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Thursday, January 19, 2012

One big honkin' piece of cherry

One of the most overlooked parts of many projects is the stock selection.  Not just choosing the right boards, but also finding the best way to integrate grain, hide glue joints, and work around (or even incorporate) defects into the project.  I've found this is one of the biggest trade-offs you can make in quality versus cost.  Typically, the widest, thickest boards give you the most flexibility (and are usually the highest quality sticks in the bin) but also come at a premium price.  I've learned long ago this is the last place you want to skimp.  So in this episode I'll show you how I carefully selected and then laid out the pieces on a $150 piece of 12/4 cherry.

There was actually way more footage than I could manage to use on the actual layout of each individual piece in my stack lamination.  However, I plan to produce a bonus video after the final episode in this series that really does a deep-dive in my process.  If you're a real wood geek, keep your eyes open for that down the road.
Enjoy!



Right click to download the HD version of this video

10 comments:

kgoold said...

Great video. Finewoodworking.com actually had an article a few weeks back about some guy cutting his dovetails for a blanket chest with a reciprocating saw.

Kelton Goold
gooldworkshop.blogspot.com

Rob Bois said...

Wow! I might just throw away my hand saws and start using the reciprocating saw for everything!

Marilyn in Seattle said...

Sawzall Baby! Took down my garage with that thing. Wait .. that's not fine wood working. Don't suppose a hand saw was an option? :o)

Rob Bois said...

Yeah, I could have used a hand saw. I just don't have a good crosscut saw. My only hand saws are back saws for joinery. Plus, I like having fun with rough-around-the-edges power tools now and again ;)

Bruce Somers said...

Nice chunk of wood Rob.....FYI,,, high quality crosscut handsaws are plentiful on EBay....Just saying...

Garnet70 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Garnet70 said...

Rob,

You were testing the limits of your jointer there. Do you often wish for a 12" wide bed? I see the 12" combo jointer/planer machines and wonder the added jointer width would be worth the reduced planer width. What do you think?

Rob Bois said...

I would absolutely love to have a 12" jointer. However, a standard 12" jointer would just be too big for the space I have allocated in the shop. I did briefly consider the jointer/planer combo but I'm not ready to give up dedicated machines. I also don't often find myself buying stock wider than 8-9", so my current jointer is usually sufficient for what I need to do. Plus, the 12" version of my jointer is over $5K, which is another limiting factor for me ;)

Garnet70 said...

Rob,

I was thinking more along the lines of a $2K machine like the Laguna, Jet or Rikon, which would also be nice in a small shop. Outside of the brief changeover times, I don't see the upside to dedicated machines anymore. I wonder what you and others think of machines like these.

Rob Bois said...

Honestly having not used a hybrid machine, I can't compare. I have read the more recent reviews and it seems the changover is getting fairly quick and easy with the latest models. The one hesitation I might have is the length of the jointer beds. My 8" PM is about 74" long while these machines have significantly shorter beds. That could be a problem with jointing longer stock, but the 12" width might still be a good trade-off. If one of those manufacturers wants to send me one, I'd be more than happy to put it through it's paces ;)