Watcha Makin'?

[Larry]

No wonder good wine is so expensive!  I love the floor.

It looks like in one picture the flooring is end matched with biscuits but its hard for me to see.  Do they align good?

[firefighter ontheside]

A buddy runs a non-profit in the memory of his son who sadly took his own life several years ago.  He asked me if I could make a few items for a silent auction at a trivia night they are holding.  Of course I said yes.  I made two charcuterie boards with walnut.  I lasered his logo onto the boards.  One of the boards I made handles with some pieces of hockey stick handle.  Jake was a big hockey fan.  I've had this piece of glass for years waiting for a project so I made a little end table and Cindy made some decals to put on the underside of the glass.  Hopefully these items raise a few bucks.


 

 

 

 

[tule peak timber]

No wonder good wine is so expensive!  I love the floor.

It looks like in one picture the flooring is end matched with biscuits but its hard for me to see.  Do they align good?

Here is some of the same walnut end matched for grain and color using the biscuits. A curved wall 197 X 37 feet high. NNRH wall video May1821 - YouTube

[Brad_bb]

Can you educate me a little bit about end matching, or is it literally as it sounds.  That is you pick out pieces that look like a pretty good match at the ends and butt them up using a biscuit like a spline?

[tule peak timber]

Brad, it is exactly that. The designers looked at and certified each and every joint on that wall at my place before I was allowed to pack and ship.
   On another project today, a proof of concept for oak building blocks that will be used in a 10 foot tall tower. About 38 inches wide and 4 inches thick. Black and white oak layers.

 

 

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I finished a little commission job today, at least I think I did. ;D That is, I did what was requested, but now I think more needs doing.
 The client had a 2' diameter x 1/8' thick steel laser cut sign that needed a mount. I came up with a concept and they signed off, just before I started they said "OH, and it needs backlighting". Okayyyyy. >:(
 But I stuck with my concept of a barnboard finish 'cross' with standoff posts for the sign to nest in. Then I contact cemented some parchment paper on the back of the plate for a diffuser and added some 'fairy lights' as the client calls them. This was the result. 


 

The actual support looks like this:



 

 The finish is a grey wash with some black accents sealed with polycrylic (water based). In the photo's it looks black, but it is not. For comparison the wall it is hanging on is actually white, but looks grey.
 So it's done, but now looking at it I realize either the client should have put a coat of paint on the steel, or asked me to do it. I can already sense some fine rust coming up on it. In order to paint it now, I will have to rip the paper off the back and do that all over again when the paint dried, plus I have to prep the steel.
 I'll leave that up to the client.

[Larry]

That looks great.  I really like the variegated lighting effect.  I wonder how it would look if one painted a piece of plexiglass different colors.  

I've been doing it a little different on the signs I've made.  I make a aluminum backing plate that I paint gloss white.  When the paint gets tacky I sprinkle metal glitter on.  Than I mount the aluminum plate about a inch behind the black plate.  During the day the glitter picks up sunlight and makes the cutout letters sparkle.  Results depend on the right sunlight and vary from poor to excellent.  If a small light is used at night it looks ok but not as good as your sign.

[Larry]

First coat of oil on some "anthropomorphic" legs that I'll use on a live edge trestle table.



I think "Mr. Big Words" would approve and find amusement in my choice of words.  I miss and think of him often.

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Geez you do nice work Larry, and what kind of wood is that? You make that stuff look easy and I suffer through everything. I am working on a simple 3 shelf custom shelf in Cherry and it is taking me a lot longer than I think it should. I had a sketch the client approved and I hug it on a shelf in the middle of the work are, spent all day yesterday cutting the sides and shelves, then doing biscuits and the glue ups, today I finished those and re-planed them and only then did I look at the sketch and realized the unit was supposed to finish out at 16" wide.  I had cut it to be 12" wide. 
So the shelves are now going to be breadboard shelves. I hope that works out. ;D We'll see tomorrow.
 Anyway, it frustrates me that I can't seem to do this stuff as easy as so many others do it. I don't mind putting in the extra time, but geez it takes a lot for me to get things right. You make it look easy. I stared at your photo there for 15 minutes wondering how you put the mortise cuts in those diagonals and can't even figure that out. You didn't use a router did you? That would be a mighty long bit.
 Anyway (don't take this the wrong way), man you got nice legs. ;D

[Larry]

I feel a little out on the limb with this one.  I did use epoxy to insure there were no gaps anyplace in the joints.  I tested with my full body weight best I could and it seems strong.  Going forward I'm thinking about making one big tenon or spline out of baltic birch.

The top will be a bit unusual also so the table will be a prototype for both design and construction.

Almost forgot, the wood is home grown walnut that I processed.

[Broncman]

Larry, Very nice work!

Do any of you use Sketch Up or some program to model your builds? I have some custom night stands and cabinets coming up and thinking about getting Sketch Up.

I bought my sawmill  to offset lumber costs for building our house and cabinets etc. Well this has snowballed into a kiln, and a lot of shop equipment. 

Now I have less time in the woodshed due to having to log, mill, kiln, plane my wood.... but I am starting to get a supply of ready to go Ash,  Poplar, White Pine.

