Woodworks by John

Hand Tool Work = Relaxation

Posted on June 23, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

Cloth for Model

You may recall this picture that I posted a while ago. After the intense furniture work on the media center I felt the need to take my woodworking in another direction for a while. A new woodcarvers club started here in Las Vegas which has re-ignited my spark for carving. I’ve always been intrigued by carvings that resemble cloth or clothing so that’s what I’ve been playing around with. Seemingly mindless and with no definite purpose but a great way to spend time in the shop — at least until the temperature tops 104 degrees! This piece of cloth was the model for the carving and was made by soaking it in a glue/water solution. More on that later but I needed a stand for it so decided to hone my hand tool skills to make it.

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed project. Since the carving is on all sides I wanted to be able to rotate the piece. I’m not sure if the stand is too large and over powers the piece so open for your opinions. The main goal of this little project though was honing my hand tool joinery skills.

Front View

Back View

I’ve been asked to create a hand tool class for WoodItIs to teach later this summer. Jamie’s focus is more on power tool furniture work and she mentioned that students have asked for skills they can use at their own home without having to purchase a lot of expensive power equipment. She has a fantastic program at her school, after a student completes the basic course they are able to participate in her Open Shop Saturday program. For an hourly fee they not only get her expertise but also are able to use any of the power equipment she has.

Milling Stock

The design of this little stand uses a lapped joint and a bridle joint. To mix it up and challenge myself, the bridle joint at the top is angles about 65 degrees. A couple of quick cuts on a table saw with or without a dado head could have accomplished this in less than an hour but hand tool work is so much more relaxing. The material used is Poplar, ripped to about 3/4″ x 1″ then milled square with hand planes. The first step was laying out and cutting the tongue on the upright piece. I recently ordered this beautiful marking knife from Czeck Edge Tools but was having difficulties getting a crisp line with it. This is the beauty of buying from an independent tool maker — I emailed him with my problem and he responded within a day and suggested lowering the knife angle which worked well for me. The craftsmanship and materials used in this knife are excellent and it does allow me to scribe the longer dovetails I like to use.

Too steep on an angle (45 degrees)

Lower angle as suggested by Bob

Once that line was established it was time to cut the piece to size:

Shoulder Cuts

Shorter Cheek Cut

Finish on Longer Cheek

The tongue was then squared up with a rabbet block plane, even the shoulders can be squared this way. A medium sized, Lie-Nielsen shoulder plane is on my wish list but the funds aren’t! Now it’s on to the other side of the joint. Having never cut one of these at an angle before I wasn’t 100% sure of how to go about it. After cutting on the waste side of my lay out lines the shoulder line was chiseled in at the approximate angle. A line was drawn on the face to help me achieve that. The remaining material was removed similar to taking the waste out between dovetails.

Initial angled cut on shoulder

Opposite side and removal of waste

Starting to come together

Now that the bridle joint is complete the upright was attached to a base piece with mortise and tenon. I left it long not knowing how long it would need to be to support the carving. A lap joint is used to join the cross piece to the base.

Move to bench top bench, easier on my old back!

Scribed line outlined with chisel

Initial material removed at angle from edge

Flattening out the bottom

Just a couple of notes on that process. Before cutting the scribed lines a shallow V was made with a chisel. This creates an easier starting place for the saw. Once both sides are sawn you would chisel out the sides at an angle creating kind of a hill in the center of the area you’re removing. It’s a process of cutting the sloped sides, flattening out the middle, and repeating until you get close to your bottom line. A small router plane is ideal for flattening out this cut but not everyone has one of those. A technique is to clamp a scrap piece of material right at the scribe line which is used to guide the chisel as you carefully pare the bottom flat.

Like I said earlier, this entire stand could have been produced in an hour or so using power tools but using hand tools is so much more relaxing. My philosophy has always been to utilize power as the apprentice for the grunt work. It’s very rewarding to have a properly set up and sharpened tool gently bringing your materials to shape and size. If the class at WoodItIs gets the required enrollment I’m looking forward to sharing that with the students.

