WIP I hope this works!

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Finally got my shed into some sort of workspace that might suit me and not drive me mad from lack of space! I don't think.....

Anyway, I've had some ABW acclimatising over the past month and have started to build a bedside cabinet, can't afford 2 so the missus will get it, and it is a bit of an experiment so might not work. I should really mock this up in cheap stuff, but time is not available, so I'll have to force it to work.

I had the mad idea not to put a top onto the case that would cover the end grain of the sides.....it will be a solid slab side cabinet rather than frame and panel. I thought it might be fun to make the sides from narrow staves, which would mean I could cut out sapwood and maximise the yield of the walnut. But so the thing doesn't look like it has been made from a narrow stave kitchen worktop, I thought I would mould each stave with a concavity. This would give a nice scalloped effect and should look cool at the top, which ad I say, will not be covered with a top that would overhang and cover the edges.

So, after carefully ripping all the staves, planing and thicknessing, making sure each stave is identical in width and dead square, I put in biscuit slots for alignment and then moulded each one on my little spindle. After glueing them up, I ended up with the above.

The 4 additional staves will be the front and back stiles, joined to the sides with a long mitre.

More to come, but posting by phone is tedious, so will do more later.

Mike.

 

[custard]

Great that you're up and running! I'm looking forward to seeing how this project progresses.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

The two side panels and the four, what will be stiles, were run across my spindle with a 45 degree chamfer block. The idea is that the stiles will join to the sides with a long mitre, so the scallops will continue, folding around the front. I can now measure the width across the sides between the heel of the mitres to establish exactly the size I need to make the top, bottom and two intermediate boards which will form the drawer pockets. In old money it is 15 7/8 in.

I have now joined up the four panels for these boards, 2 of which have to be a good match, as will be on show, the other 2 will be hidden, so not as important. That said, I still orientated the boards for a best match! Each panel is made from 3 boards, as shown. Notice the triangles in pencil on the boards to help with keeping the boards in order, once I have decided the best match. It is annoying to get them mixed up during the edge planing.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

The panels for he top, bottom and drawer pocket bases were left to dry after glueing and clamping. Flattened with planes and sandpaper, edges trued for a datum and then sawn on the TS to size. Front to back dimension is fixed at precisely the size of the side panels between the heels of the long mitres. This is where the panels will fit, inside the stiles joined to the sides with a long mitre ( already cut previously)

The width of the panels were cut to 17 1/2 in. Now the long grain on each panel were mitred on the spindle again.

While I glued up the 4 panels, I had some left over stock that was not a good grain match for making harmonious boards, there was a lot of sappy stuff and grain run out. I glued these up as well and cut into 6 Short grain strips that will become the drawer kickers and give some thickness to the 'rails' and plinth. The thickness of the boards plus the long grain strips will give the thickness of the rails which I now cut and mitred on the spindle ready for joining onto the boards. Obviously the bottom board has no drawer kickers and the plinth need not be a fixed dimension. For good proportion the plinth was cut a little wider, 2 5/8 in contrast to the rails at 1 5/8. I hope the pictures make things clear.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Next comes cutting the slots for biscuits. Setting the biscuit jointer to reference from the inside face can only be done if all the components are precisely the same thickness. Ordinarily this is done with man made boards and not a problem, but with solid stock, extra care needs to be taken to make everything a consistent thickness. I also used the shoe on the jointer to keep the biscuit slots in the thicker end of the mitres.

Once the slots are cut, I glue on some softwood cut at 45 degrees, as clamping cauls. When the glue is dry, I can use G cramps to pull the joints together. Once the joints are glued, the cauls all need to be carefully cut off and planed back to the job underneath. It can be a bit fraught as it is possible to split the timber beneath, so slowly and carefully does it, but there is no better way of clamping long mitres like these, for a gap free fit.

Incidentally, does anyone else know these long mitres as ' waterfall joints' ?

Mike.

 

[custard]

Excellent thread that really reflects the practical realities of furniture making.

Good to see all the time and effort going in to selecting boards for individual components, and the care and preparation that's needed for a successful glue-up.

