Thanks Heath,
JR that is a great idea. Will have to start cutting ALU. Never tried that but willing to give it a go.

Today old BBB did really work hard. For a hobby machine that usually cuts small parts he was singing for more than 6 hours. I have a Blackwood slab that I cut about 3 years ago with an Alaskan attachment to a power saw. Today was the day that I had to SURFACE it as the BOSS want's it in her kitchen ASAP. This thing is 2020 x 650 mm and about 50 mm thick.

Took so long because I only have a little 500 watt Makita and a 19 mm cutter.

Attachment 4562

Attachment 4563

Also did the last grinding and polishing on the knife with the Sneezewood handle.

Attachment 4564

19 mm?

wait how did ya clamp it ?

RGDS
IRfan

Kobus,

That is a nice chunk of wood. You have inspired me. Keep posting pictures of your progress.

Hi Gerald. Nice try but old BBB is a 1,2 m wide thicknesser planer not a sander at the moment.
The slab is so heavy it was just lying on the table by itself. When I did the first side it was a bit unstable so I did hold it in place with a few screws on the sides.

Nils I have made a few bar counter tops from Blackwood and Oak before. I like the natural sides

That belt sander profiles looks familier.:) The knife looks good enought to bring it down to the Durban show next year!
Do you still need to put a orbital sander on that Blackwood slab or is it only a matter of light hand sanding?

I ran the beltsander lightly across the slab. Before staining I will use the orbital sander just to get that SMOOTHE look and feel

That saw dust looks like it belongs in my workshop an every day occurance.Now old BBB has grown up :D

This weekend I managed to put that Blackwood working top into the kitchen...scored some points with the BOSS

Attachment 4749

Also busy with another project...will give more details later.

2 x parts mde out of 21mm thick Blackwood off cuts

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Wow. Beautiful wood grain and beautiful craftsmanship. I'd hate to think what I would pay for a piece of that wood that size here in the US. Way out of my price range.

I envy you Kobus, this is so hard & rare to get in N. America…You’re a luky guy !
To some luther & odd studio furniture makers, this is also known or nic-named “mozembique ebony”.

I had once the privilege to make a custom piece with this for a customer that live around here now but originally from S. Africa !
From the best I can recollect, your photos make me think your wood is more in the family of Australian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) vs (Dalbergia melanoxylon), both still part of the same Leguminosae family but the Austalian one is more reddish like yours. The African blackwood that I sneezed & embraced was truly beep dark purple-brownish black wood !!
One of the perks of living in the wood kingdom !! :rolleyes:

See these : Dalbergia melanoxylon, African blackwood , Acacia melanoxylon (also called Black Wattle)
Enjoy, Robert ;)

Hi Robert,

You are spot on with the Acacia Melanoxylon. My info from a Mr. RJ Poynton that wrote a book on trees in South Africa he mention that these trees were from South East Australia and Tasmania.

When I lived in Sabie Mpumalanga I used to go and help a tree surgeon....as he called himself. I offered my muscle and for payment I got some wood for free. We used to take the tree down, then with an Alaskan Mill cut some slabs.
Attachment 4757

This thing is magic for cutting your own lumber.

...I want one!

Well I was a bit distracted the last few weeks. My work is interfering with my hobby :D

But on my travels I found this old man in Komatipoort making tables from local HARDWOODS....just like I prefer a table....Big and Strong and Beautifull..
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Each piece is engraved and the reference number added..
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Some of the 'THINGS' I made recently...a key rack...just needs brass hooks
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Last weekend (Friday and Saturday) I eventually got a booking on the Knife Making Course. This was excellent and worth every penny. In these two day's you get to make your own knife...really learned a lot from Gawie and Thinus Herbst...father and son team in Pretoria...look at their site http://www.herbst.co.za/
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And then my son came home with ANOTHER 1980 Suzuki GS 1000 G shaft drive motorbike...This one in VERY good overall condition....Just for the record that bike passed the Roadworthy inspection this afternoon with flying colours.
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Don't your inspectors require two wheels? On the other hand, I guess they aren't afraid you'll crash if you can't ride it. :D

It look like you have start out with the folder knife course. A lot more difficult (I think) than the fixed blade. Pity I am so far away from Joburg. :( Love to do it myself.

Yes Johan, I figured that I had some HOMEBREW experience on fixed blades. By doing the folder course, I learned to do hollow grind, and the mirror finishing and etching. Waarde vir geld vir die suinige Kaaskop.:) Value for money.

Just for the record....our Rand to the Dollar improved al little.....I then looked at the Vectric site again and saw the Upgrade from my Cut2D to V-Carve Pro V5 is now in reach. This weekend I will do some TEXTURES and NESTING and Cutting an making a noise and watch old BBB do its thing with this new software.
Tip to others...buy the entry program Cut2D...when you UPGRADE with Vectric to something more professional,you don't feel the damage to your pocket as much....;)

This is where Vectric got the idea to include textures in their product. But I still need to convince them to give a method of disturbing geometric patterns to look more "hand-made" (my May 04, 2006 - 2:33 pm post over there)

Again Gerald had a great idea and we can all benefit from his work....I am sure that the DISTURBING will sometime be available.

