Sculpted Cargo Shorts: Work Diary

Posted on December 19, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

The Chopped Challenge contest is over so I can now post this blog!  The title of this project is Heavy Starch and I’m happy to say they tied for third place in the People’s Choice award which gave me a $25.00 prize.

Heavy Starch

Heavy Starch

And so it Begins!

And so it Begins!

Before I begin on this particular blog allow me to explain what it’s all about.  For the Sin City Woodworkers end of the year party we generally have a themed, anonymous show/contest.  This year we’re following the television show “Chopped” format and have a list of mystery ingredients that we need to utilize to make a project of our choice.  Project will be brought in, assigned a number, then displayed around the shop.  Members will select the project they feel is the best and that one will be awarded a gift certificate to Lee Valley.  I’ll get into the mystery ingredients later but first want to get my thoughts down as I attempt this project.  The main ingredient is wood of your choice limited to 1″ x 6″ x 8′ and I chose Basswood for my work.  I’m going to attempt to carve a set of cargo shorts from it.  At this point, this will be more of a diary where I’ll document my thoughts and decisions as I attempt this challenge!  Obviously,  since the contest is anonymous I can’t publish this until it’s over.  It started with soaking the model shorts and using the entire bottle of spray starch to have them maintain their shape.  Pretty straight forward what happened next, three pieces were glued together and then roughed out on the bandsaw:

Blank Glued Up
Blank and Front of Shorts
Blank and Rear of Shorts
Carved Basswood Shirt

Carved Basswood Shirt

That was the easy part!  My only other attempt at doing this type of work was when I sculpted/carved a portion of a ruined shirt I had.  The inspiration for that was a carved tank top at WoodItIs that I’ve always admired.  The tank top is a full, in the round carving whereas my shirt is one dimensional — these shorts will be (hopefully) in the round and to be honest, I’m not 100% sure of how to go about it — hence this diary to document my thoughts, successes, and failures!

 

Roughing out Design

Initial Pocket, creases are too hard!

Initial Pocket, creases are too hard!

Discovering a correct sequence to go about this is completely different from building a piece of furniture, box, or picture frame.  I find I need to “think differently” and first locate the main features of the item and go from there.  I think first the features need to be located.  These include the pockets, belt loops, and zipper.  You learn from your mistakes right?  The first was trying to create everything with straight lines.  Thankfully, Diane has a much better trained eye for this so pointed out that there really isn’t a straight line anywhere on the shorts.  Due to my technical nature I had gone so far as to make a cardboard template of the rear pockets and traced then onto the board!  After cutting out one side and having her critique I soon saw the error of  my ways!  The trick is to make a bit of variation without exaggerating what is really there.  Cloth has a natural flow to it and it’ll be my job as the artist to fool the viewer into thinking this piece of wood is actually a piece of cloth!  In this picture you can see the original hard lined pocket on the right side and then some slight waviness to the outline on the left side.  The cargo pocket begins at the back but will wrap around to the front side.  This is where I realized the main features need to be placed first, the creases and folds of the cloth should come later.  The ones I’ve put in are way to hard but I recall that when I did the shirt it’s best to refine them once the features are in place.  It’s virtually impossible to replicate the actual shorts in the wood sculpt.  What’s required is getting the general flow and then “letting the wood talk to me” with it’s grain direction and workability.

Going Around the Edge

My Basswood is a full inch thick.  My first thoughts were to leave the edges squared off to make it easier to clamp but, as my carving friend Randy pointed out; that’s not a good approach!  According to what he told me, you need to know what’s happening on one side to be able to have it flow over the edge to the other side.  I followed my plan of outlining things first around the edge to each side.  This is still in the rough stage but now that edge needs to be rounded over.  Chisels allowed the grain to splinter off (so to speak) and left a rough finish.  To overcome that my first thought was a block plane but the sole is too long so the obvious tool for this process was the spokeshave.  You can see here that it does work!

Edge roughly laid out
Spokeshave work to round over

The outlining of the pocket needs to be re-carved as the edge becomes round but that’s easily done with a knife and appropriate gouge.

Work continued for a number of days………

Front View
Rear View

Being a naturally detail oriented guy (my principal called me anal!) working on a free flowing project like this is good for me.  No real pressure, just a personal desire to conquer this challenge and see what I can accomplish in this artistic realm of woodworking.  Time doesn’t matter as I bend over the work bench creating what I hope will be some realistic cloth out of this chunk of Basswood.  CarvedShorts-9:2aOne thing I’d forgotten that works to smooth out the wood is spraying it with a mixture of denatured alcohol and water to soften the grain.  Check out how thin the shaving is at the end of the gouge!  As is my bad habit — I’m getting ahead of myself.  The first thing that needs to be done is getting the entire shape and main features in place then, and only then; should I be concerned about the final finish.

