My Favorite Woods

When I first started woodworking many years ago, I exclusively used 2x4s, 1x6s, and sometimes sheets of cheap, low-grade plywood because they fell into my budget.  As an added bonus, it wouldn't break the bank if I had to buy a few more pieces because I screwed something up in cutting.  The cheap everyday 2x4s you find in home store are usually made from spruce, not the best wood, but something great to learn on and keep a budget low.  These boards aren't really designed for fine wood working, more structural and framing work.  (So don't expect every board to be straight, have no knots, or be warp-free.)

When I started making cutting boards and scrolling, I decided to try a few other different, more expensive woods.  Although the wood does cost a lot more, I find not only the quality of the finished product, but also the ease with which some of these woods work make them worth the extra money.

Maple

Nothing beats the creamy texture of Maple for a clean, professional look.  No only is maple great for kitchen cabinets, it is my preferred base wood for all of the cutting boards I make.  Maple is a durable, tight-grained, and has tremendous antimicrobial properties, which makes it ideal for kitchen utensils and wooden bowls.

A maple bowl set up on the lathe.

Maple also looks great in furniture, and can brighten up any room if left natural (unstained).  Plus, how many other woods also produce a sap that tastes great with butter on your breakfast waffle.

Although I almost exclusively use hard maple, it comes in many other varieties such as soft, silver, black, and big leaf.  Depending on the tree, you may also hit a gold mine with irregular figuring, such as birds eye, curly, and tiger.

Purpleheart

Over eight years ago, when I first started making cutting boards, I stumbled on a rich, purple wood while at my local hardwood dealer.  Known as purpleheart, it is imported to the US from anywhere from Mexico to Brazil.  Purpleheart is usually straight grained and very hard.  Because of its price, I usually only use purpleheart wood for small turnings or as an accent color to large pieces.

There are two things about purpleheart wood I find very interesting as a wood worker.  First, it does very well around moisture and is fairly rot resistance.  Also, its color is very sensitive to the exposure of UV rays.  When it is first cut, it is a very deep brown-gray color.  After a day or so exposed to sunlight, it turns the beautiful purple color most of us are familiar with.  After quite some time (a few years) it can turn either a deep, dark, almost black color, or dark gray.  This would all depend on exposure to the elements and if the wood was coated with anything.  One way to protect the beautiful purple color would be to use a UV-protected finish, such as a spar urethane.

Animals for a Noah's Ark display, the elephant in Purpleheart and the male lion in Walnut.

Walnut

Walnut is an American classic, and was widely used for furniture during the time of American Colonization.  Although primarily a very rich deep brown color, the sapwood is extremely light in color and the heartwood may have shades of purple and red mixed in the brown.  It is common practice for a mill to steam walnut even out all of the colors into the recognizable brown color.  Although there are many different species of walnut around the world, most walnut you find in the US is either Claro Walnut from the western US, or Black Walnut from the eastern half.

I really like walnut for the interesting textures in the wood and the deep brown color it provides.  If you are lucky enough, you might also find some fantastic burl in your local hardwood distributor.  Walnut is quite durable, works very nicely, and looks great without staining.

Mahogany

Another species popular in woodworking during the Colonial Era was Mahogany.  Mahogany was heavily exported from the Caribbean to England and its American Colonies during the 18th century.  The rich reddish-brown hue and silky texture made Mahogany a highly demanded wood for furniture during this time period.  As a result of this, demand for Mahogany furniture want up, and a couple of hundred years later the supply of this species dwindled from over harvesting.

A few species different from the original, but similar in look, are used today.  The two I am familiar with are known as Honduran Mahogany and African Mahogany.  Honduran Mahogany is much rarer and more expensive than its African cousin.  Mahogany is still used today in the making of musical instruments for the warm tones it lends to guitars and other stringed instruments.

Mahogany is a pleasure to work with because it cuts and machines very easily while providing great rot-resistant properties and a beautiful finished product.  African Mahogany tends to be my wood of choice, mainly due to its availability and reasonable price.  Because of its higher price, Honduran Mahogany is often only used today by furniture repair specialists to replace the broken pieces within furniture during restoration.

Building with Pallet Wood other types of Reclaimed Lumber

There are many times woodworkers search for alternative sources of lumber to get the look, texture, or pricing they desire, since the conventional sources of wood may not easily give the desired end product.  When trying for a vintage look or working within a desired budget, these secondary choices can supply a plethora of wood that cannot be found at your big box home improvement store.

