Furniture shopping

[stevewool]

Well this is a new thing for me and my god I have never seen so much crap in one place ok a few places after that I was bored and it was back to the house, poor Ems was like a kid in a sweet shop , look at this, look at that, wow this is nice and that was the first floor, then there was the sales ladies , bloodyhell this is the price but it’s a promo now and it’s less and before that it was this and then Emma says WOW! .

No next floor , that’s a nice bed and that one , you want to try said the sales lady , now talk about trying there best to sell the  bed I was not falling to try it out , I may have been arrested , anyway another big fat NO from me.

In the end it was worth going to see everything is made for little people plus I wanted to see some proper hand made wooden furniture, maybe that’s for another day, so I bet your thinking what did Steve spend , yes I did by a wardrobe to hand a few shirts in , but remember we are only here for a few more months so why spend if it’s not needed just yet.

upps I nearly forgot the wardrobe.

 

[Gary D]

We get everything hand made, the stuff you buy in the stores is never assembled correctly from the get go and starts to fall apart in short order. We have had whole door panel laminates fall off I guess due to the humidity. All around this area along the roads are little woodworking workshops making all kinds of furniture in mahogany etc.

[Tommy T.]

28 minutes ago, Gary D said:

All around this area along the roads are little woodworking workshops making all kinds of furniture in mahogany etc.

But is any of it really any good? There's lots of stuff for sale along the road into Davao but I wonder about the quality of the wood...

There are some used furniture shops in this area that L swears carry decent goods. After the home is built, we will do a serious shop. Most "furniture" stores around here seem to sell rubbish...at least my take on it...

Edited December 28, 2019 by Tommy T.

[OnMyWay]

2 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

But is any of it really any good? There's lots of stuff for sale along the road into Davao but I wonder about the quality of the wood...

There are some used furniture shops in this area that L swears carry decent goods. After the home is built, we will do a serious shop. Most "furniture" stores around here seem to sell rubbish...at least my take on it...

We had 3 beds and 2 side tables built by a roadside shop in the area Gary is talking about.  I wouldn't hesitate to buy again.  They used Jemilina (spelling?) wood.  We just sold the bunkbed for 10k after 5 years.  Still solid!

[graham59]

I  mostly make my own furniture... properly. 

Thank goodness for those boring old cabinet-making and 'woodwork' classes back at school... and my tools.   

 

[hk blues]

On 12/28/2019 at 8:48 AM, Tommy T. said:

But is any of it really any good? There's lots of stuff for sale along the road into Davao but I wonder about the quality of the wood...

There are some used furniture shops in this area that L swears carry decent goods. After the home is built, we will do a serious shop. Most "furniture" stores around here seem to sell rubbish...at least my take on it...

You get what you pay for Tom, in almost everything. They have a variety of wood here and if you are willing to pay more you can get better wood and fittings.  I prefer to order from a carpenter rather than a store.   

[OnMyWay]

On 12/28/2019 at 1:48 PM, Tommy T. said:

There are some used furniture shops in this area that L swears carry decent goods.

Look at the Japan Surplus stores.  You can find some gems once in a while.  We bought a giant dresser thing that is excellent quality.  Precision made with excellent hardware.

[Tommy T.]

2 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Look at the Japan Surplus stores.  You can find some gems once in a while.  We bought a giant dresser thing that is excellent quality.  Precision made with excellent hardware.

Sounds good, OMW - thanks for the tip! L has suggested these stores too but it is a bit early since there is no home for anything yet...

[davewe]

I am a woodworker and instrument maker. While the skill level is all over the map here, the biggest issue is wood drying. Hardwoods take years to air dry. In the West they are mostly kiln dried nowadays. If a hardwood is not properly dried it is likely to crack under changes in humidity, no matter what the skill level of the craftsman is.

For example my buddy had a dining room table made. They wanted to use 4 boards for the top. He wanted 3 to have less seams. They agreed. One board cracked a few months later. When he asked for a repair, they said it was his fault for trying to use 3 boards instead of 4. In reality the fault was improperly dried woods.

 

[jimeve]

1 hour ago, davewe said:

If a hardwood is not properly dried it is likely to crack under changes in humidity, no matter what the skill level of the craftsman is.

That's exactly what happened to our Kitchen units, Most of the cupboard doors split, and they are mahogany. Asked them to sort it out but never showed up. I will fill the cracks with 2 parts wood filler, sand down and repaint them.