The area that’s really giving me fits is where the crotch flows into the legs.  There is so much going on there with folds and creases that Back seam-carvingcloth-8-29bI need to step back and do what I can to simplyify things.  I started by cutting too deep of a crease in that area so now — like Tim Gunn of Project Runway says: “make it work people”!   Well, no sense boring you with the work that’s going on currently with this project.  It’s now September the sixth and I have until December to get it complete.  Just received a custom order for a box on the Etsy store so will be working on that to pay the bills!  Since the holiday season is approaching it’s a good time to make more and build up the inventory.

 

They are Done!!

Well, as projects go this one was great and as usual — time just doesn’t seem to matter as it is now mid November!  Don’t know how many hours I have in these but I’m satisfied with how they turned out and what I’ve learned.  The Christmas Chopped Challenge is 11 days away and no matter what the results are, I’m pleased with what I’ve accomplished.  The rivets were added, they are brass and from Tandy Leather.  All of the stitching was completed with a tool I made by putting external lock washers on a metal rod with tubing as spacers.  The stitching varies with single, double, and triple rows depending on where it was located.  Here’s a slide show of the finished project.  I fulfilled the requirement of using dowels by having 1/2″ acrylic rods on the stand which is on a lazy susan bearing.  The stand itself is a piece of Poplar.  Here’s a slideshow of the final results:

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Panels and Lap Joints

Posted on December 18, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

Preparing PanelDuring the time that the dovetail joinery is being cut and fit, I’m also trying to make up  the panels for this project.  There are two needed for the door, plus two more for each side, and a small one above the stepped drawers.   As the work continues I’m questioning re-sawing the 8/4 stock into three pieces for them.  There is some movement which makes it a challenge to square the edges in preparation for glue up.  At about 1/2″  thick, balancing the plane on the edge is tricky.  I’ve never thought of making a shooting board for long boards before but now I think it may be a valid idea!  Of course, a dedicated shooting board plane at $400-500.00 is out of the question!

John's Armoire Plan

John’s Armoire Plan

The dovetails for the framework are complete, next step is the lap joint for the center stile.  This will be glued and screwed from the inside of the case after the drawer stretchers are in glued and pinned in place.  This is one of many places things get complicated and careful layout is a must.  The pieces for the center stile are longer than needed so this is a good time to work on my hand skills to cut the lap joint at the ends that will be notched into the second drawer stretcher.  Maybe the sketch at left will help you visualize how this will all go together.

 

 

Tablesaw aka Clamping Table

Tablesaw aka Clamping Table

By the way, these steps could have been quickly and easily done on the tablesaw but, as mentioned; the panels are also being glued up and the tablesaw has now become a clamping table!  I do enjoy the hand work so this will be a great opportunity to cut the joinery by hand.  Speaking of which, these panels are over 17″ and my planer is 15″ so I’m looking forward to improve my skills at smoothing large panels like using all hand techniques.  Thankfully, there is only one show side so I can improve my skills on the inside of the panels before going to the one I’ll have to look at every day!

Lap Joint at end of Center Stile

Lap Joint at end of Center Stile

The first step is to mark out the area that needs to be removed with the marking gauge, square, and marking knife.  Both pieces were clamped together and the first cut is pretty straight forward.  Here’s where a sash saw would come in handy but my crosscut dovetail saw is up to the task.

Notch to aid starting the saw

Notch to aid starting the saw

Before making the cut, a chisel was used to cut a slight notch on the waste side of the scribed line.   This technique will help you get the saw started, similar to the technique used when cutting shoulders on dovetails.  The other cut for this joint was harder to make because of the length of the board.  It’s made with a rip cut saw but as you can see, even though I’m over six feet tall it was a stretch!

On my toes!

On my toes!

After squaring up the shoulders with a paring chisel my plan was to flatten out the bottom of the lap with an old #71 Stanley Router Plane — never too old to learn something though!  The depth needed is 7/8″ and, until now; I never knew that the #71 has a depth limit of 3/4″ — now what?  By turning the adjustment wheel upside down I was able to gain the travel needed for this cut.

After being satisfied with the lap at the ends of these pieces it was time to cut the corresponding  joint.  Since these are the sides that support the drawers it’s critical for them to be in exactly the same position on both the front and rear frames.  The drawer stretchers were clamped together for marking and initial cuts but then separated to fit individually.