On a recent post, I discussed building a project out of pallet wood.  Pallet wood and other sources reclaimed lumber can give a project a great vintage look, but there are a few cautions your should follow whenever selecting and working with it.  For the purposes of this article, I will break down the category of reclaimed lumber into two groups, newer lumber and old lumber.

New Lumber

Newer lumber was harvested within the past 10 or so years and can be easy to find and very inexpensive.  In fact, most sources are completely free, providing you supply the labor and transport.  The best example of this is pallet wood.  There are so many books, websites, and other sources out there reclaimed covering pallet wood construction projects.  As a matter of fact, a Google search of "pallet furniture" results in almost 2.5 million web results and almost 3 million web images.  Its popularity is without question - free wood is a hot trend in today's questionable economy.

However, it would be best err on the side of caution when building with pallet wood.  Many times pallet wood is treated with insecticides and herbicides, and may be contaminated with bacteria if it as used to transport food.  I personally would never build something to go inside my home.  Additionally, if you build anything meant for children or animals, it is best to use another type of lumber.  A good example of what I feel comfortable using pallet wood for is the Halloween graveyard fence project.  Not all pallet wood is harmful, but it is near impossible to determine which wood has been treated and which is untreated.

Old Lumber

Old lumber can be very old, even dating to the 19th century, and may have once been siding or structure of an old building.  Sometimes old barns or sawmills may have lumber stored in them, or the reclaimed would can come from boxcars, mine shafts, or flooring.  Pine and oak are most common in my state, Virginia, but other areas of the country may have different species of wood.

Old lumber is a great source of well seasoned wood, but it is not without hazards.  Sometimes insect infestations, wood rot, mold, and fungi have ravaged these buildings.  In addition, many of these old building were painted with lead paint.  Although the painted surface may have a great patina and show a well worn look, I personally would not construct anything with still had the original lead paint on its surface.  I also would never construct anything for children made from this wood.

Rough Sawn and Full of Nails

All reclaimed number may have instances where nails and a rough cut surface would exist, so it is best handled carefully with work gloves.  It is best to plane or sand the wood to a smoother surface if you expect frequent contact these pieces.  Again, for a Halloween decoration in your yard, rough cut may be great, but for a bench it will be best to have a smooth, splinter-free surface.

Before cutting, planing, or drilling, you will definitely want to remove any old nails or fasteners.  Tap them with a hammer on the sharp side and use scrap wood to get good leverage and protect your product when prying them out with the claw of your hammer or pry bar.  Run a metal detector over the wood and make sure there isn't anything left behind.  Sometimes the heads of old rusted nails may break off and get stuck in old lumber, leaving a damaging and dangerous situation when working with power tools. These can be removed by tapping them out  from the backside with a small punch.

Specialty Woods

In some cases there are specialty woods which may be salvaged for their grain, color, hardness, resistance to rot, or possibly another reason.  A good example would be Teak, which is often used outdoors and on boats for its resistance to rot.

Easy Halloween Graveyard Fence

What would your front yard be like on a creepy Halloween night without a graveyard?  A collection of tombstones with a fence out front makes for the perfect trick-or-treating ambiance.  Tombstones can be made or found very cheap at any drug store chain.  To add a little extra something, you can nail two boards together and make crosses to stick in the ground as well.

My Halloween fence was very easy and very inexpensive.  In fact, after it was all said and done, making them took only a few hours and cost me only a few cans of spray paint I had sitting in my garage and about $6 in conduit clamps from Lowes. Even the wood, which can be obtained from shipping pallets, can cost nothing.

Cut angles at the top of your pickets

Step 1 - Cut and Arrange Your Fence Pickets

I started by taking five boards and cutting them at an angle near the top.  It really doesn't even matter exactly what angle you choose, just be somewhere between 30 and 60 degrees.  The randomness of your angles add extra effect to the final product.  Arrange your pickets similar to the drawing to the right.

Basic fence before finishing

Step 2 - Add the Fence Rails

Then I take two slightly longer boards and lay them across the original boards as your rails.  Exact dimensions are not necessary, eyeballing everything is good enough for Halloween decorations.  You may even choose to lay these boards at a slight angle.  After you have everything laid out, nail the boards together.  I used a total of twenty 1 1/4" nails in total.

Pound the stakes in, the slide the straps over them

Step 3 - Add the Stakes

The first time I made these, I pounded wood stakes into the ground and screwed the fence to them.  I thought it was a great idea, but it was a bear getting things lined up properly and securing everything.  Then I came up with the idea of using conduit straps.  By lining up 1/2" green steel garden stakes with the straps, I found this very secure.   The strap/stake concept I used held my fence sections firmly in the ground during Hurricane Sandy this year.

