Part of the lectern design brief was to incorporate microphone cabling within the structure. Essentially this acts as an extension cable from a socket at the tope to one at the bottom and looks neater. By using two increases flexibility; it allows redundancy should one break, stereo microphones if required, or one can host a gooseneck lamp.

Now I need to decide which of two options would be best to place the mounts. The first inside the top carcass, the second outside it. Placing them inside is easier and neater, but runs the risk of the documents on the lectern overlapping. Placing them outside requires extra pieces of wood as the top is too thin.

Any suggestions?

More to come on the construction of the top carcass. But here’s a sneak peak

This is the latest on a church furniture project I've been slowly working on for 18 months. Other posts to date can be found on my blog.

The first thirty minutes of shop time I’ve had in 6 weeks was spent reviewing the pews. It gave me an opportunity to see the results of various filling experiments I tried on the project. (Of course it’s recommended do technique ‘experiments’ on scraps prior to the actual project, but this time it’s on the project.)

The first ‘filling’ job was the plugs to cover the screws. Made with the Veritas Snug Plug cutters from Indian Ebony these proved to be highly successful. (But ebony is not cheap). The plugs simply tap into to place and hold with glue. To finish simply flush trim and sand.

The first Epoxy experiment was done using the west system microfiber system. The microfiber in fine powder forms acts to thicken the glue and allow better filling properties. However, this also tinges the filler white… not such a good look.

Next up with have microfiber with fine saw dust. Allow I’ve had success with this technique in the past this time it made the filler appear heterogenous (ie. tinged white with flecks of reddy brown). Better but not there yet.

My final option was black oxide. This carbon like powder is designed to colour concrete and is dirt cheap. Used with or without microfiber it made a solid homogeous filling agent. Perfect… well if your wanted black any way.

Defects that were exposed to the element while the tree was standing often have a black edge. I presume this is related to oxidation within the wood. Filling these gaps with black filler is effective.

For other colours, such as to match the reddy brown, I would try even finer saw dust (such as that out of the sander) or turn to dyes and stains to turn that white tinge what ever tinge you want.

Epoxy has a significant advantage over water based fillers such as ‘putty’ – strength. Epoxy can seep into the defect, completely fill it, then set harder than wood, holding the defect together. This strength is essential to fill large defects and stablise burls.

The benches will be assembled with long screws covered by ebony plugs – keeping the detail of the top.

In the shaker design which uses 3/4” timber (cf. 1 1/2” timber in my piece) there is a stretcher beneath the benches to prevent racking and increase strength. Although this is not needed with the thicker timber I plan to add a smaller stretcher for aesthetics.

The top I’ve had completed and finished for nearly 6 months. Given the heat we’ve had lately the top has shrunk about 1.5cm across it’s 1m width. The breadboards were designed for 2cm of movement so this isn’t a problem (other than needing to tidy the breadboards).

Since this last photo was taken I’ve shaped the stretcher supporting the two legs. In keeping with the rest of the piece. It now has a gentle curve thinning the mid section. The ends will be tightened with keyed m&t joints which need to be shaped and sanded.

Work in progress photos and details.

The casework on the Wax Melter is complete. The glass is installed in the top panel (hinges pending.) A back door was cut, laminated and hinged. Two lips (on the glass panel & the the lower door) to keep water from running into the doors. I just need to fine tune the hinges and attach a handle. The next upgrades are metal angle to hold various filters and to build a stand to keep it off the ground.

Details on my blog.

The boards behind the first picture will become the seat and the back rest. I am debating on including a stretched under the seat. In Shaker furniture this added strength to the 3/4” timber, but here it’ll be purely aesthetic. I feel it shall balance the ellipse and the front curve to have a stretcher ~70mm from the front.

There are several options to run ducting the most common is PVC storm water piping, metal ducting, long lengths of flex hose, and all manner of home made solutions. Being my nature I chose to explore what would be the best option, and that is metal ducting. I contacted a company by the name of EziDuct seems to offer a great product… but the quote inspires me to simplify the design.

(Click on diagram to enlarge)

The design is base around a 150mm (6”) spine, upgrades my thicknessner manifold from 100mm to 150mm piping, and allows 2×150mm outlets, 2×100mm outlets and 1×50mm. Let me know your thoughts.

The solid pine lids for the two boxes is complete and ready for finishing. Two boards were matched for grain and rub glued together with titebond III. The pieces then cut to size with the circ saw and guide. The edges were than rabbetted first using the LN rabbet block plane and a offcut as a guide and then the LV plow plane. (The reason for this was the plow plane which lacks a knicker caused significant tear out when used across the grain, the plow plane was used to finished due to a faster action and depth stop.) The groove was cut quickly and easily with the plow plan. The middle 4” is glued with titebond three (to allow expansion). A LN hand saw was then used to trim the edges. The corners are curved with a saw and rasp. The edges a 1/8” CMT round over bit in a bosch trim router. The pieces are ready to final sanding.

I was working on two toy chests for christmas. I was cutting the curve on the base moulding with a jigsaw I heard a clang, followed by a change in pitch of the dust extractor hum. My 3 week old dust extractor.

I cut the power and walked over to explore.

The impellar case was split… a ding in the curve… and some paint missing.

I found this block of wood. A little big for a dust extractor… about 20cm long. (Tells you it’s got some power.) I had the 4” flex hose sitting on my project next the jigsaw. It was doing a good job. Something moved and the hose fell to the ground… I didn’t think much of it and kept cutting. I didn’t think it would find an offcut below me.

I removed the hose mounting to explore inside. A single blade has been bent need flat.

So dusty is out of action for a while. Need a proper repair on this one.

Any tips on fixing it would be more than appreciated.

