Milling Frustration

Well, coming to a close with the pedestals I started to have some troubles in honing. I have been using a Norton 1000 Grit stone and a King that is about 6000 G. Well I always felt I had to put more effort into getting a nice polished edge than many of my classmates, but now I couldn't even get what I was getting before. I'm not the most patient of people to be doing this kind of work but I have VERY little patients for things that aren't working as they "should" be.
My King stone had a crack and the dumb base was flexing. Norton stones however don't have bases which is actually a good thing!
After reaching my wits end I went out and got a Norton 8000 G stone. What a difference it makes!!! I had no idea getting that final polish could be so easy! Maybe "training" on the poorer stone for a couple years helped but I do not suggest putting yourself through that mess.
Seriously spend the extra $40-$50 and get the Norton off the bat. Save yourself from suffering and make honing more enjoyable!
The King stone promptly made it's way to the garbage. heh.


In more frustrations... Oak Milling... So like I said I ended up getting White Oak from the main local hardwood seller. The mainly supply to cabinet shops and other "industrious" operations.
So this 8/4 was kiln dried and my guess would be that it was dried as fast as possible to meet with "industrial demand". I had found one great looking plank (in terms of potential yield). When I plotted the parts out before cutting into it I though I'd be able to get the whole table out of this one 8/4 plank minus 2 long pieces. Turns out I was wrong. Above was to be a frame member and a stretcher. Even though I cut with about an extra 1/8" in thickness in both pieces I could not use either for their intended purpose!
In addition to the stress the wood had I kept finding "surprises" throughout both "rift" planks I had.


This is a nasty one! I had set aside an "in case" off-cut about 40" long. After my discovery tension in the wood I went to this to get to more pieces out of. Turns out this gaping crack was hiding waiting for me to find it. It started about 3" on one side of the off-cut to about 4" from the end! I had basically cut this shooting crack out of the plank without seeing any evidence of its existence!!


Oh sweet. That's a BIG knot to be hiding inside a 2"! There was a small visible bend to the grain on the outside, I though I might find a little dot of a knot...


The cracks kept coming out to party...
There's a whole bunch more but you can get the idea.


After working a number of short days taking a little material off here and there then letting it settle, repeating the process and again. I'm getting close to final dimensions... not quite though.
Two Coffee tables. One in White Oak and one in Kwila. I wish I had more Kwila. I know there is one part I'm not overly happy with. I did the best I could with what I have though, and money is tight. Not to mention there's no way for me to color match any other material coming my way and Kwila has a pretty wide range of tone.


Speaking of lumber coming my way.... Look what I got!!! This is 44 b/f of steamed Swiss Pear coming from Gilmer Wood Co in Portland Or. The two thinner planks are a match from a flitch and the shorter wide one is a quartered flitch 15" - 16" wide, all 10/4" thick!!!
Pear isn't cheap and neither is shipping it from Portland but it should be more than enough for my next project... FINALLY I'm not calling it too close. I wish I had bigger machines though. I hate the idea of ripping and joining back together pieces! >:( Not that I can't do it or that it takes a heck of a lot of time but I feel confined and it kind of "violates" my "religion" ha.

Pedestal Assembly

Assembly has been going pretty well. These are a bit more awkward to handle because of the long legs but I managed to get it done without banging anything up.


This time I decided to got with a different method of attaching the tops, doweling. A scrap piece of sheet-stock serves as a doweling template. I think from now on the side tables are going to get dowels for the table top too. The coffee tables I'm thinking will get brackets because they are much bigger; perhaps being able to take the top off would be advantageous for transportation.


The Cherry and AD Walnut clamped up. The KD Walnut is taking longer because of the oil finish. it'll be another week before I get that one together. However all these to need are top panels fit, finished, and stuck into place... then a final look over. So close!
On that note... I have hopefully remedied my Oak problem. I ended up calling around a little bit and getting more frustrated. I finally said screw it and take another look at the main local hardwood yard (Youngblood for those who may around the area). New stock came in sense the last time I was in there. Randomly there were two rift-ish planks in the quartered pile and I took a couple flat sawn boards that have a bit of rift on the sides. The planks are not perfect color matches nor grain matched but here's hoping it will work out!


