I Don't Know What To Make

[Julie Moriarty]

Like money burning the hole in someone's pocket, these slabs of wood have been screaming at me to become all they can be. :D

High figured sapele - 8/4 (1-3/4") x 16" x 50"
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/sapele_pl-02_zps75c0298c.jpg

Bubinga - 8/4 x 17" x 65"
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Bubinga_01_zps45fcaed6.jpg

African Mahogany - 10/4 x 12.5" x 96"
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/AM_01_zps2e81b88d.jpg

I saw a video series on Wood Whisperer where he makes a trestle table out of Honduran mahogany (pic here (http://cdn1.thewoodwhisperer.com/wp-content/uploads/desk-01-sm.jpg)). I really liked the Maloof inspired curves and angles he did on the legs. But taking the woods above and making a trestle table is anti-climatic for me. OTOH, I don't want to get into something with a lot of drawers either. I wanted to do something simple looking that would highlight the natural beauty of the woods. Whatever I build, I would add highlights of maple or maybe cherry to accent the piece (I have nicely figured boards of both) and then finish it natural.

We need a small computer table, 57" max width. I could see taking Mark's trestle table concept and adding something above it, like slots for paper, a space for the monitor, etc. Right now I'm imagining the Maloof-inspired legs being made of AM and figured maple. The legs would have the 10/4 AM sandwiched between (2) 4/4 maple. The feet would have AM, or possibly a different wood, glued up to the width for a sturdier appearance and accent, maybe, if it wouldn't look too massive. I may do the same for the top of the legs. That much I'm okay with. But putting a flat top on it and calling it finished makes me cringe.

Then I see what I hope to be a work of art getting buried by a keyboard, monitor, mouse pad, papers and so on. And I find myself back to doing nothing. http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/pullhair_zps8852fb17.gif

Any ideas?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Julie, I have a similar stack of sapele that I bought to turn into a Ruhlman inspired jewelry box for my wife 8 years ago.... Because I'm so good at procrastinating, it's become kind of the shop artwork. I have it standing up behind the veneer pile so I can see it, pretty stuff.

[Mike Wilkins]

I see a table or desk for that beautiful slab of Sapele. Or if you can't figure out what to do, you can send it to me, freight collect. I will even send you photos of the finished product.

[Brian Tymchak]

I see a table or desk for that beautiful slab of Sapele. Or if you can't figure out what to do, you can send it to me, freight collect. I will even send you photos of the finished product.

+1. Like a hall table or display table for a treasured piece where the top stays largely uncovered.

Beautiful wood.

[Jon Grider]

+1. Like a hall table or display table for a treasured piece where the top stays largely uncovered.

Beautiful wood.
+2 That beautiful wood deserves more than a utilitarian end, may be a sofa table or Mike or Brian's suggestions. I see a beautiful long but narrow table with gently curved and scaled legs that is both beautiful in form and functional. Please let us see your results when you're done.

[Mel Fulks]

I would resaw it into thin pieces and facings (thick veneer) and make an Art Deco bar, small boxes etc. ,some small parts would be solid. Some will think this suggestion vile but that piece is so spectacular I'm surprised it slipped through as a board and wasn't put aside for veneer. The quilting gives the surface a simulated thickness that can be an interesting contrast to actual thickness. It's not unusual to have to use thicker boards to get high quality.Four quarter mahogany is often much sappier and lower grade than five quarter, and I've seen five quarter used where four quarter would suffice.

[Julie Moriarty]

Mel, I know what you're saying about the sapele. In all the pics above I just laid some mineral spirits on the wood and that's what I got. The sapele is breathtaking! That piece ran me $270 and I'm having a really hard time burying 90% of it inside a table slab. If my bandsaw could handle the width, I think I would have already resawed some slices off it but my BS only goes to 9-3/4". I don't know anyone with a 16" resaw height bandsaw. Maybe Eric would lend me one of his MM16s. ;)

[John Sanford]

Mel, I know what you're saying about the sapele. In all the pics above I just laid some mineral spirits on the wood and that's what I got. The sapele is breathtaking! That piece ran me $270 and I'm having a really hard time burying 90% of it inside a table slab. If my bandsaw could handle the width, I think I would have already resawed some slices off it but my BS only goes to 9-3/4". I don't know anyone with a 16" resaw height bandsaw. Maybe Eric would lend me one of his MM16s. ;)

Perhaps a road trip to the Van Husky Bandsaw Emporium and Wonderland is in order??

