Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: dkff49 on December 02, 2009, 08:52:24 PM

Title: My master piece
Post by: dkff49 on December 02, 2009, 08:52:24 PM
Sometimes it amazes me what can be created from such a large ordinary object (shown below) that most people overlook.

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/000_0017.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/000_0018.jpg)


I built the hope chest below from the above pin oak tree that I had cut down at a friend's house a couple of years ago and had it air drying since. The bulk of the work was done in my very small (10x14) workshop located in the basement of my house. Finished with 3 coats of clear gloss polyurethane and Golden Oak stain.

It has been a great challenge and very rewarding now that is completed. The only plan I followed was the on that I had pictured in my head, which was altered many times to produce the finished product you see below. Honestly I am very amazed that it came out like it did since it is my first project of this size and detail.

Oh one more detail in case you were wondering, I cut that huge letter B from the same lumber and spent a couple of hours sanding to get it to look just right. My fingers are still raw. :D
 
This one was built for my 15 year old daughter as a Cristmas gift. My wife and I are very anxious to see the look on her face when she see it on Christmas Day. I do have another chest planned for a friend of mine from the same lumber and armed with the leasons learned from this one.

Anyway here is the closest thing to art that I am capable of.

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4417.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4418.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4419.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4420.jpg)
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: SIK1 on December 02, 2009, 09:08:55 PM
Very nice work. Also very nice that you made it from a piece of wood you cut down.

I bet your daughter will be very happy to receive that hope chest for Christmas.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: caldera on December 02, 2009, 09:15:44 PM
Nice work Dave.  Your Amish is showing. 


But why do you have that dorky manequin posed next to it?   :devil
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Bosco123 on December 02, 2009, 09:18:20 PM
Nice job :aok
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: 8313jbx on December 02, 2009, 10:16:44 PM
Very nice  :salute :cheers:
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: PFactorDave on December 02, 2009, 10:29:27 PM
Very nice work...  That is the kind of gift that your daughter will treasure for her entire life, and maybe even her daughter, and her daughter's daughter.  My wife has an hope chest that her grandfather made for her when she was about the age of your daughter.  It means the world to her.  In fact, I call it "Our Personal Ark of the Covenant."  Simply because I'm pretty sure that God will strike down anyone who scratches it!   :D

But do you realize that that flannel shirt is so long it makes your legs look strangely shorter, you look like some weird Ooompa Loompa from the Willy Wonka movies?   Just kidding!   :D
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: bcadoo on December 03, 2009, 12:26:57 AM
Be sure to keep her off the forums until after Christmas.

Great work, plus the satisfaction of creating it yourself.

 :aok
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Shuffler on December 03, 2009, 12:32:18 AM
Very nice indeed. Your Daughter should treasure this for all time.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: SPKmes on December 03, 2009, 02:12:12 AM
Nice.... I like the B....very well done..... do you have some sort of milling equipment?

Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Plawranc on December 03, 2009, 03:22:34 AM
Absoloutely gorgeous work, that is one of the finest pieces of furniture I have ever seen. You have a gift mate.  :rock
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: gpwurzel on December 03, 2009, 03:48:29 AM
Beautiful mate, just beautiful - your daughter will be thrilled with that.

:salute

Wurzel
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: expat on December 03, 2009, 04:10:25 AM
My woodwork teacher used to cry when i had a piece of wood in my hands , you give me a bit of wood i will give you  pile of splinters :(
That is a nice bit of work :aok
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: LYNX on December 03, 2009, 05:41:56 AM
That's a great job mate..such an endearing thing for your kid.

Someone will see that in 500 years time on the Antiques beam me over there show.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: UberVulcher on December 03, 2009, 05:59:18 AM
Are you as HANDY with your other WOOD ,get it ROFLMFAO
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Getback on December 03, 2009, 06:44:02 AM
Excellent!!
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Gaidin on December 03, 2009, 07:21:40 AM
Beautiful Piece of work man.  I think that will be a treasured gift!

Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Dragon on December 03, 2009, 08:22:40 AM
After looking at the first picture I was expecting some kind of totem pole or something.  Very nice work on that chest.  :aok
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Nefarious on December 03, 2009, 08:28:52 AM
Very Sharp!  :aok
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: SFRT - Frenchy on December 03, 2009, 10:01:36 AM
Dam dude  :salute
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: john9001 on December 03, 2009, 10:34:41 AM
dkff, did you air dry the log whole or cut it into planks and then dry it?

nice job.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: FiLtH on December 03, 2009, 10:40:58 AM
 Nice work!  My brother does alot of woodworking and has greatly improved over the past couple years. I used to do some back in school, but lost interest. Ive become more of a "If ya cant build it outta 2x4s and sheet rock screws, its too much bother" :P
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Maverick on December 03, 2009, 12:34:16 PM
dkff, did you air dry the log whole or cut it into planks and then dry it?

nice job.

Kind of my question as well.. Did you plank it out yourself and if so, how?

BTW that is simply beautiful work there. Your daughter is going to be very proud of it.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Twister2 on December 03, 2009, 01:06:52 PM
Power of the Amish. Nice work.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: 68ZooM on December 03, 2009, 02:42:36 PM
 Dkff Where do we place our orders for the Amish Fireplace mantle? all kidding aside, its a very beautiful chest your daughter will cherish it for years, i still have my grandmothers cedar chest that her father made her in 1903.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: dkff49 on December 03, 2009, 04:28:33 PM
Thanks guys

It will be worth every minute of work after seeing the look on her face when she sees it.

