Post your woodwork here

[porqui]

It has always puzzled me why Meranti is classed as a hardwood

 

 

And balsa wood is a hardwood. 

[eddy]

They are great bits of kit, if you can afford the price tag. 

 

My dad has one of these... Busy trying to angle a way to get hold of it. Shopsmith Mk V. Got it for R 500 from a junk sale, and refurbished it himself. Shopsmith themselves have taken an interest in it as they don't see many of them being refurbished anymore. 

 

BRILLIANT piece of kit. Combination tablesaw, disc sander, drill press & lathe

 

 http://tomsworkbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AnvMarkVGlamour6.gif

 

 

This brings back memories.

 

My grandfather was stationed in the USA during the 1950s and shipped back a ShopSmith Table saw/lathe that he used in his retirement to make small pieces of wood out of large ones.

 

He was a tinkerer and could amuse himself for hours working on a small part of something or another.

 

My F@kken cousin who pulled everything through his backside got all of his workshop equipment & tools and needless to say, it all followed in the same way.

 

I still have his B&D drill though. 65 Years old and still going strong. (Ok, it never was the most powerful drill, so still going as strong as it ever did).

[Pants Boy]

The classification has little to do with how 'hard' the wood is ... 

 

Basically, if it has flowers, it's hardwood. If it has cones, softwood.

[Ed-Zulu]

As per Pants Boy for the scientific explanation:

 

Softwood and hardwood are distinguished botanically in terms of their reproduction, not by their end use or appearance. All trees reproduce by producing seeds, but the seed structure varies.

 

In general, hardwood comes from a deciduous tree which loses its leaves annually and softwood comes from a conifer, which usually remains evergreen. Hardwoods tend to be slower growing, and are therefore usually more dense.

Softwood trees are known as a gymnosperm. Gymnosperms reproduce by forming cones which emit pollen to be spread by the wind to other trees. Pollinated trees form naked seeds which are dropped to the ground or borne on the wind so that new trees can grow elsewhere. Some examples of softwood include pine, redwood, douglas-fir, cypresses and larch.

 

A hardwood is an angiosperm, a plant that produces seeds with some sort of covering such as a shell or a fruit. Angiosperms usually form flowers to reproduce. Birds and insects attracted to the flowers carry the pollen to other trees and when fertilized the trees form fruits or nuts and seeds. Hardwoods include eucalypts, beech and blackwood.

[Stretched@Birth]

It has always puzzled me why Meranti is classed as a hardwood

Cause it's about 370N harder than Radiata Pine on the Janka scale and we do not know proper hardwood here in SA [emoji12]

 

For comparison purposes, from soft to hard:

 

Cuipo- 98N

Balsa - 440N

Radiata Pine - 3200N

Dark Red Meranti - 3570N

African Mahogany - 3700N

Cherry - 4430N

Teak - 5140N

Iroko - 5600N

Red Oak - 5700N

Rosewood - 7900N

Ebony - 14300N

Australian Buloke - 22500N

 

So, in the greater scheme of things, Meranti pretty soft.

 

Timber City here in town refers people to us to cut Rosewood, they refuse to cut it as it blunts their blades...

[porqui]

I have milled sugar gum here in the Cape (yep I have a portable mill) and when dried properly it sinks like a brick in water and seriously hard - makes incredible flooring but it won't take any treatment too dense and natural oils/resins.

[brussel]

OK so my sis saw the thread and said I should post my latest project. I've done several guitars but this took something special.

 

Gibson es 335 Trini Lopez semi hollow electric that sounds as good as it looks

 

Many hours lots of learning to laminate and make a vacuum press to do it. Some mistakes experimenting with epoxies and glues. The neck and fingerboard and trim are raw wenge, super stable, hard and beautiful. the raw neck plays really nicely.

 

 

[MTBeer]

Cause it's about 370N harder than Radiata Pine on the Janka scale and we do not know proper hardwood here in SA [emoji12]

 

For comparison purposes, from soft to hard:

 

Cuipo- 98N

Balsa - 440N

Radiata Pine - 3200N

Dark Red Meranti - 3570N

African Mahogany - 3700N

Cherry - 4430N

Teak - 5140N

Iroko - 5600N

Red Oak - 5700N

Rosewood - 7900N

Ebony - 14300N

Australian Buloke - 22500N

 

So, in the greater scheme of things, Meranti pretty soft.

 

Timber City here in town refers people to us to cut Rosewood, they refuse to cut it as it blunts their blades...

where would Jarrah be on that list?

Edited June 8, 2016 by MTBeer

[Stretched@Birth]

where would Jarrah be on that list?

8500N, so harder than Rosewood.

 

Remember too, these are averages, there are many factors that influence the hardness. The test is done by pressing an 11.28mm steel ball into the wood to half the balls diameter and measuring the force required to do so.

[MTBeer]

8500N, so harder than Rosewood.

 

Remember too, these are averages, there are many factors that influence the hardness. The test is done by pressing an 11.28mm steel ball into the wood to half the balls diameter and measuring the force required to do so.

Have worked a bit with Jarrah - super hard.

 

11.28mm? I wonder who came up with that number? It's not even a standard imperial measurement.

[Stretched@Birth]

Have worked a bit with Jarrah - super hard.

 

11.28mm? I wonder who came up with that number? It's not even a standard imperial measurement.

Was wondering the same thing, it's 0.444in.

[Stretched@Birth]

My latest work in progress, chest of drawers for my youngest, though not sure I should post it here, it's plywood...

 

[Ed-Zulu]

OK so my sis saw the thread and said I should post my latest project. I've done several guitars but this took something special.

 

Gibson es 335 Trini Lopez semi hollow electric that sounds as good as it looks

 

Many hours lots of learning to laminate and make a vacuum press to do it. Some mistakes experimenting with epoxies and glues. The neck and fingerboard and trim are raw wenge, super stable, hard and beautiful. the raw neck plays really nicely.

WOW, that is stunning brussel!

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

My latest work in progress, chest of drawers for my youngest, though not sure I should post it here, it's plywood...

 

Ply, if used properly, can be a stunning media to work with. Also looks great in the final form, but you have to be SUPER exact with your cuts & joints. 

[mon-goose]

My latest work in progress, chest of drawers for my youngest, though not sure I should post it here, it's plywood...

 

looks cool

[Stretched@Birth]

Ply, if used properly, can be a stunning media to work with. Also looks great in the final form, but you have to be SUPER exact with your cuts & joints.

And if the quality of the ply you are working with is good. You also need to take time to finish it properly.