# Entryway Arts & Crafts Mirror & Storage Bench



## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

*Assigning Parts to Boards*

This is my first real attempt at considering wood grain for every element of a project. Everything I've read about "designing with the grain" suggests that putting this effort in before you begin the project will really help bring the end result to that "fine furniture level."

Enough with the quotes. This was a royal pain in the @ss. I thought I ordered 50% extra wood because I'm new at this sorta thing and I wanted to leave plenty of room for flaws, selection, waste, and mistakes. From what I can tell, after working on this for the pat 4 hours, it looks like I ordered exactly the amount this project requires. I'm not sure where my math went wrong, but it's on my list to find out so that I don't make this mistake again. I got really lucky.

Here's what I'm going to be building:









So here's my thought process. There's probably a faster way to do this, and if anyone out there is reading this at all, and if you know a better way, please chime in. This was tricky. Maybe it's easier when you have a huge supply of lumber, and perhaps the reason I had so much difficulty is because I didn't have any extra to choose from, but even so, it took awhile to get to the point where I realized I was running low on stock.

*Best Grain First.* Identify the parts of your project that will be most visible, and where decorative wood grain can be placed for the most dramatic effect. If you went through the trouble of buying figured wood, here is your chance to make it shine.


In my case, the 3 front panels are where I want the best figure to be displayed. 
My wife and I looked through every board and decided on the one we liked the best. We decided to resaw it in half to create a bookmatched panel, and glue it to a substrate to return it to the 3/4" overall thickness.
I made a little template out of poster board to help us decide where to cut the panels.









*Best Grain Second. * The second most important location for beautiful grain: the bench lid. I decided to bookmatch the lid as well, which then requires glueing it to substrate material to return it to the 1" overall thickness.


All of this resawing and veneering is going to take forever. The alternative is to just pick a bunch of differently grained boards that sort of look similar and glue them together. That's the easy way and I've taken that route on every lid and table top I've built so far. This time I'm going to push myself a little harder and see what's to see.

*Straight Legs.* I want straight grain for the legs, and I need enough wood to make them quadralinear, so that the face-grain wraps around the entire 2"x2" leg. I'm going to be using a lock miter router bit for this.


I've attempted a quadralinear leg once before (without a lock miter bit) and failed miserably.
I now own a lock miter bit and have used it successfully on the pine blanket chest.
I've also studied up on how this is done.

*Straight Frames.* For frame & panel construction, it's considered a best practice to use quiet / straight grain boards for your frame, if you're going to have the focus on the panel. Since my panels are going to be wild and crazy, I set aside some straight-grained boards for the panel rails and stiles.

*Curvy Curves. * Ideally I'd be able to cut a board where the grain pattern flows along the same curve as the arcs under my bench. I couldn't find any boards that matched the arcs, so I picked something pretty without being too loud or distracting.

I saw Dave Jeske using blue tape to label the parts of his daughter's hope chest and I thought it was a great idea. In the past I've scribbled, erased, crossed-out, and re-written part names on the face grain, end grain, and side grain and it never seems like I put the label in a spot where it's not going to get sawn or planed off. By writing my part names on blue tape, I can peel the tape off and move it to another board without having to rewrite or erase anything. This happened more than a dozen times as I attempted to figure out this mess.

I methodically went down the cut list, checking off parts as I assigned them to boards.









Keeping track of all these blue tape labels as I scattered them across a dozen or so boards required a lot of back and forth and triple checking. Hopefully everything goes smoothly from here on out and I don't run into any hidden flaws in the wood.

Here is the end result:


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## jeffbranch (Feb 20, 2011)

gildedrain said:


> *Assigning Parts to Boards*
> 
> This is my first real attempt at considering wood grain for every element of a project. Everything I've read about "designing with the grain" suggests that putting this effort in before you begin the project will really help bring the end result to that "fine furniture level."
> 
> ...


From your illustration and your lumber, it looks like you have a nice project going - you seem to have mastered SketchUp pretty well.

I have the same trouble estimating wood quantity. All I can say is it is going to happen from time to time. Also, your method of using poster board to find pleasing grain is interesting.

Good luck with your project. I'm going to follow along.

