Black & White Wide-screen TV Stand..

[SARGE..g-47]

A departure from my normal A & C work. Simply just a TV stand for a wide screen designed to hold two black boxes.. two speakers and a 50" flat screen TV. Nothing more.. nothing less. Five weeks work with proto-type.. finish and cure times. Maple and ebonized poplar. All joinery.. no metal with the exception of four 5" long 3/8" steel rods inserted into 3/8" holes drilled diagonally in the rear of the bottom front and rear stretcher mortise hole extending to the toe of the outside foot of the legs. A quick glance at the grain orientation on the one piece legs explains the "why".

Poplar is ebonized with Speedball Super Black India Ink with three coats of wiped oil poly after being sealed with wax free shellac. Maple finish is brushed water base poly as I don't have a sprayer. Spent several hours playing with the light on the piece trying to bring out the radiant curl in the maple but with no major success. It's definitely there on my $1.95 a bd. foot curly maple (gloat) but you won't see it unless you visit. I have no clues with photo lighting which is rather obvious.

Thanks for looking... critique if you wish!

[cabinetman]

Very nice looking...well done. A very clean and simple look. Pick up a spray gun, even if it's a cheapo siphon gun, as WB poly finishes so nice and easy when sprayed.
.

[LCHIEN]

My first thought - who would have a B&W TV anymore?
Then i saw the pics and figured out the B&W referred not to the TV but to the stand!
But, i like that - very pretty, elegant, contemporary.
Your own design?

[dvan]

I really like the look! Nice!

[SARGE..g-47]

Thanks Cab.. Loring & dvan.... I intend to take a week or so break from the summer heat but.. I'm already bored and may make a trip to my supplier this afternoon. I seem to always end up doing that when I decide to take a break!

Cab.. definitely could have used a sprayer in this case. I rarely use water base (mainly maple) but it could have saved much time and effort. I spent almost two days doing the water base. Completely re-sanded two legs to get rid of a few drip accumulations. The stretchers were no problem with a Purdy brush as you can sweep in one direction and tip off with the brush held almost vertical. But.. those leg curvatures with their rounded over edges were a major PITA to work with. If I intended to reproduce this piece I would most definitely invest in a sprayer.

Loring... yes on my own design. I have designed everything I have built over the last 12 years. The 27 previous I used designs from others but often modified them.. more often than not.

Regards...

[pelligrini]

Looks really good, nice lines. The slight curves in the shelf uprights add a nice touch. What are the approximate dimensions? 20x56x26?

Could you give a little more info on how you used the ink?

My wife has been after me to get around to building one for our flatscreen. It's currently sitting on one of her old cedar chests with her 'favorite fabrics' inside. I've been intending to do something A&C out of QS white oak. I just haven't had the time or money for material. I was looking forward to seeing what A&C design you came up with, but you went another direction.

[Shep]

Sarge, you blow me away every time you post. Thanks for sharing.

[JR]

Sarge, I didn't know you had it in you! I mean the design, not the craftsmanship.

Beautiful piece.

JR

[atgcpaul]

Very nice, Sarge. I like this one a lot.

Are the legs cut from a wider blank? I'm a skin flint so I couldn't bring myself
to not use all the wood that's not there.

Paul

[SARGE..g-47]

Looks really good, nice lines. The slight curves in the shelf uprights add a nice touch. What are the approximate dimensions? 20x56x26?

Could you give a little more info on how you used the ink?

My wife has been after me to get around to building one for our flatscreen. It's currently sitting on one of her old cedar chests with her 'favorite fabrics' inside. I've been intending to do something A&C out of QS white oak. I just haven't had the time or money for material. I was looking forward to seeing what A&C design you came up with, but you went another direction.

Just looking for a change of pace after 13 carcasses in A & C style. Sorry I threw you for a loop on the contemporary design. I spent a week just thinking about how I would approach this with those modern control boxes and rather modern look of the flat-screen. Black and white kept popping up and ebony and maple really don't look right in A & C IMO so... haha

Speedball Super Black India Ink from Dick Blick office supply.. $16 a quart and I used about 1/3 as it goes a long way. And that stuff penetrated about 1/4" into the maple. I was going to originally cut a curved arc 1/4" wide into the center of leg all the way through for a divided leg look. I cut it.. used a chip brush and inked the center after leaving the leg at 1 1/2" and figured planing the leg down to 1 1/8" would remove the ink spattered around the arc opening. That didn't happen as the ink penetrated 1/4" on both sides and we go to game plan Brave building 4 new legs. I learned and now you know in advance in case you want to get fancy..