Posted in Hand Planes, Hand Tool Woodworking, Tutorial | Tagged angled bridle joint, bridle joint, Carving, carving cloth, hand cut wood joints, lap joint, mortise & tenon, Sculpted wood, WoodItIs | 1 Comment

Since the Wood in Design Show

Posted on June 17, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

I’ve talked about being awarded an Honorable Mention for the Sapele and Big Leaf Maple media center at this years Design in Wood show. Thought I’d share a photo of me getting that award. Not to be boastful but it’s an awesome feeling having your work recognized by a jury of your peers. According to the show catalog there were 17 judges involved. It would really be interesting to hear from them and learn what criteria they used to determine awards. Be fun to “be a fly on the wall” during that process. In a few of the shows Diane entered paintings in the judge would sometimes present the winners and explain how they chose them. Enough about that, so let me share what else has been going on in the shop since then.

After completing such a large project as the media center was I decided to scale down a bit and make a few boxes. These are now on my Etsy store so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of interest they may generate. Etsy sales have been pretty slow this time of year and probably won’t pick up until we get closer to the Christmas season!

Yin-Yang Box

Pear Box

I really enjoy the challenge of this style of box which I refer to as “slanted dovetails”. As far as I know they’re my original design and I like the play of end and face grain in the joinery. For the Yin-Yang box, one piece of the Brazilian Satinwood was cut on the bandsaw in the yin-yang design. They were then flipped around to achieve the design you see. The Pear Box has the sides contoured in a pear shape and also features a carved, pear leaf for it’s handle. The Pear Box uses Monkeypod wood for the sides and lid while the Yin-Yang box has a contrasting lid of Black Limba.

Cloth for Model

One of many things that intrigue me is seeing wood that is carved to resemble cloth or clothing. In the WoodItIs studio/school, Jamie has a full size tank top that is hanging on a hanger. I look at it every time I’m at her place and decided this could be something to try. It’s not quite finished yet but I’ll share what I have accomplished so far. I took a piece of white cotton (t-shirt material) and soaked it in a solution of water and white glue that was old and questionable for woodwork. A dowel was clamped to a parallel clamp and the cloth was “artistically” draped over it and allowed to dry. It remained stiff as a board which is what I was after.

Carved Basswood “Cloth”

My next step was to take a piece of Basswood (approximately 3/4″ x 6″ x 7″) and first drill a hole through the top for the dowel. What followed was lots of trial and error with different gouges and carving knives to attempt to make that piece of wood look like a piece of material! The picture at the left shows it as it is now — almost complete. The backside is done as well and to be honest, I’m quite pleased with the results! My intention is to experiment with some white Milk Paint so it’ll be white but have an opaque finish on it. Experimenting with the hanger design and using some stranded, copper ground wire. It’s a bit too flexible so my thought is to use solder and a torch to solidify and make it look interesting. We’ll see but it’s been a good way to spend numerous hours. In the painting world, this is referred to as Trompe-l’oeil, which means deceive the eye. I’ve seen some exquisite paintings in this style. So, what I’m attempting to do with the carving is make the viewer think this is actually a piece of cloth when it’s really a chunk of wood!

Posted in Carving, HDTV Stand, Slanted Dovetail Box | Tagged Black Limba, Brazilian Satinwood, carving cloth, Design in Wood 2014, Etsy, Monkeypod Wood, Yin-Yang | Leave a comment

Miscellaneous Postpartum Blog?

Posted on June 5, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

I may end up getting philosophical on you with this blog as the title suggests! Having just completed the HDTV stand and getting it juried into the Design in Wood competition it’s like a big relief. After spending some 100 hours devoted to the design and construction of this piece it is now complete and I suppose “in the hands of the judges” to see how a jury of my peers feels about it. I used the word postpartum in the title because I have a feeling similar to what the literature says a mother has after the birth of a child. Not a totally foreign feeling though, as an ultra runner I would spend months training for an upcoming 50 or 100 mile race and just like building this piece of furniture it would consume me. Then you cross the finish line (or enter it in a competition) and it’s all over! It’s not really a let down but now it’s time to find something else to put your focus on and in that I’ve been a rambling man!

