1/12th size furniture - I need some advice....

[AndyT]

Jen

You say you want to spend as little as possible, but replies so far have been about machinery. For the sizes you would be working on, it would be far cheaper and not too exhausting to saw and plane by hand. Also, tablesaws and planers get dangerous with anything small and short.

I'd suggest that you buy a reasonable general purpose hardpoint saw, with the sort of teeth that work ok ripping and cross-cutting and break down your few planks by hand.

If you want to machine the sawn pieces, you can use a router (with a trimming cutter and a straightedge) as a small scale planer/thicknesser, and to work your mouldings. Bob Wearing's book on the router will inspire you to get the most out of it.

 

[antonello]

Jen

You say you want to spend as little as possible, but replies so far have been about machinery. For the sizes you would be working on, it would be far cheaper and not too exhausting to saw and plane by hand.
.............

Certainly, I do agree.

My personal advice is to prepare, with the aid of a Professional ( or with that of a compliant Friend......:wink: ) a number of planks of different thicknesses, say 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. x 100 x 1000 mm of the selected wood, and then use hand tools.

This is the way that all professional Modellers do.

In one or two hours a Professional can make hundreds of them: then small japanese saws and some tools used in luthery will be most useful.

A thing that also has to be considered is that, making thin planks with the machinery generally used in woodworking, the waste is considerable: cutting a plank of 3 mm produces more waste than the volume of the plank itself.

 

[Jensmith]

Jen

You say you want to spend as little as possible, but replies so far have been about machinery. For the sizes you would be working on, it would be far cheaper and not too exhausting to saw and plane by hand.
.............

Certainly, I do agree.

My personal advice is to prepare, with the aid of a Professional ( or with that of a compliant Friend......:wink: ) a number of planks of different thicknesses, say 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. x 100 x 1000 mm of the selected wood, and then use hand tools.

This is the way that all professional Modellers do.

In one or two hours a Professional can make hundreds of them: then small japanese saws and some tools used in luthery will be most useful.

A thing that also has to be considered is that, making thin planks with the machinery generally used in woodworking, the waste is considerable: cutting a plank of 3 mm produces more waste than the volume of the plank itself.

I was worried that you would end up with too much waste. It may be a reason why tools more specifically designed for the job actually would work much better.

Would timber merchants actually cut timber that small or is it more specialised?

 

[antonello]

To produce thin planks whitout wastage ( veneer, for example, up to 3 mm, generally) special (big) machines have to be used:

http://www.damalegno.com/tranciativeneers.html

 

[StevieB]

Not Jelutong, but have you actually tried model suppliers at all:

http://www.alwayshobbies.com/Tools-$4-Materials/Wood-Packs-and-Panels.ice

Not the cheapest way to buy lots of timber, but would be suitable for initial tests and trials I would have thought?

Steve

 

[Jensmith]

Not Jelutong, but have you actually tried model suppliers at all:

http://www.alwayshobbies.com/Tools-$4-Materials/Wood-Packs-and-Panels.ice

Not the cheapest way to buy lots of timber, but would be suitable for initial tests and trials I would have thought?

Steve

Thanks Steve. I have bought from similar places. I was just looking longer term for a cheaper supply.

 

[ondablade]

To Andy's point about not needing power tools. Here's an interesting (quite pricey, but....) piece of manually operated kit by Bridge City Tool Works in the US: http://www.bridgecitytools.com/Products ... ker+Pro+v2

There's a video at the bottom of the page...

 

[Jensmith]

To Andy's point about not needing power tools. Here's an interesting (quite pricey, but....) piece of manually operated kit by Bridge City Tool Works in the US: http://www.bridgecitytools.com/Products ... ker+Pro+v2

There's a video at the bottom of the page...

That's an amazing tool though a bit on the pricey side. Thanks very much for the link.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Hi Jen

I don't know where you are in Cheshire but if you want to save yourself some cash on buying machines then you are welcome to come to me and we can spend some time machining some stuff for you in my workshop.

I have all the machines you would need to get what you want so should be simple enough. You could buy the rough sawn timber and we can do all the machining in my shop.

I'm not a pro outfit, just a hobbiest, so couldn't spend ages doing it (wife and 2 kids demand attention ) but I'm happy to help out where I can if you want.

I am in WA4. Drop me a PM for my phone number if you want.

Cheers

Mark

 

[Jensmith]

Hi Mark,

Thanks very much for the offer I've sent you a pm.

