Woodworkers of Head Case unite!

[VPI]

But, how do you do sticker swaps with the other woodworkers if you bought no stickers?

[VPI]

Decided to try some power carving with the new Kutzall discs in the angle grinder. Definitely a bit janky due to not keeping track of the depth of cut and making it to the second layer of slab for some weird grain changes. 
 

Edited August 2, 2023 by VPI

[dsavitsk]

Neat.

[swt61]

I like the grain change.

[VPI]

I am going to just pretend the grain change js a design feature. 
 

Starting a slat towel cabinet for the downstairs bath in Sapele to match the Sapele bathtub tray in there. 

I also found the source of the unknown wood I had that we discussed a few weeks ago.  It is Narra and the weird wood in my stop gap is Amazonique.  I knew it was something about the amazon.

 

[swt61]

When you posted Amazonique, I assumed it would be a South American species. After seeing its from West Africa, I looked closer to see it's Amazique.

A nice looking wood no matter the name.

Narra I have heard of, but don't believe I've worked with.

[VPI]

First dry fit did not have any disasters so now break it down and sand everything and I believe I am going to put a coat of finish on before glue up to try to limit annoying glue scraping. 

[swt61]

That design, with the shelves shorter, would make a very nice shoe rack. Of course I'd need to make it about 10 times bigger.

[VPI]

Put the first coat on the Spa Towel Rack and while I was waiting for it to dry I power carved another bowl to go on top of it to hold her bath bombs. 

[swt61]

^

Speaking of bath bombs, I still need to see Oppenheimer.

[VPI]

Building a small Cherry cabinet for hand tools. Which do I choose for drawer fronts?????

Curly Walnut for an accent or Curly Cherry for a lesser accent? 

 

 

 

[swt61]

My personal opinion is that in something like a tool cabinet in the shop, why not go all out and be bold.

In terms of large furniture inside the house I'm more conservative. 

[VPI]

I always consider you the most conservative amongst us Steve. 
 

Also, I have stickers. Where are the Milo & Otis Woodworking and Magic Ping Pong Table stickers?

 

Also #2. I am already sick of the shills drooling over the stupid, tiny Festool battery powered “table saw”. 
 

Edited August 10, 2023 by VPI

[Craig Sawyers]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:55 AM, VPI said:

First dry fit did not have any disasters so now break it down and sand everything and I believe I am going to put a coat of finish on before glue up to try to limit annoying glue scraping. 

That is really neat. I'm a great fan of Sapele, but it can be a real bugger to get a good finish because of the cross grain nature of that wood. Because of that, putting it through a planer always produces tear out regardless of the direction of feed. I always end up using a scraper to get a good finish.

With that in mind - how did you get such a great finish?

[swt61]

We're still working on the design for Milo & Otis stickers.

 

[VPI]

6 hours ago, Craig Sawyers said:

That is really neat. I'm a great fan of Sapele, but it can be a real bugger to get a good finish because of the cross grain nature of that wood. Because of that, putting it through a planer always produces tear out regardless of the direction of feed. I always end up using a scraper to get a good finish.

With that in mind - how did you get such a great finish?

I honestly have used Sapele in so many builds with so many finishes (Arm-r-seal, Odie’s, Total Boat Halcyon, Tried and True) and I have never had issues with getting a glass finish. The Halcyon is much harder to get this with as it loves to pool in crevices, but all manageable. May be the helical heads on the planer/jointer or just luck, but my only issue with Sapele is router work on the edges and getting chip out. 
 

I do sand with 0000 steel wool between coats to smooth things out and do a bit of a flood coat on the first coat for the grain you reference. 

[swt61]

The difference is absolutely helical heads vs. standard planar knives. 

Plus, they send the best straight grained Sapele to the USA, because that's where the best woodworkers are!

😝

[VPI]

My unorthodox handtool shelf is coming together. Handfitting the figured walnut drawer front and need to come up with some access piece for the top. 
 

 

[swt61]

That's a really nice piece of Walnut. Can't wait to see it with a finish on it.

[VPI]

It is a gorgeous piece. I have not decided which side to use. 
 

[Voltron]

I'd go for the second one. Pretty stuff either way 

[swt61]

X 2

And is that a big slab of burled Maple under it?

It's hard to tell if it's a stained up cloth or chunk-o-maple.

[n_maher]

16 hours ago, Voltron said:

I'd go for the second one. Pretty stuff either way 

Seconded.  

[Craig Sawyers]

On 8/11/2023 at 3:38 PM, swt61 said:

The difference is absolutely helical heads vs. standard planar knives. 

Plus, they send the best straight grained Sapele to the USA, because that's where the best woodworkers are!

😝

But straight grained is just not as attractive as cross grained (Krenov quirkily called such wood "rowed" - so the grain in interlocking rows). But it is a sod to finish properly, but definitely worth the effort.

But that I had a helical head knife planer/thicknesser!

I use Sapele as a substitute for mahogany. Because mahogany is CITES listed, many woodworkers buy old mahogany furniture and break it for the wood. I think that is a bad way of misusing old furniture, so I use sapele.

[VPI]

Looking for some guidance from the experts. I am using a french cleat to hang the cabinet, just cannot decide if I need to reinforce the cleat/add another or if the scheme I am using will be strong enough.  Probably will be about 40-60 pounds total.