“Darn You Scott B.” Carving Knife

I mentioned that a new group formed here in Las Vegas called the Woodcarvers of Las Vegas. At our May meeting one of the experienced members, Scott B., was showing different styles of knifes and showed one he recently made from a Sawzall blade. Well, me being me thought that was pretty neat so set out to make one for myself. I had the need for a long, thin bladed knife. Here’s the result:

Completed knife

Source of blade and cuts made on Basswood

Now, allow me to tell you the back story of this thing! Scotts knife impressed me so decided to give it a shot. After grinding the tip and getting it almost sharp it was time to separate it from the rest of the blade (see picture at right). Well, guess what? you can’t cut hardened steel with a hacksaw! Never tried this before but took a cold chisel and struck on both sides where I wanted to cut the blade. Next, I placed it in a metal working vise, struck the edge and it snapped right off — cool! I wanted to drill it out and secure it to the handle with brass rods which could have been sanded flush with the wood — uh, uh! Can’t drill hardened steel easily either. So, cut a shallow mortise on one side of the handle blank which matched the taper of the blade and then used Gorilla glue to clamp the two pieces together. Shaped to fit my hand and then finished by sanding in my furniture top coat and I have a pretty nice little knife. Just need to get the final 1/2″ of the tip sharpened and it’ll do fine for me. Bottom line though, I did end up buying a knife from Lee Valley, a #8 by Beebe. After reading the reviews I’m sure the metal he uses for the blade is superior to my old Sawzall one! Oh yeah, why the “darn you Scott B.” title?, spent an awful lot of time making it but honestly it’s all about the process and not putting an hourly wage on my own time. Should probably thank him instead for introducing the process to me.

Slanted Dovetail Box

Another thing keeping me going is two boxes for the Etsy store inventory that are of the slanted dovetail series. I’m using the remaining pieces of Brazilian Satinwood for the end pieces. One has Black Limba for the sides and the other has Monkeypod wood. These dovetails are tricky to lay out because they’re so long. The new Czeck marking knife with the tungsten carbide blade is being used on it. I like the blade since it has less flex than the original but have to be careful to not angle it into the tail being scribed. It is so sharp it’ll remove the lower edge of that tail if you’re not careful. You can probably figure out how I know that! This is his Super Cadet II.

Here is a photo of the one I’m calling the YinYang box before the handle was designed. The idea behind the name comes from the design of the end pieces. These were cut from a single piece then flipped over. If you can picture the YinYang you’ll see it in them. My initial plan was to inlay the symbol in the lid but after doing a mock up decided it just didn’t look right. I chose to mortise in a simple, half round one instead. Here’s what that looks like after shellac but it still needs to be rubbed out. Leather will be used to line these boxes if I have enough of it before putting them on the Etsy store.

The way the Brazilian Satinwood shimmers is eye-catching! I enjoy the play of the end grain and face grain where they come together. Now I have to wait until Saturday to see how the judging went at the Design in Wood then it’s on to the next challenge!

Posted in Carving, Slanted Dovetail Box, Uncategorized | Tagged Black Limba wood, Brazilian Satinwood, Czeck Edge, Design in Wood, knife making, Monkeypod Wood, Super Cadet II | Leave a comment

Integral Dust Check

Posted on May 23, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

A feature I like to add to boxes is a dust check. Essential for an unhinged box like this prototype and an added feature on a hinged one. Just as the name implies; a dust check prevents dust from getting into the box! I use the term “dust check” but it’s also referred to as a rabbeted lid. The easiest way to picture it is a like a step that locks the lid and box together. Quite a while ago, Fine Woodworking Magazine had an article on this method which I’ve used on several boxes; let me show you how it’s done.

Dado cut inside box, dust check material in foreground

The process begins before you assemble the box. You’ll need to locate where the two separate and cut a 3/4″ wide dado that is roughly centered on the separation. The depth of this will be determined by the thickness of the material you use for the dust check. I make that first, generally about 1/8″ – 3/16″ thick with a radiused edge.

Cleaning up separation cut

After assembling the box, separate the two pieces. I use my tablesaw cutting completely through on two sides then lowering the blade to leave a thin section of the box intact. That thin section can easily be cut with a utility knife and prevents kickbacks since the cut won’t close up and pinch on the saw blade.

Fitting the dust check

Next up is mitering the dust check and gluing it in place. Remember that the radiused edge goes to the outside of the box.

All that remains is gluing everything into place. Thanks goodness Harbor Freight has these little spring clamps at a good price! Although this goes against my philosophy of buying American made but sometimes the wallet has to win out!

Clamped to the max!

Finished process

All that remains is to sand, stain, and finish this box. It may take some fine tuning to achieve a good fit but that’s easily attained by sanding the mating surfaces. If you’re familiar with the process involved with rabbeting the box and lid to fit you’ll appreciate this technique. It still requires some planing and careful measurements but the results are worth it.

