Afro Boy

I've tried some Timbermate filler and turned it into a paste using a few drops of water. Rubbed it on nice and thick, scraped off the excess and let it dry. Gave it a good sanding and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Also, I made a mistake in my title, the wood is Blackbutt, an Australian timber. It's open pored so I guess similar in this situation to Walnut. Thanks so much for the advice and tips. Much appreciated. Cheers, Af.

Thanks for that. I'll definitely give it all a shot on some scrap pieces first! The longest tear-out is around 1" and they are over most of the piece. I'll take a look into that pore filler and see how it works. Thanks, Af.

Hi everyone, I have some walnut veneer on plywood substrate which I purchased. I have noticed that it has "gouges" in some parts. They almost look like tear out that would you get form a bad hand planing job, but may be somewhat natural to this type of veneer. I am at the point of applying a finish but I am not sure how to approach it. Should I try to fill the grain with something first? If so, what? Would an oil, shellac, or poly based finish work best in this situation? The piece is a pair of bedside tables. Thanks for any advice you can provide. Cheers, Af.

I had to Google that Taylor clamp rack thing. It's pretty awesome. I'm guessing it's useful if you glue up a heap of panels. Is it clever enough to sense the width of the panels or do you need to adjust for each size?

Thanks folks. I was pretty happy with the results overall.

So, this is from a few months back now, but I've finished the table and delivered it to the client just after Christmas. I opted to go for a veneer on a substrate to limit movement of the main table top piece. The wood is US Walnut with Walnut veneer. It's difficult to get here in Australia so not all that cheap. The client wanted a piece which was relatively child safe, so rounded corners and softened edges. Here are a few pics. Cheers, Af.

Thanks Barron. Yeah it's a bit tricky to explain. Basically because the legs aren't as wide as the plans call for, the long rails I made (to plan size) are slightly too short. I've just gone and made some new rails which now place the legs in their proper positions. Should all be good now me thinks.

Never seen this before. It's interesting. Does it have to be a chain or would a nice solid steel wire work?

Hi folks, I'm part way through my build and unfortunately I don't have stock wide enough for the legs. The legs I've made up are around 4" wide. I've only now just noticed an issue ... When I line the base up on the top with the shoulder vise, I notice that my leg vise leg doesn't fall right in the middle of the dog hole strip gap. Wondering what options I might have (aside from building the entire base again!)? Also, is the narrower legs going to be an issue for the leg vise? Cheers, Af.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. Some great things for me to think about and play with here. I'll report back on what I come up with and how the project evolves.

Hi everyone, I've been asked to make a coffee table for someone based on the following idea. Thing is, they don't want a glass top. I was thinking of replacing the glass with a timber top but it poses a number of issues: wood movement of the top may blow out the frame can't make the top too small as it will have a gap around it then if the top covers the entire base, then I lose the "top of the leg" feature Any ideas or approaches that I might consider? Thanks, Af.

Be careful about sealing it up your table saw cabinet too much. A dust extractor needs to draw air in from somewhere in order to work efficiently. If you block too many of the air intakes it will struggle to get the airflow required to suspend the light dust particles and take them down the pipe. In my set up for instance, I've found that keeping the door slightly ajar actually increases the airflow a little and picks up more dust in the cabinet than having it all closed up. I'm using a 6" port and pipe to my extractor. Cheers, Af.

Brilliant! I hadn't even considered that. Great idea. Thanks.

Thanks folks. I thought of a stopped dado. Problem is that it will stop right at the inside edge of the mitre. This should give an idea of the whole piece. Note that the face/front has a bevel on it. This is where the shelf meets this front face. If I fix it flush to the inside wall, then I don't have a problem. But if I make a dado to house the edge of the shelf, then we end up with an odd gap. Hope this helps illustrate things a little clearer.