Sounds like you’re having fun! I love that “Ooo! And that!” phase. It’s play in the truest sense of the word, in the same spirit of the musicians we build these altars for. Yep, mine are lighter too with fairly light figuring. Enough to still make out the book matched panels. Mine have a dark streak of grain near the center seam on the side, which makes it look a little like a racing stripe. There’s some seriously nice stuff getting posted here. You’re going to have inspiration overload.
Got a ton of ideas from this thread, it's nice to see things close in a certain wood combo that helps a lot. There are some nice setups out there! Shop has been in a semi-dormant state too long. Kids are grown, rekindling it, making things again is kinda fun. It's a great hobby to take into retirement! I need to go offline, look at some hardwoods available locally, put some pencil to paper and go through another iteration or two.... the juices are flowing for WW again though... plus the upside is it's a great workout!
Interesting, I had a similar journey. I made a flexi rack out of MDF, then later realized using carbon fiber shelves and footers between the components and MDF gave a much more accurate presentation, also judged by me via the sounds of the orchestra
I just have a shop vac attached to my table saw and it is only partially effective so it was pretty pink in my garage! Yep, I sanded the paduak at the garage door with a fan blowing the dust towards the driveway. Beautiful but a challenging wood to work with. The wrapped grain at the corners of the AR bases I made was my calling card. It was a fun puzzle to figure out so it was repeatable. A better example of wrapped grain: I read the story behind your avatar and it is pretty amazing. How fun it must be to have that photo and know it was at the beginning of playing such a great game for many years. I still get excited to go to the rink, even for a pickup game, and my wife describes herself as a "hockey widow" during the Cup playoffs. I thought it was funny about the long stick but when I could see it was a Cooper it brought back lots of fond memories. As a fellow lefty I thought your stash of sticks were curved the correct way!
That piece looks almost lacquered! How many coats to build up past the deep padauk grain, if poly? Did you see the pics where after seven or eight shellac coats, I still had pits (link included above). Shellac is tough to build up, especially on woods like red oak and paduak with the deep grain sections. Nice looking piece there, in some ways that particular piece looks like cherry does after a few years of UV / reddening.... Like I said in the short write up on it "How many people can say they have a pic of the first goal they ever scored!" As I got older, I realized more and more how cool having that actually is! Plus having the story behind the stick... both my father and brother, who were in the van when the stick broke and at that game have passed, and I've nobody else to laugh about it over a beer when they come over and see the pic hanging! "... curved the correct way" that alone tells me you're a true hockey guy. I do find it interesting that all my all time favorite players - Orr, Gretz, Messier, Bobby Hull, and more all shot left handed! Howe was pretty much ambidextrous and spend most of this career using a straight stick, like the rest in his earlier years, but officially shot righty. I think somewhere along the way he figured out he was shooting the wrong way, I still think Gretz would have never caught him goal-wise if he'd a shot the correct way all those years.... BTW, not sure what size dust port your saw has, but you can pick up 1.5hp dust collectors with a smaller footprint for dirt cheap these days... but you may be sharing the shop with cars and limited on space, which is the case for most....
I saw this rack about 15 years ago in Positve Feedback online, I think, and then had a local craftsman duplicate the design. It’s very stout and will outlive me that’s for sure. I am curious what he was using for footers? I used a set of Cerapucs on mine but recently sprung suspensions have really been amazing.
OK, last hockey story so you can focus on all the great input from our fellow forum members on your new equipment racks... My son married a gal from Squaw Valley CA and in a hallway of her parents house was a black and white photo of the rink and scoreboard after the US beat Russia in the 1960 Olympics. He goes off his rocker and his bride tells him "Oh, yeah, Grandma and Grandpa were at the game and took the photograph". They apparently decided to go to the game at the last minute and had no trouble getting tickets. My how times have changed.
Love that Acacia Koa ! I think Sapele would match better with Rosewood. Walnut + Sapele is maybe too bland.
