Yet Another Cross Made From Laminated Hardwood Flooring Sample

[BadBob]

To be clear, these are intended to be rustic and use nearly free material. Why nearly free? There is some cost involved in using this material, as with any reclaimed material, there are processing costs that you would not have if using prepared wood.

I have just started putting these in my shop. I haven't sold one there yet, but sales are extremely slow. However, I sold one cross before I had listed any of them.

[meflick]

I like the look of them. You did great job with reclaimed flooring. A win win as it’s not going to the landfill. 

[Dak0ta52]

Great job on the cutting, Bob. I believe the hardest thing to recoup from scrolling if you're trying to sell is your time. I just spent 35+ hours cutting a piece and when I went to pull the pattern off, it peeled part of the finish layer of wood along with it. Now I have to see if there is any way possible to make repairs. My hopes are not very high right now.

[BadBob]

5 hours ago, Dak0ta52 said:

Great job on the cutting, Bob. I believe the hardest thing to recoup from scrolling if you're trying to sell is your time. I just spent 35+ hours cutting a piece and when I went to pull the pattern off, it peeled part of the finish layer of wood along with it. Now I have to see if there is any way possible to make repairs. My hopes are not very high right now.

I have never had one that bad. My worst was a batch of puzzles. I usually got 14 puzzles out of a board. There was this one board that had many hidden defects. The pieces started falling, mostly during sanding, and I wound up with a pile of kindling.

 

[BadBob]

18 hours ago, meflick said:

I like the look of them. You did great job with reclaimed flooring. A win win as it’s not going to the landfill. 

There was a large stack of flooring. Unfortunately, most of it was vinyl with some rubbery backing that was glued to that was glued together in a multilayer sandwich. It cut easily, but the rubber mixed with the glue and left a black sticky residue that I could not remove without damaging the vinyl. I stacked it out by the road, and someone took it all, so even those did not go into the landfill.

 

[daveww1]

very nice

[john nelson]

That cross design is beautiful.  You might want to consider highlighting the edges.  ( hide the plywood ).   Finish the front and back surfaces like you usually do.    Glue the pattern to the front surface and glue a blank sheet of paper to the back surface.  Cutout as you usually do.  Paint the exposed edges ( suggest white or any color) and let dry overnight.  Remove the paper pattern from the front surface and remove the blank sheet of paper from the back surface. Steel wool using #0000 wool.   You might want to apply a light  coat of paste wax.     JAN 

[heppnerguy]

On 7/16/2022 at 10:22 PM, Dak0ta52 said:

Great job on the cutting, Bob. I believe the hardest thing to recoup from scrolling if you're trying to sell is your time. I just spent 35+ hours cutting a piece and when I went to pull the pattern off, it peeled part of the finish layer of wood along with it. Now I have to see if there is any way possible to make repairs. My hopes are not very high right now.

I would like to make a suggestion that will eliminate your problem with wood pealing. I put my patterns on my boards like this....

1.first I sand the board with 220 grit paper until it is smooth to the touch.

2. then i remove all the saw dust with a dampened paper towel until no sawdust is left

3. next I spray the back of my pattern with a spray adhesive and let it set for a minimum of 3 minutes.

4. I apply the pattern to the wood and rub it down to make sure it has no air bubbles in it and everything is adhered.

5. after i am finished sawing my project I rub a paper towel dampened with Mineral Spirits, making sure all surfaces are damp and let it set for about a minute.

6. The pattern almost falls off all by itself

7. I use a paper towel, again dampened in Mineral Spirits over the cut pattern to make sure all adhesive is removed

8. wait a few minutes to make sure the surface is dry, then I can finish it.

9. I do not use any tape under or over the pattern and following what I just told you, i do not have any pattern lift when I cut nor wood grain lift when I remove the pattern from the finished project

I hope you give this a try. any questions just ask me.

