Wardrobe

[Steve Maskery]

How about using your tracksaw and a couple of lengths of MDF?

That is a good idea, Pete.
If I have to do them myself, and that is looking increasingly likely, I had been thinking of using my track as a straightedge and using a rotary cutter to cut through two leaves at once. Same idea, different tool.

I saw some one shooting them on the planer clamped between to pieces of MDF, that would be unwieldy for a 2.2m length!

It would indeed, especially on my little Kity. It's on jobs like this that I notice its limitations. I wish the beds were twice as long.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've finished lipping the doors but not yet finished trimming that lipping. But while I was adding that lipping, one piece at a time, I decided to turn my attention to those Mackintoshesque motifs.

I have spent a LOOOOONG time playing about with ideas for this. I don't want to copy a particular piece of CRM's, but I do want it to look like something he would design.

This grid-like design fits the bill, I think. But before setting to, I had to decide exactly how I was going to make this. I settled on laps and half-laps, and on this scale the easiest way to cut them is with a dado stack on my TS. Now I know that most people can't do this, because of the design of most tablesaws, but I can so there.

These motifs are going to be made from bog oak, but I wanted to be sure that my plan would actually work, so I made a prototype using some rather nasty oak reclaimed from a kitchen door.

I set up a 3/8 stack and made a little sled. It's just a piece of MDF with a runner underneath and a fence across the top. I cut a slot a little way past the fence and sized some stock so that it was a Goldilocks fits in it.

A thickness sander is a boon here. With lengths cut according to my drawing, I cut notches into the little pieces.

The first thing I discovered is that although I drew the sections at 10mm, in reality they are a bit less than that, to fit my dado, so I couldn't work in from both ends. One reference end only, please, Steve. Also, I had the square at 25mm and that just looked way too small, so I moved things up to 30mm, much better.

The next thing that I learned is that if the joints are too tight, the wood bends. And that lap joints stay together a lot better than half-laps.

Glue-up looks like this:

After cleaning up, it was over to the router table. I want some very small rebates in the back, just big enough to accommodate my "abalone", but my proper rebate cutter is too big. However, I have a flush trim bit and by changing the bearing on it I could get a small rebate. I've not measured it but it is about 1-2mm. Unfortunately it is not designed for rebating and the finish is not as clean as I would like.

I still have to clean out the corners, and this is a good opportunity to use my little corner chisel.

With the abalone behind it, I can get an idea of what it's going to look like.

I'm really glad I made a prototype, I have learned a lot. When I do the real thing, I'm going to keep everything a bit over-long, so that all the joints are laps, and then trim them back when cured. I've actually machined the rebates on the wrong face, but this is what prototypes are for, eh?

 

[sammy.se]

looks great steve

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've done the proper bog oak ones today.

I modified the jig to take an indexing pin and fitted built-in guards so that I could dispense with my SUVA guard, as it got in the way, especially with the shortest pieces. By covering over the path of the blade, I can protect myself from the blade itself whilst still holding the workpieces in place.

I'd decided to use all halving joints, even at the corners, as it makes assembly easier, so the components are made a little overlong. The squares are 30mm, and I have a 25mm packer, so I used that to position the first notch (what will become a corner) 5mm in from the end.

Then I simply move the workpiece up, notch by notch.

For the two longest parts, I was going to unscrew the fence and reposition it, but realised that I don't have to. The indexing peg is on a push fit, so I could remove it and re-site it in another block. That way, if anything goes wrong further down the line, I still have my original indexing position, should I need it.

I was very glad of that, because as I was assembling the matrices I discovered that there were a few breakages. This bog oak is very brittle and was losing bits here and there. Fortunately most was where it didn't matter, it would be trimmed off anyway, but I did have to remake two pieces. Good job I'd prepared a bit spare.

A tiny dab of glue at each joint and no clamping is required.

My veneer has arrived from Capital Crispin, a thoroughly satisfactory purchasing experience and the veneer itself is fantastic.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I am an ***** of the first order.

Remember me saying that I though I had some QS oak veneer, but when I opened up the bag it was something horrible and red? The only oak was crown cut and I shall use that for the balance. So I assumed it had got lost in the many house moves post-divorce.

Today, searching for an old bag of assorted spanners, I found... the QS oak.

It is every bit as beautiful as I remembered it and there is loads more than I shall ever need.

So I have the National Collection of QS oak veneer, which I shall never use up if I live to be 100 and I have spent nearly 200 quid for no reason whatsoever.

 

[doctor Bob]

Wallpaper the walls in veneer.

 

[rafezetter]

I am an ***** of the first order.

Remember me saying that I though I had some QS oak veneer, but when I opened up the bag it was something horrible and red? The only oak was crown cut and I shall use that for the balance. So I assumed it had got lost in the many house moves post-divorce.

Today, searching for an old bag of assorted spanners, I found... the QS oak.

It is every bit as beautiful as I remembered it and there is loads more than I shall ever need.

So I have the National Collection of QS oak veneer, which I shall never use up if I live to be 100 and I have spent nearly 200 quid for no reason whatsoever.

ouch - worth trying to see if they will take it back for a re-stocking fee, usually 15% or so.

