Woodworking Projects

YJJPWrangler

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2005
Location
Charlotte
Let's talk woodworking. I know there has to be some other people on here with this hobby and I'm always wanting to learn new techniques. This thread will be for anyone to add their projects as well. This is something I have fallen headlong into when the wife asked for a farm table for the house. I was able to pick up some nice chestnut slabs from a friend for the top. The wife pulled a design off the pottery barn website where that table sells for $2500. I think I have about $750 into it including new tools and materials. Bottom is made out of 4x4 and 2x4 douglas fir that I picked up from lowes. Everything is held together with 3/8" 6" long lag bolts. I covered up the bolt heads with walnut dowels. On to the pictures...

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The table measures roughly 7' x 4' x 2.5" and consists of three slabs. I used biscuits and pocket hole screws as well as a ton of glue to mate the top together. The glueup consisted of two parts. Two slabs joined and then the third one added. I don't have a jointer or a planer so the joints were planed/sanded by hand. I think they came out very well with my limited tooling and experience. Additionally, we found that the top had a lot of spalting as well as ambrosia in it after we hand planed the top. Here is what the base looks like.

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The wife decided on a stain for the table, Minwax Red Chesnut. The base got 1 coat of stain and was left alone after that. We started staining the top.

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At this point we loved the look and decided to leave it alone and shellac it. The shellac dried poorly even after coating it three times and sanding between coats. I don't know if it was either humidity or inexperience with the coating that caused it. I stripped it back down to bare wood and stained/shellac again. Same results:kaioken:. Sanded back down to bare wood and decided to not go with shellac but go with a polyurethane coat as poly stands up better to hard use/abuse and is not subject to heat/temperature changes like shellac. Stained it again and it came out looking like ass. Stain was very heavy, almost like paint and you couldn't see the grain pattern.

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To hell with this table....Wife and I decided to spend all Friday night sanding it back down to bare wood

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At this point, it was obvious that time/frustration level with this project was pretty high. The Willys was covered in sawdust and was feeling neglected and I was tired of working on this table. We decided to just cover it in polyurethane and see how it looked. I think we made the right decision.

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Happy wife, happy life. As you can see, I had to add some bowties/butterflys/dutchmen(whatever you want to call it), to shore up one end of the table. Additionally, there were some deep knots in the top that we filled with clear epoxy so you can see into the table. The top is connected to the base with 1" walnut dowels that allow the top to expand/contract with the changing seasons. The top is about 125lbs and the base is about half that so its plenty stout. Now the wife wants a bench to match the table so that's the next project. Anybody else into this?
 
Very nice work! I think the clear epoxy to fill the knot holes is an awesome idea. The bowties look great. I'd love to get into wood working. I took Woodshop I & II followed by Furniture Making I & II in high school, but unfortunately since then my woodworking has been limited to home repairs. Two things I need to get back into it: (1) a shop because the 2 car garage doesn't leave a lot of room with my Jeep and my wife's Jeep in there. (2) Time! I don't have enough time to enjoy the hobbies I have now.

Great work! Thanks for sharing.
 
Nice work. I have only built one woodworking project so far in my life. My wife wanted a bench for the hallway right inside from the garage. I used maple wood, mixed two different stains, and put a coat of poly on. I hate crowded/narrow hallways, so the bench isn't very deep in the seat area.

Bench 2-1.jpg



Bench 4-1.jpg



Bench 3-1.jpg
 
@drkelly thats a great looking bench. I'm going to be building a woodworking bench in the near future and I like how you joined the crossbrace to the legs.
 
I love woodworking but I’ve never built anything that nice. I just got a free play set from a neighbor for my kids that needed a bunch of work. I got her fixed up, leveled, anchored, reattached the slide and made safe. Built a ladder and a ramp with handrail to boot. I was pretty proud of myself until I saw this thread. Screw you guys.
 
I used to be. I'll have to find some pictures, probably nothing of the same level.. (cabinets, end tables, stools, benches)

About finishes:
Full blooded high VOC polyurethane ONLY, polycrylic sucks and dried out my air way.

Minwax poly either in semi gloss or full gloss. Finish sand at 180-320, tack cloth (or mineral spirits on a rag), first coat, wait 24 hrs, hit it with 320, clean, recoat, should be pretty smooth, hit with 600, wipe, recoat, wait 24h, 600, recoat, wait 24h+, hit with 1000, and add polish/wax. Polish/wax as needed or don't.

Another trick: stain, then sand lightly if you want to make the grain pop. Use oil base. I hate water base and so does the wood it seems. Tried many different, always come back to the oil base. (I prefer to stain with a rag and gloves or a 7-15$ brush, brush only for poly, same price, and take care of it, waste spirits to clean it, wrap it with a paper or original package to store after rinsing in spirits till you think it's clean and rinse 3x more)

I've had several benches and stools that have been through 3 of my kids for the last 10 years and hadn't found a scratch or peel yet... Except the ones they left in the rain, and that warped and ruined them entirely, considering it was selected cull flooded flooring to start with.
 
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I appreciate the comments guys. I went into this project with minimal to no experience in woodworking. I really surprised myself with this build and loved the way it turned out. The spalting on the wood was a very nice present. @a_kelley I appreciate the trick on the stains thats good info to have. It's interesting to see you say sand up to 1k grit. Everything I've read/watched on Youtube said 320 was plenty for most projects. But I can see where the higher grit on poly would be nice. I can't find any of that grit for my orbital at Lowes so I guess I have to find it online.
 
I can't find any of that grit for my orbital at Lowes so I guess I have to find it online.

I don't know what size/type you need, but call SRI Supply in Mooresville and see if they can help you (better yet, visit!). They supply a ton of paint and body shops (collision repair and the race teams), and most of their inventory isn't on the website. I love that place.
 
Here are some projects I've built for myself and as a presents. The tables are oak and hand cut. The flag is just furring strips. If you want a table built, I'm thinking about building a few more.

My wife has been wanting me to make a wooden NC state shape like that to put on the wall. Did you print out a drawing that size, then trace it onto the wood?
 
My wife has been wanting me to make a wooden NC state shape like that to put on the wall. Did you print out a drawing that size, then trace it onto the wood?

I probably made more work out of it but I sectioned it out (its made up of 1" x 4" boards) and free handed it.
 
@YJJPWrangler
I didn't use orbital after initially coat of poly. I used auto sandpaper by hand, only after the last coat did I use 1000. Probably over kill but it came out perfectly smooth and didn't really want to take the poly off, just knock down the high/rough spots
 
Done a few woodworking projects. To me it’s kinda like stress reliever or something. Fills the gap between hunting an fishin seasons. We are table poor at my house got 3 and don’t eat at none of them
 

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@jcramsey well you win the award :lol:. Love the live edge desk. I really want to do a epoxy river coffee table with the live edges. What kind of wood is the cabinet for the stereo equipment?
 
Started on the bench tonight. Apparently the Lowes near me does not carry douglas fir but other stores do :confused:. But I did get some material to build a router sled.

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Trying to level a warped/twisted board is a lot of fun but I was able to knock it out. Started working on routing it flat. Some parts are cupped and others are not. The board is 2.25" thick so I have plenty of material to work with. I'll be doing this for a while...

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The table with the record player looks like the skin of a tiger shark. Super cool.

It took me months to find that grade of maple in 8/4 2" thickness. I built the shelves of it with bushings and set it up to isolate vibrations between the shelves. It was a challenging project, simple to look at but more going on.
 
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