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First completed new box in a while. This is based on the plaster mouldings and a chest in the same room, in Bogan House, Totnes. It will be showing at the Birdwood House Gallery 12-18th July.

Riven oak, obviously. Wooden hinges, nailed and clinched.

Mouldings run with a scratchstock, then carved/scratched. Nailed on. Look at that tiger-stripe.

 

looking good

A bit of rocking but the deck here but the deck is as flat as a plowed field. It feels solid and there aren't any gaps at the rail/leg joints. So far I can't see or feel any difference between dowel joints and traditional mortise and tenon ones.

gap fillers

I had plenty of scraps to get the gap fillers for the sides. To balance it out I am also putting another one on the back.

helping hand

The side fillers have to be flush with the tops of the legs so they will cover the gap at the top of the rail. I clamped the filler on top of the board I have clamped across the tops of the legs. I tried to do it without it but with glue on it, it was impossible to clamp and keep it flush. I glued it on with yellow and super glue.

back drawer guide rail

I tried to get this installed with the desk on the bench but it was too awkward. I was fighting the urge to give it free flying lessons. After the desk was back on the deck I got it installed dry - just screwed on.

top attached

I got the table top clips installed with no hiccups. I outlined the leg positions with blue tape so I can put it back together as it is now. 

One of the problems I had with Miles's desk was drilling starter holes for the clips under the drawer guides. No hiccups screwing them in. Once the drawer guide assembly is installed drilling them ain't happening. 

hmm......

I like the look of the black screws against the cherry. I'm thinking of painting the table top clips black now. I've got the time.....

drawer guides

The first one I installed went south on me. I screwed the front down and the rear one shifted. It threw it off square from the front rail. Then I remembered that on Miles's desk I had nailed the back first and then drilled a pilot hole and screwed it. I'll come back to this in the AM.

tilt rails

I had to look at Miles's desk to see how I had installed them on his desk. I used a biscuit jointer and I'll repeat that for Leo's desk. These will installed last and just before the top gets married to the base. 

came a week early

This was scheduled to come on the 22nd. It is for 6mm dowels of which I have a couple of hundred. It is complete with everything that came with the imperial 1/4" jig.

I had room for it

My finger is pointing to the 6mm drill block. The 1/4" one is in the dowel jig and the drill block on the right is 3/8". The styrofoam block holds the 6mm accessories. I might redo that with a wooden version. BTW - the left drill block was for the 1/2" one. I doubt that I would ever use 1/2" dowels.

90° drill block

The only other accessory I don't have for the Dowel Max jig is the 45° plate. My OCD has been quiet on that so I doubt I'll be adding it. I have used the 90° twice already.

accidental woodworker 

A burnisher to sharpen scrapers is widely available from many manufacturers in several variations. What works very well for me is one that I developed. As far as I know, this is unique. The rod was made of carbide in sub-micron grain size at my request by Innovative Carbide Inc. in Pennsylvania. The hardness of […]

2 coats

Decided to shellac the sides and the back before I did the glue up. It is way easier to do as much of that now then after it is glued up.

7 coats

I'm calling this done, for now. It is smooth and I couldn't see any hiccups in raking light. It is going to be a while before it gets married to the base. I may have to do a touch up after the marriage happens.

hmm......

Doing another dry fit before I apply any glue. The drawer rail fit yesterday but today there is a slight gap. I drilled out the holes a wee bit deeper.

done

The back rails fit flush as did the other end of the drawer rail.

ready to glue up

The plan is to glue this up in stages. First stage is to glue one end. I will let that set and cook for an hour or so and then I'll glue the other end.

not quite....

The countersink isn't deep enough and the head is a frog hair proud. I need both to be below the surface so that they don't interfere with the drawers.

done

I got it recessed enough that it won't interfere with the drawers going in/out.

better

Some of the bow in the drawer rail is gone, not all, but some.

prepping

Getting my ducks in row for the upcoming glue up. These 3 sticks are for ensuring a good glue spread in the drilled holes. Planing the sticks thinner to fit in the holes. Got the 6 clamps set and ready. The final step was getting a wet rag and a small container of water.

survived

Clamped up and cooking with no hiccups. I did a few other things while this cooked for an hour.

squaring them up

I like how these little corbel like doo dads look on Miles's desk. I am repeating the same on the Leo's desk. This time I will put two on the back rail - didn't do that on Miles's.

poor mans mitering jig

I've been making these for years now and I still can't get the 45's dead nuts (getting closer) and I have no better luck with the 90. The evidence of that is in the pic above. Easily taken care of with a shooting board.

hmm.......

