Post a photo of the last thing you made

[flanajb]

Just put the first (of many) finish coats on this one, just to see - still have to do the base! Took many pics along the way and will post a WIP very soon, promise. Cherry, Am Black Walnut, Zebrano, Holly, Sapele, Beech, Plane. Lift-off lid.

View attachment 92932

That's some very nice veneering there.

 

[flanajb]

Sometimes the wood speaks for itself.

I bought a bundle of oak veneer (sight unseen) for another job a while back. It has a gorgeous ripple down one portion of the leaf, as can be seen on the right side of the box. It does show on the top as well but not clear from the picture. Luckily, I only used a fraction of the bundle for the job so have the rest.

Oak veneer with Am Black walnut trim.

View attachment 92950

How did you get the grain to follow around the 90 degree as it looks continuous as if it hasn't been cut?

 

[bjm]

How did you get the grain to follow around the 90 degree as it looks continuous as if it hasn't been cut?

Thanks for the comments on the veneering. With most veneer you can get away with losing 1+ mm and it still looking seamless when you take the veneer around a corner. I cut the veneer where I want the join, glue the first piece in place with a small overhang (<1mm), sand back to the edge when the glue has set and then glue the adjoining piece (again with a small overhang that is sanded back later).

The tricky part is to make sure there is no slippage when you clamp up. I use titebond and when I set the veneer in place I usually tape it with masking tape, clamp up for about 2-3 minutes (to allow the glue to 'grab'), remove the clamps and check nothing has moved before re-clamping. If there has been movement it's possible to peel the veneer off and re-set without too much problem - the masking tape stops most splits. Give it a try on some scraps?

 

[NickVanBeest]

Sorry its been a few days. That is N gauge. We had oo and n but then I sold all OO and got more n and merged it.

It's going to take forever to do it. I am building it on the floor in my sons bed room and my knees are not what they used to be so a little every night as best I can. =)

With you on the knees... same problem here

Have a box of z scale in storage, but no space or time to make a table, so it will have to wait

 

[marcros]

Ever since meeting John Wilson Home | Shakerovalbox a few years ago I’ve wanted to try making a shaker box, a friend cnc’d me some formers recently so over the weekend I’ve had a go.
This is purely a prototype that I’ve made as I’ve no previous practical experience of how they were made other than what John explained.
Made from aviation birch ply this was more to come up with a process as future ones will be made from steam bent veneer, that said I’m pleased with the outcome.


View attachment 93121View attachment 93122

could we see the formers?

 

[Doug B]

could we see the formers?

These are the 3 sizes of formers being cut on the cnc Marcros

& these are they bolted together having the tabs from cnc’ing being removed

 

[marcros]

thanks. I am going to have a look further into these because they look ideal for a quick build once you have the formers sorted.

 

[Shaggy]

Last thing I made was trying Resin Coasters using a piece of oak flooring and Iron Maiden Trooper beer bottle tops.
May have to drink more beer and try again.

 

[segovia]

On the bench

 

[bjm]

On the bench

Looks interesting. I was fortunate to see the real Segovia in the 80's, a few year before he passed away. He just about managed to make it onto the stage and only played half of what was on the schedule but once he sat down to play his performance was incredible.

 

[Rorton]

Most recent end grain cutting board - Walnut and Cherry

Lumber rough cut to size

Various 'blanks' made to form the centre, plus 3 different 'frames' to go around the centre

Blanks then cut to thickness (45mm) and exposing end grain

Blanks then glued together in stages - central walnut and cherry squares, then a cherry and small walnut 'border', then a solid walnut border, then another walnut border with sapwood - handles done with a 3/4 core box cutting bit on the router table

Soaked in mineral oil overnight, and then applied a beeswax/mineral oil finish

 

[Droogs]

That is lovely colour contrasting and a good solid looking block

 

[thetyreman]

made myself a clamp rack designed to hold 6 sash cramps, they are rutlands ones, I don't use them often but when I need them it's good to have them in one place, my only option was to hang it here even though the pipe is in the way, I could have made the top wider but it's too late, I used houndstooth dovetails for the joinery and a french cleat to secure it to the wall, it's the first time using fischer duo plugs as well and wow they are strong.

 

[custard]

Ever since meeting John Wilson Home | Shakerovalbox a few years ago I’ve wanted to try making a shaker box, a friend cnc’d me some formers recently so over the weekend I’ve had a go.
This is purely a prototype that I’ve made as I’ve no previous practical experience of how they were made other than what John explained.
Made from aviation birch ply this was more to come up with a process as future ones will be made from steam bent veneer, that said I’m pleased with the outcome.


View attachment 93121

That looks a very tidy job. Most first attempts that I've seen are pretty gappy where the top band wraps around the top, where as yours looks really clean. Well done!



I believe that the great majority of original Shaker boxes had the bands running the other way round. In other words the "swallowtail" fingers point to the right rather than to the left.

 

[Cabinetman]

Hi Rorton, that cutting board is very good, particularly like the handles, any chance you could show us how you did them? I have made a couple but nothing so decorative just standard end on beech, just curious how you get yours flat prior to oiling. Ian

 

[Nigel Burden]

Most recent end grain cutting board - Walnut and Cherry

Lumber rough cut to size
View attachment 93393

Various 'blanks' made to form the centre, plus 3 different 'frames' to go around the centre

View attachment 93394

Blanks then cut to thickness (45mm) and exposing end grain

View attachment 93395

Blanks then glued together in stages - central walnut and cherry squares, then a cherry and small walnut 'border', then a solid walnut border, then another walnut border with sapwood - handles done with a 3/4 core box cutting bit on the router table

View attachment 93396

Soaked in mineral oil overnight, and then applied a beeswax/mineral oil finish

View attachment 93397

I don't think I could use that. The thought of knife marks on it.

