Exposed Dowels Too Dark - Question of the Week
This week’s question comes from John. He writes:
Hey Marc. As usual, I have another question! :) I cut some maple dowels from the same piece of stock to put in the center of the rear vise jaw, so they’d be invisible. And they really were quite hidden, UNTIL I put on the finish and then they jumped right out, especially the ring around the edges. Any tips how I could’ve avoided that?
And here was my response:
“Hey John. Excellent work! I really like how the bench turned out. As to the dowel contrast, you will most likely always have that problem. Remember that the dowel is endgrain, while the face of the jaw is face grain. So when finish hits it, the end grain sucks more in and becomes darker. This is nearly impossible to prevent with dowels. Usually, the easiest way to prevent end grain color contrast is to sand the endgrain 2 grits higher than the face grain. This will prevent excessive finish absorption and will lead to an even color. But how can we ever do this with a dowel?? So instead of preventing, lets come up with a completely different strategy. How about a plug, instead of a dowel? Pick up a basic set of plug cutters and you will have all of your common sizes. Then you can cut your plugs out of face grain. And if you orient the face grain in the proper direction, paying close attention to detail, you should have a well-hidden plug. Good luck!”
Wood Talk Online - Episode 22
Kudos to Neil Lamens at Furnitology
Its hard to believe that just over a year ago, there was only Matt’s Basement Workshop, and a few scattered woodworking videos on YouTube. What’s the current state of affairs?? About 12 audio and video shows dedicated to woodworking and more cropping up every day! How cool is that?!?! As can be expected, some shows come and go. Many people come in with the best intentions but quickly realize this stuff is harder than it looks. In the podcasting world they have a term for this: podfading. But for those who stick it out, you will usually see a steady growth in quality of content, as well as overall presentation (mine included). But some shows really stand out in my mind. Some shows go beyond the status quo and create what could be considered by some as “broadcast quality”.
I just had the pleasure of watching the most recent episode of Furnitology, the fourth installment of the Carlo Mollino series. I was mesmerized by Neil’s highly-skilled techniques and learned a lot from his methods. I couldn’t believe the number of curves in that piece and Neil pulled it off. Quite impressive! But what struck me even more was the quality of the video presentation itself. The voiceovers, the cross-fades, the multi-angle shots, and the tasteful use of music were all present. Now, these things are something that most of us as casual viewers take for granted. But once you make a few of these videos yourself, you start to get an appreciation for the amount of work involved, as well as the amount of restraint. I know in my earliest videos, I was overwhelmed by the POWER I had (thanks to iMovie). I could put music HERE and THERE and then HERE again! I thought it was awesome. But after receiving some feedback, I had to rethink my approach. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but in retrospect, these critiques were right on. And I have seen Neil go through similar challenges. Neil has quite a bit of video experience, but I think these short format videos are a bit of a different creature. And learning what constitutes a “good video” can be pretty subjective and difficult to nail down, especially when you are the video’s creator. I still consider my own video production and editing process firmly in the “beta” stage. But as a spectator, its a little easier to identify when someone has hit that sweet spot. And I just want to congratulate Neil because I think he is there.
This may sound kind of odd, but when I am watching a really great video on the computer, I forget where I am. I sometimes feel like I’m sitting on my couch watching it on my big screen. And when I watch crappy video, I am constantly reminded throughout the presentation that I am sitting at my computer. And I think that’s why it hit me all of a sudden while I was watching Neils most recent episode: I forgot I was watching it on my laptop.
So if you haven’t watched Furnitology in a while, you are really missing out. Head on over there and give Neil a much-deserved virtual pat on the back. And not to take the focus off of Neil but you also should take a listen to Matt’s Halloween episode. Its not often you get to listen to pure genius.
32- Pop Goes the Maple
High Resolution Version
In this episode, I put the finish on the pencil holder. But its not just any finish. Since we are working with a beautiful curly maple, I think the finish deserves a little extra specia attention. Curly maple looks fantastic with a few coats of an oil based varnish. But it will BLOW YOUR MIND if you “pop” the grain with a dye first. So that’s exactly what we do in this episode. Thanks for watching.
The finishing materials I used in this episode are available from Rockler via the affiliate links below:
Lingerie Chest- Viewer Project of the Week
This week’s project comes from Rob in New Concord, OH. His story is a perfect example of why we should always keep our eyes and ears open for those lucky bargains. It’s also a good reminder to make sure your family knows you are always on the look out for cheap wood and good bargains on tools. I’ll let Rob tell the story.
My dad called me one day and told me that his friend had a death in the family, an old time woodworker. The family was auctioning off all his tools. I was told that he had 2000+ board feet of walnut and that I could get some cheap since my dad’s friend knew that I like woodworking also. So I said “Sure, I’d be more than happy to buy some”. I could not make it to the auction but I told my dad to get me 100 bf of the walnut. About 2 weeks later he shows up with a bunch of wood in his truck. I’m looking, I’m looking… It is all rough cut lumber but it isn’t walnut…. So I got a little sander out and I’m trying to figure out what it is. Turns out it was about 150 board feet of mostly cherry, some curly cherry, some walnut, and some mahogany.
Well my plan was to build a walnut table but I had to scrap that Idea cause I didn’t have enough. So I decided to build my wife this Cherry lingerie chest instead. It was my first solid wood project taken down from rough lumber. The drawers I made out of oak with hand cut dovetails, the bottoms I made out of 1/4″ cedar from home depot labeled closet liner, and the dividers are made from soft maple. The frame around the jewelry chest was made from what I believe is mahogany. The finish is a Minwax wipe-on poly. I also purchased roller bearing underneath drawer slides for the drawers. Overall I was very happy with it though and it makes me feel good that the old timer’s wood was not wasted. Oh yeah, my wife was happy too.
Well Rob. Great job my man! There is nothing like taking an old pile of boards and creating something beautiful. Its even more meaningful when you know the wood belonged to someone who carried the torch before you. And what a wood score! As Tampa Tom would say, “YOU SUCK”. By they way, that’s a funny way of saying, Nice Score!
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