Any matching stands for the naturals?

[Quinn]

I thought I'd start a dedicated thread for stands with the Sierra naturals as this keeps coming up in various threads.

I'm considering using a bamboo slat rug to wrap my stands but you guys that have worked with bamboo say it is tough to cut and the ends fray.

[muzz]

If you have the correct tools, you can work with BB, but I just wanted to make sure folks know, that it's not like just chopping wood.

Did you see the Picture of my Bathroom Threshold?

[JasonColeman]

I finally found a reasonable supplier of solid edge-grain bamboo for our stands. They're located in Richmond, VA. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get down there until the end of July, so it looks like I won't have them up and in place until mid-August at the earliest...ughhh. Shipping for the panel is about $175, so that's not an option! I'd like to put a radius on the vertical corners of the stand, so I'm not going to be able to use veneer. The bambo rug in Quinn's original post would be very hard to work with in comparison, but is certainly much cheaper than a solid panel.

J.

[sensibull]

I just moved to Richmond, and might be in need of a pair of stands for my 170s, so maybe we can work out some kind of deal? Are you building the stands yourself? Anyway, if interested you can email me at anonymim@gmail.com

[edit] whoops, just realized I can't be much help, as the supplier probably isn't the problem, but the size of the panel the bamboo comes in?

[JasonColeman]

It's a 3/4" thick 4'x8' panel. It weighs about 100 lbs. I spoke with one of the sales reps this afternoon and they said that they'd cut it into smaller pieces for me before I pick it up. We'll be down in the Chesapeake Bay area at the end of July and I figured I'd just take a morning and drive down to Richmond (about 2 hours away) and pick it up, but if you're in Richmond and in the market for stands, I'd love to work something out. I am planning on building them myself, I was a carpenter for about 14 years before getting into teaching (wood shop). I've built all of my HT racks over the years and would be happy to work with you on a pair of stands if you're able to be the go-to guy in Richmond. We'd obviously have to work out the details, but it sounds like it could be a win-win situation. The bamboo panel is made by Smith&Fong out of San Francisco and I'm still debating between the solid 3/4" panel or the 3-ply which has a solid bamboo core and 1/8" veneer bamboo on both sides. The advantage to the ply is that it's more stable than the solid bamboo, but the solid bamboo would be easier to work with, especially if chamfering or rounding-over the edges. The only catch with the ply is that it'd require edge-banding for the top and bottom plates, whereas the solid would not. There's not too much of a price difference between the two, so I'm leaning towards the solid and I'll probably add some internal bracing. I plan to make them fillable, too. Feel free to email me at vikingdwarf@gmail.com if you'd like to explore this further.

J.

[JasonColeman]

First of all, congrats to all the winners in the charity raffle and congrats to Dave for putting this together for such a good cause. Best of luck to your family and especially your dad.

A quick update...we're down in Maryland on vacation and yesterday morning I drove down to Richmond and picked up the bamboo plywood (Smith & Fong's "plyboo"). I picked up a sheet of 1/2" 3-ply amber edge-grain and a sheet of the 3/4" of the same. Simply put, this stuff is gorgeous. The supplier that I visited (link) has a spectacular showroom of various products and furniture made from bamboo. It's a father-son operation that deals solely in the distribution of "green" products and building materials. Everything from the lumber to the adhesives to the finishes are selected for their low impact on the environment. I'll be building a pair of stands for my natural Sierras and also will build a wall-mounted open component rack for my office system where the Sierras are being used. I haven't finalized a design for the rack yet, but the stands should be done in a week or two. I'll post pics of the materials when I get a chance.

J.

[BradJudy]

Very cool Jason. Given where I live (very Eco-friendly type place), I wonder if there's a place that sells this stuff here.

[muzz]

That must have cost ya a bundle, I priced 3/4" 4x8 sheet of Bamboo plywood(to build a sub enclosure), and it was like $300.

[JasonColeman]

Very cool stuff indeed...I'm in the process of hooking up with a local builder in the Cleveland area that uses a lot of product from Eco Supply and I'm hoping to be able to add a few sheets here and there and get a break on shipping and maybe even product costs. I paid $205 for the 1/2" and $220 for the 3/4". I'm unable to upload VGA size pics, so it'll have to wait until I sign up with a picture hosting site...

J.

[JasonColeman]

Okay, just got back from vacation (and lumber shopping) on Sunday evening. Here are a few pics of the Plyboo. 4 sheets of 1/2" sitting on 4 sheets of 3/4".

Face of the top sheet:


Angled view of the stack:


Another angled view:


I hope to get cracking on the stands this weekend and I'll post pics as soon as they're done.

J.