Accidental Woodworker

out of the clamps

There is a slight gap at the shoulders. The cheeks are tight and gap free. I planed the the two arms flush. 

one point for the home team

The wooden square is still reading 90 degrees according to Big Red. And it still read 90 with the legs switched.

smiley face on

Found my Union saddle square on the tablesaw fence this morning. I almost bought one last night from Lee Valley and I'm glad I didn't.

cross brace

Laid this out based on the brace and arms being 3/4" thick. After I laid it out I realized that I had planed 1/8" off the legs. So I ran a second gauge line on the brace above the pencil line to compensate.

nope

I have a bazillion routers and none of them had a base plate long enough to span between the shoulders. The LN rabbet blockplane worked flawlessly after removing the bulk of the waste with a chisel.

too small

The LN rabbet blockplane wouldn't fit and I reached for the Record 073. I didn't bother to check doing it with a router plane.

first dry fit

The brace is a wee bit proud. It is a strong 16th shy of being flush with the bottom. Did a second leveling of the brace half laps.

still reading 90

I didn't get the top flush but I was ok with that. I stopped once I had removed 1/2 of the brace half lap. The brace doesn't have to be flush with the legs top or bottom.

clamped and cooking

I screwed the half lap on the legs on both sides but no screws for the brace. I am going to rely solely on the glue to keep it together.

ring box

This doesn't look too bad with one coat. The 'white' on the box sides doesn't show much evidence of a finish. Another coat in the AM and then a coat of wax. I am going to give this to my sister Donna.

don't remember this

This was kind of square, only a few spots needed to be knocked down. The pine is beat up a bit and there was a split on the end of one of the legs. Both legs were also out of square on the face. I could see it without needing to check it with a square.I must have made this just to see if I could do it. I don't recall needing a square of this style or need.

fixing the split

There is a partial rabbet on both legs for 3-4 inches at the ends. Can't think of any reason for them which makes me think this was an experiment. Maybe I knocked this out when I went nutso and made a boatload of wooden squares?

flushing the brace

I'm not doing any round overs or other design on the ends of the legs. I want that part to stay flat so I can put a clamp on it.

top front rail

Placing this rail as is and the door will be an insert one. This rail will also provide the space to put a molding and not interfere with the door opening/closing. It will also shorten the length of the door stiles which should increase them staying straight and flat.

bottom rail

I don't want this one to be the same as the top rail. If it was it might be a pain in the ass to lift things over it to put them in the interior and to get them back out. There shouldn't be any stress on either of these rails. All they are doing is keeping the sides parallel top to bottom.

oops

I don't use biscuits that often anymore and I screwed up setting the height of the biscuit jointer. I initially had set it for 3/4" thinking the jointer saw blade would centered on 3/4" thick stock. I was wrong again and it worked as it should when I set it for 3/8" - now it was centered for 3/4" stock.

glued and cooking

I wasn't going to glue a biscuit in this errant slot but changed my mind. I'll do the correct slot in the AM.

biscuits laid out

The sides will get attached to the back with a biscuit every 7-8". I was hoping to get that done today but it didn't happen boys and girls. Maybe tomorrow where I should be able to get a rough idea on the height/width of the door. The stiles for that still eyeball straight and flat. 

accidental woodworker

squaring them up

The plan was to square the bottoms of all three and then get the height adjusted and finally square off the tops. It didn't go as to plan. I couldn't get the bottoms of the sides to read square. I could read square from one long side and the opposite one was slightly off. Just enough to be annoying and needing attention. 

I went back and forth seemingly forever trying to adjust this. I ended up sawing the long sides (parallel) on the tablesaw. When I had measured them the sides were a strong 16th off from top to bottom. After I got the sides parallel I had to square the bottoms again because both ways were off.

Now I got square from both sides. Then I got the length of all three the same and finished by squaring the tops.

making the battle plan

Decided to use biscuits to attach the sides to the back. I'll biscuit one side and let it cook before doing the opposite one. Got both sides dried squared here to get the length on this top front rail. Switching from dowels to biscuits and screws (?) to attach it.

