The GRIZZLY Challenge

[Shiraz Balolia]

We have asked three really talented Woodworkers to create a project from a mystery bundle of wood that we sent to them.

All three of them got the same amount of Curly Koa, highly figured Bubinga, Spalted Maple and reclaimed Indian Rosewood that came from the stairs of my old house. All this wood was from my private collection, so it is nice stuff! The idea is to see how well they use this combination of wood and what the end product is. Should be very interesting. See the details of the challenge here, and be sure to vote for your choice:

http://www.grizzly.com/grizzly-challenge

Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

I look forward to seeing what these craftsmen come up with!

[Prashun Patel]

These guys are active on YouTube and podcasts. I really enjoy following them too. Creative dudes!!! Good luck to them!

[Frankie Hunt]

Awesome! Thanks for sponsoring this challenge!!

I too look forward to see what they come up with.

[Chris Hachet]

I am a guy with a bunch of OWWM, but I love Grizzly and what they do for the woodworking community.

[Simon MacGowen]

I have never seen any of their work, which is a good thing because when I vote, I will do it without any bias.

Simon

[scott spencer]

Cool. Should be interesting.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I would have certainly built a surfboard with that- especially with Koa being a Hawaiian wood. Now then, that being said, can you elaborate on these stairs that this wood came from? Those must have been some fancy stairs.

[Shiraz Balolia]

I would have certainly built a surfboard with that- especially with Koa being a Hawaiian wood. Now then, that being said, can you elaborate on these stairs that this wood came from? Those must have been some fancy stairs.

I am trying to locate a picture of the stairs. Yes, they were nice and it was a shame to tear them out when we demolished the house that I had built 30 years ago. The treads were solid Indian Rosewood, nice and wide. That wood is no longer allowed to be imported. I did save all the wood and have the rest of it stored here at the warehouse. It was a custom job with the spindles being oak and rosewood. However the replacement in the new house is a curved staircase made of Bubinga and Maple. Also very nice.

I am a wood "nut" and used most of the really figured woods that I had saved up over the years in my new home. The cabinets are all really figured curly Koa and curly maple. The Koa was from my private stock that I had hoarded over the last 30+ years. That kind of Koa is now impossible to get as they are not allowed to harvest Koa trees any more. The only way they can cut Koa now is when a tree has fallen naturally and then they have to get a permit where someone will come and verify that the tree went down naturally, and then they can harvest the lumber from it. What I paid between $5 and $25 a b/f 20 - 30 years ago is now over $100 a b/f, if you can get it. I still hated to use it, but said to myself that if I didn't use it now, the kids may make crates out of it after I am gone as they do not have the same appreciation for fine woods as I do. I'll try to post some pictures when time permits as I know that many of you have the same appreciation of good woods.

[Shiraz Balolia]

I was able to dig up a picture of the old stairs. The treads are solid Indian Rosewood and the spindles are a combination of Red Oak and Rosewood. The photo shows a child gate at the bottom.

The Old House Staircase:

http://i65.tinypic.com/5v3ltg.jpg




And, the New house staircase during construction. Bubinga and Maple. It took twenty workmen to bring the staircase frame into the house from the truck! The curved staircase (steps part) was built off site and delivered to the site in one piece. The spindles and handrail were attached on site. Took about 9 months to make the staircase and two months to install the spindles and handrail. I specified 400 grit hand finish in oil and the finishing guy swore he would never take on that again :)


http://i65.tinypic.com/fkt8h4.jpg

[Carroll Courtney]

Gorgeous,I could only dream of being that talented.Yes sir thank you for supporting this site and being a sponsor

[Jim Becker]

That's some exquisite workmanship, Shiraz!

[Bill Dufour]

I just found out the the modern summer Olympic games used to give medals for sculpture and painting. They stopped in 1952 before you could enter your staircase. I would give it a gold medal.
But I do not think you could build it, as all the qualifying round stuff, in two weeks.
Bill D.

[Marshall Harrison]

That's beautiful Shiraz. I can only dream of living in a house with wood like that.

[Roger Chandler]

That is awesome, Shiraz! Both the staircase, and the contest, not to mention that inlaid floor! Thanks for being involved on SMC, as being able to share our passion and love of woodworking with the owner of such a great woodworking machinery purveyor and have him be so responsive as you were with the banjo on the G0766 lathe is one reason why I order a lot of my tools from Grizzly. I’m supposed to have my newest, a G0800 shipped on 2/1/18! :D

[Shiraz Balolia]

Thank you all for the kind comments.


