Thread: Hidden Costs

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Just remembered some of my earliest auto body work. Nothin more than a 4" angle grinder, acetylene torch, and hammer. Beat it close, tack it, heat it cherry red, massage it to shape. I once cut the corner out of a valve cover to patch a running board. Wish I had that energy still.

Ok, my edition to the hidden costs thread:

Just what does it take to build a box out of 3/4" ply?
Actually, it's a kitchen cabinet, so I'm trying to keep dimensions +/- 1/64".

My efforts produced a parallelogram. It's out of square 1/8". Oh well. On to the hidden cost!
3/4 horse skillsaw $75
Cheap tablesaw $150
Two carbide blades $50
Router, $75 (used)
Small carbide bit set $30
DeWalt 18V drill $250
Tri square $12
Carpenter square $15
Lots more odds and ends which easily add up to another hundred.

Over $700 to build a bloody box.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Just remembered some of my earliest auto body work. Nothin more than a 4" angle grinder, acetylene torch, and hammer. Beat it close, tack it, heat it cherry red, massage it to shape. I once cut the corner out of a valve cover to patch a running board. Wish I had that energy still.

Ok, my edition to the hidden costs thread:

Just what does it take to build a box out of 3/4" ply?
Actually, it's a kitchen cabinet, so I'm trying to keep dimensions +/- 1/64".

My efforts produced a parallelogram. It's out of square 1/8". Oh well. On to the hidden cost!
3/4 horse skillsaw $75
Cheap tablesaw $150
Two carbide blades $50
Router, $75 (used)
Small carbide bit set $30
DeWalt 18V drill $250
Tri square $12
Carpenter square $15
Lots more odds and ends which easily add up to another hundred.

Over $700 to build a bloody box.

You missed the cost of building the trailer to go fetch that sheet of ply...and the running expenses of car and trailer...and the cost of power to run the router/drill/skilsaw...

It's a hopeless task trying to quantify the cost of the equipment in a workshop...for insurance purposes the contents of my shed is in the vicinity of NZ $100,000...that's about what it would cost me to replace it all.

But I'd be 'out-of-pocket' by about the sum of NZ $10,000...if that.
All my tools and equipment have been acquired over the last fifty years at bargain prices, some of it even pulled out of the local dump and rebuilt when spoon-fed and a##e-wiped locals threw it away.

Some of my wood-working hand-tools were my Grand-dad's, handed on to me: no charge; but totally irreplacable.
You just can't buy that quality any more.
I've even got a drop-leaf work-table built by my Great-uncle Johnnie when he was an apprentice...and he was in his seventies when I knew him when I was a teenager.

Gary...if you need an English wheel badly enough you'll justify it.
You can't take your money with you; there's no pockets in a shroud!
Just do it.

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