3. Plane other face: Planer
S4. Straight line other edge: Tablesaw
Prep Sticks:
P1 (outsourced initially). Cut into ~2x2 sticks: Straight-line rip saw, alternating edges to minimize warp.
----(below is in-house)
P2. Rotate sticks +/- 90 deg (orient with best quartered face up)
P3. As needed, cross-cut sticks for flaws: Miter saw
P4. Rough sort by lengths
P5. Rough sort by mostly quartered vs mostly rift (I've noticed ridges in older tables where two neighboring sticks have much different grain angles… I'm assuming that's from radial vs circumferential expansion differences)
P6. Cross-cut a set of sticks to table length + 2": Miter saw
P7. Optional, for later alignment, cut for biscuits, dowels, or spline on all edges. This style table top with narrow sticks would need a *lot* of these, so probably better to make a clamping fixture that does the alignment.
Assemble Table
A1. Apply glue: Titebond III, 2" paint roller
A2. (Optional: Insert Biscuits, Dowels, or Spline)
A3. Assemble and clamp: Horizontal table, parallel clamps in a custom holding fixture. If no biscuit/spline, use cauls/clamps to align faces.
A4. Dry ~30 minutes
A5. Remove squeeze out: chisel / scraper/ ? (Efficient way to clean lots of glue joints? Easy way to flip heavy table to clean other side… or just wipe it flat since it won't be visible?)
A6. Dry 12+ hours (we do have plenty of space)
A7. Unclamp and clean rest of squeeze out
A-Alt: instead of cleaning squeeze out or aligning precisely, make <21" wide sections and then plane faces. Then join those sections.
Trim and Flatten Table
T1. Square ends of table and set table length: sliding table saw
T2. Rip to exact width: table saw
T3. Round corners: hand-held router
T4. Sand surfaces: 37" - 51" wide belt sander (maybe outsource initially)
Finish Table: Options:
1. Mineral Oil
2. Food grade Polyurethane
3. Catalyzed Varnish (probably outsource initially)
Package for shipment
My brother has successfully run many businesses, and knows how to project if a plan is viable given the right data. Some key data is the labor hours per table, so first we need to determine the ~most efficient process, also considering initial capital. We can invest the needed capital, but we don't want to buy un-needed equipment before the business is shown to be viable (i.e., outsource more at first).
Thanks for any advice on the process, especially from any of you who have done production woodworking.
He currently has 7000 bdft of KD 8/4 rough cherry and maple and a 22" Powermatic planer. But it's probably smarter to start with 8/4 S4S, as there are local sawmills that can do those steps for low cost, to keep capital costs lower at business launch. The sawmill would also likely straight-line rip the sticks. Eventually, if more profitable, some of those steps may be moved in-house.
Below is a draft process plan. Steps S1 to P1 would likely be done by the sawmill (I assume they'd have a different process). We both work with wood fairly regularly, but neither of us has done it for 'mass' production.
Surfacing (outsourced initially): if starting with rough stock
S1. Joint 1 face: 12" Jointer (is this economical/safe to do for production?)
S2. Joint 1 edge: Jointer
S3. Plane other face: Planer
S4. Straight line other edge: Tablesaw
Prep Sticks:
P1 (outsourced initially). Cut into ~2x2 sticks: Straight-line rip saw, alternating edges to minimize warp.
----(below is in-house)
P2. Rotate sticks +/- 90 deg (orient with best quartered face up)
P3. As needed, cross-cut sticks for flaws: Miter saw
P4. Rough sort by lengths
P5. Rough sort by mostly quartered vs mostly rift (I've noticed ridges in older tables where two neighboring sticks have much different grain angles… I'm assuming that's from radial vs circumferential expansion differences)
P6. Cross-cut a set of sticks to table length + 2": Miter saw
P7. Optional, for later alignment, cut for biscuits, dowels, or spline on all edges. This style table top with narrow sticks would need a *lot* of these, so probably better to make a clamping fixture that does the alignment.
Assemble Table
A1. Apply glue: Titebond III, 2" paint roller
A2. (Optional: Insert Biscuits, Dowels, or Spline)
A3. Assemble and clamp: Horizontal table, parallel clamps in a custom holding fixture. If no biscuit/spline, use cauls/clamps to align faces.
A4. Dry ~30 minutes
A5. Remove squeeze out: chisel / scraper/ ? (Efficient way to clean lots of glue joints? Easy way to flip heavy table to clean other side… or just wipe it flat since it won't be visible?)
A6. Dry 12+ hours (we do have plenty of space)
A7. Unclamp and clean rest of squeeze out
A-Alt: instead of cleaning squeeze out or aligning precisely, make <21" wide sections and then plane faces. Then join those sections.
Trim and Flatten Table
T1. Square ends of table and set table length: sliding table saw
T2. Rip to exact width: table saw
T3. Round corners: hand-held router
T4. Sand surfaces: 37" - 51" wide belt sander (maybe outsource initially)
Finish Table: Options:
1. Mineral Oil
2. Food grade Polyurethane
3. Catalyzed Varnish (probably outsource initially)
Package for shipment
My brother has successfully run many businesses, and knows how to project if a plan is viable given the right data. Some key data is the labor hours per table, so first we need to determine the ~most efficient process, also considering initial capital. We can invest the needed capital, but we don't want to buy un-needed equipment before the business is shown to be viable (i.e., outsource more at first).
Thanks for any advice on the process, especially from any of you who have done production woodworking.