ScottR

That ebony board is HOT!

SR

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

It's not wasted time. You've spent all those hours and months doing a service for the Lady of the House instead of practicing scandalous behaviour on the streets like kicking grannies and cursing in public.

So true. I've got to get this knocked out though. The neighborhood grannies are getting pretty dang cheeky lately.

SR

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The carve on that supporting tree is off the scale.  I can't begin to imagine how many hours that has taken.

Andy!

Thanks.

Looking back, I see I'm past thirteen months of weekends on this project. Averaging  10 to 15 hours a weekend for 58 weekends so far......that's a fair bit of math and a proper butt-load of hours.

SR

2 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

that really is an incredible piece of wood. Almost as incredible as the carving, amazing work as always!

Thanks and yeah it is. And once I told my wife it was for her table there was never going to be a guitar in its future.

SR

I ordered some Zpoxy 30 minute to seal the bottom and attach the base. I was looking forward to seeing how that amber tint kicked the burl over.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found that the 30 minute version is crystal clear.

Still, it made the bottom of that table top look pretty sweet!

SR

After getting it all de-fanged, I worked on the gluing surfaces. I spray-glued some 80 grit to the bottom and positioned the base and sanded it roughly in place. when I could see fresh wood on all the branch ends, it was ready to go.

This is going to be the last time I get this view.

SR

16 hours ago, mistermikev said:

very nicely done.  really popped w some finish on it.  that top is something else... love that you've left the edges like that.  nice job.

Thanks Mike!

We're coming around the final curve now I think.

SR

22 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Scott!

I've been distracted for a while and only just caught up with this.

Wow!   

When I say 'Wow', I mean WOW!!!   

No, that doesn't get there at all.  When I say 'WOW', I mean WOW!!!!!!!

The term 'Master Craftsman' doesn't come even close...

Wow, thanks Andy!

This thing has had me distracted for a year now myself.

I've got a lot of catching up to do....

SR

Way to go Mike!

SR

Yep, this is going to be fun!

SR

8 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Having your personal DNA deep in the pores is the best signature, impossible to fake!

Yeah, and it isn't the first of my projects to have that signature. Usually it's razor sharp edged instruments that are the risk. This is the first time I've had the actual project piece attack me.

SR

I got the top of the top and the bottom of the top flat. And sanded to 220 which was probably a waste of time on the top of the top, since there is going to be some void filling to do. At least it gave me a chance to wipe it with mineral spirits and see how it may look finished.

I spent today taming the live edge down. In its raw state it was a dangerous as walking in shorts through a room a hyperactive kittens....demon possessed terrorist in training kittens.

I had to re-sand the top a bit several times to get the blood off from just handling the thing whilst de-clawing it.

II made it about 75% of the way around before succumbing to my injuries, and deciding I needed some fluid replacement.

Adult beverage type fluids of course.

SR

54 minutes ago, avengers63 said:

 

First shape I see in the Millennium Falcon. That's a hellofa piece of burl to use as a table top. I can appreciate the opulence of it. I've been wanting to make a neck from gabon ebony purely for the extravagance, but there's no way I can justify the cost.

Also, it's about damn time you smoothed it out! I was starting to wonder if you were planning on leaving all gouged up. 

Blame the excess on my wife. She got jealous of the burl top guitars I made, and guilted me into getting a top tomake her a table from. And yeah, a gaboon ebony neck would likely cost a fair amount more than this did.

And finally someone speaks up that prefers the smoothed wood carve to the gouged up look!

Thank you!

SR

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

Old age gets us all. You seem to be doing well with your fingertips, though.

Yeah, my fingers still see pretty well.

SR

31 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

You didn't notice the answer? A few lines below the picture using a smaller font...

Well doh!

My eyes are going, I'm sorry to say.

And of course it is!

SR

18 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said:

Stunning piece of work

Thank you sir!

SR

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Isn't that a satisfying moment, to see all the hidden lustre of the wood!

One of the best things ever...

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

The bottom layer now looks much more "earthy".

The dark middle layer is frame the same board, but different faces of the grain are exposed in each, making the light angles bouncing off of each different. They look like different types of wood in these shots.

And are you ever going to reveal what your daughters drawing depicted?

SR

I got to the point where I could apply my first coat of oil.

And it's time to bring the top out.

SR

Gotta agree with Andy there @JGTay.

Bravo!

SR

6 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Hehe... That reminded me of my daughter showing a picture. My wife couldn't figure out what it was, for me it was obvious. It was pinned on our bedroom wall but I couldn't find it, must be behind the closet that has been moved there... Anyhow, here's roughly how it looked, can you guess what it is?:

 

 

 

 

It's an elephant. Big ears, a trunk and a tail. And two thick feet on either side.

Speaking about sanding, the smooth tree trunk makes a nice contrast to the gouge marked stones.

 

There is such symmetry in that drawing, I think it has to be an island and its reflection in the water.

And the smooth areas contrasting with the rougher areas is part of what I'm showing off in that carving. I'm hoping the contrast becomes even greater the more finished the smooth areas become.

SR

11 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

That made me chuckle re the sales speil and that my 5 yr old regularly expects me to guess what she just drew.

I honestly thought the gouge marks was the look you were going for. You must have been sanding that for days, you mad man 

I want the gouge marks and areas where the wood's beauty shows through. the grain just does crazy things when it's carved into shapes.. I may put some tool marks back in at some point.

SR

Yeah, I'm stunned. This has gone way past your blue jeaned guitar.

SR

I just realized this afternoon, after roughly a year of working on this thing that the top surface of many of the branches, are going to be so hidden as to be invisible when the top is glued on. Doh! I wonder how may hours I have spent working on that area?

SR

So last weekend I'm in the garage as usual and sanding on this thing as usual and a young man comes a round looking like he is canvassing the neighborhood. This is normally when I like to be invisible, so as to avoid a sales pitch. But with my garage door open and me sitting in the opening working on this tree, and blues sweetly filling my garage and driveway, it's hard to pull off invisible. I've got my best don't fuck with me face on and it's working mostly, then the dude executes a double take and asks permission to comne take a look. How can I resist.....even knowing it is a perfect opening to launch the sales pitch. He asked If I was carving a tree and said it made him think of the tree in The Karate Kid. I said YES, the bonsai, that's exactly the looking I'm working for! Then he tried to sell me a solar energy plan and I sent him on his way. Still confirmation from an unexpected source is great. Say your seven year daughter brings home a picture she did in art class and tells you to guess what it is. You think it vaguely looks like a mama cow suckling her calf. She says it's you changing the flat tire on your bicycle last week. If you'd have guessed the cow thing, she'd have felt like I did.

Work continues.

SR