Dovetailed drawers are a selling point that customers can see, and a dedicated machine turns a slow hand skill into a repeatable process.
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Yes, though dovetailers are a specialist asset and funders treat them accordingly. Machines from Omec, Dodds and the other recognised makers are funded on hire purchase as equipment, and used examples change hands within the furniture trade. What tempers a funder view is the narrow buyer pool: there are only so many UK workshops producing dovetailed drawers in volume, so a recovered machine takes longer to sell than a saw would. Ticket sizes are often modest too, so the practical answer is frequently to fund it within a broader workshop order.
Used kit: Yes, within the furniture trade there is a steady second-hand market
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Business asset finance is quoted on a flat rate, so that is what this shows — with the equivalent APR underneath, because the two are not the same number. A quick guide only; your actual rate depends on the asset, term, deposit and lender.
Representative example: on Hire Purchase, borrowing £25,000 over 48 months at a 6.0% flat rate (equivalent to 11.5% APR representative), you would repay around £646 a month; total amount repayable approximately £31,000, of which £6,000 is the cost of finance. This calculator is for illustration only — it is not a quote or an offer of finance, and the rate and repayments you are offered will depend on the asset, term, deposit and your circumstances. CW Asset Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender that funds your agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval. CW Asset Finance is an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701).
This is the sort of asset where a broker has to know who to ask. A dovetailer is unmistakably industrial equipment, but the resale market is specialised and regional, so a generalist underwriter looking at an unfamiliar Italian machine name may simply pass. Funders who lend regularly into furniture manufacturing understand it and will treat it as a proper asset. Where the machine is a meaningful ticket, expect questions about whether the work behind it is contracted or speculative, since drawer production tends to be tied to specific clients. Smaller machines often fall under funder minimums and belong inside a bigger order. Keeping cutters and templates on the machine invoice helps, because loose tooling on its own will be stripped out.
Examples of the machines we are asked to fund. This is not an exhaustive list — if what you are buying is not here, it does not mean we cannot fund it. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.
| Machine | What it is |
|---|---|
| Omec dovetailing machines | Machines for through and lapped dovetails |
| Omec through dovetailers | Single pass dovetailing for drawer sides |
| Dodds dovetailers | Production dovetail machines for furniture makers |
| Dodds automatic dovetail machines | Automatic dovetailing for volume drawer work |
| Hoffmann MU3 | Routing machine for dovetail key joints |
| Hoffmann PP2 | Bench machine for frame and mitre joining |
| Leigh D4R Pro jig | Router jig for hand cut style dovetails |
| Masterwood Project 300 | Work centre that can rout joinery details |
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Bespoke kitchen and furniture makers producing their own drawer boxes rather than buying them in, and drawer specialists supplying the trade. The trigger is nearly always margin and lead time on bought-in drawers, or a client specification that demands solid timber dovetailed construction. Restoration and high-end cabinet shops buy them to match traditional construction without spending days cutting joints by hand.
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Bought on hire purchase, business plant and machinery normally qualifies for capital allowances on the full cost even though you pay for it monthly, which is a large part of why hire purchase is the common structure. On a finance lease you generally set the rentals against profit instead. The rules change between budgets and your position depends on how you trade, so treat this as the direction of travel and get your accountant to confirm the detail before you commit.
That is the calculation to do before you apply. Work out your monthly drawer spend against the cost of owning the machine, the timber and the labour to run it. Shops making several hundred drawers a year usually find the machine wins, particularly once lead time is priced in. Below that, buying in often still makes sense.
Where they are supplied with the machine, yes. Cutter blocks and the template set are part of what makes the machine work and sit on the invoice naturally. A separate order for spare cutters afterwards is treated as consumables and will not carry an agreement, so buy what you need with the machine.
Marginally, and it is about familiarity rather than risk. A funder who never sees furniture machinery may not recognise the make and will be cautious. Taking it to lenders who lend into this trade routinely removes that friction. It is one of the reasons going direct to a single bank is often the slowest route.
Yes, and combining related equipment into one order generally improves the outcome. A dovetailer, a small sander and the extraction serving them present as a coherent production cell. That is easier for an underwriter to assess than a single specialist machine arriving with no context.
A programmable joint-cutting centre is funded like other CNC equipment, with the control and support position driving how the funder values it. It also opens up work beyond drawers, which strengthens the case because the machine is not tied to one product. Expect a more detailed application than for a mechanical dovetailer.
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