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 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 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.