Best selling wood projects - JtmO09O"

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some,old,things,are,lovely
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Best selling wood projects - Where Do You Get Your Lumber

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A question that we all have to address as woodworkers is one of supply.
Where do we source our timber?
This is a question that I am often asked, and as recently as this morning I fielded a telephone call specifically on this topic.
The obvious places, such as hardware stores and trade timber yards are fine for construction projects, but the choices are limited and prices are high.
My own experiences might be a help in guiding others to find cheaper outlets with wider variety.

Side-o-road-iata

This is a generic "species" term that all my woodie mates use to describe "found" timbers.  The species vary - but usually include branch loppings, storm damaged trees, the results of noxious tree removal, or maintenance clearing.
We have a beautiful timber here on the coast called camphor-laurel, that is a declared noxious tree and is slated for removal everywhere.  This is often available free for the collecting.
I usually keep a lookout for this kind of timber, and people know that I am interested in their tree loppings from yard clean-ups as well.

Eucalyptus train-iata

Our club house - Hastings Woodworkers Guild - is situated in Timbertown, Wauchope and this hosts a working steam train.  Daily, this steam engine uses eucalypt offcuts from numerous mills in the area.  I have lost count of the number of times a beautiful piece from the log-pile has been turned into a box or a bowl.
There are numerous wood-heaps around that are either firewood, demolitions, furniture factory offcuts etc.  All of these can yield timber for small projects.

Mills and Lumber Yards

The numbers of these wonderful hives of industry are shrinking, but there are still timber mills to be found if you look.
They are worth the drive as the selections are wide and the prices are better than retail.
We are lucky enough to have several mills within an hours drive of here, and the outing is an experience to be savoured.

Here is a one-day outing that we did recently to Botique Timbers of Rollands Plains.

A 50HP bandsawmill makes short work of slabbing this camphor-laurel log.

 Some of the club members add scale to the size of the milling equipment

At Botique Timbers, the slabbed lumber is air-dried in the open - usually covered in old galvanised iron sheeting.  This leads to some interesting warping occasionally, but the timbers are normally surprisingly straight and stable.

Burls - yes there were plenty for the bowl turners to select from.  These are normally sold by the kilogram - unlike the slabbed lumber - which is sold by the usable super-foot, or board-foot as our US cousins call it.
This is a quirky mix of metric and imperial calculations, but we have learned to be at home with them.

Advice is freely given and discussion often ensues ..........

...................... disagreements are handled with diplomacy and skill .................

 A close-up of the bandsaw mill in action - here it is just finishing the cut as the log slides past it.

Discussions about the merits of an unknown timber can arouse interest.  This is a piece of snakewood which became very popular after the briefing ................

I source much of my timber from this mill, as it is only about a half hour from my home and I have known Mal - the owner - for over twenty years.  This outing, which I organised for the club members, might just see them coming back for re-supply of their own timber needs.

I came home with a few lovely West African makore boards and some hairy oak.

A great day indeed


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Best selling wood projects - Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele Part 9 Front and Back continued

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Front and Back Skins

Previously, I have cut the four halves from a single piece of mango, and the bookmatched pairs were glued together to make two sets of skins - one for the front and one for the back of the ukulele.
The piece with the most figure will become the back - since the front will have a sound hole cut into it and a bridge glued onto its surface.  So it will lose some of its beauty.

The Back

The back needs cross bracing as well as a strengthening piece glued down the spine.
I start with the cross braces because the back has to have a radius, and it is easier to curve the back before applying the stiffening of the piece up and down the middle.
The cross braces are radiused on their edge to be glued to the back skin, and this gives the curve to the back of the uke.

 A normal hour-glass shaped uke has three cross braces, but this cutaway design has so much strengthening at its neck, that the third brace up there may well limit its acoustic qualities by making it too stiff.  So I am only using two braces this time.
Ill see how well it plays, and if it is a bad move I will correct it on my next uke.

Traditionally cross braces are made from quarter sawn spruce.
I dont have any, so I am using Huon Pine as a substitute.
I have made these slightly over-sized, and will plane them to shape once the glue is dry.

