The Most Popular Wood

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I am not sure if this is a general question or one that belongs in the Design Sub-Forum. Either way I was thinking of some new cradle designs I thought would sell, and sell well, but I don't want to go through the expense and pain of buying wood and laboring with a project only to find out that it will only sell to the right person. At the same time I don't want to pound my way literally through Oak if building somthing out of White Pine sells just as well.

So my question is, if I made some cradles what should I use for wood? Light or Dark? Hard or Soft? Native or Exotic? Etc, Etc, Etc
 
I would go with a hard wood. Esentially because it will take more abuse than a softwood will. I would also lean toward native woods for a cradle. I recently read something about some people having allergies to ceritain types of wood. This seems to be perdominatly the exotic woods. I personally wouldn't want to take a chance like that on a cradle for a little one.

just my 1.5 cents worth.
 
A lot will depend on the nature of your design, and the existing decor/style of your potential customers.

That said, Oak, Walnut, and Cherry are always popular, and maybe maple. If it's to be painted - and many people might want paint on their nursery furniture - then poplar would be a good choice.

Are you planning to build a few and place them in stores, or display a few at craft shows and take orders? Either way, you might want to start with at least one from each kind of wood you'll offer, and let sales/orders guide you for follow-up production.

I think, were it me, I'd start with one in Oak, one in Cherry, and one in Poplar, painted white. See what the market likes...
 
Hard to tell. I think you would need very clear wood. Customers would probably be scared off by any knots or other "features". Highly figured wood is probably overkill. I wouldn't rule out good white pine. Depending on the design, you can probably use a lot of the not-so-clear parts for spindles or slats....

It really has more to do with your customers' taste and what else is in the nursery than any intrinsic quality of the wood. I have heard from a few sources that lots of folks are "tired" of oak...

Why not make a few samples using different woods/finishes and see what sells?
 
Hardwoods will command a higher price. Lighter woods like maple will take a greater variety of stains more easily. Some woods are a "look" and will be more specific to taste; cherry, walnut or any specific "looking" wood. On the other hand cherry and walnut will finish beautifully with just a simple oil and top coat appropriate to children's furniture. Pine and cedar (although I personally use them and love that look) are soft and can "feel" cheaper to the uneducated. JMHO

This can also be geographically significant. On the left coast red oak or white oak with a golden finish are very common and fit in a lot of homes. Colonial maple finished pieces are also dominant here. Play to your audience. Shop a bunch of furniture stores and ask the sales folks what stuff moves well. If you are doing this over the web and therefore soliciting a broader audience, I would make a demo unit out of cherry, oak and pine and let your customer demand drive your material purchases.
 
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FWIW, it should be sacrelige to paint wood. There, I said it.;)

All wood is good, but my personal favorite is walnut. I love the density, it cuts well, carves well, is forgiving, it's just wonderful wood to work with, IMO.

I also like cherry for the same reason, those are my very favorites, and hard maple is not too bad IMO.

While pine is a softwood, I like it for different things and is common as a theme in folks homes.

If I had my choice to pick, walnut, cherry, and maple are my faves, in that order.
 
I guess I could have explained myself better, what I was thinking of doing was building high end, very customized wooden cradles. Kind of like my daughters train cradle, but on other themes like bulldozers, tractors, trains, race cars, trucks, boats, etc.

I would have to charge quite a bit I know, but I do not want to go through so much time and effort only to have a cradle linger in my shop for years. This is what happens with the custom wooden models I make. They just collect dust in my shop forever.

I enjoyed the challenge and creativeness of building my daughters cradle, and thought maybe instead of making items that never sell, I would make something someone would be more eager to buy. Of course that idea would be futile if I used a type of wood that no one wanted.

Locomotive_Cradle-454x336.jpg
 
I guess I could have explained myself better, what I was thinking of doing was building high end, very customized wooden cradles. Kind of like my daughters train cradle, but on other themes like bulldozers, tractors, trains, race cars, trucks, boats, etc.

I would have to charge quite a bit I know, but I do not want to go through so much time and effort only to have a cradle linger in my shop for years. This is what happens with the custom wooden models I make. They just collect dust in my shop forever.

