ribbons 'n' wood
2002-09-23 by osthelder
Is there still interest in the ribbon controller project? Ok, maybe morbid fascination? Chub and his dad have started the lastest installment of the ribbon controller this week- the cool walnut housing! If anybody cares AND if Larry Hendry can spare the web space for another PDF file, I'll take more pictures and (honestly) proofread what I write this time. I've mentioned to a few of you that my dad and I had been given a felled black walnut tree by my neighbor. Now, a year and a half later, we were finally able to use some of the boards we milled. I'm telling you, when you look at rough-cut lumber you can't see much but a fuzzy outline of the grain. After Dad and I run it through the planer a couple times, though, the full beauty of the wood becomes apparent. These first boards were from the heartwood. There's not much dry enough to use yet, but this is the creme! When you think walnut, you think "dark" and "fluid grain pattern" and the like. THIS is so COLORFUL-purples and browns and black and yellow(!)and gray and red-that it barely seems "walnut". Suffice it to say that I'm VERY pleased and Dad is totally stoked that he's got a whole tree to go yet! I'll take pictures of the boards to be used for the controller, uncut, then after I butcher and shape them before gluing. This project will be mostly about working with 3/4" boards and everyday wood tools(okay, so I plan to use a router and a Dremel with router base and bits...)and my rudimentary skills. I'm leaving Dad out of this bit. Well, it IS his router... Chub-Wal Nut