Setting #71 for depth
Marked after fitting — I’m up to F!

It’s been very busy in the shop lately with work on this  personal project plus the “neighborly diversion” I mentioned in my last blog, and the commission for the media table made with the recycled materials.  I’m waiting for my supplier to get another load of them and for the legs to be delivered.  If that’s not enough to keep me stressed and happy my client sent an email stating: “I am ready to financially commit and get going on constructions”; now if that isn’t music to my ears I don’t know what is!  He’s currently out of town so I’ll need to finalize the plans and get his deposit.  This promises to be a very challenging and interesting project but more on that as it happens.

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A (much needed) Neighborly Diversion

Posted on December 17, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

As work continues on the Armoire the thought occasionally crosses my mind that this is a big undertaking!  Having discussed my procedure on the blog about how I intend to go about it and not hearing suggestions regarding other ways to construct this leads me to think my plan is a sound, albeit: complicated one.  One of my neighbors who I have done some work for in the past, asked me for a favor and I was glad to take a break from the Armoire to fulfill it.

Wine Bottle Storage

Wine Bottle Storage

Quite a number of years ago we had re-purposed a media niche in his home by my building a liquor cabinet for the lower part of it.  The upper part of it was mirrored with glass shelving to hold bottles and glasses.  All that was missing was a place for wine.  Oh yes, you may have heard me say that I very rarely stain — this project was one of my few exceptions.  Their kitchen cabinetry is adjacent to this wall and has a pickled, white wash Oak finish so this cabinet had to match.  I also added an end table with the same finish at a later date.  He had purchased a wine rack that had a dark, antiqued wooden top on it and wondered if I could replace the top to match the rest of the woodwork.  In this picture you see the finished project along with the original top.

This project gave me a nice break from the exacting work on the Armoire, started with smooth planing a piece of Home Depot Oak:

Smooth Plane

Smooth Plane

Not sure if I’ll ever have enough practice to really perfect this technique but if what they say is true …… “practice makes perfect” this can’t hurt!  Next I used a very technical drawing technique to radius the corners:

Washer & Pencil Radius

Washer & Pencil Radius

Which gave me a chance to use my new Auriou rasp from Lie-Nielsen which worked very nicely indeed!  Then a gimlet to do the holes:

Gimlet in Use

Gimlet in Use

Now, all that remained was to apply the finish.  I used a couple of coats of rattle-can spar varnish to protect it after the stain dried overnight.  I delivered it this afternoon and it’s exactly what he needed — back to the Armoire!

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Measuring, Marking, & Keeping Organized

Posted on December 13, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

As I’m looking at the plans and pieces of material that will go into the making of my Armoire, I realize that this is a big undertaking!  This is on the scale of building my own house which, although I’ve done; didn’t seem as daunting.  Perhaps it’s because in house construction you can just scab a piece on if something went wrong or get a cat’s claw and wrecking bar and start all over.  In furniture construction one part is intricately joined to another, which is joined to yet another so things need to be spot on.  For example, the lower drawer stretchers will have three joints cut on them so if after cutting the first two successfully I mess up on the third it was all for naught!  Then those stretchers will need to be mortised in the back to accept the drawer web frame — make a mistake there and it’s back to square one.  The problem with that too though is that the pieces were selected from the same board so if I had to replace a stretcher it probably wouldn’t have the same coloration as the surrounding pieces and since I rarely stain that creates yet another probable disaster.  And that’s why furniture makers subscribe to this saying:

Measure twice and cut once!

Locating Bottom Stretcher

Locating Bottom Stretcher

So, after doing the rear of the frame for the Armoire it was time to tackle the front.  I figure that the rear frame is the one to practice on and hopefully the front will be flawless.  The tails are already cut on the stretchers and only need to be positioned correctly for scribing.  When transferring these locations I prefer using a marking knife made by Czeck Edge  The blade in it is extremely thin and sharp and it’s very easy to get into tight dovetails.  For general lay-out work I find this a little too flexible and use a heavier, stout bladed knife.  First up was locating the bottom of the stretcher to the bottom of the leg, this was accomplished with a combination gauge set from the back frame.

Second Stretcher

Second Stretcher

The next stretcher is located  8 1/4″ above the first.  Tape measure is read directly over the top for accuracy and then a pipe clamp is used to hold everything in its’ proper position prior to marking out.  I find that with the Czeck knife it’s best to make a few, light passes rather than one heavy pass to scribe the tails.

Temporary Markings

Temporary Markings

Along with all of the other things to keep track of is which board goes where and how!  Before unclamping this I used masking tape and a Sharpie to keep myself straight.  There are over a dozen pieces in each frame so it’s paramount to keep track of what goes where.  As the work progresses and the joints fit I’ll use machinists letter stamps to permanently mark the work.

