milling rought lumber

there is a photo that I hope will post here. It is a picture of wood half way through being milled. I was making shutters for a house interior, really nice shutters with solid 6/4 maple rails and styles with balsa wood louvers, I will try to find a picture of the finish product. The photo shows the 6/4 maple stacked up with sticks in between each layer. The reason for this is to let the wood dry out some more. I smoothed out three sides of each board and the next step is to rip these parts to near their finished dimension. before I rip them it is a good time to let them dry out for at least 24 hours. When I smooth out the sides I am exposing new wood cells to the air, when that happens the new cells absorb moisture and that can cause the wood to change shape again. Never try to mill stock like this all at once, if you do it will move slightly. Also when I rip these parts they will again move because of the changing tension within the board. So I will rip these parts in larger than what i need and we will mill them again to their finished sizes. this is one of the area where you can't rush the process, wood is an organic material and it requires patience when working with it.

this is how we do it

 

variety

I forgot to mention that you can also see some mahogany doors to the right in that same photo. Door makers is another market that stands on it's own that we compete in. So I have just identified three totally separate markets that we can effectively compete in. These different markets utilize the same asset base and very similar operation processes. This is how I perceive KBWC a woodworking shop that serves the cause of woodworking in many different markets so we will therefore survive any economic climate. It is the goal of this company to get a market share in each of these markets.

variety

this photo below is one thing that we are striving for here at KBWC, this one way that we continue to challenge ourselves, by doing a variety of things. The wooden counter top is actually a whole other market that we compete in other than cabinets. The black kitchen panel is not only an unusual finish but also another market that we compete in, that being kitchen cabinets and kitchen designers.

variety

 
A mahgany top and an oak island panel with jet black finish

panel cutting on table saw

 
here is the jig and set up that Gagan and Esteban used to make the raised panels for the cherry doors that I spoke aboubt recently. As you can see it is pretty intense and required resourceful on the floor thinking. But that is the job of a cabinet benchman, to use the tools and resources avaialable to make wood products. Sure it may be easier with the latest cnc machines available on the market but then we would be machine programmers and not woodworkers. One thing that this shop great is our wide variety of skills. We make all types of wooden products, the products are always changing and so is the process. the table saw panel had some advantages down the line in production.

pieces of art

that is what our client called each one of her doors. She said "each one of these is like a piece of art." she is referring to her cabinet doors. the pictures of what she is talking about is the cherry doors in the previous post. the pictures of the unfinished doors shows all of them together roughly 41 pieces. all solid cherry, a nice raised panel and an applied molding. We cut the the panel mold on the table saw, which actually worked out really well, Gagan said that we didn't have any burns, which we usually get when we make such a large cut in cherry. Also it expedited the sanding of the raise because we could use flat sanding block. the only complication is the applied molding needs an extra cut in it so it beds tight and evenly. you can see the applied molding in the second picture, it is really nice. The finish on these doors is top notch. it is very smooth and very consistent, it looks great in place, and the grain of the paneling is very active and has so much character, it is no wonder that the client thinks they are pieces of art. All the credit for these doors goes to Gagan, and Esteban, they made them and they finished them, and they are beautiful, nice work guys, Kidder Blaisdell would be no where with out you guys.