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IsaacNewton posted:Man you did an awesome job, I'm very impressed and totally didn't expect that result. It just started wallowing out the surrounding cast iron, since the screws are some kind of hardened steel I guess. Also snapped a bit, might've got bound up between the side of the screw and the surround cast, I dunno. Either way it's done now.
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Mar 20, 2010 05:32
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So I'm extremely interested in building my own desk for my bedroom, so I can have it just the way I want it with everything custom tailored to my specifications. What books should someone interested into getting into this type of thing read? Are they available at a public library? Would this be not too difficult for a beginner (I'm sure I'll make other things before the desk for more experience.)? What tools would I need, and how expensive would they be? I know it seems like I'm asking a lot, but any help is greatly appreciated. Overall, this looks like a really fun hobby for those who like to DIY; especially for making your own furniture. I appreciate the responses. 
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Mar 20, 2010 20:35
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BlanketCar posted:So I'm extremely interested in building my own desk for my bedroom, so I can have it just the way I want it with everything custom tailored to my specifications. Go to ikea, but instead of treating it like a furniture store, look at it like a parts bin. You ought to be able to spec out a desk that fits your needs from ikea parts (it wont be how ikea intends you to use the parts of course) and will save you a lot of time, effort, and money that you would have spent getting into woodworking. If you want a hobby, then get into woodworking if you think it might be for you. But don't get into woodworking because you need a desk, you wont likely enjoy it.
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Mar 21, 2010 02:29
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GEMorris posted:If you want a hobby, then get into woodworking if you think it might be for you. But don't get into woodworking because you need a desk, you wont likely enjoy it. Otherwise, advice from a relative newbie: depends on how complicated you want your desk to be. If you want super simple utility, you can build it out of a few 2x4's, a quarter sheet of plywood, and some screws. All pine, dirt cheap, not super pretty. I think it was Wormil that recommended Illustrated Cabinetmaking (subtitled How to Design and Construct Furniture that Works.) I picked it up and it seems good. That seems like a good one to have on hand. If you need specific examples of how to do something, youtube is great. There are some crazy videos out there, but a lot of good ones, too. As for tools, it all depends on how nice you want it to be and how easy you want the construction to be. I don't claim to have 1/10th the skill of most of the posters here, but I will say you may be amazed at what you can do with no more than a skill saw and a drill. When I was living near the edge of the middle of nowhere in Alaska, I managed to build what I still think was a GREAT queen-size bed frame, a computer desk with giant sliding keyboard tray, a set of steps into the bathroom with box-like lids for each step...umm...a laundry table, a fish tank stand...oh, and a small patio-like platform for grilling, all with just those two tools. And a super-fancy insulated/electrically-heated dog box. And the world's most amazing cat-tree. It's kind of fun sometimes to figure out how to make do.
Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Mar 21, 2010 |
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Mar 21, 2010 02:32
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GEMorris posted:Go to ikea, but instead of treating it like a furniture store, look at it like a parts bin. Ikea's "as-is" section is particularly useful if you're looking for cheap parts for a project 
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Mar 21, 2010 02:56
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That's like, 75% of the fun of woodworking to me, trying to figure how to build what I want using the tools that I have. Don't do it to save money on things you would buy. That rarely happens. Here's the desk I built when I was in college, since you asked:
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Mar 21, 2010 03:03
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I think the only way to save money by building your own stuff is to get fairly good at it and then only build fine furniture that would normally cost, say, $1500 for a table. The markup on that stuff in insaaaaaane. And of course, even then you're only saving by comparison. Whereas if you're going to build some particle board bookshelf, the cost of materials in the quantities you'd buy will probably be as much or very likely even more than the same mass-produced bookshelf from Wal-Mart.
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Mar 21, 2010 03:12
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iwannabebobdylan posted:That's like, 75% of the fun of woodworking to me, trying to figure how to build what I want using the tools that I have. Don't do it to save money on things you would buy. That rarely happens. That is a loving awesome desk.