Since we all love wood, here's what the kitchen cabinets look like. This is just a small section, but shows the "private stock" of my wood that was used. No, I did not build the cabinets, but certainly was involved very much in the woods used and the design. The guy that built them is a long time Grizzly customer and a master woodworker. All his machines are Grizzly. The lucky thing for me was this was his last big job before he retired! The Woods are Curly Maple, Curly Koa and Wenge trim. This compilation and look was extremely difficult to assemble and make look right, cabinet after cabinet. Its a large kitchen with a huge island and this section is just the top lid above the double ovens.



http://i66.tinypic.com/2nk6hy9.jpg

[Mel Fulks]

Shiraz, that is terrific! I'm thankful that wood was used in a great design. Would love to see more pics, and please show more of cornice.

[Jim Becker]

That is, um...unspeakably beautiful curly material! Wowsa...

[Roger Chandler]

Yessiree.....wowza indeed! With cabinetry like that, every trip to the kitchen for morning coffee would be a special event indeed! Congrats on your beautiful kitchen, Shiraz!

[Carroll Courtney]

This is the quality of work that I can only dream about.That person is one talented wood whisperer

[David Helm]

Shiraz, would the woodworker doing the work be our friend on Lummi Island?

[Shiraz Balolia]

Shiraz, would the woodworker doing the work be our friend on Lummi Island?

No, he is not.

[Bryan Lisowski]

Are you only able to vote on Facebook? If so I'm out of supporting these guys and the great contest you put on.

[Shiraz Balolia]

Are you only able to vote on Facebook? If so I'm out of supporting these guys and the great contest you put on.

Yes, sorry about that. You can only vote through Facebook and it is a manual task for us to add them as Facebook only allows 2 choices to tabulate automatically from. We have three, so we will count manually.

To vote, go to the Grizzly challenge page on our site http://www.grizzly.com/grizzly-challenge ,

like the Grizzly Facebook page and then make a comment about who gets your vote. It was interesting what they made. All different styles.

[Jim Becker]

I think the potential issue here is that there are many folks who do not use Facebook for any number of reasons, so if that's the only avenue to vote, they will not be able to do so.

[Justin Ludwig]

Will Walker's build is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHwIh2FuFag

Kyle Toth's build is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAWeHg9NjUU

Chris Salomone's build is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eTyrYruLVc

You don't have to vote to enjoy the videos or the unique pieces these 3 gentlemen conjured up. I have Facebook and I'm not voting.

[Scott T Smith]

Stunning wood and superb craftsmanship! (and the design ain't too bad either...).

Thanks for taking the time to share; we can all appreciate the intrinsic beauty.

[Paul Girouard]

So who won?

[Matt Day]

The website Shiraz linked to in the first post says Will Walker won. No idea what he made or what happened though, as I’m not on social media at all. Would be nice if a synopsis was posted here since the thread was stickied and advertised here and all.

[Nick Decker]

Matt, post #26 above has links to the various builds.

[Matt Day]

Thanks Nick, I missed that.

[Paul Girouard]

The website Shiraz linked to in the first post says Will Walker won. No idea what he made or what happened though, as I’m not on social media at all. Would be nice if a synopsis was posted here since the thread was stickied and advertised here and all.



Will #1 , Kyle #2 , Chris #3.

[Justin Ludwig]

I posted links to each of their builds. I didn't (and now that I know, don't) care who was going to win. All 3 builds were pretty awesome.


Edit: I replied before I finished reading the thread. This post is redundant to Nick's.

[Matt Day]

Finally got some time to watch the videos. I like Will’s project the best and his video production.

I also liked chris’s message at the end. Didn’t seem like Chris was the best candidate for that special wood - should have just sent him some maple and walnut!

[Justin Ludwig]

I think Chris was trying to sabotage his own running in a contest he wasn’t wanting to compete. He would, no doubt, receive votes merely because of his “buck the system” monologue. His build was the most creative, IMO.

I liked Will’s builds because they were based more upon usability and pragmatism than wild inspiration.

Kyle has an imagination and he is one hell of a woodworker. The lattice didn’t quite mesh (pun intended) for me.

[Paul Girouard]

Who won the $150.00 gift certificate for casting a vote? I know it wasn’t me , or Grizzly hasn’t sent me the notification yet ;-))