First Possible Project

[Anxious]

I purchased a CNC Table router at a sort of fire sale. I made some plaques for some Cub Scouts last year and a small wooden sign for a friend. But no an interior designer has asked me to make a 3' x 6' mahogony piece of art to hang on the wall of a business. The design is simple enough a business card which vectric vcarve loved, and she loved the sample it produced.

So, I'm a computer guy that likes to make sawdust. Some looking around seemed to indicate African Mahogony carves better than Philipine... I assume I would want to rip, joint, and glue up the stock to help reduce warping. Standard yellow wood glue ok? I only have a 12 inch plainer so I'd have to plane 3 glue ups then glue them together... and I had thought perhaps a small strip on each end to cover the end grain?

Am I on the right track missing something big? Any tips watch out fors or such? If I do get this job I'll need to purchase VCarve but the trial seems to work well.

Thanks
Dave

[advt001]

using biscuits on your glue joints will save a whole lot of hand work

[ger21]

If the humidity varies a lot throughout the year, the strip across the end grain will eventually come loose due to the main piece expanding and contracting across it's width. You might just want to leave the end grain exposed.

[Anxious]

Thanks for the tip. I live in a desert with a significant monsoon season so that would be us, no strip on the end natural it is.

Thanks
Dave

[Anxious]

Originally Posted by advt001 using biscuits on your glue joints will save a whole lot of hand work

Biscuits it is! I love making anything easier especially when it will probably turn out better too!

[todd71]

Why not just skip the whole glue up and use
MDF with a mahogany veneer? When you stain
the board the exposed MDF will darken up.
The contrast will highlighting the cut feature.
Just an idea to save sometime.
http://www.superiorhardwoods.com/
in Phoenix has lots of different veneers on hand.

Todd

[Anxious]

That's a great option especially if they are looking to save a buck. Heck that would save em 250 bucks and really lower the risk of a blown cut file broken bit etc.

[todd71]

Originally Posted by Anxious That's a great option especially if they are looking to save a buck. Heck that would save em 250 bucks and really lower the risk of a blown cut file broken bit etc.

I would say "YOU" are going to save $250. They are going to save even more. $250 would be the saving of the cost of material. What about your time involved in glueing, planing and piecing together. You are trying to make money ,right? You have to capture every dollar you can.
I used to think my customers wanted the "cheapest" price. This is a recipe for business failure. I ended up working too hard for very little if any money. Its was especially hard for me to break that mindset.
1) "My competition will get the work"
2) " I'll get more on the next job"
3) " The next order will be bigger"
were always running through my head. I now consider that logic "the race to the bottom".

1) Let someone else work for nothing. Besides the quality of the product usually suffers the cheaper you get. There's not enough $ to do everything right.
2) A lot of times there isn't a next job
3) Great, I lost even more money this time.

Screw it. "Bill as the company you want to be". Someday your going to need more than what you have ( bigger shop, forklift, new equipment)
These things cost money, added together its a lot of money. Throw in tax's and other cost of doing business.
How much do I charge for my work? As much as I can. It still needs to be a "fair" price. But people will pay for quality. If not, they are not the kind of customer I want to built my company with.

Good luck,
Todd
www.innovative-accents.com

[Anxious]

That is without a doubt the best advise anyone has ever given me. I've read your email at least 20 times.

If you care to share any more advise give me a hollar any time! I hope I'm a few years away from starting anything more than weekend work, but I'd like to have everything lined up and worked out before I need to count on income generation.

Thanks
Dave