=D>

I did once put some photos together to illustrate some of the pitfalls in timber buying, I think that was based on ABW, if I get some time I'll dig them out and post them.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

The cramping cauls dried overnight, so it comes to glueing up. First thing, always, comes a dry assembly. This gets all the cramps needed to hand, all set to the right size opening, glue and brush and damp rag to hand and is a good check to see if all the joints will pull together with tight gluelines. If not, a little fettling can be done and rechecked with another dry assembly until everything is satisfactory.

Now the glue up for real. Each sub assembly here requires a lot of cramps, but is not particularly fraught, as each part can come together without the next being critically involved. In other words, one waterfall joint can be glued, biscuits inserted and clamped up with 4 G cramps and fussed with and cleaned up and checked for fit, without the other joints needing the same treatment simultaneously. Nice leisurely glue ups are to be welcomed!

The next waterfall joint was glued up, another 4 cramps. While everything is going well I decided to glue on the kickers. (I already tested for fit in the initial dry assembly). Now this sub assembly is actually the plinth, so does not need drawer kickers ( in fact only 2 of the 4 assemblies do ) but I decided to put the short grain strips on all the assemblies for structural reasons. These four panels will be glued to the sides with loose tongues and grooves. Because the sides have a scalloped detail, they have thin areas at several points across the width, so the grooves here can only be shallow. Adding the short grain strips doubles the thickness of the panels, so I can double up on the tongues and grooves to give more glueing area to give some more strength to shallow grooves.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

All the cramping of the long mitres done and left to cure overnight. Now comes the job of removing the glued on cauls. The ones on the edges, were easy to rip off with Tilly, my band saw, which just has the capacity to do it with the fence.

After each one is removed, leaving about 1/16 in to remove by plane, I reset the fence and cut off the one on the other side, then planed. Repeat for the other 3 boards.

Now cones the cauls on the top faces. I decided to save some energy and cut them off with a grooving blade set up in my little spindle, set to leave a little for final planing down to the surface.

I could only use the spindle on 3 of the panels, the panel that will be the plinth does not have a level bottom to ride on the spindle table. I just planed the whole of both cauls off, starting with a heavy set Jack plane, to within a veneer thickness of the surface, then finer set planes to finish. I could have done them all like this, but the band saw and spindle save a bit of energy.

Mike.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

Everything now planed smooth after the cauls were removed. Happily, all the long mitres joined up with seamless apexes and the boards look like thick lumps of walnut, but are hollow on the back and have no criss grain conflict, so they can be joined onto the solid timber sides without problems. A lot of work, but fun. I think Tage Fried would have said something like, ' congratulations Mike, you have just invented the worlds most complicated way to make 4 wooden squares!'

Still, the boards are pleasingly crisp and the top, which will be subject to scrutiny, is difficult to have it's joins spotted, 3 pieces make the surface.

All 4 boards ready, planed smooth and ready for the next stage.

This WIP is obviously very popular and well received, so it is with regret, I am going to leave off posting any thing more. Now back to work! Thanks to Custard for his support. =D>
Mike.

 

[AndyT]

Don't feel despondent - we are watching, with interest. Sorry for not saying anything sooner.

I was hoping you'd put up a drawing of the finished item, as I feel in the dark rather. Will it be a cupboard with drawer(s) or just drawers? Do the scollops run horizontal or vertical? What happens at the base? And I don't think I have quite grasped the point of the long mitres + thicker bits, though I can see it must be a relief that they have fitted together so well.

 

[woodbrains]

Don't feel despondent - we are watching, with interest. Sorry for not saying anything sooner.

I was hoping you'd put up a drawing of the finished item, as I feel in the dark rather. Will it be a cupboard with drawer(s) or just drawers? Do the scollops run horizontal or vertical? What happens at the base? And I don't think I have quite grasped the point of the long mitres + thicker bits, though I can see it must be a relief that they have fitted together so well.

Hello,

I'm not despondent, I just wasn't sure anyone was getting anything out if my whittering on!

