MOTM

Can anyone suggest a type of wood to use for my cabinet? It's 
getting aroung the time that I need to build this thing so I'll be 
looking for the supplies that I need before too long.

 I seem to remember someone mentioning that a wood that is too dense 
(?) has a tendency to warp. That scares me! I'd hate to invest all 
the effort to build the cabinet only to find that it warps a year 
later.

 Times like this make me wish I would have snuck out of my high 
school electronics shop class and into woodshop class a few 
times...  : )

 Patiently waiting on a 101 and 440 (yay!)
 Andrew Sanchez

I've used pine for a wing that is 26u and it seems to be fine.  Also have
used it to build a odd case for Blacet stuff.  It's 3/4 inch thick.  The
only thing I don't like about it is that it is very soft wood.  These were
my preliminary cases till I'm able to spend some real time on building a
case nice case.  Then it will probably be 3/4 inch hard maple.  Next I'm
planning on taking my Serge out of the SKB and mounting it in a Oak plywood
case.  I guess building the cases are have the fun?  
NAAAA!
Patiently awaiting my 101 and my 2 300!  (Which will make a total of 5 osc
going)  Kinda goes with the territory of living in OcOnOmOwOc Wisconsin.  I
guess it's just a must to have 5 O's
Joe Bruno

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew [mailto:ixqy@...]
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 11:04 AM
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [motm] Speaking of Wood Cabs...



 Can anyone suggest a type of wood to use for my cabinet? It's 
getting aroung the time that I need to build this thing so I'll be 
looking for the supplies that I need before too long.

 I seem to remember someone mentioning that a wood that is too dense 
(?) has a tendency to warp. That scares me! I'd hate to invest all 
the effort to build the cabinet only to find that it warps a year 
later.

 Times like this make me wish I would have snuck out of my high 
school electronics shop class and into woodshop class a few 
times...  : )

 Patiently waiting on a 101 and 440 (yay!)
 Andrew Sanchez



 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

I've had very good success using oak for my MOTM cabinets and other 19" 
rack cabinets I've made.  The biggest thing that will keep panels from 
warping is to glue smaller widths of wood into a larger panel.  Using a 
plate jointer and biscuits is the easiest means to glue a panel up.  This 
will also wind up being less expensive than let's say, a 10" wide board.

-dave-

At 05:03 PM 2/21/01 +0000, you wrote:

>Can anyone suggest a type of wood to use for my cabinet? It's
>getting aroung the time that I need to build this thing so I'll be
>looking for the supplies that I need before too long.
>
>  I seem to remember someone mentioning that a wood that is too dense
>(?) has a tendency to warp. That scares me! I'd hate to invest all
>the effort to build the cabinet only to find that it warps a year
>later.

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Andrew wrote:

> 
>  Can anyone suggest a type of wood to use for my cabinet? It's 
> getting aroung the time that I need to build this thing so I'll be 
> looking for the supplies that I need before too long.
I used construction grade 1" (X 8" or X 12") pine to make 19" rack-style
cabinets (see: www-personal.ksu.edu/~jpont/synths/synthstudio.html). With
judicious assessment of which surfaces you will see (most of the time),
some sanding, and several coats of polyurethane, the cabinets are
reasonable with minimal cost.  Definitely use screws and glue, not
nails. Note that my objective is probably the opposite of most: I was
interested not in great looking cabinets, but interested in function and
not having to think "God, these cabinets look ugly!" when I was working in
my studio.  Of course, the latter statement is a matter of visual opinion,
your vision may differ.


> 
>  I seem to remember someone mentioning that a wood that is too dense 
> (?) has a tendency to warp. That scares me! I'd hate to invest all 
> the effort to build the cabinet only to find that it warps a year 
> later.
> 
I would think that if you are building a 19" rack-style cabinet with rack
rails on the front sides and motm rails horizontally, these would provide
enough 'bracing' to prevent most warp (or am I off-base here?).  Some
horizontal braces in the rear of the cabinet (say, 1" X 4" pine) will aid
in keeping the cabinet square.
> 
>  Patiently waiting on a 101
Me too.
Jeff

-----Original Message-----

ROFLMAO!!! Exactly my situation! A very Stoogely bit of humor, Mr T!

Although actually, we don't have Home Depot here, just Lowe's. And 
there's no maple either, just soft poplar (except that THEY seem to 
think it's a hardwood).

I can't bring myself to buy solid hardwood through mail order - I 
guess it is ingrained into me that I must inspect an entire bin of 
wood to pick the least disgusting one...