Seriously, you probably won't have much trouble getting the use of someone's big honkin bandsaw if you ask...

[Julie Moriarty]

Perhaps a road trip to the Van Husky Bandsaw Emporium and Wonderland is in order??

Seriously, you probably won't have much trouble getting the use of someone's big honkin bandsaw if you ask...

If I knew anyone with one, I'd certainly ask. But I don't know ANYONE who does woodworking.

The sapele will have to wait. But maybe the bubinga and AF will become that computer table or hall table or art deco bar. Thanks all for helping getting the creative juices flowing. :)

[Jim Neeley]

Julie,

If you go to Google and search for Illinois Woodworking Clubs, many come up.

The 7th and 8th (in my query) were lists on the LJ web site of WW clubs in Illinois that the poster verified as being active this year.

http://lumberjocks.com/jdmaher/blog/34589

That one post alone listed 6. In hitting 4 or 5 links on the first page I found clubs in:

Hickory Hills (~8mi)
Oak Lawn (~11mi)
Windy City (~19mi)
South Holland (~22mi)
Arlington Heights (~30mi)
Palatine (~30mi) and
Batavia (~34mi)

with contact info for each

I've no doubt that if you visited a club or two and asked around you'd find several people with large BS's that'd be willing to cut that for you. There's probably more, likely closer, but you've got to make the effort to reach out. :)

Jim

[John TenEyck]

Tell you what, Julie. Why don't you just send all that ugly wood to me so you can stop fretting about it? It's probably keeping you awake at night. Can't have that. Send it soon so you can get some sleep.

John

[Chris Fournier]

Consider using the 8/4 figured wood for components that cannot be fabricated using veneer. A slab top made out of heavy cuts of solid figured wood like that is really not that great a way to use this special wood.

[Roger Pozzi]

I know what you could make that most people have a very hard time with.
A friend ! :D:rolleyes:
Just send me the sapele and you're at the top of my friend list. ;)

[Richard Coers]

On the subject of using someone else's bandsaw. I once had a woodworking club member come to my shop to ask about resawing some teak. He was totally unskilled so I started into the board. High silica content, density of the wood, high oil content, and 10" tall, made for a nightmare. You should have seem my face when the board came out with an 1/8" bow towards the end of the cut from all the mentioned issues. One big apology and one po'd woodworker latter, he left. At least he never asked to use my equipment again. This happened 30 years ago, never forgot it.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

If you keep the wood as a slab, you will end up with a table of some sort. I created a computer desk out of African Mahogany. My computer desk is large (and deep) containing six drawers and a hutch.

[Julie Moriarty]

On the subject of using someone else's bandsaw. I once had a woodworking club member come to my shop to ask about resawing some teak. He was totally unskilled so I started into the board. High silica content, density of the wood, high oil content, and 10" tall, made for a nightmare. You should have seem my face when the board came out with an 1/8" bow towards the end of the cut from all the mentioned issues. One big apology and one po'd woodworker latter, he left. At least he never asked to use my equipment again. This happened 30 years ago, never forgot it.

Yeah, I've thought about being that woodworker but not being PO'd because the wood was ruined but being apologetic for burning up the equipment of the person kind enough to make the offer. 16" is quite a resaw. I did 9" in straight-grained sapele with a brand new Woodmaster CT but after a couple hundred feet of 6"-9" resaws, the blade was straining to get through the wood.

[Kent A Bathurst]

+1. Like a hall table or display table for a treasured piece where the top stays largely uncovered.

Beautiful wood.

Ditto.

I envision a hall table in the entry to the house. Can't walk in or out of the house without seeing it.
Minimal stuff on it - a single vase of flowers, for example. Or an art piece - vase, plate, etc. I know what I would put on it, but I've got my stuff, not yours. Definitely NOT the place to toss the car keys.

The grain is the art, not the stuff on top of it.