I suppose I should have posted a drawing of what I'm building, but I have nothing more than a thumbnail sketch of the top and front views. I know this goes against the grain with how making fine furniture should be, I know the likes of Custard won't bud without a detailed, dimensioned drawing. But the thing with what I'm making here, is that most of the dimensions come from the work itself. For instance, when I machined up the staves for the sides, I did not specify a dimension, I wanted the thickest I could get from 1 inch thick stock, so when I ran the hollow on the spindle, I could get as much thickness at the thinnest point as possible. So if I drew up 7/8 thick finished size, but could only achieve 3/4 after planing, my OA width on the drawing would be a whole 1/4 inch out. Also, each side is made from 9 staves approximately 2 inches wide giving an OA depth to the cabinet of 18 in. If, during squaring and truing up of all these staves lost 1/32 in off each, then the OA depth could have been 1/4 narrower with the cumulative error. So I didn't bother with an exact dimensioned drawing.

Now I have come some way along, I will do a simple drawing of what I hope to achieve and hopefully shed some light on the thing.

Mike.

 

[n0legs]

I'm watching as well, might not be saying much but you've got my interest

 

[skipdiver]

I'm watching too with interest. Not posting much as i'm in the middle of a big job and pretty pooped of a night.

 

[custard]

I just wasn't sure anyone was getting anything out if my whittering on!

There's masses of great stuff here for any aspiring furniture maker to take away.

One of the things that's really coming across in this WIP is the care and attention to detail that's needed for first class work. Most of the Youtube videos and magazine articles that inform woodworking today are edited down to misleadingly brief stories, so when someone decides to give woodworking a try they think the same bish bosh approach is all that's required. But if you're going to do quality work then it's exactly this level of meticulous care that you need to be prepared for. Spending time considering how your timber can be best utilised, constantly checking and testing for square and accurate dimensions, patiently setting up your tools and machinery before starting to cut, trial fitting each joint, planning each glue-up with a dry run first, never proceeding to the next stage until the stage you're working on is correct in every detail.

Well done Mike for spelling out the stuff that actually counts.

 

[Woodmonkey]

I'm also watching with interest, it's nice to see some real wood working, although I'm also completely in the dark as to how it will look. You said in the first post that you aren't putting a top on it which threw me.
Love the cauls method of glueing the mitres, although I guess you have to be very sure you have removed all the glue, or that could show through when you apply your finish, i wondered did you leave extra thickness so you could plane off the top layer of wood where the glue may have penetrated?

 

[woodbrains]

I'm also watching with interest, it's nice to see some real wood working, although I'm also completely in the dark as to how it will look. You said in the first post that you aren't putting a top on it which threw me.
Love the cauls method of glueing the mitres, although I guess you have to be very sure you have removed all the glue, or that could show through when you apply your finish, i wondered did you leave extra thickness so you could plane off the top layer of wood where the glue may have penetrated?

Hello,

Yes, I left a little extra, but not much. When I ran the mitres on the spindle, I did not cut to a feather edge on the nose, as it is the nose that runs on the fence; you have to leave enough to bear on the fence. Consequently, when the mitres are glued, there are 2 tiny flats on the apex. This is enough to give some planing thickness when cleaning up. But it is as little a flat as you think you can get away with, I didn't want to change the dimension of the finished boards more than a few, fine plane strokes.

Mike.

 

[dzj]

I too am following this thread with interest.
Very meticulous work there!
Even a hand drawn sketch would've been helpful though, as I'm
having trouble envisioning the finished piece.

 

[ColeyS1]

I too am following this thread with interest.
Very meticulous work there!
Even a hand drawn sketch would've been helpful though, as I'm
having trouble envisioning the finished piece.

I agree. Looks like alot of care is going into whatever you're doing, but other than that, haven't a clue what's going on !

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

I made no progress today on the cabinet, I had to take my little girl to see Bing Bunny and Flop in town!

So I made a rough sketch of what I'm doing and also set the pieces I've done so far, together to hopefully make it bit clearer. The cabinet so far is lying on it's side.

The top is set between the scalloped sides, so the end grain and crescent shape of the scallops show on the top surface, I hope this idea is clearer now. The two smaller spaces are drawer pockets and the larger one, just an open space for books and the like. There is no back on the cabinet, so the lower space will show the wall behind. The drawers will have walnut fronts and backs, so the cabinet will look identical either way round, though I will put pulls only on the fronts. I have an idea that the pulls will also be the drawer stops.

Mike.

 

[dzj]

Coming along nicely.
A question or 2.
Will the top be flush or inset in some way?
Was there a reason to go for 'dust panels' instead of a m&t frame to support
the drawers?