Posted in Splined Miter Plywood, Tutorial | Tagged box construction, box making, dust check, plywood | Leave a comment

Lidded Plywood Box — Project in Progress

Posted on May 21, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

I’ve been in correspondence with an arts center that specializes in ceramics. What they have in mind are foam lined boxes used to display, ship, and protect some of their finer pieces. Thankfully, they would be responsible for the foam inserts since I know how labor intensive it can be fitting items into boxes. My work creating the pistol cases showed me that. In those, the pistol is fit into a wooden panel and is supported by a layer of foam and deer hide. So, on this project my responsibility is focused on making the boxes of specific sizes.

I prefer using solid wood rather than plywood but the size of some of the items would make that difficult and quite expensive. Can’t deny that it’s much easier and cost efficient to make a 6″ deep by 14″ square box out of a cabinet grade plywood than gluing up panels to make it from solid material. Another huge plus is that with plywood you don’t need to be concerned with the seasonal changes and movement of wood. The disadvantage to plywoods is their extremely thin outer veneer on today’s products. I’ve been working with wood since the 60’s and have seen how much thinner the show face is on a piece of plywood. Nowadays it’s paper thin; it used to be at least 1/16″ or more. Well, just need to be extra careful when working on this project. I’m making this prototype for them out of some Red Oak plywood that I had on hand but we may go to a Maple for less pronounced grain. These will need to be stained and then top coated with a polyurethane so they can be handled.

Exact 45 degrees angle is crucial

Much of the initial work will be done with machinery. The first thing is to make sure the tablesaw blade is set at exactly 45 degrees and opposite pieces are the same exact size. I purchased a CMT, 80 tooth blade especially for this project. It comes highly rated and I need to get the cleanest cuts possible on the plywood. By using a miter sled and stop blocks the pieces will be cut to size as required.

It’s a pretty straight forward process I’ll illustrate with this slide show:

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Just an aside, did you happen to notice the miter square in the first photo? I’ve always wanted a small one to use when making boxes and fitting small moldings. The large, 12″ combo square I have is too awkward and the small sized sliding bevel square tends to change and the body gets in the way when drawing a line. Mitered lines don’t need the precision of a knife edge so I thought a wooden one would work out. Priced some and couldn’t really justify buying something I thought I could make so made this one from some Canarywood, Purpleheart, and Birch for the tongue. Check it out!

Inspiration photo and parts

Completed miter square

After the box is assembled I’ll need to radius the corners and then comes the tricky part — separating the lid from the bottom. In my next post I’ll demonstrate how to make an integral dust check by dadoing out the inside of the box before assembly. The weather has really cooperated with me on this one! Glue ups are always stressful and doing 4 corners, splines, and top and bottom is a lot of glue to spread. The temps have been in the mid 80’s giving me plenty of time to get it all done. On a box of this size I’ll use packing tape to begin the process and then add some band clamps as a final step. The top and bottom are attached and clamped to dry overnight. Here’s a shot of the piece clamped and waiting for the next steps!

Posted in Splined Miter Plywood, Tutorial | Tagged art center, ceramics, miter sled, Oak plywood box, presentation box, Prototype, tablesawn miters | Leave a comment

Juried In !!!

Posted on May 18, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

I received an email from the San Diego County Fair the other day telling me that the HDTV stand was accepted into the Design in Wood competition. Wow is all I can say to that! The Design in Wood is sponsored by the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association and this is the 33rd. annual show. It is held in conjunction with the San Diego County Fair. According to the literature, this is one of the largest woodworking events on the west coast so, needless to say; I feel honored to just have my work juried in.

There are many categories and prizes awarded at this show but just having my work juried into it by fellow woodworkers is enough for me. Not sure how many entries they receive for the show but there’s only so much floor space in the exhibit hall. It is possible to sell through this as well; something Diane hopes doesn’t happen but I’d be fine with it. I think I learned a lot from the mistakes made along the way and would be happy to build this project again.

Application to the show required the submission of three photographs. One of them is the photo at the top of this blog. To show the sliding door and drawer details, this photograph was submitted.

The final photo I choose was this one. In it I hoped to illustrate how the dovetail theme was carried on through-out the piece. The shelf and bottom stretcher are joined to the sides with dovetails as are the drawer dividers. The theme was continued with the pulls made of Birdseye Maple.

