Post your woodwork here

[Ed-Zulu]

I'm looking to stain pine wood a darker colour. I've built a coffee table and I want to keep the grain pattern of the pine, just darker. I used grip seal but I do not like the results it gave me, you have to apply it extremely evenly and the resulting piece has a shiny finish. With the grip seal any overlapping sections show up in the finished product. 

 

What brand or type of stain do you prefer and what is the best method to apply it? Do you prepare the wood in a specific way to accept the stain?

You can tree staining it with tea, which works pretty good. Lots of resources on it on the interwebs

Also, the steelwool and vinegar method could assist, interwebs again

 

Another trick is to buy some pre-stained varnish, I often use light oak to get that honey colour onto white pine.

[ABrooks]

You can tree staining it with tea, which works pretty good. Lots of resources on it on the interwebs

Also, the steelwool and vinegar method could assist, interwebs again

 

Another trick is to buy some pre-stained varnish, I often use light oak to get that honey colour onto white pine.

 

I've read about the steel wool and vinegar so I have some of that standing in the garage to try out later. 

[CJ Van]

I've read about the steel wool and vinegar so I have some of that standing in the garage to try out later. 

If you are going to try the steel wool and vinegar on pine you will have to first stain the wood with a solution of black tea and water.  Pine does not have a lot of tannins and the steel wool and vinegar solution will not react to the pine very well.  The tannins in the tea will soak into the wood and if you then apply the steel wool and vinegar solution you will have much better results.  Just keep in mind that this will give you a grey weathered look.

 

I usually stain my pine projects with Woodoc stain.  It comes in very small bottles and a variety of colours .  I mix that with Woodoc 5 until I get the desired look.  Just make sure you start of with enough Woodoc 5 when you mix in the stain.  If you run out of your mixture before you have covered your whole project it could be very difficult to match the previous colour again.  Hope that makes sense. 

[DJR]

If you are going to try the steel wool and vinegar on pine you will have to first stain the wood with a solution of black tea and water.  Pine does not have a lot of tannins and the steel wool and vinegar solution will not react to the pine very well.  The tannins in the tea will soak into the wood and if you then apply the steel wool and vinegar solution you will have much better results.  Just keep in mind that this will give you a grey weathered look.

 

I usually stain my pine projects with Woodoc stain.  It comes in very small bottles and a variety of colours .  I mix that with Woodoc 5 until I get the desired look.  Just make sure you start of with enough Woodoc 5 when you mix in the stain.  If you run out of your mixture before you have covered your whole project it could be very difficult to match the previous colour again.  Hope that makes sense. 

+ 1 on the tea thing for pine

[ABrooks]

I will try the tea first. I was surprised by the effect the vinegar and steel wool gave me. I tested it at around 2 hours, 8 hours and a day later. 8 hours gave me the best results, at 24 hours it started to look reddish. 

 

in the end I went with Nova 18 stain in the Aged Oak colour. Their colour samples in store do not match up at all with the actual staining colour. It only costs around R80 for 500ml so not that expensive. What I like about Nova 18 is that I can stain it and then finish it off with a water based varnish to protect it. I will post a photo later of the completed coffee table.  

[ABrooks]

It's not the best photo but here is an example of how it turned out. 

 

 

The top is from bloekom (I think salinga?) and the rest is treated pine. 

It came out a bit darker because I added two coats of stain. I also had an issue here a few spots where I mixed saw dust and glue to close a few holes swelled up quite a bit. It could have been the stain or the varnish I only saw it after applying the varnish. 

 

 

[Amberdrake]

Update on ongoing router table project.

I got all safety added and used it for other tools while working on table.

The height adjustment from top caused a huge @#$%#&%&.

I am working on alternative solution that will work and look good.

Unfortunately I moved to friends for work time as ex watching daughter during the day.

I am actually more productive etc etc etc. (other than router table work i could do during lunch)

[Ed-Zulu]

It's not the best photo but here is an example of how it turned out. 

 

IMG-20200509-WA0001.jpg

 

The top is from bloekom (I think salinga?) and the rest is treated pine. 

It came out a bit darker because I added two coats of stain. I also had an issue here a few spots where I mixed saw dust and glue to close a few holes swelled up quite a bit. It could have been the stain or the varnish I only saw it after applying the varnish. 

That turned out perfect!

[carrera4s]

Yeah, I fully agree. If you’re going to spend enough time there do it proper and make it nice.

