OldTools Archive
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254691 | Joe Jerkins <jerkinsj@s...> | 2015‑05‑14 | Wood advice/pointer |
Dear galoots, My 16 year old son asked me to build him a desk. Woo hoo. An excuse for some shop time. We've settled on the design, but I'm having a tough time finding a suitable piece of wood. Your recommendations of places to contact would be most appreciated. I need a curly maple natural edge slab about 8 feet long. One side of the desk will be the slab cut and joined with a miter joint. The other end will be two black anodized square (aluminum ?) tube legs. He wants the wood black, but still showing the grain (I plan to use black aniline dye). So, recommendations on sources of maple slabs. Also, any suggestions for final finish (oil and varnish, oil and shellac, no oil?...) and source of tube legs would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! He does want me to finish the project while he's still in high school. Kind regards from chilly (and hopefully rainy soon) San Francisco,Joe Example of style here https://www.urbanhardwoods.com/furniture_listing? id=2072&product=Maple_Table&location=Santa_Monica">https://www.urbanhardwoods.co m/furniture_listing?id=2072&product=Maple_Table&location=Santa_Monica |
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254692 | scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> | 2015‑05‑14 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
Joe While it is sometimes possible to access wood that you picked out in your mind, in advance, its always 1000 times easier to go with what you can actually get in a reasonable time frame. You are about 2000 miles from the nearest big slab of curly hard maple you know. Cherry, birch or hickory ditto. Soft western big leaf maple you can probably get reasonable, but its barely hard enough for the purpose. People mostly slice that into veneer for guitar tops. There are endless walnut orchards with slab possibilities all around you. Sometimes they call it claro walnut looking to dress up the name a bit. Other fruit and nut trees too. You are not eternally far removed from large myrtle slabs. The oldtimers here call it pepperwood and sometimes bay laurel in other places. No shortage of redwood burls on this side of the continent either. If it was me, I'd just drive across the bay to White Bros and see what is available right now. http://www.whitebrothersmill.com/">http://www.whitebrothersmill.com/ Your house and life in general can probably use some of their other fine products too. ;-) I am desperately jealous you can just cruise over and look, you know. White bros has been in business since 1872. yours Scott -- ******************************* Scott Grandstaff Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca 96039 scottg@s... http://www.snowcrest.n et/kitty/sgrandstaff/ http://www.snowcr est.net/kitty/hpages/index.html ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.5863 / Virus Database: 4342/9776 - Release Date: 05/14/15 |
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254695 | John Leyden <leydenjl@g...> | 2015‑05‑14 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
Hey Joe, Living as I do in a big city such as your own, albeit on the opposite side of the continent, it is all but certain that you have at least one lumber yard not too far away that will supply flitch sawn planks from basically anywhere on earth. You have to look in the burbs though, outside of center city, for a place that does not spend its money on advertising. Go cruising and when you hit pay dirt, return with a credit card, a truck and a helper. We build slab top desks here on the East Coast all the time. Beware, you want well dried wood. (It oughta be obvious, but just saying.) If you are going to plane it by hand then you had better expect a helluva workout. Yea verily will you will plane and scrub! The undercarriage frame (if any) and legs are most cheaply made from square or tubular mild steel a la Big Box store. If you make a frame, which will help a lot to keep a less than ideal top flat, then weld it. If you’re just looking for legs, then black iron pipe and flanges are had the most cheaply. Some of that material is made in Canada, some of it halfway around the globe. I have been known to highlight the “Made in Canada” on the angle iron that I come across, and in one case painted the raised lettering a contrasting color for a young lady who let on in conversation that she was born in Toronto and just happened to be working in NYC. She was thrilled! Depending on the weight of the slab you could get by with aluminum fence poles for legs. However, they won’t stand sideways stress on the table too well. If you really want aluminum then look up “speed rail.” It’s expensive but worth every penny in terms of solidity and ease of assembly/disassembly. It is a huge asset to the film/theater industry. As for the black coloration, dye works. But in honor of the late Mr. Thompson and others who have gone before him you might consider ebonization. (Heck, if you’re gonna do a family project you might as well pull out all the stops, right?) I recall Jim having written that his experience with steel wool dissolved in white vinegar, as a stain for wood of most types, produced a hue that was a bit bluish for his eye. I never doubted him on that and went looking for a curative for it, and came upon something called “quebracho,” which is a bark powder/extract that is mostly used for tanning hides. When used in conjunction with steel wool and vinegar, the result is as black as coal. It needs a topcoat of course, but the nice thing is that the grain of woods such as white ash show right through. If that’s the look and feel you’re after you might want to do a little research. Regards from the East Cost, JL |
