[dbray45]

I don't know, my wife calls me that from time to time - usually when I piss her off.

 

[Brit]

Great job Ken. Enjoy it.

Scott, you made me laugh when I really needed it today. Thanks.

 

[Bertha]

I'm there for you, Andy. I'll provide some of my typical homoerotic locker room humor if it helps?

 

[mochoa]

What do ya'll think would look right as a secondary wood for the bottom of the tool well? I'm thinking Poplar or Pine. The top is all Quartersawn red oak. Whatever wood I use would probably be used for the bottom shelf as well.

 

[lysdexic]

I think solid ebony would do the trick.

 

[waho6o9]

Maybe walnut.

Most excellent bench Mauricio.

 

[Mosquito]

Padauk I love that combo, though I don't think it would work out very well

 

[mochoa]

lol, thanks fellas. I think….

Ebony sounds cool but i dont know if i can get boards that big and then i would lose tools down there in all that darkness.

Waho, I do have some walnut pallet wood I could mill up but i dont feel like messing with it. I need something almost ready to go. I hate how pine mucks up the machines so I may do Poplar, I've been kind of likeing polar lately.

 

[RGtools]

Poplar will plane smooth and look wonderful after years of use, it would take on a burnished texture that you don't get in harder woods.

 

[mochoa]

Thanks Ryan, I think your right, I like the way it ages, I just picked up a nice 10" wide board, not to green colored.

 

[lysdexic]

I thought Ebony was a good choice because I understand the ATF is trying to unload the haul from Gibson guitars :^)

 

[Bertha]

Lol, Scott, I've been watching that. I guess Obama prefers Fender.
.
Mauricio, I've got a ton of shop fixtures made of poplar. It's strong, pretty, and a blast to plane. None of my fixtures have changed one iota in dimension over many years and many temperature extremes (uncontrolled storage for 1 year included). For structural stuff, poplar is my absolute favorite. If I could afford to build a whole bench of it, I would.

 

[mochoa]

I missed the story about the guitars, I need to google it.

I made a book shelf recently out of Poplar, at least the face frames, its good stuff. It is soft though.

When looking for wood for me bench, my lumber dealer had really big pieces of poplar but I ended up using the oak I had on hand. Its cheap over here, was it more pricey out there?

Schwarz posted a blog recently with a gigantic Poplar slab he is planning on making a bench out of, its going to be on the scale of the benches in Roubo's book thats like 10' long and 6" think (something like that).

 

[Mosquito]

I also like poplar. It's easy to work. It's what I used for my travel plane till. I like it for learning to do planing things. Like flattening a panel glue up, or raised panel door. It's easy to work, so you can get the technique down with out spending too much time on one task.

Mauricio, it's also pretty cheap up here in MN too. That was another reason I picked it for my plane Till. It's not terribly heavy either.

 

[Bertha]

It's not CHEAP here but it's available at the big box. Like Mos, I like it for practicing joinery and planing. It's so forgiving, harder than pine but not hard. Like me some poplar.

 

[mochoa]

Mos I've been meaning to comment on your till. Its really sweet. Poplar or Pine were the best choices for that because they give you the best strength/weight ratio. Thats why a lot of tool chests are made of the stuff.

 

[mochoa]

Al everything is expensive at the big box store…

 

[Brit]

I read in a history book that people used to get a pay rise every year to take account of the increase in prices. I think they should bring that idea back.

 

[Bertha]

Andy, either that or a reduction in taxes. Good luck on both accounts!
I saw an offer for a CD the other day for 1%, lol.

 

[Mosquito]

It's sad that my first savings account had a higher interest rate than CD's do now…

Also, Andy, over here they call that a COLA (Cost Of Living Adjustment) Where I work has something similar every year. They call it "merit review/increase" Basically it starts at around 3% raise and can be adjusted +/- about .25-.5% depending on how your manager sees your performance. It's not something you'll get rich off of, just something to help keep up with inflation.