Re: Care to share your wood knowledge?
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:44 pm
Back to the original question...
I have learned that wood is not plastic. Grain direction and wood movement are real. I've learned what run-out is. There is a pretty great series of videos on youtube by Curtis Buchanan where he builds a Windsor chair starting from logs. Watching that series really drove home for me a better understanding of the structure of wood. He talks a lot about the long wood fibres and why split or riven wood is important to what he does.
I've learned that some woods respond better to planing, and some to scraping, and some to sanding - which I prefer not to do. I don't mean this in a dogmatic way, but for me working wood by hand - planning, scraping, and even sawing, has given me a better understanding of how to approach the various shaping and gluing that goes into building something. I've learned that some woods are a pleasure to plane - walnut, alder, usually cherry, and some - hard curly maple comes to mind - not so much.
I started out with minimal knowledge, and so coming to these basic understandings through direct experience has been tremendously rewarding. I still have a lot to learn, and I've come to appreciate the depth of knowledge and that some people have, and their generosity in sharing that knowledge.
I have learned that wood is not plastic. Grain direction and wood movement are real. I've learned what run-out is. There is a pretty great series of videos on youtube by Curtis Buchanan where he builds a Windsor chair starting from logs. Watching that series really drove home for me a better understanding of the structure of wood. He talks a lot about the long wood fibres and why split or riven wood is important to what he does.
I've learned that some woods respond better to planing, and some to scraping, and some to sanding - which I prefer not to do. I don't mean this in a dogmatic way, but for me working wood by hand - planning, scraping, and even sawing, has given me a better understanding of how to approach the various shaping and gluing that goes into building something. I've learned that some woods are a pleasure to plane - walnut, alder, usually cherry, and some - hard curly maple comes to mind - not so much.
I started out with minimal knowledge, and so coming to these basic understandings through direct experience has been tremendously rewarding. I still have a lot to learn, and I've come to appreciate the depth of knowledge and that some people have, and their generosity in sharing that knowledge.