Just finished up this bookcase in maple. Used ALL of my green tools. First time that I’ve ever done anything in maple. Used ¾ maple plywood for the carcase, and hard maple for the top, edge banding, and base trim. TS 55 for cutting plywood, Domioes for the joinery, used the LR32 for the first time for the shelf pins (awesome!), Kapex for cutting the shelves to length and trim, OF1400 and guide rail for the dado for the back, new MFK 700 for the roundovers, and pocket screws to attach the 3” base to the bottom of the carcase. Then sanded it all with the RO 125. Miter corners on the trim came out perfect, and I used 4mm dominoes on them too.
Learned that you absolutely HAVE to use wood conditioner on maple. We wanted rich color to go with our floors, so we did one coat of Minwax Red Oak, followed by one of Gunstock, then 2 coats of gloss poly. The top had cool sapwood that we liked, and we were surprised that a lot of dark tones and even stripes came out in the hardwood when stained that you couldn’t see in the sanded raw wood.
I’ve not got a pretty good feel for all the tools after upgrading from other equipment I’ve used over the years. This all went together beautifully and exactly, perfectly square. I can tell that Festool is going to increase my efficiency as well as improve the final products. That’s the payback on the investment. I’m very happy!
Learned that you absolutely HAVE to use wood conditioner on maple. We wanted rich color to go with our floors, so we did one coat of Minwax Red Oak, followed by one of Gunstock, then 2 coats of gloss poly. The top had cool sapwood that we liked, and we were surprised that a lot of dark tones and even stripes came out in the hardwood when stained that you couldn’t see in the sanded raw wood.
I’ve not got a pretty good feel for all the tools after upgrading from other equipment I’ve used over the years. This all went together beautifully and exactly, perfectly square. I can tell that Festool is going to increase my efficiency as well as improve the final products. That’s the payback on the investment. I’m very happy!
