banksia pods for beginners - coasters

[bassmansimon]

hey guys
theres some great banksia pods out there (i got two from a guy on ebay in perth).

i still have one for something else (don't know what as i don't have a lathe), but i used one to create two sets of coasters.

basically, just cut them on a compound saw to about 15mm deep, then sand on belt sander, orbital sander, then hand sander.

note: banksias are very hard on tools. it will strip your belts on the belt sander pretty quickly.

finished with Feast Watson Weatherproof Clear High Gloss Finish, as condensation & spills might be an issue on coasters.

To the beginners, this is pretty simple to make - I have limited (but hopefully growing) skills, but found it pretty easy.

To the more advanced woodies, any other tips or suggestions?

[Wongdai]

That's a pretty good idea, and I like the way they look.

If it was me I would ensure they are all the same thickness and flat, so you don't get that leaning tower of pisa when you stack them. :wink:

[bassmansimon]

yeah. that would have been nice. because of my stupid compound saw, i couldn't set up a useful guide, so i was dong the cut depths by hand. bad idea when it gets down to the last few cuts in the banksia pod - it ripped it right out of my hand one time and almost took the top of my finger off.

i assumed that i would be able to sand them flat and to an equal depth with a belt sander (inverted in a bench vice to become a home made linisher), however it was much much harder on the sander than i expected. it would hardly take anything off before nearly ruining a whole belt. so unfortunately i am left with the leaning tower of coasters.

[bassmansimon]

new banksias i noticed this morning are on ebay. they don't come around too often:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380104415507