JoeWilson
Yamadori
I had this cool chunk of boxelder burl that I wanted to make into a jiita, but it had a really weird brain-like shape, and I was pretty sure I couldn't get clean slabs out of it with live edge on all sides. I thought that rather than fighting the shape, I should make a feature out of it. The sharp burls looked cool, so I knew I wanted to retain at least some of those. I decided to cut it into a cylinder, highlighting the juxtaposition of the rustic, gnarly, figured wood with a simple geometric shape. Here are some progress photos:
Here's what the burl looked like at the start.
I resawed a couple of small pieces off on the bandsaw, one I might be able to do something with. Anyway, now I had to flatish faces on the slab, so I could move on to the next step.
Flattening the slab with my router jig I did the back first, then flipped it and did the top. This is the third or fourth version of this slab jig that I've built. This one uses linear rail, so the motion is super smooth. I would highly recommend this style if you need a way to flatten slabs.
Here I've marked out the circle I want to cut on the back of the slab. Next up, I cut it out with a circle cutting jig. Then I rough cut it with the bandsaw, because the router bit didn't go deep enough, and finished it up with a pattern-matching bit. I forgot to take photos, so you'll have to imagine these steps.
And here we have the shaped and sanded stand. Next up, I'll apply a few coats of finish, and then I can take some decent photos of the final stand. Freshly sanded, the wood is very light and the figure quite mild, but it will darken, and the chatoyance should come alive, highlighting the quilted, three-dimensional qualities of the burl.
Here's what the burl looked like at the start.
I resawed a couple of small pieces off on the bandsaw, one I might be able to do something with. Anyway, now I had to flatish faces on the slab, so I could move on to the next step.
Flattening the slab with my router jig I did the back first, then flipped it and did the top. This is the third or fourth version of this slab jig that I've built. This one uses linear rail, so the motion is super smooth. I would highly recommend this style if you need a way to flatten slabs.
Here I've marked out the circle I want to cut on the back of the slab. Next up, I cut it out with a circle cutting jig. Then I rough cut it with the bandsaw, because the router bit didn't go deep enough, and finished it up with a pattern-matching bit. I forgot to take photos, so you'll have to imagine these steps.
And here we have the shaped and sanded stand. Next up, I'll apply a few coats of finish, and then I can take some decent photos of the final stand. Freshly sanded, the wood is very light and the figure quite mild, but it will darken, and the chatoyance should come alive, highlighting the quilted, three-dimensional qualities of the burl.
