You make some good points....If you don't mind me asking, where are you located (roughly)?
I would be happy to research some online options if you want me to.
Also, to clarify, is it cost or the size of your home that is preventing you from getting a flight cage?
Some of the best options you will find are often online, but I understand that you may or may not have access to Amazon etc (depending on location).
Wood furniture converted to a cage is likely very unsafe, due to the paints/stains and types of woods used. You will find that the makers of many products (including some toys) are concerned more about looks and selling the product than what the product is intended for and its safety...so just because something is supposedly for birds, doesn't mean it is safe for them.
Here are my thoughts (sorry they are so long LOL!) :
1. People travelling to bird shows etc don't have their birds in those cages full-time (just like I wouldn't keep mine in her travel cage full time). Therefore, their exposure to any harmful substance would be less than if they were living in that cage...Not saying any exposure is safe, but you get the idea. If these people aren't using these cages 24/7, there is a difference to some extent. Also- people showing birds are often doing so to sell them, and if they do sell them, they may not have them around long enough to see the consequences of something like metal poisoning.
2. I don't disagree completely with what you said about your cage-maker's clients and the fact that they wouldn't use him if he was making birds sick, but I'm going to play "devils-advocate" for a minute here- because you mentioned it:
Let's just say (hypothetically) that the cage-maker did accidentally create a poisonous cage...A bird-owner/breeder might not ever know unless they kept the bird long enough (prior to selling) to recognize signs of illness and then:
1. The owner took their bird to the vet right away.
2. The owner had a avian specialist who knew to perform a heavy metal blood panel and toxicology panels
3. if the bird died before testing and chelation/other therapy could take place, then in order to know the cause of sickness, the owner would have to request a necroscopy within a day or so of their bird's passing in order to determine the cause of death (and sadly, many people do not do this, even when they should).
Lots of avian and exotic vets will perform these tests, but certain types of poisoning mimic other illnesses, so unless the vet is an avian specialist with a lot of experience, he/she might not even think to test for these things if the owner didn't mention the cage...and testing isn't super cheap either.
Also, metal poisoning doesn't often show symptoms right away, and the symptoms that do show can be sort of vague initially...
In terms of accountability, if the owner did find out that the bird had metal poisoning, then they would still have to prove that it was from the cage and not a toy or something else around their home)--which could be done, but would be even more work/expense.
^^^I am not saying that this cage- maker is using toxic stuff, but he may or may not know enough to avoid certain dangers. Lots of people get dangerous stuff for their birds all of the time without knowing the risk...even experienced parrot owners often make mistakes (especially people who are older and have fallen behind on research).
Consequently, if you want this guy to make you a cage, I would ask him a lot of questions up front (without telling him what you are looking for, so that you can see how knowledgeable he is)...
For instance: "What kind of metal are you using?" "What type of wood?" "where do you get the wood?" "Has the wood been pressure blasted or treated?", "are you using any glue?"...Stains and paints and other things that he might use on the would to make a cage more attractive and/or more waterproof are also very toxic. SO just make sure you know exactly what he is using if you go that route.
If, off the top of his head, he has trouble answering these questions, I would be VERY wary, because that implies that he may not even know for sure what he is using...
Again, you just want to make sure that he knows enough about birds to do this safely, because the average person has no idea.
I am not saying you can NEVER use a wooden cage (if that is your only option) but I personally never would because wood absorbs liquids etc and is very hard to clean and could mold with humidity or rot over time. Birds poop a lot, throw food etc, so when that gets on the wood, how would you remove it and clear the bacteria? If a bird gets a bacterial infection and has to be on antibiotics, you also need to clean the cage to prevent re-infection and wood would make that difficult...It also absorbs cleaners, and even if the ones you use are avian safe, you still don't want them chewing on wood soaked in chemicals.
Additionally, In a small bird, chewing out of a wooden cage is less likely, but it could still happen, depending on the bird and the wood...A larger parrot could break out in no time...My Umbrella cockatoo literally just chewed her perch in half overnight, and it was probably about 2" in diameter.
That having been said, I don't have to ever consider a wooden cage because where I live, I have lots of other options, so if your alternative to a wooden cage is something much worse, then I can see why you might want to do this---but I guess it comes down to knowing your options and making the best choice for the bird overall.
If you wanted a wooden cage for transport only (something to bring him to the vet) and you could verify that the materials were non-toxic, then in my mind, that would be much less risky than using a wooden cage full-time, just because your bird isn't going to be spending as much time in there, and probably won't poop all over the wood in such a short time. Again, for me, even if I knew a wooden cage was safe, I would worry about sanitation and structural stability overtime (with a beaky bird). BUT if you need to get a new full-time cage for your bird and the alternative to a wooden one is even worse, then you have to do what you have to do.
In terms of transport fears etc, if you don't need to get your bird to the vet right away, you should get a travel cage of some sort and start training him to use it without force...Place it in the room so he gets used to seeing it for a week or so...then move it slightly closer to his cage and leave it there until he is used to that...then put a favorite treat near it and see if he will approach it..Then eventually start putting treats on it and let him eat standing on it, then finally, start rewarding him for going inside (without forcing him in). Then at some point, move him a small distance in the cage (even just in your home) and reward that like crazy. Eventually, try a short car ride (not to the vet)...
This way, by the time you do have to take him to the vet, he won't be as scared of the travel cage.