Legs sanded.. 120-150-180-220 and wet the piece after 220 to raise the grain. Then 320 to remove it the first time. Applied India ink with a chip brush liberally but went back immediately after making a pass and lightly wiped any standing off with a clean terry cloth towel. Let it dry which is pretty quick but I let if sit over-night. Then I took the fuzz off from the slight re-raising of the grain from the ink with Abra-lon 1000 grit... I normally stop at 180 grit with hardwood but I intentionally wanted to burnish the pores here with a semi-gloss finish in mind. At that point ready to apply water base.

Mini-wax water base poly.. scuff sanding with Abra-lon 360 grit between the first two coats. Light go after the 3rd coat but after waiting 2 days for the finish to harden. Buff out with Liberon Black Bison clear. I usually apply wax with Liberon 0000 to take sheen down to satin and wax in one step but... I wanted a gloss so I simply applied with a cloth and took it off with a terry cloth towel.

Further questions ask.. gotta clean 6 saw blades.. wax cast iron machines.. sharpen chisels and hand planes.. empty vacuums and cyclone bin.. etc. which is my SOP after each project or every month and a half. Will be in and out grabbing coffee...

Edit to add... 20 x 52 x 22 high which puts mid-screen eye-ball level from all seated positions at our house Eric.. size of boxes and viewing height has to be accounted for and included in final design notes before you cut..

Regards...

[SARGE..g-47]

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement Justin and JR....

Regards...

[SARGE..g-47]

Very nice, Sarge. I like this one a lot.

Are the legs cut from a wider blank? I'm a skin flint so I couldn't bring myself
to not use all the wood that's not there.

Paul

The legs are from one glued up blank Paul.. I know.. I know! I'm a skin flint to some degree so I used standard soft maple in the core ($1.49 bd. ft) and veneered curly maple on both sides at $1.95 a board foot. If ya want the look gotta pay the price but... the 4 cut-outs from the main leg pieces used are now squared. They will now become a small lidded box for my next door neighbors 12 yr. old daughter. Good kid...

But.... it was very important to have them when time for final glue-up arrived. Just how do you apply 60" clamps with square faces to those radical outer curves and keep the clamps from slipping when you glue the long front-rear strethcers...??? Can you see a problem here? The solution....

You number the one piece waste cut-out pieces to correspond to the actual leg.. place a folded terry cloth towel between the actual curve and waste blank to avoid marring and you have square sides to mate your square faces on the clamps. Slipping clamps cause out of square after the glue dries. Gott think of this stuff before the fact. You just have to make sacrifices for the big picture in some cases. That hurts but the pain goes away.. haha

Regards...

[LCHIEN]

The legs are from one glued up blank Paul.. I know.. I know! I'm a skin flint to some degree so I used standard soft maple in the core ($1.49 bd. ft) and veneered curly maple on both sides at $1.95 a board foot. If ya want the look gotta pay the price but... the 4 cut-outs from the main leg pieces used are now squared. They will now become a small lidded box for my next door neighbors 12 yr. old daughter. Good kid...

But.... it was very important to have them when time for final glue-up arrived. Just how do you apply 60" clamps with square faces to those radical outer curves and keep the clamps from slipping when you glue the long front-rear strethcers...??? Can you see a problem here? The solution....

You number the one piece waste cut-out pieces to correspond to the actual leg.. place a folded terry cloth towel between the actual curve and waste blank to avoid marring and you have square sides to mate your square faces on the clamps. Slipping clamps cause out of square after the glue dries. Gott think of this stuff before the fact. You just have to make sacrifices for the big picture in some cases. That hurts but the pain goes away.. haha

Regards...

Good use for the cutouts - clamp matching pads. I think I've done that before without thinking about it.

[atgcpaul]

The legs are from one glued up blank Paul.. I know.. I know! I'm a skin flint to some degree so I used standard soft maple in the core ($1.49 bd. ft) and veneered curly maple on both sides at $1.95 a board foot. If ya want the look gotta pay the price but... the 4 cut-outs from the main leg pieces used are now squared. They will now become a small lidded box for my next door neighbors 12 yr. old daughter. Good kid...

Cool! You were able to use less expensive wood as your core and wrap
it in something fancy. Definitely a worthwhile "waste" of wood.

I haven't tried this technique in something that I've used as a structural
component like you did for the legs. I'm going to have to try this at some
point. Thanks for the idea.

Paul

[lrogers]

The only thing I see wrong with this piece is location; it's not in MY living room! I think this is your best piece yet.