That's why I picked the birch plywood for my project. There are no 
warping worries as with some green solid hardwoods. It's easy to 
work, and looks lovely when stained. I prefer the grain pattern of 
birch to oak, which I find coarse and uninteresting. Now if I could 
get cherry veneered plywood, I'm there! The plywood edges are easily 
covered with rolls of birch veneer strips, which come with heat 
activated glue already applied. You just use an iron to apply them - 
it goes on easily and sticks tenaciously.

And did I mention you can buy all this stuff at Lowe's? And that 
Lowe's is my only stinkin choice?

Moe
(who in his youth was able to work with 100 year old walnut beams 
recycled from old barns. Sigh.)

--- In motm@y..., "Tkacs, Ken" <ken.tkacs@j...> wrote:
> In Connecticut we have a lot of choices when shopping for wood:
>  
> The Home Depot in Orange, the Home Depot in North Haven, the Home 
Depot in
> Wallingford, the Home Depot in Bridgeport, the Home Depot in 
Fairfield....
>  
> Then there's a very different kind of store we can also visit: the 
Lowe's in
> East Haven, the Lowe's in West Haven... you get the idea.
>  
> And they both carry a wide range of quality woods:
>  
> Pine, crappy pine, REALLY crappy pine, junk pine unfit for making 
skids,
> lousy expensive maple, and red oak. Lots of red oak. So I'm 
thinking red
> oak, myself. I'll stain it, you know?
>

My momma di'n' raise no foo! <g>

I agree, I can't get over the years of training to hold every piece of wood
up to the light, look down the beam, etc. when choosing woods. And to make a
big mess in the aisle while pulling the bin apart. Not to say that this gets
me anywhere, but I feel it's my duty to TRY to get the least offensive piece
of wood.

Cherry ply sounds *fantastic*! Someone should make this!!!

If I was smart I would have bought my wood two years ago when I started this
and then let it sit in the house drying out all this time.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	mate_stubb@... [mailto:mate_stubb@...] 
Sent:	Wednesday, 21 February, 2001 4:01 PM
To:	motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject:	[motm] Re: Speaking of Wood Cabs...

ROFLMAO!!! Exactly my situation! A very Stoogely bit of humor, Mr T!

Although actually, we don't have Home Depot here, just Lowe's. And 
there's no maple either, just soft poplar (except that THEY seem to 
think it's a hardwood).

I can't bring myself to buy solid hardwood through mail order - I 
guess it is ingrained into me that I must inspect an entire bin of 
wood to pick the least disgusting one...

That's why I picked the birch plywood for my project. There are no 
warping worries as with some green solid hardwoods. It's easy to 
work, and looks lovely when stained. I prefer the grain pattern of 
birch to oak, which I find coarse and uninteresting. Now if I could 
get cherry veneered plywood, I'm there! The plywood edges are easily 
covered with rolls of birch veneer strips, which come with heat 
activated glue already applied. You just use an iron to apply them - 
it goes on easily and sticks tenaciously.

And did I mention you can buy all this stuff at Lowe's? And that 
Lowe's is my only stinkin choice?

Moe
(who in his youth was able to work with 100 year old walnut beams 
recycled from old barns. Sigh.)

Why you, I oughta...<sound of smacking>

Actually, I could still work with it, but I'd have to drive 6 hours 
to my dad's house and raid his stockpile. Then I'd have to spend a 
week camped there because he has all the joiners and shapers and 
planers it takes to machine that stuff into workable shape.

It's enough pressure that I'll be working with joining complex angles 
with biscuits for the first time - I didn't need to add the pressure 
of ruining a really fine piece of wood if (when) I screw up.

Moe

--- In motm@y..., "J. Larry Hendry" <jlarryh@i...> wrote:

> (who in his youth was able to work with 100 year
> old walnut beams recycled from old barns. Sigh.)
> ---LH---
> So, when was that Moe, 50 , 60, 70 years ago?
> 
> Larry (feeling real stoogy today)

----- Original Message ----- 

From: <mate_stubb@...>
That's why I picked the birch plywood for my project.
---LH---
Cabinet shops usually have quite a variety of high quality
plywoods like this and I agree with Moes arguments.
---Moe---
Moe
(who in his youth was able to work with 100 year
old walnut beams recycled from old barns. Sigh.)
---LH---
So, when was that Moe, 50 , 60, 70 years ago?