 

 

Before work begins on cutting the half blind dovetails on the carcass sides, their shoulders were checked for squareness and pared as needed.  Before I begin to cut the joint I’ll sharpen a pencil with a chisel and trace through the scribed lines.  Old eyes need all the help and light you can get at this point!

Darken Scribed Lines

Darken Scribed Lines

Whoops, notice that mark at the lower left?  Forgot to turn the dog around and it left its crisscross pattern — luckily this is the inside of the case and will probably plane off with a smooth plane.  For a tail this wide, I like making a few cuts in the waste area which I find helps clean it out.

Beginning The Process

Beginning The Process

Since the saw isn’t able to get into the inner corners of the joint your chisel will have to cut there.  When I remove the waste, especially in a deep (3/4″) and wide joint such as this the chisel technique I use is similar to one you’d use to groove or lap.  First angle towards the side from the middle one way:

Angle From Center to Edge

Angle From Center to Edge

Then the other direction:

Angled to Sides from Center

Angled to Sides from Center

And finally bring the bottom flat:

Flatten Bottom of Joint

Flatten Bottom of Joint

The difficulty with all of this is how snug do you leave your joint?  I’ve read many noted woodworkers describe their procedure for dovetails and often they say they never fit the joint completely home until it’s time for glue up.  That leaves a lot to chance because what if it is too tight and you can’t get it home — once you’re glued you’re screwed!  I suppose that’s where experience comes in.  I know that one of the joints on the back is a bit loose so I’m going to err on the side of snug now and check every surface for squareness the very best I can.  This is a labor of love, not a race.  Heck, if it were a race I could get a Kreg Jig and pocket screws and be done this weekend!

The last thing on this blog is how I mark the pieces once the joinery is complete.  You know that masking tape isn’t going to last forever.  I use Machinists Letter stamps and mark the joint so I can see it during glue up but it’ll be hidden afterwards.

Machinists Stamps

Machinists Stamps

As I mentioned, there are many parts for this Armoire and not everyone of the joints needs to be marked.  For example, the divider for the drawers only needs to be marked on one of its’ dovetails to locate it in the over-all construction sequence.  My set of stamps came in a wooden box so I’m beginning with the A and working through the alphabet.  To keep track of where I am I’ll simply return the stamp to the box upside down indicating it’s been used already somewhere on the project.  Time to put the camera aside, close up the lap top, and get out to the shop to make some chips!

Posted in Hand Cut Dovetails, Hand Tool Woodworking, Johns Armoire, Tutorial | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Armoire Work Begins — Outer Legs

Posted on December 9, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn
Leg Marks

Leg Marks

The Armoire project is quite challenging so I’m being very careful as the work progresses.  There are so many parts and pieces to the casework that labeling them properly is very important.  Starting with the legs shown here, a customary way of labeling them is to draw a  diamond shaped square across the insides of the legs were they intersect to show their relationship.  That works quite well but sometimes those markings will wear off.  I like using these machinists letter stamps to; hopefully, keep me from getting confused as the work progresses.

Leg Taper Before & After Planing

Leg Taper Before & After Planing

 

The legs have a tapered portion at the bottom of them that was laid out and cut on the bandsaw.  Once cut a jack plane was used to smooth and finalize their shapes.

Lay-Out of Drawer Stretchers

Lay-Out of Drawer Stretchers

 

 

 

Now that the bottom of the legs are complete, it’s time to lay out the position of the various drawer stretchers to begin that phase of the project.  The front and rear frames will be identical which gives me the opportunity to work on the rear one first and hone my work before going on to the front ones that will always be exposed to the world!  After clamping them together in the proper location a piece of painters tape was applied to one leg to help my old eyes focus on the lines!  Locations were then scribed across the inner faces of the legs.

After cutting the bottom stretchers to the required length, the tail of the dovetail is laid out and cut — here’s the process:

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Transferring Dovetails

Transferring Dovetails

Of the eight tails cut only one needed to be squared up which was accomplished with a chisel on the shoulder and rabbet block plane for the back face.  This means that one tail is slightly thinner than the others so I marked it with a sharpie so I don’t cut its socket too deep.  Now the tails needed to be scribed in their perspective locations so everything was clamped together, checked for square, and transferred.

Like I mentioned before, I have the luxury of starting on the rear frame — you know you’re just one bad cut away from disaster on these projects but at the end of the day, one down and only seven to go.  After these joints are cut there will be a center divider that is joined with dovetails as well.

