Mine eyes have seen the glory, Walzcraft
Got back from a little vacation, and my new never-before-seen Walzcraft cab fronts and parts catalog had arrived in the mail.
If any of you cabinet builders, whether scratchbuilding or doing it from components, haven’t seen their offering of doors, drawerfronts, faceframes, and other cab components, by all means look them up.
We have been using RTA packages from Scherr’s, and though their door and drawerfront offerings are pretty complete, their finishing capabilities don’t go as far as we need sometimes, thus the call we made to Walzcraft.
Having bought from Conestoga and Keystone before, we’ve seen the rich finish offerings, but these guys from Walzcraft go a step beyond, in terms of the unique styles offered, plus some species selections (gummy cherry, for example) we thought were cool.
Don’t know how they are on price and service, but we may be finding out this spring.
Replies
Gene
I've been touting Walzcraft for about 8 years now. I dont even consider anybody else, they are everything I want when I dont have the time or desire to build doors/drawer fronts.
Doug
I've used Waltzcraft several times now. Excellent quality, great service, good price, fairly fast. My only complaint is a door I ordered that was 2" taller than they would guarantee against warping, warped. Can't blame them for that though. They will replace any (other) door that warps more than 1/16". Pretty impressive.
No thanks, I'd rather make my own.
I have heard good things about them tho. My hardwood supplier also supplies wood to them.
Mike
Really? You'd rather make your own? Man, I've made plenty, and still do on occasion, but I can make more money doing other stuff and letting them worry about grain matching and perfect quality. But hey, if you like it....
We could not make nearly the margins on cabs as we do, by making them ourselves.
Go over and view the posts at the pro cab guys' forums like Woodweb and True32, to see what they say about rollin' yer own, versus buying them out.
For me, one-off furniture pieces and unique built-ins are worthwhile, but after making the second door or drawerfront in a 26-cab kitchen, I'd be looking for the door out.
What cut list software are you using? Were d'ya get your abrasives for your wide-belts? What upgrades have you put into your finishing rooms to pick up every last spec of dust? What do you use as techniques or programs to ensure that your distressing doesn't look repetitive?
Edited 3/1/2007 9:19 pm ET by Gene_Davis
"We could not make nearly the margins on cabs as we do, by making them ourselves."
You just have to charge more :)
One of my biggest selling points for cabinets I build is that everything is made by me in my shop. I enjoy working with wood and actually building things, and I charge accordingly. My cabinet doors have book-matched panels, stiles of adjoining doors are ripped from the same board, and so on. I don't think I could find a door shop that would do that. Oh, and I dovetail all my own drawers too.
To me, standing there putting together parts that somebody else made and shipped to me is very boring. I could just as well go work in a factory assembling parts. Oh yea, there can definately be time and economic benefits to ordering parts out, it's just not for me. I've never been to the web sites you mentioned, but I can guess what they would say. I know, I'm probably a dying breed of cabinetmaker at the old age of 35.
I'm not sure why you'd want to know, but I don't use any cut list software. I can make a cutlist in about 20 minutes or so for a whole kitchen. My wide-belts come from a stair-shop that I group buy with, I believe they come from Mpls. As far as picking up every last speck of dust? I guess I'm not building space shuttle parts.
Mike
Mike
I've made a few doors in my days to but sometimes you dont have the time to do the doors and drawer fronts and keep up with other commitments.
I did a kitchen/entertainment center/built in's that required about 50 doors and another 35 - 40 drawer fronts. The HO's picked out a door style that they seen in a designer mag and they were not going to settle for anything less then that style. I couldnt buy them out, nobody made that style, at least nobody that I could find, so I made them. I really dont mind making doors/drawer fronts but having done a thousand or so in my life the thrill is kinda/sorta gone.
Matching up the grain and all the other stuff that comes with making the cabs is all part of the woodworking process that made me want to do this stuff in the first place. I get what you say about being an assembler.
I've made a boat load of dovetailed drawers too but that's a little less exciting for me then the doors!
