Trying to make cherry sapwood look good


chrisphr

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Working on the lid of the G&G Blanket chest and thought it might be cool to make it interesting by including some sapwood.  Thinking I would cut the sapwood out you see on the right edge then sandwich those three boards between two clean boards (hopefully of similar color) to center the sapwood feature on the lid.  Not using the board on far left.  Never tried this before so I don't trust my eye on this.  

Love to get some opinions.image.thumb.jpg.e8735907c7a9d6fcea8dd4a2

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Paint?  :)

 

Don't mean to be discouraging, but there is just too high a percentage of sap and not enough straight grained stock...  You could try to center the sap, but exactly how many joint lines could you tolerate in the top -- because there isn't much straight grain to hide the glue joints... If this was mostly straight-grained, I'd cut-out the cathedrals and re-glue the straight-grain centering the sap... Or you could use an equalizer or airbrush-in a toner, but it's just too much to blend... You could force a toner-based solution, but result would look too muddy. Same goes for gel stains... Sorry...

Edited by hhh
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Ha, totally not discouraging!  I have more cherry to work with, this was an experiment to see if I could do something cool with a really sappy board.  When I got done with these boards I was like, "kinda looks cool, but also kinda weird".  Don't have a great eye for this, that's why I am really appreciative of your second opinion.

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If it's just an experiment --- Let's label the sticks L->R, 1->4..

You've got some straighter grain on the two sap edges in sticks 1&2 -- you could better hide a glue line in there by re-arranging them, say 2->1... you now have to match the angled grain... I'm not sure you can get there with what's remaining... Maybe 3, 2, 1, 4? The problem for me would be the visible glue lines on the angles/cathedral sides... If possible, I try for bastard-grain glue lines... These tend to be harder to see in a panel. If you've got more stock, you could keep the 2, 1 and go for a better grain match with other sticks.

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Personally,  I'm with trip on this one.  For a lid that size,  i would be trying my hardest to find some straight grain to hide the glue joint. 

Another thing that comes to mind is as that cherry ages, the heart wood is going to deepen in color and the sap wood will  stay light becoming even more stand out to the eye.

I'm not against using sap wood, but for that lid, I'm just not seeing a solution with those sticks that looks anything but thrown together and amature.

Not trying to pee on any parades but you asked for opinions. 

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I will have to agree that those particular boards don't add up to a good looking panel for this project. Anything that mates sap and heart at a glue line is just gonna look "off", no matter what. If you had a bookmatch where you could make a sapwood " medallion" in the center, that might look cool. Or a couple boards with sappy edges placed at the outer sides of the panel would look interesting and natural. Otherwise, planning the joints so that grain patterns disguise the glue line is going to be more pleasing to the eye. All I could suggest with those particular boards would be to slice them into narrow strips and reglue them with alternating strips laid in opposite directions to make a deliberate checkerboard of the heart / sap mix. Still wouldn't look great, IMO, but at least it wouldn't look accidental.

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Sapwood is the peel of an orange.

Sapwood is the rind on a block of cheese.

Sapwood is the cardboard tube in a roll of paper towels.

Sapwood is the cotton in a bottle of vitamins.

Sapwood is the shell of a peanut.

Sapwood is the receipt for a pack of gum.

Sapwood is the stem of a grape.

Sapwood is the butt of a cigarette.

Sapwood is the gristle on a steak.

Sapwood is the hair on the barber's floor.

Sapwood is the water in a toilet.

Sapwood is the flame of a bonfire.

Unless it's maple...then sapwood is what you make furniture with.

:)

 

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Sapwood is the peel of an orange.

Sapwood is the rind on a block of cheese.

Sapwood is the cardboard tube in a roll of paper towels.

Sapwood is the cotton in a bottle of vitamins.

Sapwood is the shell of a peanut.

Sapwood is the receipt for a pack of gum.

Sapwood is the stem of a grape.

Sapwood is the butt of a cigarette.

Sapwood is the gristle on a steak.

Sapwood is the hair on the barber's floor.

Sapwood is the water in a toilet.

Sapwood is the flame of a bonfire.

Unless it's maple...then sapwood is what you make furniture with.