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Mar 21, 2010 03:19
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Well, I finally finished working on the Chicago No 5 plane that I posted about a few pages back: And here it is now (complete with some dust on the cap iron from taking some shavings!):  The japanning on the base was shot, so I removed as much as I could and smoothed it out, then sprayed it with some rustoleum textured enamel ('hammered' style) with all of the sides, frog-base, etc, masked. It turned out a bit glossier than I thought it would... so I may knock it down a bit, but it's not doing any harm. The only thing that caught me off guard was that the original blade had been ground to oblivion... the last owner must have taken it to a wheel and taken too much off, because it wouldn't even get through the mouth (and the angle was completely decimated). I have a cheapo blade on there now; any recommendations for replacements? I think a Lie-Nielsen No 5 will fit and is probably my best option?
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Mar 21, 2010 04:41
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Bad Munki posted:Whereas if you're going to build some particle board bookshelf, the cost of materials in the quantities you'd buy will probably be as much or very likely even more than the same mass-produced bookshelf from Wal-Mart. Very true. For years China exported cheap furniture here for less than the cost of materials just to drive our own furniture companies out of business. BlanketCar posted:So I'm extremely interested in building my own desk for my bedroom, so I can have it just the way I want it with everything custom tailored to my specifications. Well I agree and disagree with GEMorris. Many people start out too ambitious and end up put off woodworking because they want something fancy but quickly realize it takes more than knowledge and skill to craft fine furniture, it takes lots of practice. On the other hand, if you go into it without too much expectation you might find that you like it and your skills will progress with each project. What I might suggest, is that you start off with a simple desk that meets your needs, maybe made from 2x4s and plywood (or you can buy laminated countertops from Lowes/HD/etc that make excellent cheap desktops). The important part is learning construction techniques so you don't build big clunky stuff that is going to rack and wobble. If you want a real desk then you'll need cabinetmaking skills and Illustrated Cabinetmaking is a guide but you'll also need the tools and know how, there are also some books out there on making furniture from 2x4s if that is more your speed in the beginning.
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Mar 21, 2010 05:10
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I got a quick woodworking question. I have a buddy who does wood-working as a hobby but I was wondering if it would be simple enough to tackle a few basic projects myself to get a few pieces of basic furniture for my house. I have two bay windows I want to build a very basic storage bench deal for each and I figured either doing it myself or having my buddy do it would be the best bet. Same thing goes for a couple of bookshelves to use as media storage. Would it be best to pay him and have him make them for me or are they basic and easy enough to tackle myself?
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Mar 22, 2010 01:06
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TheUnforgiven posted:Would it be best to pay him and have him make them for me or are they basic and easy enough to tackle myself? Why not do both? Buy the materials and offer to help. The storage bench is very easy as it's carpentry, if you have a circular saw you can DIY. Frame it out of 2x4s and skin it with hardwood plywood. The bookcases maybe a little more complicated depending upon exactly what you want, have your friend help with those.
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Mar 22, 2010 03:11
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benitocereno posted:The only thing that caught me off guard was that the original blade had been ground to oblivion... the last owner must have taken it to a wheel and taken too much off, because it wouldn't even get through the mouth (and the angle was completely decimated). I have a cheapo blade on there now; any recommendations for replacements? I think a Lie-Nielsen No 5 will fit and is probably my best option? Hock blades are the best for replacing Stanley and other Non-LN/LV planes. LN replacements are great for LN products, but may or may not be a great fit for anyone else.
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Mar 22, 2010 03:57
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nobody- posted:Ikea's "as-is" section is particularly useful if you're looking for cheap parts for a project If I lived near an ikea the as-is section would keep me in the poorhouse. benitocereno posted:I have a cheapo blade on there now; any recommendations for replacements? I think a Lie-Nielsen No 5 will fit and is probably my best option? Cobalt60 posted:Hock blades are the best for replacing Stanley and other Non-LN/LV planes. LN replacements are great for LN products, but may or may not be a great fit for anyone else. Hock Blades are my go-to replacement, but the veritas replacement blades that Lee Valley sells are good too. I have a hock blade in my low angle miller-falls block plane and love it. Edit: Edited in my answer before I got down to Cobalt60's correct response. leaving my answer for reinforcement through repetition. GEMorris fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Mar 22, 2010 |
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Mar 22, 2010 06:04
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MarshallX posted:Finally completed the dart board cabinet for my brother as a housewarming gift. It turned out great. Got a little more amber out of my shellac for the accent pieces than I wanted but overall I'm pleased. My miters are rock solid What table saw do you have there?
