I have access to a big, expensive bandsaw at work. It hasn't been well-maintained, but I have no other options for milling the mesquite logs that were salvageable (more of them than I thought, It might not have been termites after all). I spent Sunday evening reconditioning the thing, to the best of my ability, and Monday I replaced the blade and milled up some stock that will eventually be more boxes of some sort. Look at the swirling figure of the one on the left. God, that's cool-looking! I can't wait to see that become a thing.
The previous Saturday, I had gotten paid for some computer work, and took a trip to Lowes to see if anything struck my fancy. Check out this sweet red oak board I found. (left image) It's 8' long, and has this spectacular waterfall figuring all the way down it. I think I'll be able to get 3 thin boards cut out of it, but I'm not sure what it'll get used for yet.
The same day, a friend of mine showed me this weird-looking wood he had salvaged from a couple of shipping pallets. (right image) We aren't sure what kind of wood it is, but man does it have some personality. I'm gonna see if he can spare some, so I can design a deckbox from it.
This weekend, I'm hoping to be able to save some more of that mesquite. There were several large logs I was excited about, and it would make me really sad to lose them.
Single Deck Side-Loader — Texas Mesquite
This little dude just got completed recently. It's the first time I've successfully created a friction-fit single-deck box, and my first real success with mitered edges. The next one will be even better, as I learned TONS from this project. This is the kind of design I would like to have down to a science in the near future.
As pictured, the wood for this box was self-milled from a mesquite log. It was one of many that I collected when the mesquite trees outside my shop were cut down by the property owners. Most of the rest of the logs have since had to be discarded due to a termite infestation, so it was lucky I milled this one up right away.
The box was a gift to someone I know who has a hobby of collecting tarot decks (despite not believing anything magical about them). I designed a custom tarot deck out of MtG tokens that was included in the gift. That's the deck you see pictured. It went over very well.
Woodworking has been my new favorite hobby for about a year now. Eventually, the goal is to churn out quality, custom deckboxes and the like, and sell them to my LGS. I'm not efficient enough yet to keep up with an even moderate local demand, so for now I'm just tinkinering around, trying out different designs. I'll post my favorites here for your perusal (and maybe to get your impressions? Every opinion helps.)
So, here we go...
Slide-top Cube Box — Red Oak (Stained)
This was my first satisfactory finished product. The box joints were made with a sloppy, experimental method on a rinky-dink table saw that I've since upgraded from (as described in a previous thread on the topic), but I won't be attempting that method of joinery again until I have a quality saw with better accuracy than the one I have now. Still, it turned out well for what went into it.
I have access to a big, expensive bandsaw at work. It hasn't been well-maintained, but I have no other options for milling the mesquite logs that were salvageable (more of them than I thought, It might not have been termites after all). I spent Sunday evening reconditioning the thing, to the best of my ability, and Monday I replaced the blade and milled up some stock that will eventually be more boxes of some sort. Look at the swirling figure of the one on the left. God, that's cool-looking! I can't wait to see that become a thing.
The previous Saturday, I had gotten paid for some computer work, and took a trip to Lowes to see if anything struck my fancy. Check out this sweet red oak board I found. (left image) It's 8' long, and has this spectacular waterfall figuring all the way down it. I think I'll be able to get 3 thin boards cut out of it, but I'm not sure what it'll get used for yet.
The same day, a friend of mine showed me this weird-looking wood he had salvaged from a couple of shipping pallets. (right image) We aren't sure what kind of wood it is, but man does it have some personality. I'm gonna see if he can spare some, so I can design a deckbox from it.
This weekend, I'm hoping to be able to save some more of that mesquite. There were several large logs I was excited about, and it would make me really sad to lose them.
This little dude just got completed recently. It's the first time I've successfully created a friction-fit single-deck box, and my first real success with mitered edges. The next one will be even better, as I learned TONS from this project. This is the kind of design I would like to have down to a science in the near future.
As pictured, the wood for this box was self-milled from a mesquite log. It was one of many that I collected when the mesquite trees outside my shop were cut down by the property owners. Most of the rest of the logs have since had to be discarded due to a termite infestation, so it was lucky I milled this one up right away.
The box was a gift to someone I know who has a hobby of collecting tarot decks (despite not believing anything magical about them). I designed a custom tarot deck out of MtG tokens that was included in the gift. That's the deck you see pictured. It went over very well.
So, here we go...
Slide-top Cube Box — Red Oak (Stained)
This was my first satisfactory finished product. The box joints were made with a sloppy, experimental method on a rinky-dink table saw that I've since upgraded from (as described in a previous thread on the topic), but I won't be attempting that method of joinery again until I have a quality saw with better accuracy than the one I have now. Still, it turned out well for what went into it.