Almost a no sale day.

Well I was almost going to say "no sale day" when we sold one tonight. Actually someone paid for one they had ended before. This makes for 3 ended but unpaid seats on the horizon. But along with good news comes bad. A customer from last Monday got their seat today and is complaining about a "crack" in the top of the lid. These cases always give us problems because we inspect each seat and have to make a determination on what is an "actual " crack and what is a "perceived" crack. You see, the lid is not all one piece. it is glued up from several pieces. Sometimes a seam where two pieces are glued up will look like they are a crack. I have to make the call whether the seam is structurally sound or if it is failing. ( if it is failing, it is obvious) Well, as most people know about wood, it is not perfect and comes with a lot of flaws which should add to the beauty. But I'm afraid people are spoiled on the plastic imitation wood or Formica. They person has already order one from us that was sent out today ( the horse) and we are wondering if he will like that one as well. He is starting what we call the "snowball" complaint. first it's a small crack, then it's the stain not matching perfectly, then the hinge is dented and the seat is falling apart, bubbles in the finish, paint not matching picture, drips on the underside, hinge is tarnished. etc etc. It gets sometimes so crazy that we have to wonder what the person saw in it to begin with! Ok sorry to vent on that. Hopefully we will handle this and he will not turn into a problem customer in the future.

Since it was late when the order came through, I worked on the headboard tonight. It currently looks like crap because it has all the mismatched stain and unfinished wood exposed. It is kind of disheartening when I consider that I am not cabinet maker and furniture and exact measurements are not really my cup of tea. I know there are other people that would have probably done this better with better tools and taken more time. But it has been in pieces for several months now and I probably have been putting it off because of the fear of assembly. Well, It's done now and all I have to do is add some finishing touched to the two post tops so they match up with the headboard posts. We'll have to see how it turns out after the glue up. as you can see from one of the pictures. the headboard almost totally fills my shop! and it's quite heavy, which is good in my opinion.