After scribing, I use a Stanley 271 to scribe bottom of tail
One down — Seven to go!

This furniture piece an example of old world joinery and a challenge to myself to see if I can replicate and accomplish it.  That’s one of the aspects of woodworking I enjoy the most — the challenge and the process.  I just collected a deposit for a new commission which is almost the direct opposite of the Armoire!  It’s a media stand made of recycled fence boards and square metal legs.  Here’s a photo of the mock up I made for their approval, instead of chisels and dovetail saws I’ll be using nail guns, glue, and screws!

Reclaimed Fence Boards to pay the bills

Reclaimed Fence Boards to pay the bills

Posted in Hand Cut Dovetails, Hand Planes, Hand Tool Woodworking, Johns Armoire, Tutorial | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Preparing a Hock Blade for my #7

Posted on December 4, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

The plane I use for jointing my edges is a corrugated bottom, #7 Stanley that dates back to the mid 1920’s or so.  It has the original sweetheart blade that is laminated plus it has the low profile knob which is another indication of it’s age.  In any case, this tool was a trade for some work done for a client in the 1980’s and I love it!  Since work has started on the Armoire there are a lot of panels to glue up and 8/4 legs that need to be squared and trued.  The jointer plane with it’s 2 3/8″ wide blade is the perfect choice for that, however; some of this genuine Mahogany for the project was giving me problems.  When I planed the same edge with a Lie-Nielsen jack plane it planed much better.  Since that blade is a much thicker iron I figured it was time to update and improve my old #7.

A number of years ago the jointer planes performance was improved with the addition of Ron Hocks chip breaker.  It’s much heavier than the original and improved the cutting action considerably.  Rather than putting a Lie-Nielsen #7 Jointer on my Christmas list and really not expecting to get it I decided it would be more in keeping with my Dutch nature to invest in a better blade. Besides, I love this plane!  One of the best sources for plane blades is Hock Tools, I’ve dealt with them before.  What I really like about Ron Hock is that he takes the time to not only answer any questions or concerns via email, the same is true for phone communications. To my way of thinking, in this age of recorded messages and the endless phone options we’re faced with when trying to find information that’s gold!!  I asked him a question via email and then (since I pre-worry) called him too and he answered promptly.  I placed the order and had the replacement blade in 2 days.  Next up was to prepare it for use.

I use water stones and a Veritas MKII jig for sharpening. I don’t use a bench grinder but on occasion will use a modified 1″ belt sander to rough shape a blade.  The quality of Ron Hock’s blades is fine but I wanted that polished edge that only stones can give.  The initial work on the 4K stone showed me that it would take far too long to achieve the edge I was after so went to a 1K stone to work the entire surface.  You can see in the slide show that there was one corner that gave me problems, just couldn’t seem to raise that burr on the back of the blade that tells you the entire edge has been ground.  Checking it with a square showed that it was positioned correctly in the jig but you can see the sharpie mark in the right hand corner indicating the stone hadn’t touched that corner yet.  It took about 20+ minutes to hit the entire front edge and raise a burr on the back.  Here’s the slide show of the process:

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The proof is in the Shavings!

The proof is in the Shavings!

After the 1K stone the followup work on the 4K and 8K went relatively quickly as you can see.  For the micro bevel I only take about 5 strokes working the blade backwards only.  That’s followed with a slight back bevel using David Charlesworth’s ruler trick and as you can see, it was well worth the time.  Sharpening is like sanding in a way.  My students used to complain about sanding and ask how long they needed to do it — of course the obvious answer was “until it’s smooth”.  In sharpening, just like in sanding; it pays to spend the majority of the time with the rougher grit (100 sandpaper or 1,000 stone) before going on to the finer ones.  It’s always tempting to me to tell myself it’s time to move to the finer stones even when I don’t have a burr all the way across the back of the iron.  Can’t figure out why that was happening but glad I persevered with the 1K stone to achieve the edge and cut I did.

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John’s Armoire — First Cuts

Posted on December 1, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn
John's Armoire Plan

John’s Armoire Plan

With apologies to Rod Stewart and Cat Stevens who wrote the song — The First Cut is the Deepest but in a woodworkers point of view, the first cuts are the hardest!  As you know, I just bought quite a lot of 8/4 Genuine Mahogany for this personal project.   If you read the previous post about this it is inspired by Dr. White’s Chest, a popular item in the Thos Moser line of furniture.  If you’re familiar with that piece you’ll notice I’ve thrown in my own design twists and am now faced with the challenge of bringing this from my mind and paper to a three dimensional, piece of furniture.  I haven’t come across anything like this in my research so either the techniques I’m thinking of using to create this  are revolutionary or have been tried before unsuccessfully!  The main area of concern is the small, three tiered drawer section in the middle of the piece.  The joinery there is tricky as is the area below the door separating the larger, bottom drawers from the rest of the piece.  On paper things are looking doable so I’m proceeding cautiously and really thinking through the entire project of this piece.

