This fall, I was involved in the demolition of a few barns. My client’s original plan was to use the wood to build a new barn. This barnwood is almost 200 years old. (we found inscriptions in the roof boards)
I’ve managed to convice my client that the wood would be worth much more if it were made into furniture. Duh. The fact is, you can’t buy this kind of wood anywhere that I know of.
My question concerns placing a value on this wood. How much should I charge for the pieces I make? I know this is a tough question - without seeing the pieces. But I had to start somewhere.
Anybody out there with experiences in furniture making/selling?
I handle marketing for an office furniture chain, and I seriously doubt I’m the right person to answer your question. I’ll give it a shot, though.
None of the manufacturers we work with make anything out of solid wood anymore. At best, you get wood veneer over a solid wood core.
What type of wood are we talking about? You say that you can’t buy this type of wood anymore, but I’m not sure I understand that. Is it walnut, oak, cherry, maple, mahogany? What makes the wood unique?
I’m not sure making furniture out of old wood would be terribly attractive to carpenters/cabinetmakers/whoever. Old furniture is sometimes valuable because it has existed in its assembled state for so long, or because it was made by a certain family or company. Old wood can be a huge pain, because it may have more tendency to split or otherwise become marred during the manufacturing process.
I might be able to check with some industry contacts to see what the price of various types of wood is nowadays, if that’ll help.
What I know on this subject comes from working for a man who buys a lot of custom-made and designed furniture. I’ve gotten to know several furniture craftsman and how they develop a design from start to finish.
That said, I would somewhat disagree with Sauron. In my experience in dealing with these craftsman, there is a high demand for certain types of wood that don’t exist anymore, or that only exist in very limited quantities, such as from old buildings or other large wall or floor sections that can be dismantled to make new pieces. Obviously, this means wood in good condition, not brittle or splitting.
Because of the high cost of this type of wood, it is only worth it to use if you are a trained and experienced craftsman. Someone who just wants you to throw a desk together for a couple hundred bucks won’t want to pay extra for expensive wood. (The furniture I deal with is in the “$4,000 for a side table” range.) However, I don’t really know how you would price the wood. You could also try www.furnituresociety.org - they might have some resources to help you out.
I owned my own furniture/cabinetry shop so I’ll give it a go.
Tough question but I’ll give a few points that will hopefully steer you in the right direction.
salvaged good quality lumber i.e. wide clear yellow pine with nice markings, tool marks etc. can bring a LOT of money. 15-20 bucks a bd.ft kinda money!!
those inscriptions? save em, find a way to oncorporate em into furniture and you can price however you want- historically minded stuff is a goldmine
DISCLAIMER: check w/ the local hist. society first and let them see it and see if they have any recommendations.
pricing your work
Check out rec.woodworking for this topic in detail.
I try to figure out my overhead and I like to make about 15 bucks an hour above that- it adds up quick!!
Check out local furniture makers in your area- small shops mostly they usually will talk to you being a mostly solitary bunch.
Is this professional or amateur? No dig intended but it matters in how you figure your pricing.
gotta get back to work but I’ll keep reading and if I think of anything else I’ll let you know