Plan is to get into the woodshop this winter and wondering if Sketch Up could be a useful tool.

[Old Greenhorn]

I find hand sketches work just fine for me. I did design work on CAD systems for decades and had enough of that, BUT if you are making complicated stuff like drawers and such, a CAD system might help for clearances and such and breaking down individual parts drawings. I am not in a hurry when I build now and do a lot of thinking, but it's usually not quite enough. :D

[tule peak timber]

Some customer supplied pics of a Live Oak table and benches I built for them. The oak tree fell on their dad's ranch here in Ca.,years ago and he passed on shortly afterward. It was the wish of his daughter that something be done with the old oak tree to honor her dad , so I built and shipped this to her in Arkansas. M&T construction with Awlcraft finish.

 

 

[azmtnman]

Beautiful table!
  But it definitely accentuated the contemporary homeliness of their light fixture!  :D :D :D
  To each, his own, I guess!

[btulloh]

Beautiful table. I really like the look of they legs. Nice work, as always. 

The flooring in the first two pics made me do a double take.  Looks exactly like flooring in my new place. 

I'm curious to see what you're going to do with the two live oak slabs in a pic you posted a few weeks ago.  Gnarly live oak makes some interesting pieces when you do your WOC magic. 

Thanks for keeping me wowed with pictures of your work. Always an inspiration!

[tule peak timber]

I will post updates on the two gnarly live oak slabs. Today I'm drift pinning hardware out of a sailboat keel to clean up the lumber.

 

[Larry]

Do any of you use Sketch Up or some program to model your builds? I have some custom night stands and cabinets coming up and thinking about getting Sketch Up.

I've been using SketchUp since the first day it came out. Presently running the free 2017 SketchUp. I took one or two years of mechanical drafting in high school some 60 years ago and have used those skills in my working career. I would hate to give up either one.

SketchUp had a steep learning curve for me. While learning it I designed and built first my shop than later my house. Worked great. I've found if I don't use it, I forget some of the features, but it usually comes back quick. You might be able to find someplace to download the last free SketchUp circa 2017. If not you will have to buy it.

Mechanical drafting also has a downside. I have a large drafting table with the nice green vinyl cover along with a high quality drafting machine. Takes space, I have a spare bedroom and park it right in front of a large window.

Something like kitchen cabinets I would most definitely use SketchUp or some kind of cad program even if I had to buy it. I'll also use it with smaller precision projects at times. Cad will find your measurement errors and you can also use it to generate cut sheets. It is a dollar and time saver. You can rotate the project to examine from all angles. Easy to download a good looking jpeg with color and woodgrain for the boss.

I usually design furniture with a rough sketch or maybe draw something on the drafting table. With some projects I'll make a full size drawing and hang it in the shop where I can look at it for a few days. I'll make changes and note them on the drawing. Something like chairs and stools I might even make a mock up out of junk to get a better feel. I like looking at a nice drawing a lot more than something on a PC screen.

Just my thoughts and I know my decision is not for everyone.

[tule peak timber]

After weeks and weeks of crushing, pinning, aligning, gluing and re-aligning, I am finally ready to cut along a prominent grain line to form up a large coastal live oak island top. Tricky business making the cut and trying to take out kerf flaws to tighten up the joint. Closer, closer, closer and as close as I can get it.

 

 

 

[trimguy]

Wow, that's going to look amazing.

[btulloh]

I tried to push the like button about twenty times but only added one like. That's a good look for sure. Somebody's gonna get a nice top.  Looking forward to seeing the next steps.  Great work as always!

[Walnut Beast]

Love the pictures. Very nice job so far! Look forward to more pictures and progress. 

[firefighter ontheside]

I've been doing some work on an old cabinet that belongs to a friend of mine.  It was at his family's farm on the front porch of their 1800's log home.  It has been sitting out there for a long time.  He decided he wanted to have it repaired and made usable inside the house.  I would not call it a restoration, but a practical repair to make it usable.  I had to replace the back panels of the top and bottom as well as the side panel of the bottom.  I had to make 3 new doors.  Originally it had a roll up door on the top.  It was beyond repair so I eliminated it and made 2 swinging doors to replace it.  I used all new 3/8" overlay hinges and new knobs.  I will hit it with some Kilz primer before I return it to them.


 

[Don P]

Looks like an old Hoosier, some of them were really nicely fitted out.

Some days I feel old, but...

Got a note from big Sis this morning, Dad is 89 but still takes care of the old folks and projects in the retirement community:
 At 9:30am, as Rob and I proceeded to the entrance gate, we saw Dad speeding by on his bike. Dad and the woodworking team are busily working on Nutcracker decorations for the Big House.



 

[thecfarm]

Yes, a hoosier.



 

This one was in a pile when we saw it.
Someone restored it for us. We did not say we would take it until we saw it done. 
As he said, If you don't want it, someone else will.

[Larry]

Oiling up a new live edge walnut table.  Two book matched walnut slabs.



Split the pith perfect which provided the opportunity to add a couple of bowtie's for interest.  Finish is complete in this picture and the sheen I'm looking for from a oil.