New Commission

     Today, as I was starting on a project for Diane I got a commission for an elliptical shaped, hanging shelf.  This should be an interesting project and since it's a paying one I'm sure Diane won't mind if I put her bulletin board on the back burner, so to speak.  This is a job for a custom house and what makes it nice is I didn't have to go and select the material which is 8/4 Walnut.  Here's the material that was delivered to me along with a template made of OSB material:

25 1/2 Board Feet of Walnut

     What you're looking at is about 25.5 board feet of Walnut.  At the price of it these days I better not make a wrong cut or this job will cost me!  I'm hoping that they will let me keep the "scrap" which would make some nice boxes or even a lid panel for a pistol case.  From what I understand, this will be suspended on a curved wall which will be covered with glass tile.  I should be able to get a picture of it once the piece is installed and finished.










     The first step was to figure out the best way to utilize these two pieces to make the required shelf.  I thought it was pretty nice the way the grain matched up but then when I removed the template found a big knot!  After some more trial and error and establishing an even edge I was able to make this configuration:

Edges Jointed, Ready for Glue

     This is where an independent, custom shop like mine can take the time to select exactly how we think the piece will look the best.  You can make out the chalk outline of the shelf, notice the center of the shelf is pretty much the center of the swirl pattern of the Walnut.  This is a small detail that many people won't pick up on but they'll realize it's pleasing to the eye even if they don't know why.  I used my old Stanley jointer plane to prepare the edges for assembly.  My glue of choice for this type of work is Gorilla Glue.  It allows me a pretty good open time and has never failed me yet -- let's keep it that way.
     One of the pieces was laminated around 6pm with the clamps I like to use that create a flat panel.  Around 9pm or so I'll replace them with regular bar clamps and attach the other end.  Once they're set overnight they'll be good to go in the morning.  It'll be a pretty heavy piece of wood to run on the bandsaw.