Chestnut TV Stand - First Foray into Hardwoods

[Chems]

 

[gidon]

Looking good Chems - nice choice of wood.
Looking forward to see how it turns out.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Chems]

Thanks, the Chestnut was forced upon me as I bought some Laura Ashley furniture for the same room that is "Dark Chestnut" but in reality is beech stained to look like Chestnut but this wood is so lovely I dont want to stain it dark.

 

[Blister]

Chems , that's a mighty fine job you are doing there

I like what I see , and look forward to seeing the finished piece

 

[Tierney]

Looking good, I like the chunky legs and contemporary look. One day I intend to make a similar venture away from dreaded MDF, Ply and Spruce.

 

[Chems]

Thanks for the encouragement, Ive just bought a Axminster Belt sander and will start running the various bits through this as there are an aweful lot of mill marks from various tools. The chestnut looks better sanded than it does planed Ive found. Much softer colour. Should arrive in the morning and then I plan to start gluing the ends up and and fitting the shelves. Im going do to some raised panels doors for the bottom shelf which will really test if its all square!

The top, I dont know weather to do breadboards ends or not. I dont want dowl holes in the top is there a way of doing them that doesnt involve dowls? Could I prehaps do half depth dowl holes so they dont show on the top side? I dont really want the ends to have end grain showing either.

Im also majorly worried about warping, I left the wood in my shop which has similar conditions to the house but I guess is damper, Ive cut all the panels to 3 inchs or less to avoid bend but worry about the larger pieces. Id hate to get it inside and have it all splinter apart. The wood is all kiln dried so that should help right?

 

[Tusses]

Looking good so far Chems

the only thing that caught my eye was that back pine panel. Make sure you leave plenty of room for it to grow and shrink.

 

[Chems]

Its a pretty snug fit, obviously theres a lot of movement to be had in the tongue and groove bits but upwards and side to side there isnt much. How much should I be leaving? 10mm all sides?

Also just got my Axminster Belt and Disc sander I only ordered it yesterday at 1pm. Fantastic Axminster are.

Really good bit of kit too, does vertical belt sanding and all sorts. I can shorten my Pine paneling with the sander as a first test!

 

[newt]

Chems looks very good , where did you get the chesnut

 

[Tusses]

some info on wood movement ..

http://www.google.com/search?q=wood+movement+chart

 

[Chems]

Very complex this wood movement. I will try and leave some room for expansion on the pine panel, my shop is probably not the best in regards moisture content so its more likely to shrink than expand when it goes inside. Nothing for it but to try my best!


Newt, Chestnut from Good Timber in Northamptonshire.

 

[Tusses]

I just reminded me of my 1st oak piece. a frame with oak infill pieces. I was really pleased with it, but a couple of months later the infill had push the ends off the panel I had to take it apart and reduce the panel size.

Remember in the summer the moisture content can get very high in the thundery showery air. And because it is hot outside, house windows get left open ...

Winter with central heating - the air is very dry inside the house.

 

[Chems]

I will bear it all in mind. I wasted the entire today on other things and havent made it outside at all

 

[Chems]

Made good progress, glued up an entire shelf panel, needs to be cut to size but before that the 1 shelf needs to be cut to size. My main achievement today was sanding and card scraping all of on end panel which took ages but I have a perfect finish with edges so sharp they could cut you. Glued it all up and I will plane the cross supports down so they are all flush.

I also took your advice and loosened up the T/G boarding to give some expansion room. The panels have a good bit of expansion space available in lateral movement and I hope that will be enough.

 

[Tusses]

it was the cradle in this picture (sorry - dont have a better one) that I had the trouble with. My 1st proper project, so I didn't know !

Luckily it didn't take much to narrow the panels and glue it back up.

 

[Chems]

Ah yes, was it a very tight fitting panel? Mine are good an loose. The rebate is 5mm all the way around and the panel only sits in each side about 1mm.

I planed and sanded the cross supports down, it looks really lovely now. Just need to bite the bullet and do the other one tomorrow and the add in the main long beams.

I want a finish that basically looks like the wood is un-treated as its such a beautiful colour would Danish Oil fill this requirement?

 

[Tusses]

Danish will change the colour a bit - try it on a scrap.

The best thing I have found to 'not' change the wood colour is clear water based quick dry varnish. Again - try it on some off cuts 1st.

 

[Chems]

 

[OPJ]

For you first attempt at breadboard ends, this looks very near. Well done.

 

[Chems]

Thanks OPJ, I'd really like to do them again sometime soon as I would do it all differently. The real test will be to see if they stand the test of time. My main aim was to get a good edge join which I have so I'm pretty happy!