Red Maple Bedroom Suite *Update

[DWyatt]

I am in the process of building a 6 piece bedroom suite for the secretary at work and her husband. This is my first project in MY shop which is an amazing feeling! This will be a continuing thread since I'm building it in phases. This weekend I got the headboard finished up and ready for final touch up sanding and stain and finish. *No fasteners were harmed in the making of this headboard* :D

Dad and I cut the tree down on his property and it was the first one I cut on my mill and first load through the kiln with the new Nyle L53 set up. This stuff is beautiful!  8)

 

 

And here's one that shows a bit more of the detail.



 

This is my first real project for my side business I'm trying to start so I'm trying to document it better with pictures.

[barbender]

Wow!! That is beautiful👍👍

[DWyatt]

Thanks @beenthere for the PM. 

I should have noted:

 The lower area where i made the tongue and groove boards to mimic bead board type paneling. All of the pieces sit in a groove, top and bottom, I glued all of the vertical pieces together and only glued the middle 2 pieces to the horizontal stretchers. This allows for movement of the pieces in the horizontal direction (into recessed grooves that are cut into the legs). I hope that makes sense, otherwise with something as wide as a California King headboard, you would get huge splits.

The top panels are free floating inside the frame that boarders them, with those little rubber balls providing spacing to keep everything tight. I learned the hard way about expansion and contraction of wood on one of my first woodworking projects, it ended with a big split. Luckily it's just in my house.

[Crusarius]

That is some beautiful maple. 

[hacknchop]

Beautiful work I will be checking as you add to it. smiley_clapping

[Hilltop366]

 

[WDH]

Simply fantastic. 

[AK Newbie]

Wow beautiful work, I look forward to following your progress!

[DPatton]

That is going to be a really nice piece. Beautiful.

[DWyatt]

A little update. Been trucking along as much as possible the last few days. Work has been hectic to say the least lately which means much more overtime. But it just won't stop raining so it's keeping the contractors from stomping down our door at the office.

In lieu of a foot board the customer decided they wanted a shelf of sorts to be able to put shoes and what not. I have the top and middle shelf glued up for this but forgot to take a picture. You can kind of see them standing up in the right side of the picture.

Anyways, here's the legs for that shelf. Built exactly like the headboard, just smaller. These will sit at a 5° angle, more sturdy in my mind and more appealing than vertical.



 

I have also been working on getting material cut and glued together for the legs on the dresser, chest of drawers, and night stands. Yes, it would be a lot more ideal to use solid material for the legs but at the time i milled the logs they didn't know what style they wanted and weren't sure if they even wanted defined square legs.

Personally, I like the idea of laminating material to make legs anyways. I can watch how the material moves as I process it to rough size and when I glue things up I can make sure any tension/bow is opposing each other. This seems to make things very stable when I go to final dimension everything.

Short legs for nightstands


 

Long legs for dresser and chest of drawers



 

[DWyatt]

Made some good progress in the last week or so. Last night I finished touching up some areas with fine sandpaper then cleaned the shop some and got the headboard and shelf bench stained. I went through a bunch of different stains with the customer. They didn't like how light the natural wood was but also loved the character of the maple. Many of the stains I tried really muted the character of the wood, but we settled on Varathane Ipswitch Pine. As I was staining, the color started to grow on me more, but it's still just a shame to cover up such beautiful wood. Planning to spray these two pieces Friday and get them delivered so I can start the last 4 pieces. 

Enjoy the pictures. 8)



  



 



 



 

[Crusarius]

I like the ipswitch pine but your right. that is a shame with how beautiful that wood was. should have been clear.

[DWyatt]

I agree, but at least I talked them into something A LOT lighter than their first pick, it was dark and red and completely washed the character out of the wood.

Side note, here's my bed that is made (Sorry for the dark picture) from the same wood, but very spalted, and just cleared. The wood is just stunning, I just have to teach myself that not everyone is into the natural beauty and character like myself



 

[WDH]

Fine, very very fine.

[hacknchop]

Excellent craftsmanship,we're loving it.

[123maxbars]

nice job, 

[samandothers]

Just read this.  Great job on the project, wonderful design.  The finish looks nice.

[barbender]

Beautiful, just beautiful! If the customer is paying the right price, I'd put roofing tar over high grade walnut if that's what they want😁

[RPF2509]

Keep in mind that most maple will darken somewhat with age regardless of finish.  Our maple kitchen cabinets started bleached blond and after two years ended up more honey blond.  A very satisfying transformation.

[DPatton]

Regardless of color the craftsmanship is impeccable. I say Bravo!

