I have a comtractor that Seeyou and I work for often approach me to do some of my real Forte’…wood work.
Basically a slew of corbels, about 100+, that is simple. A roof bracket to hold up a stoop overhang, not too tuff.
Here is where I lose my mind. LATTICE. Yikes I hate it. There is about 1200 sqft with 1×4 sandwiching the edges, all redwood, both 1.5″ sq holes and 3″ sq holes..and to add cornfusion almost all the panels are arched valances above carport entrances, and side screen applications.
Whie redwood is available here for a premium price, lattice is not. So, I am trying to estimate all the ripping time,wastage, and asembly…all stainless steel or monel staples of course.
Thinking seriously of buying a power feeder for the table saw, the ezsmart aint gonna cut it I am afraid. I forsee ripping a mile of 3/8ths strips@ 1.5″ wide.
Would you guess the average cut speed and material gotten per inch of width? I’ll likely fab all into 4×8 panels and scribe to the arched templates..I have a set of plans showing the panel breaks@ about 8′ intervals, and the lattice is not on the bias, it is all plumb and level.
I will generate the actual frames after the posts are up of course, but he wants a $ asap.
Any advice? I don’t really NEED the work, just getting more established as a woodworker vs. roofer.
I DID luck out with a new customer yesterday, 2 bedside tables, a makeup/hair do table, a corner tv hutch for the master bedroom, and a Armoire for another bedroom…spent the day being chauffered around in her BMW looking in antique stores, fed lunch, and back to her house for hours in the bedrooms..I mean, measuring! LOL
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
” Iam not a poet, but your hat is singularily inadequate”
Replies
A couple of things you might do. One, make one from scratch, including all the ripping, etc., and see how long that takes. Multiply by 100, maybe deduct something if you think it will go faster in multiples. Two, order the lattice made for you. There is redwood lattice panel available on the west coast and I'm sure you can buy in the raw material.
Any advice? I don't really NEED the work, just getting more established as a woodworker vs. roofer.
Duane, ya need to get that contractor focused on your reality if he's gonna work with you.
I THINK I see what you are saying..my reality is I am not just dying to do the work, not even interested in going to great lengths to estimate it.
Furniture? Yeah buddy. Miles of mundane ripping and finicky fiddling with arches and spaghetti? Not a part of my reality I'd nurture.
Thanks for the food for thought.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" Iam not a poet, but your hat is singularily inadequate"
I pondered this once, on a much smaller scale. My local lumberyard could gang rip the 3/8 strips out of 2x stock at for a very reasonable price. Unfortunately, the waste is high (as I recall, almost 50%) because of the blade width.
I wish I had gone this route - instead, I bought heavy duty 4x8 panels, and had to force-fit the design around them. If I had ripped the strips, I could have made the panels fit any dimension I wanted, and customized the spaces too. Also, if you intend to paint/stain/seal the wood, it would be much easier to treat the strips before assembling them into a lattice panel. The time I wasted painting would have easily paid for the cost of ripping.
So if I were you, for the purposes of estimating I would try to find a lumberyard that would rip the stock for you, and use that cost. If you later decide to do it yourself, you can pocket the savings.
No painting luckily. And, no changing the design, this all drawn by an arch. and the customer is a very good client for this contractor..all work has to be really pretty.
I think I will decline it...looks like a PITA already.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" Iam not a poet, but your hat is singularily inadequate"
Do you know of Bear Creek Lumber?
Located in Winthrop, WA, up in the high desert east of the Cascades, they supply contractors everywhere in the country with high quality western softwoods.
Western red cedar, redwood, incense cedar, lodgepole pine, doug fir, Alaskan yellow cedar, you name it.
Contact them and see if they can have someone out there local to them mill it for you.
OTOH, if I were to need a whole bunch of common rips like lattice slats, I would probably make a special setup with my bandsaw and a ripper blade, whip 'em out on that, then dress them with the planer.
Plane them? I ain't that nuts...sawing is all that I'd do..powerfeeder and a decent rip blade. No Way in Hell would I try to plane with the grain and be handling all that stock any more than absolutly what is needed.
Even jointing after every 4th or 5th slice is pushing my limits of attn span.
Sounds like I'll take a pass on this endeavour..it just don't feel like a project I want to play with...even at close to 10,000.00. By my seat of the pants ,gut feelings.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" Iam not a poet, but your hat is singularily inadequate"
One thing I would do is get back to the contractor ASAP to tell him that you're not interested, and give him a reason why.
Maybe describe the kind of work you are interested in, so he can keep you in mind for any future projects.
Furniture projects, being chauffered around, someone buying you lunch?
Nice gig.
Yup..I will tell him on Mon AM. I DO like a challenge, and I DO do that kind of work, but I have a " FIF" Funny Inner Feeling, that this could be outta my desires at this time.
I think I'd rather spend quality time with women and Beemers, makeing thier bedrooms more attractive...(G)
Her husband owns the bar where we had lunch, she handed him the bill.
Ok, don't get the wrong Idea..we had a great time..and stayed dressed.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" Iam not a poet, but your hat is singularily inadequate"
Ya gotta listen to those feelings.
Some of the worst jobs I've had is when the money talked louder than the inner voices.
Never a good thing.
You're gonna have to learn patience if you wana be a carpenter
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
One mile of strips?
If you resaw the 1-1/2" strips to 3/8" with the repeaters...
That should take you no more than 2 hours.
20 feet per minute. Waste at minimum with a Diablo blade.
No clamping, no measuring and no handling twice the same board.
The repeaters on the ez smart work similar to a meat slicing machine.
Get the job and send me some pictures.
YCF D
I was thinking the same thing Dino...but I wasn't thinking about using a jig of any sorts.
I remember cutting lattice for my first gazebo in the days when you couldn't buy lattice pre made. All I did was hold my finger on the table and cut....no gadgets needed.
blue
With jobs like that you got a good start.
You can make good money from the materials.
Double-triple the estimating time for the labors and shoot.
Put another 20% in top for overhead and profit and shoot again.
Even if you don't get the job, you know that you never left money on the table.
Good morning Blue.
Assuming that you have a 10" saw, and want to rip the wood yourself, I definately wouldn't rule out running a 7 1/4" framing blade in your saw. The Freud Diablo framing blade has an identical tooth profile to their 10" rip blade, but the kerf width is only a 16th of an inch. My cut height at 90 degrees is about 1 3/4", which is plenty to cut through 2x stock.
Being a cheap a**, I've given this a shot, and it gives me the ability to cut eight pieces of 3/4" quarter round from a single 2x4.
I'm also a huge fan of running 7 1/4" blades for MDF: They're cheap enough I don't worry about runing them, and the narrow kerf leaves you with half of the dust to clean up.
hmm...I can rip those slats for ya - easy -
maybe someone near you has a machine also?
I did a bunch of lattice / trellis work some years ago for a restaraunt. I used cedar 3/4" x1" ripped with power feeder. The parts were all half laped dadoes.
I set up a cross cutting sled for the tablesaw and was able to dado ten or more pieces at once. I set an index piece the spacing I needed from the blade and made all the parts at once.
On the more complicated railing panels that had diagonals and squares, I made cad generated templates and transfered those to the cross cutting sled. All the parts were dead on when assembled. I recall charging the contractor an hourly rate for the job.
It was easier to do the half lap joints than the way they wanted it originaly, which was crossing over and fasting at each intersection. The cad layout probably saved me 15-20 hours in layout and measuring.
Just order the lattice and have it shipped to you. Way cheaper! check this link http://www.austinwholesaledecking.com/lattice/ Shipping might equal a days labor but way less than all that ripping!!