Work In Progress 2014

[trilobyte]

Continuing on from this great thread, tell us about (and show us pics of) that awesome, cool, fun project you're working on at home. If you're working on an awesome piece of playawear, tell us about that here - if it's some other awesome playa project, post about it here. Some of us like to live vicariously through other people's adventures, while others are inspired and motivated by seeing what other people are doing. It doesn't need to be a how-to or instructional guide, and it's okay if you don't have pics (though take some next time), show us what you've got!

[ygmir]

I'm starting a new table top:

picking material, 2+ inches thick blue stained pine:


grain matching:


edge matching and marking for dowels:


making 9/16 dia red oak dowels on a metal lathe for accuracy:





joint planed and chamfered, locating dowel spots:


drilling dowel holes:


dowels in, ready for glue and clamping:


I'll also be reinforcing the bottom side with steel strapping and wood stiffeners, since this will free sit on a pair of wine barrels.

[trilobyte]

Wow, that looks like a really awesome project, Yggy! That's going to be one seriously awesome tabletop!

Speaking of tabletops, I think I need clear everything off that artspace island I built last fall and put a bunch more coats of minwax on it. I had only put a few on, since Pandorra was talking about wanting to do some kind of découpage design work. She's since changed her mind and likes the top as is...

[trilobyte]

Meanwhile, much of my day has been spent working on designing and rendering textures. In particular, I'm working on playa dust. This will be stuff I can use in rendering playa projects in 3D programs, and also with realtime 3D environments like Second Life. For SL, I want to come up with something that doesn't take much effort to load (because most people don't have high end fancy computer gear), but just sort of feels right. There are lots of geeky details, but here's where I'm at so far.



Sunset Planet Dust

[ygmir]

So Trilo:
you "create" that surface appearance? like calculations and such, to come up with what it looks like?
Is that stuff, then others can buy, to make their projects look "right"? Or do they take it when you post it?

[burner von braun]

Wow! That's a heavy duty table you have there yggy! I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like completed.

..and nice rendering Trilo!
*howls at setting sun*

[ygmir]

more work on the table:

squaring ends:


matching grain direction (note glue joint in middle ish):



3" metal straps, oak cross stiffeners and alignment (push/pull with shims to straighten top as possible), fir long stiffeners/mounting surface:



to hand flatten/smooth/level the top, I rub a straight edge around, and it leaves marks on the high spots, which I circle with pencil, then sand down with a belt sander. Yeah, it's time consuming, and never comes out "glass flat" but, to me, it's more "hand work" and the look goes with it.




cut to size, and initial leveling and 50 grit sanding done, the blue stain is coming through nicely. Also note worm/beetle tunnels:



more sanding then I'll start the layers of lacquer.

[MyDearFriend]

Absolutely beautiful, Yggy, and very impressive! Thanks for sharing all of that with us!

[ygmir]

haha so, if I ever say "I'm still 25 years old, so I'll go fall an 80' cedar (standing dead) with wedges alone", someone kick me!!
dang, because first you make your face cut, that's ok, but, as you cut the back, you have to drive wedges in with a 3 lb. hammer, beating the hell out of them, to get the tree to fall the direction you want, (it wanted to fall the other way) the whole while saw a little at a time, and varying direction of cut to find the weak, and the "holding" wood. As you can see, it ended up with pretty much the entire weight of the tree on the wedges, since when it finally "went", there was very little holding wood left. And, you can't stop and "take 5" while all this is going on, because if the wind changes, or whatever, the tree can start to go the wrong way, and it's almost impossible to recover once it starts going.
But, sawing and driving, the rascal fell exactly on the road where I wanted, so that was nice.! Then, I just collapsed next to it for about 10 minutes trying to catch my breath! haha old and fat, indeed!!

Stihl 066, 36" bar, full tooth chain, 3 wedges and my hard hat! 36" stump.



tree horizontal limbed and bucked:



and I had a chance to get the first coat of tung oil finish on the table.........I did one the other day which didn't please me, so I stripped it and started over:

[MyDearFriend]

Wow!!! Totally impressive. You da man, Yggy!

[ygmir]

and was only bleeding from my nose and both arms, and only for a while, it stopped now!!!

I'm really looking forward, to making some stuff, going from falling the tree, to making the lumber, to making "whatever" it ends up being.

[trilobyte]

I finally got around to putting a few more layers of clear-coat on the artspace island I made last fall...





The 'plain' wood surface may seem more boring than if we'd stained or painted it, but that's the same kind of plywood used in the construction of Otic Oasis (2011-2012), the Pistil (2012), and the Temple Of Whollyness (2013). That baltic birch is incredibly hard stuff, and I'm amazed at how a 3/4 inch piece of wood winds up being as sturdy as something twice as thick. The pictures above don't do it justice, but the plywood layers that show on the edges are really beautiful, and everytime I look at it I think of those great pieces of playa art. Below is an older pic that shows that edging.

[ygmir]

very nice Trilo! What are you using for the clear coat?

