Wood Supplier, Air-Assist and Model T Ford model

[Riki Potter]

I'm having a heck of a time trying to find a supplier for wood here, we have alot around but it seems what we want is quite uncommon.

Currently I've been working with some 2mm - 6mm timber milled down to that thickness by my grandfather. I've tried cutting some 4mm ply, able to get through it but lots of charring and flaming (no air assist).
How easy is it to find timber at around 6mm thick (or thinner if possible)? And what sort of places might do this for me?

Also we currently don't have air-assist hooked up, all that's needed is a compressor for it to work but our shop is below a couple of apartments and we're wary about annoying them with the noise, the exhaust fan is already bad enough for them. What are our options?

And lastly I'm on the hunt for a design of a slot together Model T Ford design, I've seen the one on wood marvels and have emailed them about it. It's for a run of about 50 corporate awards so we'd need the necessary rights to make that many. I'm tempted to sit down and design one myself but there must be more than that one out there.

[Michael Hunter]

For the thin wood, you could try a boatyard - they use thin stuff for laminating transoms and things. Likely to be iroko or exotic hardwood though.
Thin wood is expensive - lots of labour and sawdust making it thin and then it is fragile and prone to warping, which is why you don't find it in ordinary wood shops.

For the air-assist, get an airbrush type pump. Glue some soft foam between two sheets of ply and stand the pump on top of that - noise and vibrations minimised.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Riki you are probably going to need more than 25 watts to stop the charring and make sure your wood, if ply, has no exterior glue or if solid wood is not a high oil content species and is dry to at least 6-8% moisture.

Better choice for you, if you use a lot of wood, is to get your own band saw with a wide re-saw blade (at least 1" or 25mm), a spiral blade planer and a drum sander so you make your own. Not sure what type of lumber is common down there but try some 3mm Baltic Birch and see how it cuts. I would stay away from the Chinese ply since most of it has exterior glue, usually has a Poplar core and warps worse than a potato chip.

[Denver Shearon]

I'm having a heck of a time trying to find a supplier for wood here, we have alot around but it seems what we want is quite uncommon.


PM George Perzel (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/member.php?2842-George-M-Perzel)

He sells packs of 5/32 wood that is 5.75"x12". He sells Maple, Walnut, Cherry and Jatoba. It may cost you a few more bucks for international shipping but he has good prices.