Make better furniture with careful grain selection

Grain selection. Perhaps this is the most important design aspect a young woodworker can consider. It’s a way for beginner to intermediate artists to elevate their work from dull to glamorous, from ‘mediocre’ to ‘sacred smoke’.

Poor or haphazard particle selection can cut beautiful shapes that look mass-produced and months of work. You’ve seen it a million times, like the sheer beech laminate of IKEA’s table tops, or the unstable, off-center cathedral of Pottery Barn’s oak tables. It talks about efficiency, not intent. So how do you avoid that as a manufacturer of fine furniture?

let’s start from scratch

The journey to select better grains begins at the sawmill. If possible, buy a flitch (a group of planks cut from the same log) to get a more consistent grain pattern and color throughout your piece. Needless to say, it opens up more possibilities for bookmatching, bringing a unique level of visual balance to your work.

However, that is not always possible and can be prohibitively expensive. Now all that’s left is to carefully pick out the pile of wood ( A lumberyard worth spending your time and money on Finding a board with a consistently centered grain pattern will make your future work easier and less wasteful. Wood is expensive. After all, this substance not only grows on trees.

assemble the puzzle

Once the wood has been carefully selected and brought back to the workshop, the careful surgical task of mapping the components takes place. A cut list allows you to pencil (or chalk) out each component on the board and use a band saw, circular saw, or jig saw to machine the material before starting the normal milling process.

This is really just a big puzzle. For a straight component, he should find the straightest grain, or he who planned should find a gently curved grain that roughly matches the curve of one piece. You can place the cathedral in the center of the panel, or you can avoid it entirely by bookmatching the Riftthorn pieces. It is more economical to use slightly offset pieces on the sides or back of the drawer. The options are truly limitless. This step depends entirely on personal preference. If you find this step difficult, see this article for helpful tips on visualizing these components. What is important, however, is that each piece is carefully and intentionally selected. For example, make sure that the lift saw sawed grain runs parallel to the cut component and does not fade from one side to the other over the length of the piece. Brings visual stability to objects. Relaxed atmosphere.

Methodical or inefficient?

Grain selection may seem like an unnecessary step to some, and wasteful and inefficient to others. That’s good. If your goal is to build, build. There’s no shame in learning technology before worrying too much about efficiency, utilitarianism, or design. However, for those of us looking to improve our design skills along with our craftsmanship, we recommend that you pay close attention to your wood grain choices for your next project. It may help take your work to another level.

Eric Curtis

ENCurtis.com