The biscuit operation didn't happen. I didn't have enough to do the sides but it worked to my advantage. I hadn't sanded the inside faces of the three panels yet. That was next and I only sanded it with 120 because this is getting painted.

need a bigger square

The black ones work for keeping the ends square but I don't have anything for the middle. I didn't feel like making a road trip for biscuits so I made a larger clamping square.

oops

I sawed the half lap on the bandsaw, wrong. I thought I had set the fence (with 3/8" set up bar) so the half lap would be strong. I positioned the set up bar so the blade was past it by strong 32nd (wrong way). I should have did it so the blade was a 32nd the other way. I'll plane the two legs flush after the square has cooked.

only need the outside

Dry clamped to see if this was feasible. This will work - I'll be able to glue the half lap and clamp it while also clamping the wooden square to Big Red.

yikes

Where is the missing tool? FYI - it is my Union 90 square. Lost an hour scouring the shop trying to find it and nada. I even emptied two shit cans sifting through them to check I hadn't swept it up. I couldn't find it after spending over an hour searching. On the flip side of the coin, the shop is swept clean and tidy now. I'll give it a few days before I buy another one - I use this constantly and the Blue Spruce one I have is too big.

accidental woodworker

 What a miserable way to spend more than half a day. At 0830 I was at my local Firestone tire store because my driver side rear tire wouldn't hold air. While I was there, I noticed the passenger side rear was looking soft and sad. To shorten my tale of woe, I got back to the barn just before 1400 - $497.37 lighter with two new rear tires, OUCH, OUCH, and OUCH again. I wasn't expecting to spend this much and it will put a serious dent in my discretionary $$$ for fun stuff this month and maybe a part of september too. 

after dinner last night

Went back to the shop to glue that weird hiccup on the edge of this ass'y. It looked good after the clamps came off. I could readily pick out it still and I'll have to use some putty to flush it. Paint will hide any evidence of it after.

afternoon session

Stayed late in the shop today to have something to show for it. Clamps off and used the LN 102 to knock down the high/proud on the rails/stiles.

too much twist (?)

I'm not sure if this came from me when I clamped this. I do know that I didn't check the glue up to ensure that it was laying flat/tight to the clamps. Regardless I will have to deal with it.

bottom

Not as bad as it is at the top but I still have to flatten it out.

better

There is almost nothing here at the middle rail. The plan percolating in the brain bucket was to try to spread this out across the width of the back. I didn't want to take all the wood off the uplifted side stile.

it is working

Definitely had to remove more on the left side than the right but I think I balanced it pretty good overall. I didn't go nutso trying to get it flat +/- an atom or two. I concentrated on outside 1" getting that flat between the left and right stiles.

stopping here

Nothing is married to the face side of the stiles. The outside edges will be secured to faces of the side rear stiles so it is only important that these two surfaces are square to each other.

dead square

The back panel ass'y is dead nuts square. The diagonals were barely off the width of a black division line on the tape.

back

The two sides are pretty good on size, both width and height. The back is 1/8" taller than the sides. Not sure if I want to leave it and plane it square after the sides are attached or plane it off now. I got time to figure it out.

sneak peak

This needs something at the front to help hold it together. A rail at the top and bottom to keep the sides from folding inward or falling outward. Just thought of another issue that has to do with the door. Should it be a overlay or insert door? I had planned on an insert door but an overlay door would be easier than an insert one.

door stock

The two long ones are the stiles and they look straight and flat to my eye. Fingers crossed that they will still look the same in the AM.

muntin stock

This should be more than enough for the muntins for the door. I even have extra for several oops if need be.

garbage and ....

The left one is the plywood I got sunday from Woodcraft. Two thin veneers for the outside faces with a single ply between them. 6mm plywood on the right, 5 plies. Two thin outside face veneers with 3 plies between them. Should have bought the 6mm and sanded/planed it fit the grooves. Sigh.

insurance

The bottom rail for the door is 3 1/2" wide and got two of them. Got two top rails at 3" wide. All of them look flat and straight for now.

maybe

I might be able to use one or two of these as a back stile. One of them has a groove so that one isn't a good candidate. 

wonky

All three of these are straight and flat until this short area at the end where it wanders out into left field. I didn't measure it to see if it is long enough because I didn't want to find out they were a 1/2" short. 

needs some attention

The back bottom isn't square and one side ass'y is out of square at the top. Tomorrow I'll square up the bottom edge and set the height too. I'll then saw the two sides to match it. The top and bottom rails are an 1/8" wider - the top at 3 1/8" and the bottom at 3 5/8". I did that to allow for trimming and squaring things up.

accidental woodworker

old bookcase

This is the only project that I made with divided glass lites. I have made several cabinets with glass doors but all were made with one piece of glass. I made this 10+ years ago(?) and I eyeballed it to see how I did it. I had been thinking about it for for a couple of days and nada. Once I saw this the light bulb finally came on.

glazing putty

I put on rabbet all the way around on the inside. Then I put in the glazing bars - two pieces, a front flat one and an thin inside one. The panes are held in place with glazing putty and glaziers points. I want an unsymmetrical arrangement of lites for the current cabinet too. Now I have a starting point for making the current door.

hmm......

