6 Sep
2009
6 Sep
'09
10:52 a.m.
Brian Lanning wrote:
On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 1:01 AM, Chuck Guzis<cclist
at sydex.com> wrote:
If you guys want a quick and easy way to throw furniture together,
like shelves for classic machines or a desk or stand, you should look
into pocket screws. 2x4s (or wider) a miter saw, a drill, and a kreg
pocket hole screw kit is all you need. The screws are really strong,
more than it looks. And it takes practically no skill to make
something durable and functional.
Couldn't agree more. My workbenches in my 'shop are that way, rustled up in
just a few hours, but I can happily jump up and down on them without fear of
them breaking. I still waiting on some metal to fall into my lap so I can
cover some of them and make them a bit more gunk-resistant for when I'm
tearing apart engines etc. - either the sides of a chest freezer or the sides
from a panel truck are good candidates, I reckon.
I've just not put any effort
into sourcing either, yet.
Particle board and MDF (medium density fiberboard) are
used in
furniture for one reason. It's cheap.
It'd be interesting to know how much useful material a good Oak will provide -
if it's reasonable I'm tempted to throw one of ours at the local sawmill
(we've got about 15 mature Oaks on the property, most of them where we can't
actually see them from the house anyway) - it'd be nice to have a stockpile of
stuff for making things that aren't at the cheap 'n cheerful end.
But people have less money to spend. You can still
buy good quality
furniture, but you'll pay a lot for it. Think $2000 for a dresser.
I was lamenting that on a newsgroup a while ago - it seems hard to buy stuff
that's the same quality of 100-200 years ago, no matter how much money you
throw at the problem. Hardly anyone makes it any longer. We spent several
thousand on some tables, and they *look* nice, but the actual underlying
construction isn't anything special. Problem is, nobody for hundreds of miles
around even makes anything better...
That $2000 dresser will be in your family 60 years
from now.
Maybe. I can see myself needing to do work on ours to keep 'em solid.
I still go to furniture stores on occasion, but
it's not to buy
furniture. I've been ruined. I look at them and the mistakes and
shortcuts just jump out at me.
I hear ya there :-)
cheers
Jules