Welcome to Woodworker++

This blog is intended to be a journal of my progress as a woodworker. Grab a drink, maybe some popcorn, sit back and enjoy a glimpse into my woodworking projects, both failed and successful. Why should you care what I do, or what I have to say? You shouldn't, but just maybe I can keep you from making the same mistakes that I had to learn the hard way.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Reclaimed mahogany...

Last night I cut a piece of the mahogany to try and plane. I used my #5 and cleaned the face on a piece about 18" long. A hand plane is not the best way to clean paint off of a board. I see a lot of sharpening in my future. There was a bout 1/16" to 1/8" of marine paint the board. The mahogany underneath was preserved by the paint. Oh W-O-W. It was awesome. Straight grained mahogany that would be perfect for a piece of furniture. I can't wait to figure out a project to use it on. Maybe my Krenov cabinet? Dunno.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Oh yeah...

... I picked up some of that mahogany. It's got about 1/16" or more marine paint on it. Hopefully that preserved it and there's some good looking wood underneath. I got a few boards just to play with. I'll make a few swipes with my #5 and see how it looks.

Pop's place...

I visited my grandfather Sunday. Luckily, I caught him at the beginning of a project. He's been asked to replace the stock on this old shotgun. We can't tell if it's Japanese or Chinese writing on the gun, but it's definately not English. Anyway, I told him I was going to take pictures of his progress. Here you can see he has his rough length marked out on a piece of 8/4 walnut.

Me: "Is there anything special about the grain orientation?"
Pop: "Oh yeah, the stock has to be in the long grain direction" [Like you see in the picture]
Me: "Oh I see, that way the long grain takes the shock of firing."
Pop: "Yup, if it were cross-grain it would split."


I made sure to get a picture of the checkering. Pop likes checkering gun stocks. The past few haven't had checkering, but this one does. He's pumped, my words not his, to get to do the checkering.

So, I'll update the progress he makes on this gunstock.

And yes, that is Jedi Kleenex.
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