Turning lemons into lemonade

Skylight for cats & dogs...

I wonder if those particles are ferrous and can be moved around with a magnet before curing sets in; could do cool eddy currents and vortices in the nooks!

We have an Australian member who could make you some nice kitchen knives using that wood for handles.

I have a bunch of old branches I am saving to make organ pipes.

The other thing old wood like that is good for making violin backs.

Clocks are also a possibility. Harrison made a number of wooden clocks. In the 19th century there was a whole industry mass producing clocks. vis Seth Thomas. Central Europe also had a tradition making wooden clocks.

Sometime I want to make a new box for an old music box movement I have.

All I need is 10 or 11 lifetimes to do half of what I have projects for.

Really looks beautiful @Archer ! What a wonderful centerpiece for your dining room. You will never get tired of staring at the wood grain and the patterns in the epoxy. Well done!

But wait, there's more! 😀

We have been enjoying our new table a great deal, but had plans for some additional projects. We just had the entire house painted inside, after having all the baseboards and trim replaced (new windows and doors last year were part of the reason for this - the snowball effect), so now finally time to bring in some of these projects.

We used to have a small stand in the front entrance that people could set a hat or purse on when they came in the door, so we decided maybe a nice maple floating shelf there would be nice...





We also needed some storage in a small bathroom that is just off the garage, so we added two more shelves there - you can see the hardware for these narrow shelves...









Neither of these are terribly exciting, but very functional uses of the wood. One of the cuts they made on the log early on was to flatten the top side so the chainsaw mill would make nice flat cuts - one the off cut pieces was quite nice when dried, so my wife wanted a wall hanging/art piece made from it...



Here it is in situ...in the same room as the table...



This one was my idea - we had this small phone stand right beside that small back bathroom near the garage entrance door. It was made from the same granite that our counters are. I suggested we ditch it and make a nice maple shelf...



And here it is...



The last one is a bit whacky. For many years I have had my various audio components on this stand (yes made of maple by a local company that is no longer around - very good quality stuff):



It used to be full, but as the system has progressed, I'm left with just two components. The room the stereo is in has an odd shape, so seating can be an issue - there's never enough when we have people over. My wife wanted to free up space where the stand is, so came up with another shelf application. I spent a lot of time worrying about length of power cords and ethernet cables, but didn't pay a lot of attention to the speaker cables, so need a longer set of those, but this is what we have now:



The plan is that a small couch will go where the stand used to be, once I get longer speaker cables...



The shelf before it went up...the only downside is you can't see the wood all that well now that it's in place...



Now the concern is the equipment weighs a fair bit - about 20 kg for both units. The brackets used here and for the phone stand are not what the rest of the shelves used. This system requires a recess machined into the back of the shelf, and half of the bracket is screwed into the shelf. The other half is screwed to the wall, and the shelf is "hung" onto the half that is screwed to the wall. Set screws are then tightened from the bottom of the shelf to lock the two parts of the bracket together. It's a very sturdy system that is really slick.



Web site if anyone is interested...

Heavy Duty Floating Shelf Hardware | Hovr Bracket System Canada

We have two remaining projects that we are considering, so we may add to this still...thanks for following along if you have made it this far. 👍

Thanks for sharing, Archer. Great way to turn a negative situation around and nice use of the materials. I enjoyed seeing how it's all being utilized.

New doors, windows, trim, paint.

You are setting a terrible example for us lazy members.

Back again for more.

We just took delivery this morning of a waterfall shelving unit made from our maple.



Top...



For those who might not have heard of this before, the "waterfall" name comes from using one slab of wood for the top and the side, with the grain flowing continuously from the top to the side, which requires precise cuts to keep everything aligned. We added some



There isn't a lot of epoxy on this one, but what was there we went with a colour called onyx black, mixed with something called "sapphire ghost blue." You can't see a lot of it because the area is smaller, but we have one more project we want done and plan to use it on that one...



Here's the mix on a larger table...





When used on it's own the sapphire ghost blue can create an opalescent effect that's pretty cool...





One more large project left.

I can imagine the feelings and memories invoked every time you run your fingers across one of those pieces Al.

A bit like "Hello old friend".

I know that seems a bit soppy, but I've hugged magnificent trees a bit like your maple and thought "I hope you don't become wood chips".

BTW, I'm not a "greenie tree hugger", but have been known to be awed by some trees, so much so that I just hugged them.

Exactly. This in a room just beside the table, so we are surrounded by that tree now.

Few more pics - took this of the exposed side in some late day sunlight...it's spectacular...



The Dutchmen (bow ties) and the splines are again made from a cherry tree from our yard. Here are some in progress pics of the splines:



Dry test fit...



Final glue up...

So, tangentially related, my wife and I spent some time this morning along with some others (the municipality and the local conservation authority) volunteering to plant some trees in the new subdivision behind us...





Some are hard to see when planted...





Planted red oak, red maple, black cherry, basswood, and lastly sugar maple, the same species as our tree was. Hopefully the people who live there will appreciate them...

Nicely done, Archer. In the future people will be enjoying shade from those trees for decades because of the time you took today.

Just turned a lemon into lemonade. End cut of some wood I got for knife handles has been made into a table decoration


But more sanding to go…and some polishing the dressed edges.

A few years ago, I faced a similar situation when I had to remove a Bradford pear tree that was located too close to our house. The tree had started losing large limbs, which posed a safety concern.

After the removal, I gave the stump and larger branches to my neighbors, who could use them for various projects. With the remaining smaller branches, I decided to get creative and explore new ways to repurpose them.


Kinda looks like Mont Saint-Michel at this stage.



Lots of adhesive later...