| Project by leonmcd | posted 253 days ago | 687 views | 0 times favorited | 13 comments | ![]() |
Ever have one of those projects where nothing seems to go right. It seems like a good idea and the vision in your head is great but it just doesn’t turn out the way you envisioned.
Because of the limit to a 2×4 it was necessary to make the staves for the planters 5/8” x 3/4” and I needed 30 of them 20” long to create the planters. Seemed so easy in my mind. You ever try to get 30 sticks to line up in circle while you glue them. Not so easy. Even harder when one of your staves has a knot and snaps. So now you are 1 stave short ( no more lumber in the 2×4 ). Oh well, so you roll it up and it kinda works.
Now you throw it on your lathe to turn it. I’ve turned lots of things but never a 2×4. Way too soft so wound up with lots of tearout. My original view was a nice polished wooden planter. By the time I got through patching all the tearout, I was obvious that a clear finish was not going to work. So when all else fails, paint it. I thought with enough coats of glossy paint it might look kinda like ceramic. Don’t think I quite achieved that goal either.
I also managed to miscut the cross pieces that connect the legs to the stand. Lucky I had enough material left to replace those parts.
BTW – The lower planter is trapped inside the stand. I wanted a close fit between the planters and the stand so I built the stand around it.
I’ve decided to go ahead and enter it into the 2×4 project just to give the competition some balance.
You know how I was saying that with some projects nothing goes right. Well I just ( 8:30 PM CST) tried to enter this in the 2×4 contest and apparently it is already closed. I was thinking that we would have all day on the 31st to enter our projects. Oh well.
-- Leon -- Houston, TX - " I create all my own designs and it looks like it "
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13 comments so far
scottb
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2942 posts in 812 days
posted 253 days ago
as with many others, we sure took on some ambitious use of the 2×4 – Looks like we both ran out of time. Next contest I’ll (intend to) start right away!
-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/
CharlieM1958
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4192 posts in 703 days
posted 253 days ago
I’ll join the protest march, Leon. Today is the 31st, and you should be able to enter your project. Heck, I’ll even vote for you just for having the gumption to give it your best shot and post it for the world to see. With all the problems you had, it is still better than I, or most weekend warriors could have done with a single 2×4!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
Scott Bryan
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9086 posts in 307 days
posted 253 days ago
the real value of the 2×4 contest was simply taking part in the competition. You persevered and, despite numerous barriers which afforded you an excuse to quit, successfully managed to complete your project. This is really what counts.
By the way this is an interesting piece. As I have said all along it never ceases to amaze me what is residing inside a common 2×4.
Thanks for sharing
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
DAN
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3214 posts in 468 days
posted 253 days ago
looks good. fun too !
-- ..... art for lifes sake
Grumpy
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5660 posts in 336 days
posted 253 days ago
Sorry you did not make the time limit Leon. Nice project.
-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python
cajunpen
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5348 posts in 551 days
posted 253 days ago
Good project and A+ for sticking with it and finishing. Good looking project.
-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/
rikkor
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7670 posts in 359 days
posted 253 days ago
Great job finishing your project, sorry you missed the deadline.
-- Maplewood, MN
Jiri Parkman
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559 posts in 298 days
posted 253 days ago
Nice.
-- Jiri
Copperjock
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88 posts in 283 days
posted 252 days ago
Looks like your entry made it after all. Congratulations on that and good luck in the contest. It looks like a very ambitious project, and it turned out well. Good job.
-- It's not that a craftsman never makes mistakes, he just makes it look like it.
shaun
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362 posts in 390 days
posted 251 days ago
Nice work Leon. Glad your entry made it in to the contest.
-- I've cut that board three times and it's still too short!
Alin Dobra
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316 posts in 373 days
posted 242 days ago
Leon,
Since you asked for it (you do not know how happy I am that you started the criticism discussion), here it is:
Things I like:
1. The idea is nice.
2. Coloring the planters differently than the support adds visual interest
Things I do not fully like:
1. The legs of the stand do not flow to the floor. They finish in a flat area that is large. I know what your concern is: not enough strength for the legs if you finish them in a curve. I would have probably strengthen the legs by inserting another piece or something. In any case, it is a problem to be solved since most people do not care about wood limitations, they only care about how it looks. The legs go straight up but are ended in a curve. It would have been nice to get a slight curve on the legs along the length as well. Mixing straight lines with curves is tricky.
2. The pictures you posted are low quality. You have too much compression on the jpeg and there are a lot of artifacts showing in the image. Because of this I cannot judge the quality of the finish
and I have trouble seeing the piece the way it is. You do not need a better camera, you just need to be careful with the compression.
3. The pine has an unpleasant yellow color (that is true for most 2×4 competition entries). That is due to the heavy finish that the pine does not like. What I would have done (and I did on my 2×4 entry ) is to apply a single coat of finish and sand it down. Pine does not really need a lot of finish and ages beautifully without. This is why drawer insides that are made out of pine are left unfinished.
4. The cylindrical shape on the planters is rather boring. A slight curve would have made the piece way more interesting. Getting slight curves on large pieces is very hard though, but a thing to aspire to.
-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida
leonmcd
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177 posts in 456 days
posted 242 days ago
Alin, thanks for taking the time to comment. You are the first to take me up on my request.
You picked the perfect project to critique too because there is not much I like about it.
I can see how some curve in the legs would help. Much more interesting than the straight lines.
The curve at the top of the legs and at the top of the planters was an attempt to blend the leg form with the planter form. Apparently it did not work. You mentioned that is it difficult to blend straight lines and curves but I wonder about blending curves in the legs with curves in the planters.
I thought about going with the planters with the middle larger than the ends with a smooth curve from top to bottom. Didn’t think it would look good with the straight legs. I guess I could have brought the legs up to flair out like a flower petal and follow the curve of the lower part of the planter/vase. Might have to try and sketch this.
Trust me it is a blessing that the photo quality is so poor. As I mentioned in my post, I had a hard time with tearout in the pine. I used some wood filler to patch as best I could but in retrospect, I would probably just plaster it to get a smooth surface.
I’m not a big fan of unfinished pine and I thought of finishing it with a very lite white wash. Just enough to take away the yellow and soften the grain.
I appreciate you comments and thanks again for taking the time.
-- Leon -- Houston, TX - " I create all my own designs and it looks like it "
CharlieM1958
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4192 posts in 703 days
posted 239 days ago
Oops…had to cut a long comment here meant for the forum.
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"