Jeff

http://jeffbranch.wordpress.com


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

gildedrain said:


> *Assigning Parts to Boards*
> 
> This is my first real attempt at considering wood grain for every element of a project. Everything I've read about "designing with the grain" suggests that putting this effort in before you begin the project will really help bring the end result to that "fine furniture level."
> 
> ...


@jeffbranch: I miscalculated the overall board feet required from a very early stage and upon rechecking the math, I ordered just under exactly enough wood for this project.  I had an extra piece of QSWO leftover from a previous build, so I just squeaked past the finish line. I think I have less than 5% waste overall. /phew!


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

*Starting with the Mirror*

I decided it was too confusing trying to build the bench and the mirror at the same time, so I'm making the mirror first, because it's simpler. I'll have less to think about if I get it out of the way.

*So Step 0: *Stop. Go re-sharpen all your tools. This took about a day or so. Longer than normal because I was trying to grind a camber on most of the irons and I'm not very swift at it yet.

*Step 1:* Cut all parts to rough width and rough length.









*Step 2: *Cut all parts to final width, smooth both faces and edges.









Here's where the sharpening really paid off. I spent a little extra time trying to fine tune my jack plane and the results were ridiculously amazing (to me). This is my first real success with smoothing a board by hand tool in a short amount of time. It's way more fun than sanding.

















*Step 3: *Cut parts to final length.
I tried to use my jack plane and shooting board to square up the end grain, but it was bothering my shoulder. Carolyn has said she wants to buy me the Lie-Nielsen No.51 Shooting Board Plane for Birthday/Christmas this year, but that's over a month and a half away. Not wanting to wait on the project I looked around for an alternative method for squaring up the ends of the boards.









I pulled out my Ulmia Miter Saw and gave it a shot.









I figured that I'd only have a tiny bit of wood on each end that needed to be cleaned up on the shooting board. I was wrong.

The freshly sawn end grain surface left by the Ulmia is almost as smooth as what you'd get from a shooting board. And as for having to make things square…









This is a real problem because now I'm going to have a very difficult time justifying the purchase of such an expensive hand plane. 

*Step 4:* Indicate which way is front and which way is up.

Here are all the parts to final width and final length and final smoothness in place. All they need now is a little joinery so they all fit together. This is going faster than I expected.


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## vcooney (Jan 4, 2009)

gildedrain said:


> *Starting with the Mirror*
> 
> I decided it was too confusing trying to build the bench and the mirror at the same time, so I'm making the mirror first, because it's simpler. I'll have less to think about if I get it out of the way.
> 
> ...


Looking good, how long does it take to cut through one of those boards?
Do you plan on using all hand tools on this project? If so I'll be waiting to see more.
Also the picture with the T-square….I thought the board was glass, very nice work.


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

gildedrain said:


> *Starting with the Mirror*
> 
> I decided it was too confusing trying to build the bench and the mirror at the same time, so I'm making the mirror first, because it's simpler. I'll have less to think about if I get it out of the way.
> 
> ...


@Vince: Whether crosscutting with a panel saw or the miter saw it only takes a few seconds. I never really timed it. Maybe 20-30 saw strokes? Maybe more, it's a pretty smooth cut. I don't do rip cuts by hand. I use my bandsaw and then I joint the edge with my jack plane (I don't own a jointer plane).

As for the hand tool / power tool topic, I share a woodshop with my brother in his garage. These photos so my basement shop, if you can even call it a shop. I don't have space for a lot of power tools at my house and I got sick of having to drive out to his place to do anything, so hand tools at my place (mostly), and power tools at his.

I keep my 13" planer, 6" jointer, and benchtop mortiser at my brother's. If I buy rough-sawn lumber, I'll bring it there and mill it down to thickness and joint the edges with power tools, cut it to rough width and length using his table saw and radial arm saw, and then bring the boards home to get things to final dimensions and mark for the joinery.

In the case of this project, Dunham Hardwood prepped all the boards to S3S for me, so I had him deliver the wood to my place.

I don't do the mortises by hand. I go for a drive, drill a few and visit with my niece and nephews on a Saturday morning. I prefer to cut the tenons on the table saw using a dado stack.

But I do like using hand tools to do most of what a powered router does. So you'll see photos of rabbets and dadoes and grooves and tongues.