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Mar 22, 2010 14:44
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sparticus posted:What table saw do you have there? King Canada 10" Contractor Saw. 325$ off Kijiji, I drove away from the guy's house cackling like a maniac.
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Mar 22, 2010 15:25
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MarshallX posted:King Canada 10" Contractor Saw. It looks almost like my Jet that I got from a guy for $150. Do you know which kind of fence is on it?
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Mar 22, 2010 18:29
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sparticus posted:It looks almost like my Jet that I got from a guy for $150. Do you know which kind of fence is on it? My Saw & Fence combination: http://www.tegstools.com/details.php?itemID=86585 The guy used it once, tried ripping a sheet of plywood alone and almost killed himself because he didn't use a Riving Knife or Blade Guard and put it up Kijiji. He had 9 offers within an hour. I was pretty happy getting it for 300$ pretty much brand new.
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Mar 22, 2010 19:15
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MarshallX posted:My Saw & Fence combination: http://www.tegstools.com/details.php?itemID=86585 Hell of a deal indeed. Wish mine was newer, but the deal was too good to pass up.
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Mar 22, 2010 20:02
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MarshallX posted:The guy used it once, tried ripping a sheet of plywood alone and almost killed himself because he didn't use a Riving Knife or Blade Guard. This is my superpower. For the first time since I was 13 I have a safety feature on my saw. Only because the splitter on a Bosch 4100 is easy to get out of the way without losing.
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Mar 22, 2010 21:22
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I know wormil may beat me senseless for not following his design - but after many a 2x4 I was completely unable to get his design to work. A lack of skill and experience were my biggest hurdles and after a week of trying I decided to give up and go back to the old design. While I realize that the old design may not be the best in the world I don't feel unsafe using it. In any case, I got it (mostly) finished last night and the girlfriend started priming it. I still need to do a door - im just going to hang that with magnets. 
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Mar 23, 2010 01:41
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WildFoxMedia posted:I know wormil may beat me senseless for not following his design I'm sure it will be fine with the plywood sheathing around it. The only reason I didn't like it was because it has so many joints between the load and the floor, each joint will weaken the structure but the plywood pretty much ties it all together. 
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Mar 23, 2010 02:28
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Thanks for the reassurance wormil. I wasn't aware that joints, even stacked would weaken the structure. There's quiet a few things about this stand that im unhappy with, but willing to deal with simply because its my first foray into woodworking. The 2x4s never, ever seemed to line up perfectly, even after cutting/sanding them to no more then 1/16" from the desired size. Cutting the large sheets of plywood officially made me want to kill myself, even with the DIY circular saw jig that has been suggested a few times. The plywood cuts pretty much all came out lovely and underwhelming. All in all I think I really learned the importance and value of a large, well built work bench. I cut and did the majority of this project in my backyard, using an uneven hot tub (on top of the hot tub cover) as a work bench with no type of feed support while running through things on the miter saw. Trying to deal with all of this poo poo on the ground in my background or on top of the hot tub cover was loving miserable.
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Mar 23, 2010 02:41
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I'm looking to turn an old desk into a makeup table for my lady-friend and I was wondering if anyone can look at some photos and tell me where I should start (click for bigger):  I am committed to sanding and re-staining, but I'm not sure if there's anything else to do first (stripping, maybe? I'm a noob at this.) I believe this is real wood and not veneer, but I am also not sure how to know if I am wrong. I found a good deal on a random orbit palm sander that I know I could use for a few other projects, but is it worth it for a hobbyist to get a mouse sander for the roundy-bits of the legs, or should I just bite the bullet and do it by hand? Where, in short, do I start? Assume no sanding/finishing tools other than a few swatches of sandpaper and no knowledge other than "sanding sucks". Not afraid to buy tools but would rather not buy too much/too project-specific tools. Let me know if anyone can help out.