The fair and shows opening day is June 6th. and it closes on July 7th. I’ll need to deliver the piece to the fairgrounds on the 29th. of this month which makes for a good road trip; I enjoy driving. My ex brother-in-law will meet me there and help me unload the cabinet and then we’ll have lunch together before I head back to Las Vegas. I’m looking forward to having this cabinet exhibited and getting some time to catch up with Lee in San Diego. It’s a good five hour trip one way and will make for a nice weekend get away for Diane and I to go to the show opening.

Posted in HDTV Stand | Tagged Big Leaf Maple, Design in Wood 2014, Handcut Dovetails, San Diego County Fair 2013, Sapele | 6 Comments

Why I Like Old Brown Glue

Posted on May 13, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

Glue technology has come a long way from the days where you’d have to keep a glue pot warm in the shop. That was the first thing you probably did — “put on the glue” so that it was ready for use during the day. Then came the PVA glues and things became easier, just so the bottle was at room temperature it was ready as soon as you took it off the shelf. For the majority of cabinet and furniture work PVA glues are great, however; some applications call for a different strategy. One example is bent laminations, for that I prefer a plastic resorcinol glue that requires mixing but won’t creep like the PVA glue will.

For construction involving dovetails, finger joints, and splines I’ve found that you just can’t beat the properties of liquid hide glue. Now that it’s available pre-mixed you don’t have to heat and mix it in your glue pot. There are a couple of products on the market, notably one by Titebond and another called Old Brown Glue. I’ve used both but really prefer the Old Brown Glue for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it’s made in the USA by a man named Patrick Edwards. That kind of goes with my philosophy of buying local, buying USA, and supporting smaller craftsman such as myself. It’s probably why prefer to shop on ETSY rather than a large chain store. I’ve actually written emails with questions about the glue to Patrick and received a response within a day’s time.

In any case, what prompted me to write this blog and Ode to liquid hide glue is a prototype box design I’m working on plus a fellow woodworking friend of mine ran into some difficulties on a splined, mitered corner box she was making. This was mentioned on her Facebook and being the retired teacher-dude that I am I saw the need for writing this. She mentioned what a devil of a time she had assembling that box because the PVA glue has a tendency to swell the wood fibers — this makes bringing the corners together once the glue is applied very difficult to say the least! Liquid hide glue does not cause the wood fibers to swell. That’s a huge plus for that application and also doing a finger jointed box. Maybe you’ve attempted that and the joints that went together nicely during your dry fit needed a mallet and some choice words to go together once the PVA was applied. Compared to most PVA glues, liquid hide has a much longer open time too. The only preparation modern hide glue requires is to warm it up prior to use. I use an insulated coffee cup filled with hot tap water. The last disadvantage to liquid hide I can think of is a shelf life of about 6 months which can be extended by storing it in the refrigerator. I generally buy the smallest quantity to avoid waste.

The prototype boxes I’m currently working on for a ceramic arts collective will be made of plywood and probably require staining. If you’re familiar with my work you’ll know I don’t stain as a general rule but this will be one of those exceptions. Among the reasons I don’t like staining is the fact that if you get glue on the surface, that part won’t accept the stain. This was one of the main reasons I wanted to make a prototype. The boxes in question will probably be made of 1/2″ Maple plywood. I had some 1/2″ Oak on hand so that’s what I used. The box was assembled by first securing the sides with packing tape and then adding a band clamp but I made no attempt to wipe off any excess glue squeeze out:

OaK Ply box — glued up

The glue spot is pretty evident on the upper, right hand corner. Next, I took a white scotch pad, dipped it in clean water and proceeded to scrub away at the glue. The water was replenished every time the surface got gummy:

Scrubbing away the glue

Once all of the gummy stuff was gone, a shop towel wiped the surface dry:

Drying the surface

The box was stained with a Minwax Early American stain once it was thoroughly dry. This was top coated with a wipe on poly the next day and here’s the result.

Stained with one coat of wipe on poly

CA glue rejected stain!

As you can see, there is no evidence of glue staining where excess glue squeezed out of the joints. By comparison this picture shows a little section I attempted to repair with CA glue. The plywood was pretty brittle and a small sliver developed on the corner. I gave it a squirt of the CA glue to hold it in place and that rejected the stain!

