Well boys and girls I got started on some of the projects I was cutting pine logs for last spring (http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php/topic,67132.0.html). It was to my advantage that the log had been down and drying for two years before we ripped it into planks. It was stacked and stickered near the stove all winter. I had one rip that we cut a little crooked stacked on top and used it as a moisture meter. I wanted to build a test project before starting on the table to see how the wood would respond to milling, gluing, sanding, staining, and finishing.
I decided to build a shelf for the area at the top of the stairs. I didn’t want it permanently attached to the wall as I may need to remove it in the event I was hauling a large appliance up the stairs, needing maneuvering room once I got to the top of the stairs. Hanging the shelf on a French Dovetail was the solution and would allow for a “no tools” removal if desired.
There are a couple schools of thought when working with large chunks of wood with reducing cupping, bowing, and warping in mind. One is simply to bolt it together and live with the resulting issues. A second method is to cut it into smaller pieced and glue it back together. The theory is that the smaller pieces will deform less, and the cumulative total will deform less as well. This is the route I have always picked.
There are also a couple choices with cutting it into small pieces. One is to flip the rips and glue them back together with the grain alternating, one rip sweeping up, the next sweeping down. This produces a stable plank but looks like a hardwood floor. It works best for thinner planks, say 1” thick and thinner.
The other way is to rip the stock and then glue it back together in the same order as ripped. Especially with the future table, this is the look I desire, as I want to see basically three wide planks for the top surface. With thicker material, the glue lines are more substantial and this process offers a good potential for success. This was the method I chose.
Then it was just a matter of cutting the parts, jointing them flat and square, planing them to an equal thickness, and gluing them back together. Another pass through the planer to clean them up after the glue dried and they were ready to assemble, stain and finish.
Working with material that wants to remain in a more “natural” condition, i.e. beetle bores, un-milled cambium layers on the edges etc. does present some challenges. With an earlier experiment on the end of a stump I found the clogged (I’m not sure with what!!) beetle hole would turn white when coated with a clear finish. I had cleaned some out and left some “as is”. On a test piece of the shelf, I found a white contamination on the milled surface as well as the cambium layer. This went away with a light wash of lightly colored stain. For the table and cabinet parts I will use an even lighter, almost natural stain to eliminate this problem.
Well here are a few pictures for your dining and dancing pleasure. Click on them to enlarge.
This is the first test. The end of a stump. Look, coffee stains at no extra charge!
I decided to build a shelf for the area at the top of the stairs. I didn’t want it permanently attached to the wall as I may need to remove it in the event I was hauling a large appliance up the stairs, needing maneuvering room once I got to the top of the stairs. Hanging the shelf on a French Dovetail was the solution and would allow for a “no tools” removal if desired.
There are a couple schools of thought when working with large chunks of wood with reducing cupping, bowing, and warping in mind. One is simply to bolt it together and live with the resulting issues. A second method is to cut it into smaller pieced and glue it back together. The theory is that the smaller pieces will deform less, and the cumulative total will deform less as well. This is the route I have always picked.
There are also a couple choices with cutting it into small pieces. One is to flip the rips and glue them back together with the grain alternating, one rip sweeping up, the next sweeping down. This produces a stable plank but looks like a hardwood floor. It works best for thinner planks, say 1” thick and thinner.
The other way is to rip the stock and then glue it back together in the same order as ripped. Especially with the future table, this is the look I desire, as I want to see basically three wide planks for the top surface. With thicker material, the glue lines are more substantial and this process offers a good potential for success. This was the method I chose.
Then it was just a matter of cutting the parts, jointing them flat and square, planing them to an equal thickness, and gluing them back together. Another pass through the planer to clean them up after the glue dried and they were ready to assemble, stain and finish.
Working with material that wants to remain in a more “natural” condition, i.e. beetle bores, un-milled cambium layers on the edges etc. does present some challenges. With an earlier experiment on the end of a stump I found the clogged (I’m not sure with what!!) beetle hole would turn white when coated with a clear finish. I had cleaned some out and left some “as is”. On a test piece of the shelf, I found a white contamination on the milled surface as well as the cambium layer. This went away with a light wash of lightly colored stain. For the table and cabinet parts I will use an even lighter, almost natural stain to eliminate this problem.
Well here are a few pictures for your dining and dancing pleasure. Click on them to enlarge.
This is the first test. The end of a stump. Look, coffee stains at no extra charge!