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Mar 23, 2010 02:54
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WildFoxMedia posted:The 2x4s never, ever seemed to line up perfectly, even after cutting/sanding them to no more then 1/16" from the desired size. 2x4's should never be used for anything other than constructing walls (and even that is questionable). The wider the board, the less defects it will tend to exhibit, as a general rule. Wood used for floor joists etc, like SYP, will have even less defects due to grading. Often times it is only slightly more expensive, if at all, to buy 2x12's and rip them into 2x4's (if 2x4 is the desired size). I hate 2x4's and don't wish them on anyone. That said, how were you using sanding to dimension parts? Do you not have a jointer or planer? WildFoxMedia posted:Cutting the large sheets of plywood officially made me want to kill myself, even with the DIY circular saw jig that has been suggested a few times. The plywood cuts pretty much all came out lovely and underwhelming. Few tools are as dramatic of an improvement over the previous tool as the track saw like Festool and a few other companies make today. If I were starting from scratch that is the one tool I would definitely pay the big bucks for, and build the rest of my shop around it. That being said, I don't have one yet as I am poor. When I finally do buy one I fully expect to kick myself for not doing it sooner. That being said, the trick to clean ply cuts with a circular saw is 1. a fresh sharp blade, and 2. taking a scoring cut before you take the full cut. WildFoxMedia posted:All in all I think I really learned the importance and value of a large, well built work bench. I cut and did the majority of this project in my backyard, using an uneven hot tub (on top of the hot tub cover) as a work bench with no type of feed support while running through things on the miter saw. Trying to deal with all of this poo poo on the ground in my background or on top of the hot tub cover was loving miserable. I cannot stress enough. Buy Schwarz's Workbenches book and build a Roubo or a Nicholson bench (Roubo is what I built and I love it). Right now I have a south bend lathe on my Roubo and I am going absolutely nuts trying to clamp some cherry panels down to flatten them. This task (among hundreds of others) would take about 10 seconds (the clamping, not the planing) on the Roubo. As an interim workbench, the most important rule to me is that the top is solid, and the front edge of the top is planer with the front legs, NO OVERHANG. This makes a huge number of tasks child's play to perform.
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Mar 23, 2010 04:15
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PipeRifle posted:Where, in short, do I start? I'd say with about 99% certainty that it is solid wood, but to be sure, you'd have to look at the end grain (the right and left edges of the desktop). Also take a look at that broken area on the bottom drawer. It will be pretty obvious whether it is veneer or solid wood. You'd start by determining what type of finish is currently on there. My first guess would be shellac over unstained cherry. Except for that leg. See how it is all blotchy? That's what happens when you try to use a pigment stain on cherry. I'm imagining the original builder smeared stain all over the leg, stood back and said "Whoa, this looks like poo poo. I think I should stop here and do some research before I gently caress the whole thing up." Then, he got himself some shellac and laid that down on the bare wood and ended up with a fine looking desk. You can find out if it is shellac by applying some denatured alchohol to an area and see if it dissolves the finish. If so, then it is shellac. If you want to do this RIGHT NOW in the middle of the night and don't have any denatured alchohol handy, you can go into your hooch cabinet and grab some 151 Bacardi or whatever the strongest stuff you have and try that. I've only used shellac on new construction and haven't done any refinishing, so maybe a somebody that actually knows something about refinishing will chime in and tell me I am completely wrong here, but the steps I would take if this were my desk would be like this. 1. Is it shellac? Yes. Go to step 2. No. Build a new desk. 2. Give it a thorough cleaning in a well ventilated area using mineral spirits or naphtha (both available in gallon jugs for a few bucks at any hardware store). I stress the "ventilated area" part because those solvents can get you high as hell and you won't even realize it until you stand up and try to take a few steps, then you will fell like poo poo have a pounding headache the next day. I learned that one from experience  3. Smooth out deep gouges and scrapes using 150-220 grit paper. You don't need to remove the existing coat of shellac because the new coats will bond with the existing coats and become one with each other. 4. Get some shellac flakes and denatured alcohol. I'd go with dewaxed orange from http://shellac.net/ShellacPricing.html. Then mix it up to a 2lb cut using this chart http://shellac.net/PoundCutChart.html. 5. Apply thin coats until it looks nice and uniform. 6. Present it to your ladyfriend and tell her not to spill any perfume or booze on it. Shellac can also be damaged from heat, so keep the hot crimpers and curling irons off of it as well. If water stays in contact with it for a while, it can form white splotchy areas (like the ring on your desk), so she should use a coaster if she is going to have drinks on the desk. I'm don't have my reference books with me right now, but I'm pretty sure shellac is impervious to acetone, so spilling nail polish remover on it shouldn't be a problem. Like I said, that's how I would go about refinishing it, but I am far from an expert at refinishing. Also, don't just print off my post and go to town. Take some time to do your own research on the web for information regarding refinishing and applying new finishes. Skunkduster fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 05:54
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GEMorris posted:2x4's should never be used for anything other than constructing walls (and even that is questionable). Christ, what utter nonsense. 2x4s are a building material.