[trilobyte]

MinWax, I can't remember the name of the exact stuff. It's water-based, so cleaning up any drips and brushes is a breeze, goes on milky, and then dries clear and hard. It's a satin/matte finish, so once it dries it's not glossy or shiny. The same stuff I used for all the ziggurat parts

[Patsh]

MinWax, I can't remember the name of the exact stuff. It's water-based, so cleaning up any drips and brushes is a breeze, goes on milky, and then dries clear and hard. It's a satin/matte finish, so once it dries it's not glossy or shiny. The same stuff I used for all the ziggurat parts

Sounds like Deft... super hard, semi gloss, clear finish, water-soluble and kind of milky before it dries. (I like Deft!)

[theCryptofishist]

I went to school with Min Wax. Nice girl.

[ygmir]

well, got a start on a new monument project......and it's related to BurningMan.

the slab:

setting it in place, to look for defects and decide shape and size:



starting to drill split holes. splitting will be done with "wedge and feather" technique, just like the old days.



last one:

drilling done, ready to start splitting, then on to chisels:

secured, so if it goes wrong, maybe it won't fall on me:

[C187]

I knew it was going to be big. But I didn't think it was going to be that big!
It's going to come out lovely in your skilled hands.

[Joeln]

First I looked at this thread - you guys are doing some nice work.

[MyDearFriend]

What what what, Yggy? Can you tell us or will you just show us?

[ygmir]

What what what, Yggy? Can you tell us or will you just show us?

I'll post as I progress with it. it'll be a long process, but, I'm hoping neat when finished.

[EspressoDude]

what a bunch of projects! Yggie; I once had a Mac saw that size, what a handful, put an Alaska sawmill on the bar and made 2" Alaska yellow cedar slaps for a deck, left them rough. Used that saw and technique to drop a huge oak tree alongside a house, used a winch tied up high to help it go the right way.

wood finishing: just before the varnish gets totally hard, use a razorblade to shave the surface. levels out the brush marks and puddles of finish. watch the corners of the blade, knock them down with a sharpening stone or grinder. backside of a hacksaw blade can be dressed to work also. practice on some scrap first.

[Thorormr]

This is currently in the easel. I'll walk past it a couple more days before deciding if it's done finally.

[theCryptofishist]

You need some galaxies spinning the other direction...

[trilobyte]

Nice stonework, Yggy! You're not kidding about "just like the old days" - isn't that how they cut and split stone back in ancient Egypt? I'm not that familiar with stoneworking techniques, but that term rings a bell from a documentary or two I've seen on how they used to build that stuff.. If it's a playa project, don't forget about the playa project WIP thread. I was hoping that by having one there for playa stuff it'd encourage more ppl to share what they're doing through the year for TTITD, but so far it's been a slow start.

Cool painting, Thor!

Deft sounds like the same stuff, Patsh. I'm not that familiar with all the various kinds of coatings, the minwax stuff just looked like the best available choice from the area hardware joints I checked out when I was planning the project last year. Prior to that I had no idea a water-based poly-coat was even a possibility (I thought all poly/plastic coatings were going to be oil or petro-chemical solutions).

[Thorormr]

This


Got a set of casters


And a fresh coat of paint

The pinky thistle color was called Desert Travels . . .

[trilobyte]

Here's a project I've been tinkering with over the last few days.... Trilo's Utility Cart Of Doom!

I wanted to create a rock solid cart that I can use for the "in the city" time for a propane powered pizza oven that we have on the way. As a propane grill, it's not really intended for indoor use, so I needed something I can easily roll outside when we want to use it (we live on the first floor and have a street access door). It needed to be able to hold the oven, pizza-making tools, and tank and easy enough to move in and out easily (as well as get around corners and whatnot).

Rather than build something from the ground up, I decided to go the DIY route with shelving components from a local supplier. All the vertical poles were either too short or too long... so go with too long and cut them down to size. Then assemble the bits and pieces and beat on them with a dead blow hammer to convince them of the importance of being sturdy. I wanted a butcher block top, but the only option they had was both ridiculously expensive and just not the size I wanted. I hit up the local lumber despot to grab a chunk of lumber that was thick enough for what I wanted, use the calipers to check its thickness as well as the diameter of the vertical poles on the cart, and sat down with the software I use to design for CNC design. Since I have access to the high tech tools, I figured I'd use them to drill the holes so I could be certain that a) the hole would be the exact size and b) all 4 holes would be the exact same depth. I had gotten time on the tool booked for this morning at my local workshop joint, and did just that. Once the holes were drilled, I used the table saw to get the wood to the exact size, and the table router to round off all the corners of the butcher block. Once I got it back home, I gave the wood it's first coating of oil, then popped it onto the cart and hammered it into place (I probably could have made the holes a tiny fraction bigger, but it all worked out and there is zero wiggle room). A few more applications of cutting board oil later, and I'm really happy with how it all turned out.

[ygmir]

very nice, Trilo!! a cart of many uses, I'm sure!

[MyDearFriend]

Yay, Cart!!! Cat looks terrified, too. Good work!

[trilobyte]

She had tried walking on the bottom shelf, and found that it wasn't so friendly for kitty paws. That and I'd just rolled it around the room a bunch to test my caster heights...