Thread: Fish tank cabinet - redgum burl and other gum WIP

A fish cabinet stand made from redgum burl And it's from off-cuts

Once I cut the burl to approximately 4 equal size pieces I then squared them up on the jointer and then docked them to length - plus a bit to be trimmed later.

I then marked up the piece to be removed with the router and using a big trimming bit made a lot of noise and wood shavings.

I then finished the cutting off with a chisel and tenon saw just to tidy up the corners.

I sanded the pieces and them routered the corners to give them a round edge.

I have done some oil - burnishing.

More to come on finishing these pieces and starting the panels.

"Stunning" what is that finish you have on it?

Originally Posted by TEEJAY

This is still in the early stages - as it is a WIP.

I have a fish tank 1.5m long x 0.5m wide and 0.6m deep and it has a cabinte underneath out of pine cladding the idea is to replace it with Studley's floorborad panels with redgum burl corners.

I started by cutting up some redgum burl offcut and making the corner posts 90 x 90mm x 600mm long each. These will make up the front corners of the tanks cabinet.

Originally Posted by Waldo

A fish cabinet stand made from redgum burl And it's from off-cuts

This is the smaller offcut - I can't lift the other two offcuts so couldn't feed them through my little bandsaw - need to rig up the chainsaw mill again so left them alone for now

Half your luck. :insertgreenwithlustsmilie:

The redgum burl does have some beautiful figure and the burnishing oil wet really brings it forward with wow factor.

Once burnished it does temper it a little bit - but takes away the plastic look a bit too.

Great WIP TJ. Have you started the real work yet?

Fish will have a nice view!

Great looking burl!

Next stage was to start preparing the Studley's reject timber flooring panels to become the front and ends of the cabinet face.

I used a couple of 45 degree mitre router bits and simply chamfered the edges to bring some feature to the boards and panels.

Then I clamped them up - closing them with Bessey clamps and to prevent some warp in the flat direction with some home made clamps - the result was acceptable. The Bessey clamps did have to do some work as they were far from straight aong their length.

Also I did select the "reddest" timber I could to work in with the burl corners. I have glued these together with titebond III.

There are quite a few faults in this timber that I have repaired to some degree with resin. I don't mind the blemished look of the timber as burls are not pure anyway - they have resin inclusions etc.

I will finish this timber with Sikkens DWD clear coat to put a film over this timber as you can see it has required some filling and some areas are a bit well "natural" so to seal the timber I want a "poly-type" film over it.

I am not sure how to fix the corner burl posts to the panels. I have the domino but not sure how to apply it here with great success and I am not about to drill through the posts to put a screw through even with a plug. Hmmm???

Originally Posted by Wongo

Great WIP TJ. Have you started the real work yet?

Fishing! ??

Thats more like it.

Originally Posted by TEEJAY

I am not sure how to fix the corner burl posts to the panels. I have the domino but not sure how to apply it here with great success and I am not about to drill through the posts to put a screw through even with a plug. Hmmm???

... treat the construction as a frame and panel, with the corner redgum burl with a rabet as the stiles, and put a top and bottom rail on the panel which you route to become the plaque?

Originally Posted by Waldo

... treat the construction as a frame and panel, with the corner redgum burl with a rabet as the stiles, and put a top and bottom rail on the panel which you route to become the plaque?

Waldo I have made the burl corner posts an "L" shape so the wrap around and cap the board panels. When I call these burls "posts" they do not support the tank. The board panels will just meet at the corner and be fitted to existing hardwood posts and the burl fits nicely over this - just need to figure how to hold the corner posts in place - they are nothing more than a cover to the panels.

The fish tanks has a hardwood frame this is just panelling on the outside - so I don't need this burl to more than hold it's self in place.

The panels need to be fitted first as they are bracing for the existing hardwood posts then finally the burl corners are added - for effect and aesthetics and to cover the corner.

Perhaps I could just glue them in place - but I feel they need a bit more than that and also wonder how good glue is just to the face of an oiled timber? I was thinking a couple of dominos to "tack it in place" perhaps?

The stand should look great TJ. Look forward to more photos.

That is one heck of a lump of off-cut, was it dry?

Not sure about domino joints, redgums keeps moving, but with burl not sure in which direction. Especially across the floor board ends, you want to allow them to move, or the burl will crack as it has limited tensile strength. But are you talking about a single domino in the middle?