Some general guild questions

[Dlhunter]

I would love to join but money is tight for me right now. Maybe by the start of the next one. That said, here are my questions;

1- hypothetically speaking, if I joined on the last day of the bed build do I have access to the whole build? Not that I would but curious how you work new memberships in the middle of a build.

2- I know this would depend on species selections but how much would you say you guys spend on guild build materials for the bed project? For the year? (Assuming you buy wood in the rough)Only asking because it would suck to scrape the money to join and then have to just watch because I'm too broke to buy some bed wood.

3- Marc, since you purchase a lot of your wood from bell forest have you ever considered putting a group buy of sorts with a material package needed for the build at a discount for those who want to use the same species? Not sure how the logistics would work though.

4-any idea at all what the next builds will be?

Thanks

P.s. this forum is great. I've been a carpenter for years and have recently become more and more interested in woodworking/furniture building. It was all started by a job I went to bid for replacing a countertop and the lady had some original nakashima furniture from the sixties. So my goal is to copy the dresser she had eventually (cheating with some power tools most likely). Nakashima made it for her 50 years ago and the drawers operate smoother than the glides I put in cabinets today.

[thewoodwhisperer]

Hey Darrel. First thing I want to mention is that once you have access to a project, you ALWAYS have access to it. Most folks don't actually build along at the same time I do. They simply watch the videos and build if/when it is convenient for them. If the project itself is of no personal interest to them, they simply enjoy the show and hopefully pick up useful tips and tricks for their own projects in the future. So hopefully that takes away a little of the time/schedule pressure you might be feeling.

1 - If you joined on the last day of the build, you would indeed get access to the entire build. So it can be beneficial to wait until the tail end of a build before joining. The least beneficial time to sign up is right after a build ends. Although I have been known to give people access to the last project anyway simply because I feel bad they missed the window.

2 - There is really no way for me to even estimate that. As you say, it depends on species and it also depends on the selection of projects. There really is no meaningful estimation I can give you on this. So you get the big fat stinky "it depends." But this goes back to my opening comment. You don't have to build when I build. You can wait until the wood/funds are available and build whenever you're ready.

3 - I actually don't purchase much from Bell Forest. They occasionally send me kits to try out and I did use them for a few projects in the past. But most of my project wood is sourced locally. That's not to say there's anything wrong with Bell. They are awesome. But if I can get stock locally, I feel that's the better option for me. As for your group buy idea, we already have something like this in place for the Guild. Pretty much every project has a corresponding page on Bell Forest's site where you can buy kits of various species.

4 - For the next builds, I am considering a few different things. On the list are a desktop humidor, a tilt-top table, and a Greene & Greene blanket chest.

Sounds like you've been bitten by the bug. You're in good company then!

m

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