Discontinued Pandora Kit from Purple-Days

[bstar]

Pammy pointed out the blue tinge in the black Bison hide, to me. She has shown me how she uses blue as an addition to black when she paints. It gives it a darker color somehow.

Something to do with light and the eye. Blue also works on white. It's how laundry bluing works to whiten laundry. Just a tiny touch of the blue makes yellowed whites look good again. You can also use it on hair, among other things. Makes yellowy bleach jobs look much better.

Anyway, wow, I am so excited for my PDP with bison hide to come in the mail!

 

[herb&swerve]

Hey Tom, whats the ETA on the black mesquite?

 

[Purple-Days]

The Black Mesquite is another of those longer term projects. It is very pretty wood.

I'll try to explain why it will be a while for Black Mesquite and the Fancy Maple and Fancy Black Walnut.

There are different levels of dryness available to a woodworker. We only use Kiln Dried renewable hardwoods.

Why? Wikipedia says, "in woodworking objects, (wood) will absorb or desorb moisture until it is in equilibrium with its surroundings. The equilibration process (usually drying) causes unequal shrinkage in the wood, and can cause damage to the wood if the equilibration process occurs too rapidly. The process of equilibration needs to be controlled in order to prevent damage to the wood..." Blah, blah, blahhhh...

Green Wood - Usually* is freshly harvested wood. For some projects, not many, this is the wood you want. Some woods are so hard after drying that they are better worked when wet. Some bowls are turned 'oversize' when they are green, to remove the bulk of the wood from the project, then air and kiln dried before final shaping to finished dimensions. Pieces are lost during the drying, but because the Green wood is easy to work the loss is just a trade off and bad pieces make fine firewood. *An unusual type of green wood, used by some of the Myrtle shops and suppliers around here (not us) is beach salvaged Green Wood. Deadfall wood that has come downstream and down river, from the highlands, and ends up in the salt water ocean for a while (months) before being washed up on shore during a storm. This 'wet' wood is used as described above.

PAD is Partially Air Dried Wood - If you are buying from a legitimate lumber supplier, they take great care to 'age' or 'cure' the woods they sell. Generally at least a year per inch of board thickness. Timing depends on the wood species and relative humidity (RH) of the wood, temperature and RH of the air, and air circulation of the drying area. Most exotic wood is sold as PAD. Depending on the final use, PAD may be good enough, but most furniture makers will take further steps to get the wood to a stable and at 'normal' household RH before going further.

KD is Kiln Dried - This is wood that has gone through a careful air drying and then goes on to a kiln for removal of remaining excess moisture. This is wood that is ready to be made into furniture or any other high end, indoor use. This is the wood that we use, all Kiln Dried, for all our species.

Back to Black Mesquite and the other fancy woods. We have these pieces in shop, they are cut and stacked in a certain way (my method) and will be another 3-6 months before they are really ready to go to the Kiln. Always better to take longer than you think. But the good part is we have headed into our summer drought and drying should be done by September or October. Our laser and wood man has a Kiln on site and I will schedule kiln time with him when the pieces are ready.

 

[bstar]

It's here!
All looks wonderful, can't wait to get started.
I have to say, the PD is smaller and lighter (the body anyway) than I imagined! That's a good thing. Will look amazing and pretty inconspicuous on my desk.
Thanks Tom and Pammy! Will post a pic when I'm done.

 

[SkeletonLips]

That's a great write up, Tom. Very informative. Good to see you are taking the care needed with these fancy woods. Keep up the good and honest work, man. Oh, and don't work Pammy too hard.

 

[Gink]

Oh man, what have I gotten myself into?

Been researching Vapes for a while, looking to pick up my first. Seemed like a good idea in general, but after kicking the cigs a month ago, I thought my lungs would be even better suited for more purposeful smoking activities, but instead I find that my little bit of evening combustion leaves my lungs aching in the morning.

Took me a while to stumble on this forum, so glad I did! Everywhere else it's volcanos or which cheaper vape will get you closest to volcano, didn't see PD or log type vapes mentioned at all. Nearly picked up a Hot Box, glad I kept searching.

After reading a lot of the PD Experience thread, it seemed like just what I wanted. Efficiency, discreteness, and being suited for a solo user like myself were my main concerns. I immediately loved all the concern and disclosure about parts and manufacturing and ROHS standards. Thought I'd finally made my decision, then realized I couldn't currently get a PD!

