Meranti for furniture/cabinet making?

[memzey]

Hi gang,

I was mooching around one of my local timber yards and spotted a beautifully figured board of Meranti:

It's 2 1/8" x 6 1/4" by about 8' long and cost about £40. Now I've never used Meranti before so did a quick search and apparently it's a joinery wood and often used for things like windows. Has anyone used it for interior project like furniture or cabinet making? If so are there any things I should prepare myself for when working it, etc?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[custard]

I've used Meranti in yacht fit outs, but never for furniture making. However, if I found some stunning Meranti boards like yours then that would all change in a heartbeat!

Great find.

 

[Bm101]

Think I saw that third photo in The English Patient. :wink:
https://www.wood-database.com/dark-red-meranti/
I can't help Memzey other than posting above link. That's a stunning bit of timber mate. You got any scrapers?

 

[memzey]

Thanks guys.
Custard; as you've worked this stuff before do you have any guidance on its working and finishing characteristics? I appreciate that a yacht fit out is likely to be different to a small cabinet for example but any info would be greatly appreciated.
I do have a scraper by the way Chris but I'll probably first try mangling it with a smoother with a closely set cap iron

BTW the pictures really don't do the board any justice at all. I felt like I was walking out of the yard with an 8 foot 3D hologram!

 

[MikeG.]

I don't do veneering, but if that were mine, I'd be tempted to change the habit of a lifetime and slice it up thinly. I'd also break my "always finish with a blade" habit, and make liberal use of a belt sander. It would maybe pair quite nicely with a bit of decent sycamore or maple.

 

[thetyreman]

that's a nice piece, save it for something high end like a jewellery box or chest of drawers, I found one rippled piece out of an old door I hacked up, in the end it wasn't quite enough to make a box out of, but the piece you have there looks to be far bigger.

 

[memzey]

Thanks Mike. I don't do veneering either and don't really trust myself enough to try it with this board. I do have some lovely ripple maple though which might complement the Meranti in say a jewellery box or something:

 

[thetyreman]

I made this out the rippled piece in the end:

Burger Flipper/Spatula in Flamed Meranti by Ben Tyreman, on Flickr

 

[memzey]

Sorry tyreman our posts crossed in the ether (beautiful spatula BTW)! We are clearly thinking on similar lines. My other thought was to use this as drawer fronts in a small cabinet. That sort of eye catching contrast needs to be carefully thought through though and creative design is really my biggest weakness (in a long list of weaknesses it must be said).

 

[Ttrees]

If you don't use the cap iron on that timber, you might get some irritation on your skin as it is known for that,
as you would be releasing a helluva lot more vapours into the air.
I make sure to make use of the cap iron when I see timbers like that, well.... all the time really.
Easy peasy to plane with the cap set no need for scrapers or sanding.
Tom

 

[sunnybob]

Sorry tyreman our posts crossed in the ether (beautiful spatula BTW)! We are clearly thinking on similar lines. My other thought was to use this as drawer fronts in a small cabinet. That sort of eye catching contrast needs to be carefully thought through though and creative design is really my biggest weakness (in a long list of weaknesses it must be said).

I'll do you a straight swap for a stanley number 5 next august 8) 8)

 

[memzey]

Sorry tyreman our posts crossed in the ether (beautiful spatula BTW)! We are clearly thinking on similar lines. My other thought was to use this as drawer fronts in a small cabinet. That sort of eye catching contrast needs to be carefully thought through though and creative design is really my biggest weakness (in a long list of weaknesses it must be said).

I'll do you a straight swap for a stanley number 5 next august 8) 8)

Lol! You want to swap me your creative design for my Stanley or your Stanley for my timber?

 

[sunnybob]

I dont use the stanley so it has minimal value to me,

my creativity.... priceless. 8)

 

[memzey]

Awesome stuff bob, as ever.

 

[profchris]

That's an amazing board!

With a foot long offcut from it I could make a stunning ukulele (hint - make something small and sell the end to me!).

A friend is a pretty successful luthier, and his first ukes were all made from meranti (window frame offcuts I think). They sound really good, though the straight grained timber is rather dull visually. This board must be as good as meranti ever gets. I've seen koa with that quality of figure, and some maple and (very rare) mahogany, but nothing else to touch that.

Here is some good koa I had scraps of (paired with ash) for comparison - the finish is straight shellac to give that holographic effect. I'd suggest you want to think hard about finishing as well, to get the best out of your board.

 

[memzey]

That looks amazing Chris, probably way beyond anything I could muster. I am also interested in how it would look finished so applied a bit of meths to give an indication:

Looks sooo nice. I’m going to have to really up my game to do it justice.

 

[sunnybob]

I'll throw in a 4 1/2 as well as the 5. 8)

 

[profchris]

That looks amazing Chris, probably way beyond anything I could muster. I am also interested in how it would look finished so applied a bit of meths to give an indication:

Looks sooo nice. I’m going to have to really up my game to do it justice.

I'm sure you could finish your board as well as I finished my koa uke, because I'm really not that good at finishing.

The method I use is:

a. Sand to P400, wipe on a coat of clear shellac, and then sand away all the marks I missed first time. Repeat as necessary (I'm bad at sanding too!). Wipe on a coat of shellac (wiping rather than brushing to avoid blotching).

b. Fill the pores with clear shellac. This is the slow part, because shellac seems to produce an even layer across everything, which means that as it builds the pores are still there as depressions. So I apply two or three coats, sand or scrape back, and repeat/repeat until I finally have a level surface. You can't go too thick on each coat because then it can go all lumpy and sticky - OTOH, because shellac dries so fast, you can recoat with a thin cut every 2 or 3 hours. This step can take a few days. I think that filling the pores with clear shellac really makes the holographic effect.

c. Wipe on 5 or more top coats. Give them 2 days to cure, then wet sand very lightly with P1000, then P2000. I use white spirit as the lubricant.

d. Leave at least a week, then polish up with T-Cut (or other polishing compound), again going very lightly.

This isn't quite a mirror finish, but it's pretty good. You can keep going with finer and finer polishes if you have the patience.

The downside is the whole process takes at least a couple of weeks, but if you don't rush it's pretty foolproof.

 

[ColeyS1]

I dont use the stanley so it has minimal value to me,

my creativity.... priceless. 8)

Another beauty !

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[Bodgers]

Meranti is often what generic cheap 'far eastern hardwood' plywood is faced with.

I have bought this stuff for cabinets before and although the quality of the plywood isn't great, you often get random sheets that show this kind of quilting figure.





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