# Works in Progress



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

*Humidor - and so it begins...*

I was going to build a humidor for my brother in law, Raul, for Christmas, but at the last minute, I decided to hold off and consult with him to find out his specific desires. Good thing I did, now I'm armed with knowledge, a lot of great new tools to help me facilitate the task, two of which he bought me for Christmas. First this lovely Veritas dovetail guide










and this great addition to my router plane, an inlay cutter head










Just got back from Woodcrafters with some lovely Spanish Cedar for the build.










Let the games begin


----------



## Bogeyguy (Sep 26, 2012)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor - and so it begins...*
> 
> I was going to build a humidor for my brother in law, Raul, for Christmas, but at the last minute, I decided to hold off and consult with him to find out his specific desires. Good thing I did, now I'm armed with knowledge, a lot of great new tools to help me facilitate the task, two of which he bought me for Christmas. First this lovely Veritas dovetail guide
> 
> ...


He must like you a lot. Either that or he wants a humidor to make others jealous.


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor - and so it begins...*
> 
> I was going to build a humidor for my brother in law, Raul, for Christmas, but at the last minute, I decided to hold off and consult with him to find out his specific desires. Good thing I did, now I'm armed with knowledge, a lot of great new tools to help me facilitate the task, two of which he bought me for Christmas. First this lovely Veritas dovetail guide
> 
> ...


Ahh ha ha… I just hope I can deliver. He's got a few really nice ones already, so I have some grandfathered in competition, but according to him, none of them is the ideal size. I'm hoping to deliver something simple yet elegant, finely hand-crafted and most importantly a humidor with good performance.


----------



## Bogeyguy (Sep 26, 2012)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor - and so it begins...*
> 
> I was going to build a humidor for my brother in law, Raul, for Christmas, but at the last minute, I decided to hold off and consult with him to find out his specific desires. Good thing I did, now I'm armed with knowledge, a lot of great new tools to help me facilitate the task, two of which he bought me for Christmas. First this lovely Veritas dovetail guide
> 
> ...


Go for it Jerry.


----------



## JulianLech (Jan 13, 2011)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor - and so it begins...*
> 
> I was going to build a humidor for my brother in law, Raul, for Christmas, but at the last minute, I decided to hold off and consult with him to find out his specific desires. Good thing I did, now I'm armed with knowledge, a lot of great new tools to help me facilitate the task, two of which he bought me for Christmas. First this lovely Veritas dovetail guide
> 
> ...


Great way to cut for inlay with the router plane. Very cool.


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor - and so it begins...*
> 
> I was going to build a humidor for my brother in law, Raul, for Christmas, but at the last minute, I decided to hold off and consult with him to find out his specific desires. Good thing I did, now I'm armed with knowledge, a lot of great new tools to help me facilitate the task, two of which he bought me for Christmas. First this lovely Veritas dovetail guide
> 
> ...


Very nice gifts Jerry. I'm sure you will make him a worthy box and use those new tools to do part of the work.


----------



## tomd (Jan 29, 2008)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor - and so it begins...*
> 
> I was going to build a humidor for my brother in law, Raul, for Christmas, but at the last minute, I decided to hold off and consult with him to find out his specific desires. Good thing I did, now I'm armed with knowledge, a lot of great new tools to help me facilitate the task, two of which he bought me for Christmas. First this lovely Veritas dovetail guide
> 
> ...


I think it's going to need dovetails, and some fancy inlay, but that's just a guess.


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

*Humidor test build - first pics*

This is a picture of my first test humidor, obviously it's a work in progress. I'm using box joints like this for it, and I am using the Freud box joint table saw blade set. I chose some cheap hemlock because I was not sure how well I would do.
Aside from some tear out because my table saw jig was set up ( sawn through ) for 3/4" depth of cut, and now for the build I'm using 1/2" wood and depth of cut, it didn't come out too badly. The tear out problem was unforeseen, but I will repair the jig tomorrow and it shouldn't be an issue in the future. I'm building the final iteration of the humidor out of black walnut and spanish cedar, but I didn't want to touch the good stuff until I was sure I could pull off the joinery.










I DID figure out a pretty nifty trick though. I'm sure I'm not the first to think of it, but I'm offering it up here for whatever it's worth.

