DIY: Any ideas how much this carpentry might cost?

[Cid]

Fitted cupboards too (these are very good):

Note that this wall was flush with the door before, they've basically added that bit on the left and continued the cornice around the top of the cupboard, it's very nice work.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Oak would be a nightmare to take from rough to a decent standard without the kit.

My dad has just made a table for my mum out of oak, he did the whole thing with hand tools (including making hidden dovetail joints) from rough planks

It looks immaculate, but took him rather longer than expected

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Cid - have you ever worked with Maple? My local timberyard had a pile of it in last time I was there, everything I've ever seen made from it looked lovely, but I've got no idea what it's like to work with....

 

[Cloo]

We just had a tall cupboard (3.3m), about 1.2m wide, lower section with two clothes rail, upper section with two shelves, built into an alcove for £660, which wasn't bad for London prices. Made of MDF, nice and solid, and we're going to paint it.

 

[Cid]

Cid - have you ever worked with Maple? My local timberyard had a pile of it in last time I was there, everything I've ever seen made from it looked lovely, but I've got no idea what it's like to work with....

Yeah I have... Depends what you mean by easy; it's quite a hard timber so it would be a pain in the arse if you had to do a lot of hand sawing, but other than that it's an absolute joy to work with. Has a very forgiving grain; lovely and smooth (pretty much the opposite of oak). It's possible you'll get some figured wood (tends to occur around knots or deformities in the wood) and that can look absolutely gorgeous, but requires sharp tools or even a scraper.

 

[Cid]

My dad has just made a table for my mum out of oak, he did the whole thing with hand tools (including making hidden dovetail joints) from rough planks

It looks immaculate, but took him rather longer than expected

I'm not surprised! That's real dedication...

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Yeah I have... Depends what you mean by easy; it's quite a hard timber so it would be a pain in the arse if you had to do a lot of hand sawing, but other than that it's an absolute joy to work with. Has a very forgiving grain; lovely and smooth (pretty much the opposite of oak). It's possible you'll get some figured wood (tends to occur around knots or deformities in the wood) and that can look absolutely gorgeous, but requires sharp tools or even a scraper.

Hmmm, I need a stand for my hifi, so there could be a project there...

I've got all sorts of woodworking tools that I inherited from my Grandad - he was blind but still made all sorts of stuff, coffee tables, shelves etc. He prefered to work with hard woods, because they were more "forgiving" to him. Any slips/knocks he made due to being unable to see directly what he was doing didn't do as much damage as if he was working with pine or other softwoods

Considering his disability the quality of the stuff he made was incredible

 

[Cid]

Have you got access to demonoid bees? Just checked and there are some fairly healthy torrents of the fine woodworking annual DVDs... American cabinet making magazine that's quite a bit better than any of the English ones (although it is, really, really American - flannel shirts, stupid moustaches and all the rest), has a lot of tips/projects that are well worth picking up.

It's targeted more at the enthusiast with a small workshop, but a lot of it would be relevant anyway.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

It's targeted more at the enthusiast with a small workshop

That'd be my dads garage then