Two more end grain boards (Finished/oiled)

[Crazyraceguy]

I gave the "Chaos" non-pattern version a shot. I'm not 100% sure what to do with it at this point though?
The proportions are off, it's too long for the width. I could shorten it, final sand, and leave it as-is. I am also thinking about cutting it into diagonal strips and regluing, maybe twice (both directions)

The second one is just a simple one-time strip glue-up, then cut to end grain. It is not glued yet though, thus the clamps. I'm not sure about that black piece? It came from scraps in my garage. I think I was part of the stuff I got from the attic clean-out of my daughter's garage, before she moved in? I have a few more sticks of it, 1 1/2" square and about 24" long. Ebony? African blackwood? It has an awesome earthy smell when cut.

 

[rvieceli]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] i like both of those nice work. What are the actual dimensions of the one you think is not right?

Ron

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=3192]rvieceli[/member] IIRC it's something like 11 1/4" x 18-19ish? and really should be closer to 16"
If I cut it into strips again, at some slight angle, as much as an inch will get lost that way.

I could also cut it in half, turn the pieces 90 degrees and make the width into length. Plus, there's 2 of them, at that point.

 

[rvieceli]

The reason I asked is that I thought it looked very close to the right dimensions for a Golden Rectangle. And it seems to be pretty close
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rectangle

Based on the golden ratio, the golden rectangle shows up a lot in nature and quite a bit of art.

I did a coffee table one time where every inlay was a golden rectangle. Kind of fun.
Ron

 

[luvmytoolz]

I was going to add the Golden Ratio aspect as well, it's pretty well perfectly proportioned (1:1.618) at those sizes, I'd leave it as is.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Yeah [member=3192]rvieceli[/member]  That's what seems off about it. The Golden ratio of 1.62-1 says 16ish, not 18-19
It just seemed long to me, so I checked it out with the calculator. It's not waay off, but enough to notice.

 

[rvieceli]

11.25 x 1.618 = 18.2025

Ron

 

[WastedP]

I find myself using this tool all the time:
https://www.thismanslife.co.uk/projects/phiculator/

 

[Cheese]

I gave the "Chaos" non-pattern version a shot. I'm not 100% sure what to do with it at this point though?

I like the chaos version...kind of makes me dizzy.  [big grin] Isn't that chaos defined?

The black version is also nice because it's a slap in the face...how better to make a first entrance.  [smile]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I must have my measurements wrong? Misremembered? It seems to me, when I checked it yesterday, that it was about 2" over length?
But, I don't suppose it really matters a whole lot. There aren't any specific rules, unless you are trying to fit a certain storage space.

 

[bobtskutter]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member]  I love the first one.  "Patch work quilting with wood"!  ;D

Bob

 

[prjones]

I gave the "Chaos" non-pattern version a shot. I'm not 100% sure what to do with it at this point though?

I know as woodworkers sometimes we're all about function over form. But my first thought is that this is simply a beautiful art piece. What about designing a 'floating' method for mounting it to the wall and hanging it as a piece of art?

 

[luvmytoolz]

I just want to see how the grain looks with some board butter on!

 

[jeffinsgf]

Before I got to the rest of the thread I thought it looked very close to the Golden Mean. Then when you gave the dimensions, it comes out pretty spot-on...unless you "misremembered".  [big grin]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I gave the "Chaos" non-pattern version a shot. I'm not 100% sure what to do with it at this point though?

I know as woodworkers sometimes we're all about function over form. But my first thought is that this is simply a beautiful art piece. What about designing a 'floating' method for mounting it to the wall and hanging it as a piece of art?

That is part of the problem, and the exact reason I quit making cutting boards years ago. It is probably 15-16 years since I made any. All of the ones I did, for family, friends, etc, were set out as "art pieces" and they refused to use them. One of them was from a pattern that I saw in a magazine, Wood or WoodSmith? one of them

It's an inch and a half thick, that's pretty hefty for a wall hanging. As I found out from the experience of the thin ones, for the lady at work, end grain and thinness don't play well together. The first one I did for her warped a little, so she brought it back to me to flatten again. I left it on my MDF worktable overnight and it straightened back out on its own. I oiled it up again, waxed it, and gave it back to her, with instructions to be more vigilant after washing. I was concerned about it from the beginning, but it's what she wanted.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

It was me, mixing up numbers. I measured it this morning, 21". So, I was thing right that it's about 3" over. I just compensated already and quoted it wrong.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Finished it today. I cut off a little more than what would have been the perfect ratio, in an effort to cut off a bad spot. A void showed up in the front face after flattening. It was a small branch that went across the grain and got worse as it got deeper in the flattening process. It made sense to just cut it out at that line.
I cut a small chamfer on all corners, rather than a round-over, including around the unique hand-hold pockets. That was a recall of the pattern I created for another job, done on Origin.
Oiled and waxed, it darkened up quite a bit. The contrast to the "dry" version is pretty wild.
I learned a few things, in this project, mainly the process to get away from the visual repeat of the pattern.
It's not that I am unhappy with how it came out. I'm saving it as a first example, flaws and all, already working on a V2.
I even went so far as to make my own wax/oil blend, in an attempt to minimize the color influence of commercially made products. It wasn't really so much about this particular board, but the other one with the heavy contrast of the black/white blocks. This one just got finished first. So many people were pushing me to get it done, curious as to the look, when oiled.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Nice! And now you have 2 boards! Win Win!