My brother-in-law Larry and I went on a wood quest this morning and I found a clear piece of 4/4 cherry about 9' long and 12 1/2" wide! A few trips thru the planer and table saw netted this one-piece solid top. It was too bulky to edge-joint so I did the first edge with a hand plane. Much to my surprise, it came out square to the face and I pulled full-width full-length shavings from it.
Even more to my surprise, I also managed to pull full-width, full-length shavings on the end grain with my super-duper LN LA block plane - what a great feeling.
Soft maple for the legs, aprons, and drawer fronts. The board standing up is still in the rough - those are saw marks, not figure. On top of the jointer: milled up apron stock, and squared, glued-up blanks for the legs.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Painted hall table begins
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2 comments:
Does "a clear piece" mean clear of knots?
Hey Ric,
Yes: clear of knots, sapwood, AND defects.
The outer few inches of a cherry tree are made of "sapwood," which is a different color than "heartwood" (heartwood is the rich, reddish desired wood. A piece this wide and long with no evidence of sapwood or branches would have to come out of a very large, mature, slow-growing tree - and they're not so common as they were in the 18th century.
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