Ep10 - Feature Wall
This week Dale updates the look of his lounge room, with a recycled hardwood fence paling surround for his TV. More than just a workshop-based project, this is more of a lesson in the practical application of some of the skills learned over the past couple of months.
Plan & measure, marking, milling, accurate cutting and finishing. This project can vary greatly in size and style, with anything from a small feature, to an entire wall, made from new a pre finished timber, to rough and (not so) ready fence paling, like Dale chose this week.
The list of Carbatec tools used was pretty small, with the portability of the Carbatec Benchtop thicknesser coming into its own. These old paling were pretty dirty, and required a good pressure wash (with plenty of drying time) and check over for nails, prior to machining.
Other consumables that were used were:
The Process
- After cleaning and checking all board, thickness the face of each to the desired size and finish (eg, rustic charm or crisp, new board finish)
- Prepare the area to be covered, by framing as required. You may not require this is you are starting with a flat wall. IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: Remember to use a licensed electrician to undertake all electrical work if you are working anywhere around power points or light switches. Ensure power has been disconnected before proceeding.
- Adding a sub layer of plywood, MDF or chip board will make it much easier to glue and nail to. If you are covering plasterboard, you will need to provide this sub layer anyway.
- Dale chooses to paint the sub layer with a coat of matt/satin black. The recycled boards used were left with their natural random (ie: not uniform) edges intact. The black showing through the cracks reduces the contrast between a white wall and a timber board.
- Attach the feature boards vertically (or horizontally), using a bead or adhesive, and a small brad nail in a couple of stop along their length.
- Where your feature board span the full width of height, ensure the top and bottom are aligned, where there are cut and spaced on either side of any feature (eg TV). This will ensure that when you get to the edge, the boards continue to line up.
- When complete, lightly sand and coat well with Whittles Hardwax Oil.
This is an opportunity to talk about machining, and the importance of dust extraction. Most (or all) woodworking machines do require dust extraction to ensure that the machine operates correctly, and provides a good finish to your boards. Thicknessers such as the one Dale uses, require plenty of air flow through their dust port. Traditional vacuum cleaners and workshop type vacuums DO NOT provide anywhere near the airflow required to keep your workshop clean, while your machine is operating.
In this episode, you can clearly see the result of hooking up a thicknesser, to a workshop type vacuum, instead of a high airflow workshop dust collector (as Dale uses in his workshop, and seen in almost all episodes). The difference? Airflow, and lots of it. Workshop dust collectors, even in their most basic form, usually operate with 5 or more times the volume of air compared to vacuums. If you are setting up any type of woodworking workshop, please make sure you have enough airflow for your type of machinery.
While Dale was working outside, the excessive dust created was simply swept into the garden (where mother nature takes its course). He checked what was left of the old finish, and found that it was not lead based paint, so there was no harm in mixing this in with the existing mulch.