wtnhighlander Posted October 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 Yeah, I hit ebay after Vinny suggested it. Complete letter sets are kind of pricey, and of course, lead is a deal breaker. I wonder, though ... lots of stuff on YouTube about backyard furnaces to melt & cast aluminum. Would Al take the heat for branding before it melted? Edit: Seems the answer is yes, but heating it with a torch, without exceeding the melt point, might be tricky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 It's hard to improve on excellence. I think you're there Ross, er Mc, M! Cooler than Rockler's ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 It's hard to improve on excellence. I think you're there Ross, er Mc, M! Cooler than Rockler's ! Agreed. Bada$$ indeed 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapid Roger Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 C Shaffer, That is exactly what I was going to bring up.My wife's foster father was a printer and owned a small town news paper and she set a lot of type for him. The type for printing is cast from lead and wouldn't hold up well enough to get through the first heating up.Now if you wanted to make a branding iron and use printing type and an ink pad to mark your work....You're in the money! Rog 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 Got in some shop time today. Made some trim for two of the boxes, using my miter sled. This one isn't fully trimmed yet. Have to glue some pieces on, the flush them up and cut more to fit. Also made a cove-cut raised panel lid for one. It looks like this, dry fit together. Ran out if time, so I didn't get any glue on this one yet. Still need to turn some sort of knob to lift the top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 Cool looking zebra wood lid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Cool looking zebra wood lid! Thanks, if only it were zebra wood! ? I doubt anyone I give it to is likely to know the difference between zebrawood and a spalted hunk of pallet lumber! ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Thanks, if only it were zebra wood! ? I doubt anyone I give it to is likely to know the difference between zebrawood and a spalted hunk of pallet lumber! ?WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 I didn't want to chime in and say that you got ripped off by your zebra wood supplier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Due to the noise, I have to be very selective about when I do my milling. I learned a good way to joint wider boards with my 6" jointer, from Jay Bates: https://youtu.be/-bF5CRSMEHc Works great. The opportunity arose this evening, so I spent 3 1/2 hours turning some of these: Into a stack of these: ... and a pile of this: Working in the dark is a pain. I'll be glad when spring and DST roll back around! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Ok, just to prove I haven't abandoned this project, here are some photos I shot after a few minutes if shoptime today: Don't know if you can tell it this pic, but the ROS makes very interesting scratch patterns in aluminum when you vary pressure on the pad. This is an end-grain block that is far too porous for a cutting board, but I think it will make an interesting power-carved bowl / dish. I discovered that I can get several minutes of running my air-powered die grinder between tank refills, if I lower the PSI output of my pancake compressor to 20. That spins a rotary rasp or cutting burr fast enough to be useful in wood. Actually seems easier to control a coarse rasp this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 So, sometimes things don't go as planned. ? The miters on this box weren't all that clean and tight under the surface. I wanted a slight chamfer on the corners, but that revealed the less than stellar joints. To work around this, I changed the design. Using a square cut rip blade in my TS, I cut small grooves / rabbets around all the corners, into which I fitted some walnut banding strips. Only these vertical corners are initially glued in. Here, the remainder of the walnut banding is in place, but not glued. I will first trim the vertical corners flush to the surface, then glue the horizontal banding, flushing it up after it dries. This image shows the wide decorative band around the middle. This has chamfered edges, and will be left proud of the surface. It is purposefully offset toward what will become the top of the box. I will saw through this band to seperate the top and bottom. Ran out of time this morning, so I hope to do some glue-up this evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wtnhighlander Posted November 17, 2015 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 One more step completed. Banding glue up. I also flush-trimmed the box with aluminum trim. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted November 17, 2015 Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 Looking good man. Nice audible on the design. I think it will look great with the walnut banding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Looking good man. Nice audible on the design. I think it will look great with the walnut banding. Thanks! This gives me a little insight on how guitar banding works, just no curves. Good skill builder in small steps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 This morning I flush-trimmed the banding, and sanded to remove some rub marks left by the router bit bearing. Here are the three boxes currently in progress. One more is waiting in the wings. With any luck, "Global Warming" will hold out until I get a finish on these! (careful, Coop. That's just a joke, not a political statement. Don't want anyone getting banned! ?) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Gorgeous Ross. You going to put a chamfer on the bottom edges for the float effect? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) Prime lesson: Mill your moldings BEFORE application. Here lies the danger of designing on the fly.The box with the lift-off lid in my previous post needed a shape to the applied moldings, but I wasn't sure what until I saw it together. I thought I could manage on the router table. I took 2 passes with a core box bit to get a hollow to the width I wanted, but got stuck on rounding over the edge that is against the box body. I planned to take the bearing off a 1/8" roundover and use the fence to guide it, but the bearing support post interferes with the side of the box. I wound up using a block plane.I will fair it a bit with sandpaper, and even out the hollow with sandpaper wrapped on a dowel. The edge away from the box body will get some treatment as well. Probably a small chamfer on the edge, and perhaps a shallow V-groove below the hollow. Much of it will be removed to form bracket feet anyway. To answer your question, Vinny, chamfering sounds good for the box with aluminum and oak edges. The pine & walnut box, though ... the walnut banding is so thin, I'm afraid nothing would be left after making a visible chamfer. I think I will settle for easing the edges with fine sandpaper only. The wide 'belt' around the middle is chamfered, though. Edited November 19, 2015 by wtnhighlander adding text Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Quick update: I had just enough time this morning, to add the roundover to the top molding, v-groove the bottom molding, and notch the bottom to form bracket feet. Results thus far: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Yet another side track, here is a bowl / dish I'm making as a gift. An end grain block of red oak and walnut. Smells like... , well it smells very unique. I don't have a plunge router, yet... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Ok, I know these are unrelated, but I'm just gonna morph this into a general thread of Christmas gift projects. Cutting board blanks in process: I picked up a cheap paint roller, with an "ultra smooth surface" roll in it. Soooooo much better than brushing glue at this volume. I really thought I'd lose a lot in the foam roller, but it seems to be much less than the excessive squeeze-out I had when brushing. And here is progess on a carved dish. Don't try this at home, kids. Once I removed all the material I could with the router in its base, I resorted to using it like a die grinder. Not safe or smart. I managed, since it is a smaller machine, but could easily have damaged my work or myself. This sort of led to the early Christmas gift I posted elsewhere. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Curry Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Very nice. Keep the updates coming 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Ok, I know these are unrelated, but I'm just gonna morph this into a general thread of Christmas gift projects. Cutting board blanks in process: I picked up a cheap paint roller, with an "ultra smooth surface" roll in it. Soooooo much better than brushing glue at this volume. I really thought I'd lose a lot in the foam roller, but it seems to be much less than the excessive squeeze-out I had when brushing. And here is progess on a carved dish. Don't try this at home, kids. Once I removed all the material I could with the router in its base, I resorted to using it like a die grinder. Not safe or smart. I managed, since it is a smaller machine, but could easily have damaged my work or myself. This sort of led to the early Christmas gift I posted elsewhere. Im scared just looking at the pic of that router with the base removed. You are a badass Ross. Nice work, looks really good! Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 With a rotary rasp or burr, this is probably little worse than using a pneumatic die grinder. With the 2 flute bit, however, catching and having the tool fly out of your hand is distinctly possible. Carves like a dream, though, even if holding it is pretty awkward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted November 24, 2015 Report Share Posted November 24, 2015 Did you try clamping an additional surface flush with your work that would support the base of the router on the perimeter? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.