Storing Tone Wood

[Tigermyrtle]

Kim,
post some instruction for building them presses of yours, that would be much appreciated cheers Bob,

but i have made up my mind to enrol in the next course Rick Turner will be doing in Tasmania. cheers Bob,

Excellent news Bob, ike pretty much knows everything and you could do a lot worse than having him guide you through the process. Only thing is that once you get the bug, you will find yourself procrastinating a good deal more when it comes time to part with the wood because you will be wanting to hoard it all to yourself.

Better start building some of those presses now fella

Cheers

Kim

[Rick Turner]

I'm a bit late in catching up here...sorry, as I see some queries directed at me.

There's an easier method to keeping the timber under control as it dries...and shrinks, and that is to use bungee cords between the top and bottom plywood pallets. The problem with all-thread is that as the wood dries, it shrinks and the whole stack loosens up... I learned this from Bob Taylor who used to use steel banding until he saw how slack it went...then he switched to bungee cord.

Also, I'll be over in a couple of weeks teaching the first of the "instant mando" courses at Woodbridge High School outside of Hobart. The class filled up almost instantly, and I believe there were ten or eleven on the overflow list. We're trying to schedule another class for August. I'll take a lot of pictures of this upcoming class and try to get a blog or a mini-website going on all this.

[Kim]

"Tigermyrtle" Bob sent me the attached PM so I thought I would revise this old thread just in case anyone else though this might be useful.

Hi Kim,
I am trying to find the article you posted on Drying Sets where you had a press that you built.
Where will I find it.
Best regards Bob,

Bob, I see that Rick recommends using bungy cord but wing-nuts work fine as the weight of the top section of the press should be made of heavy enough material to keep things in order until you get around to nipping up the nuts now and again. And beside, one of the main reasons that I made these things so they could be clamped with nuts is so I could easily move a whole stack when ever I wanted. I think maybe the security of the stack during movement would be an issue with just bungy cord holding them.

Anyhow, I see that you did ask for some info on how to make them. Well, it's pretty self explanatory really but I will add some tips.

I use sink cutouts from kitchen bench tops or 32mm MDF for the top and bottom plates, what ever you have at hand will work really just as long as it is flat heavy and stiff enough not to bow with the very little torque required to pull things flat.

I drill the 6 holes to accept the 3/8" all-thread in about 25mm from the edge of the plate while the top and bottom plates are clamped together as one. This way I know everything will line up again after the holes are drilled. I then mark the sides of both plates whilst still together with arrows all pointing the same direction and a number to keep them paired and permanently identify the correct orientation. I then enlarge the holes in the top plate by a couple mm to make sure it will slide on and off the all-thread rods without binding.

To secure the all-thread to the base, I recessed or countersink a nut and washer in the very bottom and lock in place with another nut on the top surface of that plate. I countersink the very bottom so the press will sit flat and not deform with weight, this also reduces friction so you can easily slide the heavy little sucker up onto a shelf without busting your guts.

The dimensions are of course dictated by the size of the wood you wish to store. Don't have the stickers hanging out the sided past the width of the top and base plates as there is no point and they will only foul on things and knock your stack out of alignment.

Cheers

Kim