I wouldn’t recommend trying to sand the finish off. Veneers are very thin by design. You might get lucky on the flat surfaces but the edges and corners will be almost impossible. Typically the finish will sink into the grain of the veneer a bit as well, so you may end up sanding right through before you see the natural color of the wood.
I guess you could try stripping it with a solvent, but not knowing what finish was used it would be a guessing game. The solvent may break down the adhesive holding on the veneer in the process.
In sum, I wouldn’t bother. Lucky for me I like the box as it is
Hah, Ikea stuff is often much cheaper. They literally fill their items with cardboard mesh (like a honeycomb) instead of wood. As far as cardboard goes, it’s pretty strong and well-done… but it’s still cardboard.
I kid you not, I’m seriously thinking of having a go at making custom wood furniture as a business. I’m just hoping enough people appreciate the difference. Even a lot of expensive furniture at the big stores isn’t very well made, just pretty on the outside.
I get well built furniture the old fashioned way, I buy Antiques.
They still cost less than the new “expensive MDF furniture” currently available and it is hand made and will continue to retain it’s value.
We have an unfair advantage here living near Adamston, PA, home of dozens of good antique stores.
The close competition keeps prices reasonable.
But you are correct in thinking that there is market for well made custom hand crafted furniture.
Allow your customers to make their own changes to the design and watch the money pour in.
Just make sure you are getting a healthy deposit beforehand.
OK, I did the dirty deed. It sure looks like veneer to me. The piece I shaved off measured at ~0.32 mm thick. Dunno if that's the true veneer thickness or not. The white stuff in the lettering appears to be wax btw - it can be scraped off with an exacto knife easily where it's not in deep grooves..
My grandfather did that for a living. However, the economy was different then, and common people could afford quality. Not so sure it’s viable today.
Instead, people apparently buy from places like American Furniture Warehouse, which seems to make most of their “wood” products out of molded wood powder and glue. Even comes with a wood-colored marker to re-color the parts which chip off during normal use.
TK I see your point and while it is a valid one I disagree. I’m not disagreeing that the economy is different but it is a more complex market now than it was then. There is a slow but steady uprising in what is now often referred to as the “boutique” market for all sorts of items and well-made, hand-crafted items. Yes, the mass market loves IKEA and while that has its place, it has saturated the market long enough that a growing number of consumers are looking for a bit more quality and unique items. Often (though not always) those consumers have a larger budget than the average consumer and once word spreads in their circles custom craftspeople are turning work away. As was mentioned, once you have established a good reputation you should require a deposit to cover materials. Some of your customers may just be trying to “keep up appearances” while maxing out their credit cards…
Well, I DID shave off a 45º angle at the back bottom of mine, it’s unseen and does not harm the box.
I built cabinets for a year+ with my cousin, supplied a local high end home builder (built for him exclusively) with Oak, White Oak, and Ash cabinets made from 5/4 stock planed down to 13/32”. Our raised panels in the doors were left thicker for a bolder panel. We built a few dressers and a table with folding end panels for a breakfast nook that came out really nice. Most of the cabinets we built were for custom homes in the $500,000-750,000 range. One such required 41 cabinets! That one was all White Oak, got a bit nightmarish before it was all done with the lady making changes up until they moved in and then some.
The money at start-up comes from knowing some of the right people, after that, you get busy enough to turn down business if your location can bear it.
I would not intentionally derail a thread but when something needs to be said even if it is off-topic I’ve never seen the BLF community have a problem with its members helping each other in any way.
BLF probably has more threads derailed than any other forum I’ve ever been a part of.
Scratch that…It’s the only forum I’ve ever really been a part of.
I honestly never expected to be part of something like this. Look for me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. Oh, wait…I’m not part of either of those groups. I don’t mean to imply anything negative about those who are but it’s just not my thing. My wife is on Facebook and it helps us keep in touch with family and old friends. BLF showed me a new side to “social media”.
So many people here are passionate about what they do and why they do it that once I posted a few things and looked around a bit I was hooked. This group is such an exciting, inspiring bunch of Mad Max/MacGyver/Scientist/Electrical Engineer/Hillbillies that I just can’t look away.
We have had, and will have huge successes in group efforts, group buys and individual projects that will push the boundaries and break new ground. We will make friends along the way but along the path we will also have some failures and encounter negativity here and there.
As long as we circle around to the helpful enthusiast nature that I believe is the core of BLF this will always be a safe haven. Just in the last 24 hours I’ve seen people rant and rave and then return to post an apology. THAT is what makes BLF unique in my opinion. True “trolls” do not apologize for saying something that led down a negative path. I recently looked back at some of my early posts since joining BLF and cringed a few times at things I said. Sure I could edit them out but that would not change anything. Sometimes we have the opportunity to post something to clarify or “take it back”… and sometimes we just have to say “Sorry”.
That said, keep in mind that if we were not such a diverse bunch of crazy people that had flashlights in common we would not have the amazing lights we have now.
Any large group of people this passionate about any single thing is going to have a few arguments differences of opinion. If I had more time or better typing skills I’d challenge Dale to see who truly talks too much but, I don’t… and again, I digress…
Review- I like ’em both a lot, box too! They each fit both protected and unprotected cells though they will be brighter with unprotected imr’s of your favorite flavor. The heft is substantial but both the SS/Cu X6 and Cu X5 have a silky feel in the hand unlike any anodized lights I own. I’m curious to see if the SS battery tube has more resistance than a brass tube liner since current draw is a bit lower than I expected. Either as shelf queens or as tool box workhorses the hosts are amazing. For heavy duty work I would recommend changing the lenses to something thicker and using a thin gasket seal instead of the o-ring or just moving to a pmma optic such as the Ledil Cute-3SS. Every year we go down to Santa Barbara for a dive trip out to the Channel Islands and you can bet both of these will be along(though not to dive) as well as the 158 zoomie.
My bet would be that any increased resistance found would be at the contact areas, there’s just too much metal to be an issue otherwise. Of course, if I was inclined I could just swap an aluminium body on to check….which I am inclined to do, but I’m waiting on some good 18650 batteries and without them the current levels are likely too low to make a difference.
In the meantime you could check all the contact areas and clean them up/tighten them. Might solve the problem.
Nice mini review btw, you have me daydreaming of sandy white beaches and splashing into azure water. I hate winter since I gave up snowboarding…
Thanks, testing was done sans tail cap so it’s not the switch but I’ll check the head out. Mainly I was just comparing two new cells I bought and was surprised to get barely 3A from either one so something is surely a bit hinky.
Putting the Uni-T test leads to each end of the SS battery tube from my X6, it shows at 2.0, 1.5, 1, then down to zero after a few seconds. Placing the leads on the brass driver retaining ring and touching the copper threads inside the pill it’s an instant zero. So there is resistance in the tube, but enough metal that it is negligible in the long run.
I have a triple V6 3D in it, a 30Q does 9.29A at the tail.
Hmm… So how accurate accurate is Rufusbduck? Is there really that much resistance in the stainless steel tube? Is it going to be noticeably less performance then on the aluminum X6?
Nobody has actually tested it yet but I highly doubt there is a noticeable difference.
EDIT: It’s kind of like wondering if the chassis of your car would have less resistance if it were made of aluminum. There’s so much metal it really doesn’t matter.
