Hobby woodworking save money?
Greetings and Salutations from the Dweller In the Citystate of the
Vincible Overlord.
Well, this is QUITE a bag of worms. It is my opinion that if you
follow this course of action, you will end up spending about 2/3 what
you would spend in the furniture store for MATERIALS. Why is this?
Well, volume for one thing. YOU are buying cherry in 20-30 BF
increments...the manufacturers are buying in units of THOUSANDS of
board feet. Another thing is the fact that the manufacturers have a
boat-load of expensive, specialized equipment that will (just about)
take a raw board in one end and spit out an armoire at the other.
And, let's not EVEN talk about labor costs!
Now...My question is: WHY would you want to duplicate like that?
Most of the stuff that I see in the store is tediously generic, and,
built to the bare minimum of quality that folks would pay for.
If you are going to get into woodworking as a hobby, you would be
far better served by making up your mind that you are going to build
far better furniture than you can afford to buy, and, that each piece
will have its own, unique features. If you do this, you will get much
more satisfaction, and, will have furniture that folks will not see
and immediately say "Ah...someone's been shopping at Tho. Moser's!"
However, I also think that if you are a novice at the hobby, you
would also be well served to pick up a few basic tools, and, start out
simple...make some jewelry boxes, or toys for kids/cousins/grandkids.
Building a piece of furniture like an armoire is a non-trivial task in
that it requires the maker to work to fine tolerences over a BIG piece
of wood. It is much harder to do that with a 6'-7' chunk of furniture
than it is with a 12" jewelry box. When you are comfortable with the
tools and the basic skills of woodworking, THEN it is the time to take
on the big projects like that. If you jump into the deep end of this
pool, it is very easy to have it turn into a negative and frustrating
thing...a state of mind that should be reserved for WORK...not
recreation.
Having said that...basically, an armoire is hardly more than a
box, with doors and molding, so, it is fairly likely that you will be
able to turn out a decent looking, and well-working piece of furniture
without TOO much experience.
-I doubt you'll save dime one. It will cost more, because most of the el cheapo
crap these days is truly crap, made of particleboard with a photo 'veneer' over
it, and not a single woodworking joint in the entire piece.
Use good hardwood plywood and solid wood in frame and panel, or even Euro
style, and costs go up (though the EUro stuff is generally cheaper in terms of
material and labor because it can be done in laminated MDF, particleboard,
etc., about like the store bought stuff).
-Most, not all, but most folks have woodworking as a hobby because they
like to work with wood. Saving money is almost always a secondary
consideration since the costs for building things you would normally
buy can add up REAL quick, especially if you're learning along the
way.
If you take up woodworking because you want to save some money, you
may end up spending what you would have saved in added frustration if
you don't like working with wood to begin with.