Upon completion of a project I like/need to take a day off and I like to invite a friend or so over to take a look and have a little drink. Some think that wine is appropriate, and they would be correct, I however like beer :). Another beverage craft. I think I just have beverage "vices" tea, coffee, and beer. I love them all though coffee and beer more sparingly than tea ;).
Winter is my favorite beer season. That's went all sorts of Porters, Stouts, and other "big" beers comes to taps, stores, and tables. One of the few things the Midwest has going on is some great beer.
I was told the other day that Minneapolis/St. Paul is the drinkingest city in the country ha! I don't drink a lot, it's more about flavor, exploration, and interest in others crafting for me. We don't actually have that many breweries here in MN though. Lucky for me there IS one award wining brew pub and a pretty new specialty beer store owned and run by an acquaintance of mine who used to run a bike shop.


This is a pic from Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis. This pub brews there own award wining beer and are constantly changing their seasonal selection. A new one is put out probably every 2 weeks and they generally have 4 to 5 of their seasonals on hand at any time! It's a pretty mellow atmosphere with old tiled floors, brick walls, and carved wood trim. The brew site is separated by glass walls for all to see across from dinning tables, a pool table, dart boards and a small fire place.
Not a bad place to sit back and talk the talk with some friends.

pedestal pre-frinishing

seems like it has be a while since last post hmmm. Not a lot of pictures came up either. Probably because I'm to the nitty gritty which doesn't really make for great photography... well by my self anyway.
But yes, surface prep and edge treatments where completed. I'm always surprised how many edges there are to be treated ha. Especially on these "sticky" pieces.


End grain edges are softened as well. The woods I'm using now was much quicker work for the files than the side tables.


It has been a little while since I used an oil finish. The Kiln-dried Walnut is the only to get oiled, the other two are getting the good old shellac and wax. In school we used turpentine to dilute the oil but it get me such head aches when any one used it. Perhaps it takes longer for mineral spirits to dry but at least I can still function while using it!


Here the pre-finishing is almost done on the pieces getting shellac. Orange shellac this time around. The Cherry does look a bit on the orange side (also the low yellow lighting doesn't help in the photo) but I think it will age/oxidize into it. It will be a while before this Cherry reaches it's deeper, more rich color... though I DO hope someone will like it and buy it, I would like to see it again down the road and perhaps snap a photo when it has seen some passage of time :)

