the credenza part 2 - this wood is all good

once the designs were finalized (roughly), things started in motion. i submitted my designs to the board for review. with a bit of back and forth, plans were approved for sign off by the chief himself.

(you can see the rigorous review process in action)

keep in mind, this is still to be a ttt (turntable table), however the final design allowed it to function anywhere from a buffet, to an entertainment center, to a bar. the best design maximises versatility while compromising nothing for the original design intent, so we hope.

a few pics of said turntables may be in order, so here they are.

the first step was to buy wood. normally a lumber yard is visited, where wood can cost upwards of $10 per board foot!! wood is sold by volume, and wood is measured length x width x height to calculate the number of board feet. one board foot is 12 inches x 12 inches x 1 inch.  this project used approximately 30 board feet of wood.

we didn't go to a lumber yard for our lumber.  my dad knew a guy who knew a guy. the guy is a carpenter, contractor, lumber guru, and part time tree trimmer.  when trees fall in the windy night, this guy's company comes and removes that tree. then he has the tree cut up into rough lumber, and he sells it for $2 per board foot!!!! not only is that a smokin' deal, this wood is local and grew up in southern california just like me. this is opposed to most woods that are grown far away and shipped to the states, we're being green too.

you never know what he'll have, heck, he never knows what he'll have.

we walked away with mulberry, canary, and chinese elm. the mulberry is painted purple at the top edges, the chinese elm has black paint, and the canary is those few boards to the left that are very pink.

i decided that the ttt would be made out of mulberry (well, the frame would be).

buying wood like this requires a large machine called a joiner. since the boards have no perfect sides, and is roughly cut, a joiner will clean the wood perfectly on two sides giving a sharp 90 degree angle where the fresh sides meet. from there you can measure and cut pieces perfectly.

dad just bought a joiner, so we were stoked to get some rough wood for cheap and clean it up ourselves. the joiner is not a small machine, so there was a complete shop reorganization that had to occur before hand.

link to part 3 - front face and top frame.