The Big Leaf Maple
As a follow up to a couple blogs back, “Maple, The Untold Story”, I finally got a few 16” lazy susans finished using the Oregon Big Leaf maple that I scored a couple of weeks ago. It’s interesting that I used figured West coast maple for the top, and figured East coast maple for the bottom. It’s kind of a East meets West thing. These are also listed for sale on Etsy. I have two more 12” ones finished, but I am waiting on the smaller lazy susan bearings to get here. I use 9” bearings for the 16” and 4” bearings for the 12”. These are stunning.
I also made up some wine bottle balancers from the narrow pieces of Oregon maple. These actually work and turned out really nice. It amazes me how stunning this maple is once it gets hit with the oil finish.
From Small to Big
It’s difficult to shift gears between small items such as cutting boards and lazy susans to a 19 foot long entertainment center, but I’m working through it. This thing almost takes up the length of my small shop when assembled. I’ve been dividing my time between this project and increasing my inventory for an upcoming March show. I work on the entertainment center for a week and then take a few days and crank out crafts. Then it’s back on the center.
This entertainment center will only stand 53” tall because it will fit under a sloped ceiling in an upstairs family room. It kind of feels like I am working on doll house furniture. The construction is very close to completion and will be painted white before I install it. The raised panel doors have taken the longest amount of time because of all the gluing and sanding. There will be a 50” flat screen TV sitting on the two low cabinets, and crown molding will finish out the top. Not shown, will also be a 36” desk top at the very end of the run for my customer’s kids to use. I’ll put up pictures of the final installed project when I get to that point. I have to deliver and install it in a house in Knoxville, Tennessee, so I hope I can get the whole thing in my trailer.
The bottom opening on the two left cabinets will be drawers.
Maple, The Untold Story
I use a lot of ash in many of my projects because it is almost as hard as maple, but has a more pronounced grain pattern than maple. Most of the maple I get comes from the New England states, and even though it’s smooth creamy white texture works well as a light contrast to darker woods, it’s just downright boring. There is very little grain pattern which is just not visually stimulating.
However, there are species of maple that are dramatic. Some maple wood contains natural occurrences that are referred to as “figure”. This figure shows up as shimmering, silver streaks throughout the wood and only appears in about 2% of the harvested USA maple. The most common figure appears as lines crossing horizontally across the wood and is referred to as “tiger stripe” or “flame”. Of all the figured maple, this is the most common and fairly easy to find. The second type of figure is “birdseye” which is covered with little dots that look like eyes. Birdseye is not as common and much harder to find, but very beautiful. The third and prettiest maple type is “quilted”. The pattern in this type looks like folds in a quilt and is breathtaking, especially when it contains heavy quilt. This type is very hard to find and too expensive for most of my products.
All figured maple carries a significant price premium over non-figured maple. However, quilted maple usually carries a premium price well above the other figured types and is normally found only in Oregon maple trees.
This lazy susan is an example of this type of figured maple. Notice the horizontal lines running across the maple and through the edges. This picture doesn’t do it justice.
This is one of my bookmarks which contains Birdseye maple.
I have always wanted to jazz up some of my products with quilted maple, but just could not justify the price. This changed when a large shipment of Oregon Big Leaf Maple arrived at my lumber supplier this week. They had pallets of short, cutoff pieces containing a high quilt figure for a very inexpensive price (in relation to normal quilted maple prices). I spent an hour this morning digging through the pallets and found some very dramatic pieces. The board in this picture is 2 1/4″ thick and will be re-sawed into thinner boards. The quilt pattern will become very dramatic when I put an oil-based finish on it. The final finish really brings out the “pop” factor in these type of boards. I’m very excited to finally get this beautiful wood for the first time and anxious to incorporate it into some of my products.
Is There A Lazy Susan In The House?
Well, the first batch of lazy susans are done. I thought about calling them lazy dennis, but it just didn’t ring. Anyway, these are 16” in diameter, sit on a ball bearing mount and spin very smooth. I was really surprised how time consuming it is to make these things. If these were cutting boards, there would be eight, but it takes two boards, glued up from various strips of wood and a lot of sanding. After the glue up, I have to square them on the table saw, find dead center for the pivot pin, and cut the square board into a circle on the bandsaw. It’s actually a lot of fun to see them take shape.
I used General Finishes Arm-R-Seal oil-based clear satin finish which is one of my favorites. Each susan received three coats, top and bottom, by hand with a rag. This finish can be brushed on a lot faster, but I have always been impressed with the smooth natural warmth that I get when hand applied with a rag. It takes longer, but the end result is worth it.
I’m still trying figure out how to fit these into my show booth. I finally got a booth layout that seems to work for me and now I have a new product that doesn’t fit. Oh well, I had to change the layout numerous times last year to fit new items. I’ll figure it out eventually.
Building The Inventory Up
It’s been a cold week and today we have our first snow on the ground. What better way to spend the week than in a warm shop making sawdust. I goofed off for the past three weeks, but I’m working hard to make up for my transgression.
The piles of boards are starting to grow around the shop and I’ve got to find a stopping point so I can oil the cutting boards and get a clear coat on the lazy susans. Right now I am experimenting with different designs for the lazy susans. This is a new product for this year and I need to standardize on two or three designs. When cranking out new items, I have a tendency to get carried away and make too many different designs before testing the waters to see what sells the best. It all eventually sells, but some not as fast as others.
The lazy susans are an exciting new project. I’m still tweaking my processes to speed up production. Quality is always the first consideration, but second to that is production speed. The faster I can complete them, the lower my labor cost, which results in a better price for the customer. Lazy susans are more labor intensive than cutting boards. They are essentially two boards consisting of a top and a base. Unlike cutting boards, these have a hardware component which is the actual lazy susan bearing assembly that mounts between the top and base. Finally, they are finished with three coats of a wipe on clear, oil-based finish.
This is a small sampling of some of the face grain items that are waiting for oil or clear finish.
Today my Daughter emailed me a picture of her Christmas gift that I made for her new apartment in NY State. She wanted to hang wine glasses on the wall and I came up with this design made out of walnut. It was designed to hang on the wall with no visual brackets using a hidden cleat which makes it look like it’s floating.