Larry (feeling real stoogy today)

Well shi-i-v-ver me timbers!!  ; )

 I get back from running errands and there's all this great info waiting in 
my mailbox. Thanks everyone!
 
 I went to the bookstore and found a Readers Digest "fix everything around 
the house, even the dog" type of book. I should've bought it , but the $35 
"sale price" made me shy away. It was informative, so I'm still thinking 
about it... There was a section on working with wood that mentioned that if 
staining softer woods they may tend to blotch instead of giving a uniform 
stain. The recommendation was to pre-treat it first with a sealant and then 
staining it. 

 Andrew

Sanding sealer is a good idea as it will help to uniform the stain 
somewhat, and help prevent the grain from raising with the moisture.  I 
also like to mix my own stains, concentrated colorants with alcohol.  The 
alcohol keeps the stain from penetrating too deeply into the wood, which 
keeps it uniform, and also prevents the wood grain from raising.  This is 
the way I stain quilt and flame maple when I'm building a guitar.

-dave-

At 05:32 PM 2/21/01 -0500, you wrote:

>There was a section on working with wood that mentioned that if
>staining softer woods they may tend to blotch instead of giving a uniform
>stain. The recommendation was to pre-treat it first with a sealant and then
>staining it.

--- In motm@y..., ixqy@a... wrote:
> There was a section on working with wood that mentioned that if 
> staining softer woods they may tend to blotch instead of giving a 
> uniform stain. The recommendation was to pre-treat it first with a 
> sealant and then staining it. 

Absolutely correct! I use MinWax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. It makes 
a big difference in evening out the color. If you'd like to see a 
pic, here's my finished (but now too small) 26U x 10U cab, made using 
the birch ply / veneer edge method. It has the pre-stain conditioner 
treatment, 2 coats of red oak stain, and 3 coats of polyurethane. My 
new case will have the exact same finish:

http://motm.retrosynth.com/moe_stuff/case_pics/Moe-cab-old.jpg

Moe

Is that modular synth for dummies book in the background.   : )
Jim, back online finally!

mate_stubb@... wrote:

> --- In motm@y..., ixqy@a... wrote:
> > There was a section on working with wood that mentioned that if
> > staining softer woods they may tend to blotch instead of giving a
> > uniform stain. The recommendation was to pre-treat it first with a
> > sealant and then staining it.
>
> Absolutely correct! I use MinWax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. It makes
> a big difference in evening out the color. If you'd like to see a
> pic, here's my finished (but now too small) 26U x 10U cab, made using
> the birch ply / veneer edge method. It has the pre-stain conditioner
> treatment, 2 coats of red oak stain, and 3 coats of polyurethane. My
> new case will have the exact same finish:
>
> http://motm.retrosynth.com/moe_stuff/case_pics/Moe-cab-old.jpg
>
> Moe
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/




mate_stubb@... wrote:

> --- In motm@y..., ixqy@a... wrote:
> > There was a section on working with wood that mentioned that if
> > staining softer woods they may tend to blotch instead of giving a
> > uniform stain. The recommendation was to pre-treat it first with a
> > sealant and then staining it.
>
> Absolutely correct! I use MinWax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. It makes
> a big difference in evening out the color. If you'd like to see a
> pic, here's my finished (but now too small) 26U x 10U cab, made using
> the birch ply / veneer edge method. It has the pre-stain conditioner
> treatment, 2 coats of red oak stain, and 3 coats of polyurethane. My
> new case will have the exact same finish:
>
> http://motm.retrosynth.com/moe_stuff/case_pics/Moe-cab-old.jpg
>
> Moe
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

In a message dated 01-02-21 13:41:07 EST, you write:

<< 
 Someone on this list last year sent me a link to a pretty cool web site that
 sells "mail-order wood." I kept it but I don't have it on hand. Still... the
 idea of mail-ordering wood is a bit foreign to me. Nice site, though.
   >>


ken,
i don`t recall the url or whether it was from this list or not but my brother 
in law has purchased mail order wood from a place in arizona. not inexpensive 
but an amazing variety. he got some type of ebony for one box and koa veneer 
to put on another. they look nice if you`re "into" wood. me, always a 
troublemaker, i prefer the stark metal rack frames.
best,
dave v.

For those wanting to explore online wood buying, here's the link:

http://www.woodworkerssource.com/

Moe

>  Someone on this list last year sent me a link to a pretty cool web 
site that
>  sells "mail-order wood." I kept it but I don't have it on hand. 
Still... the
>  idea of mail-ordering wood is a bit foreign to me. Nice site, 
though.