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Mar 23, 2010 06:56
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While im going to try my best not to start a war - GE Morris, would you have recommended 2x6s instead - do you feel that there is a better piece of lumber then a 2x4 for general construction? Also, I may have glazed over and missed them, but what books/sites do you recommend for beginning furniture making and woodworking? Things that talk about joinery, types of construction and on and on? nullfox fucked around with this message at 08:32 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 08:29
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D'oh. Forgot about the chipped end. It's definitely solid wood. I'm with you up to cleaning with mineral spirits, but I'm NOT clear on re-shellacing. I guess I should have mentioned that I thought about giving it a different, darker color. That's why I was committed to sand-and-stain. Is there a way I could get this to a nice rich cherry or mahogany color from where it is now, without sanding down to bare wood and starting over? Edit: I like the Ruby shellac on that site you listed, looks like it might mix with the orangey tones on there now and produce something interesting. Or terrible. We'll see! Also, I think I might see if I can find someone to cut me a custom glass top because wet things, perfume, other liquids and hot things like curling irons are EXACTLY what will be going on this. Edit 2: I see what the crucial missing element was in all of my searching, and I get your post now. I was thinking "SAND IT DOWN" could be step one, but I realize I need to strip first and then sand to prep for re-whatevering. I'll get some mineral spirits and a tiny bit of lacquer remover just in case and see which one softens 'er up better. From the ease at which a coffee cup can leave a white ring, I'm thinking it's currently sporting a thin coat of unsealed shellac, so it should be pretty easy to strip. PipeRifle fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 16:16
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God. drat. Cedar is expensive! All I want to do is make a fancy fold out Buffet/BBQ table and it's going to cost me 200$ 
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Mar 23, 2010 17:00
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Try cherry. I'm always curious to compare regional wood prices. What are you paying per board foot for cedar? Or anything else for that matter. Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 17:05
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Bad Munki posted:Try cherry. For 5/4x6" dressed down to 4/4x4" is 2.50/bf + I mean it's not TOO bad, but I need 60 bf to build my table. Now that I'm really thinking about it, 2.50/bf is nothing. What am I bitching about! MarshallX fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 17:10
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PipeRifle posted:Is there a way I could get this to a nice rich cherry or mahogany color from where it is now, without sanding down to bare wood and starting over? I'm pretty sure I know what color you are looking for, but despite what these mass producing furniture outlets advertise, neither cherry nor mahogany is that dark ruby red color unless you stain* it. Cherry is more of a light brownish pink and mahogany is more like a brownish orange. *By stain, I mean a dye stain (which you aren't going to find at your local hardware store). I haven't used dye stains, but they would seem to be the way to go to get what you want. I would strongly recommend against using a pigment stain (the poo poo you get from a hardware store). Cherry absorbs pigment stain unevenly and leads to a lot of blotching. Look at that leg and you'll see what I mean. It doesn't look that bad on the leg because it is a narrow piece with lots of detail, but if it was on the flat top that is made up from several different boards, it will look like hell. PipeRifle posted:I like the Ruby shellac on that site you listed, looks like it might mix with the orangey tones on there now and produce something interesting. Or terrible. We'll see! Also, I think I might see if I can find someone to cut me a custom glass top because wet things, perfume, other liquids and hot things like curling irons are EXACTLY what will be going on this. A glass top would be a fantastic idea. Shellac is a wonderful finish, but it certainly does have its weaknesses. You can certainly apply the ruby over the orange if you want to go that route. I normally use several different tints of shellac. For example, I'll get an idea in my head of how I want it tinted, then lay down that color. From there, I might use garnet, orange, yellow, or super blond for subsequent layers to slowly tint it to where I want it. "This looks kind of washed out...needs more vibrancy" (grab the orange)" . "Nice, but it could be a little