- Joined
- Apr 19, 1999
- Messages
- 3,560
Today I was working with Thuya burl , what a rollercoaster of emotions as I go from cutting a large slab of burl with a lot of good figure to the finished surface.
First I was under orders from the QC department to cut the handle from very highly figured sections of the slab so I picked what I figured was the best spot, cut the burl and split it for book matched scales.
QC looked at the rough cut scales and ventured the opinion that I hadn't chosen the best material for the scales......I said "Wait until later to make that observation"
Next step was rough profiling, again QC was not impressed.
After rough sanding the appearance had not improved much.
Fine sanding made a nice job of smoothing out the surface and got all of the rough sanding marks but the surface still didn't look very pretty.
The final step before gluing in place is buffing in a coat of carnuba wax to prevent the compound staining the light coloured wood. Another QC inspection before and after...........at last I managed to pass the QC examination.
I seldom manage to impress the QC department but she did say the finished product was "very nice".
Success at last.
George
First I was under orders from the QC department to cut the handle from very highly figured sections of the slab so I picked what I figured was the best spot, cut the burl and split it for book matched scales.
QC looked at the rough cut scales and ventured the opinion that I hadn't chosen the best material for the scales......I said "Wait until later to make that observation"
Next step was rough profiling, again QC was not impressed.
After rough sanding the appearance had not improved much.
Fine sanding made a nice job of smoothing out the surface and got all of the rough sanding marks but the surface still didn't look very pretty.
The final step before gluing in place is buffing in a coat of carnuba wax to prevent the compound staining the light coloured wood. Another QC inspection before and after...........at last I managed to pass the QC examination.
I seldom manage to impress the QC department but she did say the finished product was "very nice".
Success at last.
George
