Give me a call when you're able to turn water into wine...

You should see what I can do with five loaves and seven fishes!
Max.

 

You should see what I can do with five loaves and seven fishes!
Max.

Ok... now you're showing off ...

 

I think I already posted this somewhere else, but what the heck... About 20 years ago I decided to design and build my own chess set. And it tested my wife's patience because she said that I was dedicating more time to that thing than to her... which was actually true... but in the end even she had to admit that it was worth it and liked the result.

I designed the pieces myself and drew them in AutoCAD. Then I searched for the perfect wood type for each color and decided on hickory for the dark pieces, and bird's-eye maple for the light ones. I actually had to make the material myself because I couldn't find anything in the market resembling what I wanted. Each layer of the finished pieces was actually cut in a CNC router (which I also designed and built myself ) from wood sheets formed by gluing together five layers of veneer alternated at 90°. The sheet ended up being about 3/32" thick.

The last part involved making lots of tests mixing and using different types of wood stains until I got the antique effect that I wanted.

​

The board is made from leather, but I'm not the one who made it. I bought it for about $80 dlls during a trip to Paris with my wife in 1995... I bought the board back then even before conceptualizing the pieces, but avoided buying the pieces on purpose so as to feel more motivated later on to build them myself... and it worked.

Years ago I found a simple solution to making chess pieces. Not learn to play chess!

Also found that solution solved a lot of other issues in life too.

 

Years ago I found a simple solution to making chess pieces. Not learn to play chess!

Also found that solution solved a lot of other issues in life too.

[after playing out all possible outcomes for Global Thermonuclear War]
Joshua: Greetings, Professor Falken.
Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua.
Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

- War Games

 

The only winning move is not to play.

MGTOW
time location 4:06

 

Hi.

Have anyone worked with the Siberian larch? Larix sibirica. And if so, how is it compared to pine, oak or teak. I'm playing with the thought of making some cleats for my boat in this type of wood.

 

Isn't that classed as a softwood, compared to the traditional teak hardwood?
Max.

 

Hi.

Have anyone worked with the Siberian larch? Larix sibirica. And if so, how is it compared to pine, oak or teak. I'm playing with the thought of making some cleats for my boat in this type of wood.

You have probably already seen this. My go to data base for wood species. http://www.wood-database.com/european-larch/ In the common uses area it mentions boat building.

 

Sitka Spruce is usually the prefered for spars, I made a sailboat boom out of it, beautiful with absolutely no knots.
Max.

 

My sister asked me if I could make her a Murphy bed. I said that I could. It took me about three months, but I got the job done. Absolutely no plywood was used - solid red oak throughout. Photos aren't that great because of bad lighting and bad camera!


MB_Closed2.JPG


MB_Open1.JPG

 

It took me about three months,

No surprise. My first thought was, "I couldn't do that in a 40 hour week."

 

No surprise. My first thought was, "I couldn't do that in a 40 hour week."

When she first asked, I just "forgot" about it. She then called me four months before I was scheduled to visit and asked me if I had finished the bed. I said, "Ahh, ahh, ahh... Almost!" and got my butt in gear to buy all the parts and wood and get' er done!

 

Isn't that classed as a softwood, compared to the traditional teak hardwood?
Max.

Perhaps, but I've read that you can have it as cladding (Is that the right word? I used Google translate...) on your house, and then I thought "Hmmm, can I use it on my boat?" As @shortbus says in his post, it's been used on boats.

I think I'll give it a try.

Thanks!

 

My sister asked me if I could make her a Murphy bed. I said that I could. It took me about three months, but I got the job done. Absolutely no plywood was used - solid red oak throughout. Photos aren't that great because of bad lighting and bad camera!

View attachment 128403
MB_Closed2.JPG

View attachment 128404
MB_Open1.JPG

Wow!

 

Sitka Spruce is usually the prefered for spars, I made a sailboat boom out of it, beautiful with absolutely no knots.
Max.

According the the data base, it is a 'soft' wood but what makes it different from most is that it has a pretty much even early and late wood ratio. The late wood or summer wood is denser and harder than early or winter wood. In wood the closer the ratio of the two types makes it both more stable and less wear prone. Generally the early wood is the darker colored "grain' in a board.

From what I know about the 'siberian larch' it is one of the few soft woods used for flooring, because of it's low wear tendencies.

http://www.preservearticles.com/201...ference-between-early-wood-and-late-wood.html

 

Absolutely no plywood was used - solid red oak throughout.

Nice! Were all the pieces from places like Home Depot? You must have spent a lot of time sorting boards. That's always my least favorite part of a project.

Curious - the bed appears to be made up with the head away from the woodwork. Is that typical? I would probably do it the other way but I've never had a Murphy bed.

 

Nice! Were all the pieces from places like Home Depot? You must have spent a lot of time sorting boards. That's always my least favorite part of a project.

Curious - the bed appears to be made up with the head away from the woodwork. Is that typical? I would probably do it the other way but I've never had a Murphy bed.

I am able to obtain unplaned boards here. The stuff that HD sells is pretty much crap.

The head is at the top. If you look closer, you will see pillow bumps there. This photo was an impromptu "posing" to get some photos of the finished product. When I delivered it, it had never been assembled before, so I didn't have any complete photos and I wanted a couple to keep. I have plenty of photos of the parts.


DSCI0450.JPG

The metal pieces above are the secret to not having to use plywood.

Here's more of the details:


MB_Detail1.JPG

Here's another picture showing the pillows in the correct place:


DSCI0472.JPG

 

@SLK001 Nice job and great details.

 

(standardized on urethane now, easier than lacquer).

Lemme give you a hint: Add a tablespoon of mineral spirits to 8 ounces of polyurethane to get it to strike into the wood instead of floating on top of the wood. It makes the grain show up more.

 

One Customer I did some work for brought in sheets of steel, the stacks of which were separated by some rough looking 5"x 5" 'logs'.
The guys there would saw it up for fire wood, I decided to take a couple of lengths and when it was planed down, it showed some nice grained, seasoned Red Oak.
One of the projects used it on was a fire place surround.
Max.