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254696 | Kirk Eppler <eppler.kirk@g...> | 2015‑05‑14 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 10:12 AM, Joe Jerkins |
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254697 | Don Schwartz <dks@t...> | 2015‑05‑14 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
According to my personal files, Quebracho is aka Red Lignum Vitae, Break Axe and also ( surprise!) ironwood, and comes from Argentina. It's apparently an irritant. I believe it acts as a mordant. A 2009 Popular Woodworking article by Brian Boggs described his experience using it in combination with an iron/vinegar stain. It definitely sounds like it's worth a try. I have a pdf of the article if someone wants it. Don Schwartz On 2015-05-14 3:14 PM, John Leyden wrote: > As for the black coloration, dye works. But in honor of the late Mr. Thompson and others who have gone before him you might consider ebonization. (Heck, if you’re gonna do a family project you might as well pull out all the stops, right?) I recall Jim having written that his experience with steel wool dissolved in white vinegar, as a stain for wood of most types, produced a hue that was a bit bluish for his eye. I never doubted him on that and went looking for a curative for it, and came upon something called “quebracho,” which is a bark powder/extract that is mostly used for tanning hides. When used in conjunction with steel wool and vinegar, the result is as black as coal. It needs a topcoat of course, but the nice thing is that the grain of woods such as white ash show right through. If that’s the look and feel you’re after you might want to do a little research. |
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254699 | Joe Jerkins <jerkinsj@s...> | 2015‑05‑15 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
Thanks Scott. Good advice. I will check them out. Their website only mentions moldings so I'll send them an email. . We'll also check out the walnut and myrtle. If it has figure, will take aniline dye well and is hard enough for a working surface, it should work. My experience with redwood burls is they are beautiful but too soft. Kind regards,joe From: scott grandstaff |
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254700 | Joe Jerkins <jerkinsj@s...> | 2015‑05‑15 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
Hi John, Thank you and the other galoots that replied (on and off list) with advice and suggestions. I think designing is one of my favorite parts of a project. So many possibilities. Perhaps this is why so many projects stall part way in? I've had such good luck with aniline dye that I hesitate to try steel wool. I tried it once on oak and it turned out ok, but not as good as the dye. That said, the seed has been planted and the idea of adding Quebracho could make it of more interest to my son. He's a budding chemist and wants to be a chemical engineer, so this just might be a hook to get him more actively involved. Based on some good points from others, I'm now back to considering more local woods (Myrtle, walnut, etc.) Looks like it'll just require a trip or two to lumber yards/saw mills. I know there's an old mill up near Santa Rosa (~ 1 hour north) so this may be a good excuse (pretense - Jeff) to visit. Thanks for the ideas on metal legs. I hadn't thought of rails and they could be mounted with out having to first weld on end plates. You guys are awesome!Joe From: John Leyden |
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254702 | "Ray Sheley Jr." <rsheley@r...> | 2015‑05‑15 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
A 2009 Popular Woodworking article by Brian Boggs described his experience using it in combination with an iron/vinegar stain. It definitely sounds like it's worth a try. I have a pdf of the article if someone wants it. Don Schwartz I for one would appreciate the .pdf. Thanks in advance. |
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254703 | scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> | 2015‑05‑15 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