 

[galleywood]

I suppose we have all done something similar, but it's difficult to imagine how you came across lengths of veneer when looking for a bag of spanners.

 

[sploo]

I am an ***** of the first order.

Remember me saying that I though I had some QS oak veneer, but when I opened up the bag it was something horrible and red? The only oak was crown cut and I shall use that for the balance. So I assumed it had got lost in the many house moves post-divorce.

Today, searching for an old bag of assorted spanners, I found... the QS oak.

It is every bit as beautiful as I remembered it and there is loads more than I shall ever need.

So I have the National Collection of QS oak veneer, which I shall never use up if I live to be 100 and I have spent nearly 200 quid for no reason whatsoever.

Steve - I'll happily do you a huge favour and take the QS veneer off your hands. I won't even charge you for my time coming to collect it :mrgreen:

I suppose we have all done something similar, but it's difficult to imagine how you came across lengths of veneer when looking for a bag of spanners.

Big spanners.

 

[Steve Maskery]

There has been a bit of a hiatus while I've been Doing Nice Things, but it's time to get back in the workshop.

When I first designed this wardrobe, I drew a simple cove moulding for the crown. But I didn't take into account just how far out it would stick. My assembled carcase is planted centrally in the alcove space, but as the walls are not vertical, such a moulding would almost touch the plasterwork on the LH side. So I've designed a different moulding.

It gives me all the body of the bigger moulding, whilst sticking out only 20mm.

It is fabricated from three components, a 12mm bullnose, a 40mm dentil and a 20mm bullnose.

I milled up the stock, nice and straight, and did the bullnose mouldings on the Router Table. Easy-Peasy. Then I knocked off for the day and left all flat on the bench.

Next day I came down to them and they were all like a dog's hind leg. Not just a bit curved, but properly bent. Disaster! The piece I had intended to use for the dentil was too bent to use successfully, but as only the face is seen, I decided to re-mill it. It went down from 22mm to 16. It still wasn't perfect, but at least I could handle it.

I made a little jig for the TS to cut the dentils. It's it's exactly the same as the one I made for the halving joints for the motifs except that it uses an ordinary blade instead of a dado stack.

At this point I did not know whether or not this was going to work out, such were the bends, but as it happened, each one pulled the other one straight. Well, straight-ish. It's not perfect, but it is usable.

I cut the mitres on my SCMS and cut slots for biscuits.

Gluing up was a bit problematic, but a couple of triangular cauls allows me to get clamping pressure right where it's needed, square across the joint.

You will notice that the end sections are rebated. This is so that they sit slightly over the top. This will stop it moving sideways. The front does not have a rebate (but it would have if I'd thought about it in advance), it just butts up to the front of the carcase, over the doors.

I've had the front section on the carcase just to see if was straight enough. I think it is. It's not perfect, one end kicks up a couple of mm, but it pulled down with a clamp easily enough, so I shall just screw it down and not tell anybody.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I don't know where the time has gone, but the wardrobe has been on hold for a few weeks while I did another couple of projects. Nothing exciting, I'm afraid. But I'd like to get this finished before C(*&^%&^* , so I need to crack on.

My veneers have been rolled up for 15 years, so they are not very cooperative. I've had them flat for a few weeks, but that does not undo 15 years-worth of curl.

Although I had tried using a scalpel and a rotary cutter to cut the veneers, It was Pete's suggestion of sawing them with my track that worked the best. Thanks, Pete, you are not as daft as you look, are you?

I used two pieces of MDF, the rear piece is wide and supports the track, the front piece is only about 3" wide and is sacrificial - I cut into it with every seam.

The balance, crown-cut, veneers are wide enough to do the door with just one seam, so I did them first. It also meant that if it wasn't perfect, it would matter less. As it turned out they have come out as close to perfect as I could possibly have hoped.

I laid out a pair of veneers, back-to-back and taped the top along the edge.

Then I laid my track on top and sawed away, nice and slowly.

When the tape was removed I had a pretty darned good edge.

Then I line up the veneers, in this case using a pin-knot for reference.

Rather than cutting tape one piece at a time, I wrapped a length of veneer tape into a fairly tight roll and snipped through the lot.

The tape needs only the faintest hint of water, so a spray bottle is ideal.

I make sure that the tape is pulled tight, and as it dries it shrinks ever so slightly, so I end up with a tight seam. I also tape the back (glue) face to strengthen the joint while it is being stored until I press it.

The joints are perfectly straight, I have no gaps at all from the seam. I do have a few places where I've lost a splinter of wood, but they are very tiny and few in number and I'm sure they will disappear as soon as the surface is sanded and oiled. There was only one joint where I had to have a second attempt.

The front veneers are not quite as wide as I need unfortunately, but I do have some long offcuts from the previous project, fifteen years ago , and they are from the same bundle, so they are a good match. It just means that there are 3 seams per door. Each seam takes about an hour and my back is killing me . How my dad stood at a bench 9 hours a day for 50 years is beyond my comprehension.

