The price some people charge - a personal rant!

[Bluekingfisher]

Aww, c'mon now, don't be too hard on Merlin, he was only jumping on the bandwagon with the rest of them Incidentlly they have become conspicious by their abscence since their views have been challenged.....interesting??

David

Not interesting at all TBH as I'm quite sure others will tell you :roll:
As I have obviously hurt your feelings and upset you I thought about ignoring you as life is to short to play silly games with people other than my family.

Instead I will simply say I'm still here as well and like the other poster I standby my earlier posts and as yet I fail to see any challenge to my posts other than thinly veiled attempts by you to illicit some kind of response.

Now just to put your mind at rest rather than spoil a thread that several people are enjoying I will refrain from posting so please do not take this as a sign that my views have changed , They haven't
Enough said

Not hurt my feelings at all Roger, far from it, however it appears it may be your pride that has taken the battering, particularly as you state, you don't like playing games but thought you should respond anyway??

I have already mentioned we, you, me are all entitled to an opinion so please forgive me if I don't take what you say or think as gospel. What grates though is the condescending and sanctimonious attitude you and some others have shown, towards several posters to this thread.

I don't know if you make you living from working wood and therefore feel a little precious about it but if you do you should lighten up and enjoy playing games with your family more and in your words, life is too short.

David

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I considered sending you boys a reasoned response, but I really couldn't be bothered.

What I will say though is if my comments caused you all offence then I am truly sorry. David

I'm certainly not offended-- I have a thick enough skin. When I read your original post I concluded it was almost certain you were being deliberately provocative because, after all, it has to be admitted that your analysis of likely costs, i.e., "overheads (a sheet of sandpaper £0.25? a dash of oil £04.00, an the offcut of waney edge £20 a truck load" are limited; and you missed out all the other typical costs and overheads likely to be incurred in running a woodworking business, including in this case renting a booth at a sales venue, staffing it, arranging facilities to take customer payments, delivering stock to the show and setting up the booth or stand and breaking down at the end, parking, hotel and travel expenses, etc.

Anyway, now I've seen a few more of your posts on the subject I can't make up my mind if you're serious or not, not that it matters one way or the other I suppose. Slainte.

 

[Jelly]

"Or are you just bandying about the S-word with impunity just because they're definitely not using illegally imported logs from Sarawak*? Because it's not the same thing, not even a little bit. I note the lack of PEFC/FSC certification on their website/other information, so presumably they source their hardwoods opportunistically and can't guarantee that they're from "well managed forests" let alone sustainable ones."

Yes Really, Really...looking at their labels, it tells you where the original timber for the boards came from, mainly forests under the control of the Forestry Commission, some from private Estates, even Westonbirt Arboretum.... wouldn't have thought you could get more guaranteed sustainable sources than that .

This is the thing: without seeing the managment plan for the woodland in question and licence for the felling operation, you can't actually be sure it's sustainable, much less guarantee it... Of them all, the FC is most likely (more likely than not in fact) to be harvesting deciduous trees in a sustainable way*; but it's by no means certain, depending on the other factors involved. The arboretum is a weird one, as it is in truth part of the built environment (I haven't visited a naturally occuring arboretum).

Just out of interest, surely knowing where the tree came from/grew doesnt make it sustainable. Nice to know. But sustainable means that you can 'sustain' something (in this context the timber), and unless there is clear evidence of replanting then it isnt sustainable. Might be eco-friendly I suppose, but not sustainable.

That's it in a nutshell!

In fact (seen as you're interested) it's not just replanting the same species (singular or plural) of tree(s), but doing both the felling and planting in concert such that the quality of woodland environment will remain constant or improve... So you also have to consider the effects of both the extraction operation and the trees removed on wildlife, how the species to be planted will grow back best, if it's going to produce better results to plant saplings or rely on natural re-seeding from healthy trees left standing for that purpose, whether it's better for the soil conditions and other flora to leave stumps and brash in-situ or to go for "whole tree harvesting"... All fascinating stuff.

I realise that I might seem to some people to be making a mountain out of a mole-hill over this, but I'm passionate about woodlands (they're both a resource and wonderful places) and about timber as a material; that has extended to being passionate about silviculture and the sustainable management of our woodlands... Thus I feel it's actually quite important that the term "sustainable" is used correctly rather than bandied about as the "S-Word" by people who see it as little more than a useful marketing term; the issue of Greenwashing is a growing issue with all manner of forest products.