When you build a box joint jig, you have to make two keys, one for the jig, and one is a reference key. You cut the original key to twice the length needed, then cut it in half, and then glue one of the pieces into the jig, the second one is used to set the correct distance from the key glued in the jig to the side of the saw blade in future setups. This is not perfect, and in fact, the original may be imperfect. For me, the jig always seems to cut a little on the loose side, so you have increase the distance from the saw blade to the key to make the joint tighter.

How to measure for this???

Well, I pulled out my automotive feeler gauges, and proceeded to insert several in turn in the finished test joints between the pins. When I got a good tight interference fit, like you would get when setting spark plug gaps, I then used that feeler gauge in between the jig key and the reference key to make my final adjustments on the table saw.

Worked like magic, I was out 0.016"


----------



## Robsshop (Apr 3, 2010)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor test build - first pics*
> 
> This is a picture of my first test humidor, obviously it's a work in progress. I'm using box joints like this for it, and I am using the Freud box joint table saw blade set. I chose some cheap hemlock because I was not sure how well I would do.
> Aside from some tear out because my table saw jig was set up ( sawn through ) for 3/4" depth of cut, and now for the build I'm using 1/2" wood and depth of cut, it didn't come out too badly. The tear out problem was unforeseen, but I will repair the jig tomorrow and it shouldn't be an issue in the future. I'm building the final iteration of the humidor out of black walnut and spanish cedar, but I didn't want to touch the good stuff until I was sure I could pull off the joinery.
> ...


Looks like your off to a good start on the humidor ! I will be keeping tabs on your progress as I am eventually going to make myself a nice humidor I can call my own. Good luck and thanks for sharing !.......ROB


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

*Humidor Test Build - Day Two*

In these first two pictures you can see I've managed to smooth out the box joints. I planed the end grain of the pins with the No. 4 and then sanded. I also needed to use the small block plane to even out the tops and bottoms so all the corners matched up correctly.



















I edge glued two 5.5" pieces together to form the slabs for the top and bottom. I used epoxy. Here they are sanded.



















Here's a test fitting of the top and bottom, things are looking good so far.


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

*Humidor Test Build - Day Three*

Starting to look like something now. Still needs a little more sanding and a nice finish before parting the top from the bottom.

I had intended to do a fully functional humidor for this test, but I went to Woodcrafters today and found out that Spanish Cedar has skyrocketed, so since this is a test, I will probably make the liner out of some inexpensive wood and just make this a box.

The wood is hemlock, and is very cheap, but I chose it because I liked the nice tight straight grain. It cleans up real nice too. Other than the fact that it is really brittle and easy to chip, I like the look of this wood.


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

*Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*

Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.

I found a really cool solution for parting the lid from the box. I was not to happy with all the techniques I'd seen using a table saw, because I knew I would lose 1/8" to the saw kerf. Instead, I bought this nifty little 6 Piece Rotary Saw Blade Kit at Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-hss-saw-blade-with-mandrel-set-67224.html

Then I mounted the biggest blade on my drill press, set the height for the part line, and set the fence to a distance that would part the lid to within 1/32" but not cut all the way through.

I then wrapped the box with masking tape at the cut line to prevent tear out.

After the lid was cut all the way around, I finished parting it with a Dozuki and planed the remaining ridge with a block plane.

To make the liner, I split some 1/2" hemlock, same wood as the box on the table saw, then planed it down with my Stanley No. 8 jointer plane to 3/16"

To do the miter joints for the liner, I made a Japanese joinery style jig from a Douglas Fir 2×4, being extremely careful to make it accurate.

I then tested the jig. These are my very first hand cut miter joints, and I'm pretty happy with them, although there is always room for improvement.

"You can see the video of my first test miter joint here:






and here is the final result on the liner. This is not currently glued up, it's just placed in there.


----------



## DrPain (Sep 2, 2009)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*
> 
> Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.
> 
> ...


Interesting way to make the miter joints. I've never seen a jig like that.


----------



## djwong (Aug 2, 2009)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*
> 
> Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.
> 
> ...


You might get an improvement in the miter if you hand saw, or chisel away, most of the miter waste, and use your jig to make the final trim cuts. Less chance of crushing the end grain fibers, or the chisel wandering. The box looks great.


----------



## Woodmaster1 (Apr 26, 2011)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*
> 
> Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.
> 
> ...


Looks like a great way to get a better miter joint.


----------



## Farrout (Oct 6, 2009)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*
> 
> Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.
> 
> ...