I enjoyed the challenge and creativeness of building my daughters cradle, and thought maybe instead of making items that never sell, I would make something someone would be more eager to buy. Of course that idea would be futile if I used a type of wood that no one wanted.

Travis,

That is the coolest cradle I have ever seen! :clap: :thumb:
I though you were initially talking about traditional style cradles.
 
I think with a design like that you want to incorporate some different coloured wood into the details. Maybe maple with walnut trim or something? Make the different colours part of the design.
Exotic wood is probably an overkill, people wont buy it because of the wood species, they will buy it because it looks like a train. Having said that, using something different/interesting for trim/details can work.

Cheers

Ian
 
travis, i`d stick to domestic hardwoods and like has allready been suggested use natures color pallet for the various parts. something that is a good marketing tool is a natural, nontoxic finish like schellac and wax or oil-n-wax. more and more folks are paying attention to what chemicals they intentionally put into their babys immediate enviornment so taunting a "safe" finish might be wise....
 
You're looking at selling these for a profit right??

If you are going to make something yourself the biggest component of the cost is labour. By and large the time it takes to make sonething in cheap wood is not wildly different from the time it takes to make it in expensive (good) wood. People are going to buy a design like that because they want something different or to brag on, not because of its utility value. That implies that your market will be folks with disposable income who are willing to pay more for quality/novelty. The impression of quality is easier to create with quality materials than it is with utility materials. Build some examples in good quality timber. Don't build too many on spec and consider building some reduced size maquettes to show what you can do. For photography the size doesn't matter and for hauling around smaller is better.

To illustrate my cost point.

If you make a product which takes say 10 hours to make. If you use a low value timber (pine?) your material cost is , say, $50 and the best selling price you can get is $300 then you are "earning" $25/hour ((300-50)/10). Make the same product in a higher value timber (walnut/cherry/oak - take your pick) and your material cost is say $150 but your selling price is now $600 then you are earning $45/hour ((600-150)/10).

This all depends on who you think your market is and how you want to approach it but I honestly believe that if you want to make things fr a living you need to either aim up the quality pile or move to china.

I also agree completely with Tod and Ian - choose finish carefully and use different species for colour accents.
 
I guess I could have explained myself better, what I was thinking of doing was building high end, very customized wooden cradles. Kind of like my daughters train cradle, but on other themes like bulldozers, tractors, trains, race cars, trucks, boats, etc.

I would have to charge quite a bit I know, but I do not want to go through so much time and effort only to have a cradle linger in my shop for years. This is what happens with the custom wooden models I make. They just collect dust in my shop forever.

I enjoyed the challenge and creativeness of building my daughters cradle, and thought maybe instead of making items that never sell, I would make something someone would be more eager to buy. Of course that idea would be futile if I used a type of wood that no one wanted.

Locomotive_Cradle-454x336.jpg

Oh! That Cradle. I love that thing. I also thought you were talking about traditional designs. This type of item would be a special item (and your's certainly is). If you were going to go monochrome like the pic I would go maple as colors could be easily adjusted to suit the buyers preference. I would see it as an opportunity to use various woods for coloration. This post doesn't really help does it?
 
travis, i`d stick to domestic hardwoods and like has allready been suggested use natures color pallet for the various parts. something that is a good marketing tool is a natural, nontoxic finish like schellac and wax or oil-n-wax. more and more folks are paying attention to what chemicals they intentionally put into their babys immediate enviornment so taunting a "safe" finish might be wise....

This is also true of the wood you use. I would stay away from any wood that is known to cause allergic reactions in people or are know to be particularly toxic when the dust is inhaled. Remember, you are talking about baby/toddler furniture and what do most of them do? They CHEW on things!
 
You guys bring up some great points. I am well versed in making good contrasting wood choices as I do it all the time with my custom wooden models. Again, while those are a lot of fun to build, challenging and very unique, they just don't sell. Just to clarify here, I am not looking to make a living out of this, but just make something that sells.

As for my market, I am fortunate in that I live in coastal Maine and thus have some neighbors with some serious spending money. Recently John Travolta bought a 10,000 dollar cradle for his child here in Maine, and while I do not mean to imply that I would make that much money, or sell to that kind of client, wealthy people do vacation here and buy a lot of homes here.

For some of you that are not familiar with my custom wooden models, I will leave you with a picture or two.

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