And then of course using hand planes to smooth the boards instead of sandpaper. I'm not against sandpaper, I'm just interested in saving myself time and from having to inhale all the dust. If I can't get the planes or the wood to cooperate, I'm not too stubborn to pick up a sanding block and get the job done.

Thanks for the kind words


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## Flocktothewall (Jan 16, 2011)

gildedrain said:


> *Starting with the Mirror*
> 
> I decided it was too confusing trying to build the bench and the mirror at the same time, so I'm making the mirror first, because it's simpler. I'll have less to think about if I get it out of the way.
> 
> ...


Wow I so look forward to seeing this in process!


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

*Tenons*

*Marking the Tenons*
I chose to start with the top rail. I used my precision double square to set my marking gauge to the correct distance, and scored the shoulders of the tenons, then the cheek cuts. This particular part is going to have an arc cut into the rabbet in which the mirror and backer board will live, so there's a little extra meat below the tenon. Ordinarily a tenon wouldn't be cut this small. I'm not sure if it'll end up being a problem or not, but this is the method I've chosen for this project.










*Sawing the Shoulders*
To prevent any grain from tearing, I go over my marking gauge lines with my marking knife and square. Then using a chisel, I cut into the "knife wall" to create a little ramp for my saw to follow.


















I think I heard this tip from Christopher Schwarz. Use the reflection of the wood in the saw plate to make sure your cutting square and plumb. All you have to do is adjust the saw until the wood continues into its reflection perfectly. All the more reason to keep your saw shiny!


















If you're like me and you lack confidence or skill when sawing shoulders on wider boards, add some training wheels. In this next photo I've clamped a board along my shoulder line and I'm using it to help guide the saw.










*Sawing the Cheeks*
I do this on the bandsaw. My carcass saws aren't always big enough to handle this as I've been doing a lot of through-tenons. I try to leave the line so I'll have some wood to pare away to get a good fit later.


















*Finishing up the Tenons*
Just mark and trim away the sides of the tenon. Use a chisel to clean it up if your saw cuts weren't perfectly plumb.










*Important Point About Cut Lists*
As soon as I cut the shoulders for the top rail (the first part I cut), the cut list goes out the window. It doesn't do me any good to cut all of my parts according to the measurements on the cut list anymore because once that first cut was made, errors may have been introduced.

I'll be basing all of my joinery from this point forward on measurements of the work itself. In this case, after the top rail tenons were finished, I placed it alongside the uncut bottom rail and marked the exact locations of the tenon shoulders for the bottom rail. Had I not done this, my bottom rail would have been 1/16" longer than my top rail, which might not sound like much, but in a complicated project, little errors like those can sneak up and bite you. Cut lists are dangerous.

My mirror might not end up measuring exactly what my cut list or Sketchup model said it should be, but as long as my joints are tight, you're never going to notice that it's 1/16" narrower.


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

*Rabbets, Grooves & Tongues*

The top and bottom rail both get rabbets for the mirror and backer board to fit into. The top rail has an extra wide rabbet because most of it is going to be cut away to form the top arc. Rather than pay extra for a curved top edge on the mirror, I'll just curve the wood instead and the effect will be the same.



















The bottom rail gets a groove in its face to receive the tongue of the shelf.




























The left and right stiles get a stopped groove to receive the tongued corbels. I chiseled a small mortise at the end of the groove, used my plow plane to clear out most of the wood, and finished up with the router plane to get everything to the correct depth. I experimented with a little stop block to help me stop the plow plane before hitting the end of the mortise.

A lot of people just screw their corbels onto their stiles, but that feels cheap to me. Everything else is solid wood construction, so why be lazy when attaching the corbels?























































The corbels sit 3/4" lower than the top of the stiles, because the top of the stiles will be turned into tenons which will travel through mortises in the top shelf. Maybe I'll even wedge them in place. We'll see.


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

*Corbels, Arc, Mortises & First Dry Fit*

Using my Sketchup model as a reference I drew the shape of the corbels onto the prepared stock, and cut it out roughly on the bandsaw. Then with sandpaper and a card scraper I smoothed them out to their final shape.

















I forgot to take a photo of the setup for drawing the arc, but basically I bowed a piece of plywood to the correct vertical distance at the center point of the arc and traced the curve with a pencil. Cut it out roughly on the bandsaw, and smoothed it out with sandpaper.