I'm on my way to Harbor Freight to get a set of those blades.


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*
> 
> Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.
> 
> ...


djwong, RE: "You might get an improvement in the miter if you hand saw, or chisel away, most of the miter waste, and use your jig to make the final trim cuts. Less chance of crushing the end grain fibers, or the chisel wandering. The box looks great."

I agree with you 100% when it comes to larger stock. If this were 1/2" or better I would no doubt have done that. In this particular case, the liner pieces are 3/16" hemlock, very thin, soft wood. My chisels are razor sharp, and the work is clamped, so in this case I didn't feel the need to remove extra waste since the waste removed was little more than crumbs in the first place, but I do appreciate the comment very much. Great score on the A3 Hammer, by the way.


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*
> 
> Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the comments guys, I must admit, I stole the idea from a Japanese joinery video.


----------



## Aburris1111 (Feb 5, 2014)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Day Four - Some Japanese Joinery Technique*
> 
> Well, I decided that even though it was too expensive to use real Spanish cedar for a test project, that I should go ahead and make a liner anyway like I would do if this was going to be a real humidor.
> 
> ...


Clever


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

*Humidor Test Build - Finished*

I did not have time to post progress yesterday, but today I finished the humidor test build. My wife has absconded with it to hold her art supplies in, so it will not be getting a hygrometer.

Before Hinges and before gluing the liner in


















Remaining pics show the completed project














































Top










Bottom


----------



## RichardDePetris (Oct 14, 2013)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Finished*
> 
> I did not have time to post progress yesterday, but today I finished the humidor test build. My wife has absconded with it to hold her art supplies in, so it will not be getting a hygrometer.
> 
> ...


This is completely irrelevant, but what kind of vintage keyboard is that? Is it some kind of Model-M style keyboard with the clickly sound? I have several IBM Model-m that I use for work. Can't type on anything else.


----------



## Sigung (Nov 20, 2013)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Finished*
> 
> I did not have time to post progress yesterday, but today I finished the humidor test build. My wife has absconded with it to hold her art supplies in, so it will not be getting a hygrometer.
> 
> ...


One of my prized possessions from a bygone era. This is a "Switchboard" made by the company Datadesk International out of Rolling Bay, WA.

http://www.datadesktech.com/desktop_base.html

This keyboard had the unique ability to be used on several Macintosh or PC computers. As you can see from the third and fourth pictures this was accomplished by different dip switch configurations. Furthermore, you can move the three central modules, into any position you prefer, for example you could have the ten key on the left, keyboard on the right, or any other combination. This appealed to me greatly because I always hated having the keyboard to the far left, rather preferring to have it in the center where it logically belongs.

From their website:

"Datadesk pioneered the third-party Macintosh keyboard market by developing IBM-style keyboards for Macintosh users including the first extended keyboard with function keys (the MAC-101). It was on this product that Bill Gates first demonstrated Microsoft Word for the Macintosh.

The company was the first to develop a cross platform user-configurable keyboard-the SwitchBoard-that enabled users to actually re-arrange the physical layout of the keyboard by plugging and unplugging components in a variety of positions."

They no longer make this. If you manage to find one on eBay or some other venue, make sure you get both cables, as it came with a Mac serial cable and a PC cable as well. I'm using a serial to USB converter to connect it to my more modern PC.


----------



## RichardDePetris (Oct 14, 2013)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Finished*
> 
> I did not have time to post progress yesterday, but today I finished the humidor test build. My wife has absconded with it to hold her art supplies in, so it will not be getting a hygrometer.
> 
> ...


Wow! Thanks. I have a bunch of old extended Mac II keyboards including the compact keyboard II and a very rare Mac II keyboard. They are great to type on. I also have a rare IBM model F PC AT and a equally rare grey model M.


----------



## garmos (Feb 12, 2016)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Finished*
> 
> I did not have time to post progress yesterday, but today I finished the humidor test build. My wife has absconded with it to hold her art supplies in, so it will not be getting a hygrometer.
> 
> ...


did you ever post pictures of the finished humidor?


----------



## garmos (Feb 12, 2016)

Sigung said:


> *Humidor Test Build - Finished*
> 
> I did not have time to post progress yesterday, but today I finished the humidor test build. My wife has absconded with it to hold her art supplies in, so it will not be getting a hygrometer.
> 
> ...


if so what wood did you use for the outside


----------