Good fit and ready to glue in place almost.

hmm......

FYI - initially you can glue bare wood to shellac but it will not last. I speak from experience on this. I scraped the shellac off where I was going to glue this before I did that.

need some help

When I was scraping one of the spots, I had some blow out on the outside face edge. After the corbel is glued I will have to fill the gap. The plan is to use cherry sawdust and super glue to fill it in.

&&#^&%%&^(*)(*^&*^%$( gap

It still amazes how little of gap will make my OCD go into turbo assisted overdrive.

mind fart

I didn't need to glue in dowels here but I did. It shook hands with me when I went to put this end on. The glue had already set and I couldn't pull any of them out. I had to drill them out again which went surprising very well. The biggest headache was cleaning out the crappola that got stuck in the flutes of the drill.

cooking

Survived the last glue up.  I will let this set and cook until the AM. Then I'll get the final coats of shellac on it and then I'll start on the drawers.

oh what a relief

I wasn't sure if these parts for the drawer guides would be long enough. All 8 parts are several inches over. 

nice touch

I got #10 x 5/8" sheet metal screws for the table top clips. Got a 100 of black ones that I think will look good against the cherry. And the cherry on the top is the included screw driver wasn't expecting that.

I like these screws for table top clips over wood screws. These screws have larger heads for a broader bearing surface. The threads are coarse, grab tenaciously, and pull tight without stripping, and I have yet to have one fail on me. 

silver ones too

I saw the black ones first but decided to get the same size in silver. These aren't stainless steel according the write up on Amazon. Stainless steel ones were over twice the cost of these.

accidental woodworker 

It stopped raining long enough yesterday for me to hack away at a cherry log in preparation for my demonstration/presentation at the Hand Tool Haven event. Early tomorrow morning, I’ll drive the mere 50 miles to Butler, PA with some … Continue reading →

My sliding doors came together well. With the drawers fitted and tidied up I just have the handles to consider, but probably will not have handles on the doors as such. My first thought was to make my handles, as I often do, but I like the idea of traditional brass pulls and such for this piece.

Just handle hardware or whatever I decide.

I think that this piece will be large enough to downsize my significant gathering of hardware I've accumulated and allowed to spread and drift over the years. I bought 20 boxes of vintage 1/2" #4 brass slot head screws for hinging box lids for when I was teaching hands-on classes to 16 students. That was almost ten years ago when I held my final class – who needs 3,000 half-inch brass slot head screws? Now that is just one package of a hundred other sizes of vintage screws where a cross-headed Philips or Posidrive just doesn't cut it on most of my finessing. You see, for the main part, it's the convenience of having my own hardware stock. Invariably, I can walk out there and find a dome headed chrome or brass or steel screw in under a minute or two. It's hard to let the accumulation go, so what do I do? I build a cabinet, replete with common and half-lap dovetails, sliding doors and keep what I deem to be likely needed.

First thoughts.

It's about a week's work for me, but with the limiting factors of filming and all the other work we do it takes six by the time I'm done. Buying in the wood ready planed four-square simplifies things and saves time, of course it does, and it's really pleasant. Two woods give me the warmest feeling, pine and mesquite. They are unmistakingly distinctive, and both woods have enriched my life long term like no others. Pine goes back the longest distance. The first piece of the pine scent was in 1962 when I begged a machinist in a wood business for a piece of scrap wood I saw in a waste bin to carve and shape a boat from. He made me really work for that piece, "You can't think that such a fine piece of pine was being thrown away now can you?" and then; "Well, now, how much do you think that piece might be worth?" but of course he was joking, asked me what it was for and wished me luck. Mesquite came back in 1963 when I made my first visit to a Texas woodworker in south Texas. Now that is also a highly distinctive scent and wood. My parting pieces, the culmination of my immersive US experience as a maker, are the two credenza designs for the Cabinet Room of the White House.

Previous work. Not quite the same category but all in the fun and reality of real woodworking.