guys.......... its tannic acid tannic acid plus iron oxide makes ink. some woods, like certain oaks and others, have plenty of natural tannins. so you just make a rust soup (iron reduced into vinegar etc) and use that, and get plenty of color. Other woods you have to add your own tannic acid brew to the wood ( dissolved in water) bathed in one brew after the other, I don't think it matters which you use first. The thing that does matter is gloves and other precautions. You are basically making at least mostly permanent ink and it stains whatever it touches. You included. yours Scott -- ******************************* Scott Grandstaff Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca 96039 scottg@s... http://www.snowcrest.n et/kitty/sgrandstaff/ http://www.snowcr est.net/kitty/hpages/index.html ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2015.0.5941 / Virus Database: 4342/9778 - Release Date: 05/14/15 |
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255306 | Joe Jerkins <jerkinsj@s...> | 2015‑07‑02 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
Dear Galoots, Thanks for all the advice. I did choose to go with something local and made an enjoyable day trip out of it. After trading emails with Nathan Anderson (Anderson's Alternatives) in Mendocino, CA, I made the drive up there yesterday to pick out a slab. SWMBO tagged along for the ride (lots of beautiful BIG trees in that part of CA). While the weather inland was an oven-like 101 degrees, Mendocino was a refreshing 64. Nathan had a bunch of slabs pulled for me (Pecan, Claro Walnut, OG Doug Fir and BL Maple). I ended up getting a Claro slab. It had a bit of a cup to it so he flattened it in his 72" wide belt s@n...@r for a very reasonable price. Given the slab is 10' by 2' and almost 1/2" had to be removed on the high spots, this was money well spent. With slab hanging out the back of the station wagon, the trip home was uneventful. Every place I stopped (gas station, Ace Hardware - for a red flag), I had at least one person come up and ask about the wood. Everyone likes good wood. Anyway, pictures of the wood freshly off-loaded from the car below.galootcentral.com/component/option,com_copperminevis/Itemid,2/place,displayim age/album,lastup/cat,0/pos,0/or">http://galootcentral.com/component/option,com_c opperminevis/Itemid,2/place,displayimage/album,lastup/cat,0/pos,0/or http://tinyurl.com/kowj26f">http://tinyurl.com/kowj26f http://galootcentral.com/component/option,com_copperminevis/Itemid,2/pl ace,displayimage/album,208/pos,1/or">http://galootcentral.com/component/option,c om_copperminevis/Itemid,2/place,displayimage/album,208/pos,1/or http://tinyurl.com/pykgo29">http://tinyurl.com/pykgo29 Next step is to remove the sap wood as it has some signs of bugs yet keep the natural edge. Time to search the internets.... Although hints from the galooteratti would be most welcome. Joe Jerkins - Enjoying another day off in foggy San Francisco |
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255307 | Joseph Parker <joeparker@s...> | 2015‑07‑02 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
To remove the sap wood, I would just take a draw knife/chisel and split it off. For the desk, in keeping with your live edge slab theme, check out West Coast Woods (part of Jackel in Watsonville): http://www.westcoastwoods.com /slabs.html You might find a suitable plank of elm or black acacia. Joe P. - tempted by the 8/4 sapele Jackel has on sale On Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 1:04 PM, Joe Jerkins |
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255319 | Claudio DeLorenzi <claudio@d...> | 2015‑07‑03 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
> > > " Everyone likes good wood." Haha, the older I get, the more I realize the truth of this statement. Claudio in Waterloo pondering double entendres -- Sent from Gmail Mobile |
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255321 | Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> | 2015‑07‑03 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
Blues guitar player Roy Bookbinder said that Reverend Gary Davis, better better blues guitar player, was master of the single entendre. Ed Minch On Jul 3, 2015, at 5:42 AM, Claudio DeLorenzi |
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255334 | Joe Jerkins <jerkinsj@s...> | 2015‑07‑06 | Re: Wood advice/pointer |
Latest update: First real shop time in a loooong time and boy was it nice. Radio playing, doors open for extra light and a nice cross breeze. Time flew. I spent almost 4 hours with a sharp drawknife (P S and W 8") and spoke shave (Stanley #67) July 3 removing the bark and buggy parts. I think I got it all cleaned up and no remaining bugs. I'll let it acclimate for a bit and keep my eye on it. Pictures:http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10276/I MG_5034.JPGor">ictures:http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10 276/IMG_5034.JPGor http://tinyurl.com/ogrtewj">http://tinyurl.com/ogrtewj and http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10276/IMG_50 33.JPGor">http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10276/IMG_5033. JPGor http://tinyurl.com/q88n96h Cheers all,Joe From: Joe Jerkins |
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