Line up your straps and screw them halfway in.  Pound your stakes in, then slide the fence section down over the stakes.  Tighten the screws on the straps for a good grip. 

Spanish moss adds a nice "aged" touch to the fence

Step 4 - Paint and Decorate Your Fence

To paint this fence, I used a combination of green, black, beige, and brown.  First, I sprayed each color in a large camouflage pattern, using some of each color.  It looked pretty cheesy, but that was only a base coat.  Then, using the darker colors, I sprayed a light mist or black and brown over the whole fence.  It gave it a nice aged look. I finished off my fences by stapling a little Spanish moss or wrapping ivy vine cuttings around the pickets.

Make two, three, four, or as many as you want.  You can start out small and add a few more fence sections every year.  They store flat and out of the way, making this a no-brainer for reusable Halloween yard decorations.  I currently have six in my front yard and am ready for my trick-or-treaters to show up again this year.

The Depression Era Tool Chest Conversion - Continued

(Part 2 of 2)

With many years of use, love, and wear, this tool chest will need a sound refinishing before put to work as a blanket chest. This blogpost will cover my preferred method for stripping, repairing, and refinishing furniture. 

Part 1 of 2 can be found here.

 6. Polish the Hardware

With over 80 years of tarnish, hand polishing was not a viable option for the brass hardware.  I instead decided to use my electric buffer, which is nothing more than a bench grinder fitted with a $5 polishing/buffing wheel.  

When polishing hardware, I use gloves to protect my fingers from accidental contact with the buffing wheel.  After you turn on your buffer, apply some brass cleaning/polishing compound to the wheel.  Then simply push your piece against the front of the wheel slightly toward the bottom, and hold on very tightly.  Don't forget to polish the screws as well; I use a set of pliers to hold the screw in place.  

80 years of tarnish can be removed in 5 minutes

When the wheel starts clogging, I will keep the motor running and gently use a wire brush to clean the muck off.  The most important things you can do when polishing is protect your fingers and hold your pieces tight - even the slower speed grinders spin at a minimum of 1750  rpm and can send a work piece flying across the shop.

7. Match missing screws

When I write my book on how to be a world class antique restoration expert, I'll include a chapter on how it is easier to fabricate replacement hardware than it is to buy a suitable match. 

If you are fortunate enough to restore a piece of furniture with all pieces of hardware and screws intact, count your blessings.  In most cases, a piece that fits this description has been cared for so well, there is no reason to refinish it.  Too often hardware is either missing or damaged, sending you on a scavenger hunt for the exact same pieces or something close enough to match. 

Fortunately, I was only missing a few screws.  After a little searching, I found what I was looking for.  Sometimes you can find them in the big-box home improvement store, but my best success has always been the locally-owned hardware store.  When matching a screw, the following information is critical :



12 Screw Head Types - Click to Enlarge

Drive Type - Slotted and Phillips are the most common drive types

Material - Brass, Brass Plated*, Stainless, Zinc Plated, Copper

Length - total length of the screw to be submerged in the wood

Head Size -  inch increments or denoted with "#"

Head Type - Flat, Pan, Round, etc.

Screw Diameter - This is dependent on the hole size you are using

Thread Count - It's really not necessary to know the exact thread count, just remember you must choose the right screw for wood or metal.

* I always prefer solid brass over brass plated anything.  If you expect to have the piece for many years, you'll thank yourself for the extra few dollars spent with solid brass.



8. The Aromatic Cedar Insert

Cutting the aromatic cedar to size

This being my first time working with cedar, I decided to do some research.  I found it makes no difference whether you cover just the bottom of the chest or the entire inside, the aroma is pretty pungent either way.  After time, the scent will wear out, but with a light sanding you can bring back that great smell.

Sanding for a new, fresh aroma

Plain ordinary cedar will not work as well as "aromatic" cedar.  The easiest way to find this stuff is as tongue-and-groove closet lining from your local hardware store.  I decided to make an insert by cutting my to size and nailing it to two 1x4s.  This way, when the smell wears out and it comes time to sand it down, I can pull the entire insert out instead of fighting with my sander deep down in the corners.

 
The Finished Project

Now our restoration is finished and we can decide to keep the tool chest as is, or add a few small touches.  I decided to purchase a lid support so I could prop the chest open.  At this point, you could also add on handles, a new lock, name plates, or engravings.



 Whatever you decide to do, the important this is to make it uniquely yours.

Tool Chest before restoration

Blanket Chest after restoration

The Depression Era Tool Chest Conversion

(Part 1 of 2)

With many years of use, love, and wear, this tool chest will need a sound refinishing before put to work as a blanket chest. This blogpost will cover my preferred method for stripping, repairing, and refinishing furniture. 

