Question on Cherry finishes too???

[Brian_Bailey]

That's a beautiful bed!  
Nice job and you don't even have to deal with dust bunnies   .

[FeltzE]

Mike,

The trick to gum is to saw clear timber  with  few or no knots. Then sticker carefully 12 to 18 inches. Either put your gum in the bottom of your drying stack or weigh your stack well.

Bum is routinely used by furniture companies as a filler wood where you won't normally see it.

Eric

[Ga_Boy]

Mike,

Here’s one for ya.  According to my National Audubon Society Field Guide:

"Sweetgum is second in production only to oaks among hardwoods"  Also "...leading furniture wood, used in cabinetwork, veneer, plywood, pulpwood, barrels and boxes."

I usually burn gum to get rid of it.  Now I’m cutting it to send to the sawmill for timber.  Like you said I always thought it would twist cause of the way the grain grows.  I learned something from my book.


Eric,  Did ya dry all the wood in your kiln?



Mark

[Norm]

Nice job on the bed Eric.

[FeltzE]

Yep all KD, Under the matress are pine boards biscuited  together to form 27 1/2 inch boards (14+13.5), creating the top to the drawer units for everything to lay on.  Its nice to grab a couple big boards every once in a while.


Eric

[Driller]

Nice stuff FeltzE.
Answer me a question if you can. I've seen alot of older cherry furniture that is so dark, it's almost black.  Will your project do that also? It's such a pretty color now. The reason for my question is that I have some cherry logs to saw that I was considering making flooring from but I don't want a dark floor.

[shopteacher]

I have a demo piece of cherry that has a clear lacquer finish done by one of the other industrial arts teachers when he was in college as a project.  He's 52 now.  That piece has the nicest reddish brown color and is more beautiful than when originally done. I also have a cherry floor in my bedroom ( there are pictures of it in the gallery someplace) that is about 10 years old and it has just gotten better looking with time.  A lot of commercial cherry furniture is stained a dark color to hide and blend the wood used in construction.  Many people believe thats what cherry looks like. Similarly, maple had orange shellac applied to it for years as a finish and quite a few people believe maple has that orange color.  Do your floor, cherry make a beautiful floor.

[FeltzE]

Driller,

Cherry will darken with age but shouldn't loose it's redness, If you have cherry logs to saw get them on the mill I have cut some cherry that dried too much in the log and it created a ring shake each time and ruined the lumber so don't hesitate getting them sawed up!

Eric