The mortises will be done with my benchtop mortiser, but before I drive out to my brother's shop I need to spend some time marking out where the mortises will be.

*Step 1:* Mark the height of the mortise using the actual tenon as a guide.









*Step 2:* Use a marking gauge set to the distance of the cheek of the tenon from the face of the tenoned part to mark where the face-side edge of the mortise will be. This will ensure that the faces of the parts will be flush to one another when you assemble them.

















*Step 3: *Hold the tenon in place and draw the opposite edge. It's always better to use the actual part for this measurement. Introducing a ruler at this point is an unnecessary step that can introduce errors. If the goal is to make a square hole the exact size of the tenon, the use the tenon as your frame of reference.









*Step 4:* Hold the tenon in place over the mortise-part like so and indicate the depth you'll need the mortise to be. This mark will come in handy when setting the mortiser depth stop.









*Extra Step:* If you screwed up one of the tenons by cutting on the wrong side of the line, like I did, and it's a little smaller than the other one, make sure you mark it clearly and keep track of it the entire time. It's not a mistake if you hide it inside a perfectly fitting mortise. 









*Step 5:* I didn't bring my camera to my brother's shop, but drilling the mortises is pretty straight forward. It's a square chisel with a drill bit inside of it. It drills square holes. For the through-mortises I drilled from both sides to prevent grain from spelching out and ruining the look. 








not bad









perfect, my best fitting through-mortise & tenon yet

I used my brother's router table with a straight bit to make the double-stopped rabbets on the stiles. I'll chisel out the corners by hand.









And here's the final dry fit. The tenon shoulders need a little tweaking to remove the gaps and bring everything in nice and tight, and I'll probably relieve some of the tenon cheeks so the fit is a little easier so I don't run into trouble during glue-up.


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## sb194 (Feb 19, 2010)

gildedrain said:


> *Corbels, Arc, Mortises & First Dry Fit*
> 
> Using my Sketchup model as a reference I drew the shape of the corbels onto the prepared stock, and cut it out roughly on the bandsaw. Then with sandpaper and a card scraper I smoothed them out to their final shape.
> 
> ...


Looking good. The through tenons turned out great.

Sean


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

gildedrain said:


> *Corbels, Arc, Mortises & First Dry Fit*
> 
> Using my Sketchup model as a reference I drew the shape of the corbels onto the prepared stock, and cut it out roughly on the bandsaw. Then with sandpaper and a card scraper I smoothed them out to their final shape.
> 
> ...


I like the style. The Arts and Crafts style is such a simple one, we run the risk of making plain looking projects. The key is adding just enough interest to please the eye. With the arch, cap, shelf, and corbels I think you really hit your mark. 
Very nice work.


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

gildedrain said:


> *Corbels, Arc, Mortises & First Dry Fit*
> 
> Using my Sketchup model as a reference I drew the shape of the corbels onto the prepared stock, and cut it out roughly on the bandsaw. Then with sandpaper and a card scraper I smoothed them out to their final shape.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys. I should have another post up in a couple days as I fine tune the fit, glue it up, and take the final measurements for ordering the mirror.


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## gildedrain (Oct 12, 2012)

*Progress Notes & Grand Finale*

Sorry for dropping this project blog. Life got busy and I wasn't able to keep posting blog entries here on LumberJocks, but here are the highlights from the posts on my personal site. * It's done! *

I had a few delays

I paused the project to figure out a finishing formula

Quadrilinear Legs, Bookmatched Panels, Arcs, Frame & Panel Progress

Made my own scratch stock

Ran into trouble resawing for a bookmatched bench lid

Another delay

Scratch beading, floor boards, and the worst possible thing that could have happened.

Delay so I can order more lumber, make a new bench lid

Butterfly Inlay by hand

Yet another mishap

Handcut Dovetails for the Sliding Till

Applying the Finish, Glue-up not pictured.

Attaching the Hardware

And finally... the project is complete.


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## ScottC (Apr 6, 2010)

gildedrain said:


> *Progress Notes & Grand Finale*
> 
> Sorry for dropping this project blog. Life got busy and I wasn't able to keep posting blog entries here on LumberJocks, but here are the highlights from the posts on my personal site. * It's done! *
> 
> ...


Very nice work! Thanks for sharing.


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