SUX V R40 Rider {Moderated for Language}
{Moderated for Language}
You may have missed that the Mianne order is on it's way. I don't believe that any future orders will be a problem also.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Keith:
Glad you are getting what you have ordered. Never heard of Mianne benchwork; you gave them extreme benefit of the doubt.
I guess I understand the market niche for products like Sievers and Mianne, but never underestimate the generosity of your fellow modelers. I have cut wood for modules on my table saw for others, know others in my club who have done the same. That is one of the neat things about the hobby, people love to help, if asked.
Hi, Keith. Congrats. I made an order a few weeks ago from Mianne as well and he estimated 1st week of January for shipping. I'm glad he came through for you - it almost sounds like a one-man operation but I could be wrong. I will post my order's status as I get it.
Have fun!
K. Holt Yippee! I just got a shipping notice. My Mianne benchwork is on its way. A big thank you to the anonymous hand that helped pry things loose for me. I am looking forward to receiving this. Keith P.S. I think this confirms again my suspicion that people are almost always fundamentally honest and will do the right thing eventually. Sometimes they just need a little extra "encouragement" to pay attention and do what they said they were going to do...
Yippee!
I just got a shipping notice. My Mianne benchwork is on its way. A big thank you to the anonymous hand that helped pry things loose for me. I am looking forward to receiving this.
Keith
P.S. I think this confirms again my suspicion that people are almost always fundamentally honest and will do the right thing eventually. Sometimes they just need a little extra "encouragement" to pay attention and do what they said they were going to do...
richhotrain K. Holt: I would agree that both Sievers and Mianne are expensive, and although I haven't priced it out myself, I'm not convinced it is "over priced". There is a big difference in the cost of good quality wood that has been furthermore sanded or finished as nicely as these products are vs just buying some construction grade lumber at the local Home Depot or Lowes. In my original post, I explained that in my case it wasn't sufficient for the product to just be functional. I do in fact want it to look nice. It is going in my home and for that reason alone means it needs to be wife friendly if nothing else. I don't have a dedicated room for it. It will go in the game room along with the big screen TV etc. I don't expect furniture quality, but construction lumber isn't getting in the door here. I have no familiarity with Sievers whatsoever. However, from a quick tour of their web site, there is no assurance that the lumber they use is any better than lumber purchased at Home Depot or Lowes or, for that matter, your local lumber yard. The web site indicates that they use unfinished 3/4" x 3 1/2" No. 2 pine lumber, accurately cut and sanded. That is what is commonly referred to as a "1 by 4" board. It is construction grade. If you want the top grade of 1 by 4 pine, you would select a No. 1 grade which is a grade higher than No. 2 grade. Furthermore, there are grade characteristics that define finishes suitable for construction, cabinetry, painting, staining, etc. Sievers doesn't specify the finish grade. Now, I am not contending that Sievers uses lower quality lumber, but I am suggesting that you may be overestimating the quality of the lumber used to construct the framework. Rich
K. Holt: I would agree that both Sievers and Mianne are expensive, and although I haven't priced it out myself, I'm not convinced it is "over priced". There is a big difference in the cost of good quality wood that has been furthermore sanded or finished as nicely as these products are vs just buying some construction grade lumber at the local Home Depot or Lowes. In my original post, I explained that in my case it wasn't sufficient for the product to just be functional. I do in fact want it to look nice. It is going in my home and for that reason alone means it needs to be wife friendly if nothing else. I don't have a dedicated room for it. It will go in the game room along with the big screen TV etc. I don't expect furniture quality, but construction lumber isn't getting in the door here.
I would agree that both Sievers and Mianne are expensive, and although I haven't priced it out myself, I'm not convinced it is "over priced". There is a big difference in the cost of good quality wood that has been furthermore sanded or finished as nicely as these products are vs just buying some construction grade lumber at the local Home Depot or Lowes. In my original post, I explained that in my case it wasn't sufficient for the product to just be functional. I do in fact want it to look nice. It is going in my home and for that reason alone means it needs to be wife friendly if nothing else. I don't have a dedicated room for it. It will go in the game room along with the big screen TV etc. I don't expect furniture quality, but construction lumber isn't getting in the door here.
I have no familiarity with Sievers whatsoever. However, from a quick tour of their web site, there is no assurance that the lumber they use is any better than lumber purchased at Home Depot or Lowes or, for that matter, your local lumber yard.
The web site indicates that they use unfinished 3/4" x 3 1/2" No. 2 pine lumber, accurately cut and sanded. That is what is commonly referred to as a "1 by 4" board. It is construction grade. If you want the top grade of 1 by 4 pine, you would select a No. 1 grade which is a grade higher than No. 2 grade. Furthermore, there are grade characteristics that define finishes suitable for construction, cabinetry, painting, staining, etc. Sievers doesn't specify the finish grade.
Now, I am not contending that Sievers uses lower quality lumber, but I am suggesting that you may be overestimating the quality of the lumber used to construct the framework.
Rich
Sounds like you got a realistic shipping estimate up front. If they had done that for me there never would have been a problem.
