Making a cheap katana-kake

[Bill Marsh]

Just beginning to make a katana-kake stand. Believe it or not, I am making this from oak salvaged from a pallet. Free with some concrete blocks I ordered from Home Depot.

 

Stephen C got me interested in recycling, looking at something and wondering what else could it be?

 

I pulled the boards loose and ran them through a Ridgid 13" thickness planer. The absolutely hardest part is getting the nails out first! I finally wound up taking a hand held circular saw and cutting along the inside edge of the pallet, leaving the nails embedded in the 2x3 oak that makes up the supports.

 

The carving is from eBay and cost $10.

 

To give you an idea of scale, the posts are 9 inches high. Nothing is glued together, yet.

 

 

 

I am not sure where I will go from here, but the boards in the foreground could be cut like this

 

 

 

Here is some of the other oak pallet lumber. The wood has an interesting grain though I just stained it to see what was going on a little better. You can still see the center nail holes in the upper right corner.

 

 

and

 

 

I buy a lot of building materials from Home Depot and have been trying to get rid of the pallets. This seems to work. The wood is dry and well-seasoned. When I finish the stand, I may make some shogi screens.

[Darcy]

I'm glad to see you recycling wood. I try to save what I work with as well. Oak is beautiful stuff... always nice to see what some people would consider scrap go into something that is art.

 

Post pics when you're done!

 

I made my own kake from rosewood in one case, and ebony in another... not scrap but I made a nice table from scrap!

[Strider]

Good to see another scrounger. Just a hint for using pallets, There is sometimes grit/gravel imbedded in the wood from the forklift tines and it is hell on planer blades. Use a coarse 40 grit belt sander for a pre cleaning before surfacing Scott