*They've been having a bit of a push to repair the damage done by appending post-war plantations to decidious woodland near me at the minute, now the softwood has reached commercial maturity, they're clear-felling the stands and re-planting the "correct" species with trees grown from local seed-stock...

 

[Bluekingfisher]

I considered sending you boys a reasoned response, but I really couldn't be bothered.

What I will say though is if my comments caused you all offence then I am truly sorry. David

I'm certainly not offended-- I have a thick enough skin. When I read your original post I concluded it was almost certain you were being deliberately provocative because, after all, it has to be admitted that your analysis of likely costs, i.e., "overheads (a sheet of sandpaper £0.25? a dash of oil £04.00, an the offcut of waney edge £20 a truck load" are limited; and you missed out all the other typical costs and overheads likely to be incurred in running a woodworking business, including in this case renting a booth at a sales venue, staffing it, arranging facilities to take customer payments, delivering stock to the show and setting up the booth or stand and breaking down at the end, parking, hotel and travel expenses, etc.

Anyway, now I've seen a few more of your posts on the subject I can't make up my mind if you're serious or not, not that it matters one way or the other I suppose. Slainte.

In the grand scheme of things I would tend to agree with you............................................Does it doesn't really matter? Answer, in my opinion, no!

 

[JustBen]

A very interesting post..... long, but interesting.

Some very witty comments and some not so.

At the end of the day, high price or low price, an item is only worth as much as YOU are willing to pay for it/how much YOU value it. If its too much, move on.

I think one thing we can all agree on is that we are all passionate about wood/woodwork.

 

[Losos]

Not sure I like the natural edge for food use.

You are right I've just been putting oak, ash, and spruce waney edge boards through the saw for firewood and I can assure you there's been a lot of weird creepy crawlies comming out of the bark :lol:

All the stuff about 'provenance' is OTT and designed to make customers feel they've got something special.

But, as others have said if he can sell them at those prices then good luck to him, it's amazing what people will pay these days to appear trendy and 'with it'

As a matter of fact I might start making some boards with some of the scraps I have around the workshop :lol: :lol:

 

[mac1012]

not too over priced very well marketed I agree with comments when you have all the overheads on a business which is totally different to just going in your shed/workshop

I like the way they are presented and the labelling etc which is not cheap then the cost of standing somewhere like the food show would be huge so I cant see how he is taking advantage

I guess there is gnashing and grinding of teeth on here whenever anyone makes a living out of what they do , envy perhaps ??

price ? well a craftshop where I live at the posh end of town charges 25 pound for a mdf painted dove

mark

 

[Walter Hall]

It is called marketing and making as profit neither of which is a crime.

Selling your work at low prices that an honest tradesman trying to make a living could not match is more of a problem in my opinion.

Walter

 

[promhandicam]

Personally I think that this thread should have been removed at the start.

+1 =D>

Quite right. I only really come to UKW to see what is on sale at Aldi / Lidl this week or what treasures have been found at the weekends carboot sales :roll: I certainly don't expect to read anything related to making things from wood.

And to the OP and others, if you think the price of the bread boards was mad, have a look at this:

Roll of canvas, £10; Dulux tester posts £5; sale price . . . . $60 million - and it isn't even new!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

......and you've got it upside down!

 

[Jacob]

Malevitch. Worth every penny!

It'd be interesting if this boring thread moved away from the prices of things which don't matter in the slightest (bread boards, fine-art etc) to the price of things which do matter - health, education, housing etc and perhaps a diversion via bankers bonuses, tax dodging, political contributions, law, etc etc

 

[Phil Pascoe]

:idea:That's what newspapers are for.

 

[Jacob]

.....

Roll of canvas, £10; Dulux tester posts £5; sale price . . . . $60 million - and it isn't even new!

Oddly enough I'm planning to have one of these on the wall of my chapel when its finished, but it'll be a DIY copy on 8'x4' hardboard. Nobody will know. 8)

 

[Mr_P]

Can't remember who said it and the exact quote but here goes.

A famous artist is asked how he justifies charging so much for something that took him only 30 seconds to create. The artist replied " It took me 64 years plus 30 seconds to create it"

Edit : Thanks Phil.P for the below, it's too hot for me and that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It was along the lines of - a morning's work, and a lifetime's experience. It was Whistler.

 

[wizard]

There is a lot of work in making one of those boards! Have you ever tried to remove one of those “made in china” stickers

 

[Cheshirechappie]

There is a lot of work in making one of those boards! Have you ever tried to remove one of those “made in china” stickers

Ah - so. Ming Dynasty chopping board. Velly rare. Velly good price.

 

[Jacob]

wrong thread!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Eh?