... was on last night. Absolutely stunning piece of workmanship, but I hope he made a dozen of the things to compensate for all the time that went into making the bending forms and such.
Whaddya think something like that would sell for, $1,500 or so?
I think you are on the low side. I would charge at least double that. There was a lot of work that went into that. Design is worth something to. Very original. SH
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I like most everything David has come up with. For a one-off woodwork-as-art guy he sure does a lot of form and template work that would lend itself to production.
He really likes cutting and sanding MDF pieces which he then uses as router templates for the final piece. Mucho extra work for a one-time piece, but a natural step for production.
Mike Brown
Mike,
I figure his template production serves two purposes:
1) He knows that for newbies attempting to produce quality furniture, templates are an easy way to assure accurate production of components, especially when identical parts are needed for symmetry.2) I believe he considers himself fortunate to have this show. From his own admission on his website and in interviews Marks negotiated to keep all pieces and templates in hopes of selling them to clients. If I could get others to pay for template production and reap the benefits, I would too. Can't fault a man for planning for his future.
BTW he does not complete most of the work we see on the show, he has several master woodworkers producing templates and pieces for the show, he acts mainly as a presenter. Not that he is not capable of the work himself, but the show production demands are such that little time is left for his craft.
JMHO, Drew
I've wondered about that too; on last night's show, he made a "master template" out of 3/4" MDF, then used it to make the 3 3/4" ACX plywood templates that made the bending form. I don't really see the point of the MDF template; he could just have traced the design onto the first piece of ACX, cut it out and faired it (as he did the MDF) then used it to make the other two pieces.
Even if the MDF "master template" was somehow useful, it could have been made out of 1/4" stock instead of 3/4". Certainly those of us on a budget would think that way :-)
I was thinking that too, but I can't imagine someone paying $3K for something with so little substance :-) Definitely a large number of man-hours though, although I bet with the forms he made he could produce one of those a day for a couple of weeks quite easily.
I noticed that too. He often uses 1/2" or 1/4" (last night was 1/8") stock for his templates. I've been watching him for a couple of years now and notice that he "changes his tune" on some things: used a table saw for a given cut on project X and a bandsaw for a similar cut on project Y.
I wonder if he's thinking it's helpful to show novice woodworkers that there's often several ways to accomplish a given task.
As for starting w/ MDF - wouldn't it be easier to work the shape in MDF rather than ply?
The guy spends more money on templates and scrap MDF than I spend on entire projects. Fun to watch, but not practical for me.
Brian.
You know, I hadn't thought of that. Fairing the template to match the design would be much easier with MDF, yes.
and no voids for the bearing or bushing to trip over
BRuce
Kev> mttt wrote:
Voids in plywood are exactly the reason you don't use it for the initial template. I believe they are probably also the reaon he lines his forms with cork. I use mdf for the initial template and particle board for the remaining 'plies' of the form - no need for cork then. The initial tmeplate just becomes part of the form. This is done by cutting the particle board(don't use your best blades for this!!) to rough outline, screw and glue to template, pattern route and repeat as necessary until you have form to required height.
Not sure what your source is but I took a course from David this summer, we made the copper patina hall table, and he told me that he did all the work himself. In fact he said that when you add up the hours he puts into the show, it doesn't pay much more then a plumber would make.
He designs and builds all of the pieces and retains ownership of the designs. We did ask about all the templates he uses and as I recall he said that that is part of the design process he uses. It's a lot cheaper to work things out with MDF then going straight at it with the expensive exotics he uses. You could then use the MDF templates as router templates.
He really is a nice guy and isn't as stiff as he appears on the show. Scripts-Howard, the producers of the show, forces him to be that way. They're very conservative and afraid to offend anyone, hence the long sleeves to cover the tattoo, the hair cut, and even making him say "and" instead of "a" in a sentence.
I would highly recommend taking a class from him if you ever get the opportunity.
Jeff Zahnle
Is there a source of information for the David's classes that he offers? I did a cursory look through hid website and didn't find anything regarding classes. Maybe I just missed it. It has been known to happen.
Thanks, Todd
I found his FAQ here under the Wood Works section:
He'll be teaching a one week class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Indiana in June. That's the class I took this summer.
It also says that he'll be teaching some classes at Woodcraft stores.
Jeff Zahnle
Todd Keaffaber wrote:
In the article on Dave in the Jan '03 issue of Woodshop News, there is a paragraph that states:
"I rely on the skills of about a half-dozen really talented members, " said Marks, "I meet with them and come up with the drawings and they build pieces to my specifications..... I don't physically have the time to build and finish the stuff myself".
(He's talking about the Sonoma County Woodworkers group when he says "members"). Dave lives in Santa Rosa, CA.
So unless things changed with him, this has been on the sources of the information that Dave does have help. He produces more shows then Norm does and therefore I think he has to have help. I don't fault the guy at all. I'm lucky to be living in the same area so I might get to meet some of the people who actually have helped him on projects (not yet, tho!).
MJ Wallace
Cool, thanks for the info. He did elude to the help but I assumed it was the production staff he was referring to. I guess when you assume, you know what happens. He did say that the production staff was pretty clueless when it came to woodworking. They complained that he spent too much time spreading glue for one of the glueups. They called him the "Michelangelo of glueups"
He's a nice guy and quite a character. His website says he'll be teaching a class at some Woodcrafts over the summer. If you get the chance, I recommend meeting the guy.
Jeff
MJ Wallace wrote:
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