Hi guys & gals
I’m looking for a project idea, I have beautiful section of - around 60cm x 60cm x 4cm solid joined oak - (not staves)
I’d love to make this into something or somethings decent, but all I can think of is a desk organiser which doesn’t seem very inspirational…
Any ideas would be welcome.
Thanks, Luke
(for those of us still using traditional measures, ~2′ × 2′ × 1½″)
By joined oak, you mean butted along the edges and glued? Post a photo?
Got access to a bandsaw?
Inspiration reflects creativity and imagination. Creativity and imagination can not be given, they must be developed by the artist (themself). Researching creative ideas requires understanding how things fit together and how things relate and work together. Excellent source for learning these princibles are the Roy Underhill books where he teaches how to make stuff from a tree. 6 books in all, excellant reading and because he teaches how from the absolute start (felling a tree) to the completion of a useful product (Jefferson book case of even bowls and boxes) you can’t help be inspired and creativity blooms within you. Basically knowledge builds creativity, knowledge can be given, you build your own creativity.
The old craftsmen (my Dad for one) simply removed the extra wood that wasn’t part of the project. For wood working learning grain patterns is the most essential fundamental. Look at the tree, can you see how the grain will fall along the table top of the end table in that section of the trunk? That’s the test of creativity. My elderly neighbor had her grandsons cut down a dead plum tree which she had adored. I took the trunk and a large branch and made her a tea table for her front porch made completely from the plum tree. I treated the table top and set it in the sun for some time and had the sun deepen the natural colors and enhance the grain pattern. I saw the table within the tree and simply removed it from the trunk. She now can enjoy her plum tree every morning and the enhanced grain pattern reveeled a cat’s face (according to her) in the table top. She asked if I made the cat’s face, no I told her, the tree made that just for you, i simply removed it from the trunk. As you develop your creativity your work will inspire.
This post was not meant to belittle and is directed towards all who want to be wood workers. A single project idea is like a fish, I simply meant to teach how to fish.
A bunch of years ago, I used to make cutting boards that had a large bowl-shaped concavity turned into them. I stopped doing them because of the danger/fear of spinning that hunk of wood on my Delta lathe (you can rotate the headstock 90 degrees so the wood was spinning parallel to the bed). I’ve just gotten my S3 and was thinking I could start doing these again because I’d just need to build the thing in Fusion 360 and let the S3 do all of the heavy cutting. I know cutting boards aren’t very exciting but it’s not customary to find one with the bowl shape on one side. I’ve had one for nearly 30 years, and it still gets almost daily use.
On the contrary Mr. Hilinsli, i appreciate your creativity in combining 2 items into 1 that still gets daily usage after 30 years, very impressive. It’s not only the item that is creative but the processes used to create them. Creativity creates challenges combining creative complexities. My Shapeoko is my apprentise, I have “him” do all the hard and dangerous work plus
"he" doesn’t talk back. Nice cutting board.
OP is looking for inspiration to spark creativity-most don’t have the where with all/foresight/courage to do that…
You obviously see that oak as special, use what you see as special about it to bring out what You respond to in it. Just like our fisherman above who used an aged plumb lure in the shape of a table to catch a cat…and shared his great story about it! You guys are all great!
I have a pecan stump that is calling me to be a new steering wheel rim and matching shift knob(all form the same section) for one of my car projects… Just waiting for me to put out the fires and chase the alligators that are between me and the project!
Look at the most meaningful parts of your life and see how the oak will fit in it to highlight, support, or enable…The Plumb table did that for for the elderly neighbor, as cool as seeing the table in the tree was seeing the meaning ti would have to the neighbor!
How about a coat of arms?
Something big and intricate (perhaps similar to the Aztec calendars one sees in CNC galleries)?
The plumb table is plum and the leg is plumb while the table top is level. Enjoy your play on catching a cat with a plum lure, well done.[quote=“YoMan, post:6, topic:4797”]
as cool as seeing the table in the tree was seeing the meaning ti would have to the neighbor!
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Creativity is not just what to make but why and for who, every project has special intricities seen only from the eye of the beholder. I still don;t see a cat, but she does.
I don’t have any pictures but imagine 10/15cm - 4/6" solid oak strips stuck together - its actually premium grade worktop and had a beautiful grain. I have it left over from when I built my desk.
I want to make something practical but at the same time beautiful. I considered something like a chopping board, but as it’s 4cm thick its bliming heavy. I imagine 10kg for my remaining slab. Something like a aztec Calendar would be a waste of the grain and could be done in some cheaper pine which would be more suited to hanging.
I’m swaying towards some kind of furniture or something similar
The grain is your guide, follow the guide. I had a truckload of mahogany edge cuts from a millwright, they had trimmed planks 2" x real wide x 14 feet long and threw out the odd edge slices (2" wide x 14’ long from 2" thick down to a point). when they trued the planks. I milled them into 4’ lengths and anywhere from 2" to 3/4" widths and my son built a mahogany dining table (4’ x 5’) with a 1" thick top. Absolutely beautiful for only the cost of glue (lots of glue), no fasteners (nails or screws) just proper joinery. He saw it in the pile of wood and simply put it together. If you had a block (not glued up slates) you could slice it and book match the 2 pieces for interesting grain patterns. That’s something to learn to do, guitar backs are always book matched. The wood varies in color also and that can guide your imagination, those mahogany pieces were from multiple trees and varied a lot, but my son matched the colors into a soothing blend that flows across the table top. Remember “The Waterboy” … “You can do it !” Oak is open grained and can be reversed stained, white filler in pores and darker stain for the long grain (terminology may not be accurate) research needed. A lap desk to match the desk maybe (that’ll be my teaser for a suggestion) Good luck.
Cut it up for a Jefferson bookcase box as @grumpa suggested?
If you have a bandsaw, a lapdesk?
Editors book/copy stand/desk? Levenger discontinued theirs.
Class I don’t have a band saw - I work in a smallish garage that houses my bike - so don’t have the room for big machine tools like bandsaws, planners, disc sanders - but I have most electric hand equivalents such as a jigsaw, belt sander etc.
I wouldn’t use a lap desk - maybe thats more of a American thing ;p however the oak is also too thick/heavy for that, whilst I could mill it half the thickness it would be a tad wasteful.
I was thinking last I could make a nice side table out of it, I could use it in the living room. I just need to come up with a nice design.
Side table is a great idea — and this piece cut in two could have nice proportions for that.
We got a knock-off of the Levenger “No Room for a Table Table” ages ago:
http://www.levenger.com/no-room-for-a-table-table-core-5698.aspx
and it’s where all the books get piled up, rather than on the coffee table (and I shelve all of my newspaper comic collections in the bottom),
(I think having drawers instead of the pop open lids is a better idea though — I have no idea what if anything is in our table, and said things (if any) are not likely to be seen any time soon)
I just watched a CNC Inlay VidClip on YouTube that I ran into while viewing a different video.
It is SMALL by comparison to what others recommended, however, they guy was making INLAY coasters, using Walnut for the basic coaster and Maple as the inlay.
He did a butterfly using a 60 degree bit on both, matched them after milling for a dry fit, glued the pieces together in the matched condition, then used a bandsaw to cut them in half again. I’m assuming that both pieces showed the same butterfly shape. But, you could make sets of four as he did along with a “holder” for each. Might be something to try!