That Paduak looks fab! We call it Padouk. @TheVinylAddict Paduak looks so much better then Sapele imho and would match nicely with a dark Rosewood.
Stunning combination ! Not what OP is after, but the industrial design matches so well with the wood finished gear ! Definitely a look to go for if one has such gear.
Thanks for the inputs Bever70 - now I know for future reference you have a good eye for color. I'm trying to make a statement and be bold on the choice, but not make it over the top also.... hopefully have time to go see what's in stock locally today.
Taken at a time when hiding the bong for picutres would have been customary --- where is it? Behind the chair??? Love the 80's version of a big screen TV too... the decor and rack choice not too far off of what I had in the early 80's.
About five minutes ago, I asked my wife "what about walnut with sapele" her answer "Too blah". I mentioned how the piece Avfan displayed, with the figure, lighting for the pic makes it look more like cherry than the padauk I've worked with... his earlier pic was more "padauk-ish" To test the padauk with rosewood, here is a pic of the padauk TT platform I made - both unfinished, then shellac'd. Still like the combo?
I like the Acacia Koa too. It is very striking. However, that's the kind of finish that might be cool at first, but over time grow tired as it becomes hard to integrate other decor without clashing. That's the main reason I prefer black ash for my Naim racks, and piano black for my speakers and subs. That will always fit in with just about any decor.
Just to clarify that base is made from a goofy piece of walnut. I looked for odd grain and color at the lumber yard often digging through discarded short pieces. Sorry for the reflections but this is another Padauk base showing its range of color. Padauk will darken to the point of almost black. This is also the one corner that does not wrap. @TheVinylAddict : The finish is many many coats of Arm-R-Seal sanded flat until the grain is filled. Grain filler dulled the look IMO but this finish is laborious. It is also important to not rush the finish as the poly in the grain will shrink over time.
Exactly the challenge - I want to make a statement, but making two other pieces to match it - one being like what Avanti1960 showed earlier under my TV and between the speakers, so it'll be a show piece and will have to match the leg / trim choice of the audio rack I'm building here. Here's an example of the style of what'd go under the TV, between the speakers, with the wood for it matching the legs / trim of what I'm building here. (These were shared by @avanti1960 earlier). So whatever I use can't be too garish, but willing to consider a little pizazz with accents for the shelves on the audio rack.
See, I knew something was up and that wasn't padauk in the earlier pic! I'm not a big fan of grain fillers, but they can be handy on some pieces if time / effort savings is the goal, and a flat finish. BTW, my father owned a Painting company for near 50 years, I grew up with a brush in my hand, and also did a lot of furniture restoration and refinishing too. I was into finishes, etc long before I started woodworking! It comes in handy. I should snap a pic of my brush collection for different finishing. It's quite the arsenal I've built up over the years. I still have a 4" Purdy Nylon / Poly brush from the 80's I still use for painting around the house, they don't make 'em like they used to! Whatever the finish and the task, I have a brush for it. I also have HVLP sprayers, airless pumps, cup guns, etc too but I always opt for hand finishing when given a choice. Brushes are an extension of my arm, been using them my whole life. Know just a little about finishes too, and how to apply them...
Your wife's got taste ! Not a fan of the shiny finish (at least not for shelves in a rack), and yeah from the looks of it might be a bit 'too reddish' to combine with dark Rosewood ?!
I'm not a fan of shiny finish either, and why I don't use shellac a lot as the top coat - I'm either matte finish of flat for most everything - or hand rub (a favorite my dressers / beds are hand rubbed). BUT there's nothing like shellac on the first / second coats to make the wood figure pop, then put a flatter poly on on. Dewaxed shellac can be followed up by poly - I do it all the time, because again nothing like shellac to bring out the best in a wood figure. I actually dulled that down by rubbing it out, you can see the result here. See how it's not as "shiny"? That still is shellac, it's holding up well.
