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Amish Furniture Builders

Started by Dana, December 30, 2005, 08:44:37 AM

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Dana

The wife and I have been looking for a new dining room table. Ours is 75 years old and wiggles everytime  someone touches it. After looking at The chain stores Art Van ect. and seeing the high prices and poor quality we decided to look at the antique stores. There we found some nice tables that didn't wiggle but still high prices. As we were leaving the last store of the night we found a great Amish Furniture store in an alley. I was very impressed by the quality and workmanship everything was rock solid and made from solid wood. My question is, do any of you in Michigan know of any makers in your area that will sell direct thereby cutting out the middle man and his markup? I had a phone number of a man near Roscommon who had offered the info but lost it several years ago. Thanks, Dana
Grass-fed beef farmer, part time sawyer

Furby

What ya doing with the old table ???

srjones

While we're on the subject of Amish Furniture Builders...

I plan on taking a business trip to Indiana (Indianapolis) this spring and I'll have a few days drive around and see things.  Can anybody point me to an area of Indiana where I might find Amish Furniture and/or other crafts.    I haven't started researching this yet, but I thought someone on FF might know from first hand experience.

Thanks,

-Steve
Everyone has hobbies...I hope to live in mine someday.

trim4u2nv

Try the corridor along route 6 between bremen and nappanee.   Also shipshewana flea market has some auctions and dealers there also.   Just watch out for those horse & buggies.  Try riegsecker hardwoods, indiana wood products, shipshewana hardwoods, lambright woodworking, dutchcraft corp, b-n-c lumber.  Also lot of mills near elkhart also.  There is a really good restaurant at the crossroads of shipshewana

http://www.bluegaterestaurant.com/

Half the people that work there have someone related or formerly working in the wood or lumber business.

srjones

Everyone has hobbies...I hope to live in mine someday.

Skytramp

Drag out the old tools, if you don't have the wood, some of us will fix you up and build what you want.  I built some pretty nice tables with my skill Saw before I got my shop tools.  Also the pride of running your hand over it every day would be worth thousands in therepy.  Could buy a lot of tools for the price of a new table.
Skytramp;
Growing old is inevetable, Growing up is optional

farmerdoug

Dana,

There is a few north of me in Sanilac County.  I cannot list any as I have never been to their shops but given a little time I could get some addresses.  If it was market season I could get them quickly but I can call a Menonite friend of mine that lives in their area and I could get you some addresses.  I cannot just look in the phone book as they do not have phones.  There is a large group of Amish on the west side of the state also.

Farmerdoug
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

Ed_K

 Find someone to repair the old table. The new stuff you buy at the big box place is junk. Rita got a round breakfast table, the daughter in law tried to sit on the side of it and ripped the top off. It only had 4 screws holding it to the top of the pedastill. JUNK I tell ya  ::).
Ed K

Daren

I don't want to open up a can of worms here, but heck no Amish are reading this post, and this is something that has bothered me for a long time. I live in an Amish community and have a good working relationship with many in various things, so what I am going to say is no disrespect to the "true Amish Craftman" because they are out there. But SO MANY people are being taken by the term "Amish made" it is not funny. Like I said they are everywhere here and there is an "Amish Outlet" every 5 miles and people are lined up to by the furniture. 90% of it is made from kits made overseas and just put together by Amish or the Mexicans they have working for them. If they are one thing they are smart when it comes to making a buck. I know there are men who work in thier shops sawing lumber and making furniture from it (just like I do) in the community, but we are 1 in 1000. My own brother bought an "Amish made" curio cabinet for $1200 from an Amish furniture store. He has a Great Dane in the house, well the big puppy cracked a small pane of glass with his tail. My brother popped the molding off to go to the hardware store for a piece of replacement glass. There was a little gold sticker in the rail the glass was sat in that said "Made in China".
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

Frank_Pender

Well Darren, they must have an outreach program in China. ;)
Frank Pender

pigman

There is a small group of Amish near me. I told one of them that I was going to advertise my furniture as Amish built so it would sell better and he told me I may as well since a lot of other people were doing it.  ;) 
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

