I sell a van load every year at the Midwest Penturner's Gathering in Hoffman Estates, IL so inventory is down. LOLOriginally Posted by Bryan Hall
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I sell a van load every year at the Midwest Penturner's Gathering in Hoffman Estates, IL so inventory is down. LOL
Last edited by Richard Coers; 12-27-2023 at 2:56 PM.
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What woodworking projects do you like to make?
Is this a hobby for you, or are you a professional woodworker? - I'm guessing you're a hobbyist.
I'm very interested to see what you decide. Whatever it is needs to be fairly simple, so you can make it fast and repeatable, and you need, I think, to decide if you're going to try to sell it (good luck) or give it away.
Let us know what you decide to do!
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The OP is a pro woodworker.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
[OP]
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Flattered. Let's say pro cabinet maker/custom carpenter. For some reason I don't believe I've earned the title of pro woodworker yet.
For the most part, everything I build that is figured is given away or sold for the cost of the materials to my friends at the moment. Occasionally I use it in my paid projects. I built a sliding barn door out of heavily quilted maple for a client that used up a good chunk of my stash once. Another client requested an entire kitchen in flame maple which cleared that out once as well. I made a small workbench top out of flame maple once and made my wife cry. It never made it into service and instead became my desk in the home. She was right.
I think I'm leaning towards the contrasting drawer front/frame idea that for whatever reason hasn't popped in my head recently:
1-2 Dressers
2 nightstands
Plane cabinet
More than anything, we could really use a full set of dining chairs. I would love to build lounge chairs with matching ottomans. However, it feels woefully misguided to teach myself to make chairs with the best wood I own.
I'll try to be better about posting pictures!
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Sounds like you've plenty of inspiration. Photos of your work would be great to see.
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You aren't having it anytime soon are you? At least hopefully not. Looks like a very nice stash though. Most everything I have is of the plain variety. Not that walnut or cherry isn't nice but it's not anything that will turn heads especially compared to the highly figured stuff.
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My problem in some cases is going to the lumber yard (Ganahl or Austin Hardwood) and finding quartersawn or figured walnut, and not turning it down, and when I go to use it, I realize it is not as good as what I thought when buying it.... the sap on one side is a problem or quartersawn is not as beneficial was rift sawn and I should have had rift sawn.
In the future, I will buy figured when I see it, but I will be more picky.
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My favorite thing to make currently of figured wood is stocks, or parts of stocks, for my air rifles. Figured walnut blanks for stocks often go for pretty good prices. I just use wood I happen to have. When an oak tree fell in my backyard from root rot I had the tree service leave a little of the butt which I then cut up into a few small slabs that are drying in my shop. I used some to make a stock for a little carbine that did not need big pieces - because I don't have any big pieces. Most recently I used a small block about 2x2.5 inches as the tip of a gunstock for a different rifle. That is a very traditional use of small pieces. This oak is so figured people do not recognize it as oak. I cannot run it through my planner without getting chipout.
It depends on the figure and you probably know this but figured wood is not always real stable. In a gun stock the greatest amount of figure goes into the butt where stability doesn't matter and the part holding the barrel and action is often straight grained. Of the projects you named I would only be a little concerned about chairs. Back legs need pretty straight grain but curly wood would probably work great. I only make a woodsmith plan chair but I've made 18 of them so far. 8 ladder back and 10 with vertical slats. I like it because it is all right angles.
There used to be a hardwood dealer locally that was no longer in business. He had a bard with tools in it but he stored the wood in buildings made of PVC tubing and plastic sheets. He bought rough sawn dry hardwood and then planned it before he sold it. I think he planned it at least partially so he could sort out the figured material and sell it for more.
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That's interesting about your former hardwood dealer. I would venture to guess that he may have planed it not so much to find the curly grain himself as to be able to show it to customers. Once someone has handled enough rough lumber it is easy to see the curly grain before planing.
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That could be it. Or he might have had so many customers asking for planned wood he just decided to make it his standard offering. It also gave him something to do other than sit around and wait for a customer to show up. I think he built things sometimes too. He was sometimes in the office and sometimes in the barn. His "guard dogs" alerted him when a prospective customer drove up. (The dogs were friendly but he didn't like you to pet them, he wanted them to be more mean)
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