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+--- Thread: I don’t have a death wish – Really! (/showthread.php?tid=2139)
I don’t have a death wish – Really! - Freija - 06-12-2024
You wouldn’t know it though from my latest crazy dangerous invention.
With the success of my last rustic farmhouse style furniture build, I’ve begun another although somewhat more ambitious and complicated. This time though, rather than using fence pickets and 2x4s I actually bought some nice wood (which is an oxymoron) from the Homo Depot. The problem is it looks too new and therefore needed to be distressed to look old to get the look I was going for.
There’s about a million videos on YouTube on how to distress wood, each with different techniques. Some just a combination of stains and paints with others involving a more hardcore approach which is a lot more authentic looking and since hardcore and danger are my middle name, this is the route I took. I spent five hours in 110+ degree heat today distressing my main pieces (legs and cross-members) and ended up with something I am good with
I started out with a 4” holesaw used by hand down the length of each board to rough up and dig into the grain. The two-sided legs are 6 foot tall. I then beat everything with a hammer, slammed it with a heavy rusty old chain and poked about 10,000 holes with a punch and screwdriver. I still didn’t have quite the rough sawn look I wanted and wondered what else I could use to give it for that came out of an old sawmill look.
Maybe it was the heat or maybe just the lack of good common sense? I am normally very safety conscious when using my power tools but after rigging my device together, with visions of gutting myself and watching my intestines splooge out of my body, I smiled at myself for my inventiveness.
Taking a buffer/sander thing and removing the rubber pad, I affixed a very old and dead but still damn sharp 10” tablesaw blade. To my credit, I did point the leading edge of the teeth so they rotated in a backward direction.
May I present the tool I’ve called “Death Wish”!
I imagined if this was battery powered, it would be handy in a zombie apocalypse. I imagined myself as Ash in the Evil Dead but then came back to reality.
Again to my credit, I didn’t rev the thing up to full speed and only put it to wood gently after releasing the trigger on the spin down and it was still scary AF but kind of fun anyway and gave me enough of the crosshatch look I wanted. In a few places I cut it a little deeper than in the below pic.
On the left is the after and on the right is the virgin wood. (please, no jokes about virgin wood!) Combined with the other wood I am using in this project which is already rough cut, I think this is going to look great but the whole process was a lot of hot long hard work. (what's wrong with me tonight?)
When I finished, I dismantled my implement of mass destruction, thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t dead or on the way to the hospital and told myself never to do stupid shit like this again! My arms are going to be sore tomorrow.
RE: I don’t have a death wish – Really! - EndtheMadnessNow - 06-12-2024
FFS, you lost yer mind in that heat!
How ya feelin Freija? Dangerous. I feel dangerous! You got more brass guts than me.
Nice well hammered virgin wood!
Dunno if this would work on your type of wood or the look you had in mind, but I've used one of those portable torches to age and make it look rustic.
RE: I don’t have a death wish – Really! - Freija - 06-12-2024
(06-12-2024, 05:43 AM)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: Dunno if this would work on your type of wood or the look you had in mind, but I've used one of those portable torches to age and make it look rustic.
Thanks for the suggestion. I've thought about this and even created a few test pieces. The technique of burning wood then painting or staining it is for a more weathered or rustic look called shou sugi ban. There is a ton of videos on YouTube on the various ways to do it.
It uses a lot of propane and if you wire brush it after burning it is really dirty and messy and I'm really not going for a dark look.
This is the inspiration for what I am making in terms of color and deterioration. Maybe a blue or green instead of red but that decision is a few weeks away.
That appears to be genuinely old and they want $1200 for it.
My rough concept thumbnail:
color coded for my cutlist
RE: I don’t have a death wish – Really! - BIAD - 06-12-2024
Your image of the rotary-saw reminded me that I need a new blade for mine. Such devices
tend to not do well when cutting up old decking wood when nails still reside there!
(I considered resharpening it, but patience isn't a virtue in BIAD's garden!!)
Maybe the stuff this guy does could assist? YouTube Link
RE: I don’t have a death wish – Really! - Freija - 06-12-2024
(06-12-2024, 07:30 AM)BIAD Wrote: Maybe the stuff this guy does could assist? YouTube Link
Thanks! I watch about a million YouTube woodworkers which seems to be my most viewed category after the true crime stuff I fall asleep to on my tablet.
It's 11:15 here and already 101º F (38.33 C) so if I don't get outside soon and adjust, I'll never make through the afternoon when they're predicting 113 (45 C). I'm thinking about working naked?
I'm going to do some assembly today to see where I am at. I think I may have found my first big mistake already but it is fixable with a little extra work but I'm excited to see things start to take shape.
I don't anticipate living dangerously today.
RE: I don’t have a death wish – Really! - Ninurta - 06-12-2024
I saw the photo, and immediately thought that was a great idea! I have no buffer, but I do have a 4" angle grinder.
The 10" saw blade was a bit much for the 4" angle grinder, though.
On the positive side, I still have most of my fingers left.
.
RE: I don’t have a death wish – Really! - Freija - 10-17-2024
THE BIG REVEAL - Coming Soon!
Four months later and I am one or maybe two days from finally finishing my latest "masterpiece". It should be noted I did take about 6 weeks off because of so many days of 110 to 115 (43.0-46.1) degree heat and I just wasn't motivated to work outside.
Today I was super proud of myself for doing something I hadn't done since high school when my mom and I cut mirrored tiles to line the back wall of a bar we built - I cut glass to fit in the doors of my project, one of the final steps toward finishing.
With a new glass cutter from Amazon and a trip yesterday to Homo Depot to purchase some glass, I couldn't wait to get started today. In addition to the two 12x36" glass sheets for the doors, I got a couple cheap 12x12 pieces to practice on and I'm really glad I did.
My first couple test cuts didn't come out so great but on the 3rd attempt, I did the deed. Emboldened by my success, I moved onto the larger panels and both scored and cut perfectly. In a moment of self-congratulation, (not flagellation, that's a different story) I sat down thinking that sometimes I even amaze myself!
All that is left is to place the glass in the doors, reattach the doors to the body and add some knobs and magnetic closers.
The only remaining question is how to affix the glass to the inside of the doors? I got these little metal glazing points that should be enough if YouTube woodworkers are to be believed but i might decide to make some wood molding which will add at least another day to the project to make and paint but would really look better.
I really challenged myself with this build, learned so much and did things I never thought possible that will carry on to my next project. I was surprised at how much thinking was involved and what a puzzle it was at times like if I do this step, will it screw up the next step? There were days when I was simply stumped and gave up for fear of making huge mistakes. There were days when I lie in bed in the morning going over things in my mind and finding no answers and days when I woke up with a plan of attack. In thinking back at all the hours I put into this, the moments of indecision and those of inspired stable genius and even if at best it's only an amateur/beginner effort, I am pretty dang proud of what I have done even if nobody else likes it.
Realizing nobody is excited about this as I am, stay tuned! Photos and even maybe a video hopefully coming this weekend.