Base moulding completed with a combination of hand and power tools. Particularly proud of my dovetails and hand planed round over. Certainly learnt a few lessons in other areas though largely related to time and planning in the mitres, glue-up and curve cutting.

The whole process is blogged in detail at the love of wood.

Part 1
Part 2

For a while I didn’t think the toy chests would be made in time, but after two busy days in the shop, it looks like the kids will have toy chest come Christmas. The dovetails dry fitted together and look good. I was very pleased that the first few slide together without fine tuning, but was disappointed by some that needed a bit more work. The apprentice didn’t seem to notice though.

More info and photos on my blog.

Designs
There are various designs available on the internet from a simple foam box with a second hand window frame resting on it to more complex stainless steel models. The limitations of most of these designs however is that they hold only a single frame a time. The design brief for this project outlined the need to hold eight frames, that is an entire box.

(Design by Bee Source)

(Designs by Dadant)

(Design by Envrotom)

My Design
After a few sketches and discussions we came up with this design. The eight frames are arranged on steps at ~30 degrees. (The angle is to allow for maximum sun exposure throughout the day.) Although the vertical design would limit the direct exposure of the frame to the sun the temperature within the box will still achieve desired melting temperature.

This sketchup design only includes the top half. The box is to be extended below to include 1 or 2 filters, the collecting tray, and a back door to allow the access to the tray and filters.

Progress
For detailed updates of the progress check out my blog - Wax Melter Project @ The Love of Wood.

I’m interested in any feedback from people on my technique, design, planing, prevention of errors, anything. The rest of the WIP is on my blog.

The twin leg vice combination truly excels at this task. It securely holds edge side the entire length of the vice. (I did notice some flex in the middle of the pine board which required stablisation with my left hand.)

A 2cm tail is marked every 5cm. I used the Vertias 1:6 dovetail marker, a mechanical pencil, vertias wheel gauge, and a 1m rule to achieve this. You’ll note that both sides are in the vice allowing me to cut tails on both boards at once speeding production.

This is the first time I’ve been able to test my new Wenzloff & Sons Dovetail saw. A nice tool to handle and quick to use.

Both sides complete.

Using eclipse blades in a stanley coping saw I removed the bulk of the waste.

I then cleared up to the waste with a chisel. I used the cut tails and a vesper marking knife to layout the pins on the corresponding board. The pins were cut using the same above technique.

One side complete. Three to go.

I do have to show some errors though. (Fortunately this project is to be painted so the final product will not be effected.)

You can see the rabbet for the base board. Ideally this would be a stopped rabbet or mitred so it cannot be scene. I’m intested in about others would get around this project.

In some of my earlier chiseling my chisel wasn’t sharp enough and I had some resulting blow out and damage to the surface some of which will need some putty filler.

To begin with I tranverse (planing 90 degrees to the average grain direction) with my Stanley No 7. The blade (which is original) I have sharpened with a chamber (curve) to scoop the grain. Tranversing results in small areas of tear out.

The next step would be using a jointer or a smoother plane to make passes at 45 degrees and then parallel to the grain. The process needs constant checking with straight edges and winding sticks to make sure you’re still flat. But I don’t have a good smoother… so it’s back to the power tools.

Using a belt sander (Makita 9924DB) I first traverse and then move parallel to remove the plane marks.

Using a random orbit sander (Makita BO5021KX1) I then remove the belt sander marks.

In the end I have four boards 540mm x 860mm ready for joining.

This technique is not perfect, but it works. Hand planing to finish would be faster, more enjoyable, less dusty, and result in a better finish. (Though care must be taken for tear out.) However, you need a finely tuned smoother which I just don’t have. Did I mention there is a wish list on this site….

Sneak Peak: The Next Step – Dovetailing the Sides

The sliding leg vice comes into it’s own…

(Photos are not of the blanket chest, but rather the wax melter, technique is the same.)

Step 1 – Purchasing the Timber

I purchased the timber (with an extra few boards) from Bunnings. Fortunately they must have had new stock in and the boards I selected were actually close to flat and without major defects or many knots.

Step 2 – The Rough Cut Battle Plan

After marking out all my cuts (with margin for error) I then rough cut the pieces using my Makita Jigsaw.

Step 3 – Jointing

The boards were close to flat from the shop. Although, I would normally still go through the processing of dressing the timber (jointing and thicknessing) this time I decided I would hand plane the faces after glue up and would use the machines to do the edges.

Step 4 – The Glue Up

With a new bottle of Titebond 3 I started gluing up the 16 pieces required for the projects.

Here’s some pictures of the joinery. All done by hand (except my coping saw blade broke and the jigsaw was closer than the store.) I had a bit of a blow out while chiseling from the top, still have the piece to go back in. I think I’ll end up wedging all the tenons. You’ll notice the two bottom ones are different sizes to allow for the sliding dovetail.

I’ve got the legs together now. I feel the upright is a little thick. I’m thinking of bowing the sides with a gentle curve of about 1-1.5cm in from each side. What are peoples thoughts? I thought to centre it or have it off centre opposite to where the stretcher tennon will come through.

Despite being a little slow, I tip my hat to Vidi at Maker’s Mark, great product and service. (Though I thought I ordered the smaller 25mm version.)

more info

If you know of a awesome blog I’m missing (including your own) flick me an email, or post a comment below.

Australian Woodworking Blogs
Examples: Derek Cohen , Stuart Lees , Lazy Larry my own”:http://theloveofwood.blogspot.com

Hand Tool Blogs
Examples: Dan's Shop , Logan Shoppe , and Woodworking Magazine.

Blogs with Podcasts
Examples: the woodwhisper, matts basement workshop, and woodtreks

Other Woodworking Blogs
Examples: Blended Woodworking , Design Matters