My meeting with the aforementioned woodworker last night was great. I saw his shop (spotless, though he had done a bunch of work in it that day) which was located in his very large garage. My first impression was that he REALLY cares about his stuff, and anything he sends someone. He's a retired wood worker turned super engineer (in his work life). He is particular. He knows his name is going on something when he makes it, and he knows that if it is good or great, someone may talk about it to others. He also knows that if what he gives a customer is NOT great, they will tell everyone, and will do so until they feel better.
I viewed several of his desktop humidors which were first class, each with a perfect seal (that "whoosh" occurred every time I dropped a lid onto the body of one of his desktops) and priced all were priced modestly.
We talked drawers and shelves for the Newair 280 and 281 (cgraunke and I met up beforehand so he could give me a set of 281 drawers for reference). He had many very specific comments about the low cost shelves and drawers, most of which was not favorable.
He can do better. (a lot better) IMO.
I ordered one shelf and one drawer to start (yep, I'm paying full price so I can comment as any person would that paid money for a product) ~ I'll have them next week.
My take away:
- He's really good (meticulous)at what he does ~ you could probably expect such from a retired engineer.
- Shelves and Drawers are going to cost more, but the quality will be better and folks will receive them on time.
- He's a stickler for finishing on time or ahead of schedule and won't sacrifice quality just to get something out the door sooner.
- If he can sense that he needs to flip the sign to "closed" for a bit to ensure quality and get products to people in the time expected, he'll do so.
I'll report back next week with pics.