You will be happy when you get it. It is very unique in its design.
rrebell richhotrain: K. Holt: I would agree that both Sievers and Mianne are expensive, and although I haven't priced it out myself, I'm not convinced it is "over priced". There is a big difference in the cost of good quality wood that has been furthermore sanded or finished as nicely as these products are vs just buying some construction grade lumber at the local Home Depot or Lowes. In my original post, I explained that in my case it wasn't sufficient for the product to just be functional. I do in fact want it to look nice. It is going in my home and for that reason alone means it needs to be wife friendly if nothing else. I don't have a dedicated room for it. It will go in the game room along with the big screen TV etc. I don't expect furniture quality, but construction lumber isn't getting in the door here. I have no familiarity with Sievers whatsoever. However, from a quick tour of their web site, there is no assurance that the lumber they use is any better than lumber purchased at Home Depot or Lowes or, for that matter, your local lumber yard. The web site indicates that they use unfinished 3/4" x 3 1/2" No. 2 pine lumber, accurately cut and sanded. That is what is commonly referred to as a "1 by 4" board. It is construction grade. If you want the top grade of 1 by 4 pine, you would select a No. 1 grade which is a grade higher than No. 2 grade. Furthermore, there are grade characteristics that define finishes suitable for construction, cabinetry, painting, staining, etc. Sievers doesn't specify the finish grade. Now, I am not contending that Sievers uses lower quality lumber, but I am suggesting that you may be overestimating the quality of the lumber used to construct the framework. Rich Having built my own benchwork, I can tell you that #2 pine can be #1 in the shorter pieces we tend to use in modules ans a lot of my benchwork has no knots but I go though the boards when I buy them and am very selective!
richhotrain: K. Holt: I would agree that both Sievers and Mianne are expensive, and although I haven't priced it out myself, I'm not convinced it is "over priced". There is a big difference in the cost of good quality wood that has been furthermore sanded or finished as nicely as these products are vs just buying some construction grade lumber at the local Home Depot or Lowes. In my original post, I explained that in my case it wasn't sufficient for the product to just be functional. I do in fact want it to look nice. It is going in my home and for that reason alone means it needs to be wife friendly if nothing else. I don't have a dedicated room for it. It will go in the game room along with the big screen TV etc. I don't expect furniture quality, but construction lumber isn't getting in the door here. I have no familiarity with Sievers whatsoever. However, from a quick tour of their web site, there is no assurance that the lumber they use is any better than lumber purchased at Home Depot or Lowes or, for that matter, your local lumber yard. The web site indicates that they use unfinished 3/4" x 3 1/2" No. 2 pine lumber, accurately cut and sanded. That is what is commonly referred to as a "1 by 4" board. It is construction grade. If you want the top grade of 1 by 4 pine, you would select a No. 1 grade which is a grade higher than No. 2 grade. Furthermore, there are grade characteristics that define finishes suitable for construction, cabinetry, painting, staining, etc. Sievers doesn't specify the finish grade. Now, I am not contending that Sievers uses lower quality lumber, but I am suggesting that you may be overestimating the quality of the lumber used to construct the framework. Rich
So true Rich. Pine species and grading will vary due to geographical areas also. Like you say though, by being selective while looking through the stack of #2, you can find the clear stable lumber needed for our purposes. I really don't mean to include Home depot and other home centers. Local "real lumber" lumber yards carry a far better quality of the pine. Even new lifts of pine delivered to HD will need serious picking. If you notice, HD calls a better grade of pine "Premium", there's no such animal- it is only premium to them. The #2 is such a poor quality bordering utility or #3 grade it forces people to buy the way overpriced "select". Don't get me wrong, they do offer some very good D select but you pay almost double for this grade.
Also FYI, better grading of pine goes into the "clears" w/ D Select and C or Better being almost defect free. In my woodworking/ moldings etc where stain grade clear pine is needed for stain matching etc, I really need to use the C or Better from my commercial supplier.
In no way should anyone really consider this grade, good clear hardwood ranges about the same price.
Where you live is also going to help determine the quality of the wood. I found this out by buying alot of #2 pine 1x4s in Virginia for about a dollar each board, sometimes a $1.50. This wood was clean and straight for the most part and finding good pieces in the lot was pretty easy. Now I live in WA state and going to my local HD leaves me cringing The #2 boards are $2.+ and look like the low grade from VA, and what they call premium here in WA was the #2 grade I bought in VA and here it is almost $4 per 8' board.
In VA I built a stand for my 90 Gallon fishtank out of a combo of premium and #2 grade 1x4s for less than $60 including hardware. The stand is about 30" tall. When i moved to WA I dismantled a layout made of 1x4s (moved it from VA) and used some of that wood to build a canopy for said 90G tank. The canopy is the same exact design as the stand only smaller and uses far less wood but the cost was more than the stand was, and I even used old wood that did not figure into the actual cost of the canopy. Oh and the lights are also not counted in the cost.
So your area is going to determine the quality and cost of the wood you buy as well.
Massey
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Holt - how's the benchwork looking these days? Are you happy with the purchase?
Yes, its all set up and I like it very much. Will order more as soon as I figure out how I am going to fill the rest of the room.
Once I got the plywood on top it became very sturdy. It supports a lot of weight by itself but it needs the plywood sheet to give it more lateral stability which it does nicely. I used 1/2" Baltic birch. They recommended 1/2" luan but that was hard to find in that thickness so I substituted Baltic birch instead which I think is better quality than is really necessary.
My benchwork from Mianne is shipping today!
Keith - how is your table going? Still satisfied with the architecture?
K. Holt Yes, its all set up and I like it very much. Will order more as soon as I figure out how I am going to fill the rest of the room. Once I got the plywood on top it became very sturdy. It supports a lot of weight by itself but it needs the plywood sheet to give it more lateral stability which it does nicely. I used 1/2" Baltic birch. They recommended 1/2" luan but that was hard to find in that thickness so I substituted Baltic birch instead which I think is better quality than is really necessary. Keith
Baltic birch plywood is great stuff. I often use it to build cabinetry, and it looks really nice, especially when you can put a veneer strip on the end to hide the plies.
However, this is something that you're going to cover with foam, plaster, track etc. I would say that Baltic birch plywood is way overkill for that. Regular old construction grade plywood will do just fine. Unless of course, money is no object, in which case go for it.
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