Help on how to treat wood for a new project.

[paullippo]

Hello all.
I have decided to make myself a tool cabinet and I have a planned out how I want it to be. But I'm really a novice when it come to knowledge of wood. I bought some sawn timber a couple weeks ago, Maple,Cherry and some Walnut.I intend to make it mainly in Cherry and Maple, I've done a rough plan and decided to make it 34 x30 x 6inches with double doors 15 x 30 x4inches. What I intended to do was to cut the wood to a rough size for the carcase and doors leave it a week then plane one side and edge and leave for another week before I plane it to size and start the joinery part. This is the help I need in so far as am I going about it the right way by doing it the way I've explained. The timber was bought from a very long standing place its not kiln dried but is stored inside. When it arrived the moisture was around 13/14 its been racked in my workshop and is now between 6/8 its quite nice over all, slight bow in some of the Cherry but the Maple is really quite straight. Any help, advice would be very much appreciated.

Regards

Paul

 

[Yojevol]

Hi Paul and welcome to the world of wood. In response to your post:-
1. Are you sure the MC has dropped from 13/14% to 6/8% in only 2 weeks. That sort of drop could only be acheived in a kiln.
2. Leaving your wood to rest after initial planing is good practice but you need to.plane both sides to get it basically flat before final thicknessing.
3. Your door dimensions don't seem to correlate well with the carcass sizes. Are the doors really going to be 4" thick? Perhaps you are thinking of panelled doors with stiles and rails (the frame) 4" wide.
Brian

 

[paullippo]

Hello Brian thanks for responding. In all honesty I'm not sure I can answer the first question I only go by my 2 pronged £18 meter so, no I'm not sure at all.
Except that 6/8 is only 1/2% above wood I have had racked for a couple years and that doesn't change, my workshop is only 6ft x 24ft and if it ever drops below 8 degrees I have a small thermostatic heater I use. I probably didn't explain properly. I'll cut the wood to rough length leave a week do one side one edge and leave a week then the other side and leave again before I thickness to the size I want. Doors will be a 3" wide frame dovetailed same as the main carcase with a flat panelled front about 1/2" with stiles and rails so that I can put tools insde the door. Stiles and rails cherry panells in maple. Hope I have explained myself better. So I'm not the fastest worker and I don't rush anything in all honesty I probaly won't have the wood anywhere near final dimensions this side of Christmas but I do to a certain extent like to be prepared. I'm I right in thinking wood has to be around 6/7 to work on. Thanks again for your knowledge.

Paul

 

[Cabinetman]

Are the doors really 3 or 4 inches wide with Dovetailed? frames? I would suggest a sketch of the box would be useful for us to help with the design element.
As an inexperienced woodworker a drawing will definitely help you avoid mistakes, which we all make!
Ian

 

[paullippo]

Hello Ian and thanks for replying. My drawings would only make any sence to me as the they are bad. However I did rough out a mock up to get an overall size as my workshop is not very big I have sent a picture of this and also a picture of the kind of cabinet I'm intending to make. I hope this helps you more to give me advise. Thanks once again.

Paul

 

[Fitzroy]

What thickness are you thinking of using for the sides of the chest/cabinet and what is the thickness of the wood you are starting at? I would guess the cabinet you show is either 3/4 (19mm) or 5/8(16mm). 6" deep and 4"doors will give you a cabinet that stands 10" or 250mm from the wall this feels a lot, it will also mean the door could be very heavy when loaded with tools. The one in the photo looks more like 4" in the body and 2" in the doors.

Moisture meters can be inaccurate as you may only be testing the surface 1-2mm of the wood, if you were to cut a piece in half and use it on the freshly cut open end it would give you a better reading. However, you've just cut the piece in half you need! If your boards are long and you need to rough cut them for your project then this method can be used.

The dilemma you have is to get going (exciting) with the wood being less dry than ideal and risk some movement, or to wait until it is as dry as you want. If I were making something for someone else or my on display dining table i'd be waiting, but for my workshop I'd be more tolerant of the risk of movement.

With thin (16-19mm) and relatively narrow boards (<100mm) your movement will be limited. The joinery at the box corners and internally combined with the flexibility of a <20mm board mean you will be able to clamp and glue out any small movements (cup, bow etc) that may occur after final thicknessing.

Fitz

 

[paullippo]

What thickness are you thinking of using for the sides of the chest/cabinet and what is the thickness of the wood you are starting at? I would guess the cabinet you show is either 3/4 (19mm) or 5/8(16mm). 6" deep and 4"doors will give you a cabinet that stands 10" or 250mm from the wall this feels a lot, it will also mean the door could be very heavy when loaded with tools. The one in the photo looks more like 4" in the body and 2" in the doors.

Moisture meters can be inaccurate as you may only be testing the surface 1-2mm of the wood, if you were to cut a piece in half and use it on the freshly cut open end it would give you a better reading. However, you've just cut the piece in half you need! If your boards are long and you need to rough cut them for your project then this method can be used.

The dilemma you have is to get going (exciting) with the wood being less dry than ideal and risk some movement, or to wait until it is as dry as you want. If I were making something for someone else or my on display dining table i'd be waiting, but for my workshop I'd be more tolerant of the risk of movement.

With thin (16-19mm) and relatively narrow boards (<100mm) your movement will be limited. The joinery at the box corners and internally combined with the flexibility of a <20mm board mean you will be able to clamp and glue out any small movements (cup, bow etc) that may occur after final thicknessing.

Fitz

Wow Fitz you've given me something to think about. I had intended to do the top and bottom 3/4 and the sides 5/8 so I could do half blind dovetails. Your right thinking about the doors they don't need to be 4" I made my workshop out of 3x2 with 12mm ply both sides and 2" insulation so my original sizes might well have turned out to heavy. The back was going to be 3/4 birch ply veneered. The boards I have are 2.4 x 7" x 1" sawn maple and cherry and the same again but 10" wide. The reason for a 6" wide carcase was because I want to put my 6 planes on a slop and not on shelves so that was my thinking for the carcase width, I'll do a test tomorrow, I can wait as long as I have to I'm in no rush I would rather do it properly. I really appreciate your input. Thanks

Paul