WH_Conley

Daren, don't know about yer can of worms, but. We don't have true Amish around here, Menionites, close I guess. Have a store a few miles from me, real wood shelves (pine from the depot) Mom and Pop wearing long dresses and bibs, nosy that I am, looked in the back , state of the art equiptment in the deli. Out back, beatuiful greenhouses and trators that I can't afford, along with the minivan. Same communitity they opened a milll and just about ruined the local pallet industry til something happened,( state I heard, child labor) no problem with hooking up to local REA or using wheel loaders with rubber tires. Anything they get into, nobody local can compete, I know I have put in a few bids and theirs were always lower, just about the cost of labor. I better shut up now.

I have read other posts about Amish and can see a few simularities and a lot of difference.

If I step on anyones toes that I shouldn't I guess the administrators can delete this post.

Off soapbox now.
Bill

dail_h

  In my experience ,their buisness dealings are somewhat less than scruplious,I avoid dealing with them whenever possible. Somewhat predijudisual I guess,but I dislike  being taken advantage of.
World Champion Wildcat Sorter,1999 2002 2004 2005
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Singing The Song Of Circle Again

pigman

Bill, to enlighten you a little. The Amish and the Menonites are two seperate groups that have some things in common and several things that are different. Menonites usually have electricity, cars and some tractors. Most Amish do not use electricity and if they have tractors they will be on steel. Every Amish church group sets their own rules and that cause us "English" to get a little confused about the Amish .  The Father of one of local Amish is moving to Mo. from Ohio. He powered his bandbill in Ohio with a gas motor, but the church group in Mo. does not allow motors. He is going to try to power the mill with horses. I don't see how he will be able to do that.
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

farmerdoug

Talk about overloading the head on that mill carriage. :o :o ;D ;D
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

farmerdoug

I deal with Amish and Menonites all summer long.  Their idea of markup is alot smaller than ours but I do fine anyways.  I am friends with several of them but like was mentioned earlier they do have cheap labor.  They are fair to deal with but you have to be careful as in dealing with anybody as there are some that will take you to the cleaners.

Farmerdoug
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

DanG

We have at least one member who is Mennonite, according to his website.  I wish he would chime in here and clear up some of this confusion.  I find much to admire in their disciplined lifestyle, but I don't have much understanding of their specific beliefs.

I sure don't feel that we should try to paint all of them with the same brush, though.  I imagine that for every one that is "pushing the envelope", there are many who are quietly and honestly plying their trade. 
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Wyatt

OK I'll take a bite of that can o worms Daren. I too am a furniture builder (high end) you could say, and have sold some lumber to Amish once. We visited 5 shops in area and most had better tooling than I, run by diesel generator outside building. To watch TV and see their ads there is father and son with hand chisels and they talk about "tradition" and "Quality". In My opinion, Amish Quality is fair at best. They live a very spartan life so they don't have to charge much!

Ron Wenrich

I think you'll find quality varies from shop to shop, just like the Englisher.  I've dealt and worked with both Amish and Mennonite.  Heck, I'm even related to Mennonites.  You have to look things over before you buy anything.  Same as when you buy furniture from anywhere else.

We have one store that features only things built in the area by several different shops.  Many are Mennonite, as they run the store.  For the most part, quality is much higher and all furniture is solid wood.  There is also a better selection of finishes.  If you don't like what they have on the floor, quite often they can get something made for you.  Primary species are oak, cherry, and maple.  The real thing, not something stained to look like it.