 1. Determine Type of Finish

The first step before diving into this refinishing project was to determine exactly what type of finish with which you are dealing.  Most finishes from Depression Era furniture were multiple coats lacquer.  To check for this finish, I put some lacquer thinner on a rag and tried to wipe away the old finish.  With no such luck, I realized this finish is varnish or very tough to remove.  My best option at this point would be to strip and completely refinish.

2. Remove the Hardware

Before stripping, I removed the eight brass corners, three hinges, and the locking mechanism.  Keeping as much as possible of the original hardware is important for any refinish job. I put these in a small plastic zipper bag, such as these, and stored them in a safe place.

3. Replace Broken Pieces

On the side of the tool chest, a piece of trim was split near the corner.  Replacing this piece is critical in getting the finished product to look great, so I re-created the piece with some red oak.  I concluded the tool chest was white oak, but decided to use red oak since it is easier to come byand I had some lying around the shop.  It is more important to the match grain pattern of the oak rather than color, since I can always stain or dye the replacement piece.  To ensure the proper thickness of the new piece, I used my thickness planer to thin out the replacement part and cut it to size.

The original piece was split.

I made a copy to look like the original.

Here is our tool chest with the new piece added.

4. Remove Old Finish *

After replacing the damaged piece, I stripped the entire outside of the tool chest using a chemical stripper.  It is important to work the residue from the stripper onto the replacement part, matching the patina from the rest of the piece and hiding your repair from the casual observer.  A final wash of lacquer thinner or other post-stripping cleaner should be used to remove all leftover residue and give you a clean surface for staining.

* BE SAFE - Always use chemical strippers, stains, paints, and topcoats in a well-ventiallated area. Wear safety protection, as chemical burns can be a real Debbie Downer on your skin and in your eyes.  Always have a plan ready in case of skin and/or eye contact, and ingestion.

5. Apply a New Stain and Finish Coat * 

I prefer to stain with a rag instead of a brush.  Woodworkers traditionally use both methods, but I feel staining with a rag gives me better control over the amount of overlapping and results in a much better finished product.  Remember to follow all instructions and wipe away the excess stain after a few minutes, or your stain will completely dry and leave a a thin layer of unsightly scum which will not take a final finish very well.  Finish with a few sealing coats of your choice.  I chose a semi-gloss lacquer to visually bring out the depth of the scratches and dents on the surface.

 
Are We Done?

Now that we have this great new finish and protective coat, what next?  In Part 2 of our project, we will learn how to properly polish 80+ years of brass tarnish, finding proper replacement hardware, and adding the aromatic cedar.

Upcoming Projects

After some time off at the shop taking care of pressing issues, I am happy to say Memorial Day Weekend was a welcome return to my saws, chisels, hand planes, and hammers. A dire need for shop space has also brought me back to where my experience in woodworking began, refinishing. There are two particular pieces I have had sitting around for quite some time and I am looking forward to having them done and gone, giving me more floorspace in my shop and my guest bedroom.

The Lady's Vanity

The first is a piece is a lady's vanity from the 1930s. With no maker's mark in any of the drawers, one could only assume it was part of a larger set. It appears to be made of walnut, some veneered plywood, and oak, tinted with a dark red stain/dye, with a final coating of lacquer. The mirror is in pretty good condition, just a few scratches on the frame and mirror posts. The body of the vanity was in good usable condition, but there two glaring issues which are in need of repair.

• The veneer on the top is coming loose, and in a few places, was missing. It would be essential to re-glue the old veneer and patch the missing pieces.
• On the left hand side there is a massive burn, possibly being set next to a radiator or something even hotter.

The Classic Toolbox

The second piece once belonged to my to my neighbor's grandfather, and we estimate it at also being from the 1930s. It is a very larger toolbox, made of oak, and in a very "well loved" condition. Between the many scratches and crazing*, it also had a split piece of wood on it in need of replacement.

While this was a very wonderful piece, my need for a large, chest-styled toolbox was minimal, as was the room in my garage to use it as such. This tool chest would serve as a nice blanket chest, especially if it were lined with aromatic cedar. In additional, all eight brass chest corners appeared to be in great condition, just well aged. Buffed to a shine, or shown with a slight aged brass patina, these chest corners would offset nice against the dark wood.

I will reserve future blog posts for the restoration of these pieces, so be sure to check back in the coming weeks for updates.


* Crazing is when a furniture's finish shows tiny cracks, resulting from the shrinkage of the finish. This can be attributed to many, many moons spent in direct sunlight (by a window) or from issues regarding humidity.