Walnut Wood Thins

[John Esberg]

Hello Everyone!

I just finished off a new plaque design. I'm attaching a photo for you to check out. I just sold a batch and ordered up the materials. It comes out nice with walnut frame and is almost always a guaranteed upgrade with my customers who just want a "simple/cheap" wooden plaque.

Here's my question for everyone. I normally get my wood thins from Laserbits. They work fine for me, but I'm wondering if there is any other vendors out there I can give a try.

Can anyone help?

V/R,

DAK

[Keith Bragg]

First of all John very nice work. I would like to know if you would care to share with us two things how long would something like that take to do and second what do you charge for a plaque like that.

Thanks Keith

[Dave Jones]

I believe Laserbits woods are clear coated. If you can coat them yourself, or live with raw woods, you might want to check out Sloan's:

http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/hardwoods.htm
http://www.sloanswoodshop.com/plywoods.htm

[Mike Null]

John
That's very creative and very good looking. Am I correct that the border is the applique.

[Dave Jones]

Oh, maybe I misunderstood. How thick are you looking for?

I thought you meant thin woods (like 1/8") but if you meant veneer, then Constantines has 1/16" thick veneer as well as some thin stuff. Rockler has various types of thin veneers with and without backings.

http://www.constantines.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=166

http://www.rockler.com/CategoryView.cfm?Cat_ID=1435

[John Esberg]

Here's the number's on the plaques you asked for...

The price I quoted my costomer is for the plaque without the label with the name on it.

The material cost after shipping is about $11 since I bought my plaques by the case from JDS. The wood thins are from Laserbits and are really cool to work with.

I can make about 4 per hour.

My final selling price is $38.95 each.

Profit therefore is $27.95 each ($111.80 per hour).

As for characteristics of the wood thins, they are clear coated with an adhesive backing. For the walnut they are 0.025" thick, which isn't 1/16th of an inch.

So, has anyone found something else fun to try?

DAK

[George M. Perzel]

Hi John;
I'm just up the road from you in the Rochester area and have been using 5/32"
walnui, cherry, maple and jatoba wood thins (5.75" x 24" or 12"). It's not finished but it is stable, flat and fairly smooth-great to work with and cheap- let me know if you are interested.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[John Esberg]

George,

5/32" is a bit of an odd size for a wood thickness. Why did you pick those dimensions?

Do you make this lumber yourself?

DAK

[Dave Jones]

I've bought adhesive backed and paper backed veneer from Rockler. They were nice to work with. My only complaint was they came as 3ft square pieces rolled into a tube. They had to sit for a few days on a flat surface to flatten out. I also bought some veneer without backing from them. Much more fragile without a backing, but worked great for a project where I made miniature Shaker Boxes.

http://www.redtengu.com/images/raw/new_shaker3.jpg

[George M. Perzel]

Hi John;
I buy cutoffs in bulk from a company which uses a commercial ganged bandsaw to produce the top finish board for laminated flooring- hence the consistent thickness and width. All the boards are sawed in 6 foot lengths and any board which has a defect is cast off and cut up into 12 or 24" pieces for me.
Check out this link: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=44134
Best regards;
George
LaserArts