Yikes! This is a screwball type of a hiccup. I only found it because it stuck a sliver of wood into my index finger. Now that I'm typing this I realized I totally forgot to fix it. I'll have to make sure that I do it in the AM.

happy face on

Fiddled a bit more on the tenons and did a dry clamp up. Happy with how all the rail/stile connections look. Any misalignment I'm sure I can easily feather out.

width measurement

I thought both the upper and lower width were dead nuts.

I was wrong

 Almost a 1/8" difference, but how? I checked it again and I hadn't fully seated one of the sticks in the groove. Checked the two of them again and now they were dead nuts on.

height sticks

Didn't make the same mistake with the height. I put the top measurement on one side and the bottom one on the other face. The top panel is 1/8" taller than the bottom one. 

experiment time

I want to use a dowel joint but I wasn't sure how to do it with the dowel max jig. It is a 'T' joint. The first part was easy but the 2nd mating one made me feel like I didn't haven't an IQ with double digits.

hmm.....

My jury rigged test failed. I don't know how I ended up with this offset. I was feeling a little smug before I saw this. When in doubt, RTI (read the instructions) as the last resort.

T joint instructions

These were initially as clear as mud. I read them a bazillion times and nada - I was still clueless. One thing I couldn't reconcile or understand was the drawing on the right side page. 

5.67mm plywood

I set aside the dowel max and made a road trip to Woodcraft. There was one 30x30 6mm plywood panel but it was too thick at 6.43mm. I bought a 1/4" thick 24x48 plywood panel that measured this. The panel edge plies look liked complete garbage compared to the 6mm edge plies. However, it fit snug and is self supporting. The other bonus is I got all 4 panels out of this with some box making stock left over.

dry fit

Got a good fit with all four panels. I checked for square measuring the inside of the panels and all said I was square.

glued and cooking

Met my goal of getting the side assemblies glued and cooking. I'll start on the door tomorrow. I think I will only saw out the stiles and rails. I won't make it until I have the sides and back together. I'll need to have that to get the final size for the door.

ta da

Finally figured it out. Turns out the drawing and the instructions don't tell the complete story to do a 'T' joint. You have take one part of the jig apart and put it back together so you can drill the dowel holes in the face of the mating piece. Nice feeling to see the joint come together correctly.

the 'T' joint place

I have been thinking about using this joint at the top front of the cabinet. Still undecided about whether or not to place it horizontally or vertically.

it will work

As I was looking at the placement of the rail (above pic) I thought that the jig wouldn't fit for the 2nd part of the 'T'. The excess horns did a job with my head making me think that it wouldn't fit where it should. I was wrong and the proof of the pudding is the jig placement itself.

accidental woodworker 

first side panel ass'y

Initial check of the tenons said that not only did they fit but they were snug and self supporting. In the on deck circle was trimming the tenons and checking the fit of them fully seated.

first dry fit

Happy with this. The tenons haven't been sucked down fully but they look ok at all the rail and stile connections. This first dry fit confirms that the tenons are good as is.

fully seated

No hiccups when I clamped across the three rails. The rail/stile joints are dead nuts flush and none are off more than a frog hair or two.

2nd side panel

The bottom rail/stile connection (IMO) is unacceptable. It is about a strong 32nd on both faces and the same headache on the opposite end. The difference is too much to sand/plane and feather out. The other four connections are acceptable.

plywood fits

I got the panel to slide into the corner without having to beat into place with a mallet. However, I don't like this as I can see a slight misalignment between the rail and stile groove walls. Most likely I sawed the tenons of this one wrong from the other two in this set.

see it?

