Some people don't make sense.

[hanau]

I was asked to make a shadow box for a retiring military Capt.

I sent them a quote for the box one price for Oak and another price for Walnut.
They said that they wanted the oak stained but stain it with a dark walnut stain.

I told them that it will be the same price as the solid walnut, but they insisted on the Oak with walnut stain.

I hate staining with a passion next time I think I am going to charge an additional $50 fee for staining over the cost of walnut.

I most likely will go back to my no staining policy only did it for a service member.

Everything else pretty much your choice is a natural color wood with a clear finish.

 

[Smitty37]

Hmmmm

I was asked to make a shadow box for a retiring military Capt.

I sent them a quote for the box one price for Oak and another price for Walnut.
They said that they wanted the oak stained but stain it with a dark walnut stain.

I told them that it will be the same price as the solid walnut, but they insisted on the Oak with walnut stain.

I hate staining with a passion next time I think I am going to charge an additional $50 fee for staining over the cost of walnut.

I most likely will go back to my no staining policy only did it for a service member.

Everything else pretty much your choice is a natural color wood with a clear finish.

I like stain....I also like things like Danish oil finish which will take more work than staining.....

 

[nava1uni]

The customer gets to have what they want. If you don't want to do, it then don't do it and they will find someone else to do it. I make things for people that I wouldn't want, but they want it their way and are willing to pay me to make it for them. To me that is what being in business means.

 

[BradG]

....I also like things like Danish oil finish which will take more work than staining.....

I treated myself to a couple of 3 meter lengths of butcherblock work surface when making my workshop and a bottle of danish oil. It was definately worth the work, and the time waiting between coats. and i think by the end of the process i was hooked on the smell though its rather sticky stuff on your hands

 

[TexasTaxi]

I built a pretty good "side" business building bases and pedestals for other taxidermists.

Right, wrong or indifferent, I will not stain wood anymore. If you want it to look like walnut, it'll be built out of walnut.

So far, I've been able to stand strong on this, but I'm sure, one day I'll have a big order that needs to be stained and I won't turn it down because of the money.





I guess everyone DOES have their price! :redface:

 

[Smitty37]

It's your business

I built a pretty good "side" business building bases and pedestals for other taxidermists.

Right, wrong or indifferent, I will not stain wood anymore. If you want it to look like walnut, it'll be built out of walnut.

So far, I've been able to stand strong on this, but I'm sure, one day I'll have a big order that needs to be stained and I won't turn it down because of the money.





I guess everyone DOES have their price! :redface:

Well it's your business and you can offer whatever pleases you.

For hundreds, if not thousands, of years people have been staining wood used in some applications because they like the looks of it and it acts as a preservative.

I would find it hard to offer custom work and refuse a reasonable request by the customer....but that's just me.

 

[hanau]

I built a pretty good "side" business building bases and pedestals for other taxidermists.

Right, wrong or indifferent, I will not stain wood anymore. If you want it to look like walnut, it'll be built out of walnut.

So far, I've been able to stand strong on this, but I'm sure, one day I'll have a big order that needs to be stained and I won't turn it down because of the money.





I guess everyone DOES have their price! :redface:

We all have a price and mine usually isn't that much.
What I hate about it most is that if you want walnut stain and solid walnut is available then why would you want a stain?

Also when It ties my shop up for a couple days, where I can't do much else but wait for it to dry It really makes staining not worth it to me for a small project.

But the display is done and sitting right here waiting to be taken to UPS in the morning.

 

[ren-lathe]

One thing to think about. Oak stained dark does not look like walnut. Oak has a completely different grain and texture and the two woods placed side by side look nothing alike. Perhaps the person this was ordered for already has dark stained oak and wants to match what he has. I agree the more time consuming the work the greater the price so charging some more makes sense. I also guess it depends on how much work you have on hand.

 

[Smitty37]

I built a pretty good "side" business building bases and pedestals for other taxidermists.

Right, wrong or indifferent, I will not stain wood anymore. If you want it to look like walnut, it'll be built out of walnut.

So far, I've been able to stand strong on this, but I'm sure, one day I'll have a big order that needs to be stained and I won't turn it down because of the money.





I guess everyone DOES have their price! :redface:

We all have a price and mine usually isn't that much.
What I hate about it most is that if you want walnut stain and solid walnut is available then why would you want a stain?

Also when It ties my shop up for a couple days, where I can't do much else but wait for it to dry It really makes staining not worth it to me for a small project.

But the display is done and sitting right here waiting to be taken to UPS in the morning.

I make cottage furniture....I use whatever wood is available at the local lumber store. I finish it by using a waterbased stain then apply milk paint.
Why? Because a lit of hand made furniture you will find in Antique shops is pine finished with milk paint...I want a certain look and that is what gives it to me and you can't find a modern paint that looks exactly like milk paint.

 

[PTsideshow]

One thing to think about. Perhaps the person this was ordered for already has dark stained oak and wants to match what he has.

This probably the case, as the furniture the wife picks all seems to be dark stained oak. As long as the look of grain and color match. That is more important than what the wood is! Wife says it is a women's thing.
I learned a long time ago to go with SWMBO when it comes to picking the furniture. Other then the sitting/laying on the couch input, it is always yep that works for me.

For tying up the shop till it drys, why not make a fold-able drying tent cart. It will keep the dust off and you could continue with other work. Heavy weight plastic drop cloths or traps work well.
When I was painting the clown and magic props I made a drying cart that had a temp plastic connection to the basement furnace heat vent. Plastic tent keep the dust off and the hot air moving over the items. and down and out thru the bottom. The layers of shelf's were made from expanded steel sheet.

This is a section on the son's BBQ smoker

:clown:

 

[John Pratt]

As someone who does this (furniture, displays, etc) for a living, it has been my experience that most people don't even know the difference. I could lay out ten species of wood for people and they may be able to pick out one or two; let alone those same woods stained. I always prefer not to stain, but sometimes the customer has an item they are trying to match. On those occasions I will stain to match an existing item. What I will not do, refuse to do, under no circumstances will I ever do, is paint a wood project using hardwoods. I have had customers request projects made out of cherry and then asked me to paint them.

 

[leehljp]

Two stories on staining for me:

1. About 15 years ago, I did a re-saw of a 1 X 12 in wide piece of walnut for a very close friend who wanted a simple thin laptop board. I sanded and finished it with poly. In the sunlight, I noticed a few sanding swirls and told my friend that it would take an extra day as I wanted to get the fine sanding swirls out that the bright sunlight revealed.

He said, "No, I like the way it is stained! There is no way you can match the color so perfectly after you re-sand it!"
Me: That is not STAIN, that is the real Wood.
Him: REALLY? I thought "Walnut" was a "stain color" only.


2. Last month, LOML and I were in a somewhat famous vacation spot and went into a clock store. They had some grandfather clocks and the salesman proceeded to tell LOML the mechanisms and wood of each. I spoke up about one that LOML liked and said that most of the wood is cherry stained dark but the upper face was not "Cherry." The salesman was taken aback, went to check for a couple of minutes, came back and said, you are right, that is "Ash" stained dark cherry.

Most people don't know "real" from stain. Me - I prefer natural on most woods with the color warmed with fine oils or even poly in some cases - versus stains, but LOML prefers "stains".

 

[peregrinerose]

Look into Stickley finishes... the quarter sawn white oak with fuming or equivalent dark staining is gorgeous, and looks nothing at all like walnut. A walnut display case would not fit with our mission style home, but a quartersawn oak that was fumed or stained would be perfect.