darker" (grab the garnet). "The color is perfect, but it could still use a few more coats" (grab the super blond). PipeRifle posted:I see what the crucial missing element was in all of my searching, and I get your post now. I was thinking "SAND IT DOWN" could be step one, but I realize I need to strip first and then sand to prep for re-whatevering. I'll get some mineral spirits and a tiny bit of lacquer remover just in case and see which one softens 'er up better. From the ease at which a coffee cup can leave a white ring, I'm thinking it's currently sporting a thin coat of unsealed shellac, so it should be pretty easy to strip. No no no...you missed the point. You don't need to strip the old shellac off and sanding should only be used to smooth out the deep gouges. The beauty of shellac is that you do not need to strip off all the old stuff to add the new stuff. You want to avoid sanding as much as possible because A it sucks and B you will round over all the details. I've never stripped shellac on a large scale project like this, but I don't think it is just a matter of wiping it down with alcohol, then wiping it off and being done in an hour or two. If you are planning on staining (dye stain) it that ruby red color, you need to remove every trace of the existing finish off and take it down to the bare wood. Any existing finish that is on the desk will completely block the absorption of the stain and will end up being bright pinkish tan streaks and splotches in the middle of your deep ruby red. Since you want to change the color, there is an extra step I would add. Once you get it cleaned up with the mineral spirits, sand down the really bad spots. This will leave patches of bare wood. If you lay down the ruby shellac over that, it will be a different color over the bare wood than it will be over the existing orange shellac. So, what you do is use some orange shellac to cover the bare spots and blend in the edges with the existing shellac until you get a fairly even color, then start in with the ruby to tint it to that dark red shade that you are after. If it the color that I am thinking of, you aren't going to get it from shellac alone and will have to go with a dye stain. This will require that you completely remove every trace of shellac on the desk and get it down to the bare wood with a lot of sanding which will add a HUGE amount of work. Look at the profiles around the edge of the drawers and top and think about how much detail effort it would take to sand that to get it to the bare wood without rounding over those sharp edges. For what that would take, I'd rather just build a new desk from scratch. Like I said though, that's just how I'd go about it based on what I know from applying shellac to new projects. Hopefully, somebody with a lot more experience in refinishing will chime in here so it isn't a matter of the almost blind leading the blind. PipeRifle posted:I'll get some mineral spirits and a tiny bit of lacquer remover just in case and see which one softens 'er up better. Mineral spirits won't affect the shellac at all. That is what you use to clean the grime off. I believe lacquer remover will soften it, but am not sure. What you want to use dissolve shellac is denatured alcohol. Everything I've posted is based on the assumption that your existing finish is shellac. Based on the scratches, I'm pretty sure that it isn't an oil finish, so we can rule those out. If it is varnish or lacquer, I have no clue what to tell you. Skunkduster fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 18:14
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Bad Munki posted:Try cherry. The last time I bought black walnut, it was about 20 cents a board foot thanks to a portable sawmill and a friend who wanted to get rid of some black walnut trees from his farm.  Needless to say, I picked up a shitload of it. I'm thinking my next big project will be a nice woodworking bench with a 4" thick solid walnut top. gently caress yeah! As for real world prices, we don't live too far apart, so my prices are probably similar to yours. I'd normally go to Vetsch Hardoods in Rochester (because they are close), but I haven't bought any wood in a few years so I'm not sure how much they are currently charging and they don't have a price list online. I have been to Root River Hardwoods in Preston MN, which isn't far from the MN/IA border. It is a great place, but kind of a long drive for me. You can pick through the piles to your heart's content. Anyway, their prices are pretty similar to Vetsch. All prices are 4/4 per board foot. quartersawn #1 red oak: 3.35 quartersawn S&B red oak: 4.40 bf (rift sawn is the same price...that seems odd) #1 walnut: 2.95 S&B walnut: 5.20 S&B Ash: 2.45 #1 and better Birdseye maple: 7.20 (so expensive, but so beautiful) S&B white hard maple: 3.40 (No prices for curly maple. If I remember right, Vetsch charged about 5.00bf for curly.) S&B cherry: 4.45 #1 