The edges are pared down to around 1/16inch where they meet the sides of the ukulele body.  I use a sharp paring chisel for this task.

Once the ends are pared, I lay down some masking tape to protect the skin from damage by the edge of the block plane, before planing the cross bracing  to a ridge across its top.  The tape is then removed.

Now I glue the strengthening strip along the spine of the back.  This is cross grained timber to add strength to this join in the bookmatched pair that make up the back skin.  I am using the same mango timber that makes up the body - only the grain now runs at right angles to the grain of the back.
The ridged cross braces can now be clearly seen.
This is left to dry while I work on the front soundboard.

The Soundboard

The front of the uke - the soundboard - needs special attention in a specific order.
A re-inforcing patch is glued on the back of the sound hole before it is cut out,

This adds strength to this fragile area.
Here they are laid out before gluing.
I cut the sound hole with the rosette cutter that I have made previously.

Cross braces are added above and below the sound hole for the same reason.

Once these are dry I then add the fan braces that will stiffen the body of the front skin and provide the stiffness needed to carry the bridge.

In my next post, Ill lay out the parts made thus far to give an overview of the assembly to come.
Happy shavings to all
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Best selling wood projects - Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele Part 14 The Finishing Touches

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Final Steps

1. Lacquering
2. Fitting the tuners
3. Stringing
4. Play

Lacquering
I have used Mirotone spray lacquer  for this finish.
Because mango is such an open grained timber, I first gave it two coats of sanding sealer followed by Mirocat three coats.

 The beauty of this finish is that it is dry enough for re-coating after 15 minutes.
A light sand of 400 grit paper between coats was all that was needed.

The tuners are added to the head. I had previously spent time drilling out the tuner holes before the lacquering took place.  This gave a handy hook hole to hang the instrument while spraying.

The headstock has come up rather beautifully with the application of the lacquer

Adding ths strings is done incrementally, and the nut and bridge are adjusted for height to keep the strings at an appropriate height above the frets and to prevent buzzing.

I had to sand the back of both to lower the action before I was happy with it.

And finally - here is the finished product.
It is a super-tenor ukulele, as the scale length is 19 inches.

The intonation is spot on, with the 12th fret exactly an octave higher than open string tuning.
It has plenty of sustain and volume, and I will be looking forward to playing it once the strings stretch and keep their tuning, and the timber settles down and gets bedded in.

Happy trails partners
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Best selling wood projects - Building a Hall Table Part 3 Sanding and Finishing

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Although the timber is dressed and finished, it is quite open grained and in parts the grain reverses or becomes more like end grain.
It requires sanding through all grades of grit from 100 to 400 before a series finishing coats is applied.

I started with a three part mix of 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 polyurethane and 1/3 mineral turpentine.
This really brought out the colour in the camphor laurel.

It takes ages to dry at the moment because of the colder weather and the extra humidity.

After several coats, with a very light sanding with 400 grit between coats, I finished it with straight polyurethane.
Here are some images of the finished result:

Hooray - all done.
Now to get back to my ukulele ......................

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Best selling wood projects - Finishing the Wall Mirror

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Yeah - I know - about time!
Been busy - you know - Life is what happens while youre busy making other plans .......J.L.
Nearly there on the wall mirror.
What contrasting timber to use to highlight the corners?
Found a piece of African Blackwood that will serve nicely.

Now this stuff is dense.  To work, it is something like a cross between bakelite and polyethylene.
But - what a beautiful colour.

First item of business was to cut the corner strips.

Eight of these were needed to cover the four corners.  In thin-ish strips like this, the African Blackwood can show brittleness at the ends, so I have cut all of them over length.

Next, the buttons for the corners had to be fabricated using scraps.

After squaring the pieces, the tops are defined and then the plug fashioned underneath them.

I suppose it was my frugal upbringing, but I have a tendency to not throw much away.  All those little offcuts are stored away against future need.  Never know when a little strip or piece of African Blackwood will be needed.

Here is the near finished product - basking in its first coat of lacquer.
A few more coats, sanding between each coat - then final assembly.
Woo Hoo!

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