Rant Warning...
With the completion of these Pedestals drawing near it will soon be time to start the 3rd tables... the coffee tables. I received two more planks of nicely rift to flat Kwila from Jason at Cormark in North Carolina. Thanks to Jason for your effort, sincerity, and timeliness! HOWEVER... I have not yet located the White Oak I have been keeping and ear and eye open for since MAY! I have pretty much giving up on finding a seasoned flitch of it (though I know a couple guys ready to cut me some green oak if I were to ask). So, some of the big suppliers out there carry SOME "rift" white oak... you'll find nice long very straight rift white oak in household hand rails, banisters, and the like. Ok well I'm quite willing to pay a "premium" price on premium material, especially considering my lack of luck otherwise.
There just so happens to be a larger hardwood dealer about 10 min from the shop... It just so happens that I cannot deal directly with them. Sweet. Well there's a lumber/cabinet shop who does have accounts with them... 40 min away from me. Well that's better than 2 hours right?
Well, I put in an "order" for "50 b/f of 8/4 rift white oak". They gave me a price to which I said that I would expect premium material for that price. They said not to worry because nice straight logs are specifically pulled for rift and quartered milling. This makes perfect sense to me.
He said he would get it in the next day or two... I waited 2 WEEKS and never got a call. I called in they said it had been there waiting... cool thanks guys. Now I have to borrow a vehicle to be able to haul 8 ft planks and it's a 40 min one way trip. I get there, no less than half the boards they got for me were quartered. Some had twisting grain, diving grain, a couple big knots, half heart half sap in one board... yeah, great I can't use any of that. I was pretty pissed. Come on guys. get your damn business together. It wasn't the shop's "fault" they didn't pick the lumber. Ok, they'll order more for me (mine you I had already put $200 down) and call me when it's in. I got a call today saying it was in 2 days ago. Really? oh good thanks again. Borrowed a truck AGAIN drove out AGAIN. This time there was ONE nice board. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! What the HELL do you guys think you're doing? is this a freaking "favor"!? I have work to do! I could be searching for other place to find PROPER material. STOP pulling me around and WASTING my damn time!
I normally tend not to name names dealing with "misfortune" but this reflects on their business. Forest Products Supply in Maplewood, MN. Don't waste your efforts on them.
Sure, I'm not making their job easy, but this is making my job impossible. If you can't GUARANTEE an order then DON'T!
I am pretty much spent looking for Oak. the worst part is that it's such a common wood!
At this point I don't know what to do... I think I might have the heart to try one more place but after that... I don't know.
This table was first based on the idea of a white oak coffee table due to the Japanese paper I want to use with it. I don't what to change that but I need to get material soon. I might have to pull the Nakashima and use Walnut. I at least know a couple place where I can get that even if it's not local.

So Much Pillowing

Took a quick break to saw up a couple plane blanks I had. The top is Vera (given to me by Robert to cheer me up after a disappointing glue-up, which I ended up coming back from. Thanks Robert!) which will be a new smoother. The one I'm using now has treated me well and has seen a good amount of use but was one of the earlier planes I made. I bet I can make one that's even more comfortable to use. The old one may become a compass plane.
The bottom was sold as Burmese Rosewood. That will be a 1-3/4" coopering plane. I already have 1", 1-1/4", and 1-1/2" but it seems my taste in forms is getting less... "exaggerating". I plan to use it on some up-coming cabinet doors :).
I don't know when I'll get to these but there is no rush. I cut the pieces extra thick to allow the wood to do what it wants as I don't think they are at the 10% humidity mark.


Back to the project(s) at hand. Pillowing! A lot of it. These legs are pretty long compared to the last tables and I'm doing a little more extensive pillowing. It took me about an hour to complete each leg. The outside faces of the legs are a little more heavily pillowed towards the top and the inside faces of the legs have a tapering pillow heavier at the bottom.


After about 12 hours I got a sizable pile on the floor. This will help thin down those legs!

During all that spokeshaving was a good time to enjoy another one of my interests... coffee! I don't drink much but I enjoy a nice cup. On the way to Vancouver I had spent a couple days around Seattle where I found one of my favorite coffee shops I've been to. Thing are different in the Northwest. It is a region that, on average, has more passion maybe even obsession than others... especially that of the Midwest.
As I may have mentioned before the Midwest is not a place of overflowing enthusiasm let alone passion, where the majority haven't even thought to rethink one's "definition" of "happiness" and what one may or may not require to obtain that illusive state other than simply keeping a paycheck for the least amount of work possible.
OK, I may be over stating it but still. I have found only a few who take real pride, care, passion, and maybe a little reverence in what they do.
The people at a place called Coffee and Tea Ltd are a couple of those.



This is Jim, the man behind the shop and the well practiced roaster at this roastery (photo taken from their website). There are no tables to sit at and no porcelain to sip from. It's a small kind of cluttered space with lots of jars of beans on the walls and a small old but loved roaster in the window. He roasts the largest selection of fine coffee around not for riches or fame but because he wants to, he enjoys what he does, and believes in his mission and process to "create affordable luxury" as their statement goes. I like it and I respect it.
Thank you for doing what you're doing.