 

I also scored a bargain on some Beech for my bench, think it was also around that price per cube. Although some pieces were seriously bowed and twisted.

 

Excuse the mess, but it is a workbench after all that gets used and sometimes abused.

 

 

The criss cross arms, at its widest it’s about 50 mm, and about 12 mm thick. I assembled it and never bothered to take it apart to blue the steel and make it pretty.

 

Stefmeister, can you please post a close-up of your end vice's dovetails? I am also planning the same, still playing around with the exact proportions so trying to look at as many as I can to see what I like.

[stefmeister]

Stefmeister, can you please post a close-up of your end vice's dovetails? I am also planning the same, still playing around with the exact proportions so trying to look at as many as I can to see what I like.

I made a few iterations, before I was happy with the final look. Then, and now (2 years on).

[stefmeister]

Found some photos on my phone whilst looking for the above ones.

 

Finished this dresser cabinet some time last year. It’s a bit of an experimental build to match the bedside tables.

 

Yes, That’s clamping force flexing that top.

 

 

 

[CJ Van]

So, after the slippery slope of looking at second-hand planes on Bidorbuy and hoping the price does not go up too much for the stuff that I wanted I decided not to buy the no 7 plane that went for more than R1000.  Instead I bought a no 7 plane off Facebook that Mr Carrera told me about.  Thanks for that info there. 

 

I had to do some work to get the sole flat, about 10 min with sandpaper on a flat piece of granite.  Other than that, I only cleaned some of the rust off the plane.  The handle does not look to nice so I will make a new one when I have time.  In the meantime, I have put the plane to work.  Sharpened the blade and fiddled a bit with the setup until I was happy with everything and Wow!  I should have bought a big ass no 7 a long time ago.  So much easier to flatten and dimension stock with this bad boy. 

 

I am fortunate to still be able to go to work during the lock down period, so I only have weekends to get some projects done.  First project was this knife block I made.  I’m still not sure what wood the dark brown/black wood is.  The almost white wood is pear wood, like in a Packham triumph pear tree.  My dad took out an old Packham orchard last year and I took some of the straighter stumps to use for projects like this.  Interesting wood, it has absolutely no grain, just plain white.

 

 

 

[CJ Van]

I made a few iterations, before I was happy with the final look. Then, and now (2 years on).

Holy crap,after seeing this I feel like taking down my little woodworking projects.  Oh well, something to aspire to I guess.

 

Nice work!

[stefmeister]

So, after the slippery slope of looking at second-hand planes on Bidorbuy and hoping the price does not go up too much for the stuff that I wanted I decided not to buy the no 7 plane that went for more than R1000. Instead I bought a no 7 plane off Facebook that Mr Carrera told me about. Thanks for that info there.

 

I had to do some work to get the sole flat, about 10 min with sandpaper on a flat piece of granite. Other than that, I only cleaned some of the rust off the plane. The handle does not look to nice so I will make a new one when I have time. In the meantime, I have put the plane to work. Sharpened the blade and fiddled a bit with the setup until I was happy with everything and Wow! I should have bought a big ass no 7 a long time ago. So much easier to flatten and dimension stock with this bad boy.

 

I am fortunate to still be able to go to work during the lock down period, so I only have weekends to get some projects done. First project was this knife block I made. I’m still not sure what wood the dark brown/black wood is. The almost white wood is pear wood, like in a Packham triumph pear tree. My dad took out an old Packham orchard last year and I took some of the straighter stumps to use for projects like this. Interesting wood, it has absolutely no grain, just plain white.

 

IMG_2178.JPG

 

IMG_2179.JPG

 

IMG_2182.JPG

Very nice. And well done for doing it with a hand plane. A No.7 is nice for straight-edging long boards. Even works well on a shooting board to square up pieces.

 

The dark wood looks like Wenge. Panga panga looks similar, but usually has a bit of orangey streaking in the grain pattern.

[forkie]

quick question to the more knowledgeable: can i use a Ryobi table saw to cut railway sleepers, or do they require something a lot stronger?

[stefmeister]

quick question to the more knowledgeable: can i use a Ryobi table saw to cut railway sleepers, or do they require something a lot stronger?

Depending on the wood specie, you’ll probably even destroy a 3hp Powermatic.

 

If you do it in multiple passes and use a rip cut blade, 20-24t, you’ll put less strain on the motor.