I know of Amish that aren't allowed to have electricity in their houses, but will run it to their barn or shops.  A lot depends on their church group.  I know of one Amish mill that was leasing space off of a pallet shop.  When they turned their lights on, lights came on at the mill.  The church didn't like it, so they wanted him to shut down his mill.  What he did was start a new church and moved over the mountain.  Was very successful.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Daren

Quote from: farmerdoug on December 30, 2005, 11:20:27 PM
Talk about overloading the head on that mill carriage. :o :o ;D ;D
That is quite a mental picture.
I would try sheep power first just to see if I could even push it.  ::)

I don't have a problem with the electricity use and if a guy had a whole shop full of nicer tools that me (that aint hard, my tools are junk). As long as it is really "Amish built" like advertised I don't care how it is done. What burns me is "Amish built" around here is Chinese sub assembled and Mexican finished in most cases. It's mass produced inferior product for a premium price because of the fact they can sell on a tradition of craftsmanship that is all but gone.
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

DanG

Most new churches, in most any denomination, are started because someone didn't agree with the doctrine of an existing one.  That's why there are at least a hundred Baptist churches in my County.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

crtreedude

Here in Costa Rica we have people who are craftsmen and hacks. You just have to know which is which. My wife just had a table made out of Balsamo (nothing like Balsa) and Mahogany - probably the most beautiful table I have ever seen. It took about 6 weeks to make.

Chairs I fit in, very comfortable - AND YES I KNOW - PICTURES!

Cost here was 2,000 dollars USD, but Mahogany and balsamo is really rare stuff and the quality of workmanship is unreal.

Old wood too - much of it 20 years old and the pieces were out of large slabs.

This is our first table that wasn't used or a hand-me-down or borrowed.

AND NO - YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! Sorry guys - it was her Christmas present.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

thedeeredude

We are near the direct center of Amish country.  Some of their furniture is nice, but far far far overpriced.  I think that they play on the idea that people envision of a father and son going into the woods and felling a tree, sawing it into boards by hand and then hand planing it and cutting it with hand saws and dovetailing with chisels.  Needless to say, it is a BIG misconception.  They use modern techniques.  I've heard they use hydraulic motors in power tools.  My grandmother bought something Amish made from Ohio.  It is made ok but it could be better.

Roxie

Deeredude, you and I know that there is the Amish Tourist Section, and then there are the real Amish.  The Amish lifestyle has been exploited in areas of Lancaster PA for tourist purposes only.  If you want to find real hand crafted items, you must leave the beaten path. 
Some of our best friends are Amish, and I was very fortunate to be invited to an Amish home on Christmas Eve.  Cowboy Bob and I were taking a gift for a little two year old Amish girl which was a Fisher Price Cow that you pull and squeeze the handle and it moo's.  Gifts are not wrapped in showy paper...so we just put it in a box.  She opened her gift, spent less than one minute to figure out how to sqeeze the ball, then gently laid it down and played with the box and paper inside.   :D  The house was warm and very clean, they use a lot of lineoleum...gas lanterns are bright and make a soft hiss, our hostess was baking cookies and we had homemade ice cream and warm cookies. 
Their furniture is very stark, but solid wood and well made...one needs to remember that sitting down is not something that the Amish do very much, and the furniture is grouped for talking.  This little Amish girl had her own small chair, and a toy box the size of a shoe box, and a tiny set of shelves for her books.....each item had been her Mother's as a child.  The "books" were pictures of "kitty's" and flowers that were taken from cards and pressed into photo holder's. 
I think the problem that folks encounter when dealing with Amish is a lack of understanding of how they haggle a price with each other.  It is their nature to complain about the price of things, they simply cannot help it.  I have never seen Cowboy Bob sell a cow to an Amish man without a minimum of thirty minutes of chin scratching and walking around the cow and pointing out every possible flaw.  They want you to know they aren't being taken over and they know what they are doing.  I used to be tense during these trade session's, but now I know that no deal will commence without the traditional chin scratch and sufficient discussion.  I use the time to look around and check out the mules. 
In short, the only way that you know you are buying Amish made items is if you are standing in the shop where they are being made.  The stuff that goes to store fronts and retailer's is assembly line produced, and if folks are buying it, I don't blame them for selling it. 
Say when

thedeeredude

Agreed Roxie,
   They're not dumb, they know how to play on words with tourists and that's how they make their money.  I blame the tourists :D  I wish tourists would respect the Amish more than they do, but I guess they wouldn't be called tourists then.

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