Spalted maple and some other goodies.

Got a new load of wood from the kiln today. I also had these boards heat treated. I don't think I want to build with wood that has a live fungus or bugs in it. So I have them cook these at 145 degrees for 48 hours to kill anything in them. This was some really nice spalted hard maple I got from a friend. Years ago we  sheeted his shop with this stuff. I t about cried. He kept saying it didn't make him sad. He had some left over and I finally talked him into selling it. It is 12 feet long and 4 to 7" wide. Nice clean stock.

I have been very busy in the shop. Did a small dining room table, some benches, a vanity in black ash and some smaller pieces. It has been a good week. Got some wood to ship out this coming week.Have to get some desks made and some more benches. I want to get one of the nice tiger maple slabs in and plane to get some pictures for a guy who wants a mantle. Got some wonderful nice slabs here, along with a bunch of new 8/4 stock. Had my buddy turn some legs in flame birch and birdseye. They came out wonderful. Email me if you are looking for leg stock or some great stock for small boxes.

Log sets and a couple of small slabs, organic wood

I have had some questions about log sets. So I thought the best way is to blog about it and take some pictures.

Log sets are what I get when I can sort out the lumber and get all the boards from 1 tree in a group. Its easier said then done. I can't ask the mill to sort it, they are way too busy. Besides, sorting 10 boards from several thousand is not their business. But it is mine. Years ago, I never paid much mind to sorting boards except for some bookmatches. I was using plain cherry, walnut and ash, oak, etc. Doing a kitchen, it never made much to do about grain matching or color matching.

As I grew into more and better furniture building, it made sense to look for , say , cherry that was all the same color. Made it much easier to color and finish. When I started to get into building figured wood, I was so excited to find it, I didn't care if it was from 1 tree or ten thousand. I took what I could find. Got some great stuff and some not so great. As I get smarter{I hope} I look for the best and what makes it that way. Its how I meet Charles Neil years ago. I had bought trees before meeting him and knew about matching lumber. What I didn't know was how much better any piece is because of log sets. Especially in figured woods. Now I still buy lots of wood and I don't get a lot of matched sets. But I do try and pull what I can when I do find them.

Yesterday, I was bringing lumber into the shop and needed a set of hard tiger maple for an upcoming piece. I pulled out a set I had put aside this fall.

Notice how is it all nice bright white? I have trimmed the ends, so I can't show you that. But the ends are the best way to pull a log set for me. I look for the same cut on one end, then look for any knots, bark ect. that all comes in the same spot. Its pretty neat when you get all the boards pulled and you can see how they all show the same quality and figure and color.

When you see figure this nice in rough lumber, you know it is going to be great. The boards run from 4" wide up to 11" wide. All are eight feet long. Stock like this is not inexpensive. The going rate I sell it for starts at 10$ per board foot and goes up. This is hard curly maple , which is much more scarce the soft curly maple. I can buy 500 feet of soft curly, or more for every foot of hard curly I find. And  most hard curly does not have this intense figure. I have never found any hardwood grading rules for figure, except from the musical instrument industry. They give A ratings . I am not sure how that works, but after looking at many sites and wood pictures this is as good as I have ever seen. Tight consistant and goes all across the width of the boards. This will make a spectacular piece.

The last piece I did with a matched set was this step back cupboard.

Yes the lid lifts and it is a secret space. But the grain showed up from 50 feet away. This was soft curly maple. The customer really liked it.

Here is a shot of the end of a board that I cut off the log set above. It's how I ask loggers to look for figure in the log.

See the ripples? That is how the curl looks under the bark.

Now about the slabs. I did a few benches/ tables out of some black ash and hard maple. I get these small slabs and they make nice small benches and coffee tables/end tables.

This is a slab of red oak with a nice limb section in it. The bark comes off real nice. I also brought down a couple hard maple ones that are a book match.

These will be cut in half so they are about 48" long. The bark will be taken off and then the edges and ends treated like this.
http://www.cn-woodworking.com/creating-a-live-edge/
It makes  for a better sell to the customer.

I think that is all for now. Email me. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, bob

Secret compartments, hidden drawers, mullions and tiger maple

Making glass doors for cupboards is always a time consuming process. All the cuts, parts and pieces make for a time eating day. Lots of figuring and tweaking to get everything to fit right and look good. There is also the time spent planing and jointing parts and letting them rest to see if they get twist or warp.

I use shapers for most of my doors. I have one set up for cutting the copes and one for cutting the rails and stiles. I always follow the advice of a good friend of mine and nibble away to eliminate any chipping in the tiger maple. Rough the pieces out, run them through the shaper, joint the edge again and re run them. Makes for nice sharp crisp edges and good looking doors. I took lots of pictures to show the steps, but I am not a photographer. A lot of them were blurry and not in good focus. Its also hard to take a shot while pushing a piece into a cutter.

Chip out in the tiger maple. This happens with most figured woods. Take a 1/32" off on the jointer and re run the piece and you get a nice clean cut.

Running the piece through the shaper with a small feeder works great. No fingers get chewed up and the feeder holds everything in place. It also allows a varible
feedrate.

Lots of small pieces. Getting everything to fit right takes lots of trimming and test fitting. You need to take your time and not get excited when things don't fit the third or forth time...My dad would call it piddling work. You piddle around until it is right.

I also have the secret compartment done on the upper section. Learned that also from my friend. It is a slick way to add something extra, plus it is just cool. I will be adding some secret drawers as well. I guess that is enough for today. I hope to get the doors sanded and ready for finish tomorrow. I've had enough "piddling" for today.