Hi
I am new to the forum, as well as new to wood work.
I had no training in working with wood,
and I have not really used anything other then chipboard and plywood,
with witch I built various things, from chinchilla cages to bookshelves.
That I say, so its clear I don't know the tricks of the trade to get the result wanted always.
Initiative - I decided to build a decent carving board, since one pay 14usd (converted from my currency) for a silly pine board that dont last at all. I used the same money and went got a nice big piece Mahogany.
Material - African Mahogany
Dimensions - 12.3 inches in width, 20.5 inches in length, 0.78 inches in thickness
Building time - 2 or 3 days, on and off working
Tools used - small hand held router for all indentations and curves
- generic dremel for the leave cuts
- jigsaw for cutting
- mouse sander for sanding P80 first, p120 for final sanding
- Planer (from a friend) to plane raw wood
Finishing - coconut oil, specifically chosen. I red that its the most stable oil to use on wooden boards, it don't get sour or nasty after even a very long time. Olive oil does.
Procedure - buy plank.
- plane plank. It was INCREDIBLY hard.
- I wanted to use this bit with a nice flame on it, problem is I cant get it smooth.
- cut out with jigsaw
- routing all curves
- sand with mouse sander p80 grit, lastly with p120 grit.
- using dremel, I carved the leave patterns on top, making sure i work slow enough to burn the wood so that it is a bit darker and easier to see
- melting oil, paint it on board and let it steep in for a hour. Did both sides.
- Warming board in oven, the idea was so the oil can get softer and go deeper. (coconut oil becomes solid at about 75 degrees F)
- done
Result - I like it, but wish i could get it smoother. Sandpaper don't seem to do anything to it at all, As i said, its really really hard.
Attachment 228119Attachment 228120Attachment 228121Attachment 228122
in photo 3 I attempted to catch the course grid of the wood.
Resolution -If I don't get a better idea, I will try something like wet sanding, only red about it yesterday, have to find out still how it works exactly, and if it may help.
Thanks for looking