The first step was to double check the cutting list I used when I selected the lumber at Woodworkers Source in Phoenix.  Good thing too because an error was made in my thinking there when I found this beautiful piece that was more than 15″ wide.  Initially I thought this could be resawn into three 5/8″ thick pieces for the panels.  Driving home I realized that my bandsaw has a capacity of 12″ so there went that thought!  After much head scratching I finally came up with a process to use that piece to it’s best advantage.  Matching the grain pattern for the side panels will be a challenge since each 8/4 piece will be resawn into three pieces.  This makes the book match interesting and hopefully I’ll be able to come up with a good match.  The door panels will come from a single board and book matched the traditional way.  Can’t wait to see these since this particular piece of Mahogany has some birds eye figuration to it — haven’t seen that before!

At The Bandsaw

At The Bandsaw

The work started with planing a square edge and then re-sawing the pieces as needed.  The blade used is a 1/2″ Wood Slicer from Highland Woodworking.  Although you can’t see it in this picture there is an auxiliary fence made out of a piece of MDF attached to the stock fence of the bandsaw.  I’ve found that once you adjust the stock fence for drift it works well, why pay a ton of money for an aftermarket one when this can be adjusted to suit your needs?  Here’s where working in a “hybrid” manner is an advantage.  After squaring an edge with a #7 Jointer Plane each of the 8/4 pieces were run through the bandsaw.

First slice for the end panels

First slice for the end panels

For the side panels this piece was about 5/8″ thick, the remaining piece was then run through the planer to smooth out that face.  Now that piece was once again resawn to yield the 3 pieces.  These will be stickered to stabilize the wood and (fingers crossed!) not too much warping, twisting, or other nasty changes will take place in them.  The plan is to see what type of changes do take place and then flatten them as needed with hand planes.  The panels will end up being about 17″ wide which is too wide for my planer so all leveling will be done by hand for the side panels of the armoire.  The door panels are about 13″ wide so these were resawn and book matched from one, 6 1/2″ wide piece.

Stepping off the Width

Stepping off the Width

The thickness of the 8/4 stock is 1 13/16″ so I’d like to yield around 1 5/8″ for the posts.  The first part of this process was using dividers to step off the width of these parts.  After ripping these pieces down they too were stickered to let nature take it’s course.  The project will need 2 posts at 6’at the right side, 2 more at about 4′ for the center and then the other end needs 2 at about 5′.   The other materials that were cut to rough dimensions were the drawer dividers.  You may notice in the drawing that they increase in thickness as they go from top to bottom.  I’ve planned them out as 7/8″ for the upper drawers then 1 1/8″ for the middle and 1 5/8″ for the bottom.

As with any new work there will be challenges and no doubt some unforeseen problems as this piece takes place.  That’s what makes things interesting and challenging — why do the same thing all of the time; I prefer the risk and excitement of the unknown!  Diane was said that when she works on a painting she will work until she runs into a problem, overcome that one and then work to the next problem.  Of course, it’s much easier to remove and change paint then it is to stretch a board because you cut it too short but that’s okay, it’s her philosophy I like.  At the end of the day, this is what the shop looked like with all of the materials for the panels and frame resawn, stickered, and ready for the next steps.

Posts and Drawer Dividers
Panels for Ends and Door

 

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Art Nouveau Frame Update and Fixes!

Posted on November 25, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

ArtNueveu Frame

Here is the Art Nouveau frame in its’ final form with the designated painting by Diane in it.  There has been some “trials and tribulations” in the making of this frame which are mostly due to my own errors!!  I’ll blame some of that to being about 2 months away from signing up for Medicare, will you buy that excuse?

A Tale of Two Paints

In my last blog I explained how the usual technique of gilding portions of a frame and then spray painting it black prior to using wax to reveal the gild didn’t go as planned.  I thought that it was because the formula of the paint may have been changed.  Well, he says with his head hung low; Krylon and Rustoleum are two different brands of paint.  Even though both cans are the same size and say Satin Black doesn’t mean the formula is the same — that’s why the paint didn’t rub off of the gilded areas as it always had in the past.  The proper paint to use for this procedure is the Krylon.  That problem led me to remove all traces of the wax then re-size and gild the entire frame with silver leaf.  The result was a pretty cold looking frame so multiple coats of  Kusmi #2 button shellac from Shellac.net were applied with an air brush. Shellac.net is my recommended source of supply for shellac flakes of almost any variety.  It warmed the silver up considerably and meets Diane’s requirements.  Here is a side by side comparison of the frame it was in before and the new one.  With all of the reflected light it is somewhat difficult to get a true appreciation of the final result but I took both pictures in the same light and location.

