an elephant by any other name..................

[sniffer]

this is a wall hanging made by dad and stepmom in their woodworking shop. they gave it to my wife. here is what it is made of.

mama elephant, dark & light blue pine
baby elephant, buckeye burl
water spalted maple
sand ash
tree tops dark & light green poplar
tree trunks walnut
space around trees cherry
bushes maple

 

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[RGINN]

That's nice work, sniffer, good job indeed!

 

[naturegirl]

Is that intargia? I probably spelled it wrong, looks good.

 

[sniffer]

I must be dumb. what is intargia?

 

[naturegirl]

No Sniffer you're not dumb, I am. The word I wanted is intarsia. I always thought it looked like fun.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intarsia

 

[Felinepeachy]

Wow, your folks did a beautiful job.

 

[mikeofaustin]

As a fellow wood worker, I will say that finishing the piece is half the work. Very good job in finishing this piece I must say!!!. There is a shop that always 'get's my goat' in Austin that's called "Furniture in the raw". What they do, is cut wood (usually pine), have the raw wood stapled together in their showroom, collecting humidity, etc., so people go in there thinking it's a really good deal. However, just walking around the shop you find edges so rough it's completely absurd (chickens have less feathers on them than these edges). All the drawers and cabinet doors don't close properly because the humidity has already gotten to them. Plus, your given finishing nails holding pieces together with no glue.

A long while back, one of my most favorite pieces... I spend about $500 on maple, 2S if I can remember correctly (not birds eye, but still very pretty) on a simple 3 shelf case, it took me twice as long to finish the piece than it did to build it. Popping the grain, sealing, dying, and clear coating, etc., it took ages. It turned out absolutely beautiful. I wish I had photo's. In essence, it takes a passion to build with wood.... if they don't have a passion, don't buy from them. But, if you do, your furniture will be a heirloom and last for many generations. I'm sitting at my desk as I type this now... the desk is cherry veneer with a thin lacquer finish. The veneer is already splitting from the commonly used areas. UGH~!!!

 

[sniffer]

you might be able to get an alder door skin to cover the top of your desk. it actually stains up almost the same as cherry

 

[mikeofaustin]

you might be able to get an alder door skin to cover the top of your desk. it actually stains up almost the same as cherry

What I'll eventually do is strip the problem section and glue it back down, then feather it back in with the rest. I can remember when I was in a Lacks furniture store, they had this [albeit beautiful] monstrosity that was called a 'dinning table'. However, right on the showroom floor, the veneer started splitting already... I brought it up to the sales guy and he swore up and down it was solid cherry. Sales people... not woodworkers.

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Your handmade art is so beautiful, and to be made by family, priceless!

I have an uncle, legally blind, who built beautiful furniture by hand. He filled his parents home, every room. Nasa got a hold of him, he retired from running their resturant for, like, 25 yrs. My mom used to own a furniture store.

I just SO appreciate hand craftsmanship.
Just say no to veneers!

 

[Ray S ECenFL]

Outstanding piece of work. Very beautiful.

Ray S ECenFL

 

[sniffer]

my wife loves it, it's hanging in the living room right now