I got the thin and thick walls between the rail and stile as it should be. I don't like not having the groove walls aligned. This little bit may bite me on the arse at glue up if I leave it. The fix is to either remove some wood from one face of the tenon and shim the opposite face or enlarge the mortise and shim the tenons afterward.

and the winner is....

Decided to avoid thinning the tenon and reducing its strength. Instead I am going to enlarge the mortise but only by removing wood from the thick walled side of the groove. A bit tedious removing some wood and then checking the fit repeatedly.

oak veneer

When I got close I checked the fit of the tenon and it was decent with this oak veneer. I still had more to go and in the end the oak veneer turned out to be too thin.

bandsawn veneer

I only needed two shims, one on each tenon. I sawed these a bit fat so after they were cooked I would have to trim them to fit.

almost

Slow going moving the rail flush with the stile. I think at this point I had moved it forward about 3/4 of the way. I was using a chisel and a rasp. One problem I had was I went from a tapered wall (side to side and not up/down) to one with a hump. Removing the hump tried my patience big time.

done

There is a huge improvement in rail/stile flush. It is close enough that I can feather it out flush with sanding. It took me over an hour to get this rail flush with the stiles.

cooking

Glued on the shims and set them aside to cook for a couple of hours. Killed the lights here because watching glue dries sucks.

90 minutes later

I am liking this LN rabbet plane more and more for trimming tenon cheeks every time I use it. It took almost no time at all to get both cheeks fitting snug and almost flush.

first one fitted

Haven't decided yet but I could place this on the inside of the cabinet. That will depend upon how it looks after it is glued and sanded smooth.

done

Got the second one fitted quicker than the first one. Both of them came out snug and self supporting.

I only have one 30x30 6mm plywood panel which will only give up two panel inserts and I need 4. I will make a road trip to the Walpole Woodcraft tomorrow. On sunday the traffic will be almost nonexistent. I'll saw up the panels and get the two assemblies glued and cooking. Then its on to the door.

accidental woodworker 

out of the clamps

I was mildly surprised by how the rail/stile joints looked after coming out of the clamps. I didn't see/feel any of misalignment seen/felt on the dry fit up.

the worse one

This rail/stile is misaligned about 3 frog hairs. Happy with how it turned out. I think the stiffness of the  6mm plywood had a lot to do with it.

6mm  fillers

I got the fillers from ripping off the walls on the off cuts from the rails. They are almost a perfect fit - I'll just have to shave a wee bit to flush them.

sawing the horns

I laid out a pencil line a few frog hairs proud. Sawed it off on that and planed the stile ends flush with the bottom of the rails.

done

Much easier than I anticipated. In the back of the brain bucket I envisioned a lot of scenarios where I butchered this saw cut. Out of square in a bazillion directions were the headliners.

last one to smooth, flush, and square

I'll have to repeat this dance steps when I do the sides. I think I'll approach them with a lot less apprehension.

6mm fillers

I didn't leave the stub when I sawed the tenons to width. Once the cabinet is together the empty hole will never be seen. Filled it in mostly to give me a warm and fuzzy about keeping the bottom from twisting.

side project

Both of these are covers for my cell phone. If I put the cell phone in my pocket, as I walk it will intermittently shut off, lower the volume, or load a new you tube. Putting this on top of the phone between the screen and my pocket shut down 99.9% of this nonsense. I listen to podcasts on You Tube on my post lunch strolling - the cell phone blue tooth goes right to my blue tooth hearing aids.

chopping side mortises

I got two stiles done before lunch time rolled around.

3 coats

I'm going with 6-7 coats on these. I sweat a lot on my strolling and shellac doesn't like moisture. Hoping the multiple coats will help.

sigh

I screwed it up again. I want to scream and I did along with a barrage of expletives not to be heard in mixed company. The quirk making all the problems - the 6mm groove isn't centered. When I made the test groove a couple of days ago I didn't center it before plowing the grooves in the rails and stiles. I just ensured that I marked an X on the reference face for the fence.

That hiccup made for a lost interchangeability, that I had to check to make sure as I laid out the mortises. Here the grooves - the wide and skinny walls aligned but I laid out the mortises opposite. I put the top at the bottom on one and the opposite on the other. Result is the groove walls don't align with the mortises. I had to make a new stile.

