3X3 Maple???

Jnealon

My wife recently asked me could I make her a footstool. I agreed and ran a few designs by her. One was sonething like this http://www.crafthome.com/subsidiarypages/furniture/302footstool.htm
apart from the tapered legs. I would probably route the edges instead.

My question is where would I get some 3X3 or similar maple for the legs. I've checked the faq and most places say that they'd have to order it in. Are there any reasonibly priced hardwood suppliers around that you guys can recommend in the Dublin area that would stock this.

I have some maple flooring that I was going to run through the thicknesser and glue together but I'm not pushed on that idea, but If I have no other options

Alun

I get a lot of my timber from a guy called Brian at Kingfisher Crafts in Ashford. He does have maple now and then, as I've got a few woodturning blanks off him in the past. I don't have a phone number I'm afraid, but it's easy enough to find ...opposite the entrance to Mount Usher Gardens on right hand side on the way out of Ashford heading south on the old road.

Just a thought, but why maple? It's a nice wood alright, and very tight grained but can be a bit bland and featureless sometimes.

Jnealon

Thanks for that I'll check him out.
Why maple you ask. No particular reason apart from all my floors are maple and I just thing it's a nice wood. But any wood could do the job as long as it blended in well and didn't look out of place

kadman

Hi Jnealon,

If you can't get maple, use sycamore, its from the same family, more or less identical to maple, indeed some expensive maple kitchens I have seen, were in fact sycamore.

Fiddleback sycamore has some lovely figuration through out the grain, and should be available in Abbey woods in Dublin.

Failing that, Lisnavagh Timber Project in Rathvilly Wicklow, wont let you down, ring first. Coillte should also have a good supply of either timber.

kadman

Alun

kadman wrote:

If you can't get maple, use sycamore, its from the same family, more or less identical to maple, indeed some expensive maple kitchens I have seen, were in fact sycamore.

Now there's a story waiting to be told ...

The tree we know as Sycamore here in Northern Europe is (botanically speaking) actually a member of the maple (Acer) family (Acer Pseudoplatanus) but rather perversely has a leaf shaped like a true Sycamore (Platanus family) which only exists in the US (American Sycamore or "Platanus occidentalis"), and SE Europe ("Platanus orientalis").

The closest we get in these parts to a "real" Sycamore is the (London) Plane tree (Platanus X. Acerifolia) which is a hybrid of the two main Sycamore species, but (also rather perversely) has a leaf that looks like a maple ....

Here endeth the botany lesson

Alun

You can also try Pat Staunton out in Glenealy, (just before, or after Kelly's, I can never remember!) although he usually just sells stuff in BIG pieces, so be warned!

kadman

Hi Alun,

Excellent botany lesson , I'm impressed

Of course when speaking about maple, people think of the beautiful hard maple floors used widely in dance floor construction many years ago, and would be delighted to use such a beautiful timber for their own furniture / kitchen cabinets.

This timber would have been the american hard maple (Acer Sacharrum ), used widely fo flooring, butchers blocks ect,. With its AVW ( average dried weight ) at 50lb. a cubic foot , it would be considerably harder than its european counterpart, ( Acer Pseudoplatanus ) , or what we commonly call sycamore. At only ADW of 38 lb . a cubic foot.

Kitchen manufacturers command a better price, calling their kitchens solid maple, evn though they are made from european sycamore. After all a maple kitchen sounds better than a sycamore kitchen. People don't associate sycamore with good quality, unfortunately.

American hard maple would has light reddish brown heartwood, while european sycamore tends to be yellowish white, often air dried standing up to keep its light appearence.

If your wood turning skills equal your knowledge of timber Alun, I am extremely impressed.

Alun

The whole Sycamore vs. Maple thing is a topic that comes up quite often on rec.crafts.woodturning, a Usenet news group. Since it's populated mainly by folks from the US but with a smattering of people from the other side of the pond, confusion often occurs when talking about Sycamore as to exactly what you're talking about. So, I did a bit of digging, and picking the mind of a friend who's an amateur botanist, to try and get behind the truth.

As for my wood turning skills, I'm not so sure of that

Jnealon

Thanks again lads. Some very useful info there. I'll give those places a try.

kadman

Alun wrote:

The whole Sycamore vs. Maple thing is a topic that comes up quite often on rec.crafts.woodturning, a Usenet news group. Since it's populated mainly by folks from the US but with a smattering of people from the other side of the pond, confusion often occurs when talking about Sycamore as to exactly what you're talking about. So, I did a bit of digging, and picking the mind of a friend who's an amateur botanist, to try and get behind the truth.

As for my wood turning skills, I'm not so sure of that

I suppose Maple or Sycamore, what ever you like to call it Alun, it's still a beautiful timber to work with. Furniture, carving or turning, it is very forgiving. Was often used for piano panel carcasing, and then ebonised to imitate ebony.
You probably know Alun, spalted sycamore is prized for woodturning, and is fairly sought after.

So if you have any, hang on to it.


kadman

Alun

You probably know Alun, spalted sycamore is prized for woodturning, and is fairly sought after.

I know ...I've got some My father-in-law chopped down a Sycamore tree in his garden ages ago, and unwittingly left it on the ground for a while before I got around to picking it up. It's a bit "punky", as they say, and needs some very sharp tools to stop it tearing out like crazy, but it looks quite spectacular. See below ...

kadman

Looks very well alright Alun.

What diameter is it, and it looks like the soft sheen of danish oil, is it.

kadman

Alun

They're both quite small actually, only about 8 or 9" diameter. They're both finished using Organoil Hi-Speed Finishing Oil (see http://www.organoil.com.au/woodcraft/index.html), wet sanded with wet&dry right down to 2000 grit, then left to cure for a good few days and then buffed up with the Beall buffing system.

kadman

Sounds good that Alun, where can you get it from, I'd like to try some of that. never used it before,

kadman

Alun

I got mine from the Organoil stand at the last Axminster Tool Show in Exeter, but Axminster sell it online as well. I don't know of any sources here in Ireland, I'm afraid

It has one big plus over Danish Oil that it's based completely on natural oils. The ingredients for Danish Oil can be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair, depending on whose version you buy. The Burnishing Oil is nice too for a slightly more satin/matte finish, plus it smells really nice too:)

Also, one of the nice things about it, and the method of application, is that when wet sanding you form a kind of very fine 'slurry' that fills any grain quite nicely. It can go a bit rough after curing, but buffing brings the sheen back very easily.

stapeler

I was quiet amazed last week when I made a trip to Coens in Tullamore, They have vast quantities of hardwood & Softwood in every size you could want. Well wort a phonecall or visit.