And - yes - you can make a table top with just veneer, but sometimes the "wow factor" of solid wood overrules, IMO.

[Julie Moriarty]

Well I've run every possible piece of furniture I could think of for that sapele but they have all been shot down

Computer desk? It will just be buried under equipment and paperwork.

Hallway table? We already have one.

Coffee table? The slab is too small. And what will be do with the coffee table we have?

And on it has gone. Not even a nibble.

We've been talking about buying a build-your-own guitar kit for my SO's son for Christmas. Since the conversation began, I've been doing a lot of research and watched a lot of videos. I saw one 15-part video series where this guy in the UK was building a Les Paul version of a guitar from scratch. (Crimson Guitars) He had a padauk body and bubinga face with a mahogany and wenge neck. THAT would keep me busy through the winter months! As for my SO's son, we'd have to come up with something else for Christmas.

So last night as I'm watching these videos, I'm imagining how gorgeous that figured sapele would look on a guitar body, and as long as it played well, at least my SO's son would be happy. :) I found a licensed Fender Stratocaster body and neck guitar kit for $250. The body is ash but I was thinking I could use it for a template. I'd upgrade the neck to birdseye maple. So all I'd have to really do is make the sapele body. I'll have to research this a bit more but I'm really liking that Fender Stratocaster with the high figure sapele body. :D

[eugene thomas]

I would set that wood in the storage and when Wright project comes along go to town on it.

[Herr Dalbergia]

Hello,

the Sapele and the Bubinga should be used as tonewood for guitar-making / lutherie. That is some nice wood....sell it to a luthier.

Cheers, Alex

[Yonak Hawkins]

That's a terrific idea, Julie. Your SO's son is going to love it. (By the way, my wife had to tell me what SO stood for. I'm so out of touch.)

[Julie Moriarty]

That's a terrific idea, Julie. Your SO's son is going to love it.

That's how I'm feeling. Imagine that wood as the body with a birdseye maple neck and gold hardware. If it didn't play well, I could hang it on the wall. :rolleyes:

I'm absorbing a 10-part video series on building a Strat from scratch. Each video is about 20-30 minutes. I know I could do it if I had the templates this guy has, plus some other information like neck dimensions, curvature of the neck, etc. It looks like he bought most of his specialty tools from Stewart MacDonald. Though that can add up for the really $$$erious builder. If the kit idea works out, I may just have found a way to reclaim my youth (I used to play and sing in a rock band many moons ago) and get my woodworking fix too. :D

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Emoticons/114861279_zps063cd6c6.gif

[Michael Dunn]

If you end up resawing, try Owl Hardwoods in Oak Lawn. If you drop it off there they have a facility in Des Plaines that handles the resaw work.

[Michael Dunn]

That's how I'm feeling. Imagine that wood as the body with a birdseye maple neck and gold hardware. If it didn't play well, I could hang it on the wall. :rolleyes: I'm absorbing a 10-part video series on building a Strat from scratch. Each video is about 20-30 minutes. I know I could do it if I had the templates this guy has, plus some other information like neck dimensions, curvature of the neck, etc. It looks like he bought most of his specialty tools from Stewart MacDonald. Though that can add up for the really $$$erious builder. If the kit idea works out, I may just have found a way to reclaim my youth (I used to play and sing in a rock band many moons ago) and get my woodworking fix too. :D

I've taken several guitar (and amplifier) building classes with Ian Schneller at The Chicago School of Guifar Making at 1240 N. Homan in Chicago. It's expensive ($695/course?) but worth it! My former employer, AT&T picked up the tabs to the tune of $15k over the course of 4-1/2 years.

[Julie Moriarty]

If you end up resawing, try Owl Hardwoods in Oak Lawn. If you drop it off there they have a facility in Des Plaines that handles the resaw work.

The one in Des Plaines can only resaw to 13". One of the guys there took me into the shop in back and showed me their bandsaw. It's pretty rough.


I've taken several guitar (and amplifier) building classes with Ian Schneller at The Chicago School of Guifar Making at 1240 N. Homan in Chicago. It's expensive ($695/course?) but worth it! My former employer, AT&T picked up the tabs to the tune of $15k over the course of 4-1/2 years.

Nice perk!