Limb from 300 year old red oak made into some tables.

[Woodwizard]

A large limb broke off the customers tree out in the wood he called me to see if I could make him some tables from it.

So I milled the wood, kiln dried it and got a small coffee and sofa table from it. Nice to take wood that usually would just get cut up for firewood and make something with it. Engraved location and date in the bottom for future family reference.


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[samnsara]

1. love it!!!!

[Woodwizard]

9. Thank you.

[Srkdqltr]

2. Beautiful

[Grey]

3. Superb workmanship,

Well done..!

[CrispyQ]

4. They are beautiful!

He must be thrilled!

[Woodwizard]

11. Yes he likes them, I have made other peices over the years for him.

[ChazInAz]

5. Nice work!

I like the through-tenons, and the way you worked with the grain.
Understated and elegant.

[Woodwizard]

12. Thank you, I like minimilist design with accenct on joinery.

[ChazInAz]

15. It shows!

Those are the first things I notice, even though my skills aren't up to that level.

[aggiesal]

6. WOW, what craftmenship. They look gorgeous. n/t

[dhol82]

7. Really nice!

[sl8]

8. Nice! nt

[niyad]

10. They are so beautiful. I know a gallery here that would love them.

[highplainsdem]

13. Wow! You really are a wizard! Those are stunning!

[sunflowerseed]

14. You do good work.

[dlk]

16. You've created two beautiful heirlooms

Thanks for sharing.

[Rebl2]

17. Simple and beautiful!

[Brother Buzz]

18. George Nakashima is smiling

[Baitball Blogger]

19. Very nice.

The thin one would also make a great table for bonsai.

[Chainfire]

21. Those are very nice.

Do you have a photo of your sawmill setup in operation?

[Woodwizard]

28. Yes here is a few

I use an Alaskan mill setup the one attached to the saw is the small log mill, the one for bigger bars connects to the bar on both ends to reduce flex, I keep my chains very sharp so that is usually not an issue.

For milling I use ripping chain the tooth angle is 10 degrees instead of crosscut chain 30 degree when I resharpen I take it to 5 degrees cuts even smoother. Nice thing about the Alaskan mill is being able to mill a log where it lays and load the truck board by board.

A saw with some HP is needed I am using a Stihl 660 a 7.5 hp saw I can mill about 100 board feet of 4/4 pine or hemlock an hour with it. But usually if I need a quantity I call my friend with a band saw mill and buy from him.

My cat Chester likes to hang out when the saw is shut off.

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[japple]

34. Nice work on the tables, and Chester is really cute!

eom

[Pisces]

22. Gorgeous

[Nululu]

23. Wonderful work. NT

[Pepsidog]

24. Wow they look great. Very talented.

[MLAA]

25. Love the design and meticulous wood work.

[LoisB]

26. Beautiful wood, beautiful workmanship.

nt

[NoMoreRepugs]

27. Wow WW Wow. Udawizard4sure.

[irisblue]

29. You live up to your screen name.

[yardwork]

30. So beautiful!

[2naSalit]

31. Those are beautiful!

[calimary]

32. Beautiful wood, beautiful work!

[COL Mustard]

33. Beautiful!

I am envious of that kind of talent. Just beautiful!

[Tree Lady]

35. You do beautiful work

Thank you for sharing!

[Higherarky]

36. Exquisite!

Thanx 4 sharing.

[panader0]

37. beautiful work. How did you cut the holes for the legs?

[Woodwizard]

39. I use a CNC router

In the old days I would make templates to cut joints like that and use a hand router. I bought my first cnc in the early 2000's I already had years of experience with computer aided design so it worked out well.

The cnc router is a versatile machine, it is my mortise machine tenon machine large surface planer and many other uses has been a great asset to my shop.

[panader0]

42. One more question: What brand of CNC router?

I see them listed from $200 to $10,000. I hope it's one of the cheaper ones that I might afford.

[Woodwizard]

49. Mine is a shopbot with a 4X8 table

I bought it when they sold kits in 2003, I built my own steel table for it, then it was around 6 grand. I upgraded the controller in 2008.

I have since built another one using a GECKO 540 driver and nema 23 stepper motors running Mach3. I have probably 3 grand in parts and a couple of weeks in building and messing around with it.
I will probably upgrade to an acorn controller board for better interface and reliability

The small cheap ones may be good to learn the basics but they are not going to do much. I would definitely avoid the ones that use a belt. You want rack and pinion or ball screw drive.

The real part is learning the design software for what you want to make and then the computer aided machining program to actually cut.

The CNC forums are full of frustrated people that thought they would buy a cnc machine and make stuff without putting in the time to learn the software. I had almost ten years of using solid works cad before getting cnc. Not that you need ten years of software time.

