The next project…
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Hi all,
I feel that I have to say something regarding this topic.
First of all I’m looking forward to see the table series. I guess I won’t build the coffee table, but I have to build a writing desk and I assume that I can use a lot of the techniques and ideas we will see in the future.
But I’m struggling a lot with buying wood. My experience is, that in Germany working wood is not popular like in the US for example.
The lumberyards here are more for professionals than for private woodworkers. So as Florian said in his post. The thinnest lumber you can get is 1″. And this a rough board so that you have to prepare it before you can start your work (no problem with pine and spruce).
It would be great if there would be a video how to deal with that. And no, I did not have thickness planer.
I think about building the table in beech, which I personally like more than oak. And beech is more often available as pre dimensioned lumber.
@ Florian
For a table it might be that predefined moldings are an alternative. But of course you have to glue panels from it.
In my area you can buy moldings in oak and beach up to 20mm x 100mm (sometimes 120mm).
Why I’m writing this all? For me it looks that you guys in the UK or US are in “wood heaven”. But maybe that is a wrong impression.
But at the moment I’m thinking more about where to by lumber than how to cut a dovetail (I’m not good at this 🙂 )
And I would like to let you Joseph and Paul know about this. Maybe you can integrate wood preparation in your woodworking masterclasses.
Thanks for your attention 😉
Have a good night guys.
Stefan
21 February 2013 at 11:05 pm #8304Hi Stefan,
We aren’t quite in wood heaven here in the UK, unfortunately.
Work with whatever timber you can get. You may never find it in the exact dimensions you need, or the ideal species you want. We’re all here to learn the techniques of working wood; the species of wood we use is less important for the time being. I’ll be making my first table from redwood because it’s readily available in my town in 1″, 2″ and 3″ thicknesses. I’d rather make it from oak or beech but can’t get it easily and can’t justify the expense right now. I’m just happy to be building something for the time being.
As Dave mentioned, have a look at the wood preparation video. It’s very useful.
George.
22 February 2013 at 7:43 am #8313I am one of the ones who is very new to all this so I need lots of repetition and explanation just now! I do not fully understand the cut list? Do I ask for/ get the pieces described? If so who will have a piece of oak as thick and wide as the top? What are turn buttons? Do I need to get all this timber before the project starts or will that all be explained. Sorry to those who know all this I promise to pay attention and leaask as quickly as possible. So far I am loving the whole approach and have made some nice boxes with acceptable joints but much more practice needed. Excited and also apprehensive about the coffee table….
Mick
22 February 2013 at 8:53 am #8317Hey everyone,
First off, don’t let the cutting list panic you. There is no rush. The only reason I posted it is that a few people had asked if we could post the cutting lists before we start the new series. We will explain everything as we go.
A couple of you mentioned only being able to get hold of 1″ oak. That is exactly what you need to start with. By the time you have planed it down 1/16″ on each side to get it square and flat it will be perfect. @steff, we will be getting the second stock preparation video in the next couple of days. This will help with that.
The top will be laminated from narrower boards. We will show exactly how to do this. It is certainly not that you were not paying attention.
A general point. The whole point of these online videos is that you can take everything at your own pace. Take your time preparing your workshop and wood. Watch others progress and learn from it. Also, take the time to learn about your local area. When we moved as a family to North Wales we left behind a great wood dealer in Dallas TX. It took time to find out where to get the right wood in the area. It certainly was not as easy as looking in the yellow pages or online. We had to ask around and drive to see a load of lumber yards piled high with 2x4s and a few boards of 1/2 hardwood in a ‘hobby’ corner. We will be doing a lot of projects in hardwood so it will be worth the time and effort to find an affordable place to get good wood.
We should share info on this site and save others the search. I have started a thread for this here: https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/topic/wood-suppliers/
Also, if someone has a huge stash of planed 7/8″ oak and some sticks of 2 1/4″ oak for the legs maybe now is the time to let us know…oh, and distribution centers in the USA, UK and Germany 🙂 .
22 February 2013 at 9:53 am #8320Joseph, thank you for that prompt reply, it is very welcome and put my mind and rst regarding the cutting list. Your point about finding a good timber yard is very well made. I have trawled for several days over the last few weeks and think I have found somewhere that I would never of known about who has plenty of timber and will cut it to length. I will keep looking around though. Most places sell poor quality pine for the building industry. Anyway, thanks for your reply it has been a good learning day already….
