What are you building with your milled wood? merged

[Czech_Made]

That is pure wood p o r n, Bob!

 

[BigOakAdot]

Got my first ever customer/commissioned project. A friend of a friend wanted a coffee table made and he chose the slab from pics of a cherry tree I milled 2 years ago.

Member htetreau welded me some custom steel legs again and they turned out great. If anyone lives near the Philadelphia area I would highly recommend him if you're in need of any metal work.

BOA

 

[BobL]

BIL just sent me a couple more picks of that slab

Here is what it looked like of the pack of slabs - underside view


Back edge trimmed and part sanded


Top view Edges rounded and trimmed to fit into spot

 

[BigOakAdot]

Is that walnut?

 

[BobL]

Is that walnut?

Nope - its a very common Eucalypt called Spotted gum.
It's about 2.5x harder than Walnut so its not that easy to work but because of this and often interlocking grain it is not often used for furniture but for construction lumber.
Usually it's much lighter = something like this colour

The big slab was from a tree that was in a park which might have something to do with the darker colour.
Spotted Gum is native to east coast Oz where it grows tall and straight but I've seen loads of it growing in stunted/twisted forms in southern CA and other parts of the world.
South west Australia where I live is considered an international Biodiversity hotspot and Spotted Gun is considered a bit of a weed displacing local native trees.

 

[BigOakAdot]

It really does have a similar grain pattern to walnut but is definitely a little lighter in color. Regardless it
Looks amazing and thanks for the info.

 

[BobL]

Here is a couple of shots of that BBQ bench in its finished position.
BIL is an ally welder so he made the brackets from rolled RHS Al tube and welded the ends closed.
Paint is the same as that used for the brick walls around his courtyard.

 

[Shawn Curry]

Here's my latest project - a pair of restaurant booths for a local bar. The customers stopped by yesterday to see it and they were thrilled. Lumber is red maple, sawn from my own trees of course.

 

[Shawn Curry]

 

[lone wolf]

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Very cool indeed!

 

[295 tramp]

Magnificent Shawn
Is the tops one piece?
Great work there
Always a great feeling to see your work in public.

 

[Shawn Curry]

Magnificent Shawn
Is the tops one piece?
Great work there
Always a great feeling to see your work in public.

Thanks! The table tops are made from 2 book matched slabs each. It's 4 sequential slices from the same log. 2 more slices from the outside of that log became bench seats. The table legs and feet are quartersawn 4x4 stock, all sawn from another single log.

Here's another pic that shows off the curly figure a little better:

 

[DTrap]

Those tables and benches are gorgeous. Excellent work sir.

 

[KiwiBro]

Nice set Shawn. Can I ask how the backs are attached to their supports? I see the dowels but no mortices in the exposed support so am not sure how those bits come together but am keen to learn. Always keen to learn. Thanks for posting the pics. Would be great to see them in-situ if you get the chance for another pic at a later date.

*ETA, after a bad run of heavily used pipe clamps, I gave up on them in favour of sash clamps. Not as quick to set-up but they don't slip like all my beyond-their-use-by-date pipe clamps used to.

 

[Shawn Curry]

Thanks! All of the slabs get screwed to these cleats; which have slotted holes to allow for seasonal movement. And then the dowels connect them to the frame. They can be removed, so the benches can be knocked down to 2 slabs and the frame. The table can also be knocked down to the top, stretcher, and 2 leg assemblies.

 

[Shawn Curry]

Regarding the pipe clamps, I agree they're not the best and I usually only use them as a last resort. But it took every single clamp I own assembling those bench frames. I should have used cauls with them too cause the one frame got a little dented.

But they work great for my sliding table bandsaw jig:

 

[BobL]

Great design on those tables and chairs - very impressive!

 

[pa.hunter]

here you go

 

[295 tramp]

nice looking mill

 

[Shawn Curry]

I made these yesterday. Ash and Walnut. I'm keeping one for myself and giving the other one to the customers for the restaurant booths.