Distractions are distracting

I feel that I haven't been as productive since last time. Somewhat random things have come up or needed to be done. Work (other job) has called on me a little more then "usual". Stuff and things.
Ah yes, mortise and tenons were all dry-fit, then glued into one side and checked again. Above is one of the dry-fit walnut pieces. The basic structure is done but everything needs to be cleaned up, shaped, refined, and so on...


The main thing that sent my head for a loop was a random call I got from a drum shop in the cities. This drum shop also makes custom drums. I had stopped in when I got back to the area this past May to see if they could use any help. I am experienced in drum-building and my skills in workmanship have defiantly improved since the last time I built any drums (The kit above is a big one I built, but not my own). They said that they only staff one builder which they already had of course.
One day about 2 weeks ago? I got a call from the shop saying they need a builder ASAP. I went in the next morning for a meeting with the owner of the shop to find out more about working there. Skipping the details, it seemed like a pretty attractive opportunity but there were a couple things that I felt were kind of heavy burdens.
I told him I'd get back to him a couple days and spent those days completely wracking my brains over it.
In the end I gave him a counter offer which he said he could not meet. So I haven't gone to work there.


Right. Back to furniture. Pictured above, planing those aprons almost flush with the tops of the legs... not flush yet!


I was getting a little overwhelmed with drum stuff and the workmanship of risk in the bench room. I needed to do some "rougher" work for a change. Lugged this heavy plank of air dried Maple to the horses to look for table-top veneer.


Some of that Maple and more White Oak milled ready to cut the veneers on the band saw, but first a fresh blade for the saw. Cutting veneers seemed to go better this time around now that I already had the experience on these machines from last time.


My planer only goes down to 1/8", like many, to be able to plane these veneers I just used some sheet-stock to "raise" the bed.


Here's another brain wracker for me. This talk is probably going to get difficult to follow without visuals... My intention for the Maple tops was to cross-cut across the 20" wide Maple plank which was cracked down the heart, cut off the checked/really flat-sawn material, and put it back together in veneer form so that the table top would span the flitch of Maple (minus some of the middle and off-cut sides). I figure this way I could join the veneer pieces in the same annual ring as the other hopefully maintaining a consistent color and there would be no book-matching to screw up the prismatics of the maple.
In my experience Maple has a noticeable shift in brightness or darkness due to the deflection or reflection of light caused by the orientation of wood fibers in the material. Keeping the fiber orientation in the same direction in both joined pieces of veneer was important to me. It kind of struck me as odd that my intended matches weren't turning out so well... it seemed to be prismatic clashing. The veneer pieces were in the same orientation as the came from the log but you never REALLY know that things like this will work out. I was pretty bummed. I didn't know what to do. I took a pair from the same side of the pith and looked at a book match which I didn't think was going to turn out. This is the really wracking part... it SEEMED to turn out! I couldn't see a clear distinction in light reflecting off either side. This defies all my logic! I've never seen a book-match in Maple that didn't annoy the crap out of me due to it's prismatic effect.
I wasn't about to go head with it so I took some veneer off-cuts and did some mocking as to Craig's advise ;). I glued some little joints and did some mock surface prep and I couldn't see a strong difference between the two sides even right at the seam.
In any case it looked better than what I was getting with my intended match. CRAZY!


So, I guess I'm going with it. If it really doesn't work out for some reason I guess I'll have to spend another couple days making new tops. I really hope it does and I do not want to waste this maple. Planks like these aren't seen very often.

Oh boy other things I had swimming around my head was the search for more lumber. I'm short the Oak I want for a Coffee Table. I called around 35 "local" sawyers. Three of them had anything on hand in 8/4 and none had suitable White Oak. Also I'm trying to get material ahead of time for a project after the Coffee Tables so that it can acclimate if need be and so I can acclimate to it. This "up coming" piece will be a one-off (yay!) and I would like it to be quite refined in a friendly way. Therefore I would like to have the material around long enough to contemplate. Something feminine, these Tables seem to be the most masculine things I've done in a long time which is kind of funny because they aren't super masculine... I guess they are pretty structural and have less curves.
I'm leaning toward some fruit woods, if I can find them.

more pedestal work

All the mortises have been made. It's really less tiring and quicker work when using woods that don't blunt your end-mill bits after a couple passes... huh ;)


Looking out to the blinding snow, or cold gray days I really don't feel bad about staying inside all day to work. If that's a "pro" for living here, it's a twisted one.