Planning for every piece is critical. I learned this as an apprentice when we worked to blueprints most of the time and then, following that, to sketches on cigarette packets and pieces of wood. Cigarette packets back then were made with sliding innards of white card stock. Often, empty packets were kept for drawing out ideas on. All these are valid forms of communication, but it's more important for filming. Putting things in order that have yet to be ordered and structured is the way of crafting in the multidimensional world we live in. My journals keep something of a record of my evolving pieces and then too, now that it must be filmed, a sort of script stepping out my intentions.

My first thought for my current piece was back on or about the beginning of April this year. I made a few notes in my journal and a quick pen sketch as at top. Then I decided on the drawers.

Recorded progress starts like this.

This list typifies my thought processes. It often changes but 98% of the time it's true to plan.

Planning keeps me sane, and so too those who support my work.

Phasing to isolate stages is important for me. It structures my work and enables me to pass on my goals to those working with mas in filming and editing and such. Filming just about triples my workload because sequences break my thought patterns and activity. It's as important to craft the video work as it is my hand work. Filming must reflect the art of that medium in as much an uncompromising way as much as possible.

This entry was the 15th May. It's still very much a work in progress. In this list, for no known reason, I have not mentioned the doors and door making. A major part.

Notice the date header in these notes below and then the 'note to self' dated today bottom right. It records a month's passing.

And boy did this work well.

The details become more definitive as I go. I'm always confidence but somehow, right before we start the videoing, I am conscious that any mistake I make is never just a second or third take. Once the cut is made, it cannot be corrected, and a new piece must be made. It's a once a year issue or even less, but I don't like to waste the work of everyone behind the cameras.

Detailed drawings make everything concrete.

I often detail my drawings to stand parallel to my cig packet (I don't smoke) sketches. It brings ever greater clarity to the evolving piece.

I consider the work I do as both reflective and therapeutic, simply because of the nergy I put into but then because the conservation of craft cannot happen in museums and reenactments, such like that. Conservation of crafts will only live and thrive in those who practice the work to produce for themselves or others. It's not about making money and all the more about living the life. Hence, my adopting the term, 'Lifestyle Woodworker' 30 years ago. And then too my graduation from just or only being a professional woodworker to amateur status.

done

I got three coats on the underside yesterday. First thing this AM I put a 4th coat on. It looked ok but I felt one more coat would give me a warm and fuzzy. 

first coat

I used a cotton T shirt rag balled up. It went a lot easier than I thought it would. No drips or runs and no brush marks.

drawer rail

Glued on the bottom drawer guide rail. Debated whether to just screw it on dry over gluing it. Another one of these will go on the back top rail and serve as support for the drawer guides.

hmm......

Testing to see if my reverse countersink will work. This scrap of cherry is the same width as the top drawer rail. First step was to drill a hole straight through top to bottom.

lift off

I replaced the tapered drill that came with the Fuller pilot screw/countersink. A #18 drill is the same size as the tapered drill bit. I first tried drilling it in forward but nada. I had to drill it with the drill in reverse as I pulled upwards.

it worked

It is a little deeper than it should be but the important thing is I have a countersink. If this hadn't worked I would have chopped a 'square' countersink.

prepping the drawers

I found two four foot long, 1/2" thick poplar boards in the shop. I also had enough poplar leftover from Miles's desk for one drawer. I also made a Lowes run and bought two 1/2" thick maple boards for drawer bottom runners.

drawers are ready

The lengths of the drawer parts are a wee bit oversized. I'll do the final sizing when the drawer guides are done and I start making the drawers.

hmm......

Rolled up the same T shirt rag I used to apply shellac to the slats and used it to apply shellac to the tabletop. I brushed on 4 coats and there were a few hiccups with the first rolled on one. There were a few drips and droplets that shook hands with me. I think I had too much shellac on the rag and squeezed it too tight a few times. 

Other than that, I was happy with how the rolled on coat looked after 15 minutes (sans the hiccups). I'll put on a couple more rolled on coats before I put a check mark in the done column.

I got 4 coats on the slats and they look good. I wasn't sure how the coverage would be on them with a rag doing it. The coverage is smoother than a brushed coat but the build seems to be a wee bit less. I'll put on a couple of more coats and evaluate it again.

accidental woodworker