If you’ve never tried Old Brown Glue I’d encourage you to go on line and order a small bottle of it. The link I gave at the beginning of this blog has all of the usual FAQ’s plus video’s of the product being used. You just may find it’s the answer to any hassles you may have had gluing up finger joints, dovetails, and splined miters in your work. When you consider the longer open time and ease of clean up with it there are a lot of advantages over PVA glues.

Posted in Splined Miter Plywood | Tagged dovetail assembly, finger joint assembly, glue clean-up, liquid hide glue, Old Brown Glue, splined miter assembly, Titebond Liquid Hide Glue | 4 Comments

Two Fingered Typist Blog!

Posted on May 4, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

Well, I suppose I should explain that strange sounding title to you. Now that the HDTV cabinet is complete I decided it was time to delve into some less intense work. I don’t know about the rest of you but when I get into a project I’ll eat, sleep, dream, and pretty much do nothing else — in other words; I get pretty intense on things. That probably explains my running addiction of 4 decades that began with 10k’s and ended with 100 milers! I wanted to spread my time around more than one project. Before I get into those, this picture explains the title of this post. During the lighting upgrades of Diane’s’ studio (one of my projects) I needed to drill a hole into a metal junction box on the drill press. I suppose (NO, now I know!) the clamp wasn’t positioned quite right because the box broke free and spun into the nearest digit when the bit exited the other side. After an hour or so of direct pressure, elevation, etc. I wasn’t able to stop the bleeding so off to QuickCare I went. Four stitches later and we’re home again. I did manage to work on Friday and completed the installation but will hold off until the stitches are removed to paint the area the old, flourescent fixture was. Now Diane has wonderful light with very little shadows as these pictures show. Pretty amazing, the expected life span of these bulbs is 22.8 years based on average 3 hour daily use.

Lights Off

Lights On

Very few shadows

Before that episode there was some experimental carving. Carving isn’t quite as intense; as the guys in the carving club say: “it’s only wood”. One of the guys, Randy, who is an accomplished carver; showed me how he put a stocking cap and face on his egg so I followed his lead and came up with this little character — fun!

In the meantime another project to tackle was adding boxes to my inventory on Etsy Store. There’s a series of boxes I’ve named Slanted Dovetails because of the construction technique. Combining a piece of Brazilian Satinwood with some Black Limba should be a nice contrast. One of the boxes (if all goes according to plan) will be called the Pear Box, the other the Yin/Yan Box. I was able to start on them before my accident so here’s a little pictorial.

Shooting board to square bottom

Tenon Jig to do a faux Stanley 140 trick

14 Degree tails laid out

Rough cut to shape prior to cutting tails

Anxious to see how these will develop. By using the tenoning jig it’s probably the safest way to cut a shoulder on the box sides. This is a technique used that will result in clean corners on the inside of a box or drawer. The Stanley 140 is a skewed, rabbet block plane that was initially used to remove the material. Not having a pair of them, this is what I use instead. The box sides are already grooved for the bottom so after tracing the shape of the end pieces the tails can be visualized and laid out. They are then roughly cut to shape to make cutting the tails easier. Notice the tweezers? Satinwood gives many fine splinters which makes me question the name of Satinwood!

During this time I also had an inquiry from the website regarding presentation boxes for a ceramics studio in California. We’re close to the final design and I was concerned that I wouldn’t heal up soon enough to meet their time frame. Thankfully, there is no big rush on them so these will probably be similar to this Black Dyed Box done previously. These are made of quality plywood and feature an integral dust stop and lift off lid. I also received this inquiry from the website but think it may be fictitious or at least a spam:

Talk to me about your project.: I am Mr.Paul and would like to order(Furniture) and what would be the price for each unit so that i can Quote you with the Quantity i want to order.. Also what type of payment do you accept, Thank you and reply
ASAP

Would you agree?

Posted in Home Remodel, Slanted Dovetail Box, Uncategorized | Tagged carving an egg, LED lighting, recessed lighting, slanted dovetails, Stanley 140 trick, woodcarving, wooden boxes | 3 Comments

In the House — Diane is Happy!! (me too)

Posted on April 27, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

Woodworks by John: HDTV Stands

It seems as if this project has taken a long time but I was never in a huge rush to complete it, rather; I wanted to enjoy the process and learn as much as I possibly could from it. And learn I did! These particular pieces of Sapele proved to be quite difficult to work. Cutting the dovetails was challenging due to the interlocked and sinewy grain. All the surfaces were hand planed, the only abrasives used was some 600-1000 grit paper to rub out the shellac finish. There is evidence of some tear out in a few places but knowing that we tend to be our own worst critics and being satisfied that I gave it my all I’m going to live with that. The Big Leaf Maple on the sliding doors was easier to work with than I thought and they came out beautifully.

