ZLane Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Hi Marc, My name is Zack and I am 19 years old. I am currently in college for cabinetmaking and finish work. I love all of your videos and I just have a couple questions. I was wonder about how much money it took to build up your shop. I eventually want to make my own woodworking shop and build furniture and cabinets. I also have a personal question that you can choose not to answer if it is to personal. My parents are trying to convince me that I should go into framing and not finish work. They say that I wont make enough money to live by building furniture. How much money do you and other woodworkers make on average and do you think that framing is a better route. I want to eventually have a family and was wondering if I could support them by selling my pieces or is it more of a hobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 cant answer for anyone else but plan on a day job till you have a large client list and can afford to go a couple months without work. if you go with framing or finish work you might want to sit down and figure out if you want to do the job you love with the stress of knowing that you have bills, food, morgage, school cost ect.....and the money you make has to afford your life. myself personaly i would hate to know that i have to have a job done by a date and if i dont get it done the way the customer wants it i dont get paid. i love being able to spend a few hours turning bowls and then the next day work on a poker table, then building a garden cart......basicly build what i want when i want rather then what the customer wants. i have to say im glad to hear that there are still colleges for cabinet making and kids are still inturesting in doing it as a job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewoodwhisperer Posted April 10, 2012 Report Share Posted April 10, 2012 Hello ZLane. Welcome to the forum. I have never actually added up the cost of all my tools. At this point, I get a lot of help from sponsors so my out of pocket cost for most things is minimal. But if you were ever so motivated, you could watch one of my shop tour videos and simply google each of the tools you see and that should give you an approximate value. Just keep in mind that some tools are more than you need, and others might not be enough, depending on what you plan to do. Now the harder thing to answer for you is career advice. I really try NOT to give people advice on this since I have limited experience with it myself. I went to college and was trained for work in the biology field. I switched careers, started my woodworking business, and struggled to make a living for several years. I then started teaching and came up with the idea for The Wood Whisperer. Given my lack of time spent in the field and the fact that I struggled at just about every turn, I really don't feel comfortable advising others in their career path. I would love to say furniture is the way to go, but being realistic, that's a VERY hard way to make a living. Slinging 2x4's is no cakewalk either. Fortunately, we do have some pros here in this forum who would be able to give you a better perspective on the industry. In fact, I'm going to move this thread to our Pro forum so we can get others involved. Whatever way you decide to go, don't forget to get proper training on the business side of things. All the craftsmanship in the world won't save you from poor business planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hi Marc, My name is Zack and I am 19 years old. I am currently in college for cabinetmaking and finish work. I love all of your videos and I just have a couple questions. I was wonder about how much money it took to build up your shop. I eventually want to make my own woodworking shop and build furniture and cabinets. I also have a personal question that you can choose not to answer if it is to personal. My parents are trying to convince me that I should go into framing and not finish work. They say that I wont make enough money to live by building furniture. How much money do you and other woodworkers make on average and do you think that framing is a better route. I want to eventually have a family and was wondering if I could support them by selling my pieces or is it more of a hobby. If you look at my shop tour on the WW site, that is a small one man shop set up for cabinets. Your looking at about 40-45K to set up the same way. You have to keep in mind tooling is expensive its not just the machines. A decent stile and rail cutter set for the shaper will cost upwards of $900 each and you will want a half dozen different ones. Spiral sizers will run you a grand a pop. You can get by with cheaper saw blades like Forrest but will save money buying better Royce Ayr at $200 ea. Things like band saw blades are much more expensive on larger saws $320 for a carbide blade to fit a 24" saw. Can you make a living working out of your shop? That depends on your standards of living 150K per year on the west coast is a faily easy hump for a one man shop. You have to have contacts and how you go about finding them is tough and you may have to spend quite a few years working in the industry to meet enough potential buyers. I really doubt its going to happen with furniture like household furnishings, those are really just jobs that take you away from mindless kitchen cabinets for a few days. After you build a customer base you may just start getting more work but its not going to happen overnight. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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