The new frame picks up the warm tones in the painting which completes the mood Diane was after.

A Tale of Two Waxes

Completed Sample

Completed Sample

I’ll stick to this Tale of Two theme and elaborate how the Krylon paint over gilding process works.  At the left is the completed sample piece, please note that the carving was left pretty rough as it’s just a trial piece.  Also, there is an error in the design, it should go over and under rather than crossing over two strands!  The frame is correct.  After gilding the complete piece and realizing my mix up with the paint brands this piece was sprayed with Krylon and allowed to dry for 24 hours.  Now what I mentioned in my previous post applies; the longer you wait for the paint to cure the more difficulty you’ll encounter with removing it.

All waxes are not created equal, my preference is for Liberon Black Bison.  This is a great wax for the final step for most projects. Matter of fact, that was used on the frame for the final rub.  I like its mild odor and the finish it leaves.  The other wax I use sometimes is BriWax.  It has  more solvents which is apparent not only by the odor but also by how quickly it will remove the paint from the gilded areas.  In this slide show, the first work I did on this was on the sight edge using Liberon and a cotton ball.  It took quite a bit of rubbing to expose the gild.  I then went to the carve itself and began using the BriWax.  I should have used a Q-tip right away because the BriWax on a rag or cotton ball also removed the paint from the field surrounding the carve.

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Corner Detail of Frame

Corner Detail of Frame

So, there you have it the completed tutorial on how to do a painted frame with gilded highlights.  As you can see with the sample piece I did it’s important to have the frame as smooth as possible.  Preparation is very important and after the problems I had with this frame very glad it turned out the way it did.  Over the years I’ve found that Krylon rattle can leaves a very nice finish on a frame.  I know some purists may cringe at the thought of using something like that on a piece of fine art but at a show Diane was in in San Antonio I saw them using it to repair a frame on a multi-thousand dollar painting so figure it must not be all that bad!

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Art Nouveau Frame — Tale of Woe!

Posted on November 20, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn
Clayed and Gilded, Ready for Paint

Clayed and Gilded, Ready for Paint

Well, being an honest man means I have to admit to the failures in a project as well as the successes.  I know there were a few of my readers wanting to see how the Art Nouveau frame would turn out and have to report that it didn’t!  Not sure what happened because this technique has worked well for me in the past.  The technique was to spray the frame black after gilding the highlights with silver leaf.  After the paint dried I would use wax and a cotton ball to gently remove the paint from the gilded areas exposing them.  A reason for the failure may be that there was a different name on the can of Satin Black Rustoleum, it also had a different style of nozzle.  The paint wouldn’t dissolve with the wax as it had in the past, instead it became really gummy and then suddenly the red clay was exposed leaving very little of the silver gilding — not acceptable to say the least!  Lesson learned;  my test sample came out fine but that was with an older can of paint so it’s possible that the formulation changed and the new can of paint had one that set up quicker and harder.  Well, when you run into a problem you need to overcome and move onward.  I will use Naphtha or some type of solvent to remove all traces of the wax and then gild the entire face of the frame.  This time I’ll work in a more traditional fashion of sealing the leaf and then toning those areas of the frame I want to minimize — toning and antiquing of frames is a tricky area, one I need to work on so here’s my opportunity.

John’s Armoire — New Project

WoodworksbyJohn-CustomFurniture-LasVegas-Mahogany-DrwgAHere is the drawing I made for my new project — an Armoire.  It is my own design and I know it will be a very challenging piece.  Thos Moser has a very well known piece called Dr. Whites Chest which I’ve always admired but knew I would never be in position to buy.  Hey, I’m a woodworker so why not challenge myself to make my own plus add something to it to show my design sense.  Over-all this will be about 20″ deep by 4′ wide and the tallest section with the door will be 6′.  I want to use all traditional woodworking techniques and it is a post and panel construction.  I’ve done a lot of research and questioning to other woodworkers and there isn’t any easier way than to essentially make the front and rear frames which will have to be assembled at the same time while fitting the tenoned drawer runners/kickers into their mortises.  This will not be one of those weekend projects, more like a half year or so one!

