Start Your Own Furniture Business

Start Your Own Furniture Business 28-2-6 Start building log furniture and you'll be surprised how many new friends you suddenly have, says Rex Bosworth, owner of Bosworth Tools. At least that's what Bosworth's customers tell him. For the past 10 years he has been supplying customers with tools, plans and even the wood itself for building log furniture. "They start building for themselves, then people ask them to build something and pretty soon they are doing it for a living," says Bosworth. "It can be pretty lucrative. You can build a bed pretty easily in a weekend and sell it for $500." Visit the Bosworth Tools website and you quickly find out what log furniture building is all about. Basic tools include a tenon cutter, Forstner bit, bench vice and electric drill. The tenon cutter shapes the log or branch end to be inserted into a hole created in another piece of wood by the Forstner bit. Good bits and cutters don't come cheap. A starter kit priced at $599 includes 1-in. sized tenon cutter, countersink and Milwaukee Forstner drill bit, as well as a 10-in. drawknife, extra tenon cutter blade, plans for several projects and a demo video. This may sound high until you price a single tenon cutter. Bosworth's most popular 1 1/2-in. cutter sells for $375 by itself. Bosworth recommends logs of at least 2 1/2-in. diameter for chairs, beds and other furniture, though people often go with 3 to 5-in. logs and larger, especially for bed posts. Non-weight bearing items can use wood of any size. Wood must be dry, he adds, preferably no more than 15 percent moisture, or furniture may come apart as it dries down further. Of course, if that happens, you may lose your new friends. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bosworth Tools, 71365 Hwy 83, Swan Lake, Montana 59911 (ph 408 886-2500; website: www.bosworthtools.com).

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