[DWyatt]

I finally feel like I've made enough progress that I can post an update. Work keeps getting busier and my list of non-woodworking stuff to do at home is growing twice as fast as I expected. The non-stop rain has kept me inside for the last couple days though.

I finished assembling all of the boxes this weekend for the dresser, chest of drawers, and two nightstands! I stained all of the edges where there was a chance of glue squeeze out so I didn't have to deal with the pain in the butt task of scraping glue from the corners. 



 

I just can't get over how beautiful this wood is  8)



 

[WDH]

It is very under-appreciated in my opinion.  Hard maple gets all the accolades, but red maple has more color and character at least the Southern red maple does.  Because it is "soft" maple, it is looked down on by some, but it is as hard as cherry and walnut and they are not considered "soft". 

[DWyatt]

I very much agree with that. This wood has beautiful colors and character and is an absolute joy to work with compared to the sugar (hard) maple I have worked with. My only complaint is that if you are planing with straight knives, they better be sharp. This stuff gets tear out like crazy but not like you get from hickory or around knots where it chunks out. It comes out as long runs in the grain like you drug a sharp rake along the length of the board and then lifted it up and left a big groove with a bunch of almost fuzzy edges. I'll try to find a board I had issues with and snap a picture.

[sawmilllawyer]

WOW! Excellent craftsmanship with a great looking wood. Soft Maple it may be but it is still pretty hard wood.

[DWyatt]

I know I have been not making much progress on this build, the customer said no hurry as they are very busy during the summer as well. I decided it was time to get cranking again. Below are pictures of the drawers I got completed in the last couple days. I use a 9 ply 1/2" baltic birtch plywood for all drawers. It is high grade with no voids and close to 1/16" veneer ply. All drawers use the drawer joint shaper cutter from Grizzly. Glue and nail the corner joints and glue drawer bottoms into their groove. They are solid, look good, and fast to make. Glue, clamp, nail with 1" brads, repeat.



 



 

Of course I ran out of plywood with 2.5 drawers left to make, off to get more tomorrow hopefully. I also go the drawer fronts roughed out last night. but no picture.

[DWyatt]

This is the big week, I am trying to get this bedroom suite finished up by the end of the week. Last night after work I finished up a few things and cleaned the shop to get everything set up. I decided to call it quits around 11:30. I got all of the drawer fronts and all of the tops for the 4 pieces stained. Tonight I will start spraying drawers and drawer fronts and get all of the cabinets stained and ready to spray for tomorrow. It is the busiest time of year at the day job and these 18 hour days may get to me by the end of the week



 



 

[samandothers]

Enjoy watching as you create the suite!  Thanks for the time and hang in there!

[WDH]

Walnut and white oak are the two most valuable commercial hardwoods this week per the Hardwood Market Report for FAS, rough, and kiln dried tractor trailer load quantity.  The third most valuable is soft maple.  It is selling for a bit more than hard maple and a good bit more than cherry and red oak.  Soft maple and yellow poplar have the strongest markets, although yellow poplar has weakened some because no one wants to saw red oak and cherry,which are in the tank.  The lowly soft maple, i.e. red maple, has risen to some fame.  Major market is for cabinet stock. 

I really like the look of soft maple and love working with it. 

[DWyatt]

Walnut and white oak are the two most valuable commercial hardwoods this week per the Hardwood Market Report for FAS, rough, and kiln dried tractor trailer load quantity.  The third most valuable is soft maple.  It is selling for a bit more than hard maple and a good bit more than cherry and red oak.  Soft maple and yellow poplar have the strongest markets, although yellow poplar has weakened some because no one wants to saw red oak and cherry,which are in the tank.  The lowly soft maple, i.e. red maple, has risen to some fame.  Major market is for cabinet stock.  

I really like the look of soft maple and love working with it.

I was just talking to my neighbor, who owns a multi generational logging company with his Dad, about soft maple a couple weeks ago and he was saying how everything that they cut is incidental to higher grade trees and all soft maple they sell is going to pallet. I told him if my Dad didn't have a 13 ac woods completely chocked full of the stuff in 24-30" dbh, I would buy all of his at pallet prices :D Then I talked to him more about it last week and he had made some calls and sold everything they had on their woodlot to a guy who bought everything at veneer prices. There is no doubt that is it beautiful wood and people are starting to realize it. The fact that it is a joy to work with is just an added bonus. 

[thecfarm]

How did I miss this thread? Nice looking build you have there!!

[DWyatt]

I made some more progress last night. I ended up getting all of the drawer boxes sprayed and the cabinets all stained. It was another late night, I finished up about midnight. Here's a few pictures of the stained boxes and the drawers scattered through the shop drying out the rest of the way. Spraying all of the drawer fronts and cabinets tonight and respraying the tops (see next post for question).



