First box of the new season

[devonwoody]

The temperature in the workshop has just been right the last three days.

So I have started the new season making another of my old favourites.
A pentidy. A daughter is visiting Easter so I have got to get it done, I gave the last one away so she got left out.

5ft length of 7x2" American Ash.

A 80 mm width ripped off and reduced to 24 inch length ready for the planer/thicknesser.

Then put through the bandsaw and got 2 pieces 12mm and 1 piece 20mm thick after thicknessing again, so no wastage out of the original 50 mm starting thickness.

Put in a dado for platform to be inserted in box later whilst in its longest length. Then cut to 4 equal lenths on the sled.

Then mited each corner on the sled I made to do mitre cuts.

The box I am copying.

 

[PowerTool]

Looks good so far,DW - I can see it being a popular piece to have
Workshop looks well organised,and a nice collection of jigs - how many hours do you think a box like that takes you ?

Andrew

 

[OPJ]

Good to see you're back to making boxes again, DW. Keep those photo's coming! :wink:

 

[devonwoody]

Looks good so far,DW - I can see it being a popular piece to have
Workshop looks well organised,and a nice collection of jigs - how many hours do you think a box like that takes you ?

Andrew

That was two hours yesterday but I have got timber for three carcasses, I would have had it glued up but a neighbour wanted me to sort out her printing software so I lost an hour.

4 to 5 hours I will try and keep track of this one.

 

[devonwoody]

Car gone in for yearly service today £200+ yet I only make a little part of a box in the same time.

Glued up the outer carcass with top platform for tubes,

Glued up well.

Found some Brazillian mahogany to start making the tubes to hold pens, these are 7mm thick and I have cut the eges to 45% on the router.

Got out my stripping jig and a few pictures to show how efficient it is for cutting samll pieces.

The end result, enough pieces to make up corners of tubes I hope.

Waiting for that telephone call to pick up the car and part with some dosh.

 

[devonwoody]

Project delayed the lady wants her picture frame completed, so it was out to get some glass and then some varnishing of frame which cut down my box time.

Picture to prove what I say!

So I managed to do a bit more stripping eventually, went to the scrap box and found some sycamore and finished to a suitable size and then glued up strips ready for next job of making tubes.

I had to bring them indoors for glue to set owing to frost around again tonight.

 

[devonwoody]

Only managed to get the tubes glued up yesterday, Mothers Day weekend involves visitors.

 

[woodbloke]

DW - unless my eyes deceive me, you need to do something about the state of the tables on the c/s...rusticles! - Rob

 

[devonwoody]

DW - unless my eyes deceive me, you need to do something about the state of the tables on the c/s...rusticles! - Rob

Open to advice. The garage workshop suffered much condensation this year.

(Mind you I think I most probably have only a couple of years left working with machinery at my age)

 

[devonwoody]

Had a good session yesterday.

Cleaned up the tubes, put them through the P/T but the small length I had to hand plane, double sided tape would not hold it on to the longer length.

Started on the internal box and the next three pictures are the glue up method I use, learnt from a visit to AlexS in Oz.
It really makes gluing and fitting together a piece of cake. the sides just cannot help themselves in going to gether and no clamps needed.

Finished off the day cutting slots and fitting wedges on the outer box using a dark contrast, Wenge.

 

[devonwoody]

Whilst waiting for glue to mature re fitting of tubes, I did a bit of chisel maintenance, put an edge on my boxed set of tools using my wet & dry set up as per photo.

Then put a waste bit of sycamore through the thicknesser and got it down to 4.5mm thickness, thats the lowest I have ever managed on my machine. This bit of sycamore is to be used as a divider between tubes.

Carcass wedges sawn off and awaiting final sand at a later date, internal box made in meranti fits nice and snug. Three tubes glued so far.
(Btw. the tubes are upright, it must be a parallax error with lens)

 

[devonwoody]

09.34 am yesterday and the nice temperatures have gone again, 8C but 70% humidity is OK.

The tubes are upright, I put a couple of try squares on the box to confirm that photographs do lie.!

Went to the scrap box again, and found this little beauty, its the end piece of an old window cill, I recall at the time (three years ago) when I chucked it in the box thinking I would never find a use for that piece.
However it is now going to be used to create dividers between each tube.

So its on the bandsaw and being resawn to obtain a 6mm thickness piece.

It has reduced down nicely to 4.5mm to match the piece of sycamore worked on earlier.

(I'm regretting that I have thrown so many small pieces of scrap away because at the end of this season I intend to use up any glue left (no point in keeping it over winter in the shed, its goes off) and glue all this waste up and try and make a mosiac sheet of fabricated timber using accumulated scrap as per these pictures)

The dividers have been fitted and glued in the meantime.

To finish the day I have mounted an edge to the internal box, strips of more scrap were roughly chopped at 45% and then fitted by using the sander to obtain good fitting mitred corners.

Should see the final clean up tomorrow, so this box has occupied my freetime available over the last 10 days.

 

[devonwoody]

Got the respirator out to do some sanding for the first time since last September( 2008) and the belt doesn't fit me!

 

[Waka]

DW

It's amazing how the damp cold winter weather shrinks those belts :wink:

Like the box, coming along nicely.

 

[devonwoody]

OK, all woodwork and fitting now completed, sanding done and will be given a coat of shellac and then waxed

I have had on my mind the past week to start a new design of box and pleased to report that at 03.15 am this morning inspiration arrived, three hours later between many dozes I think all problems were sorted.
So new thread will be started named, ????????? that problem remains unsolved, its mainly about texture.

 

[PowerTool]

Looks very nice,DW - particularly like the contrasting splines

Andrew