But do you realize that that flannel shirt is so long it makes your legs look strangely shorter, you look like some weird Ooompa Loompa from the Willy Wonka movies?   Just kidding!   :D

yeah it's actually a coat and is long like that for the purposes of keeping the more of the cool air out or maybe directing some of the warm from the a certain part of the anotomy further north  ;)


dkff, did you air dry the log whole or cut it into planks and then dry it?

nice job.
Kind of my question as well.. Did you plank it out yourself and if so, how?

BTW that is simply beautiful work there. Your daughter is going to be very proud of it.

Actually my uncle has a sawmill and sawed the planks for me prior to air drying. The only reason that it dried so long was that i was waiting for just the right project to come along for such nice material.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: dkff49 on December 03, 2009, 04:33:38 PM
Nice.... I like the B....very well done..... do you have some sort of milling equipment?



As far as the 'B' is concerned, I cut it out with a scroll saw then sanded the hell out of it to get the right shape.

The other large tools I used were, table saw, miter saw, planer, and jointer. Because of the size of my shop, I have to move tools around alot to get things done which adds to the time it takes to complete projects, but it getsthe job done.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Buzzard7 on December 03, 2009, 04:38:32 PM
Very nice!! Work like that is very hard to find now days. A lost art.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Simba on December 03, 2009, 05:23:05 PM
Beautiful work.  :salute
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: DREDIOCK on December 03, 2009, 05:25:12 PM
Really nice job
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: morfiend on December 03, 2009, 05:53:38 PM
 Very nice!

  If the tree had to be cut,you made a nice tribute to it.

Nothing worse in my eyes than cuttting and waisting perfectly good wood,far to ofter I see the stuff being burned in some fireplace because no one had the forsight to make it into useable lumber!

  :salute
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: dkff49 on December 03, 2009, 06:10:20 PM
Yeah me too. Most of this tree made it into my woodstove but thankfully this tree was well placed in between the 2 houses and 2 pine trees which prevented the bottom from having too many knots in it. The friend that owns the property told me that it was coming down no matter what since he was tired of the acorns and the mess, so I took advantage of it. My only real regret is not paying the extra for kiln drying. I ended up waisting about half of what was cut into planks due to cracks in the boards from drying and the lumber ways almost 1/3 more than it would kiln dried. The darn lid ways 20 pounds alone and I actually had to weigh it to figure out which supports to use.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: Rondar on December 03, 2009, 06:17:31 PM
Looking at the first picture of the endgrain of that large log, it looks kind of like a teddy bear in there, and with a little imagination, where the saw makes a cut deeper, looks like a little paw kind of over its mouth.  Got a slice of that left to maybe stain it for a clock or something?  Great work by the way.
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: GFShill on December 03, 2009, 09:36:47 PM
Sweet piece of work!  I really like the leather carry straps on the ends. My only concern is that oak is a heavy wood, and with 3 coats of poly on it I can only imagine what the whole piece weighs. Are the straps for show or are they really functional?

Beautiful piece in any event. When build chests, they look like WW2 footlockers.  :frown:
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: bravoa8 on December 03, 2009, 09:51:38 PM
Awesome! :rock
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: FireDrgn on December 03, 2009, 11:24:34 PM
True Craftsmanship   VERY NICE................
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: BrownBaron on December 04, 2009, 12:53:12 AM
Sometimes it amazes me what can be created from such a large ordinary object (shown below) that most people overlook.

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/000_0017.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/000_0018.jpg)


I built the hope chest below from the above pin oak tree that I had cut down at a friend's house a couple of years ago and had it air drying since. The bulk of the work was done in my very small (10x14) workshop located in the basement of my house. Finished with 3 coats of clear gloss polyurethane and Golden Oak stain.

It has been a great challenge and very rewarding now that is completed. The only plan I followed was the on that I had pictured in my head, which was altered many times to produce the finished product you see below. Honestly I am very amazed that it came out like it did since it is my first project of this size and detail.

Oh one more detail in case you were wondering, I cut that huge letter B from the same lumber and spent a couple of hours sanding to get it to look just right. My fingers are still raw. :D
 
This one was built for my 15 year old daughter as a Cristmas gift. My wife and I are very anxious to see the look on her face when she see it on Christmas Day. I do have another chest planned for a friend of mine from the same lumber and armed with the leasons learned from this one.

Anyway here is the closest thing to art that I am capable of.

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4417.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4418.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4419.jpg)

(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm146/dkff49/100_4420.jpg)


Cheer up Dave! You look like you just watched a puppy die!
Title: Re: My master piece
Post by: dkff49 on December 04, 2009, 02:02:19 PM
I didn't notice the bear in the end grain until you said something, unfortunately everything that did  not get cut into planks was burned up that winter.

The leather straps are functional and at 1/4 of an inch thick i would probably more concerned with the #7 brass screws holding the loops on breaking than the leather. At any rate though most of the movement that will take place with this chest will be rolling on the casters that are behind the trim pieces on the bottom. My wife and I picked it up by the straps to put it on the coffee table and there was not even a mark in the leather from the loops. In 20 years or so those straps will probably have to be replaced. These are actually straps made for lifting trunks/chests.

Baron I am smiling what are you talking about. :D  Actually the expression you see is exhaustion. I had worked about 80 hours a week for the last 2 months plus working on this chest, a doll house, set of shower curtain rods, organizing the shop better, and doing side work. As much fun as this project was I am glad it is done though.

You guys are all too kind though and I appreciate all your comments. I am actually so proud of this piece that I stamped my name into it with an iron that my brother got for me years ago.