The monster in my bedroom

[jujigatame]

I have been working on this project for the last 7 months in my free time.

In my bedroom we had a 80's era Formica built in wall unit.  Very structurally sound, and functional, but ugly.

I decided to reface it with Brazillian Walnut that I got on clearance very cheap.

I never had a Festool tool before this project, and I can honestly say that I don't think I could have completed it without Festool.

The dust the wood makes is the worst I have ever encountered.  Worse even than MDF.  This wood is hard, one of the hardest.  Even the TS55 made more dust than I expected, but still less than with my tablesaw.  My RO125 was a savior though.  Hooked up to the CT22 there was almost no dust when sanding, it was almost a miracle!

During the course of this project I purchased a TS55, CT22 RO125, MFT/3 and DTS 400.  I can't wait to tackle my next project, refacing my kitchen cabinets!

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[nickao]

Nice work and the Ipe(Brazilian Walnut) will last forever. It looks like you replaced the doors, not refaced?

 

[Neill]

Very nice transformation.  As Nick said, it should last a very long time. If you did replace rather than resurface, you should be able to alter the look in the future if your preferences change.

Neill

 

[jujigatame]

Yes, I did replace the doors and drawerfronts, I just called it a refacing because I kept the main structure and veneered the sides.

Is Ipe Brazillian Walnut?  I've heard different things and they have different scientific names.

 

[nickao]

Brazilian walnut does not have a scientific name it is a trade name(Ironwood, Pau Lope & Brazilian Walnut... these are commercial names given to Ipe lumber by large Brazilian exporters) and is definitely Ipe. Some call it both, some call it Ironwood(which is wrong):

http://www.lumbermax.com/ipe_brazilian_walnut.php

http://www.woodsthebest.com/ipe_decking/ipe-wood.htm

The best place to always look up wood:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/index.htm

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/ipe.htm

Common names for Ipe:

bethabara, Brazilian walnut, greenheart, ipe tabaco, ironwood, Lapacho, pau d'arco, peava, proba-de-campos, yellow poui

 

[jujigatame]

Thanks, It is hard as heck and is beautiful.

I told my wife that now we can't ever move

 

[Mac]

When I saw the title of this thread I wondered if I'd inadvertantly come to another forum by mistake... [eek]

Nice work though.
Rick