A relaxing sunday in the man cave

[YorkshireMartin]

Since getting into this lark I've had my ups and downs but today was one of those days where everything just worked.

Took a bunch of rather banana'esque rough sawn maple over to the planer and did absolutely nothing all day except manufacture pristine white, perfectly square and true planks of maple for the dining suite build. I've never used maple before and heard all sorts of stories about it being a nightmare to work with, but in the event, it wasn't all that bad. Just a question of working at a gentle pace, hence the relaxation aspect I think.

Sometimes, it's just such a joy to do a simple task. What could be more satisfying than taking a chewed up messy bit of timber that most people wouldn't look twice at, and make it into something with potential, it's almost as satisfying as actually building something with it.

I really get a kick out of these simple tasks. Thought I'd share the thought and see if anyone could relate.

Time to sharpen the planer blades me thinks...

 

[skipdiver]

Sounds like a great day to me. Was blowing a hooly and lashing with rain here and i spent the day in the warm watching stuff on youtube and eating snacks. Got a load of MDF to paint in the man cave and couldn't face it today.

Those planks look fab.

 

[YorkshireMartin]

Sounds like a great day to me. Was blowing a hooly and lashing with rain here and i spent the day in the warm watching stuff on youtube and eating snacks. Got a load of MDF to paint in the man cave and couldn't face it today.

Those planks look fab.

Aye, we had a storm too, it was blowing a gale here and the rain was torrential, but once the heater was on and the planer running, the outside disappeared.

My wife came to help me for a while and did a board for me. Even she admitted that she found it relaxing. That was unexpected...lol

The maple is lovely, I'm really pleased with it considering its my first purchase of the stuff. Added bonus is the chips can be used on the BBQ come spring time.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Its usually the ripple stuff that gives the issues. Sometimes ive bought boards that were just labelled as being standard but found they turned out to be rippled, you cant tell when they're in the rough sawn form.

 

[YorkshireMartin]

Its usually the ripple stuff that gives the issues. Sometimes ive bought boards that were just labelled as being standard but found they turned out to be rippled, you cant tell when they're in the rough sawn form.

If I could have found some curly or birdseye, I'd have tried that. curly was my first choice.

I just seem to have a hard time finding anything unusual around here.

 

[MIGNAL]

Well the rippled stuff is either bought by the veneer producers or it's sold at a higher price to those who are prepared to pay a premium for figured wood.

 

[custard]

If I could have found some curly or birdseye, I'd have tried that. curly was my first choice.

I just seem to have a hard time finding anything unusual around here.

Rippled Sycamore isn't that difficult to find, and Sycamore's a pretty close relative to Maple, so close in fact that you'd often struggle to tell them apart in a finished piece.

The only problem is that it's a bit like the buses, nothing for ages then a load comes along at once! Consequently when it is available you have to be prepared to fill your boots.

Surrey Timbers had some fairly decent Rippled Sycamore for sale in September and October, and Timberline had a lot of exceptional boards of Rippled Sycamore for sale in the early part of 2014. I think I was paying about £90-100 per cube for the Timberline stock and about £60-70 at Surrey Timbers. Given that bog standard Sycamore goes for about £35-40 and the really white,clean stuff fetches £45-60 I don't think these were bad prices at all. You may still find stocks at both yards, but it will have been well picked over by now so only the poorer boards will remain.

I've still got some of these boards in my workshop I can add a few photos if anyone's interested.

By the way, you want to get those Maple boards in stick, leave them for a few days to settle, then move them down to final dimension in increments.

Good luck!

 

[YorkshireMartin]

If I could have found some curly or birdseye, I'd have tried that. curly was my first choice.

I just seem to have a hard time finding anything unusual around here.

Rippled Sycamore isn't that difficult to find, and Sycamore's a pretty close relative to Maple, so close in fact that you'd often struggle to tell them apart in a finished piece.

The only problem is that it's a bit like the buses, nothing for ages then a load comes along at once! Consequently when it is available you have to be prepared to fill your boots.

Surrey Timbers had some fairly decent Rippled Sycamore for sale in September and October, and Timberline had a lot of exceptional boards of Rippled Sycamore for sale in the early part of 2014. I think I was paying about £90-100 per cube for the Timberline stock and about £60-70 at Surrey Timbers. Given that bog standard Sycamore goes for about £35-40 and the really white,clean stuff fetches £45-60 I don't think these were bad prices at all. You may still find stocks at both yards, but it will have been well picked over by now so only the poorer boards will remain.

I've still got some of these boards in my workshop I can add a few photos if anyone's interested.

By the way, you want to get those Maple boards in stick, leave them for a few days to settle, then move them down to final dimension in increments.

Good luck!

Interesting, I hadn't considered sycamore, despite spending most of my youth climbing up the enormous specimens in my parents garden.

Thanks for the tip on the maple. I did acclimitise it for a week before planing but I didn't plane it down in increments as my time is so limited. I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.