Again.   Not quite sure what will come out of there...yet.

 

Have a lot of candy bar sized  pieces of Walnut....

Couple pieces of Curly Maple....

A few pieces of White oak and some Pine..

 

Most are about ..1/2" thick or so.    Been using a plane to square them up a bit......have to watch when I pull the plane back......the front end of the plane would slip off the end of the board, and then a finger gets cut from the sharp corners of the board.   OW!    needed to slow it down a notch.

 

No pictures just yet, still not sure WHAT sort of thing the Single Brain Cell Sketch Up will come up with.....stay tuned.

I stack laminate pieces that size into 1.5" thick blanks for turning pizza cutter handles and wine bottle stoppers.

 

Steve, get creative, how about staking the different colored pieces in an eye pleasing manner and make some sort of free form center piece for your coffee table?

Here's a link to a neat little kitchen gadget- a folding trivet-

https://littlegoodpieces.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/folding-trivet-roubo-style/

laminate some of the contrasting pieces to make a colorful one.

What I have in Walnut, to work with..

Maybe a walnut Layer cake?  Back there by that little block plane.  Oak on the bottom, then the maple, and finally a 1x4x10"  piece of Black Cherry...the last of the stash of Cherry I have.

 

Thinking of lots of small dovetails, and maybe build a few trays or boxes.   The two BIG chunks of Walnut have splits in them....maybe a handle or two?   Tool rest is a bit long...about twice what the blocks are.  Still working my way slowly through the mess...

Whatever you make, it will be pretty. It is walnut, after all.

On 2/25/2016 at 0:23 AM, steven newman said:

A..have to watch when I pull the plane back......the front end of the plane would slip off the end of the board, and then a finger gets cut from the sharp corners of the board.   OW!    needed to slow it down a notch.

 

 

 

I don't draw a plane back in contact with the work, I lift it.  A very long time ago (in Cliff years) I was scolded by a journeyman machinist on my hand filing technique.  He told me in no uncertain terms that files only cut on one direction and that dragging them backwards was destructive of the tool.   You can bet I lifted the file after my next stroke.

 

11 minutes ago, Cliff said:

I don't draw a plane back in contact with the work, I lift it.

I don't know Cliff, if you were to do a ton of flattening on a big surface, lifting a smoother or bigger after each stroke would kill my arms! I always drag the hand plane back when flattening surfaces, I do however lift it on the backstroke when joining, the accuracy is paramount in joining so I prefer to lift it on the backstroke, and start patiently on the next stroke. Flattening a large surface, it's a mad mans task!

Here is a good video on the subject, ( we really need to start making our own videos!)

 

I must confess. I've never flattened a board with  a hand plane.  Seems  too much like actual work.

11 minutes ago, Cliff said:

I must confess. I've never flattened a board with  a hand plane.  Seems  too much like actual work.

Like I said, it's a mad man's task! Waay too much like actual work!

That is the way I do it all the time....usually with a cambered Jack plane, ala Chris Schwarz....The Jack plane I use (usually  for the larger stuff) is a Great Neck made Corsair C-5.  Lot less work than that smaller #3 sized scrub plane.   traverse, then the diagonals....goes fairly quick.

I let my saw mill attachment do the work...

 

 

I can go from this..

9 board glue up...to...

With just a couple handplanes....a longer #6, and this #3 size plane.   Doesn't take all that long...

Doesn't take me long with a  belt sander either... it's not hand Magic , it's how good one can glue boards together to start with...