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Step 2From firewood to boards
PEICE SELECTION
now that you have all of your tools gathered .you need to select the right piece of firewood to make into boards .the piece you want needs to be square and as straight as you can find .selecting a round piece isn't wise since the circular grain is more evident .you want a square or rectangular ended piece that has a length of a foot or more depending on your design
SPLITTING
i currently don't own a froe (a tool use to split wood into planks for use as shingles or clap boards) .so i improvised and used a knife that was of medium size .and i must say i'm glad i was wearing my safety glasses because the tip to the knife broke off and flew across the porch .luckily it wasn't worse then that ,though it easily could have been .after that is when i decided to use a machete (and yes its painted gold) .leather gloves made it much easier on my hands from the jolting of the hammer blows .in the drawing below it shows splitting from the ends but i had better luck splitting the piece in half and then splitting each piece after that in half until i had pieces roughly 1/2" thick
PLANNING
oak is a hard wood .and the grain does not want to separate easily .so there are peaks and valleys that need to be planned down to make nice and smooth .this is where the planner comes in .slowly bring the thickness of the boards down till you have a nice smooth even surface .when starting ,each board was about half an inch thick and when finished the boards were about a fourth of an inch thick .of the 15 total boards i made .i ended up only used 2 for the boomerang .the others being used to make a jewelry box for my girlfriend (instructable)
now that you have all of your tools gathered .you need to select the right piece of firewood to make into boards .the piece you want needs to be square and as straight as you can find .selecting a round piece isn't wise since the circular grain is more evident .you want a square or rectangular ended piece that has a length of a foot or more depending on your design
SPLITTING
i currently don't own a froe (a tool use to split wood into planks for use as shingles or clap boards) .so i improvised and used a knife that was of medium size .and i must say i'm glad i was wearing my safety glasses because the tip to the knife broke off and flew across the porch .luckily it wasn't worse then that ,though it easily could have been .after that is when i decided to use a machete (and yes its painted gold) .leather gloves made it much easier on my hands from the jolting of the hammer blows .in the drawing below it shows splitting from the ends but i had better luck splitting the piece in half and then splitting each piece after that in half until i had pieces roughly 1/2" thick
PLANNING
oak is a hard wood .and the grain does not want to separate easily .so there are peaks and valleys that need to be planned down to make nice and smooth .this is where the planner comes in .slowly bring the thickness of the boards down till you have a nice smooth even surface .when starting ,each board was about half an inch thick and when finished the boards were about a fourth of an inch thick .of the 15 total boards i made .i ended up only used 2 for the boomerang .the others being used to make a jewelry box for my girlfriend (instructable)
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