FYI

One thing I've learned over the years is to leave the tools set and don't change them. If I need a different groove set up I will set and use another plow plane - I have five of them. I will not break down or stow a tool until the project is complete, finished, over with, a check mark in the done column. And it seems I lost my ability to count again because I have 3 extra stiles so I guess that is serendipitous.

double, triple checking it

There isn't a huge difference in the groove walls but it is enough to throw off sliding the panels in place. I stopped and walked away 4 times before I said it was aligned and it was ok to lay out the mortise locations.

side rails

Before I started the tenons I checked that all of these aligned. I used the X reference face to ensure they matched.

snug fit

Cut the tenons on the tablesaw and got a good fit and it is also self supporting.

sawing the cheek waste

old habit

I will save the off cut waste for just in case. I checked two more tenons for fit and I was happy with them. Probably won't need them and the pack rat in more says to save them for .......

chopping mortises again

Here you can see the two outside walls are just a wee bit fatter then the two inside ones. A subtle difference that will bite you on the arse and draw blood.

sigh or oops

These two rail tenons are too thin. They are a strong 32nd or more too loose in the mortise. The thickness of these two rails is about a strong 32nd more than the 3rd rail in this series. Hence the loose fitting tenons. Rather glue veneers on the cheeks I opted to make two new rails that are the same thickness as the 3rd rail (the bottom one).

extra rail stock

These are unused due to the change in the layout for the panels. I can get both the middle and top rails from these two.

done

Replacement rails done and test fitted. Snug and self supporting. All is well in Disneyland again.

6mm filler

The replacement rails came from stock that was grooved on both edges. The top edge of this one (which will be the top rail) I will fill in the groove. It will never be seen once the cabinet is finished. Filling it in will allow me to nail, screw, or glue along this edge as needed.

Looking ahead to tomorrow to finish chopping the mortises and get the side assemblies glued, clamped, and cooking. Then I can start on the door and how to make the divided lite glazing bars.

accidental woodworker

 It was hot, humid, and sticky today. The post lunch stroll was a PITA. I did a 3 Stooges routine trying to peel my sweat soaked T shirt off when I got back to the barn. That tired me out more than the stroll did. In spite of that adventure I made good progress on the cabinet. There is still a long ways to go but every journey starts with the first step.

hmm......

Put the opposite stile on to see how it fit. Two of the tenons fit and two didn't. Part of the fun with mortise and tenon joinery for me it the fitting.

30 minutes later

Dry fitted and clamped. Happy with the rail to stile connections. All of them look good but a couple of them aren't flush. Some of the rails were slightly cupped - enough to cause a misalignment with the stiles. I didn't plane it because I didn't want to thin the rails at all. I'll deal with the alignment issues with planes, sanding, and wood putty because after all it is getting painted.

width first

setting the tablesaw

These sticks are for the height of the panels.

3 sets

I used leftover banding moldings for my measuring sticks.

3 panels

I don't have enough 6mm plywood for the cabinet. I figured this out before I brain farted and cut one wrong too. Another road trip to the Walpole Woodcraft is in the near future. I'll bring calipers so I can measure the thickness of the plywood.

oops

I made the bottom panel too wide or too tall. Depends upon whether you are a 1/2 full or 1/2 empty type personality. Spoiler alert - me-steak upcoming.

too small

I should have, would have, could have, but didn't eyeball the panel before running it through the saw. I didn't check to ensure that I had the orientation correct before trimming it to size.

not again

dry fit

I did an asymmetrical layout on the panels. The top and bottom panels are the same size with the middle panel being 1 1/2 inches taller.

hmm.....

Both of these squares are the only ones that I have that don't have shoulders. They lay flat in the panel and say all three are square. The wooden squares when checked with Mr Starrett are a paper width off square at the far end from the 90. Both say the panels are square and the diagonals are dead on too. I was having a deja vu sensation but the light bulb never came on. How can the say it is square when they are a frog hair off? Does that make a difference when used wood on wood this way? I'll look around for a small framing square or something similar.

side rails

Before gluing up the back I plowed the grooves in the six rails for the sides. Decided to go with two plywood panels in each side. I did that because the width of the plywood panel will be about 9 inches. The height around 22 inches.

going well

No hiccups or urges to find my 3lb sledge hammer. The first part of the glue up went off without a hitch and zero stress. Glued on the last stile, clamped it, and set it aside to cook. Hoping that the sides glue up as easy as this one.

