# Casket WIP pics...Secret Mitred d/t's



## woodbloke (14 Jun 2007)

Have got the comp casket under way and thought you may be interested to see progress 'cos once the joints are all together they're won't (hopefully) be a lot to see. There's no easy way to do these joints, they're just plain hard and difficult :x . Pic below shows the timber (teak) planed up true, the ends have been shot *dead* square and each pair is again *exactly* the same length, shoulder lines have been struck and mitres marked with the mitre set, all lines deeply knife cut:







This pic shows the rebate taken out on the router table, the corner of the rebate needs to just kiss the 45deg mitre slope, some of them had to be taken down to the line with a shoulder plane:






The joints are marked out, I use a black fine biro and the pins need to be cut first and then the tails marked out from them which is the opposite way round to normal thru' d/ts. Waste is chopped out with chisels except to saw in the mitres on the corners:






Once the pins and tails have been chopped out the mitres can be roughly cut, this pic shows an oak block planed to 45deg to cut in the mitres at the lid junction, top and bottom:






The remaining part of the mitre can then be removed to within about 1mm of the corner...I'm using here a pair of scew chisels to cut across the grain (slicing cut):






Once the mitres have been roughly cut the joints were tested to see if the whole thing would go together:






......and then it's time to do the _really_ difficult bit, planing in the mitres. They have been cut accurately using a bigger oak block at the corners and lid, this pic shows the same block being used to steady the LN shoulder plane, and the large size as recommended by MrC gives excellent control.






The last pic shows the two shorter sides with the mitres all done and the longer sides yet to be finished off......after some coffee :lol: 

.





Will post more pics as the casket progresses - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (14 Jun 2007)

Thanks for sharing that with us, Rob. An excellent tutorial =D> =D> 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Lord Nibbo (14 Jun 2007)

Excellent stuff Rob, and you ain't gonna see it :shock: 

I would have banged a few biscuits in :lol:


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## Waka (14 Jun 2007)

Rob

Nicely done with an excellent explanation, thanks for sharing.


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## MarcW (14 Jun 2007)

Many thanks Rob,

I enjoyed much this tutorial. Hope you had the same fun.


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## mailee (14 Jun 2007)

Wow! all that hard work and not a power tool in sight! :shock: No seriously Rob it is looking great! As has been mentioned it is a pity all that work will be hidden in the end. Worth the effort though.


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## RobertMP (14 Jun 2007)

I've been thinking about all the pictures I will need to take for my comp entry when I start making soon - don't plan to be starring in them myself 

Some enviable skills on display in your pictures!


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## Newbie_Neil (14 Jun 2007)

Hi Rob

Thanks for the explanation, it is much appreciated.

Cheers
Neil


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## Anonymous (14 Jun 2007)

Very impressive work and nice timber choice.


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## DomValente (14 Jun 2007)

Superb, great work. Bravo

Dom


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## woodbloke (14 Jun 2007)

Thanks for all the positive comments....as His Lordship mentioned the easy way to do a joint like this is to cut the mitres and then biscuit the whole thing together, I 'spose the sectet mitre d/t is a bit redundant these days. It is tho' I think worth having a go at because everything has to absolutely spot on for all four joints to pull up so it _really_ tests the accuracy of your hand skills. I think it would also be very difficult if not impossible to do this joint using a jig, it just needs to be cut *very* patiently by hand. Because everything is hidden, tails and pins can be quite chunky, in fact you need to have the pins larger than normal is so that it becomes a little easier to chop them out. 
The teak is planed by hand, I daren't put it thu' the planer. When I was at Shoreditch in the 70's this was the only timber the timber shop wouldn't put thru' the P/T, so if you made anything from it (and a lot did in the 70's) then there was a _bit_ of hand planing to do, all you picked up was a pile of rough sawn timber - Rob


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## Evergreen (14 Jun 2007)

Rob

Excellent work, and pictures to match.

Regards.


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## DavidE (14 Jun 2007)

Hi Rob,

A great series of pictures and very impressive joints. As others have said it's a shame all that will be hidden.

Cheers
David


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## Alf (15 Jun 2007)

Impressive. Insane, but impressive. :wink:  

Cheers, Alf


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## woodbloke (15 Jun 2007)

Alf":1bufrwgf said:


> Impressive. Insane, but impressive. :wink:
> 
> Cheers, Alf



...and it won't have escaped your eagle eye Al, that the sartorial apparel from last weekend has moderately improved as well....or maybe not? :lol: - Rob


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## Paul.J (16 Jun 2007)

Nice work there Rob  
I don't know how you do it,i couldn't cut a dovetail by hand to save me life :roll: 
I'm afraid my project is made using power tools :roll: 
Paul.J.


