Clearing me for work also means clearing me back to the shop without MsBubba's evil eye. I picked up some 8/4 Alder for the new dining room table today but first I will finish the small box started the other day.
While working on the box I thought about the difference between Japanese striking chisels and Western bench chisels as I was using both. There is no better chisel for use with a hammer/mallet than a Japanese striking chisel it was developed over centuries for that use with a steel hammer and it is close to perfection. Good pre-WWII Western chisels (especially those with a tang 😇) are wonderful push chisels, light, well balanced, and comfortable in hand. Each chisel, Japanese and Western can crossover and do the other's job but not as well. I'm lucky to have both.
Feels good to be doing something other than sharpening tools even if it is just a small box. BTW, the Alder really works well with hand tools. I may find more uses for it.
Back to picking wood for the table base. I've never used Alder and when picking out the boards all I was really looking for was straight and width. After thirty or forty minutes of shoving timber around and pulling it out of the bin and putting it back in the bin I picked four boards, I did notice one of the board didn't really look like the others but what the hell they all came out of the Knotty Alder bin. Went up front to pay and the note came to $450 USD. Holly molly I didn't have that much wood. Turns out someone put some White Oak and Hard Maple in the Alder bin and only one of my boards was Alder. That's the bad news, the good, my last rejects were on top of the Alder stack and all I had to do was trade the three boards out. The bill out the door for the Alder was $120 USD.
ken
I think you will like alder. Glues well, cuts and planes clean, good strength, inexpensive. I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn how much alder wood they already have in their factory-made furniture and cabinets they thought was more expensive wood. Don't let them gouge you for alder. It grows fast and is abundant. Downside is it's a little heavy for its strength, not all that rot resistant, therefore interior use only, and it doesn't stain well: the color just never comes out right unless you go for really dark. But its perfect for a multi-color distressed milkpaint finish. Good luck with your woodworking and training numb-nuts.
ReplyDeleteStan,
DeleteNot a clue why I've never used it before other than all the crappy Knotty Alder kitchen cabinets I've seen in ugly track houses.
What little I've played with it seems like a good wood to work. I may start wrestling Alder timber this afternoon. As out of condition from the last 3 months of sitting on my ass as I am, it may be fun.
ken
Holy Molly USD $450 for a few boards of alder??? Yeah, i would be wondering too. Reminds me of last nite at my hotel restaurant
ReplyDeleteSomehow when punching buttons on the debit machine i end up with a bill for cdn $5387.00 with a $539 tip. Thankfully i already paid my bills this month so it was declined phewww :-)
Bob, who should put his glasses on more often. Oh and lots of alder growing around my land :-)
Bob,
DeleteYeah, it woke me up, I was kinda working on autopilot before.
Thankful for debit cards, my AmEx would have run it through with no thought and I wouldn't have know until the next bill and then the first thought would have been MsBubba sure made Amazon happy last month or where is she going now.
ken
Tag your'e it. My turn to be out for a while, torn a muscle in my shoulder. Out of commission since Friday. NO idea how I done that but apparently im getting older :-)
ReplyDeleteBob, challenged for a while
Bob,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that. Yep, getting old sucks, seems I spend more time in the Doc's office than the shop anymore. Take care and no throwing heavy timbers around the shop for awhile.
ken