Padauk of Earl

Danger Boy and I spent a fair bit of time on the road today.  We were “forced” to make the rounds at Rockler, Woodcraft and Home Depot.  Throughout our mission we were tempted by a couple of large purchase opportunities, but were able to keep ourselves in check with just a few smaller items.  I picked up supplies to get started on some veneering as well as rare earth magnets and rubber pad feet for the upcoming box projects.

There were a couple of extra stops along the way for some other “necessities”…some chocolate for Mom, Coffee and Chicory…you know, those things you just can’t seem to do without.

Tomorrow we’ll mix up a glycerin based solution used to soften (and then flatten) veneers.  The plan is to get our veneer sheets into a press so that they’re good and flat when we’re ready to use them in a few days.

Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in finding brass post-rivets at any of our stops today.  They’re sometimes referred to as screw posts or binding posts, but whatever I called them or however I described them, most folks looked at me like I had a third eye.  Looks like we’ll have to order them online from Lee Valley.  As I’ve been designing more projects myself, I’ve decided to build a couple Fibonacci gauges to utilize the Golden Ratio in establishing the proportions of the pieces I build.  Those brass rivets are a key component in constructing the gauge.

I’m planning to build one for myself and one for the boy.  Hopefully his will survive as I’m sure the temptation to use it like a ninja throwing star will be great!  Our good buddy Steve over at Woodworking for Mere Mortals made a gauge last year and documented the build in video (complete with an appearance by Donald Duck.)

http://www.woodworkingformeremortals.com/2011/03/phi-and-golden-rectangle.html

Lately I’ve been on the lookout for a good sized piece of straight-grained Padauk (Pa-dook) for a hanging wall cabinet I’d like to build for the Colorado State Fair.  While drooling at the lumber rack in Woodcraft we stumbled upon this beauty.

It’s a 4/4 slab at 8’ 5” long and 9 1/4 inches wide.  It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for, and it will easily yield all the stock I need for the design.  I wanted a nice, clean board without any knots, streaks or wild figure…so this one found its way home with us.

It will be matched with a prized selection from my own lumber rack…a pair of book-matched Padauk boards that I’ve had stowed away for about five or six years now.

 

I bought (snatched up!) four pair of these boards as soon as I laid eyes on them.  I don’t often see Padauk boards with both heartwood (red) and sapwood (white) in the same slab, and I rarely see them resawn into book-matched pairs.  I had no idea what I was going to do with them when I bought them.  You fellow wood junkies will understand.  Don’t even get me started on that piece of spalted Zebrawood I have tucked away! 

One pair was used to make three boxes that are still to be completed, and this pair will be the second that finds its way into one of my projects.  I’ll post some final sketches soon, but these boards will be used for the doors on the hanging wall cabinet.  I’ll have a little less than two months to complete the build before the submission deadline, so expect the updates to start coming fast and furious.

Pete