My best woodworking project yet
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- BuckeyeDennis
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- Location: Central Ohio
My best woodworking project yet
Somehow, the tree gods and the photography gods all blessed this project. (I have a hunch that the Bourbon gods may have pulled a few heavenly strings.)
Re: My best woodworking project yet
Wow, wow, wow!!!!! Tell me about the wood and the finish! Absolutely stunnng!!
Gale's Law: The bigger the woodworking project, the less the mistakes show in any photo taken far enough away to show the entire project!
- BuckeyeDennis
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Re: My best woodworking project yet
Thanks Al!
The wood is crotch-flame walnut, an end piece from a rough-sawn board that was in a pile of barn-find lumber I bought a while back from a friend of a friend. It was by far the most bowed and warped board I’ve ever seen. I’ll post some “before” pictures when I have a bit more time.
The finish is nothing fancy. I applied eight or ten coats of Minwax wipe-on poly, sanding between coats. It took forever for the finish to build, because end grain was sticking out every which way in that figured wood, and it soaked up the varnish like a sponge. No doubt that’s where all those gold highlights come from. When the finish finally did build, I couldn’t get an unblemished final coat with the wipe-on varnish, so I topcoated it with Minwax semi-gloss poly from a rattle can.
The wood is crotch-flame walnut, an end piece from a rough-sawn board that was in a pile of barn-find lumber I bought a while back from a friend of a friend. It was by far the most bowed and warped board I’ve ever seen. I’ll post some “before” pictures when I have a bit more time.
The finish is nothing fancy. I applied eight or ten coats of Minwax wipe-on poly, sanding between coats. It took forever for the finish to build, because end grain was sticking out every which way in that figured wood, and it soaked up the varnish like a sponge. No doubt that’s where all those gold highlights come from. When the finish finally did build, I couldn’t get an unblemished final coat with the wipe-on varnish, so I topcoated it with Minwax semi-gloss poly from a rattle can.
- JPG
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Re: My best woodworking project yet
Gorgeous!! Curious where the 'inspiration' for the decision as to what to make from the end piece came from.
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╟JPG ╢
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
╟JPG ╢
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
- BuckeyeDennis
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- Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:03 pm
- Location: Central Ohio
Re: My best woodworking project yet
Thanks, Red! My brother and I both like bourbon, and about once a year when we get together, we’ll have a bourbon-tasting contest. We’ll choose four bottles of good bourbon, and we first get to taste each one. Then we’ll do a blind pour of four samples for each other, flight-style. We each rank them in order of our favorites, and try to match the flavors to the specific bourbons. Whoever correctly ID’s the most bourbons wins the contest.
Edit: To be clear, there can be NO losers in such a contest.
So the inspiration was to make a flight tray as a gift for my brother, and kick the game up a notch. But how to mark which sample is which on the flight tray was quite a head-scratcher. My wife came up with the winning idea. If you look closely at the photo, you can see a cream-colored paper coaster beneath each glass. The purpose of the coasters isn’t to protect the polyurethane varnish — I used that stuff specifically because alcohol won’t damage it. They’re actually there to record the names of the bourbons. Whoever is doing the blind pouring writes them on the coasters, and then places them writing-side down beneath the corresponding whisky glasses.
Last edited by BuckeyeDennis on Sun Aug 13, 2023 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: My best woodworking project yet
Please do!!BuckeyeDennis wrote: ↑Sun Aug 13, 2023 9:20 am I’ll post some “before” pictures when I have a bit more time.
Gale's Law: The bigger the woodworking project, the less the mistakes show in any photo taken far enough away to show the entire project!
- twistsol
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Re: My best woodworking project yet
That is absolutely fabulous!. The finish shows amazing depth. I'm a Scotch guy myself, but who could pass on anything presented so beautifully.
Thanks much,
Chris Phelps
Cheap tools are too expensive
2x Mark 5 520 and a 10ER
Chris Phelps
Cheap tools are too expensive
2x Mark 5 520 and a 10ER
Re: My best woodworking project yet
The previous posters said it all!
A beautiful piece with a beautiful finish.
Congratulations.
John
A beautiful piece with a beautiful finish.
Congratulations.
John
Re: My best woodworking project yet
This is a case where the simplicity of the piece enhances it's beauty. The bourbon helps also, but I'm waiting to see additional pictures. Very well done, highly impressive work. You have an excellent eye Dennis.
Ed from Rhode Island
510 PowerPro Double Tilt:Greenie PowerPro Drill Press:500 Sanding Shorty w/Belt&Strip Sanders
Super Sawsmith 2000:Scroll Saw w/Stand:Joint-Matic:Power Station:Power Stand:Bandsaw:Joiner:Jigsaw
1961 Goldie:1960 Sawsmith RAS:10ER
510 PowerPro Double Tilt:Greenie PowerPro Drill Press:500 Sanding Shorty w/Belt&Strip Sanders
Super Sawsmith 2000:Scroll Saw w/Stand:Joint-Matic:Power Station:Power Stand:Bandsaw:Joiner:Jigsaw
1961 Goldie:1960 Sawsmith RAS:10ER
Re: My best woodworking project yet
Wow! Yes, that's super!!!
I still remember in 2008, one day I took the afternoon off to go buy a few boards of walnut from a guy in the next town. It was probably 7-8 straight grain boards, and one *whopper* plank of crotch grain . I'm curious now what I did with that board...
I still remember in 2008, one day I took the afternoon off to go buy a few boards of walnut from a guy in the next town. It was probably 7-8 straight grain boards, and one *whopper* plank of crotch grain . I'm curious now what I did with that board...