Popular Post Pwk5017 Posted March 12, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 While not a journal, i did finish up some of the biggest end grain work ive ever done. the maple piece was about 32"x 84"x 3" thick. The walnut piece is 25"x 50"x 5.25". These arent the first large pieces ive done in end grain, and i approached the final glue up a little differently for these two. Instead of relying on my drum sander to slllllllooooowwwwwwwllllly flatten the final glue up, i dominoed each piece for the final glue up. Helped that my KF700 is tuned to perfection and i had perfectly crosscut blanks to glue up. The slider combined with the domino made the final glueups as flawless as ive ever had. The ridges between pieces were just enough to hang up my thumbnail, and took very little time with a rotex and 80 grit to flatten. If you ever find yourself making bigger end grain pieces, i would not hesitate to spend the extra 20 minutes plunging 50-100 mortises with a domino. As long as you have precise crosscut blanks to begin with, the domino will save you a tremendous amount of end grain sanding. Each piece is to large and heavy for me to solo feed through the sander, which is what required an alternative method. With the completion of these two, i am very envious that my kitchen isnt large enough for an island. I cant wait to make myself a similar piece for my own home one day. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Wow!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Those look awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Holy crap I bet those weigh a few ponds! Nice job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Don't let my wife see this. That's fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 OMFG ! So what sanders and grits did you use ? I've never done endgrain thicker than my drum sander can take. I use 3 tables all shimmed up to the infeed & outfeed height. 3rd table is alongside the sander. I keep hands on pushing or pulling to prevent and slip or stall from cutting a divot. Then slide the top over to the third table & slide back to run again. Never have to pick a slab up, just slide, rotate or flip . I have done tops in sections then drum sanded and assembled w dominos and finished it off with a random orbital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 GEEZ !! That walnut one is a monster! How many BF went into that one? Great looking work though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Yeah, the walnut piece was just about the absolute maximum i could pick up by myself. Even then, i still had my wife help me lift it onto the jointer for 3-4 passes. I didnt want to do anything stupid at that point and drop it. I forget what walnut weighs per cubic foot, but it feels like a solid 175lbs. The good thing is it is narrow enough to carry it under your arm. I think i used roughly 70bdft of walnut to make it. With the price of walnut, i was incredibly methodical with my board selection to make each blank. I wanted to minimize milling waste, so i made blanks around 52"+/- long to account for the final crosscuts i needed and the kerf of my cuts. The thickness of that piece meant i couldnt be sloppy with measurements and calculations, because i would be throwing away a handful of <5" wide lengths of 25.5", because they were too short for the final piece. Despite the planning, it was still about $400-450 in wood, half gallon of TBIII, and then whatever 60 8mm dominoes cost. The maple glueup wasnt as perfect as the walnut. I started with 40 grit on the rotex and quickly went through 60, 80, and 100. I typically start with the ETS 150/5 at one grit lower than i finished with the rotex. I treat it like a drum sander, i guess. The scratch pattern it leaves in rotex mode is pretty coarse. The maple piece had more square footage and i remember sanding for a few hours. I did that one in January. The walnut one i should have timed myself. I scraped the glue squeezeout off with a beater chisel, ran the sides over the jointer a few times, and sanded all six sides to 180 grit in about 60 mins. After 180 grit, i routed the edges and wiped it down with a wet rag to raise the grain. I finished it the next morning with 220 grit and oiled it up. I havent done too many tests on if pre-raising does any good for maintaining smoothness through use. My personal cherry/Ipe board is pretty smooth, and i use the crap out of it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan G Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 175 lbs. and you can carry it under your arm? You’ve got more talents than just woodworking! Beautiful pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Those are fantastic. I think I will stick to cutting boards....thank you very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pwk5017 Posted March 12, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 54 minutes ago, K Cooper said: 175 lbs. and you can carry it under your arm? You’ve got more talents than just woodworking! Beautiful pieces. Ha, I didnt mean to imply i carried it one armed, just that its narrowness allows for one arm over the top and the other underneath it. Trust me, i didnt look graceful carrying it. More like a penguin shuffle. At 7% moisture it should weigh 150. 23 minutes ago, Ronn W said: Those are fantastic. I think I will stick to cutting boards....thank you very much. I quickly made a cutting board for my friend's wedding over the weekend, and they go together much faster! I made it from some cherry shorts(12-15") from a recent kitchen counter project. It went together in no time flat starting with S4S lumber. However, takes a lot of cutting boards to amount to much. Only takes two islands to buy a used felder. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 You didn't mention specefics; what finish did you use? They look incredible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 you can find used Felders out there? I want to live where you do haha. So when are you going to be putting a new butcher block counter in your house? haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 1 hour ago, bushwacked said: you can find used Felders out there? I want to live where you do haha. So when are you going to be putting a new butcher block counter in your house? haha Gotta be patient. I looked for 4-6 months before i found the machine i wanted in my budget. It was 3.5 hours away. I freaking wish i had an island I could make a top for!!! We are still in the 1400sf house we bought right out of school, and it has a pretty small and skinny kitchen. Actually, been actively searching for a house the last 9 months and hope to move this year. I sold my 37" drum sander this weekend as i anticipate the move. I will probably drop some more weight in the next month or two. Im going to be closing up shop soon so we can finish he basement and get ready to list the house. A sad, sad day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHD Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 I love the light flecks in the otherwise dark walnut surface. Was this part of the raw walnut, or did you add in lighter colored sticks in your build? Looks like all walnut in the photo, but I can't tell for sure and I haven't seen coloration like that before. Love it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Jim Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Holy cow! I would not even know where to begin making something like that. Got to be careful though, once word gets around you can make that kind of thing I am pretty sure your phone will be ringing off the hook to make more. I hope you enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 48 minutes ago, AHD said: I love the light flecks in the otherwise dark walnut surface. Was this part of the raw walnut, or did you add in lighter colored sticks in your build? Looks like all walnut in the photo, but I can't tell for sure and I haven't seen coloration like that before. Love it... It is all walnut. The light color parts you notice are the sapwood. This is the younger portion of the tree that grows nearest to the cambium layer. I dont know why walnut darkens with age, but this all becomes quite clear when you see a felled tree. This client saw another project i made and liked the contrast of the sapwood, so i did my best to incorporate some. I had 2 sappy boards that i sprinkled into my primary glueups to give a uniform distribution in the final glue up. This is unsteamed walnut, which maintains the lightness of the sapwood. Steaming the wood in the kiln muddies the light sapwood. Actually, im quite certain the original island they liked was steamed walnut. Im sure you will notice the difference, despite the quality of these photos. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHD Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Thanks. I love end grain stuff when it's a bit funky like this. Here's a side table I made from off-cuts from previous projects. You can probably find pieces of a kitchen sink in there if you look closely enough Sorry if something other than an island is too off-topic for this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisc Posted March 14, 2018 Report Share Posted March 14, 2018 Whoa! I love the walnut one. To pretty to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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