Next I went to overall leg cutting and shaping. I don't want to spend the time fitting joints if I'm just going to find some random fatal flaw in a leg. Not that I'm anticipating any, but just to make sure.
Also this is what happens when you don't have any dust collection. And don't mind the Grizzly... it will be one of the first things to be replaced, some day, but for now it's WAY better than nothing.


I've only had this shop space for a few months but already my simple sharpening station has seen some good use. I would like to find a better manual grinder but it's just another thing on the list.


Freshly sharpened irons go to work on the leg profiles. These legs are about 35.5" tall and the amplitude of the curve is somewhere around 5/16". The pile of shavings on the floor is quite welcome to hang out for a while.
Note the space heater ha. There are no heat vents entering this room. I'm not overly excited about using the heater which can further dry out the already dry air but I only turn it on when I'm working and it is set low so the room maintains about 60-62 degrees F. It's gets difficult to do sensitive work with cold hands.


Tenon stock made and cross cut, fitting begins. This time around I made the stock a little closer to final dimension. They are pretty close but not quite. Do a little fine tuning and they get that snug but not jammed fit, and a good "POP!"

The tables seem to be moving along pretty well (now that I say that something bad is going to happen). Maybe it's because I just did the same operations, maybe it's the wood, or the fact that I'm doing 3 pieces instead of 4. I wonder how the coffee tables will go?

Wider Angle

Greetings again. Last post I mentioned the redundancy of the projects I'm working on. I thought maybe it could be neat if I took a slightly different direction in some of these posts.
One of the major goals for many modern craftspeople is to put or maintain humanity in the objects they make. I share the same goal. Another side of the human story I have for a long time been interested in is the craftsperson's environment. What is their workspace like? How do they work? Does their work reflect their environment (or other way around for that matter). What other inspirations, attributes, quirks, etc does this person have that makes the thing they are making uniquely their own? Not just names but who are these people? I've always been a sucker for some romance :)
Well that's a lot to tackle but I thought I might try taking a step back (somewhat literal with camera in hand ha) and show a little wider angle for at least myself and the work that I'm doing.
We'll see...

The Minnesota Winter. Not a pleasant place to be if you ask me. I hate snow and I hate the "extreme" cold. I've been longing to escape it for some time now. Last year in the Northwest I was quite happy to "deal" with a lot of rain.
Yesterday the HIGH was -5 F (-20 C).


In the basement shop there is a thermometer that reads somewhere between 58-60 F but it feels much colder when I get down there in the morning.
Making leg mortises for apron and stretcher tenons with the old Davis and Wells boring machine I got from outside Seattle, WA. It cost a bit to get it here but any time I use it I'm happy to have it. I intend to get a "real" x-y table for it but the plywood will have to work for now.
The motor is fairly old and doesn't even have ball bearings. The motor housing has holes for lubricating the bearings. I put a little oil in every time I use it just to be sure (it did seize up on me once before I knew exactly what was on the inside of that motor). There's something about the smell of an old machine. The heated oil in the motor, the friction from the belt, some grease stains on the old cast iron that fine dust sticks to. Sure it sounds dirty but I find it charming.


Pulling out the shop-made router table for some rebate work.
A number of people look at finished products, read the price tags and think that we live like rich designers. In most cases this is no where near the truth. Most of us are not extremely well equipped let alone own dream shops. There isn't enough space, the machines don't have large enough capacity, there isn't enough light, it would be nice to have one of this or that, it's too cold or hot, too dry or damp... There is, however, a lot dust and making do.



Rebates have been made. Time to clean them up and do more prep work for more mortises.