Product Attributes With Small Differences

Question

I have a site that will be selling picnic tables, sheds, axes and baseball bats and more. The client has provided the attributes associated with the products.

Picnic tables have a finish attribute that is searchable but is not filterable.

Sheds have a finish attribute that is not searchable but is filterable.

Axes have a finish attribute that is not searchable nor filterable.

Baseball bats have a finish attribute that is both searchable and filterable.

I have more products that will have the finish attribute in one of those different ways.

Should I enter the finish attribute four times with four different configurations? Or would you add attributes for each attribute set such as baseballbat_finish, axe_finish?

If anyone has had to make these decisions before, would you please share your decision and why you arrived at it?

Answer 1

The "filterable" and "searchable" settings for an attribute are global.
You cannot have the same attribute as searchable in one attribute set and not searchable on an other attribute set.
So I guess that if your requirements are like described above you have no other option than to make one separate attribute for each attribute set.