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## woodbloke (20 Jun 2007)

Having planed in all the mitres I've tried in dry for the first time, most of the joints and corners pull up, all the top ones (which are the important ones) but a couple of joints at the bottom require a little further '_attention_' :lol: - Rob


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## woodbloke (24 Jun 2007)

Having got the joints together now, I've started to shape the moulding on the internal top surface of the casket. This has been done by firstly removing the bulk of the waste with various passes of the router, this has been done on the long side and the profile has then been worked (short side) with a scratch stock (blade ground from a piece of HSS hacksaw blade) such that the bottom of the curve is level with the top of the panel:






After all sides have been done, a small carving gouge can be used to approx carve in the corner to shape and then a profiled scraper will be used to finish together with grades of sandpaper to shape into a smooth profile:






The final shaping and sanding will have to be done when the whole thing has been glued and the panel in place, which will be a tad tricky I feel - Rob


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## DavidE (24 Jun 2007)

Hi Rob,

That's looking good - it's an impressive use of hand tools. I'll be interested to see the final product. It's a shame that anyone who hasn't seen the progress shots will not be able to appreciate the joints on the mitres.

Cheers
David


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## Paul Chapman (24 Jun 2007)

Very skilful work, Rob. This is proving to be a fascinating project.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## woodbloke (5 Jul 2007)

The casket was glued up on Monday and today is the first day I've had an opportunity to have a look at it once all the glue has been cleaned off. I decided to use a glue with a long open time in this warm_ish_ weather and I also wanted something that was gap filling.....just in case . I chose in the end to use _proper_ Araldite, the slow setting stuff and I degreased the joints with some acetone just prior to the glue up, all show interior surfaces were given 3 coats of finishing oil and some Teak wax close to the joint to act as a resist. The cramps, 8 in all :shock: were left on for a full 24 hrs and removed on Tuesday night:







The corners have pulled up quite well, but there's some adhesive in one of the top mitres which is sitting in a knife line and will clean up later on...the actual joint can just be seen thru' the Araldite. Need to fit the base and then part cut off the lid with a router and very small cutter. After that I'll start to shape the sides with the special plane (maple and curved rosewood sole) made last week. After discussing this at some length with Paul and Pete (Newt) last week, I've decided that the plane should be judged as part of the making process (Part 2) as it's a specific tool designed and made for the next part of the project - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (5 Jul 2007)

Looking lovely, Rob. I feel quite privileged to be one of the few people to have seen those beautifully cut secret dovetails before they disappeared from view for ever  

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Corset (5 Jul 2007)

Really very impressive, I find it really helpfull to see all the work in progress shots. Very inspiring for all those of lesser talents.
Owen


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## lucky9cat (6 Jul 2007)

Rob, this is a great thread. I've found both the photos and your commentary really helpful but at the moment if I cut a half decent dovetail I'm really proud and want it showing! Great stuff.

Ted


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## woodbloke (7 Jul 2007)

Started work after I had finished the Ulmia on shaping the casket sides with the round sole special made last week, made a template to show how the shaping would progress. First pic is of the initial shavings made with the plane. The routed groove (12mm deep) goes all the way around the casket as my pencil lines showing the saw lid margin would be removed by the shaping process:






This shows all the rough shaping with the plane completed. The plane was fabulous to use :lol: and is recommended if any such concave work is contemplated:






This shows the rough shaping with the lid removed and the joint trued:






and just to show that it _has_ been removed:






with this pic showing the box and lid together:






This final shot shows one of the corners of the box. I'm quite pleased with the way that the mitres pulled up.....not perfect, 'cos nothing _ever_ is but not too shabby either:






SWIMBO'll be in soon so I've got to get T on but may do a bit more before COP tonite :lol: - Rob


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## paulm (7 Jul 2007)

Looks great already Rob, really inspirational to see the process broken down into lots of understandable individual steps.

Can't wait to see it finished. Do you plan to oil it or french polish or something else ?

Cheers, Paul


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## woodbloke (7 Jul 2007)

Paul - finish will be 3 coats of Finishing Oil followed by a special teak wax (Alna Teak Wax) which I got when I was at college in the 70's when a lot of teak furniture was fashionable and the college shop was equipped with all sorts of stuff to finish teak - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (7 Jul 2007)

The plane was clearly a success  Some terrific techniques on display here, Rob - many thanks for sharing them with us :wink: 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## devonwoody (8 Jul 2007)

Lovely work, and project.

I myself haven't dared show one of my joints with a close up shot like yours.


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## DomValente (8 Jul 2007)

Lovely, lovely workmanship.

Dom


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## woodbloke (8 Jul 2007)

Thanks for all the encouraging words. The next thing I need to do is to scrape and sand (will have to make a specially shaped cork block) one long side to an almost finished state and then fit the hinges....the other three sides can then be shaped to the final profile, which is going to be interesting :wink: to get the mitres in the right place. Will then have to insert a small handle in ebony or teak....not sure at this stage and start to shape the front detailing and after that I need to start to think about how to make the plinth. A small rebate has also been worked onto the bottom of the casket which is shown in the design plan. This just acts as a break between the teak casket and ebony plinth - Rob


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## woodbloke (14 Jul 2007)

Have done a bit more on the casket today. Started by getting the hinges on which I hate :evil: as nothing ever seems to line up, however after a bit of fiddling about I got the corners to mate together tho' one is slightly out. Once the hinges were in place the other three sides were scraped and sanded to the profile and then I began to roughly shape the corners with a file:






