Bought some vinewood for a box - need help!

[Shannon]

G'day all,

I am starting to venture into boxmaking after purchasing a gifkins at the WW show.

Bought some vinewood from Trend on the weekend and took some time to start making a box. Had never heard of vinewood (although not hard as my experience is not A1 just yet). I found it quite a tough timber to use, quite hard to work and even brittle. I have new cutters (only used so far in trial joints and 2 - 3 practice boxes, but I was getting some chipping etc.

Is it user error, of is this just a difficult timber??? I bought it for the colouration as opposed to workability - something I will gain more knowlegde on in the future I am sure.

[DPB]

Make sure your router is on the highest speed. Take very small passes with the Gifkins jig and make sure that you are moving the jig from right to left when cutting between the template fingers. This means you go into the timber on the left side of the template finger opening and move it across to the right side of the opening. Don't be too aggressive with the cuts.

You described the problem as 'chipping' which, I suppose, is not the same as tear-out. But if you are experiencing tear-out, you might have to use a fresh surface on your sacrificial MDF backing-board. Remember you can use 4 edges of this by flipping and turning it. :)

[rowie]

very nice looking dog in your avatar!

[Shannon]

Thanks Woodchuck,

I have the triton at number 3 speed so I will increase it to max.

I described it as chipping as it is happening on the front of the board as opposed to the back which is against the MDF.

Thanks for all the advice, hopefully I will post a finished product soon.

Rowie,
This avatar is my beloved Staffie - Link, pic is when he was about 1, but unfortunately his time was up late last year after a good 12 year innings.

[Hickory]

What is Vinewood. Wood from some vine, Poison Ivy vine, Grape vine, Whisteria vine? Interested. I have some large Wild grape vine on the property where My daughter lives. Tried turning green and drying with little success, also tried slabing and drying but little success as it split apart and twisted terribly. Just courious...

[Shannon]

Hi again all,

DPB - Your advise worked a treat, cranked the old triton to max and went through like butter.

Hickory - I had not come across the timber before, when I complete the box I will post some photos for you to see. It will not be the box I post in the next couple of days though - when I made the boo boos on the vinewood it became redundant for the job at hand so have now made one out of corkbark. The vine wood will be next.

[TTIT]

have now made one out of corkbark.

Now this I'm keen to see!!!:) I have just cut a large log of 'corkbark' tree (2200 long, 400 diameter) and it looks nothing like the timber in the picture I found in a book of Western QLD/NSW timbers (which looks suspiciously like silky-oak:rolleyes:). Have no idea what it is going to be like to work with.
Where did yours come from Shannon? Got any pics of it yet? No pressure though - 5 minutes time would be acceptable!!!;):D:D:D:D

[Ray153]

Shannon, I am curious about your purchase of the Gifkins jig. Has it lived up to your expectations? Which templates did you decide to buy or did you go all out and get the lot? Was it more advantageous purchasing at the show or not much different to making the purchase through normal trading? I am keen to purchase the jig and am debating which template/s and whether I would be better off waiting for the Show here in a month or so in Melbourne.
Ray :confused:

[Shannon]

Now this I'm keen to see!!!:) I have just cut a large log of 'corkbark' tree (2200 long, 400 diameter) and it looks nothing like the timber in the picture I found in a book of Western QLD/NSW timbers (which looks suspiciously like silky-oak:rolleyes:). Have no idea what it is going to be like to work with.
Where did yours come from Shannon? Got any pics of it yet? No pressure though - 5 minutes time would be acceptable!!!;):D:D:D:D

G'day TTIT,

My home PC is having a scitz at the moment so sorry for the late reply. I took the WIP piccies to post but they have not come through to my work email as yet :mad:. So far the timber is pretty good to work with - although mainly I have used powered machinery. I used a reasonably blunt chisel on some rebating the other night and it coped better than I thought. Again though I am talking a 4mm rebate and just cleaning up as opposed to the slab you have got yourself ;) Beautiful grain in it though, hope to have piccies later today or tomorrow.

Ray153 - about the gifkins:

My first though would be to wait for the WWW show. That is where I got mine. Price was slightly cheaper, but I got a few things extra thrown in with the cheaper price also - Gifkins square, the intro to box making book, and instruction DVD.

I picked up the A and B 10 templates at the show. I think that 80% of my work will be done with the A template (this takes timber up to 12mm thick.
B template is stock to 22mm thick. There is also a H template for stock to 7 or 8mm thick (I think that is the correct size) this is for smaller boxes.

Roger has a web site that you can check out to suss out your individual needs. I decided not to go the H template because there was no way of me affording the lot package - again a personal thing! and I thought the A template would still cope with thinner stock anyway.

My initial thoughts are very initial, whilst I have had the jig since June I have not been able to open it until 2 weeks ago. It has been driving me insane, every time I go into the workshop it was staring at me with a mocking look in its eyes :D. I would say that if you can timetable the hour at the show to sit in on Rogers demo do so. I didn't have the time but I wish I did. Next don't do what we all do and try to learn on the go. Whilst it is reasonably straight forward, I have watched the video a number of times and it helps a lot, as does the manual.
Make the time to do practice joints and set up the jig to the cutters you receive (add or take shims out of the jig to make the joint fit correctly - this will become clearer at the demo or in the instructions) I decided to make this 1st box too late for my sisters 30th and thus I feel I rushed the practice joints a little before deciding that I could upgrade to the real thing. Again it would depend on your skill level as well, me I LOVE woodworking, but my brain is not really wired up that way and so I think I will always struggle a bit harder than someone who has that natural knack for things mechanical/artistic etc.

The last thing I would say is pretty obvious, but something that should still be said - this and all other jigs etc, will not be foolproof. It can with the right hands give a near perfect joint all of the time, but most of us are not that good. There is still room for error (mostly user though) The vinewood I used 1st was 8mm stock and the joint was almost too tight to fit. The corkbark stock was 8mm thick, but if anything the joint is a bit looser than I'd like. Somewhere in there something has gone astray - not a biggy, but it shows nothing is the be all and end all.

I will let you know more as I get the hang of it, already I am heaps more confident. After this box I will be going back to practice practice practice before attempting another.

BTW there are a few other threads with others opinions regarding the Gifkins if you do a search I am sure you will find them. I put out a thread last year on this very thing.Gumby is a big user of it - he helped me with my decision. Have fun in the other threads on the topic - maybe it is for you, maybe you will favour another, looking forward to hearing how you go.

[Shannon]

Hi all,

Here are some pics of corkbark for TTIT and others interested, and also the job so far. It is now glued up and ready for final sand and finish.

Will post the finished product later on.

[AlexS]

That box is looking interesting Shannon, look forward to seeing the final result.
That corkwood is interesting, looks very muck like 1/4 sawn silky oak.

[Ray153]

Shannon, The box looks great. Thank you for your detailed reply about the jig. I have got the DVD and have watched it a number of times, he certainly makes it look easy but I guess it is second nature to him by now.

[TTIT]

The box so far is looking really good Shannon.:D Thanks for the pics - the pic in the book I borrowed and your wood tell me I'm looking at this tree wrong!:o Your sample is obviously of the Hakea family ('ivoryia' I think it is) and looks very much like Silky-oak. Let's hope the Qld herbarium can tell me what the hell I've got - the bark looks EXACTLY the same!:confused: