Gene Howe
03-15-2010, 8:06 PM
Next Friday, a friend from Canada and I will venture into the wilds of the Sonoran Desert to harvest some Mesquite. Hopefully, we'll get some good stuff.
A current project requires resawing 5.5" Mesquite and I had quite a time with it. Finally determined that I needed to tighten the belt one my Shopsmith. Cuts like butter now....well a lot better, anyhow.
Sort of a rambling intro to a project build I will photo shoot. It is a series of pistol presentation boxes, built entirely from Mesquite and lined with leather.
So far, I have only made the piece which nestles the pistol and magazine (Glock) and have the pieces resawn. The panel that nestles the gun was made with the over arm router after first making a pattern of the gun. Resawing the Mesquite has exposed some very interesting voids (shake cracks?) which will be filled with turquoise chips and silver. I use dental amalgam for the silver and casting resin to bind the turquoise chips.
Still cogitating on the method of cornering the box. Leaning towards keyed miters.
Stay tuned.
Gene
A current project requires resawing 5.5" Mesquite and I had quite a time with it. Finally determined that I needed to tighten the belt one my Shopsmith. Cuts like butter now....well a lot better, anyhow.
Sort of a rambling intro to a project build I will photo shoot. It is a series of pistol presentation boxes, built entirely from Mesquite and lined with leather.
So far, I have only made the piece which nestles the pistol and magazine (Glock) and have the pieces resawn. The panel that nestles the gun was made with the over arm router after first making a pattern of the gun. Resawing the Mesquite has exposed some very interesting voids (shake cracks?) which will be filled with turquoise chips and silver. I use dental amalgam for the silver and casting resin to bind the turquoise chips.
Still cogitating on the method of cornering the box. Leaning towards keyed miters.
Stay tuned.
Gene