The steep learning curve. at LumberJocks.com

Handcut

che — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:30:37 GMT

I recently got “Hand-Cut Dovetails” with Rob Cosman and started practicing. This is the first attempt which is now a baby toy (no lead).
Lessons learned. The stock is 1/4” thick. I think thicker material (3/4”) would be easier.

Table Saw Sled

che — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:18:33 GMT

The home renovations are nearing an end (for now) and I am making some Victorian style base boards to replace the ones which were torn up during the renovations. More info on the base boards when they are installed. I need to scarf a couple of boards together for the longer walls and miter all the ends. The stock miter gauge worked fine for the smaller pieces but wasn’t up to the task when I tried to cut the ends of the 8’ long 1×10’s; too much torque. A crosscut sled was clearly needed. I need to make both 90 and 45 cuts so the sled won’t be zero clearance. The sled was cut from a quarter sheet of ¾ MDF. I need to replace the runner since MDF isn’t the best material. I’ll have to order some UHMWPE or similar. The fence is doubled up around the blade to provide extra support and a little margin of safety from the blade coming thru the back side. I will likely add a 2×4 or similar to the back to keep my hands away. The sled was glued and tacked with brad nails and reinforced with screws once the glue dried.
Finished assembly:

Cut from a quarter sheet of ¾ MDF:

Inspired or Insane

che — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:01:08 GMT

After mulling around a bit thinking about the music box I want to build and cursing the lack of tools in my shop (specifically the Rikon 10-325 I not so secretly lust after) I was remembered a post I read and was inspired,

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/woodspar/blog/1370

or stricken by a very severe dementia. I’m not sure. I plan on building a music box with a frame and panel top. The frame will likely be curly maple and the panel will be a black walnut crotch. The crotch I have is 6/4 thick and I would like either a 1/2 or 1/4” thick panel in the 1/2” thick frame.

Day 1 photo:

I’m going back and forth on the curly maple / walnut crotch. I’m worried that it will be too busy. At one point I wanted curly maple and curly (something dark) but I got 2 nice crotches and thought that one of them would be great for the panel. Maybe I’ll have to get a little piece of dark curly wood and go back to the original plan and use the crotches elsewhere. Thoughts?

Weekend Work

che — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:52:26 GMT

House Update: This weekend my mother in law visited on the weekend and some good friends visited Sunday and Monday night. As a result I didn’t get a lot of wood working done, but had a great time with the various guests. I did finish routing and pre-sanding the base boards for the family room. The house we are fixing up is a 1900 row home and has real brick walls with plaster (in most cases). The plaster stops short of the floors by 6” or so. They left this space to run electrical wires etc. The base boards are about 10” tall and are made of 3 pieces of wood. The bottom piece is about 7/8×1-3/4” it has one corner rounded over and has a groove. This bottom piece is attached to the floor and supports the bottom of the main piece which has a tung on the bottom and a lap cut in the top. The top piece is 2-1/2” tall molding and is attached to the top board via the lap joint. I was thinking of making these two from one piece of stock but I’m limited to router profiles and the profiles were all too small.

We also got the family room carpet rough cut. The carpet is not intended to be a long term addition to the family room (less than 5 years). The long term plan is to have bamboo floors in all the non-wet spaces. With the recent addition to the family we elected to postpone the bamboo and to carpet the family room.

In a happy woodworking note I got 2 pieces of crotch walnut I’m going to use some of it on a music box. I’m 99% sure I’m going to scrap the original plans as well as the modifications to make it fit in the wood joinery contest. I’ve modernized the design a lot. Basic idea is a tiger maple box with hand cut dovetails. The top will be frame and panel with a tiger maple frame and walnut panel. The one piece of walnut is FABULOUS I would really like to re-saw it and use it as a book matched panels in a small jewelry case. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe I can use the straight parts of the walnut for the frame…

More later.

Next Project - Music Box

che — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:19:48 GMT

I’m going to try and enter my next project into the wood joinery contest. I’m going to try and modify the Rockler music box plan to satisfy the wood joinery requirements. I think the challenge is going to be the sides. So I’m looking for ideas on how to joint the sides. They call for simple miter joints but that won’t work for the wood joinery contest. Please comment with any ideas.

http://images.rockler.com/rockler/images/41898-md.jpg

This picture shows a glass front but I’m going to make the version with solid front and sides and a frame and panel top.

Thanks,

History

che — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:17:06 GMT

A little Background…

A friend of mine got me interested in wood racing sail boats, Jet14 & Thistle, and from there I got interested in woodworking in general. My woodworking has also been inspired by the conversion of our 1900 row home. My wife and I are slowly converting it from apartments back into a single family home.

I got my first real piece of shop equipment for Christmas 2006. A wonderful hybrid table saw General International 50-220C M1. I am almost done with my first piece of furniture, which will be in an upcoming post.