Most people who preach the concept of raising the grain or sealing cherry prior to color fall into the category of those who claim cherry is a blotchy wood. I am not of the camp that believes in “blotchy cherry”. Any cherry I’ve seen that people call blotchy is actually curl. Some of it is intense and some is very faint but it’s almost always curl. To me, I want to bring out that figure in the wood. If I seal prior to adding color to my cherry, I mute the figure. Since I’m trying to highlight the figure, I also don’t want to raise the grain and sand prior to adding color to the piece because it will limit how the color penetrates the wood surface. I want to keep the pores open as much as possible so I get maximum “pop” from my figure. I very seldom raise the grain prior to staining or dying any project. If I do, it’s almost always on straight grain areas where I worry about sanding through the color to the bare wood.

An example of where I might seal prior to color would be in something highly figured, say a crotch drawer front or door panel, where I was worried about the color making it black (as in picture 8 in the highboy section of my portfolio here on the website) I would probably washcoat the drawer fronts prior to adding color. Washcoating crotches like these prior to coloring helps keep the clarity of the figure of the wood and prevents a dye or stain from being absorbed as much by the end grain thus making the piece too dark. That said, I don’t do it often. I really try to get my color directly on the wood as often as possible. Others finish differently than I and that’s why my stuff looks different from their stuff.

Hope that helps,

Chuck

Funny you should ask. I have a router show set to go in a few weeks. My router table is used in the show and shown in all its simplicity.

Be careful grinding off those ball bearing mounts on your router bits. Regular grinding wheels don’t like the carbide tips. And you’re absolutely right about that helping with compound profiles. Again, a topic for a future project around here.

Make sure you post some pictures of your joint stool. I’d love to see progress shots as well as finished shots.

Jim,

Glad you are enjoying the show. I sometimes forget how important those little tips are. I’ve been doing this so long that a lot of things are just second nature to me now. I know I’ve stumbled on something good, however, when one of the crew here shoots me one of those “ah-ha” looks. That’s actually how the rasp ended up in the shot. Between shots, I was leveling one of my two stools (made a pair of them, which is why you might have noticed different materials in the top or in some of the legs shown on camera in the different episodes), got it close and went back in for just a couple of strokes with a rasp. The question from the crew was…’Wait! What did you just do and why?’ So, we shot it.

There’s a ton of great stuff still to come. I’m also working on the logistics of the live Q&A/demo sessions. We may, if all goes well, try our first one in March…possibly with a special guest (if I can convince him to participate). Most likely the first few will be open to all subscribers, not just Master level members, so I can work out all the bugs and see what the interest level is in doing more of that type of stuff.

Here’s a question for everyone, since I put of the sketchup drawing of the leg, does anyone want a cutting list for the stool as I made it? I don’t want to put up a full sketchup drawing because people will get freaked out if their measurements at the cleats and at the base aren’t identical to the drawing. The thing to remember is, cut the angles on the stretchers, drill corresponding angled holes in the cleats and assemble. Forget the measurements, they’re irrelevant anyway. I’d be happy to post a list of part sizes, however, if someone feels they really need it. Just let me know.

Thanks for the replies. Keep them coming!

Looking forward to the finishing segment.

Keep it up.

Jim

i picked out some stock to get started. Should be fun, and I have a spot for it already.

I see your router table is pretty minimal. What can you tell us about it? Nice idea to ground off those pilots on the bits- It would be useful for making some compound profiles. I will try it if I ever get around to making a router table…

Many of my router bits have the bearings removed and the mountings ground off to give me more flexibility when using them. One of the things that I feel sets my work apart from others is the creative use of ordinary tools. By definition a tool is meant to help you do a job. Sometimes it means modifying that tool in order to get it done right. Stay tuned for more details on why and how I use those bits.

Chuck

http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/tool_chest_made_by_studley.htm

The links in youtube provide some others.

The Studley is a bit over the top, but I find it easier and preferable to copy/modify other people’s ideas rather than come up with my own.

Charles