One of the challenges of keeping this business sustainable is to get maximum use out of the wood that I purchase. The cut offs accumulate in the shop, and once or twice a year there are enough to use for making a batch of chaotic pattern boards. These boards are all unique because they are assembled in what appears to a random pattern. As random as they appear to be, the process of making them is actually pretty painstaking and more precise than one would think.
Milling all of the pieces to create flat surfaces and uniform heights is the most time-consuming portion. The fun begins when the pieces are glued together to create initial face grain panels. Those panels are then smoothed with a drum sander and cross cut into strips which are rotated to have their grain facing up. Those strips are then glued together to create end grain panels.
The initial end grain panels are then smoothed with the drum sander and cut into horizontal strips at a slight angle, in the 3-5 degree range. The resulting strips are then rearranged and rotated before they are again glued back into end grain panels. Again, using the drum sander, these panels are smoothed and then cut into vertical strips at a slight angle. The strips are then rearranged, rotated and glued into panels. The panels are trimmed on all four sides, smoothed, and beveled on all four sides.
Using the random orbital sander, the boards are then sanded from 80 grit to 320 grit. A damp sponge is used to wet the surfaces in order to raise the grain. Once the boards are dry, all surfaces are again lightly sanded to knock the raised grain down.
The boards are then finished with mineral oil followed by a paste of beeswax and mineral oil. Rubber feet are applied to the bottoms, and the boards are ready for the upcoming craft fair season!
Cut offs from several months of making projects:
First glue up of strips into face grain panels:
After cross cutting initial panels, end grain strips are organized into groups:
End grain strips glued into end grain panels. Two more glue ups to go :
Boards beveled along the upper and lower sides:
5 boards created from initial pile of cut offs. All are 20-21" long and range in width from 11 to 15". All are 1.75" thick.
