just finished and delivered a pecan bar height table with an ipe base. the thing is a beast all assembled with the top being over 2.5" thick:





also have a set of 3 walnut dressers in progress, all doing with more traditional joinery: siliding dovetails/mortise/tenon/etc.

lots of prep work...





I made jigs to use the previous dovetails as a reference for cutting the next:


and a ton of drawer sides glued up and planed..

That's a lot of work but it will definitely pay off in the end.

also put the new,larger planer to use to help make some bigger cutting boards.

Agrams is a master and artist!

You're running endgrain through a planer?
I'm guessing it has a shelix cutter head? I was always told that would be nearly impossible to do.

not the end grain, I do that through the sander. but the first glue up of the straight planks i run through the planer. my old machine was 20", with the new one being 24", so I can now do boards 24" wide.

Ok, cool, that's what I thought. If you had some trick to do it that would have been amazing. 24" is a hoss of a machine, what brand did you upgrade to?

Grizzly G5751Z. Most of what I saw in 24" was 3 phase, which I dont have. this is standard 3 blade, but I will upgrade it to an aftermarket helix in a year or so.

Agrams, if I lived closer to where your shop is located, I would pay to be able to watch you work

it's boring and dusty... and as several people who have had the chance to visit and see my mess can attest, it quickly gets crowded in my garage.

I did manage to get the first cabinet framed up, just some minor pieces left then I can do the trim and start on the drawers. I also got all of the string inlays done on the outside panels. the drawer faces will have the same accent.

I thought I remember you're around fort worth. Do you do salvage work for felled trees? Got a 2.5 foot diameter post oak that's got 20 feet of straight trunk on it to remove.

Called salvage guys but they said they can't take it due to lack of access. In my backyard on the opposite side of the yard from the drive way.

Just trying to do my best to keep it out of the landfill.

Edit: I'm paying to take it down just trying to see if the wood can go to good use. Free of course.

Love the inlays on that piece! Great job

Ol_Ag_02 - I am in FW, but really don't mill wood much any more. I mainly did that because supply of slabs used to be so limited, but in the last few years its become a much bigger market.

A lot of mills wont want to come get one log, but if you rent a skid steer and trailer and get it to a mill, you could get it done fairly cheaply.

cupofjoe04, these dressers are for the same customer who got this table I posted a month or so back. Its a simple accent but i think it looks sharp on the dark walnut.

No one should be this good at anything:-)
Man, awesome stuff.

took 2-3 hours per dresser to fit the joints and frame them up, so 1 per night over the last 3 nights.. but the main framing is done. I make each dovetail tight then handfile them a little so they are snug on each joint, label them, then break it down, sand it, and then do glue up and put the dust panels in.

i am envious of your shop. right now im learning how to try and get straight edges with my tools

Wow, those matching sets look awesome!

Personally, I love the simple, almost understated accents for larger pieces. They take it from pretty nice, to truly custom, without needing to be loud and over the top. On something small, like a display/charcuterie board- I don't mind going big and bright. But for big solid pieces, I love your work with the attention to detail. The legs on the table at the top of this post really caught my eye. The double stacked bases with chamfers that flow so well- I loved that touch.

As always, your work is amazing!

wood delivery day.. this is a painfully expensive amount of walnut..

lots of thinner/wider boards for drawer faces/dressers, and one huge slab for a table down at the bottom...

the beast at the bottom of the pile..

Who do you buy from?

slabs I typically get from a few mills (A few on the east coast and a few on the west coast) depending on what species I am looking at.

This all came from Pennsylvania. I typically don't buy dimensional lumber (4/4 or 6/4) walnut from mills that have to ship in due to shipping being cost prohibitive over local prices, but I was ordering this big slab and I needed some wider stock which I can't get locally (or I have to pay 10-13$/bf for wider stock walnut). When i can do an order this big and spread the shipping cost across more material and multiple projects ($600 for this order... ouch) It becomes a viable option. I also got a lot better quality of walnut and all wider widths (9-18" wide boards).

I got the dresser drawer faces cut and jointed last night. filling in a few defects with epoxy then will plane and cur to final shape and start prepping to do all the dovetails. love the look the single wide boards will give vs a glued up stack of narrower boards.

Do you find much movement as the boards adjust to local environment?

not really, especially not in smaller pieces like this. Big slabs, maybe some, but the kilns which do this professionally overshoot moisture content down to 5-8%, which will move up a little as the wood normalizes.

Great work! In the words of Lt. Aldo Raine, "when are you going to go Pro?" and get a big shop?

my back hurts already from this thing

agrams said:

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slabs I typically get from a few mills (A few on the east coast and a few on the west coast) depending on what species I am looking at.

This all came from Pennsylvania. I typically don't buy dimensional lumber (4/4 or 6/4) walnut from mills that have to ship in due to shipping being cost prohibitive over local prices, but I was ordering this big slab and I needed some wider stock which I can't get locally (or I have to pay 10-13$/bf for wider stock walnut). When i can do an order this big and spread the shipping cost across more material and multiple projects ($600 for this order... ouch) It becomes a viable option. I also got a lot better quality of walnut and all wider widths (9-18" wide boards).

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Curious on your shipping costs - was this $600 shipping for the load shown or $600 total (including cost of lumber - I'm assuming the wood isn't included as that slab is likely worth $600). What do you estimate the total weight of your shipment is?

I'm curious as I own semi trucks and some of my "products" would be welcome on the east coast (mostly the Carolinas which is pretty good hardwood country) but to make it cost effective I can't run the trucks back empty. And I'm not going to just open trucking bids - i.e., I want to bring back products I sell/use but nothing really has gotten my interest. Rough cut high end hardwoods may fit that if the numbers work.

shipping was $600, this was a bump up because the slab was over standard pallet width (48"?) and 110" long. Normally shipping runs around 300-360 for residential lift gate delivery on slabs that aren't this wide.

The total weight was 1700lbs.

cowdoc, I've had a lot of people ask that, but I dont think I ever will. being primary income provider for my family adds a layer of stress to a decision like that, but right now I get to be picky and do fun projects. to make a living at it I think I would be running a business more than making stuff, which is what I want to do. I also feel I would end up chasing jobs for $$ and not be doing as much fun stuff.

How much would you charge for a full length live edge oak dining table? Or if not possible a general oak table, not live edge.

If I brought you some dried pin oak wood to use to make a couple flat benches, would that be possible?

Im in DFW so id be able to pick up, etc.

agrams said:

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shipping was $600, this was a bump up because the slab was over standard pallet width (48"?) and 110" long. Normally shipping runs around 300-360 for residential lift gate delivery on slabs that aren't this wide.

The total weight was 1700lbs.

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Many thanks. Those numbers could easily justify the return trip. If I go this route, I'll be in touch - might work out a finders fee for you (cash or lumber).

lets see if I can figure out how to post a FB video..

https://www.facebook.com/grams.woodworks/videos/353219879464033/

https://fb.watch/4OOXCj1Me7/

agrams said:

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lets see if I can figure out how to post a FB video..

https://www.facebook.com/grams.woodworks/videos/353219879464033/

https://fb.watch/4OOXCj1Me7/

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Looks like a good job for those fine young sons when they get a little older!

dovetail time! that small piece of extremely tight curly soft maple I've saved for 5 years finally paid off!!!