Tuesday, October 25, 2011

What's that noise???????

I woke up early this morning with the sound of sawing and grinding and hammering , I ask  Ciejay "whats all that noise"?. I don't know was her answer , which was a little strange , because normally the neighbors tell each other everything they are doing(well almost) , especially when they are building something . My curiosity got the best of me and I could not go back to sleep with all the noise , so I got up dressed grabs my first cup of coffee and out the door to see what I could see. I found two strangers ,with all kind of wood-working tools laying everywhere on the road and it looked like they were going to make something , well, I sit down on a stump and watched for a bit while I enjoyed my coffee and the smell of wood being planed and sawed , I love the smell of worked wood. Well it didn't take long for me to figure out that they were going to make a table out of the wood that my neighbor had saved when they cut down a jack-fruit tree that was about ready to blow over near their house . I love the yellow color of the jack-fruit wood, and I have been enjoying a rather beautiful table made from a Jack-fruit tree that I use for my computer and (Ciejay calls it my Junk table) and stuff. I watched as these men, here on the side of the road and in no time at all made a table that after it has been sanded and finished with a clear coat of wood preservative like varnish or poly-urethane , and rubbed to a glossy finish . If you were to buy a table like this, in the USA, where I'm from, it would cost you at least $300.00 US DOLLARS and that is a very conservative guess, but here in the LOS with wood free for the cutting ( if it's on your property and for your use ) and a couple of skilled woodman you can have one for as little as 1,000 baht (US $30 dollars) and if you have a relative that is skilled even cheaper. I love to watch the Thai's at work building , it would take a shop and lots of tools and money to build a table like this in the USA  , but here in the LOS  any place with a little shade and somewhere to run a cord for power and  the next thing you know ,you.ve got a table.Well that's my story and I've included a few pictures for you to look at, hope you enjoy. Malcolm





Went to take a look this morning andf they had made 3 more tables and had enough wood to make a small book shelf , took a couple new pictures for you to see.  Malcolm







All the tables in our home are made from wood left over from our remodel in 2004 ( the wood is sooo hard that you have to pre-drill  , before you can drive a nail into it,) except the computer table , which is made by Thai craftsman from a Jack-fruit tree we cut down a few years ago.As a side note the Thai's use the jack-fruit wood for the backs of guitars made in Thailand.

4 comments:

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Harold said...

Very nice table. You are absolutely correct; a custom-made table like that [in the USA] would set you back several hundreds of dollars in labor costs. Of course, you'd have to special-order the wood from a real lumber yard [won't find thick planks like that at Home Depot], which would cost even more hundreds of dollars.

Hope you're keeping high and dry, and are not affected by the flooding.

Regards from Ken C.

Malcolm and Ciejay Burgess said...

Thanks for the read , I went to look this morning and with all the wood they had they had made 3 tables and had enough to make a little book shelf today Amazing Thailand. Malcolm

Martyn said...

Malcolm the table is delightful, I'm surprised you didn't snap it up.

When it comes to carpentry, Thais have some excellent craftsmen. Wilai's brother is a carpenter and some of his work (furniture and house fittings) that I've viewed around Udon Thani is first class.

I'm sure you could squeeze an extra table somewhere into your home. Just think of all the extra junk you could collect (Ciejay's words not mine).