I work for an architectul milwork company now and we do some really high end stuff, sometimes we buy the doors out and sometimes we build but I doubt that our customers really concern themselves with where or how the doors came about.
If your a small co. and can still find the time to make all the parts and still satisfy your customers needs, and more importantly still enjoy making them then by all means you should.
Like you I never had any cut list software, I find it a waste of my time, like you I can sit down and make a cut list out in about the same time I would if I was using a program but by doing it in my head I keep my mind wraped around the process and therefore I'm more in tune with the whole project.
But if you ever did need to buy doors out Walzcraft would be one to look at! :)
Doug
Hey Doug, I've got no problem with buying doors out; I have before and will again. Like you said, sometimes timewise it makes sense. I've just gotten into a fair amount of clients that are really into having a 'handmade' kitchen. I don't really relish making dovetail drawers all day long either, but again, it's a detail my customers expect to see. I can usually whip out a kitchens worth of drawers in a day, so its not that bad.
I still enjoy making my own, but I haven't gotten up to your thousand yet, but I'm in the hundreds for sure anyway. I learned a lot from talking to an old cabinetmaker I used to bump into on jobsites. He was in his upper 70's and still making everything from scratch, all by himself. He'd point out things like how he arranged the grain & colors on door pairs & things like that. A real craftsman he was.
Most of those custom door shops are really good, and very picky about the material they use. One of the shops my wood supplier sells to requires red oak, for example, to be sorted into like eight different color shades. That getting pretty precise! I've got a real good little shop about an hour from me that I've used a few times but maybe I'll check into Walzcraft sometime. What's their typical lead time on an order?
Take care,
Mike
Mike
I wasnt dissin ya for making the doors and drawer fronts, it just seams like in my case anyhow, I can do other things that need to be done. Sometimes that takes away from the woodworking process but we all have bills to pay and do what it takes to pay them.
Often times the customer doesnt want to wait for their cabinets so buying out seams to speed the process up.
I do enjoy making all the components when the job is small enough, maybe 15 to 20 doors and drawer fronts. Gives you the chance to do something special with book matched woods, matching styles and rails........
A thousand door/drawer fronts only mean that I'm a lot older then you, nothing else! :) Hell when you think about that # I made almost 1/10th of those just last winter on one job. I dont know how many I've made but having done this for 25 years give or take, it adds up.
Walzcraft does a real good job, I'm never disapointed. My first time using them I had a hickory kitchen that I was pressed for time and didnt relish the idea of making the doors for anyhow(hickory is to damn hard, should be left for hammer handles) so I gave them a call. There prices were comparable to others, they were local enough (Iowa/Wisc) and they had a lead time of about 2 weeks.
I went up there to pick the doors up. I was a little concerned about droping $1500 on some door/drawer fronts without seeing them. I thought it would be some small shop with 10 guys making cabinets. What a surprise, they are huge. I was impressed with the place. Very good service, equipment, company.
I couldnt work at a place like that though, talk about your assembler job, yikes!
I dont know what the lead time is - always been about 10 days to two weeks anytime I have ordered from them. I'm sure it varries depending on the work load that they have.
Call or e-mail them for a brocher, its very impressive. You can find just about any type door in it, its also a nice reference for other styles.
Who knows, they may have something that a customer wants but because its only 6 or 8 doors your cost for tooling up may not work out. You buy out and still do the deal, saves both of you and you gain another happy/satisfied customer.
Doug
Mike, a couple of hours ago I placed an order with WC for two paint-grade cabinet doors with center rails, primed, and an odd size 5/4 door (19 1/2" by 80 9/16"), same edge profile. They'll get back to me with a quote.
"Express Shipping" for that order is 7-11 working days. Regular shipping is 13-17 working days. That's pretty typical of past orders with them. Usually it's closer the shorter time. Sometimes they beat their own estimates.
Mike Maines"This is a process, not an event."--Sphere
I knew we were missing you...................just about to put out a APB.
Welcome back!
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