Heath's Woodworking Projects

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:15 am

Looking at those pictures now, I see all kinds of sanding I still need to do... I think I spent most of the day yesterday just sanding! My bandsaw blades are getting dull and, even though I went slow, they burnt the wood pretty bad. Cedar is easy to sand, but that Mahogany and Maple was a bear to sand and my shoulder is sore from it! But it looks like I'm not done yet.

mrhart · Post by **mrhart** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:35 am

Very nice design idea for your project sir. What was your beginning glue up size roughly?

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:44 am

mrhart wrote:Very nice design idea for your project sir. What was your beginning glue up size roughly?

Each piece started out at roughly 6"x12"x1". I ran them all through the planer to get a smooth flat surface for glue up. So each box is a little under 3" thick.

swampgator · Post by **swampgator** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:35 pm

Before tossing those blades, at the Dollar store, you can buy straight ammonia for $1. Pour it into a plastic bucket or tub, put the sawblade in and leave overnight. All the sap and other gooey stuff removes itself and it'll be amazing how well it works. It also helps to put a coat of wax on the blade after cleaning. To remove any debris between the teeth, use a brass brush. A real brass brush is stiffer than a tooth brush and will not damage the blade or teeth. Yes, I'm cheap!:p

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:04 am

I'll give that a try!

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:30 pm

Here those boxes are with some finish on them. The finishing process reinforced that, like Dusty, I don't like finishing! I'm not good at it and it shines a spotlight on all the mistakes.

I went with a spray lacquer on the cedar. My tests with BLO and Danish oil darkened it too much. But I can't seem to get spray finishes evenly coated. Too thin in some areas, too thick and runny in others.

For the mahogany and maple, I used some Watco Danish Oil (natural). I tested it and BLO on a test piece and both darkened it more than I really wanted, but I liked the look of the Watco oil a little better. I put on 4 coats (a coat every evening over a 4 day span). After having applied a couple coats of oil, I read a post here that tung oil didn't darken as much. I wish I had known that before, but I'm glad I know it now.

judaspre1982 · Post by **judaspre1982** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:04 pm

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heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:57 pm

Spent darn near the whole day yesterday making these two little picture frames.

My oldest girl graduated kindergarten Saturday and at the ceremony one of her little friends gave her and her sister a 2.5" x 3.5" picture. She asked me to make a frame for it and how could I say no? And what one girl has, the other has to have too, so I made two.

I used some of the African Mahogany that mbcabinetmaker sent me a couple years ago. I've gotten a lot of use out of that box!

So, yeah, it took me almost all day to make these frames. I used the Mark 5 exclusively and it took me nearly an hour to get it aligned so those mitered corners came out right. Then it was a series of mistakes. It was one of those days where I just couldn't do anything right. I won't list them all, but by the time I was done, I was so aggravated at myself I didn't even clean up. Just left everything where it was, turned off the lights, and closed the door.

But, my little girl's were quite proud of the frames.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:04 pm

Duplicate post deleted.

swampgator · Post by **swampgator** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:41 pm

Really nice frames. Thanks for sharing a new idea.