Despite being a "project" kinda guy, I'm also a guy who takes a long time deciding then wants it NOW! So wasn't sure I could handle even the 2-4 weeks for the Pandora. But, took a look at the other log vapes, and also read through this entire Pandora thread, and knew I couldn't compromise, plus the fact that I get to build my own vape, and choose the wood and leather to make it personal. Add to that Tom's personal involvement here, and his commitment to doing business local. As a small business guy in Oregon, how could I pass up buying a great product from a small outfit here in Oregon?

Great! I've decided the PDP is what I want!

Only problem is I'm just going around and around and around on wood choices. As awesome as some of the future "exotic" wood choices are, I can only imagine my problems deciding if they were already here.

I like the red tones of the cherry, but kinda want a more unique looking PD.
I like the grain of the Myrtle, and it's a piece of Oregon, but I'm not sure about its "yellowness", and am not sure how the lower temps will effect the experience? (vape virgin)
Black Walnut is nice and dark, rich, but is it so dark you don't see as much grain detail?
Alder is a beautiful colored wood, but the grain seems to be pretty straight and not as interesting as some.

I've looked at all the pics here and on the PD site a million times, just can't seem to make up my mind.

Anyone completed and buttered up a Myrtle? I'd like to see one done.
And how do the lower temps effect its usage?
I'm a daily user, but not an all day user. I imagine I'll warm it up in the afternoon and use a stem or two in the evening. (Straight PD, no water pipe attachments or anything planned)
Are the higher temps of Cherry, etc more efficient? Economy forced me to close my small biz at the end of the year, I'm odd jobbin' it to make ends meet, so the more I save these days, the better.

I'd love to collect a variety of PD woods, but I've got to pick one and use it for the next year or so until things turn around, so I want to pick the right one. I'm sure I'll love whatever I choose, but ya know how it is, want the perfect PD. Just gotta get it figured out, the sooner I do, the sooner I can get it!

Thanks Tom and everyone here for all the info, pictures, and feedback that's been posted. Mighty helpful!

 

[Purple-Days]

Welcome to the forum Gink. Thanks for considering us.

I think Walnut is a safe bet for somebody that wants something a little different. Wanna get crazy? I think Yellar Lizzard would be a great contrast to the Walnut. Who knows? Green?

Yes, the Myrtle is a yellow colored wood. It's actually an evergreen, but dense and hard.

Good luck choosing. I wanted the selection to be fun.

 

[Gink]

That Yellar Lizard is wild stuff, quite the contrast to any of the woods!

I haven't thought too much about the leather yet. Hopefully that'll be an easier decision for me than choosing the wood. That Bison is some sharp lookin' stuff, but it'd probably go best with Alder IMO, hmmm....

 

[Purple-Days]

BTW: . . .

Elk is real Elk Hiide...
Horse is Horse Hide...
Bison is Bison . . . the real thing.

Everything else. . . is dyed and stamped Cowhide.
All are stuck though, unless noted.
We do not trade in any endangered hides.

Woot, just looked at the 'yellar'... I'll post a better pic.

 

[Gink]

Well, after much deliberation, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on Black Walnut with Bison. Might not be the most dashing of color combos, but it's what I want. Should be placing my order soon.

Thanks!

 

[Plant]

i went with the Bison also after seeing lwien's, and a with a myrtlewoodbody i hope it looks nice it'a a bit expencive i looked for some genuine Bison over here i can only get Buffalo leather from Italy or so

 

[Purple-Days]

The Bison has a very pronounced topography. Sorta like Elephant hide but on a smaller scale.

I paid about triple what I normally pay for hide on this one, but figured it might be worth it, lucky guess, it's very nice. But it's a limited quantity thing. just a few square feet as you can see from the picture.

All of our stuff is pre-consumer re-cycling, extras from upholstery or shoe or fashion trades, over-runs or blems (that we cull). Cool stuff, but mostly one of a kind.

Cool prize to the first Yellar Lizard order...

It's a funny thing, when you shrink wrap the bodies it's almost like a coat of finish and I get to preview your product. It's gonna be fun to see some of the pictures from finished units.

 

[hereatlast]

Well my soldering iron and new pair of pliers arrived in the mail today, then I came upstairs to see Pammy's e-mail letting me know my unit is on the way



Really looking forward to the build though I have to admit I'm a little nervous about it, either way should be a fun, and even more importantly, rewarding, project for the weekend.



