Making new timber amplifier front for Ozcall

[Luc]

Thought I'd share some pics of my search for a piece of timber that I think is much nicer than radiata pine.

I offered to find some timber that could be used for a front cover plate for Ozcall(Gordon) primarily because I think there are much much better timbers out there than pine, radiata in particular.

I worked for two guys this week; one is an electrician who's overriding love is collecting timber,from old fence posts to burls to rare timber recovered out of the bush or won on demolition etc, to another guy who is doing a $2 million extension to his house and has a love of timber and beautiful things and an eye for them.

The former provided me with a piece of seasoned Camphor Laural from a 120 year old tree he cut and milled 5 years ago and that latter let me use his full time cabinet maker and full time Master painter who gave me advice on how to finish the timber off if I wanted to go that way. Gordon would have the final say on that but to protect the Camphor which is prone to a fungus that will not come out of the wood if kept in damp conditions, humid air, air conditioning etc unless treated once it's seasoned so I followed his advice.

What follows is a day in the life of Gordon's bit of wood

A really BIG shed ...

Full of timber...somewhere

Here is the plank being planed to get any woofs out of it, note the dull grey colour

Fifth run over the planer to get the last woof out.

Now it's looking better

Into the little Thicknesser

and out after 11 runs through it

onto the rip saw

Docked both ends via the drop saw and nearly done

NB. the silver thing siting next to the rip saw is $500 of new tungsten blades he popped in the thicknesser before he started...very kind of him.

Master painter gives the edges a light sand and also he gave it a quick run over with the orbital sander

application of first protective coat. How goods that grain colour!

This is his recommendation

Two coats of it then follow with this stuff

The end results...

And thats that, now I just have to send it off to Gordon

PS. If any one would like some of the left over board just PM and I'll pop a bit in the mail if at all possible.

[Gordon Macfarlane]

Wow , thanks and thanks again Luc. Great to see the whole process too.

G

[gainphile]

Awesome.... I want to make another speakers with Camphor Laurel !!

More pics please... especially the finishing part!

[Grumpy]

MMM! now how could I use that to make plinth for the 401??

Great thread Luc.

[wolster]

Great work, Luc. Looking forward to seeing the results in Gordon's system.

[Krispy Audio]

That's an awesome shed - nice work! I like the thicknesser

[Tony M]

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with timber. Our first house, built in 1980 had a lot timber used in the finishes and, over the years, it warped, sagged, shrank, rotted etc. Needed a lot of maintenance and put me off a bit.

But your pics, Luc, remind me timber can be used to create objects that will stay beautiful and enrich lives indefinitely. Well done!

[crazikid]

so beautiful.. just amazing work.. thanks for sharing.

[THOMO]

Very nice.

Camphor will also keep the silverfish away.

I have used it for blanket boxes and drawer bottoms.It also makes your workshop smell like a Vicks factory.

[caddisgeek]

Gorgeous, well done Luc!

what could I use that offcut for (strokes chin)

[Luc]

Just a last couple of pics that I tried to upload last night but couldn't but now I can it seems. The buffing oil had dried and considering only ones side is painted...there is no Camphor smell at all, just wood oil smell and I'm running my hand over it and wishing I had a buffing cloth to start rubbing it...and rubbing it...and rubbing it until after 10 to 15 coats you get that marvellous piano gloss that is reflective.

Ok now for the couple of pics:

The second pic is of it laying on my chesterfield which is a deep French leather rubbed dark(as the saying goes apparently) to show some contrast and the last pic it is leaning up against the Silverlines and I turned the Quad Classics backwards to try and stop them reflecting the carpet with little success.

The master painter referred to earlier says he regularly does finishes with buffing oil/floor tung...buffing(ad nauseum...) and builds the coats up over 2 to 3 months until he's satisfied (the mind boggles).

I refer to him as a Master painter and even though he's a cursed Kiwi and he gets up my nose whenever the rugby's on...I acknowledge his deep understanding of painting and all things finishing. He warrants an hourly rate of...(sit down...really, sit down) $96+gst when actually painting and when consulting (gulp) $150 PH with a minimum of $500 whether it's an hour or two(includes travel to the site).

I only mention this in passing so you get the idea that what I've posted is correct as far as I'm concerned and of course if anyone here needs that extra bit of advice in regards to finishes etc or timber..I'm only too happy to consult these guys who I could never actually afford to use but who I do work with regularly on various sites.

Crazykid has claimed the leftover plank but I'm yet to PM him about sending it in the mail as it's about 900mm long and about 200+ wide.

@caddis Keep stroking that chin and just let me know if you have a need for some timber like it or a different type as these are almost scraps for these blokes and I can always get them to do exactly the same thing as I just got done. I did Gordon's bit while we were having smoko so it's no biggy .

I find bits of timber all the time or I bust things up and grab bits and although I'm useless with my own hands..I inhabit a world where master artisans come to my place for my coffee and cold beer on a reasonably regular basis...a chunk of timber cut and prepared for a TT or a plinth or a frontispiece like Gordon's is small beer and no problems as a rule.

I enjoy the whole process

[mcb]

Well done Luc.

Gordon, I look forward to seeing the end result in due course.

[A J]

I'm trying to score a little 200mmX150mm to hide an ugly looking faceplate on a power supply, unfortunately I threw out some offcuts of oregon that I made a table from. I always look out for junk piles and wood offcuts but its been a bit lean lately. Thats a great effort, looks stunning !!

[Grainy]

Nice work Luc, I'm a bit of a timber nut myself. Parts of my dining table came from a tree that died at around 2500 years of age, the growth rings are amazing.

I'm glad you didn't title the thread "Ozcall got wood", oh and the other thing I was going to say - nice "thought of the day". My wife must have read that years ago

[Luc]

Finished the other bits of timber for Crazykid+AJ today and also had a win!

That's Crazy's two front panels cut to size+thicknessed and now they feel like balsa wood, can't wait to see what finish gets done to them

This is AJ's bit of Camphor a bit bigger than needed but nice all the same.

And this is the win: A piece of Huorn Pine recovered from Lake Pedder in Tassie. It was an off cut of benchtops that have gone through several of the bathrooms in the job I'm involved in. Price of a decent Beemer was spent procuring the timber in large enough milled lengths to do the job but of course there is always offcuts and even though the builder kinda glared at me with my hand in the scraps bucket, he eventually ran it through the benchsaw for me and then told me to f off :lol:

The stuff is incredibly light and the smell as it went through the saw was just wonderful. It's incredibly soft in it's unfinished state and you really need to build up the finishes to get a nice hardness. i'm keeping one little bit and AJ gets the other bit. The pic doesn't do it justice

[A J]

Ohh I think I just did a little bit of wee in my pants !!!