I've decided to deviate slightly from the design in that the top half will be fully sculpted and smooth....... this will taper towards the plinth which will have crisp edges. This pic shows the casket very roughly shaped:






I then dovetailed in a piece of teak for the handle (the design called for ebony but I decided on teak at the last mo'). This pic shows the largish piece of teak glued in place:






and this pic shows the handle roughly sawn to a sort of teardrop shape with the depression in the casket sided roughly marked out:






and after carving with _very_ small gouges the handle detail looks like this. The top and lower surface of the handle are concave, so it's got a bit of a Krenovian feel to it at the mo':






This last pic shows the box open and you can see the handle detail a little more clearly:






Everything has been carved very roughly at present...a lot more scraping and sanding to do to smooth things off. Ebony plinth next - Rob


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## devonwoody (15 Jul 2007)

I congratulate you on your skills and dedication also your courage (taking on wood carving at such a late stage of the project)

Can you tell me where I could get some small pieces of ebony? I would like to try some decorations with that stuff, or is it possible to stain wood black with a black marker pen :twisted:


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## woodbloke (15 Jul 2007)

DW - I believe Yandles at Martock have it in stock, not too far from your neck o'the woods - Rob


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## devonwoody (15 Jul 2007)

woodbloke":9e3zde1c said:


> DW - I believe Yandles at Martock have it in stock, not too far from your neck o'the woods - Rob



Thanks for information above, I could do with some exotics so perhaps another visit would be useful as long as I keep out of the tool department.


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## Paul Chapman (15 Jul 2007)

Fascinating stuff, Rob. This is proving to be a very demanding project in the number of different skills required. Eagerly looking forward to the next stage  

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## woodbloke (18 Jul 2007)

Have made the plinth over the last few days. It's in ebony 22mm square with a couple of 4mm internal keys (made from birch ply) in each corner so the whole joint is going to be quite strong:






The plinth was then glued up in my picture frame cramp (Paul, available from Axminster) and you can see the wafers in place:






After cleaning up, I made a jig to shape the plinth on the underside. This was mainly done with a router and the shape was bearing cut from the shape on the jig. The plinth was then screwed to the underside of the casket (one in each corner and one on each long side) .....had to have a little bit of care :wink: to ensure that the mitres on the plinth picked up on the casket corners. I then used my curved sole plane to plane in the lower half of the casket and plinth together, after which the profile was scraped and sanded in. The final few pics show the casket sanded to 80g, lots more detail shaping yet to be done:











The last pic shows one of the corners with the plinth mitres picking up on the casket mitres:






Next job is to get hold of some 3 skip bandsaw blades from Axminster so I can resaw a bit of English Walnut for the casket lining - Rob


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## paulm (18 Jul 2007)

Hi Rob, that's a classy piece of work and the plinth really set's it off nicely.

Can't wait to see it all finished.

Have a few days off work this week and by coincidence just fitted a new Dure-edge 3 tooth 3/4" blade to my Startrite yesterday so if you want to pop over and do your resawing and have a cuppa you are very welcome !

Cheers, Paul.


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## woodbloke (18 Jul 2007)

Paul - have sent a PM - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (18 Jul 2007)

It's looking great, Rob. How you are able to do all that demanding work on the casket and produce a blog from scratch is beyond me - you obviously have a higher work rate than me 

Looking forward to the next instalment (of the casket and the blog :wink: ) 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## mr (18 Jul 2007)

That there casket is looking very nice. 
Cheers Mike


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## Chris Knight (18 Jul 2007)

Rob,
Looking good!


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## mr (18 Jul 2007)

Rob How have you raised the casket case itself up off the plinth? It appears that theres a slight "gap" between plinth and casket or is that not the case? 

Cheers Mike


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## White House Workshop (20 Jul 2007)

Just one word - beautiful!


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## woodbloke (20 Jul 2007)

mr":1pjhxgx1 said:


> Rob How have you raised the casket case itself up off the plinth? It appears that theres a slight "gap" between plinth and casket or is that not the case?
> 
> Cheers Mike



Mike - there's a very small rebate (2x2mm) worked on the underside of the casket to act as a 'shadow gap' and to deliberately form a gap between the two, this was machined on the router table before all the sculpting took place - Rob


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## woodbloke (26 Jul 2007)

I've done a bit of work on the casket this morning and fitted the lining. It's in English Walnut and has been scribed and mitred. First pic shows one of the small sides partly done and another small side with an oak block in place ready to cut the mitre at the corner:







This pic shows all the sides with the joints cut and fitted. The first coat of finishing oil has just been applied, two more to go followed by some teak wax:






The top surface has been shaped with block plane and sandpaper to a smooth profile, the gluing side has been masked off. Once all four sides have been glued in place the mitred corners can be sanded in and refinished. Once the lining is place the lid can be refitted as the upstand on the lining will serve to accurately locate the lid for final sanding - Rob


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## Paul Chapman (26 Jul 2007)

Very nice, Rob. It was lovely to see and handle the casket when Pete and I popped in the other day. The tactile quality of it was really quite stunning - particularly the way you have shaped the small handle.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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