childress's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Milled some of the walnut

childress — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:56:44 GMT

About to get a commission on a cabinet and I’m trying to sell the customer on black walnut. So I took one of the flitches I picked up a couple weeks ago and milled a bookmatched panel to give the customer a sneak peak at what they could have.

Check it out

A little jig I made to put a straight edge on it

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the limb will yeild

And put back in her home so not to get lost…...

Grab Bag...Or should I say truckload full of goodies!

childress — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:42:23 GMT

I met a gentleman last week and we got to talking about wood. Turns out he used to work the wood and “still had some walnut” he says. “If you want it, you can have it” Well, my week went by and today my wife and I had to go down to San Diego, so I decided to give Butch a call. “OKay” he says, “I’ll dig it out from the corner of the garage, oh, and bring a truck, because this won’t all fit into a car trunk, that is if you want it all.”

At first I was thinking that this guy had a little bit of walnut, now, I’m thinking wow, this may be worth my while. As we pull up to his house, I see a blue tarp covering a pile. Still not sure what to expect, and definitely not going to get my hopes up before hand. Butch comes out and says, “well, here you go, I hope you can find some use for it. Been sitting in my garage for 30 years”

The story I got from him is that while working for caltrans, some 30 years ago, he salvaged some parts from a walnut tree and a eucalyptus log that was cut down to make way for a new highway somewhere.

When he pulled the tarp back, I almost fell down. I was completely speechless at seeing what I was seeing. He had put a slab of myrtle on top that was 3” thick 22” wide and 36” long. Underneath all of that was the walnut he was talking about. after going through and organizing everything, he had 3 flitches from the same tree and various other pieces. A book matched pair of eucalyptus logs that will work great for some “bench legs” and 3 small burls.

I guess pictures will say a thousand words, so, here ya go…

Sliding Table attachment

childress — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:33:59 GMT

Looking at this, you can see I have a little too much time on my hands. But I guess good things can come from having no work… You get to make jigs and the like!

This “side project” started after I received about 8 tabletops (it was 15 halfs) from a local stain mfg that recently went out of business. The tops were all damaged in shipment here to the states, they got them to test their products on. Well, now they don’t need them and I scored!

I ripped, planed and laminated into a board that is aprox 10” X 42” X 1&1/2”

Then I did the same and made post size pieces. 3” X 42” X 2&1/2”

I took three of the “posts” and milled a tongue and groove into them to create a huge “drawer slide”.

Then came mounting it to the saw. I had to weld two tabs to the edge of the table saw because the “drawer slide” needed to sit 1&1/2” lower so the sliding table would be flush with the table saw top

After mounting and measuring for the legs, this is what I got! What do ya think?

After waxing the tongue and groove, this baby slides like it’s on bearings. I can pull it around 40” in front of the blade with no deflection. Now, I just need to make a fence for it and square it up. fine tune it so there is no side play and I’m good to go.