Hardwood or plywood

[JoeScroller]

I just got my clock pattern in the mail yesterday and now I have probably one of the most important questions out there. WHERE SHOULD I USE HARDWOOD AND WHERE SHOULD I USE PLYWOOD. Having a limited income(about $5 a year :) ) I cant afford to spend much on hardwood, but I also dont want to have my pattern look stupid because it is 100% plywood. Should I use hardwood on all parts where endgrain is showing or should I only use it on the more ornate fretwork?

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Joe

Here is the clock you are talking about if I have it right. http://www.wildwooddesigns.com/storeimages/61505.jpg It really doesn't matter what you use as long as you stay with the wood of choice throughout. You can do the overlays in a different colored wood such as walnut to make it stand out. The money is going to be in the motor if you are going to make the mill work. I have seen clocks done with either Baltic Birch plywood and then stained or natural woods. My choice would be natural oak hardwoods and walnut overlays.

[pops-shop]

On your limited budget, a good plywood would be the way to go. You might also checkout exactly how much you will need and price 1/4" oak at your local home store.

With plywood, you might be able to use a paste wood filler to cover the end grain.

Looks like you also have some mitering to do. :eek: That will also coverup end grain. :)

[JoeScroller]

yes, I have LOTS of mitering to do, but luckily I have access to a nice delta miter say or even a jet table saw(both my dads), both can cut 45 degree miters. I think I am going to buy a sheet of NICE plywood and then with whatever money I have left that I am willing to spend I will buy some nice rough lumber and plane it smooth with my dad's Delta planer. Any reccomendations for nice quality hardwoods would be appreciated . I am currently looking at cherry, poplar, red oak, or white oak. Right now I am leaning towards cherry

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Joe

I think you need to regroup. I think you need to make a choice on the way you want to go because of the expense thing. If you choose plywood I would suggest Baltic Birch because it is made to be scrolled. Yes it is a dull color but can be stained if care is taken to control the blotchiness. Hardwood plywoods can be scrolled but you may have problems with chipping and voids in the center layers. With Baltic Birch plywood there are more layers and are of good quality. With hardwood plywood the center cores are less and are cheap wood because the money is in the front side. This is just my opinion now.

If you go hardwoods which I feel is the way to go. you do not have to worry about end grain of plywood showing. But the hard woods you chose are tough for beginners. Cherry will burn on you as you scroll tight corners and even cutting. do not use white oak that is way to hard to cut. If you want to use oak which would be my choice use red oak. An easier wood to scroll and work all around and is very very stable is Mahagony. It runs around the same price as oak. Walnut is a good overlay wood for oak and maple is a good overlay wood for mahagany.

Now one other point I want to touch on is the use of rough lumber. the thinnest rough lumber you can get is 4/4 and that is about 1" . Now in the entire plan the wood demention you will be using is 1/4" and 1/8" There might be some 3/8" but not much. You do not want to take 1" stock and plane it to 1/4" If you do not have a bandsaw to resaw it may I suggest you buy dimentioned lumber to the size you need. It may be cheaper in the long run. A very good place for really good looking wood is www.heritagewood.com For the best prices I have seen around you can get it at www.thinboards.com

When making the 45 degree cuts what I do is cut the pieces out first before attaching the pattern this way if it get messed up I did not loose anything. Hate to scroll the entire piece out then make a mistake mitering it. As you go through the process if questions come up be sure to ask and we will help. Good luck.

[pops-shop]

JT said - "Hate to scroll the entire piece out then make a mistake mitering it."
Good point, John. Been there, done that. I think we strive to keep mistakes to a minimum (preferably zero). But, then again, that's like never straying off the pattern line. :o

[cranbrook2]

mistakes?
what are they? :eek:

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

That's "my steaks" which is usually a nice porter house or even a T bone midium well. :)

[pops-shop]

Sorry, JT
I must have misspelled the word :rolleyes: :cool: ;) :eek:

[JoeScroller]

Ok, saturday I went to a local lumber yard and bought some b-2 grade (a-1=best, d-4=worst)Baltic birch plywood and so far it is working great, almost 0 voids and it has an extremly nice face. I am probably going to buy a couple linear feet of mahagany and make what I can out of that. I can easily resaw the 4/4 lumbar to 2 maybe 3 boards of 1/4 in. I do have a bandsaw and a large planer so it should'nt be a problem. I really wanted to use solid hardwoods but when I calculated the costs I just couldnt scrape enough money(almost $50) Instead I bought a 4x8 sheet of plywood and will buy some hardwood. After my birthday(the 23)I should have enough money to make a solid hardwood one. Right now I just dont want to mess up a $20 dollar board. After my first few projects I should be comfortable using hardwoods.

THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT ADVICE.

(I probably will be back in a day or so with more questions :) )

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Hey listen Joe, there is nothing wrong with Baltic Birch and I hope you did not take me wrong on that. Many many people use Baltic Birch plywood for all kinds of projects. It does have less voids which will make for easier scrolling. When you say you got 4/4 mahagany did you get it in the rough.?? If you did then you have a shot of getting 3 pieces out of it 1/4" thick but it will not be easy because you have to take in consideration the kerf of the blade and then to take the bandsaw marks out you either need to sand them or plane them so you loose even more material. I am fortunate enough to have a drum sander so it will kill two birds with one stone when resawing. The mahagany will make a very good color for the overlay pieces and those probably are either 1/4" or 1/8" so think of that before cutting it up.

You haven't verified that I have the right number plan you are going to do but if it is the one with the water wheel you have to take inconsideration if you are going to use the motor and also the clock insert for total cost of this project. Good luck and keep us informed how it is going and if any questions come up feel free to ask away.

[workinwood]

My 2 cents worth is to use Hardwood, I believe in the long run you will be more happy with it, then plywood.. all I use BB plywood 1/8 inch for is backer board. :cool:

[JoeScroller]

Sorry, it is the mill plan. I fugured for this clock I am not going to put the motor in it. I am going to keep it at home for myself(unless I can get $75 for it :) )I realize that hardwood is always better than plywood but I just cant afford to, nor feel comfortable, cutting into a board and then making a mistake(my steak :) :) :) ). I havnt bought the board yet but I know that it is somewhat rough. I should be able to get 2 pieces out of it which is really all I need(the third was just wishful thinking :) ). I already have the clock insert, overall I should have spent about 50 dollers on materials that I might be able to make 2 clocks from(more wishful thinking :) ). My next question is FINISHING- what is a good finish for mahagany? should I do a clear coat schallac or something else? By the way, an update: I've started cutting and have about 1/10th of the project cut out(all the easy pieces first :) ).

Thanks for the great advice everyone.

[oldvaxguy]

First i'd go to a good to a wood store where they sell mainly wood. We have two saw mills here in michigan. One Johnson's workbench is where i go. Talk to them about which hardwood would be good for scroll sawing. From what little experience i have it seems that walnut is a good choice. The idea proposed here is that you get a piece a wood from their "scrap pile". Most of the time they will have pieces 4x6 , 1 x5 or what ever at a fairly cheap price less then $5.00. Then cut out what you can with the one piece that you just purchased. Then in two weeks or so buy another small piece of wood and cut out then next piece. In fact i'm an engineer who makes ok money but my wife give me a really small budget per pay period. So over the course of several months, two end tables were built with a limited budget. Also, if you value your time the cost of the wood is minimal compared to amount time you put into it.

remember scroll sawing develops patience.