paper thick gap

When I sighted down the stiles they looked pretty good to the eye. Not dead nuts perfectly straight but good enough maybe. I just have the two ends clamped and there is a varying gap everywhere in between the clamped ends. Just to be safe I did the stiles for the sides the same way I did the back stiles.

done

It took me about 30 minutes to plow all the grooves in the rails and stiles.
 

mortise layout

This story stick is a mess with a few incorrectly marked mortises. It was a bit confusing but I slowed down, took my time and got everything transferred correctly. Here I did the top, bottom, and the middle rail mortises.

got lucky

I grabbed the correct bottle for me. I got this being reversible from watching Rosa String Works you tube vids. It isn't as quick and easy as hide glue, but it is doable.

accidental woodworker 

what a clown show

I laid out the two stiles, one at a time. Then I laid the two against each other and they didn't agree. I have absolutely no idea how I screwed it up and gave up trying to figure it out. Instead I clamped the stiles together and planed as much of the layout lines off as I could. And I started over again

switched lanes

I didn't erase as much of the layout as I thought. What was left was confusing me and it took me a while checking the existing lines against what the layout stick had before moving forward for the 2nd time. 

two times was the charm

This finally worked and everything clicked into place. I clamped the layout stick and the two stiles together before I transferred mortise locations. The first time I tried this I couldn't get top or the bottom mortises to line up. Got it on the 2nd try.

not much

I double, triple checked the two stiles against each other a bazillion times. I even went topside, got a coffee came back and checked it one more time. Once I was satisfied that the plow plane had bottomed out it was on to chopping the mortises.

my first set of chisels

I got this set in the late 1970's or very early 1980's and for over 20 years I never knew that it was metric. Duh.

6mm chisel

I measured it with my calipers and it said it was 5.94mm. The chisel fit in the groove with a few frog hairs of wiggle room. It took me a few chops to get used to it. The flat on the top of the blade was a bit difficult to zoom in on to keep square in the groove.

about 3/8" at the widest

Both of the stiles are bowed - here I have them as they will be R and L.

gone

It takes almost zero pressure to flatten out the bow. I don't think the plywood will have any hiccups keeping the stiles straight. This is the back and I'll be able to flush the outside edges of the back stiles against the back edge of the sides.

first four chopped

This went surprising quick. It took me a little more than 30 minutes to whack them all out.

2nd set done

I left a lot of extra at the top and bottom of the stiles. A wee bit more than needed but then again I didn't get any blowouts on any of the top/bottom mortises I chopped.

test tenon

I increased the bottom rail from 3 to 3 1/2 wide to strengthen the back against twisting. Doing a test tenon to check the water first. It has been a while since I have done one. The plan was to do the cheeks to width on the tablesaw and hand saw the cheek waste off.

self supporting

It took some fiddling but the width of the tenon was good. I had to pare the walls of the mortise before I got the test tenon seated. Not happy with the rail not being quite flush with the stile - on either side. 

last one

I thought I had made the tenons too thin (visually based look) but I hadn't. These are 6mm and not 1/4".

all self supporting

I decided to go with a ladder style back for strength and stiffness. Still debating whether to use this for the sides too are just one rail in the middle. Chopping the extra mortises didn't cause any hardship. I'll have to see how many panels I can get out of the 30x30 panels. I've got a sinking feeling that I might be disappointed.

The tablesaw is working fine with the new V belt I installed. No hesitation, no slipping, and no bogging down in the cut. It spins up to speed instantly and it doesn't falter when wood is fed into the saw blade. It slowed a wee bit when sawing the tenons in the jig but that is normal. I didn't feel or see any difference doing the tenons with this belt than I did with the original one. All is well in Disneyland again.

accidental woodworker 

layout

I am starting with the back first. I am also making R/L sides a copy of it. Used the story stick to layout the mortise locations along with the OAL (over all length).

not enough

Got most of the stock sized to rough dimensions but I forgot a couple of pieces. Didn't realize it here though. Plowing the 6mm grooves was in the batters circle.

grooves plowed in the rails

had a bow

Both stiles had (still do) a healthy bow in them. Clamped them in the vise this way to flatten it so I could plow a true and straight groove.

2nd stile

Both of the stiles had about the same amount of bow. Clamping them in the vise this way straightened them out. Fingers crossed that the 6mm plywood in the grooves will keep the stiles flat.

gap killers

In the area of the vise there weren't any gaps. I had to add a few clamps to remove slight gaps on either side of the vise.

transfer time

A story pole makes sense (to me) to transfer the needed info on each stile. Thinking ahead, I don't think I'll need a story pole for the rails.

hmm......