Anyway, all four balance layons are finished, as well as three of the fronts, I have just two more seams to do on the last front layon. But my back cannot take any more today.

 

[Racers]

Although I had tried using a scalpel and a rotary cutter to cut the veneers, It was Pete's suggestion of sawing them with my track that worked the best. Thanks, Pete, you are not as daft as you look, are you?

Can I have that in writing please Steve

Pete

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've been getting the bag ready. My "proper" bag is just a bit too small, so I bought a 6x2m roll of greenhouse polythene. It comes folded in half and rolled, so I already have one good sealed edge. So, on my mate Charlie's deck, I squirted a good dollop of silicone down the open edge. The grooves in the decking made it quite easy to apply it in a dead straight line. I also taped the edge, to stop the edge opening up.

I made the bottom platten in two pieces, both for handling and convenience of storage. I cut a grid of 150mm grooves with my tracksaw.

My track setting jig is invaluable for a job like this.

The corners were rounded off

and then all the edges. The idea is to remove all sharpness so that the bag is not punctured.

Finally, I cut some Domino slots so that the two boards can be aligned properly inside the bag.

I've also made a pair of upper plattens of 6mm MDF and rounded all the edges in the same way.

I've done a test evacuation. There are leaks, I am getting 60mm Hg, but that is still an 80% vacuum, or about 11 lb/sq", so I think that should be fine.



I have to confess that I'm procrastinating about the actual pressing. I get just one shot at this and it's really hard to do single-handed. I think I shall have to rope in another pair of hands.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I roped in my friend Charlie to help, but he is camera-shy. I'm really glad I did, actually, I could never have done it on my own.

We had a system. Trestles alongside my assembly table. Bag on the table with the platten inside and a couple of long runners on the platten. They were so that the door did not catch on the grooves as it went in.

The layon is on top of the bag to start with, the door is on the trestles. So we roll glue onto the door, slide the layon in place, cover with the platen and breather strip, slide the whole lot in, pull the runners out, seal the bag and pump out. Easy.

Ha-ha.

I keep track of which door is which by numbering them indelible. This is door no. 2.

The first pressing went well. Just a little remedial work with a hot iron, but otherwise fine.

The second was a disaster. I'd taped the glue-side as well as the front, to protect the joint between taping and pressing, so that tape had to come off. So I sprayed it with water and scraped it all off. But when I pulled the door out of the bag, there was one long bubble the whole length of the door. The glue obviously didn't like my damp veneer. So it all got stripped off and binned

Fortunately it was an inside face and I have some more veneer, so I simply had to do it again.

I'm really pleased how they have come out. OK they are not perfect, but the flaws are small, few in number and easy to put right.

I routed a 1mm chamfer all around,

masked off whre the Mackintosh motifs are going to go and gave them a coat of Treatex.

That was yesterday, but they are still not properly dry. It's 12C in the workshop and that is a bit low. Ideally it should be about 20. So I'll just have to be patient.

I turned my attention back to the bog oak motifs. I've tried finishing them with both a hardwax oil and lacquer. I didn't like either of them. I've settle on just a wax finish, black shoe polish. It's just right, it looks like the sort of sheen you get with ebony. So I'm now in the process of cutting and fitting the "abalone".

There is not actually a great deal more to do after this. Drill for the hinges (too unwieldy to do on the drill press, unfortunately), drill for the handles. Glue on the motifs. Finish the crown moulding (it's currently in place on the wardrobe, but it's not been polished).

But if these doors are going to take days to dry between coats, it going to take some time. I once saw a table at an exhibition. The top had lots of very regular dots all over it, and it smelled. The guy had obviously been up until 2am desperately trying to get it finished and the dots were the pattern of the bubble-wrap it was transported in. I don't want that to happen, so I'll just have to wait.

But I really hope that I'll have it done and dusted by Chrost, Chrust, I mean Chres. I'm sorry, my keyboard will not allow me to utter the C-word.

 

[MikeG.]

......I turned my attention back to the bog oak motifs. I've tried finishing them with both a hardwax oil and lacquer. I didn't like either of them. I've settle on just a wax finish, black shoe polish.......

Yes, it's funny stuff to finish, but after lots of experimenting, I think I've got it sorted. If you haven't committed yet, try a 1:1:1 mix of white spirit, Tung Oil or Finishing Oil, and a dark spirit-based varnish. If you use it as a wiping varnish (ie on, leave for 10 minutes max., wipe off, leave for 24 hours, repeat) it comes up an absolute treat.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Ah, a bit late, now, Mike, but thanks for the idea, I'll try it next time.
But the shoe polish does look very good.

 

[Racers]

Steve

I have a 35mm hinge bit that fits in a router, feel free to pop roundand borrow it, its just the job for big doors.

Pete

 

[Steve Maskery]

Thanks Pete, I might just take you up on that.
I can go to Asiana while I'm that way. Are you in on Saturday?

 

[Racers]

Should be in as far as I know.
I will check with the wife and let you know.

Pete

 

[Racers]

Steve

In all Saturday

Pete