Live Edge Coat Rack: Black Walnut
CNCROi.com recently made a custom live edge coat rack using black walnut I had in the shop for a while for a friend’s house-warming present.
Having multiple machines means that CNCROi.com doesn’t need to cut any corners to make something the right way, ever since I got my awesome full sheet CNC router, I’ve been flattening pretty much all the boards I work with before throwing them in the laser, it just makes the output so much nicer!
One of my first projects I made using my CNC router when it comes to custom live edge signage was this house number stand using Cherry which also ended-up on my new brochure as well.
You’ll notice the pencil marks over the surface, that’s just to make sure that any low points on this piece of live edge black walnut are as flat as the high points, removing pencil marks has zero effect on the CNC router bit and unlike marker or pen, stays only on the very top surface without being absorbed into the wood.
I knew making this custom live edge coat rack for my friend that, them also being a woodworker, would notice right away if the board wasn’t flat and any deviation in the laser engraving quality they’d pick it out so that’s why I went through this extra step – which is something I’ve done since acquiring our full sheet CNC router regardless of who CNCROi.com is producing a live edge project for.
Have a question about CNCROi.com‘s custom live edge capabilities, watch this video!
After the board was dead flat ON BOTH SIDES, it was time to stick it in our Austrian wide-format industrial CNC laser, having a flat board produces a very consistent engraving as the results depend highly on the focal point the laser has with the material.
When it came to this live edge coat rack using black walnut especially, I wanted to make sure everything was absolutely perfect, black walnut is very expensive stuff and due to its density, it takes longer to machine and work with across the board compared to a softwood like Pine or Basswood.
Literally any piece of live edge or wood species can be transformed by CNCROi.com into a custom coat rack, or any other piece of furniture.
The custom live edge coat rack has a toad, my friend’s favorite “animal” and a horse for her, this personalized branding is what transforms a simple coat rack into something extremely endearing, customer or otherwise, and it’s great to have the opportunity at CNCROi.com to be able to make custom gifts geared towards my friend’s likes and preferences.
As black walnut is a very dense wood, it takes quite a bit of sanding, as such, for this live edge coat rack, I decided to mask the surface just to give myself a bit of a break from the extensive sanding I’d have to do otherwise.
If you want a simple heirloom to give as a wedding present, live edge makes for a wonderful gift.
As with most of my woodwork I do at CNCROi.com, I did a second pass onto the black walnut live edge coat rack just to create additional depth and contrast for when it’s put up against the wall.
If you look at the font I used for this live edge coat rack, you can see the letters are made of leaves, when I mention in my videos and website that CNCROi.com can work with any font size, type or shape, I mean it!
I really enjoy working with logs and the resultant live edge, it’s a service I look for to expanding greatly in 2019 for CNCROi.com.
This amazing custom live edge coat rack is looking great, you can see the smoke and stains that are on the masking that will save me a lot of sanding time, always easier to peel this stuff off than sand it down.
After removing the masking on the black walnut live edge coat rack, you can finally start to see what the finished project will look like in all it’s detail, this will of course end-up being a little more muted once the varnish is applied but that’s what makes it nice as the branding is “there”, not in your face each time you hang a coat on it!
It’s great having a full sheet CNC router, I use it as a sanding station for projects like this one because the supports all around to make sure the black walnut board doesn’t go flying off during flattening also helps to support it while it’s being sanded!
Literally any kind of image can be branded onto wood, as long as it’s a high enough quality and especially if it’s in a native vector format to boot!
This black walnut live edge coat rack is looking great, but it needs a bit more warmth to it to look good in my friend’s house, as such, I decided to add several coats of varnish.
Looking at a close-up of the CNC laser branding on the live edge coat rack, you can see how precise our machinery is, there is nothing out-of-place and as you can see from the gingerbread guys on the table of my CNC router, they tend to agree that this black walnut is looking great!
Not sure what to have engraved onto your custom live edge coat rack? Contact CNCROi.com or check out our shapes library.
It’s very hard to properly photograph and film projects in my shop that have some shine to them, such as varnished or steel so you’ll have to take my word for it, this really looks great in any light and will look fantastic at a door entrance!
Here’s a close-up of the black walnut branding on the live edge coat rack when the varnish is still wet, it’s really night and day how much the grain and other unique aspects of the wood surface really pop during this finishing process.
CNCROi.com can do custom carving into any type of wood as well.
The finished black walnut live edge coat rack is now finished at CNCROi.com, before sanding it flush, I put a line across where I wanted the hooks to be and pre-drilled the holes, after which I was able to sand everything but have perfect placement for the hooks I’d only put on after the finishing process.
After the varnish has tried, you can see how great the engraving looks, this will easily become a generational piece for the family.
Do you want a custom coat rack made out of any material to any spec you want?
Contact CNCROi.com right now!