The lumber I’m using is genuine Mahogany.  It just so happened that Woodworkers Source in Phoenix has it on sale this month prompting my 600 mile road trip yesterday.  After leaving Las Vegas at 4:00 am I arrived there a little over 5 hours later.  They have both 4/4 and 8/4 on sale and I had wrestled with which way to go.  I went with the 8/4 option even though it means more work as far as re-sawing and surfacing to make the project.  One big advantage to working this way is that the coloration of the wood will be more consistent through-out the piece.  I had my cutting list and chalk and spent close to 2 hours selecting the wood.  Unbelievable selection of wide boards, check out this one that is destined to become the panels for the sides and the doors; it’s almost 15″ wide and 8’+ long:

8/4 Genuine Mahogany
Wow, this is wide!

I was also able to select pieces to make the drawers out of single boards, they will be 7″-8″ wide.  Joining two boards together for the drawer front wasn’t the way I wanted to go so the final dimension was to be determined by the size of the boards I’m able to get from this wood.  Ended up with a bit more than 80 board feet of the 8/4 material and plenty of width to yield single board drawer fronts.  They also had a great selection of 4/4 material but the time and effort of going through and finding boards with similar grain pattern and coloration wasn’t worth it.  I suppose the unknown in all of this is how will the boards react after resawing — since there isn’t a time frame the plan is to sticker and allow them to settle down and dry after they have been cut.  This project will be a learning experience to say the least and I want to enjoy it rather than rush through it.  There are two potential clients for some custom work which would get priority over this personal project.  I tend to get obsessive so my mantra will be “Patience Grasshopper”!

Construction of the face frame (and back) will be a combination of draw bored mortise and tenons plus dovetails for the lower section.  That’s the best way to figure out the construction puzzle and is traditional.  Alder will be the secondary wood used for the interior web frames and the back.  The 3 drawer unit at the top will have the drawers suspended on runners and figuring out the exact construction details of that is one that I really haven’t finalized.  All other drawers will be traditional half blind dovetails with wooden runners.  The section with the door will have shelves for sweaters, shorts, etc.

The thought of under mount drawer runners to simplify the construction of this piece entered my mind but I want to stay traditional on this piece.  The Media Cabinet I built last year had a single bank of traditionally mounted drawers so this will just add to the complexity and challenge of the work!

 

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Etsy Box Order — Almost Ready to Ship

Posted on November 13, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn
Nothing like the smell of Shellac in the morning!

Nothing like the smell of Shellac in the morning!

So — why talk about it when they’re not quite ready to ship?  Want to get this blog done and put this commission into the “complete” file to start on the next project.  All that remains is to rub out the shellac and I like to give the final coat at least 48 hours to cure fully.  The finish procedure on these boxes was to apply two coats of shellac, allow them to cure over-night before lightly sanding them with 400 grit paper.  After the final coats applied this morning are cured they will be rubbed out with Liberon Black Bison wax applied with a 4/0 white scotch pad.  Other than that the inside bottoms need to be lined with ultra suede and they’ll be ready to ship.  Two are for an order and the other two will be added to the store inventory.

Radius on the corner of the bottom piece

Radius on the corner of the bottom piece

Drilling holes for pins

Drilling holes for pegs

Once they were assembled the holes needed to be drilled out for the  3/16″ pegs centered in each tail.  This was accomplished at the drill press with a tall fence.  The last blog generated a number of comments about the box slotting bit that I used.  The bit is available from Lee Valley to cut either a 1/8″ or 1/4″ slot for box bottoms. For these boxes I used 1/4″ hardwood  plywood.  The only thing you need to fit these properly is to create a radius on the outer corners.  There are a number of ways to do this and my choice is to draw the radius on with a nickel and then remove it with a 1″ belt sander.

Beveling the lid at 15 degrees

Beveling the lid at 15 degrees

Glue up was next and since this is an unconventional way to utilize dovetails it’s a bit of a trick!  The glue of choice for me is Old Brown Glue due to its properties.  Only a small amount needs to be applied to the long grain of the joints and on the pegs.  Contrasting pegs were used which I believe adds to the puzzle like quality of these boxes.  After assembly I tackled the last step of making the lids.  They are a lift off affair that are rabbeted to fit the box.  They are bevel at 15 degrees, the process begins on the tablesaw with a fixture that slides on the rip fence and ends with block plane to remove saw marks and ensure the corners meet at a crisp 45 degrees.  I’ll have them packed up and ready to ship first thing Monday morning.

As always, I hope to achieve my personal goal of having the work exceed the expectations of my client.  I always appreciate they have enough faith in my abilities to commission a project from me via the internet.

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