Quality Check


Econdron

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I make metal bases for tables, and I have a local woodworking shop who is a good customer and I have a pretty good relationship with him. Anyone coming in looking for a referral on who to make the tops I send to him. Anytime I need wood for a project, I buy it from him as well and he buys all his bases from me. I've never really checked his work, just mounted it and sent it off. I have about 5 tables setup in my showroom that I recently started noticing little things. Honestly, none of these issues would bother me if I were the customer, but I don't want to be sending customers his way if his work is sub-par. I attached a couple pictures of what I'm noticing. First, and this is probably the worst, the table tops aren't square. That is a shop-built square in the picture that was precision ground and powder coated, it's been double checked with other squares, so it's definitely square. The table is off square by almost 1/4" over 20". It's not a crazy amount, and it's barely noticeable without the square put up against there. But I feel like keeping two edges square should be pretty easy, correct? All of the tables I have are off square by about this much at least on one side. Some of them have 1 square side, and the other is off. 

The next problem I noticed is what looks like little chatter marks in the wood. I noticed this because it's the same finish that shows up when there's chatter when we polish stainless when running it through a Timesaver. I would assume this is the same problem caused by their wide belt sander? Is this chatter, or is that just part of the character of the wood? 

Let me know if I'm totally off track here, and this looks fine compared to typical woodworking standards. Like I said, I don't mind the issues myself if I were buying a table, but I have some high end, very picky customers, and it looks bad on me if I refer them to someone who does a sub-par job. 

Hm... Wouldn't let me upload pictures. Try this:

http://s1249.photobucket.com/user/Econdron91/library/

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We weld and make table tops and bases for restaurants and individuals. Sometimes we will let something slide on an order of 150 table tops as far as being a bit out of square but I doubt your doing that much volume so your should be 100% correct om metal and wood.

You either have to speak up or find another source...

 

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Yes, being that far out of square or leaving sanding/chatter marks behind is definitely sub standard, at least for proper furniture.

But this rustic/reclaimed trend has unfortunately brought with it a lot of sloppy work that people seem willing to tolerate.  

 

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The chatter marks look like it is from his planer and that he isn't running them through a drum sander to eliminate them.   If he doesn't have a drum sander he isn't doing enough sanding, whatever method sanding he uses, to get rid of the chatter marks.

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On 1/21/2017 at 2:56 PM, BillyJack said:

We weld and make table tops and bases for restaurants and individuals. Sometimes we will let something slide on an order of 150 table tops as far as being a bit out of square but I doubt your doing that much volume so your should be 100% correct om metal and wood.

You either have to speak up or find another source...

 

Really? For larger orders I always make sure everything is spot on. For individuals if something is just slightly off I'll sometimes take the risk that they won't mind or won't even notice the issue, but I would be worried about the entire order of 150 needing to be replaced or returned if they discovered they were out of square.

 

21 hours ago, Ronn W said:

You are running a business and your rep is on the line with every item you sell.  Have a talk with him.

My OP was a bit misleading, I don't sell completed tables, only the metal bases. I have dozens of local customers that sell tables, and I can almost guarantee they wouldn't buy from me if I was also selling tables. But occasionally someone will come in and insist that I supply the completed table, not just the base. I usually refer people to this customer since I think he's the easiest to work with and his prices are right, but I'll start sending people elsewhere if his work is a little sketchy. I'll probably just bring it up with him. All the tops I have were ordered at the same time, so who knows, it could be a new guy that had just started working there that messed some stuff up. 

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On 1/23/2017 at 7:19 PM, BillyJack said:

Econdron...We service what we sell all over the world. I'm talking 0ne top out of square, your talking 150. Try a 1000 a week. It's called quality control...

I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about. you make 1000 tops every week that are out of square? Your first post said you let it slide if it's an order of 150 that are out of square. Or were you referring to letting 1 out of 150 slide?

Aside from that, do you know the brand and/or model number of those retractable drop cords in your shop? You like them? I can't find any that work well. 

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