 



 



 

[DWyatt]

It rained yesterday morning and therefore was very humid last night. I got the drawer boxes sprayed and everything went well. Then I got to the tops for all of the cabinets and it was getting pretty late and I could feel the dampness in the air but I decided to spray anyways. I do not have a fancy spray room with conditioned air and a filter so I set up in the large garage door opening and make sure most of the over spray goes out the door. This is what myself, my dad, and Gramps have always done without issue.

Once the tops dried, all of the blushed out around the edges like in the picture below. I spray Watco Lacquer with a circa 1990 Wagner HVLP gun. It appears that I can sand these tops down and spray another coat of clear on them tonight and get rid of this. Have any of you ever experienced this? If so, is it because of the humidity?



 

[DWyatt]

Major Progress Alert! Dad came over last night and helped me finish spraying all of the drawer fronts, cabinet cases, and cabinet tops. Everything went much smoother with his help then it did the night before. Here's a few picture of everything that got sprayed last night, it all turned out beautifully and took 2.5 gal of lacquer (satin finish) and about a gallon of thinner. By the end my hand was struggling from pulling the trigger on the sprayer gun :D

I also started putting on drawer glides on the drawer boxes I sprayed two nights ago and my goodest boy waiting patiently for me to be done taking pictures so I can pet him



 



 



 



 

[samandothers]

Really looking nice! Big project but you have persevered!  Looks like your sanding and respraying fixed the top problem.

Your furry friend looks to be anxiously waiting! 

 

[DWyatt]

Your furry friend looks to be anxiously waiting! 

He is 65 lbs of needy and love. If I'm up on the ladder too long he starts to whine because he misses me. He gets bossed around by the 5 lb ankle bitter that we have, but you better hold on to your shorts if you play too rough with my girlfriend of her daughters, he is very protective of them if I am not around. 

[hacknchop]

Impressive craftsmanship , you really made that wood stand out thanks for sharing it with us.

[Ruffgear]

Nice work! Love the color. I've had same issues with blushing, almost always when it's raining. Another coat always seems to take care of it

[DWyatt]

Thanks Everyone! Yes, after further research, the blushing was definitely caused by the extremely high humidity the other night. I sanded the tops down some with 320 and sprayed another coat and everything turned out great. 

I'll get some pictured uploaded later, I got the drawers all installed on the dresser and nightstands last night and early this morning when I couldn't sleep.

[DWyatt]

Here's the progress from last night and this morning because I woke up an hour earlier than I needed to for work : This wood just just stunning and everything is going together well so far. On the dresser I made sure to cut the drawers across from each other out of single pieces, I like the flow across the piece a lot better that way. 

Delivering there three pieces tomorrow morning and the client is going to put on the drawer pulls. Normally I wouldn't advise this, but he is very experienced (used to do woodworking for a living before becoming a contractor) and I trust that he won't have any issue. I will then be delivering the last piece either Monday or Tuesday.



 



 

[WDH]

Good idea with the wood grain in the drawers flowing across the dresser. 

[DWyatt]

Bringing this project to a close, I am delivering the final piece today after work. It is the chest of drawers. Both myself and the customer are very happy with how everything turned out. I still wish they would have liked a more natural look. When you get into the white sap wood of the maple, the stain gets blochy no matter how I sanded. That's what you see on some of the drawers here. 



 

Now on to the next project, a little less technical. I started making a show box for a friend that has to be completed by next week for the fair. Then another bedroom suite

[WDH]

I have had pretty good luck using a dye stain on maple to reduce blotching.  The dye is mixed with denatured alcohol and sprayed on.  Spray it on and do not touch it.  Let it dry and very lightly sand with 320 grit to knock down any raised grain.  The dye that I have used is transtint.  It comes in a variety of colors.  The One that I used was colonial maple.  Not completely blotch free but better than if I used a traditional oil stain.  



 

[DWyatt]

Thanks for the tip @WDH 

While I have been doing woodworking for most of my life (since I was about 6 or 7), I have net had a chance to expand my finishing regimen. It is something that I have been reading more about but have yet to actually implement anything. 

[Don P]

That looks great!

For the blushing see if you can get compatible retarder, that slows the lacquer down and often lets the trapped moisture out.

For the blotching it might be worth trying a sample board with a 50% cut of clear and thinner, then stain. We would brush that washcoat on the end grain portions of raised panels, the top and bottom raises, to reduce the absorption in that grain. You're running into the same thing with the rising and falling grain.