[Boardman]

Just came across this forum, but I can't even remember how!

Anyway...I'm from St. Paul MN and a full time woodworker. I decided to get into this a 3-4 years ago and suffered thru the "development" process by doing remodeling work. I'm single so that's helped a lot when times were thin.

Recently got a couple pieces in a gallery and am getting more and more woodworking jobs. Still probably a year away from where I want to be, but it's been well worth it after years in the business world. Finally, I love my job, and can't wait to get to the shop in the morning.

My niche in the woodworking field could best be described as relatively simple designs which emphasize the wood itself. I like using unusual cuts of common woods lesser known/used species.

I've also had some success and interest in restoring/replacing woodworking features in the 1880's-1920's era homes in the area I live in.

But like most full-timers I'll tackle just about anyhting that keeps me going.

 

[TexasTimbers]

Welcome Boardman. I bet I can speak for alot of us here when I say we would love to see your gallery pieces!

 

[woodman42]

Welcome Boardman!
:thumbsup:

 

[Boardman]

Here's a couple pictures of one piece:

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/boardmanWI/?action=view&current=furniture046.jpg

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/boardmanWI/?action=view&current=furniture044.jpg

The area I live in is big on the Mission style so I decided to do a little take-off on it by using some maple instead of oak. The pictures don't really show the best aspect of it. The darker parts are some curly mineralized maple. The groundwater minerals gave it lots of different colors - several shades of red and some blueish areas too. The main part of the top also is a crotch section. I got it from a guy sawing a little lumer on his portable mill in the Wisconsin backwoods. He'd placed an ad in a circular paper and I went to look at it for the heck of it. He had about 100 bf of the curly mineralized stuff. It took one look at it and said "I'll take it all." $1.50 bf! Still have most of it.

This is a walnut crotch slab I used for the other piece:

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/boardmanWI/?action=view&current=furniture2001.jpg

My brother in law took all these photos. I got a digital camera and took some pics of the final piece but as a newbie to the camera I screwed up the picture taking. Anyway, I wanted to do something different than the usual Nakashima style so I rounded of all the corners and edges. The best part is that I got this and a few other slabs from a guy who worked on a land clearing crew for the Wisconsin DOT. His boss let him come back after work and cut stuff using a chainsaw set-up he had. It was all going to go on the burn pile! I've got the sister slab that has a 30" feather.

 

[Daveb]

Howdy neighbor! I am in St. Paul also. But I' am a part time hobbiest. My projects seem to take forever since I only have a little time here and there. I've probably passed you some time at Seven Corners Hardware or Rockler.

 

[TexasTimbers]

Thanks for the pics. How did you finish the walnut. It's nice.

 

[Boardman]

Hi DaveB - Oh yes...7 Corners...the place that has EVERYTHING! Someday I'm going to take an hour or 2 and just wander every aisle. It's one of the old-fashioned hardware stores. I'm near Lexington and Summit.

Tex - I just used BLO and semi-gloss poly. Wanted it to have a "soft" look. I'm not into the high gloss, glass-like finishes. I think I'd go crazy trying to get it right.

I'm not into the "gloat" type threads you see on a lot of forums - I get a visual of a big fat knucklehead "gloating" about then news tars he got for his pick-up. But I gotta give in on this walnut. I bought 28 pieces from the guy - 5 big slabs like this one, a few smaller ones, and lots of real thick straight trunk pieces - all for $600! He was running out of space he had so much stuff he'd gotten the same way. All air dried. A while later I needed some cash so I sold some for $400. Now I wish I hadn't.

But I figure that brought the cost of this slab down to $14....not bf...just $14. Sorry if that makes anyone mad at me!

 

[sukkaFOO]

Howdy! Welcome to the board.

I guess there are a lot of us from the Twin Cities on this board. I'm right across the river in Dinkytown.

 

[Boardman]

I've only lived in this area for about 6 years...how on earth did it come to be called Dinkytown. Not that I would even know where it is, since there are more little suburbs ( I know Dinkytown isn't one) around here than I've ever seen! Name a suburb and I won't know where it is.

 

[sukkaFOO]

Dinkytown isn't really a suburb, it's a 6 square block area around Washington and University Ave. and I have no clue how it got that name. It's thought it was named after the theater that was here called "The Dink" in the 40's.

 

[Daveb]

For two years I lived in the "Chateau" in Dinkytown while attending the university.