:)

 

I am not a huge fan of cherry sapwood.   But a little bit of walnut sap is beautiful IMO.  These boards are book matched and I used the sap to hide the glue line.     Also non-woodworkers love it.  They are so used to monotone factory finishes they don't know that real wood has natural color variation.   

 

image.jpg

Edited by Guest
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Sapwood is the peel of an orange.

Sapwood is the rind on a block of cheese.

Sapwood is the cardboard tube in a roll of paper towels.

Sapwood is the cotton in a bottle of vitamins.

Sapwood is the shell of a peanut.

Sapwood is the receipt for a pack of gum.

Sapwood is the stem of a grape.

Sapwood is the butt of a cigarette.

Sapwood is the gristle on a steak.

Sapwood is the hair on the barber's floor.

Sapwood is the water in a toilet.

Sapwood is the flame of a bonfire.

Unless it's maple...then sapwood is what you make furniture with.

:)

 

Oh come on ---- tell us how you really feel... :)

 

BTW: I agree completely. I make sure that sap is relegated to the scrap bin or parts of projects that are not visible... Even when not visible, I airbrush sap to blend it -- just in case a woodworker ever turns the project upside-down to see how it was made... :)

 

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Different strokes for different folks I guess.  I don't go out of my way to use it but do like it if is is done well.   I know using sapwood is breaking one of the woodworking 10 commandments.... but I think it was Churchill who said "rules are for people with no imaginations"

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Sapwood is the peel of an orange.

Sapwood is the rind on a block of cheese.

Sapwood is the cardboard tube in a roll of paper towels.

Sapwood is the cotton in a bottle of vitamins.

Sapwood is the shell of a peanut.

Sapwood is the receipt for a pack of gum.

Sapwood is the stem of a grape.

Sapwood is the butt of a cigarette.

Sapwood is the gristle on a steak.

Sapwood is the hair on the barber's floor.

Sapwood is the water in a toilet.

Sapwood is the flame of a bonfire.

Unless it's maple...then sapwood is what you make furniture with.

:)

 

I think I am going to print this out poster size, laminate it, and glue it to the wall of my garage.?

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Ok, so the boards I posted above are an epic fail.  I shall throw them into the wood chipper, take those chips and burn them, bury the ashes, curse them to hell and salt the ground.?

Looked through what I have on hand and while I don't have enough straight grain for the whole top, I think I can get all the glue joints in straight grain area.  I can get 8" out of the wide board (without hitting more sap) with straight grain on both sides.  I'll have to figure out how to flatten the board on one side without an 8" jointer, probably a great opportunity to try out that low angle Jack I just bought.  I recall Marc has a video on it somewhere.   The 6" board is all straight grain so the plan is two 8" boards in the center sandwiched between two 4" boards cut from the 6".image.thumb.jpg.e7dede2c0a20ad20e818d27cimage.thumb.jpg.2ed782d37abb780abf0e4557

 

image.jpg

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Ah, those look much better.  The woodworking gods will be happy with you.

Trip wasn't saying that your entire top should necessarily be ALL straight-grain...he was saying that ideally you use straight grain at the joints because it's so much easier to hide them that way.  What happens in the field of the board away from the joints is less critical as long as the panel in toto has consistency and coherence.  Mismatched joints pull the eye like nothing else.

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This is taking my original post in a different direction, but just curious to learn new things...  If there was a little bit of sap, I think some of you suggested airbrush dye.  How is that done?  I get that a perfect match is impossible, particularly the way cherry darkens with time, but can this methodology create passable results?   This question is partly hypothetical and partly not :-).    

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Sapwood is the peel of an orange.

Sapwood is the rind on a block of cheese.

Sapwood is the cardboard tube in a roll of paper towels.

Sapwood is the cotton in a bottle of vitamins.

Sapwood is the shell of a peanut.

Sapwood is the receipt for a pack of gum.

Sapwood is the stem of a grape.

Sapwood is the butt of a cigarette.

Sapwood is the gristle on a steak.

Sapwood is the hair on the barber's floor.

Sapwood is the water in a toilet.

Sapwood is the flame of a bonfire.

Unless it's maple...then sapwood is what you make furniture with.

:)

 

To say nothing about people who do it wrong and use a live edge. 

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