This weekend it's me and the textures...can't wait Come on Friday !!!!

Can`t wait to come weekend so I can get some sleep.Kobus you know I was joking about the power when we were on the train we were 9 hours late.got carted by bus with a public inspection that expired in 2004 and that after we were dumped in Alicedale.Nooit weer nie!

What a beautifull table! how are the pieces held together? Glue or something else?

Hi Pablo, I also asked that question to the man. What he said is that these pieces of hardwood are so hard that to try and glue and clamp them is impossible. We watched as the did a table...each piece is planed to get a square edge....then they drill a 11,something hole in each piece with the aid of a simple jig. Into these holes a 12 mm round bar is hammered. The table is build lying on it side and each new piece of wood is hammered into position with a BIG block of wood. Once done the top is hand planed and hand sanded. He the uses Cast RESIN to cover all imperfections and to give it that nice shine. He said that when you move the table to different regions it might 'MOVE' a little, but it will not fall apart...

Kobus, this is a brilliant pour-on resin: http://www.kraftex.co.za/pratliglo.htm

Our daughter sticks photos in the bottom of tea-trays and pours/spreads this stuff over to make a flat gloss clear surface that is totally coffee and heat proof.

I started later that hoped, but still managed to give V-Carve Pro V5 a testdrive today.

Made another little Flower Box thing for the wife.

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And also used the Vectorize function....this was a normal jpg file....can still tweak it I suppose....Sorry time running out, BBQ is going and a Rum and coke is waiting

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Hey ,Kobus that texture looks like a bad sanding job:D, Nice going !
In my house my wife keeps on begging for things that I have to make on my MM ( old story shoemakers kids don`t have shoes ).That is why I am building her ,her own Machine.(will start thread soon )

Just something to mention when using new software.

I loaded V-Carve Pro and could not wait to testdrive it on old BBB. I did some checks, but overlooked the SAFE-Z height setup. The program defaulted to 1mm and as I was working with 6mm MDF that tends to LIFT a little when lying on the table...I got a few EXTRA slots on my piece that I was cutting...nothing serious but somethng to look out for.

Also what happened is when old BBB started up after a bit of a holiday, I could not get the E-Stop to reset on Mach-3....but luckily when you build the machine and have the minimum amount of wires on the beast, it was quickly sorted out....OWNER BUILDER---FIXER...What a way to go. VIVA MECHMATE VIVA !!!!:D

Dough just to show you that the bike now has 2 wheels...;)

Francois my son and me did a nice run today....2 old bikes in nice condition still attracting attention wherever we went.

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Kobus what size cutter did you use on that last item ( sorry for asking and I asked Irfan early on the same question )I am going to do a project soon and I need to get the corners close to square as possable.

Nice Bikes Kobus. I'm envious. Over the years, I've had several Suzukis. One of these days, I'll get another one.

Doug, how do you handle all the times that you are called Dough? :confused::eek:

Ha ha. I was just telling Kathryn that somehow, my name has been changed to Dough on this website. I recall that you corrected someone once before.

The only explanation I can come up with is that there must be nude pictures of my soft, fat, pasty white body floating around out there on the internet. :eek:

Sorry Doug.....must be because the G and the H are next to each other on the keyboard......and my BIG fingers pressed all of it....I must try and explain my mistakes .....:o

Hennie this piece is small...about 250 mm across and done with a 3.5mm straight cutter.

The texture was with a 19 mm ballnose.

No big deal. I didn't take offense.

Kobus I managed to find some 3 mm 4 flute endmill cutters at R 95 a pop.

Thanks Hennie, but I can get them for about the same price at a tool centre in Boksburg. I was not impressed with the one I bought...those cheap yellow cutters still giving me miles and miles of cuts

Well I am back from Sabie and this is what I laid my hands on:

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The round slab is Camphor ..about 3 years since cut and no movement (cracking) yet.
The ovals are from a pine tree that I helped to cut about 5 years ago in Sabie. I used these to make tables in my Coffee Shop that we had in town.

Anybody interested in these types of things, please contact me and I will see if my contact can cut any more. I know he has a Camphor slice about 1.8 meter in diameter available...at a price.

I was also fortunate to visit the York Plywood plant in town. My friend works in the plant where the plywood is sliced. They have a RAUTE www.raute.com plant. Amazing to see the log go in the one side and on the other side these perfect slices of thin wood emerges.

I'm getting a hernia sitting here looking at those huge chunks of wood. Make sure you show us what you make.

Kobus, are those floor tiles 600x600 [2x2']?

My first impression was that you had toy chairs! :D

Corrrect 600x600 and that is a normal chair..