Dick

heppnerguy

+

 

[amazingkevin]

On 7/17/2022 at 1:22 AM, Dak0ta52 said:

Great job on the cutting, Bob. I believe the hardest thing to recoup from scrolling if you're trying to sell is your time. I just spent 35+ hours cutting a piece and when I went to pull the pattern off, it peeled part of the finish layer of wood along with it. Now I have to see if there is any way possible to make repairs. My hopes are not very high right now.

I was wondering if running a project thru the planer would fix a problem like that, or distroy it??? I don't know?

Edited July 19, 2022 by amazingkevin
Spelling

[Dak0ta52]

19 hours ago, amazingkevin said:

I was wondering if running a project thru the planer would fix a problem like that, or distroy it??? I don't know?

This particular piece was plywood. Don't think that would hold up going through a planer. In the future, and with more tools and equipment, I would like to use solid woods. Right now I have to rely on ply.

[heppnerguy]

1 hour ago, Dak0ta52 said:

This particular piece was plywood. Don't think that would hold up going through a planer. In the future, and with more tools and equipment, I would like to use solid woods. Right now I have to rely on ply.

This method I am talking about  works on all wood that I have tried.  Like I said, the pattern almost literally falls off on it 's own.

Dick

heppnerguy

[BadBob]

It seems like some people are finding problems where none exist.

The look is what I wanted, and I have no intention of painting it. I like the visible laminations.

There was no pealing of the wood.

It is laminated hardwood flooring, not plywood. The top is coated with some hard material that is hard on blades and would likely ruin steel planer blades. You can't sand it, or you shouldn't. Sanding would ruin the finish.

[barb.j.enders]

2 hours ago, BadBob said:

It seems like some people are finding problems where none exist.

The look is what I wanted, and I have no intention of painting it. I like the visible laminations.

There was no pealing of the wood.

It is laminated hardwood flooring, not plywood. The top is coated with some hard material that is hard on blades and would likely ruin steel planer blades. You can't sand it, or you shouldn't. Sanding would ruin the finish.

Your cross looks great. 

It appears that your thread got taken over by other comments regarding the wood peeling!    

 

[amazingkevin]

19 hours ago, Dak0ta52 said:

This particular piece was plywood. Don't think that would hold up going through a planer. In the future, and with more tools and equipment, I would like to use solid woods. Right now I have to rely on ply.

I always wanted to run a piece of plywood thru the planer just to take off the top.underneath is lots of wood grains that might look nice to do projects with.

[Bill WIlson]

I think you would be disappointed in the results.  The interior layers of wood are generally not of the same quality as the face layers, so what you uncover, after removing the surface veneer will likely be pretty unattractive.  Also, planing to a level of precision required to remove just the thin surface veneer layer, without touching the next layer will likely prove to be very difficult.  The layers alternate in grain direction, so running a piece of plywood through a planer in the direction of the face grain would mean that the grain of next layer exposed would be running the opposite direction.  If the planer blades made contact with that layer, I suspect bad things would happen.

Bottom line is I've never tried it and don't know anyone who has, but anytime I've seen this idea come up in woodworking forums, it's quickly dismissed as a bad idea.

[Dak0ta52]

5 hours ago, amazingkevin said:

I always wanted to run a piece of plywood thru the planer just to take off the top.underneath is lots of wood grains that might look nice to do projects with.

I'm not sure what plywood you are using but if I tried to run mine through a planer, I would be left with junk. Also, I believe the interior layers would splinter and rip out. My maple plywood has a filler between the maple layer and back that is almost like cloth. When cutting on the scroll saw it leaves fibers, not like fuzzies but more like lint. It doesn't burn easily either and I have to trim them off with a razor blade.

[amazingkevin]

4 hours ago, Dak0ta52 said:

I'm not sure what plywood you are using but if I tried to run mine through a planer, I would be left with junk. Also, I believe the interior layers would splinter and rip out. My maple plywood has a filler between the maple layer and back that is almost like cloth. When cutting on the scroll saw it leaves fibers, not like fuzzies but more like lint. It doesn't burn easily either and I have to trim them off with a razor blade.

Good to know. safety first!!!