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Cabot Head Lighthouse


RangerJay

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This lighthouse is on the Georgian Bay shoreline of Lake Huron just down the road from a friends long-time family cottage that is now hosting its 4th generation of kids during the summer months.  One of those "kids" is getting married in a couple weeks - at the cottage - and this piece is destined as a wedding gift.

The cutting is 1/2 inch walnut backed by 1/8 inch baltic birch that has been dyed black.  The frame is cherry.  The finish is polyurethane buffed out to a fairly high polish (bit of an experiment - have never buffed a project out to this degree before).

Learned a serious lesson about dust with this project - have always vacuumed, wiped and taken a tack cloth to every project between coats - but this time I also learned it is important to vacuum your clothing as well  - ended up with 6 very visible dust nibs when I passed my arm over the piece during spraying - I did sand them out and completed an additional spray - but they are still faintly visible if you know where to look - my saving grace is that my wife couldn't find them till they were pointed out ..... meaning ..... if she couldn't find them then it's unlikely anyone can find them .....

Comments welcome.

 

Jay

 

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Edited by RangerJay
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Thanks for your kind comments.  The frame is fashioned in a Greene and Greene style which - I believe - is traditionally made with mortise and tenon joinery and accented with square and raised ebony pegs - I cheated - my joints are made with dowels and the visible accents are flush walnut plugs.

Thanks again,

 

Jay

Edited by RangerJay
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8 hours ago, RangerJay said:

This lighthouse is on the Georgian Bay shoreline of Lake Huron just down the road from a friends long-time family cottage that is now hosting its 4th generation of kids during the summer months.  One of those "kids" is getting married in a couple weeks - at the cottage - and this piece is destined as a wedding gift.

The cutting is 1/2 inch walnut backed by 1/8 inch baltic birch that has been dyed black.  The frame is cherry.  The finish is polyurethane buffed out to a fairly high polish (bit of an experiment - have never buffed a project out to this degree before).

Learned a serious lesson about dust with this project - have always vacuumed, wiped and taken a tack cloth to every project between coats - but this time I also learned it is important to vacuum your clothing as well  - ended up with 6 very visible dust nibs when I passed my arm over the piece during spraying - I did sand them out and completed an additional spray - but they are still faintly visible if you know where to look - my saving grace is that my wife couldn't find them till they were pointed out ..... meaning ..... if she couldn't find them then it's unlikely anyone can find them .....

Comments welcome.

 

Jay

 

20170831_151907_edited-1.jpg

IMG_1013_edited-1.jpg

IMG_1014_edited-1.jpg

Your grain placement accented it big time.Love it all!

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love the work, the walnut was a perfect wood for this piece. When you buffed the piece were you not highly concerned that one of the delicate/fragile pieces would catch and be ruined? 

I am that is why I just sand the snot out of the pieces before I cut and just put multiple layers of poly on after.

I really like the frame, what is between the piece and the frame? Looks like a real thin piece of black something. It really helps the piece pop IMO.

where in northwestern ontario? 

I grew up in Thunder bay

excellent work!

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Thanks again for the very welcome comments.

In answer to a few questions:

The Greene and Green style frame:  

  • anyone who is interested might want to just Google the phrase or do a search on YouTube.  In particular here is a neat YouTube video of a historical home made entirely in the Greene and Greene tradition - if you like woodwork (and I know all of you do) then you'll enjoy this:

 

Buffing:

  • All buffing is by hand - I was careful over top of the scrollwork - but not too worried.  Gentle sanding with a sanding mop in each direction removes pretty much all the sharp edges and there are enough coats of polyurethane built up on the piece to round over the edges even further.  Regardless I was careful to fold the buffing cloth in a way that didn't offer up any loose pieces of cloth that might catch.  Finally - I'm a lot more gentle over top of the scrollwork than on the adjacent wood.  On this piece I started buffing with just wax impregnated into 0000 steel wool then changed to polishing compound which brought it up quite a bit more  - then wax.

Trim:

  • The black trim is made of Cherry that has been dyed black.  This little piece of trim does a lot to make the whole project pop - without it the piece looks pretty bland.

Where we live:

  • Yes - Northwestern Ontario is a pretty big place - we're from the little town of Atikokan - just north of Quetico Park and 200 KM or so west of Thunder Bay.

Thanks again - it's really great to get such positive feedback.

 

Jay

Edited by RangerJay
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That is really a beautiful piece all the way around. 

I also really like the buffed finish.  Give a very deep rich look.  The last "2nd Amendment" plaque I did was done in Cherry.  I buffed it with  a light coat of Tripoli and then a buffing of wax using buffing wheels mounted on my lathe.   I was a little concerned but with a light touch I did not have any problems. 

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