Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Bookcase
After the tedious finishing process on the dresser, it has been delivered and its recipients are happy. That means the sawdust is flying again! Work has started on the next piece for the toddler room, an interesting bookcase. An update on that should be coming soon!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Dresser
I was asked by a friend to make a few pieces for their soon-to-be toddler room (more pieces for that room to come). They found a design they liked online and I went off a few pictures. It was to be painted white so I went with birch and birch ply. After getting plywood cut to rough size, I then edged the show sides in birch, cut everything to final size and got the case glued up.
As you can possibly see, I had some bows in the plywood to deal with, a downfall of using BORG plywood. After the glue had set and the clamps were off, I let this sit on the assembly table for a few days with lots of weight on top while I milled up other parts. This helped the bowing a bit.
As you can possibly see, I had some bows in the plywood to deal with, a downfall of using BORG plywood. After the glue had set and the clamps were off, I let this sit on the assembly table for a few days with lots of weight on top while I milled up other parts. This helped the bowing a bit.
Some drawer face blanks in the clamps.
After they were all complete and the drawer boxes were glued up, I clamped the case upside down to the assembly table and used biscuits and glue to attach the top 2-inch piece of trim. This helped with the bowing.
Then it was time to get all the drawer boxes mounted in the case. Unfortunately this was made more tedious than it had to be thanks to some slight bowing in the vertical plywood pieces, so each drawer runner needed a bit of shimming, but eventually I got them to slide nice and smooth.
Legs cut out and attached, drawer fronts added after routing the v-groove detail.
Finally painted. This proved to be the most challenging part of the project - getting a nice painted finish without spray equipment.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Butcher Block (cont.)
This butcher block cart was finished some time ago, so it's time to catch the blog up so we can move on to other projects.
After the top returned from the wide drum sander at the cabinet shop, it was time to slice it up again.
A few of the strips broke, highlighting where I probably didn't get enough glue during the first glue-up. Re-glue and clamp:
From there it was just flipping every other section end for end and gluing up. This time around, I only did a couple sections at a time until complete. Back to the cabinet shop for a wide belt sanding and the top was complete.
That's when I noticed I hadn't flipped the last section... DOH! I couldn't live with it that way, so I sliced that section back off, glued it back on the correct way, and went back to the cabinet shop one last time.
From there, it was straight forward: round over the top and treat with mineral oil, a basic cabinet made of solid eastern maple and maple ply made with mortise and tenon joinery, a poly finish on the cabinet, mineral oil on the top, and some smooth-moving locking casters that don't look quite right. I am on the lookout for some less-conspicuous casters, but other than that, this project turned out well and got approval from the boss.
After the top returned from the wide drum sander at the cabinet shop, it was time to slice it up again.
A few of the strips broke, highlighting where I probably didn't get enough glue during the first glue-up. Re-glue and clamp:
From there it was just flipping every other section end for end and gluing up. This time around, I only did a couple sections at a time until complete. Back to the cabinet shop for a wide belt sanding and the top was complete.
That's when I noticed I hadn't flipped the last section... DOH! I couldn't live with it that way, so I sliced that section back off, glued it back on the correct way, and went back to the cabinet shop one last time.
From there, it was straight forward: round over the top and treat with mineral oil, a basic cabinet made of solid eastern maple and maple ply made with mortise and tenon joinery, a poly finish on the cabinet, mineral oil on the top, and some smooth-moving locking casters that don't look quite right. I am on the lookout for some less-conspicuous casters, but other than that, this project turned out well and got approval from the boss.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Butcher Block
After a year of being up and running in my new shop and only completing a few large projects for others, the boss was antsy for me to do something for our house, so I thought I would start by gaining a little more counter space with a mobile butcher block table/cart. Although I still don't have a plan for the lower portion of this table, I did know the final size of the top so I figured I could get started on the actual butcher block. This turned out to take more time planning than I had thought. I did a few simple sketches to see what the final look would be and I wasn't happy with any of them. Sketching by hand was tedious so I switched to Excel and quickly came up with about a dozen designs based on how many pieces of cherry, walnut and maple I would be using. The boss picked her favorite one and it was off to the jointer.
Milling all the lumber for the butcher block took longer than anticipated. I milled all my pieces to 1.75 inches square, 40 inches long. There are eight pieces of maple, four walnut and three cherry.
After a good hour on the planer I was finally ready for glue-up. I thought I would be able to go fast enough to get all 15 pieces glued and put in their places. Unfortunately I over-estimated my abilities and by the time I got everything ready for the clamps, a couple of the first pieces were set up and the cauls couldn't pull them flush. All in all it wasn't too bad - a couple pieces were out by a good 1/32 or so. I decided it was a good time to find a local cabinet shop with a big belt sander. The willing participant had the butcher block true on both sides in less than 10 minutes and it only cost me $20.
The next step will be slicing it up across the width in two inch segments so when they are flipped, I will have a two-inch thick end grain butcher block. This time I will glue up in two steps and try to avoid another visit to the cabinet shop. Before I can continue, though, I need to build a new crosscut sled that will be wide enough to handle this top.
Milling all the lumber for the butcher block took longer than anticipated. I milled all my pieces to 1.75 inches square, 40 inches long. There are eight pieces of maple, four walnut and three cherry.
After a good hour on the planer I was finally ready for glue-up. I thought I would be able to go fast enough to get all 15 pieces glued and put in their places. Unfortunately I over-estimated my abilities and by the time I got everything ready for the clamps, a couple of the first pieces were set up and the cauls couldn't pull them flush. All in all it wasn't too bad - a couple pieces were out by a good 1/32 or so. I decided it was a good time to find a local cabinet shop with a big belt sander. The willing participant had the butcher block true on both sides in less than 10 minutes and it only cost me $20.
 |
| After the drum sander |
The next step will be slicing it up across the width in two inch segments so when they are flipped, I will have a two-inch thick end grain butcher block. This time I will glue up in two steps and try to avoid another visit to the cabinet shop. Before I can continue, though, I need to build a new crosscut sled that will be wide enough to handle this top.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)