Pre-milled drawer stock

Would you buy pre-milled drawer stock?

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 17.6%
  • No, I like making them myself

    Votes: 9 52.9%
  • Depends (please comment)

    Votes: 5 29.4%

  • Total voters
    17

Darren Wright

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Location
Springfield, Missouri
I came across the some pre-milled drawer strips, components, and kits on the woodcraft site. They seem to be over priced to me considering how much you could get out of a piece of plywood. I'm sure there are other suppliers out there, but most I've seen so far seem priced just as high.

Also seems there could be a marked for someone to sell just drawer slides and components pre-cut and even pre-dovetailed at a more competitive price.

If the prices were more competitive to what you could do them yourself for using good plywood or even hardwoods, would you buy them pre-milled?
 
Since my major hang-up in woodworking is drawers, I would purchase if price is low enough. However, I do not see how anyone could make them and ship them and have a price that is low enough to cause me to buy them instead of make them. Note: I am considering shipping and handling as part of the price.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
Lessee... They're half inch Baltic Birch ply, with a quarter inch dado, full length. Allowing for saw kerf, I could get 14 of them out of each sheet of BB ply, so they're getting about $140.00 for a sheet of ply with grooves cut in it. Nah! I'll cut my own, thank you!
 
That's the math I came up with. Depending on drawer width/depth, you could get anywhere from 8 to 12 4" tall drawers out of a 5' x 5' piece of 1/2". However, someone buying plywood in bulk at a cheaper price, could plink these out all day long at a competitive price for local suppliers or shops. Someone with a CNC setup could even do dovetails for pre-sized kits pretty reasonably. If priced reasonably I'd definitely buy them pre-milled. Might be worth looking at a bit deeper for some of you to make a buck or two on. Someone like Larry might be able to turn them out pretty quick with that woodmaster of his.
 
My view is time verses money. If I am running out of time to finish a project, or running way behind, I would buy them to try to catch up.
If I want it to be a gift that says "I did this" for somebody, then I just have to take time whenever I can to do the project.
In the last couple of years, I haven't had much shop time (I actually visit here to relax), and most of what I have had, has been late at night (warning don't operate machinery when falling asleep). So there have been times it flat out makes sense for that, or for me to get out of woodworking.
 
There are shops that custom make drawer boxes to your dimensions for a pretty reasonable price IF you are buying enough of them. Anyone doing the kitchens for a new housing development for example. I guess it is like my fear of chairs. I have never made one so I am reluctant to do so. Drawers I had to make to outfit my shop inexpensively so now, I will make a drawer any old time.
 
"They seem to be over priced to me considering how much you could get out of a piece of plywood."

Here is a perfect example of thinking a selling price is related to the material cost. It isn't. What is really be sold in this case is convenience and time savings. That is really what you are considering buying. Think about this when YOU are the seller.
 
"They seem to be over priced to me considering how much you could get out of a piece of plywood."

Here is a perfect example of thinking a selling price is related to the material cost. It isn't. What is really be sold in this case is convenience and time savings. That is really what you are considering buying. Think about this when YOU are the seller.

Very true, Carol, but... A sheet of BB costs me $36.00. It'll take less than ten minutes to cut it into 14 4" wide strips; 5 more minutes to change over from my rip blade to a quarter inch dado; and another ten minutes to run the dados in the 14 strips. Even if I'm paying labor at $40.00 per hour, I've only got about $56.00 invested, leaving $84.00 of that sales price as potential profit.

So, using those figures, I'm saving less than half an hour, and paying $84.00 (plus shipping - Woodcraft doesn't ship for free) for the convenience. Doesn't seem cost effective to me. YMMV.
 
i have seen them used in two different shops and it was the time factor that made them cost effective, dont know there pricing as for dollars but i did ask the question.. and these were prefinished as well.. there is one of those companys not far from me that make doors and drawers to what ever dimensions you want.. and back when i was there last the price for solid maple drawers with ply bottoms and DT joinery was cheaper than most could make them for.. right off the top of my head i think a drawer that was around 4 to 4 " high and say 18" wide and 22 deep was like 30 dollars,, prefinished was 10 dollars more.. there shop was all automated as much as possible.. volume is where they made there money.
 
A commercial shop I worked in used pre-made dovetailed drawers in the interest of time. They were great and fit together perfectly. Personally, I've done so many drawers that I wouldn't waste my money on pre-made boxes.
 
I dont like making drawers, but I dont think they offer it cheap enough or machined enough. Id rather get the parts already dovetailed and cut to size, but only if it was comparable in cost to doing it myself.
 
Very true, Carol, but... A sheet of BB costs me $36.00. It'll take less than ten minutes to cut it into 14 4" wide strips; 5 more minutes to change over from my rip blade to a quarter inch dado; and another ten minutes to run the dados in the 14 strips. Even if I'm paying labor at $40.00 per hour, I've only got about $56.00 invested, leaving $84.00 of that sales price as potential profit.

So, using those figures, I'm saving less than half an hour, and paying $84.00 (plus shipping - Woodcraft doesn't ship for free) for the convenience. Doesn't seem cost effective to me. YMMV.

You need to also factor in the cost (in time and money) to acquire the plywood, as well as the shop expenses (electricity, expendables like blade sharpening, do-overs on mistakes, emptying the DC, cleaning up afterward, etc.) when doing the math. Some of it is indeed minor and easy to absorb, but in a production shop, I suspect it still impacts the bottom line.

That said, for the average hobbyist, I think you're correct...the pre-made stuff is a LOT more expensive.
 
Lessee... They're half inch Baltic Birch ply, with a quarter inch dado, full length. Allowing for saw kerf, I could get 14 of them out of each sheet of BB ply, so they're getting about $140.00 for a sheet of ply with grooves cut in it. Nah! I'll cut my own, thank you!

That's what I'm thinking too.
I've seen ads for them and can't understand why the average woodworker would buy them. So easy to make.
 
I think the woodcraft stuff is another story altogether but the kind of place Larry refers to is no different to Apple buying a Cpu from Intel. Do what you do best and stick to ones knitting. I have a local friend who is a one man do it all shop and he uses this kind of company for both doors and draws.
Its all about balancing time and where he makes the biggest buck per hour. Keeping the pipeline full in a one man band means you gotta gave time to be able to be selling and quoting and depending on you close ratio you may make more pro rata selling than
making a repetitive piece you not geared for. Vaughn and Carol make excellent points we forget the little things and hey if woodcraft is selling something like that at that margin well its a lesson in the price has nothing to do with cost arena. :)

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
Shipping and handling charges usually make or break a sell for me , and your right shipping is what is applyed to the final as if the item were higher to me also . Plywood would be the wiser choice - on my part too ........ for most people don't want to pay those shipping charges ...a lot of internet suppliers at times offer deals on shipping charges ........Woodcraft wake up............
 
I think the woodcraft stuff is another story altogether but the kind of place Larry refers to is no different to Apple buying a Cpu from Intel....

The stuff Larry referred to is also pre-finished, and that certainly makes a lot of difference. Generally the pre-cat finishes applied to that stuff is way better than just about anything the average home shop can do, and that's what makes it a good/wise buy. For unfinished plywood with a groove in it - not so much. YMMV.
 
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