| I made the first run out of maple and
walnut. After pricing the maple ($4.50/bdft), I decided to make the
second set of quarter-sawn red oak. I get a lot of wood from Millers
Lumber, a "push-hard" sawmill in the cornfields of western
Ohio. I buy the lumber rough-sawn and plane it myself; this saves
money and allows me to get more re-sawn boards from a single
board. I've found I need to plane even already-surfaced boards
anyway, as the surface tends to have tear-out, plane marks and other
defects. Besides, when you re-saw the board, you have to plane the
cut side anyway!
The board on the right is one of the quarter-sawn
boards used in this clock. This board was actually planed a little;
normally the wood I get from Miller's is rough cut. I try to
use quarter-sawn lumber as much as possible--at 1/4", a lot of
flat-sawn wood like to curl up. I've found the oaks especially bad
for this. The cost is usually about $0.75-$1.00 more per bdft--it is
more than made up for in less wastage (and stress on the body!) |
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I take the rough board and use a circular
saw to chop off sections to work with. The length depends on the
parts I'm making at the time. However, to limit snipe wastage,
I usually don't go below 24". I finish plane both sides with a
DeWalt 734 planer and then joint one edge with a Delta 6"
jointer.
To get the other edge parallel, I cut the remaining
rough edge on a Delta contractor's saw. If needed, the board then
gets ripped to size. If possible, I rip this quite close to final
size to make the re-sawing easier. This final edge then gets its own
pass through the jointer.
Almost all my wood gets re-sawn down to
1/4". This is done one the table saw, set to 3/32" thicker
than the board. This gives me room to play with for the final
planing. |
| The widest board I can re-saw is about
6-3/8". Also the wider you get, the more chance the board will
curl up on you. The front and back of this clock are about 8"
wide, so I have to edge-join narrower boards. I try to cut the board
so that the joint will be in the center, so any visibility will be symmetrical.
Each board gets a pass through the jointer, one board reversed so the
errors in the jointer get factored out (remember high-school
geometry?) Using a plethora of Bessey uniclamps, I glue the board
up. The glued board gets a few more passes through the jointer to
get it down to the final thickness. The planer can get it to within
0.01" of 1/4". I stop a little proud; sanding will knock
it down a little bit more later. |
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I decided to do this blog after I had
started this run. I had already cut out the front and back sides of
the clock. At this time they have been oiled and are drying.
The front is the "hardest" (the most holes!). Although it
looks a little complicated, it really wasn't hard to cut at all. It's just
one whole after another...
Sitting on the concrete stump, here are pictures of
the front and back after oiling. |
| For several reasons I don't stain or
paint most of the work I do. One larger reason is that staining or
painting takes time. Anything beyond a solid coat takes much more
time (at least for me!) than a simple dip in oil. In addition, I've
found my painting skills tend to be lacking. Why cover up a
beautiful piece of wood with my lousy efforts :-)? Staining is an
option, but I've found that staining highlights the defects in my
sanding--again why take more time to show problems?
My favorite method of finishing is a simple dip in a
50%/50% mixture of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits. This is
cheap, easy while highlighting the natural beauty of the wood grain. I
either dip it in a tray or apply it with a cheap foam brush. I store
it in old glass mayonnaise jars. I let it sit for about 10-15
minutes, than rub off the excess with towels, alternating with blowing it
with compressed air. I take care to spread out the used towels until
they dry--I would rather not start a fire from spontaneous
combustion. I have a rack set up for the pieces to dry on. To
the right is the fronts drying on the pegs. (Yes, the picture is
tilted from vertical). |
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