Cutting a mortise and tenon joint by hand
The joint that holds most of our furniture together, and how our carpenters cut it with a saw and chisel.
Where the money goes in an ₹84,500 dining table
Wood, drying, labour, finish and delivery: a line-by-line look at the price of our six-seater teak table.
Our six-seater dining table, 183 by 91 cm in seasoned Nilambur teak, costs ₹84,500 with free delivery in Kerala. Customers sometimes compare it with tables at a third of the price, so here is roughly how that price is made up.
The largest part is the wood. A table this size needs about 0.12 cubic metres of finished timber, and because we cut around knots, cracks and sapwood, we buy close to twice that in log form at the Nilambur auctions. Good teak sells by the cubic foot at prices that have risen every year, and with sawing and transport, the timber in one table costs us about ₹34,000. On top of that, the wood sits in our yard for two years before use, which ties up money and space but keeps the top from splitting later.
Labour comes next, at about ₹22,000. Two carpenters spend around eleven working days on the table: selecting and planing the planks, gluing up the top, cutting eight mortise and tenon joints by hand, shaping the legs, sanding through four grades of paper and applying the finish. Finish materials, glue and hardware add about ₹3,500.
Delivery within Kerala, with two people and our own truck, costs us ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 depending on the distance. The rest covers our workshop rent in Mattancherry, electricity, tools, the drawings we make for every customer and a modest profit. A cheaper table usually saves on the first two lines: younger or less-dried wood, and screwed joints instead of cut ones.
