Humility

RonB · 2015-01-29T14:42:57+00:00

A few weeks ago I posted a questions regarding lightening the color of an a ntique oak table. The table is a family heirloom that goes back at least 1 00 to 120 years. My folks had already stripped and stained it in the 1950' s so preservation of patina was not a concern. This morning I am sipping my coffee and getting ready to apply the 4th coat of finish on a project that is coming together fairly well. I am doing it in heated garage workshop that includes a 15" surface planer, 5hp table sa w, wood lathe and other power and hand tools I have accumulated over 30 or 40 years of woodworking and general tinkering. A project like this gave me lots of reasons to think. The table is made of a combination of red and white oak, rather artfully combined. I wonder if material use was really artistic or just the use of available material in a small, shop. The red oak top is made of 4" wide boards that were edge jo ined with a modified tongue and groove edge. The under-frame and slide mec hanism, that allows it to be expanded, needed a little work. Some of the do uble-dovetail slides were damaged. I was able to "duplicate" these parts o n the table saw but I noticed the old ones still showed slight tool marks e ven after years of use. Then the legs. The table has five 4" diameter lathe turned legs. The top and bottom 6"-8" are artfully turned spindles with decorative rings, etc. Everything else is a graceful rope turn design that kept us busy for days g ently removing the old finish with toothbrushes. The other morning I laid them out side-by-side before starting the staining process. That is when i t occurred to me they are not duplicates. They are damned near duplicates- -but there are small variations in the width of the turned rings, the coves , the depth of the groove in the rope area etc. I noticed variations becau se I was looking for them but it is clear that the lathe was loaded five ti mes for five legs. Then I looked over at the 14" JET...

Humility

Jan 29, 2015 62 Replies

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Leon 11 years ago

Not accepting the truth, possibly because of the Kool-Aid you have been drinking, does not mean that it is not the truth.

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Electric Comet 11 years ago

Not rank amateurs from what you describe just born into a different era. There are still a lot of craftsmen around the world that do things manually. There's a guy that turns chess pieces and uses his feet

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Dave Balderstone 11 years ago

Colleges and universities are a hotbed of sexual predation and assaults... and everybody should be able to go there free!

More tortured logic from the Left...

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