Access for Control Box

The piece fits exactly where intended but Diane mentioned that the chair needs to be re-positioned a bit but no big deal. My main goal was to have a central place for our limited media. You may recall I didn’t want the control box and DVD player on open shelves or behind glass doors — they need to be hidden! In this picture you can see how little the door needs to be slid open to access the control box.

As far as the over-all design I think the upsweep on the edge of the top gives it an Asian feel. The Sapele, although difficult to work, has some beautiful grain patterns that flow across the drawer fronts. Hard to photograph the top but the grain mimics the drawers with a bit of swirl on the front edge to add even more interest. At 26 1/2″ high, the televisions viewing height is just right. Ideally I’d love to make a cabinet that incorporates a TV lift but having done one for a client I know the price of a quality lift is just not in our budget!

So, what’s next? Until the next paying commission I’ll probably work on some new box designs for the Etsy store. This seems to be a fairly slow time there so it’ll give me a chance to build up inventory. Diane’s studio is due for a lighting make over too. Ever since I did the recessed LED lighting in our kitchen it’s been a strong contender for the studio. Time to get rid of the fluorescent fixture, upgrade, and save on energy costs there as well.

Hope you ( my WordPress followers) have enjoyed watching this cabinet come to life and I appreciate your comments and interest along the way. Actual work time was roughly 90 hours but in my opinion, my time couldn’t have been spent in any better way.

Posted in HDTV Stand, Uncategorized | Tagged Big Leaf Maple, HDTV stand, Sapele | 2 Comments

So Close I Can Almost Taste It!!

Posted on April 20, 2014 by woodworksbyjohn

85+ Hours and a few to go!

You wouldn’t believe how happy I am to be at this stage. The top is completely roughed out and now that I see it laying on the rest of the cabinet my vision and sketches have come to life — great!

I knew going into this project that there would be challenges. Working with these particular boards of Sapele proved to be one of the biggest. In my opinion, the ribbon grain and coloration are beautiful and the platinum shellac shows it to its best advantage. Planing the interlocked grain and cutting dovetails in it was tough. The top consists of two boards and there was a considerable amount of winding after they were glued up. Flattening began with the scrub plane and progressed to jack and jointer. I did some work with the smooth plane just to see what I’d be up against but wanted to get it to the stage you see in the picture before final work was done.

Leveling across the width with Scrub Plane

Checking with Winding Sticks

At times it was easier to pull the Jointer Plane!

A work in progress

Once the board was prepared it was time to cut it to size. The width is 15 3/4″ and the length is 50 1/2″ which allows for a 3″ overhang on each side.

Planing the working edge

Cut to length with trim saw and guide

Removing saw marks with block plane on ends

That’s done so it’s time to taper the ends. After placing some green tape on it I began to draw in different angles. My neighbors stopped by to see what I was up to and she really admired the pulls calling them “bow-ties”. I mentioned that they were supposed to mimic the 14 degree angle of the dovetails so she suggested tapering the ends at that same angle — problem solved; thanks Ann! Now to figure out how to go about accomplishing that.

Being a hand tool aficionado my first thought was to hand plance them completely. After some experimentation on the cut off piece I realized that the grain would fight me every step of the way. Too large to try beveling or tapering it on the bandsaw so after experimenting on the cut off I came up with this method using a router and a 1/2″ straight bit. After drawing the bevel on the edge plus the starting and ending point of the taper, successive cuts of about 3/16″ were taken from each end. To simplify holding the board it was clamped to the tablesaw rip fence. Now I could get to it from both sides. After the initial roughing out work with the router I needed to see what I was working to and that’s the purpose of the green tape. I found that it easier and more controllable to plane across the grain. Once it was close to the lines, the jack plane finished it off nicely.

Successive passes with fence guided router

Roughed out steps for 14 degree angle

Beginnings with the block plane

Final tapering with jack plane

Next week will find me doing the final smooth work and finishing —-

Happy Easter to All of You — John

Posted in HDTV Stand | Tagged hand planing, jack plane, jointer plane, router, Sapele, Scrub Plane, smooth plane, tapered ends, winding sticks | 5 Comments