 

[custard]

could we see the formers?

A few years ago I had a commission to make the tables for a restaurant. Chatting to the owner I floated the idea of using Shaker style oval boxes as bread baskets. The owner was interested, so in the great tradition of custom furniture makers I pulled a quote and a delivery date out of thin air! When the quote was accepted I then had to figure out to make them and hopefully turn a profit along the way.

Subsequently I've made quite a few Shaker boxes, and you're right to ask about the formers because they're really the critical element in the whole process.

You need a "plug", which is the former around which the hot timbers are bent, you then need two wedge shaped "formers", one for the top and one for the bottom, which are inserted into the freshly riveted box so it will hold its shape while drying. Finally, I made one master template for each size box, which I could subsequently use to make as many additional plugs and formers as required. From a practical point of view it really makes sense to produce several Shaker boxes each time you fire up the water trough/steam box, and you'll need a pair of formers for each box you make.

My starting point was to use and appropriate programme (ie Photoshop or Sketch Up for example), to draw the elipse profile. I then stuck that down to a piece of 18mm water proof MDF in order to make the master template.

Next step was to bandsaw around the profile, staying about 0.5-1.0 mm outside the line.

I then used a disc sander to work down to the line.

You could use a spokeshave to do the final shaping, and on many jobs that's what I'll do. But you'll see later that a disc sander is especially useful when making the wedge shaped formers, therefore I used a disc sander throughout.

Next step was to use this master template to draw an outline on some good quality birch ply. I put a sleeve over a red pencil lead so that acted as a bearing so the line was just over 1mm larger than the master template. The disc sander was then tilted by 10 degrees so when I sanded to the line it would produce a wedge shaped former. You can see the general idea here, on the top are the two wedge shaped formers in birch ply, on the bottom is the MDF master template.

If you look closely you can see that these formers are larger than the master template on one face, but smaller on the other face. This means they can wedge into the Shaker Oval Box like a cork in a bottle and hold the shape while it dries overnight.

Next step is to make the "plug" the oval dummy around which the hot, wet veneer gets wrapped to form the basic shape before being riveted.

I chose to make the plugs from softwood because I wanted the plug to be virtually the same height as the width of the veneer that will be wrapped around it. This makes it easier to register it at both top and bottom, and ensures the veneer goes on straight rather than spiralling around the plug. It's much easier to thickness solid timber rather than MDF or ply. So I machined a board so that it was exactly one third of the final thickness I wanted, and used the master template to draw out three profiles.

Next step is to bandsaw these three ovals slightly oversize.

So now I have a stack of three rough cut ovals.

It's time for dinner so I'll break here and finish the story later!

 

[custard]

Carrying on with showing how I made the formers for Shaker Oval Boxes.

The next step is to temporarily attach the master template to one of the three rough cut, softwood ovals. Here it's being screwed in place while ensuring there's an overhang on the softwood oval all the way around.

The idea is to use a copy routing bit to profile the softwood oval so that it exactly copies the master template. This photo shows the general arrangement, with the bearing following the MDF master template and the cutter profiling the softwood oval underneath it.

Here's a close up showing it in more detail,

And here it is on the router table with the guarding in place. I should add that you can get clever devices that provide a "lead in" to the cutter and prevent any risk of it snatching. I do this kind of work day in, day out, so I'm comfortable without it, but anyone who doesn't regularly use a router for copy work should think about using one.

Now here's the clever bit! You detach the master template, and then glue and screw the machined softwood oval on top of another oversized softwood blank. In effect the machined softwood oval now serves as the master template, and the bearing runs against it and therefore machines the second blank as a perfect copy. Having machined the second blank you then glue and screw the third blank in it's place and repeat the process. So what you finally have is a perfect "plug"

Anyhow Marcros, if you're thinking about making a Shaker Oval Box and you need any help drop me a PM. I often work with truly spectacular Cherry and Maple boards such as these,

I'll often machine off-cuts from boards like these into veneers of the correct thickness for Shaker Oval Boxes. I still owe you Marcros for your generosity with the metallic dyes, so if you decide to progress with Shaker Boxes let me know and I'll put a veneer set on one side for you.

 

[Rorton]

Hi Rorton, that cutting board is very good, particularly like the handles, any chance you could show us how you did them? I have made a couple but nothing so decorative just standard end on beech, just curious how you get yours flat prior to oiling. Ian

Thank you Ian it doesn't take much for me to create a project thread - so ive posted all my steps here for you

I don't think I could use that. The thought of knife marks on it.

Haha, I sort of thought the same thing, but it is what it is, and I did make it to use it - I am obsessing about oil/waxing it though.

 

[flanajb]

Thanks for the comments on the veneering. With most veneer you can get away with losing 1+ mm and it still looking seamless when you take the veneer around a corner. I cut the veneer where I want the join, glue the first piece in place with a small overhang (<1mm), sand back to the edge when the glue has set and then glue the adjoining piece (again with a small overhang that is sanded back later).

The tricky part is to make sure there is no slippage when you clamp up. I use titebond and when I set the veneer in place I usually tape it with masking tape, clamp up for about 2-3 minutes (to allow the glue to 'grab'), remove the clamps and check nothing has moved before re-clamping. If there has been movement it's possible to peel the veneer off and re-set without too much problem - the masking tape stops most splits. Give it a try on some scraps?

Thanks for the explanation.