This is a wee bit tight. I thought that 6mm was a few frogs wider than a 1/4". I had planned to use the chisel to chop the mortises. I just remembered that I have a 6mm chisel - the very first 6 piece chisel set I bought over 40 years ago. I'll check that chisel out in the AM.

the forgotten pieces

Missed prepping the center stile which is two pieces. It is two piece because the plywood is only 30 inches and the inside of the back is around 48 inches.

two more forgotten pieces

These are the cross rails for the center stile. I might be able to get the two out of one board but just in case.

hmm.....

Eyeballing what I have here to see if I brain farted on any other required pieces. Turns out I have one extra cross rail. I can use that for one of the sides.

nope

I am not liking this at all. But because of the length of the plywood I can't make the center stile taller. I want the cross rail to be close to the top - I was thinking 1/3 of the length from the top to the bottom rail. I could split it in half - the plywood is long enough to accommodate that.

thinking out loud

If I use three cross rails between the top/bottom ones it would look better than the center rail layout above. This set up will add 4 additional mortises and tenons to fit. Having the one rail centered is looking like a better look/solution. I could then glue and secure a center shelf to it which would help with rigidity of the cabinet.

been a while

Another option for the mortising to come. The 6mm bit fits the groove with zero wiggle room. Drill out most of the waste and clean it up with chisels. I shopped for a 6mm straight bit with an imperial shank but nada. The mortise I intend is roughly 1 3/8" deep and I couldn't find a 6mm straight bit longer than 1".

I stopped here because I had to think about this before I did any drilling/chisel work. I still haven't settled on the width of the cabinet and that led to me questioning the width of the sides? The back width is driven by the size of the glass door. I won't want it being too wide - I'm thinking 20" wide tops.

accidental woodworker

 I was wondering why today as I was strolling why so many places were closed. Then it dawned on me, today is VJ day or as it is officially know, Victory day celebrating the end of WWII with Japan's surrender. The littlest state in the union is the only one that observes it as a state holiday. However, when I worked at the VA they didn't recognize it because it isn't a federal holiday. And federal trumps state. After 80 years maybe it is time to join the other 49 states.

Woodcraft haul

I got back to the barn around 1115 with these three 30x30 6mm birch plywood panels. Along with a quart of Titebond glue that I didn't check to see if it was the original formula. That one you can reverse the glue bond like hide glue. I got zero time in the shop for the AM session.

I think I only need one full panel and a partial piece from a 2nd one for the cabinet. I bought a 3rd one for just in case. A 30x30 panel cost $22 and a 48x48 panel was $69. I was going to buy one but not for that price. It was cheaper for me to drive to the store and buy it over ordering it via the internet.

lots of variation

I could see a thickness variation in the three panels I got. This was the thinnest one, the baby panel.

mama bear panel

papa bear panel

There was no mistaking that this was the thickest one. I would rather deal with an oversized panel than one that is too thin.

mama bear panel

I made a 6mm test groove. It fits on the mama bear panel with out having to beat it on. Not overly snug and not loose neither. Didn't check if it was self supporting.

the baby bear panel

The test groove easily slips onto the panel. Not fall down and out loose but just a hint of being a wee bit sloppy. I plan on gluing the panels in the groove so this will work.

papa bear panel

It will fit if forced but that is something I don't want to do. I want a easy fitting panel that doesn't require any persuasion at all. 

back panel stock

I have the side panels (R/L) settled but the back I'm still not sure of. Initially I thought of making the sides and back panels all the same but I'm not 100% sold on that. Thinking of a solid wood back instead of stiles/rails and panels. Plenty of time to decide on that.

side panel stock

All the stile and rails are 3" wide. Going with that width for rigidity and strength. The stiles and rails on the cabinet I saw at my niece's house were 2" wide and they looked thin to my eye.

stickered

Nothing moved, cupped, or bowed when I ripped out the stock. Fingers crossed that none of it does any stupid wood tricks overnight.

potential door stock

All of these are flat sawn but all of them are clear. No knots and all the boards are flat and straight. The outside edges are close to rift sawn so they would be best for the stiles and rails. This is going to be painted so I don't have to agonize over grain/color matching.

two more

The right board has one knot but I can get the long stiles out of it. Both outside edges of these two are rift sawn too. I have three more boards but they have knots in them and I can't get any required long lengths out of them. It sucks that they have the best rift sawn possibilities. Sigh.

