As I wait for the clouds to part and return to dodging rain drops I thought I'd follow up from the Infinity Loop Inlay with some pictures on using Big Leaf Maple for the top of the Gate-leg Table the "Mrs." I went into some description in a previous post about how the figure is coming so I need to show it and explain my thinking (or perhaps unthinking) on the arrangement. So, like I said before this is my first opportunity with this species and I still recall the day we first discovered Acer MacroPhyllum! It was on the trail on the 65 acres we rented,
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
Sure, it's a quintessential Big Leaf Maple photograph from the Pacific Northwest but we were just floored. Now, how I came upon working with this wood was pure happenstance. After seeing a Gate Leg table in a few places the Mrs. requested one be built for her. So alas, the challenge began. I enjoy woodworking and my favourite challenge is sourcing, felling, and milling the trees myself. Radiance and Nautalis were sourced from storm damaged trees and some architectural remnants. So I thought I should continue the tradition, at least one more time. It takes alot of time this way and pieces may take months if not years.
Having found what I thought was oak, I started the drying process so I could start planing out a slab and see what I might have found.
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
Since it looked somewhat like oak, to me at the time, I started shooting photos off to my brother the arborist. Some what cryptically as I already stripped the bark off, so I went back into the woods to find it and send a text that looked like this.
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
By those two photos, we were perplexed but he narrowed it down to the Acer family. Thankfully, a week later, Spring sprung and I found the little branch growing out of the storm damaged tree! And...... alas the tell tale bloom!
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
Great! I start doing some research and terms like quilt, flame, birds eye, spalt, and punky start flowing. Now I'm getting excited, violins and guitars abound during my research and I start getting the itch do build some. I have my requested dimensions for the table, now I need to figure out how to get to them. Having found two split halves I plane down to the heartwood and find some magnificent figure. I decide these two pieces have to be the wings of the Gate Leg and represent the "Heart" so to speak.
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
Having several large rounds on hand I start splitting more, first halving to find book matches, then quartering for smaller pieces. Towards the outside of the tree I start to find a whole new figure. In my research it appears this is referred to as mineral staining.
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
This will also most likely be the figure for the frontispiece on the drawers as well. It really gives the wood direction so I separated it from the "Heart" to show that the wood originally came from the outside portion of the tree. I went back into the woods for more and came out with some logs that were just rotten with Tinder Polypore growing on them. I used my machete to hack down to something solid and when I found the solid portion of the heart I shaved a clean area of about nine inches, finding spalted streaks of green and black and red. I figured this would be fitting to be the next section of the table to show off the spalt and the life cycle of the tree.
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
I took this photo specifically to show the spalt because after I attach the final banding this will not be seen.
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
I wanted to show off the face grain and spalt on this piece but I wanted to show one more aspect of this wood in the furniture piece as a whole. This band represents both spalt and quarter-sawn figure. By planing the first two sections down I was able to show the quilting and mineral stain patterns in the face grain. By quarter sawing the last section I hope that the flame figure will come forward. Sadly, I have not yet found birds eye or burl for this project. Those two figures would make this a looooooooooooooooonnnnnnggggg conversation piece!
 |
| Jason Kotarski |
The piece on the left has sanding sealer on it to help show the figure. After the final edge band is installed, the entire piece will be sealed, sanded a ridiculous amount, and finished with several steps of finish.
No comments:
Post a Comment