Jennifer

 

[Jacob]

If you get some woodwork kit together I think that at 1/12 scale you could reduce your material costs to zero by begging offcuts, skip raiding, breaking old furniture etc.
Basic need would be a small bandsaw.
The hardest hand skill would be planing to size but this could be avoided with various sanding machines.
Also check out model makers supplies.

 

[jimi43]

I recently made a couple of Dolls Houses using sycamore for the coving, skirting and architrave

Hi Jennifer and welcome to the forum.

My wife used sycamore for pyrography as it had small tight grain which might be suitable for dolls house work. Depending on the cut it can have larger grain as well but you might be able to select it so that for your scale...this is not part of the final stock.

Proxxon is superb stuff and highly respected here although I only oggle it not use it.

Jim

 

[Jensmith]

I recently made a couple of Dolls Houses using sycamore for the coving, skirting and architrave

Hi Jennifer and welcome to the forum.

My wife used sycamore for pyrography as it had small tight grain which might be suitable for dolls house work. Depending on the cut it can have larger grain as well but you might be able to select it so that for your scale...this is not part of the final stock.

Proxxon is superb stuff and highly respected here although I only oggle it not use it.

Jim

Thanks Jim.

Do you know if Sycamore is heavy in weight? One of the advantages of Jelutonge and similar is that it is very light so I can get away with using chunkier pieces without having the fireplace get too heavy.

It's another thing to consider when you're comparing your product to those made in plaster or resin.

 

[NewtoWood]

Hi Jennifer,

I may be able to help with your moulding as I have a CNC machine that would enable me to use your DXF files to machine various strips of moulding which you could then cut up as necessary or they can be pre thicknessed etc.

If you could send me a sample file of your moulding I'll see if its a viable for me to do it, (as I am not a pro like the others on here, but an enthusiastic amateur). As I can machine multi sided profiles I may be able to look at other items for you too if that would help you out.

Pat

 

[jimi43]

Do you know if Sycamore is heavy in weight? One of the advantages of Jelutonge and similar is that it is very light so I can get away with using chunkier pieces without having the fireplace get too heavy.

I am a bit out of my knowledge zone here Jennifer but a quick Google shows Jelutong and Sycamore as being "moderate" density.

The figuring shows Jetulong as "low" whereas Sycamore is "intermediate" so it would be a case of trying a sample. It's fairly cheap and available.

Jim

 

[Jensmith]

Do you know if Sycamore is heavy in weight? One of the advantages of Jelutonge and similar is that it is very light so I can get away with using chunkier pieces without having the fireplace get too heavy.

I am a bit out of my knowledge zone here Jennifer but a quick Google shows Jelutong and Sycamore as being "moderate" density.

The figuring shows Jetulong as "low" whereas Sycamore is "intermediate" so it would be a case of trying a sample. It's fairly cheap and available.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I'll see if I can pick up a small sample and have a look.

 

[cgw59]

Hi Jen,
As a technician in a school technology dept in N. Ireland I use Jelutong on a daily basis for the reasons you have already stated ( ease of use light weight etc), Our suppliers are based in Nottingham and their costs are reasonable (www.fitchetts.co.uk).also check out some of the boat building sites I got a good plan for a jig that is used in conjunction with a pillar drill and sanding drum to help with reducing the thickness of small strips of wood, you can sand down to <0.5mm thick !!
hope this some help

 

[Jensmith]

Hi Jen,
As a technician in a school technology dept in N. Ireland I use Jelutong on a daily basis for the reasons you have already stated ( ease of use light weight etc), Our suppliers are based in Nottingham and their costs are reasonable (www.fitchetts.co.uk).also check out some of the boat building sites I got a good plan for a jig that is used in conjunction with a pillar drill and sanding drum to help with reducing the thickness of small strips of wood, you can sand down to <0.5mm thick !!
hope this some help

Thanks! I'll give them a try.

You don't happen to know where you got the plan for the jig from do you?

I have read about using a pillar drill. I only have a mini one at present with a chuck that takes up to 6mm drills but perhaps this would still do the job for what I need or I know I could borrow a pillar drill from my Dad.

 

[cgw59]

Hi Jen,
I can't remember where I got the design from but I did make one for myself which I could photographwhen I get home and send you a copy which will let you see how it is made the measurements are not critical and it can be adopted to any drill press.

 

[Jensmith]

Hi Jen,
I can't remember where I got the design from but I did make one for myself which I could photographwhen I get home and send you a copy which will let you see how it is made the measurements are not critical and it can be adopted to any drill press.

Thanks very much, that would be very useful.