Chalk vs walnut board
#7
And the chalk wins. There is an 8 ft long, 11 inch wide, 6/4 walnut board that I wrestle with almost every day in my shop. I love walnut. I love wide and thick walnut. But I hate this board. It thinks it is master of the shop. Well tonight the master met his match and the chalk won. I needed a suitable piece of wood for a current project and I stumbled over this board while looking. OK, wise guy, are you at least 11 inches wide--yep. Then you just won. As you know, rough cut walnut laughs at pencils and scribe marks. Knowing this, I immediately reached for the chalk and the square. Zip, zip and two pieces hit the floor. WTF? The split went that far?!? Well, let's have another go. Get the chalk. Zip, zip and two boards hit the floor again. ?!?!?! That was a two foot split. This 8 foot board is giving it up a foot at a time. So zip, zip three was the charm. Now I have a usable board and a very tame 5 ft piece of primo walnut.

It split because it was one side of the tree heart. Of course, it cupped a bit. That's where the scrub plane comes in.


[Image: DSCN0598.jpg]

Lucky for me. The defect is only about 1/2 inch into the surface of this piece. I think we have found the bottom. A little scrub work reveals some really nice wood.


[Image: DSCN0601.jpg]

[Image: DSCN0600.jpg]

So the lesson tonight is: Chalk is handy in your woodshop. And, when a board gets in your way, tame it and put it to work. Master your shop.
===---===---===---===---===---===---===---===---
Please visit my website
splintermaking.com
Reply
#8
I used chalk on walnut and exotics for years till I found these....

http://www.menards.com/main/tools-hardwa...2236435459

Kids got the chalk. 
Laugh

Once Favre hangs it up though, it years of cellar dwelling for the Pack. (Geoff 12-18-07)  



Reply
#9
I chuckled to myself thinking you were silly enough to have a board that keeps getting in the way in your shop. Doesn't he know that everything should have a place and go to it around the third time you trip over it?

The chuckle ended abruptly when I remembered that elm slab that has taken over my shop. It thinks it is master of the shop....
Lumber Logs, domestic hardwoods at wholesale prices: http://www.woodfinder.com/listings/012869.php

Lumber Logs' blog: Follow the adventure
Reply
#10
Tailor chalk makes a finer line.
Better to follow the leader than the pack. Less to step in.
Reply
#11
I've had walnut do that to me before. What looks like a 2" end-check ends up running a foot or more, and a board literally falls into two pieces in your hands. I love working walnut, but I hate those little surprises.
Steve S.
------------------------------------------------------
Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot

Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
Reply
#12
(09-13-2016, 04:12 AM)MichaelMouse Wrote: Tailor chalk makes a finer line.

I use an artist's white drawing pencil.
Still Learning,

Allan Hill
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Product Recommendations

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.