Mick
Hi,
I think that all lumber merchants openend there business for professional clients and not for us passionate part time woodworkers. 😉
We ask many question and in the end we take a single board. Until two months ago I made everything from the construction grade timber from home depot. It was real wood and I think it was very good to practice. Sometimes a whole project was less than 1 Euro by laminating roof boards etc. Than I had to build a new bed before christmas. I have some nice 2 by 4 oak that my grandfather once installed as decoration in the living room under the ceiling. I wanted to make our bed out of this because the wood is part of our familiy’s history.
Sorry, I like drifting away. I didn’t take the wood because I wanted to build a “practice bed” before. So I drove to the lumberyard for the first time passing home depot, parked my car at the lumberyard, saw all the trucks coming and leaving, nobody was noticing me and so I drove back home stopping at home depot to buy the wood for the practice bed.
It felt a bit like at the docks. I came back two weeks later and this time I stayed. I said that I am a non-business client equipped with absolutely no idea and asked if I could have a look around. “Yes, but watch out the fork trucks!”
I have never seen and touched rough mahagoni, elm, teak and so on and I could have spend the whole day there! In the end I took a 15 ft long board of local pine and on the way back home I was proud like a child that went shopping without mommy for the first time.
Stupid, I know 😉 the reason for telling this is that I guess that many beginners feel intimidated by the atmosphere when coming to a lumberyard for the first time. They are used to people who know what they want or ordered to pick-up. They usually didn’t study marketing and public relations before working on the lumberyard 😉
First of all let me say that I am very excited about this project. I have read all the comments and there are many valid points on both sides about the pace of the projects and the repetitive nature of each. I for one am in the “I trust Paul because he has been doing this a lot longer than I have” camp. Additionally, I like the idea of showing each project from start to finish even if that means I see him mark out with a knife line 20 times each project.
It seems to me that there are little bits of info that I pick up each time I see something done. This may seem weird but I relate it to math sometimes in that you would be a very poor math teacher if you showed your students how to multiply 10 x 10 once and then assumed that they could take that and master multiplication. Show me the same basic process 15 times, because chances are there are going to be 15 slight variations due to the material and application.
The second point your comments brought to light is how lucky I am to be in the American Midwest. Around here I can drive down to the local big box store and find ample supply of lumber, let alone the 3 or 4 local high quality wood dealers. I do not envy the lengths that my friends in Europe will have to go to find a good supplier. However, I cannot help but think there must be sources out there. There are still cabinet makers in Europe right? So they must get there lumber somewhere.
Good luck to everyone! I hope that if you find a good source you will share it with everyone here, and that consequently we can remove any anxiety about where to find lumber.
If access to hardwood is a factor build the table out of whatever wood you can source locally. Pine coffee tables are attractive too you know. Yes they are more prone to dents etc, but the nice thing about learning this is you can always build another one in 10 years 🙂
22 February 2013 at 4:50 pm #8333Wow, I never realized that lumber could be such a precious thing. I feel blessed here, it is very easy to get, and although I have complained about the prices of some of the hardwoods, I see now that it could be much worse. Home centers here sell plenty of pine, and even a limited selection of hardwoods at a premium price. A couple of specialty shops have a wide assortment of hardwoods and exotics to pick and choose from, and they are happy to order what you want if they don’t have it, even a board at a time.
I have become a bit of a collector of lumber, my wife would want to skin me alive if I brought home more lumber right now. I have found quite a few really good deals on lumber from Craigslist, guys that had a surplus and just wanted to get rid of it. Last weekend I bought a few pieces of Mahogany for $3.00 per board foot, it normally sells for about $10.00. The Mahogany came from a shop that made custom doors, and they were offcut, or leftover pieces from a big project and they were just trying to get rid of it. If you have some cabinet shops in your area, see what they do with their leftover or offcut pieces, they may even contact you when they have some they want to get rid of.
That’s a good idea, Stephen. What is the unit for lumber in the US and UK? In Germany it is sold per cubic meter which is 1.31 cubic yard which is probably not the unit you use? 😉
Some examples from my local lumberyard. I consider the prices to be reasonable.
Europ. Maple: 1025
Americ. Maple: 1450
Beech: 695
Birch: 725
German Oak: 1375
Americ. White Oak: 1150
Ash: 925
Eucalyptus: 1195
Spruce: 595
Jatoba: 1495
Carolina Pine: 795
German Pine: 575
Americ. Cherry: 1625
Europ. Cherry: 1450
German Larch: 695
Siberian Larch: 1025
Meranti: 1175
Americ. Walnut: 1995
Europ. Walnut: 2695
Poplar: 395
Robinia: 650
Elm: 1495
Sapeli: 1495
Sipo: 1795
Teak: 4750
Whitewood yellow poplar: 825
Zebrano: 2195
All prices in Euro per cubic meter plus tax (19%)
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