Hall Mirror #3: And the hits keep-on coming...

Nice job, Greg. Since both of the rails are the same color, it looks like you planned it that way. As far as your resawing with the 1/4” blade, you may want to try tightening up you blade a little next time. Also, maybe use a center guide, instead of the fence, and draw your center line on the material. All I use for everything is a 1/4” blade, but I do run it a little tighter than the indicator on the saw. Thanks for the post, the mirror turned out great.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

I have a bandsaw in the garage with a 1/2” blade I bought for resawing, but I’m waiting for new tires since one flew-off when I was doing a practice cut. It was cutting straight until that point. I’ve seen the center guides in use that allow you to adjust your angle to account for drift, and just haven’t built one yet. I also though about tightening the 1/4” blade, but of course that was after I mangled the cut! (doh!) :)

-- You're a unique and special person, just like everyone else.

Greg,

For all the challenges that you encountered along the way, this sure did turn out great.

This is a great design and you did well on all facets of the project from design to completion of the project.

Momma’s gotta be happy with this hanging in the entry!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Just to let you know, I would have used the same joinery techniques as yourself. I am a pocket screw and biscuit man myself and I love the Domino!

These methods of joinery are fantastic and fully acceptable for these projects.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

This is great. I’m just wondering, you mentioned a cut mirror. Was it pre-cut, or did you need to cut it? If you did it, how tough was it? I really like the project. I’m hoping to finish my current project in two weeks and start on a mirror project of my own. It will also be oak, but not nearly as intricate. I’m glad you blogged this though. I learned a lot.

Here’s a suggestion for resawing a 1” or 3/4” thick board down into two 1/4” thick pieces. Set your table saw blade up about 1/3 of the width of the board. Position the fence so that on when the board is on edge, it will cut down the center of the board. Run the piece through vertical, flip it around and then cut the other side 1/3 of the way through. This will leave you a 1/8” track to cut with the bandsaw. Less strain and I can usually resaw freehand this way. Then just run the boards through the planer to get them to 1/4” or 5/16”. I did this when I bought a bunk of ash a few years back that was about 2” thick. i resawed them using this method to make them all 3/4. Got it for a heck of a deal at 35 cents a board foot since no one wanted to mess with stuff that thick. Great job on the mirror. If you don’t mind I am going to bookmark this blog for my students who want to make a mirror also. Tooldad

Thanks for all the kind comments. Despite a few “issues”, I do think it turned-out pretty-well and as always I learn from my mistakes. I like to think the “expert” in any field is the person who made the most mistakes and learned the most from them.

I had to cut the mirror since the website had the wrong dimensions and the mirror I had was 1/2” too long. I wasn’t happy with that to say the least, but I was able to cut the mirror to size. Using a glass cutter dipped in cutting oil I scored both sides of the mirror and used my jig to hold and snap the end off. It was mostly a clean cut, but a small amount of backing came-off in one corner and there was a jaggy edge or two. All that was hidden in the frame, though, so no worries. I read you needed to seal the cut ends of a mirror back to keep it from further delaminating, so I sealed the edge with some nail polish.

In hindsight the table saw method would have been a fine way to resaw those boards. Since I ended-up going with 1/4” thickness anyway the saw kerf would not have been a factor. Unfortunately, I got it in my head I had to have as close to 3/8” thickness as possible. Once again, I learn something new. I just ordered a new thin kerf Tenryu GM-25540 blade, so in the future I’ll probably use the table saw to ease the burden on the bandsaw in the future.

-- You're a unique and special person, just like everyone else.

woow nice work

-- Do it right the first time. Becuase fixing it is a wast of time.

njce looking mirror

-- franklinalbert@sbcglobal.net

A little update here: My in laws requested a mirror so I went to Ikea to get another one. They have it there still, but no they ARE 47 1/4” long instead of the 47 3/4” I had. Apparently I got one of the last of an old stock that was 1/2” longer. As such, I’ve updated my Sketchup models and material lists to reflect the correct size. If you downloaded them before you may want to get the updated versions.

-- You're a unique and special person, just like everyone else.

really nice. Looks great in its new home

-- making sawdust....

Nice work!

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †