Steven Wayne
10-09-2011, 3:09 AM
A couple of weeks ago my best friend asked if he could work on a woodworking project in my shop. He is the one person I always open my shop to, so I invited him over. His neighbor had given him a bunch of 4" x 4" x 3' rough oak posts that he gets from shipping skids at work. My friend wants to turn them into a base for a coffee table that will have a 1" thick glass top that he found somewhere else. Anyway.. he gave me a few of the bits of oak. I wanted to try my hand at resawing them and see about making some planks to use for some boxes.
This wanting to try my hand at resawing led to me purchasing this:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1QZddhnZdng/TpFEiUtRShI/AAAAAAAAGFg/M_ZV04bfL3k/s800/IMG_4818.jpg
It was barely used and a pretty good deal. Once I started playing with these bits of oak I got to looking for some more wood to work with. That lead to me buying this:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y6YtB0VrQrM/TpFEjNZNRWI/AAAAAAAAGFo/jFBA5ReYsqQ/s800/IMG_4820.jpg
The posts on the left are 5.5" x 5.5" x 9' white oak. The planks are 2.75" x 11.5" x 10' redwood. This all started life in a brewery a very long time ago. The brewery was disassembled at one point and the wood used for some projects. The guy I got it from only knows about the last 20 or so years of its life. I cut a 3' section of both and turned it into stuff that looks like this:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-puK9D-0s8pI/TpFEi97zSJI/AAAAAAAAGFk/EfQ9Qv0xa_s/s800/IMG_4819.jpg
Resawing with the smaller saw lead to me looking to see what was for sale locally used. That lead to a relaxing Saturday morning rural drive to buy this:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U16gmiW74OI/TpFEhkMNfWI/AAAAAAAAGFc/kS1SBqVQ4QA/s800/IMG_4817.jpg
It included several 1" blades and has had very little use. It makes very short work of resawing the oak and the redwood. Tomorrow I am picking up the rest of the wood. All told I'll have about 400 bd ft of the oak and 500 or so of the redwood. All of the wood I have sampled is about 15% and seems very dimensionally stable thus far. The redwood has really, really tight grain and is gorgeous. I plan to make some very nice pieces with this wood. I'm starting with a machinist's tool chest. I might sell a portion of the wood to help recoup some of what I have spent.
I welcome any thoughts, suggestions, tips etc on the wood, especially good project ideas for it, etc.
This wanting to try my hand at resawing led to me purchasing this:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1QZddhnZdng/TpFEiUtRShI/AAAAAAAAGFg/M_ZV04bfL3k/s800/IMG_4818.jpg
It was barely used and a pretty good deal. Once I started playing with these bits of oak I got to looking for some more wood to work with. That lead to me buying this:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y6YtB0VrQrM/TpFEjNZNRWI/AAAAAAAAGFo/jFBA5ReYsqQ/s800/IMG_4820.jpg
The posts on the left are 5.5" x 5.5" x 9' white oak. The planks are 2.75" x 11.5" x 10' redwood. This all started life in a brewery a very long time ago. The brewery was disassembled at one point and the wood used for some projects. The guy I got it from only knows about the last 20 or so years of its life. I cut a 3' section of both and turned it into stuff that looks like this:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-puK9D-0s8pI/TpFEi97zSJI/AAAAAAAAGFk/EfQ9Qv0xa_s/s800/IMG_4819.jpg
Resawing with the smaller saw lead to me looking to see what was for sale locally used. That lead to a relaxing Saturday morning rural drive to buy this:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U16gmiW74OI/TpFEhkMNfWI/AAAAAAAAGFc/kS1SBqVQ4QA/s800/IMG_4817.jpg
It included several 1" blades and has had very little use. It makes very short work of resawing the oak and the redwood. Tomorrow I am picking up the rest of the wood. All told I'll have about 400 bd ft of the oak and 500 or so of the redwood. All of the wood I have sampled is about 15% and seems very dimensionally stable thus far. The redwood has really, really tight grain and is gorgeous. I plan to make some very nice pieces with this wood. I'm starting with a machinist's tool chest. I might sell a portion of the wood to help recoup some of what I have spent.
I welcome any thoughts, suggestions, tips etc on the wood, especially good project ideas for it, etc.