(BTW: I was so caught up in leather choices that I never chose in the end, Elk Hide and Alder sounds great to me.)

 

[Mckdenton]

Just broke down and ordered this puppy...... finally. I'm sure it will be a wonderful addition to the collection.

 

[bstar]

Finally done, here are pics of my alder/bison unit:

I tried to match the colors to my screen, then realized all screens are different, lol. But this should be close to what mine really looks like. Love it! Word of advice, finish with the 320 and 600 sandpapers. Totally worth the extra work.

The real thing is much darker, a very dark black. But you can see the texture here. Nice to work with too.

The bison is thick. You can see I still need to sand the bottom edge better. Going to work on that over time as well as adding coats of buzz butter.

Overall it looks amazing and works great! So glad I built it myself. Learned a lot. I want to go around my apartment making everything into a vape now, ha ha.

Tom, do you think buzz butter would work on a piece of furniture like a wooden nursery rocking chair? I loooove this stuff but wondering how it would hold up to being sat on, chewed on, knocked into, etc.

 

[Purple-Days]

Glad you enjoyed the build Bstar. Great pics of the Bison, it is my favorite.

About the Buzz-Butter:

It is made with Bee's Wax from the Tahuya River Apiary, they are a chemical free beekeeper. It's the only Bees wax we have ever used. Not the cheapest. We use it because we trust the man behind the product. http://hiveharvest.com/about_tahuya_river_apiaries.html.

We use two other ingredients. Organic plant oils and Rosemary Oil Extract.

The plant oils are Organic Flaxseed Oil, Organic Hempseed Oil, and Organic Coconut Oil.

The Rosemary Oil Extract is an anti oxidant and used as a natural preservative. It has an odor of Rosemary but is highly diluted in the final formulation of the and not noticed, the Bee's wax has a great odor of flowers and honey and overpowers the small quantity of Rosemary.

Those are the ingredients, all of them, so deciding if it's safe around a child... well, you know what it's made of and can decide. Knowledge is power.

It's a penetrating oil/wax type finish. I developed it for use with the PD because I didn't want a petro-chemical finish on an otherwise toxin free product.

But saying all that, I gotta add, that it doesn't create a hard finish. And isn't suited to all applications. Tung Oil may be a good finish choice for the rocker, then use Buzz-Butter as a wax and polish after that. I'm not sure what's in some furniture polishes, but you know what's in a Buzz-Butter tin. And BTW this stuff is prepped just like food for my diner table. Hands and tools washed in hot soapy water.

 

[Plant]

yeah gladi made the good choice with the bison it has a super nice texture
nice PDP bstar hope mine is gonna turn out that nice

 

[Gink]

Nice bstar! Cool to see more pics of finished products. The Bison looks great, glad I chose it.

Can't wait to get my kit! I keep trying to make myself forget about it and not count the days

 

[OrganicVapor]

Ordered the ash w stock elkhide on the 2nd of the month, hoping for ship confirmation any day now

 

[Konrad_Zuse]

Ordered the ash w stock elkhide on the 2nd of the month, hoping for ship confirmation any day now

I think shipping info will be given right before it's shipped, it should be in a few months.

 

[Gink]

Ordered the ash w stock elkhide on the 2nd of the month, hoping for ship confirmation any day now

You should receive your pd in a few months, enjoy.

Konrad is Anti-PD, who knows why... obviously here he doesn't know wtf he's talking about.

 

[Purple-Days]

Yeah, Konrad is playing games. The current ETA for deliveries is 3-4 weeks. Everybody knows it.

 

[lwien]

I think shipping info will be given right before it's shipped, it should be in a few months.

WTF, KZ. It's a few weeks, not months.

Like I said in the PD thread, my suggestion is to keep your comments objective and true without resorting to these kinds of tactics. You lumping yourself with beachcomber looks like it could very well be a self-fulling prophecy, and being that we've had some good discussions here in the past, I'd hate to see that happen.

 

[Konrad_Zuse]

Ah, I forgot this is the pandora, not the original pd, my fault.

 

[OrganicVapor]

oh whew, had me worried for a sec.. I was thinking it would take a month or so, and ive been very patient up until hitting the three week mark, but now i cant forget about it, and im checking my email all day haha