Thread: A Real Workshop

Some progress.

You might have to change the hinges on the right hand door to lift off ones or is that a handicap system.
And I thought the shed rules stated that any verticle wall space was to be dedicated to clamp storage.
I don't dare put a dart board up in my shed. Too many distractions and procrastination excuses already Although I did find my good darts the other day......no no. Must do woodwork.

do you have to lie in the wood rack to play?

I agree that there are some limitations to the Shed dartboard.

If I slide the timber back along the racks there will be enough room to open and close the right hand door.
It was too much trouble for me to move it at the moment.
The other option is to slide the dartboard along the French Cleats..........open the door fully.........then slide it back into place.

I have been too lazy to do that too.

I did find a few darts and have a throw now and again. If I get a 3x20, I leave the dart there!! My technique needs plenty of practice.

You wont need to get onto the timber racks to play but it is a bit tight.

Wall space is a premium for tools and I would love to have more but it has been embarrassing when my daughters see the beautiful dartboard they bought me, gathering dust in a corner.
Hanging it off the pergola seemed a bit too dangerous.
So it will stay in the shed for a while.

Finally back to working on the front doors for the shed.

My six Queensland Maple slabs have been drying in the shed for over a year.
When I unstacked them they looked nice and flat, a few small cracks and larger ones in the knots.

The thought of flattening and sanding them by hand was too overwhelming so I arranged to put them through a friends wide belt sander. For a modest fee.

I borrowed a ute and took them on the trip to the sander.
We had put five boards and one side of the sixth board through #40 grit when the power went off!!!!!!!
The energy company had decided to do some tree lopping and turned off the power.
The last board was half way through the sander with no way of removing it until the power returned.

Our plan was to run all the boards through at #40 then change the belts and give them a couple of passes with #80 on the front belt and #120 on the back belt of the wide belt sander.
What to do???

I took two boards home to finish by hand and left the other four for my friend to finish when the power returned.


#40 grit is a bugger to sand........
After many hours/days with a belt sander and ROS at #120, I finally had a reasonable finish on one side.
Commonsense would have convinced me to take them back to my friend to pass the other three sides through the finer grits on the wide belt sander.
It was too hard to walk past them in the shed and not keep working on them so I finished all four sides at $120.
I plan to leave them at #120 until I cut the panels to size and rout the cove along the edges.
I want to be able to see all the boards before I decide what sections I want for the doors.


The temptation was too great as I was dying to see what they would look like when finished.
I did a quick sand on one side of one slab with #180 and #240 and wet it with turps.

This is what I got........beautiful.


That should be enough inspiration to collect the other slabs and get them finished.

Enjoy

a photo of the somewhat elusive bunyip - winking

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

a photo of the somewhat elusive bunyip - winking

Seeing something other then beautiful grain?

The slabs have great colour and grain, thanks Christos.

I hadn't seen the Bunyip Sawdust Maker. My impression was an owl. Although the pair of knots could be several things!!


There is still a fair bit of work to do before I can put them in the door frames.


Here are a few pics of what needs attention:

A couple of small low spots with the original saw marks.

The parallel scratches left by the #120 wide belt sander and some deeper scratches from the initial #40.

A range of cracks with the obvious ones being in the prominent knots.

Patches of borer holes and small section of rot.


The mess on the saw table gives you an idea of what I have been using to do the repair work.

Here are a few pics of the work on the sanded slabs.

I used the ROS with #120 to sand out the saw cuts ib the couple of low spots and to remove the parallel marks from the #120 wide belt sander.

It probably took 20 minutes to do a reasonable job on one side of a slab.

The larger cracks I filled with two part epoxy and black oxide. The stuff flows freely which is great for getting into all the fine cracks. If a crack or hole goes right through the board, the epoxy flows straight out the other side.
I put masking tape over the cracks and holes on the opposite side of the slab.
Sometimes I got a good smooth fill on the underside. Other times the epoxy found a way to escape.

A number of times the epoxy settled below the surface or ran through the pin holes.

A few times I had to refill the cavity more than once.

I tied Super glue on a large section of rot and the cracks on one board. I kept mixing the super glue with sawdust until the flaw was filled them sprayed it with Accelerator to set the glue. The finish looks pretty good.
On the opposite side of the slab I used Epoxy. It filled well because there was no way for it to find and escape root through the crack.

There is plenty left to do before I can cut the panels from the slabs.

All the Queensland Maple panels have been cleaned up and I am ready to cut them to fit the doors.

The length of the opening, including the groove for the panels is 1800mm.
I plan to allow 5mm for movement as I don't expect much movement along the length of the panel.

The width of the opening is 584mm.
I have allowed for 2% expansion of the panels.
Approximately 12mm.

It is winter now and we have had a fair bit of rain over the last few months.
Do I assume that the panels are at their maximum width?.............and cut the at the full 584mm?

or
Assume they are dry and at their minimum width?.................and cut the panels 12mm narrower than the full width, 572mm?

The grooves in the door frame are 22mm deep.

The worst case is that I cut them short and in a dry period I have a gap between the panel and the door frame....Not pretty.
If I cut them too wide and they expand more than opening, they will force the door frame apart.......Not nice either.


In the last pic I photshopped one wet Q Maple panel onto a door frame and superimposed on the front of the shed.
The colour is a bit strange because the panels aren't that red.
My question is
Do I Book Match the panels on each door or have them all facing the same way?

1. book matching on each door will look the best

2. have you any way of measuring the moisture content? Do you know the shrinkage/expansion factor for Qld Maple?
depending on how the slabs have been stored, my first assumption is the panels are probably as dry now as they will ever. Exposed to the weather I would expect that they will absorb moisture.

Thanks Ian

That was my opinion on both questions.

The slabs have been drying in my shed for over a year.
So they aren't moving far.

Timber usually dries to around 12% here and I expect that is what they are now.
I will put batteries in my moisture meter and check just the same.

The 2% is usually a safe estimate for movement in my experience.

Cheers

from: Queensland maple

Queensland Maple -- Flindersia brayleyana. Family: Rutaceae.

Shrinkage to 12% MC. 7.2% (tangential); 2.9% (radial).


Unit shrinkage. 0.25% (tangential); 0.15% (radial). These values apply to timber reconditioned after seasoning.


Durability above-ground. Class 4 - life expectancy less than 7 years.

I vote for booked matched.