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The last time I completely lost my composure, a piece of office equipment almost died.
This was in 1995, when I was running a start-up newspaper in Frankfort, Ky., and was sleeping under my desk some nights. Our company was broke, I had just spent an hour cleaning the bathrooms and our automatic paper-folding machine decided to clog because the humidity was a couple points too high.
After the machine ruined hundreds of valuable pieces of mail, I freaked. I grabbed a broken table leg (why we had a broken table leg in the newsroom is a mystery to me) and beat the machine senseless in front of the entire staff. Then I took a walk.
Last night, I was looking around my workshop for another spare table leg.
Let me back up for a moment. I’m building a fairly large shelving unit for a local couple and am now sanding all the components before finishing and final assembly (the photos here are of the finishing sample boards I’m preparing).
Against my better judgment, I bought some Far East red oak plywood from the home center for the shelves. It looked OK in the store, but it has been a nightmare. The surface veneer is woefully thin. Typically, I can dress plywood with a handplane and make four or five passes before I’m in danger of cutting through the veneer. But not this stuff. The veneer seems as thin as notebook paper. And so I decided to sand it to be safe.
I started sanding with #150-grit , typically a good place to start with quality plywood. But not this stuff. The machining marks on the surface veneers are so pronounced that I had to start with #120-grit. That’s a mite aggressive for thin veneer, so I hunched over the work while sanding so I could keep a sharp eye on the veneer in case I started to cut through it.
That’s when I noticed the veneer lifting in a few places, like a blister about to pop. Either this is a new development, or I didn’t notice it (I’m guessing the former). So I couldn’t power sand these blisters.
So after four hours of power sanding and hand-sanding, I’m now about halfway done with the project. But I am completely done with cheap plywood.
Believe me, I don’t blame Far East manufacturing for this (so please don’t bash an entire nation or culture if you leave a comment). Someone in our country ordered the plywood be made like this. Someone at the home center agreed to stock it. And I was stupid enough to buy it. I blame myself and no one else.
But it’s just a good thing that all my table legs are still attached to tables, or I’d be sanding out quite a few big dents in these shelves.
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Christopher, you’ve just cast a vote which will eventually get back to the vendors. Whether they like it or not [the feedback,] their scrimping on the way to a tad higher profitability has lost them at least one, and potentially many more customers, thanks to the reach of your writings.
Eventually, if they’re lucky, they’ll figure out that cheaper is different from "less expensive" and they’ll adjust their quality in the upwards direction.
If they don’t their smarter competition will. Them folks over thar’ ain’t stupid. Some are just greedy. That’s not unique to "Far East" manufacturing, either. You can find equally dumb people on this side of the Pacific Ocean, too. Over 3.4 decades "in industry" I’ve worked with quite a few of them, too.
Next time, set aside a table leg for exactly that purpose, and also set aside something that you can wail away at without disturbing co-workers, neighbors, police, or small children… 🙂
You might not, but I remember the 1950s and 1960s, when "Made in Japan" equalled "junk." Today, I drive an ’04 Prius and have loved virtually every one of the 35,000 miles I’ve put on it. Definitely NOT junk… just ask GM and Ford’s people…. and comparitive sales.
Today we can say the same "junk" or "cheap" about Ch….. oops…. Give ’em a decade or two…. they’ll figure it out… or their competitors will.