It made it up to 99F - 37C today and it isn't going to cool off much for a couple of weeks. The shop temp is hovering around 77F - 25C which is comfortable once I start working. Before I know it I'll be pissing and moaning about it being cold.

accidental woodworker

future picture gallery

I have 3 blank walls in the back hallway for my Stanley Tool pics. It is also the only blank walls left in the house. There is zero wall space in the shop so this will have to do. It is going to be a bit tricky hanging the pics in here - there are steps in the way of setting up a ladder.

why not

I waxed the newest pic frame with the LAP wax. I liked the shine of the shellac but I also liked the wax finish afterward. The frame didn't look as harsh in reflected light.

one more round of touch up

After I ran the gray pad around the frame a few more white specs popped out. Had to touch them up one more time before I could shellac them.

one coat of shellac

The three frames looked good after one coat but it was still wet too. I couldn't see any evidence of the spots I had touched up. Fingers crossed that won't change as the shellac dries.

two coats

I could see a couple of spots that I had touched up after the first coat had dried. With the second coat of shellac I couldn't see them anymore. Either way it doesn't matter because I'm stopping here at two coats. Where these will hang I won't be able to get close enough to see the touched up spots.

ready for tuesday

Brought the new frame upstairs to await its journey to the Frame It shop. I am going to give a mini japanese toolbox to Maria when I bring the frame. I meant to give it to her when I picked up the previous 7 frames but I had forgot to bring it. 

Made my mind up on the frames for the glass door cabinet. I initially I had been hell bent on using dowels but realized the futility of that. I am going to use mortise and tenon joinery. I couldn't think of any other way to plow grooves in the stiles/rails and attach them with dowels. 

With mortise and tenon joinery I can plow straight through the rails and stiles and not run into any hiccups. I will have to get some 6mm plywood for the panels though. I will try the closest Woodcraft to me first and see what they have in stock. 

accidental woodworker

old tablesaw V belt

This is the easiest way to figure out the belt needed. The other involves measuring the pulley diameters and the distance between them. According to the roll tape the length of the belt I need is 44 inches.

face side

The gray scotch pad is so different vice sandpaper. It leaves little sanding dust but the surface is smooth to the touch. More importantly the gray pad doesn't sand away leaving bare wood. The plan is/was to get 3 coats of shellac on the front. I want to bring this to Maria on tuesday.

almost ready

Cleaned up the frame with a damp rag. Just had to wait for it to dry before shellac.

got lucky

I was on my way to the Auto parts store when I thought of this. I had bought this belt for the bandsaw but I didn't use it. The on center spacing of the pulleys on the table saw and the bandsaw matched. Tried it, it fit, and I made several test cuts with no hiccups. Saved me a road trip and a few $$$.

new side project

I need a box to keep my peeper helper in. It is a PITA to take my eye glasses out of their soft holder. With this box they are protected but way easier to take out and put away.

glass door cabinet

I haven't forgotten about this. I've been thinking about how to do the grooves for the panel inserts. I still haven't decided on how to do them. The current leader is using a 6mm router bit because there isn't a plywood imperial 1/4" router bit. The router bit headache is finding a 6mm router bit that comes with an imperial 1/4" or 1/2" shank. I don't have any metric collets.

sigh

I had laid the frame face down on the workbench and when I put it on the shitcan to start shellac I saw 4 holidays on the bead moldings. Wasn't expecting that and it threw a monkey wrench in applying the shellac. I had to touch up the holidays and I got the first coat of shellac on after I got home from my post lunch stroll.

box is done

These aren't the glasses that will call this home but they work to check out the specifics. I wasn't sure if I had made the height too high but it looks and works ok as is. I also waxed the entire project with the LAP wax.

3 out of 7

Maria told me that some of the frames had stuck together and it left a few holidays. I touched the 3 frames up and I'll shellac them when I do the big frame.

fingers crossed

Just realized that I had painted over shellac and I'll be covering the paint with shellac again - effectively a sandwich. Thinking ahead I hope I don't end up with the touch up spots blinking like a neon sign at night.

accidental woodworker