Even a free program like Inkscapes will draw machinable vectors to start.

[peacebuzzard]

38. love your work!

[Kali]

40. nice, not sure if I asked you before, but

what do you use for finish?

[Woodwizard]

41. I used water base polyurethane floor finish.

I spray it on I thin it about 20 percent with windshield wiper fluid, it breaks the surface tension without changing the durability. After it is cured I sand with 1500 grit wet sandpaper then buff with 0004 steel wool.

[Kali]

44. windshield wiper fluid? strange

what is that? a mixture of water alcohol and ammonia? interesting. looks waxed to my eyes.

[Woodwizard]

46. The washer fluid is just a reducer for the water base poly it all evaporates.

[Emile]

43. I have some dead white pine trees on my property.

I need to make a bridge across a small creek and wide enough to drive my small JD utility tractor across. Thinking I could cut down two small trees for my base and lay them across the creek. Then mill some boards to nail down onto these two trees to walk and drive over the creek.

I need a real cheap chainsaw milling attachment and ripping chain for my Stihl farm boss. Where is a cheap place to get one?

[Woodwizard]

45. I get my ripping and regular chain from Bailey's.

I get the woodland pro stuff, it is re branded Carlton chain, there is more tooth length than Oregon chain.
They also sell the Alaskan mill, but northern tool has them cheaper. There are some knockoffs on amazon I don't know how good they are.

https://www.baileysonline.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=ripping+chain

[Emile]

47. Thanks

[Demobrat]

48. Beautiful pieces of art.

So nice to surround yourself with pieces that mean something. IKEA it ain’t.

[Woodwizard]

50. Our house is almost all shop made furniture

Right now I am making a oven and stove for my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter she has a little travel one she loves to play with.

[rubbersole]

51. World class

Soon to be a lost art. Thank you for sharing.

[Woodwizard]

52. There are still younger people interested in fine arts

I am seeing an uptick of younger artisans at the art and craft shows we sell at and am glad, a lot of the old timers are retiring.

As a society we need to rethink career and education, not everyone is made to sit in an office.

[appleannie1]

53. My S-I-L made some corbels for under the roof of the outdoor kitchen he just built.

They had to have a huge tree cut down next to their house because it was getting hollow in the middle. He decided that beautiful wood should not go in a chipper and took what he could put in his pickup to his business workshop. They match the granite counter top perfectly and are a perfect foil to the white ceiling and corner posts they adorn. I love real wood and red oak and cedar are two of my favorites. That table and benches are beautiful and will last hundreds of years if cared for properly. Good job.

[Martin68]

54. Beautiful work. I have a friend in the Shenandoah Valley who gets enormous pieces of oak, walnut,

cherry, and poplar and kiln dries the slabs to make custom tables. We have a walnut slab at home. Natural wood is so beautiful.

[Skittles]

55. very nice indeed

[soldierant]

56. Antiques Roadshow 2120 will love you

not only for the work, but for the conscientious recording. of location and date.

[duhneece]

57. I want to touch them

I’m just weirdly tactile that way. They are stunningly beautiful.

[wendyb-NC]

58. Beautiful furniture

You gave the limb a new life, for many years to come. Those items are works of art.

[Sky Jewels]

59. Gorgeous!

[ZZenith]

60. They both look like they could decide to get up and walk away if they chose to.

Really beautiful proportions and pleasing curves. Would be immensely proud to have such a thing in my house!

[Demovictory9]

61. Nice

[Gato Moteado]

62. beautiful!

i have some fallen tropical hardwoods and plenty of farmed teak. can you get your gear down to costa rica? make me some furniture like that and i'll put you up in paradise, supply coffee/food/beer and take you fishing for tuna, red snapper and mahi mahi on the weekends.

also, have you ever worked with bamboo? i have a limitless supply of guadua angustifolia and some other species that are perfect for construction and furniture.

[Woodwizard]

64. I was the furniture production designer for a teak outdoor furniture company.

Wood classics, we made mail order kits the company grew like a rocket and crashed about as fast, I bailed 4 years before bankruptcy Teak has a lot of silica in it tears up steel tooling in short order.

Costa rica sounds nice, I lived in HI for 5 years but I really like the seasons in the Catskill mountains here in NY.

[Gato Moteado]

65. i wonder if the teak we grow here in CR has the same properties as the teak grown in india....

...because it's humid here, the teak grows faster and isn't as hard as the teak grown in its native environment.

[sindri]

63. This brightened my day big time!

I was starting off this morning feeling down and, for some reason, this turned my mood around 180 degrees. I think I need to read more stories like this of how wonderful people create such beauty in the world each day. I am so glad you shared this. Thank you.