We need a new bread bin. Apparently they are available in the shops, but that's too easy and no fun. Besides, I want one made out of a suitable native hardwood, of a particular size. And just for fun, I want one where the front and back slope inwards. I think this might be a nice little warm-up project before I embark on something more ambitious later this year.
The design is really just a dovetailed box, with the lid at the front so it drops down as a cutting board. A bit like this:
The wood is ready. Some of you may remember that I deep-ripped a lump of alder into four half-inch boards, last October - deep-ripping-by-hand-t100654.html - it used to look like this:
then it looked like this
and then it looked like this
After three months in the workshop, the boards are still as straight as when I cut them, which is nice, as I don't work quickly. According to the books, alder was a popular wood for kitchen equipment as it works well and imparts no nasty taint to foodstuffs.
While the wood patiently waited, I did spend a while thinking about angles and dovetails and things. This is a full scale drawing of one end:
Unless I have missed something obvious, I can't make the ends symmetrical - because I want the front to open but not the back. I'm hoping that the slant of the dovetails will chime well with the slant of the ends and even if it's not quite regular, the overall effect will be ok. (Not that I expect anyone to give it a second glance - it's only a bread bin!) I am still undecided about how I will fit the back - it will probably have tongues on the ends, but not on the long edges.
Should I be leaving a ventilation gap along the top back edge, which would be easy to do? I don't want the bread going mouldy.
Anyway, I have made a bit of a start today. I took my sketch and cutting list and decided how to get the six pieces out of my four boards. The original lump of wood was wedge shaped, and to get the widths I need, the edge joints will have to follow the angle of the wedge. Maybe that will emphasise the angled nature of the box, or maybe my joints will all be invisible :lol:
The wood had a few defects - a bit of sapwood, some reversed grain approaching knots, and a bit of a branch. Here you can see that I marked out the defects with blue chalk, then fitted the required pieces in between, in white, with plenty of margin for error. Even on a tiny project like this, I find this stage difficult, so it was a relief to find that yes, there is enough wood, and nothing to be gained by trying to make anything bigger out of it. Chalk is good for when you need several attempts at layout.
Should I edge join the boards into two long pieces, then cut them up, or cut them up and then edge join them? It's a bit too late to ask...
I had a go at jointing the whole length of the edges
Here you can see that I have not gone far enough, and the shaving is not yet full width.
And here you can see that, with one end pinched together, there is rather a big gap at the other.
So I hopped over to the bandsaw and divided out the six bits I needed.
I then planed them properly and clamped them up. I used my old folding-wedge clamps, all made out of finest skipwood or old floorboards.
You just hold a hammer against one wedge and knock the other end with another hammer.
Also make sure that the pieces are in line to make a flat board - that's what the rawhide mallet was for.
Realising that some readers might be a bit worried that I have a bandsaw and used it for six cuts earlier, here's a reassuring picture of cutting another board with this "plenty-of-life-left-in-it-yet" Disston.
And that's all for now, while we wait for the glue to set. It's a cosy 14 degrees in my unheated basement, which is plenty warm enough for hand planing, and warm enough for waterproof PVA glue too.
More when there is any progress, but don't hold your breath...
The design is really just a dovetailed box, with the lid at the front so it drops down as a cutting board. A bit like this:
The wood is ready. Some of you may remember that I deep-ripped a lump of alder into four half-inch boards, last October - deep-ripping-by-hand-t100654.html - it used to look like this:
then it looked like this
and then it looked like this
After three months in the workshop, the boards are still as straight as when I cut them, which is nice, as I don't work quickly. According to the books, alder was a popular wood for kitchen equipment as it works well and imparts no nasty taint to foodstuffs.
While the wood patiently waited, I did spend a while thinking about angles and dovetails and things. This is a full scale drawing of one end:
Unless I have missed something obvious, I can't make the ends symmetrical - because I want the front to open but not the back. I'm hoping that the slant of the dovetails will chime well with the slant of the ends and even if it's not quite regular, the overall effect will be ok. (Not that I expect anyone to give it a second glance - it's only a bread bin!) I am still undecided about how I will fit the back - it will probably have tongues on the ends, but not on the long edges.
Should I be leaving a ventilation gap along the top back edge, which would be easy to do? I don't want the bread going mouldy.
Anyway, I have made a bit of a start today. I took my sketch and cutting list and decided how to get the six pieces out of my four boards. The original lump of wood was wedge shaped, and to get the widths I need, the edge joints will have to follow the angle of the wedge. Maybe that will emphasise the angled nature of the box, or maybe my joints will all be invisible :lol:
The wood had a few defects - a bit of sapwood, some reversed grain approaching knots, and a bit of a branch. Here you can see that I marked out the defects with blue chalk, then fitted the required pieces in between, in white, with plenty of margin for error. Even on a tiny project like this, I find this stage difficult, so it was a relief to find that yes, there is enough wood, and nothing to be gained by trying to make anything bigger out of it. Chalk is good for when you need several attempts at layout.
Should I edge join the boards into two long pieces, then cut them up, or cut them up and then edge join them? It's a bit too late to ask...
I had a go at jointing the whole length of the edges
Here you can see that I have not gone far enough, and the shaving is not yet full width.
And here you can see that, with one end pinched together, there is rather a big gap at the other.
So I hopped over to the bandsaw and divided out the six bits I needed.
I then planed them properly and clamped them up. I used my old folding-wedge clamps, all made out of finest skipwood or old floorboards.
You just hold a hammer against one wedge and knock the other end with another hammer.
Also make sure that the pieces are in line to make a flat board - that's what the rawhide mallet was for.
Realising that some readers might be a bit worried that I have a bandsaw and used it for six cuts earlier, here's a reassuring picture of cutting another board with this "plenty-of-life-left-in-it-yet" Disston.
And that's all for now, while we wait for the glue to set. It's a cosy 14 degrees in my unheated basement, which is plenty warm enough for hand planing, and warm enough for waterproof PVA glue too.
More when there is any progress, but don't hold your breath...