Thread: How to deal with Interlocked Grain

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

....immediately his eyes water, go bloodshot and very itchy. Then he perspires, has breathing difficulties, his hands shake, and a migraine starts and lasts for 3 or 4 days.

That's how I get out of bed in the mornings


This was an excellent read: Paracelsus - Wikipedia .... Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim .... What a magnificent name!

Originally Posted by justonething

I always feel that a scraper is the ultimate go-to after you have planed all you can. By adjusting the amount of "hook", you can determined you "coase" your finish should be and how quickly the material you can remove.

While I agree with you, I think I might get sick of re-sharpening it if doing any large amount of Cooktown Ironwood.

GC, I'm always very careful with epoxies for that reason, but I'd be wary of the acetone, too. I once worked with a bunch of chemists, and was told that "If you can smell an organic solvent, you're being poisoned." Obviously, the amount and frequency of exposure matters, but the nose is a very quick pathway to the brain.

Originally Posted by woodPixel

That's how I get out of bed in the mornings ...

I shall refrain from asking what you are like when you go to bed.

Built a test-and-see router sled this weekend. It worked well. Thanks to those who suggested it for this grain
Used a 1200W plunge and a timbecon surface planning router bit


I found the best compromise of speed and finish quality at 0.7mm
Then on to the other side which needed a lot more levelling - about 6mm in places


This was a pass at 0.9mm
Tested a pass at 1mm and still no tear out


This was a final pass at 0.3mm
All passes were in the same direction
Some minor flex in the sled step down blocks left a pass line but that will sand out quickly when its ready for that

A slight improvement on the thicky, FW...

I've got a suggestion - just polish that piece up & frame it, it would look spectacular & every bit as good as any abstract painting I've seen. But perhaps I'm biased.....

Cheers,

... Some minor flex in the sled step down blocks left a pass line but that will sand out quickly when its ready for that ...

Excellent result.

Flex is always the enemy with router sleds - its amazing how deep the vertical sections must be to almost eliminate it.

Originally Posted by IanW

... I've got a suggestion - just polish that piece up & frame it, it would look spectacular & every bit as good as any abstract painting I've seen. But perhaps I'm biased.....
Cheers,

A question on art genres, Ian. I would have thought that was a figurative work.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

...A question on art genres, Ian. I would have thought that was a figurative work.....

very punny....

Originally Posted by IanW

A slight improvement on the thicky, FW...

I've got a suggestion - just polish that piece up & frame it, it would look spectacular & every bit as good as any abstract painting I've seen. But perhaps I'm biased.....

Cheers,

Hey thanks Ian, thats not a bad idea . Although this slab is about 400x400x50mm thick it might end up tearing off the wall and putting a hole in the floor. I'd bandsaw it in half if it would fit thru the band saw but only have 300mm capacity. It does give me an idea for a taller, thinner and less wide version. Perhaps more like a wall standing (on the floor) rather than a wall hanging.

My neighbours would like a chopping board-like stand with resin for a large kitchen bench top appliance to sit on. One they saw in some retail outlet was $2000! I said for that price I'd expect a very nice coffee table including legs. They just got married so I said I'd make a nice appliance stand for them for $2000 less than that.

Coffee table may be on the cards at a later stage... perhaps much later

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Excellent result.

Flex is always the enemy with router sleds - its amazing how deep the vertical sections must be to almost eliminate it.

Thanks Graeme. I checked the sled and it does indeed flex on the cross bars by 0.1-0.2ish mm
I can live with that for now

To follow up with a few pics of a finished board it occurred to me some may be interested where this timber came from.

Controlled burns are conducted up here from April to June.
Many of the fires are not planed and occur during the hottest times of the year. Often the areas are expansive blanket burns.
Rather than low and slow burns, the flames of these 'hot fires' frequently extend high into the canopy of established trees whilst also destroying immature growth low on the ground.



This particular ironwood likely endured multiple burns at its base until last year.
These boards were taken from the centre of the truck close to the base.




The stand gifted to the neighbours was made from the board on the right:

That’s a nice contrast colour used in the epoxy vs timber.

I generally have difficulty getting the swirl patterns looking what I would like, but then I am using West System fast/slow cure and there may be a better alternative. What colour and epoxy did you use?

Hi Cava

I used Composite Warehouse 'River Set' with their pearlescent cobalt blue pigment for this one
I have also used Luciclear casting resin with good results. Both of these as well as many others are suitable for deep pours / slow set.

You have probably found the trick with the swirl pattern is timing when the resin starts to gel. When first pouring the pigment gravitates to the bottom and will only suspend effectively when viscosity increases after some hours - temperature depending.
At the moment I check the pour every half hour and mix again if settling /loss of pattern is evident.

It can be annoying if the pattern looks satisfying but I mix again only to find the new pattern less attractive
If mixing too late after the gelling period the pattern can look contrived and somewhat rubbish.

Anyway, the mixing pattern I use is a combination of deliberate and random upward stir motions scraping the bottom, sometimes dragging pigment streaks away from wood edges, sometimes toward.
If the pour is shallow I use a quick set such as CW's 'Timber Set' epoxy

Theres a member on this forum that does very nice resin boxes who may be able to add more