cherry: 2.45 (I picked out a couple of spalted cherry boards and a couple of mildly curly boards from the pile - it all costs the same) Aromatic red cedar: 2.40 They have a lot more types of wood available as well as turning blocks, but dat is a fair to middlin' idea for da prices we pay up here in da great nort woods, you betcha. Looking at their "overstock" prices on kiln dried lumber is kind of tempting me to hop in the truck and go for a drive. MarshallX posted:God. drat. Ash might be an alternative worth considering. It is the stuff they make rake handles and baseball bats out of, so it holds up pretty well to wear and tear. From the price list above, cedar is a bit cheaper around here, but ash might be a cheaper alternative in your area. Skunkduster fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 19:02
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WildFoxMedia posted:While im going to try my best not to start a war My uncle got an idea like this in his head and framed his house from red oak instead of normal construction lumber but now, years later, it still creaks, has crooked floors and walls just like any other old house. And when he dies someone will come along and bulldoze it to build a modern house on his nice piece of land. So in the end while it sounds impressive, there was no benefit to doing it other than to raise a few eyebrows along the way.
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Mar 23, 2010 19:50
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SkunkDuster posted:S&B cherry: 4.45 Am I mis-reading prices? Because if not, what the poo poo?    
Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Mar 23, 2010 |
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Mar 23, 2010 19:56
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SkunkDuster posted:Mineral spirits won't affect the shellac at all. That is what you use to clean the grime off. I believe lacquer remover will soften it, but am not sure. What you want to use dissolve shellac is denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol is actually what I meant, but got turned around. And that's why I thought I'd try some lacquer thinner: in case it was lacquer. I'm still torn between stripping and using a pigment dye (which is what my post was based around) and simply cleaning and applying new shellac. One of the issues is that there are some cracks in addition to gouges which I thought might necessitate the use of wood filler. Therefore I thought I might have to take it down to the bare wood, regardless. This is sort of the color I'm thinking of: not sure if I can get there from where I'm at, shellac-wise: http://tevami.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/leisters-furniture-cherry-end-chest.jpg
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Mar 23, 2010 21:36
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PipeRifle posted:This is sort of the color I'm thinking of: not sure if I can get there from where I'm at, shellac-wise: Sorry, I haven't been following this discussion but you'll never get that color from shellac. Shellac is a warm amber while your example is a cool brown, closer to walnut. You would need to use either a lacquer finish or a water based poly to maintain that color. Possibly a blonde shellac but I've never actually used blonde so I can't say for sure. I didn't see whether you tested the finish yet but I doubt the finish on that desk is shellac, it's probably lacquer. Glob some stripper on there, scrape off the finish, sand, dye or stain, then finish with a spray lacquer or wipe on poly.
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Mar 23, 2010 22:05
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SkunkDuster posted:Root River Hardwoods in Preston MN I looked a little closer at this. Thank you sooooooo much for showing me this. There's one in Albert Lea, actually, which is directly on the road to Minneapolis. And since I've been planning a trip up to Minneapolis to pick up bulk homebrewing supplies, I can just stop in Albert Lea on the way and pick up lumber. Dear lord, the prices in the overstock bins are amazing.
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Mar 23, 2010 22:14
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GEMorris posted:Few tools are as dramatic of an improvement over the previous tool as the track saw like Festool and a few other companies make today. If I were starting from scratch that is the one tool I would definitely pay the big bucks for, and build the rest of my shop around it. That being said, I don't have one yet as I am poor. When I finally do buy one I fully expect to kick myself for not doing it sooner. I've been looking at getting the eurekazone ez smart saw guide system: http://eurekazone.com/products/detail/sgs.html
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Mar 23, 2010 22:37
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