After seeing an ad on craigslist for a garage sale that was going to have some rough cut lumber i figured i’d buzz over and check it out. Turned out for whatever reason the gentleman was getting out of woodworking and looking to sell a bunch of lunber he’s had drying in his garage for years. As i look around i saw maple, cherry, and Peruvian Walnut. Playing a little niave i asked what i was worth and how much he wanted to sell. He said all of it. I passed on any of the scrap pine 2x lumber and took averything else. Not know exacts i got….

8 – 8’+ x 5-8” wide x 4/4 thick Cherry. Some of it’s in rough shape but thass ok.
4 – large 8/4 hard maple and 2-4/4 hard maple lengths and widths vary (see pic)
and 2 wide pieces about 5’ long of peruvian Walnut.

Everything for 50.00

As you can see from the pic my bottom shelf at the floor is scraps and all oak, then next shelf up is all my garage sale purchase, then next up is all QSWO (going to be endtable soon) and then top shelf that you can barely see is all cut off’s of walnut and cherry.

Well not that’s my racks full i guess i should get to builing with it all…

We did alot of research for a design that we liked. Myself being a lover of all things G&G but my skill level being no where near what’s needed i had to comprimise. We settled on an A&C look that i began modifying. Being an architect by trade i was able to take an idea, and put it into CAD and revise and change it to be what we wanted. What i tried to do was to add as much G&G to it as i could. Utilizing the “cloud lift” that makes G&G famous add a great look to it i think. There’s won’t be any thru tenons, or ebony plugs in this build sorry….lol

It was decided that i would make them out of quarter sawn white oak as well, just like most A&C furniture. I went to Morrisville NY to a guy who was selling wood at a great price. I ended up getting roughly 100B/Ft of QSWO for 180.00.

So the preparation began, with making two of these and needed so many pieces with curves on them i figured i’d make some templates out of 3/4” MDF and then use a flush trim/pattern bit. Hopefully using 3/4” MDF was a good idea, i was skeptile on it, so we’ll see.

My pieces all cut out from the plans…..

All glued to pieces of 3/4” MDF

All rough cut out and now it’s time to perfect them on the spindle sander….

Slowly getting there….

I really hope to keep up with this blog with as much detail as i possibly can. This looks like it’ll be a fun build and something even more fun to share.
One thing i would LOVE from all you out there is please feel free to offer any advice, and or comments on anything i’m doing. This being my first real furniture build i’m sure it’ll be a great learning experience.

Also if anyone knows how to post PDF’s to the blog let me know i have all my plans in that format and would like to post them as well…..

Thanks Everyone…. much much more to come…..

Thanks LJ’s…...

Makita 2012NB 12-Inch Planer with Interna-Lok Automated Head Clamp

OR

DEWALT DW735 13-Inch Three Knife Two Speed Thickness Planer

To me the table look very parallel weather the depth is set to 1/8” or zero. Now time to put a board through…..

So as you can see it begins to raise up more and more the further i push it through the jointer. I have to keep that back end held down really well or it’ll teeder and no long cut. I have no clue what i’m doing wrong here, i’m really hoping that it’s just a user error. The tables are flat and parallel in my opinion.

I really look forward to any responces you all might have,
Thank you

John G.

So….. is it worth it????

http://rochester.craigslist.org/tls/2398889768.html

1: Ryobi 10” planer with homemade rollerbase (85.00) http://rochester.craigslist.org/tls/2374085323.html

2: Ryobi AP12 with new dual edge blade and blade binders, comes with table and dust port for 150.00 http://rochester.craigslist.org/tls/2364710877.html

Is it woth it for me to seriously look into getting one of them….??? A nice DeWalt is just not in my future because of the cost. Does anyone have any experiece with any of these machine….

Please i could use your help/opinion LJ’s…...

Thanks Everyone,
John Gray
Spencerport NY

Thanks Jocks…..

From first glance it alot of walnut, and cherry. There’s a few we don’t even know what they are. Also a few possible mahogony (they seem to red to be walnut as well). Time to start planning the projects….. :)

As i get into woodworking more and more and want to experiment with different species i began noticing the cost of some exotics. Then i began to think back…. didn’t i see an entire workbench made of this, or a router table, or something large made from an exotic. I started to wonder if some LJ out there were just independently wealthy. I have a hard time coming up with 100.00 for a project, and i was looking at projects in the 1000.00’s and they were bench’s for the workshop. Could it be true that in some areas of the US and world that some lumber is not as expensive as others? I’m very curious (without prying to much) on how my fellow LJ’s go about purchasing there lumber, is it online, local mills, yourown backyard. What are you paying for your wood, do you have a budget for projects. Even those making cutting boards, 4 or 5 of them with exotics can put you in the hundreds…..
Just curious, don’t mean to pry into personal finances of anyone…...

Keep up the great work everyone, Pine or Padauk it’s all wood…. :)

—This was the original door…..

—Here was all my rough stock, a ton of PT lumber laying around in the loft of my garage…..

—All my stock cut down to size for the rails and stiles

—Next was to route rabbits on all the pieces, the sides were standard the tops like this were extra deep… WHY you may ask….

—In order to cut arches in the top….and still have anough room for a sheet or plywood to sit in that rabbit….

—Time to add biscuts to all the corners…...

—Frame all put together….not to shabby lookin….the PT actually wasn’t all that bad to work with either. I was a bit nervous routing it and stuff with it being such a soft and wide grained…..

—After putting in the plywood back panel i decided to add a cross member as well….i think i was going for that “barn door” look at this time…

—Then i thought i’d make some letters for the school name to put at the bottom of the doors. The school, Irondequoit Cooperitive Nursery School or ICNS as it’s known…..

—Sand them up and clean up the cuts….

—And there we have it ICNS, i believe they were 3/4 sanded plywood, again from scraps i had laying around…..

—Once they were glued and nailed from behind to the doors it was time to get some paint on them. Thought i would recruit some help from the ICNS student (ie my daughter)....

—Here they are all painted up (and up-side-down).....

And heres the final shot, all hung. I decided to paint the letters a different color as well. It’s been a cpl years now and the doors are still doing great, i’m guessing they’ll outlive the shed….lol. This was a great project, a little something to leave my mark at a great school…....

A Fellow Lumberjock,
John Gray