September 14th, 2009
I wont be too “wordy” this morning. I just wanted to post some pics of my progress over the past week. The pictures demonstrate the process pretty well. Basically, this work consisted of two sets of 4 mortise & tenon joints (pillar/supports and base/pillar); one half lap joint and shaping of the pillars and table supports. The base will also be shaped with complementary curves similar to the rest of the piece. Both sets of mortise & tenon joints will be pegged with a contrasting wood.
Thanks for reading!
-NWB
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September 4th, 2009
The bed project that last posted about had been giving me a number of issues and I felt as if I was forcing the wood to do what it couldn’t. If I have learned anything from my time working with wood, its like any art form; a design cannot be “forced” upon a medium. The wood I had in stock and had been using for the bed was not appropriate for the application, and will be far better suited for smaller projects. I had hopped to build the bed from my stock material, thus not having to incur a large lumber cost at this point.
With that said, I have moved onto a new project that has quickly jumped into high gear! It is a breakfast table approximately 3 feet square out of cherry. The top has dovetailed half lap joints in the corners and there will be glass recessed into the center section of the top. I have included a number of shots of the top and its details. The base of the table will be a modified pedestal with an “x” shaped base. I never actually drew this piece so I cannot post a conceptual drawing like I have in the past.
I have begun milling the pedestal and working on the details of joinery and design. All of the patterns are made for the different pieces of the base. With the long weekend ahead I should get some good work done.
Have a good weekend!
-NWB
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August 14th, 2009
So I have started working on a bed for our house. The design has been a concept floating around in my head for some time now and it is great seeing it come to life. Due to size, the whole bed will actually be “knock-down” to help with future moves, storage ect. The first picture is the quick sketch I did on my white board.
Once I drew a full scale headboard leg, I transferred it to a piece of MDF. Next I cut out the MDF and finessed the shape; traced it onto the leg stock and cut it out. After that I flush trimmed the curved sections on the router table as shown in pictures. Since the leges are nearly 4 inches wide, this actually took 3 separate passes of the router with 2 different bits.
I saved the clean up of the flat sections of the legs for hand planes, so I could get more practice. Ever since my class in July at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of woodworking. Previously, I would have “blinders” on when it came to hand tools, but now I feel that is due mostly to lack of exposure and overwhelming amounts of mis-information. Having someone as knowledgeble and personable as Deneb Puchalski teach the class, was absolutely priceless! The biggest piece of information that I took from the class was an effiecient and effective technique to sharpen a plane iron. in the pictures you can see the copious amounts of shavings I am getting from my planes. Also take note of the whispy thin shavings sitting next to my new Lie-Nielsen No. 62, Low Angle Jack plane ( I have no self control… purchased after using one at the class). This plane was so amazingly accurate right out of the box, and with only 3 minutes of sharpening and honing it will made full width, full length cuts 1/1000th of an inch!
Anyways, back to the project… the next couple pictures show the shapes of the front and back legs. I think it will have very nice lines once the rails are completed. Next is a shot of the joiner marked out on one of the headboard legs. The mortises are roughly 1″ wide x 7″ tall.
Finally, a shot of the Shop Dog! His new thing when I’m working in the shop is to sit right there by the door and chew on his bone. It is endless hours of entertainment for him!
-NWB
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Conceptual design
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Flush triming the headboard legs
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Handplaining the headboard legs
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Lie-Nielsen No. 62 The nicest handtool I own!!!
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I made a mess.
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The flare of head and foot board legs
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All four legs
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Marked out Jointery
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SHOPDOG!!!!
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July 21st, 2009
In the past week I have completed 2 more projects that have been on the bench for a couple weeks. Both have similar uses and both stem from necessity but each is a very distinct style to match its owner’s taste.
First, on Saturday I finished a red birch cabinet made to match the clients new kitchen. This cabinet was designed and built to fit into a very specific corner where commercially available cabinets would be difficult to meet the needs of the client. It is basic face-frame construction with a simple shaker style door and sprayed with a clear shellac finish. I enjoyed this project alot and it was a fun challange for me to make a piece for a specific installation location. This is far different from freestanding furniture which i typically build.
The other recently completed piece is for Toni and I. If any of you remember at the beginning of this blog some four months ago, I was working with my new Leigh D4R dovetail jig. The piece I showcased on that post is the birdseye maple and cherry coat rack organizer. This piece has variably spaced through dovetails for the case construction and sliding dovetails for the sheves (all mad e with the Leigh). The back panel is a tounge & groove cherry bead board. It also has a cherry “nosing” on the shelf and divider. The finish is sprayed shellac, which I am really falling in love with! I have been working on this piece here and there in between a few of the projects you’ve seen posted. It has been a long time coming, but its done and I am very please with it. We installed it last night and as you can see, we have begun using it already!
Check it out! Tell me what you think!
NWB
Tags: birdseye maple, cherry
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July 6th, 2009
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Tiger Maple & Ambrosia Maple
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This is another project that I recently completed. It is made of tiger maple (aprons & legs) and ambrosia maple (top). THis was a fun project and didn’t take too long, but it sort of “fell through the cracks” as life was quite busy during this build. I am very happy with the outcome and I LOVE the look of the top! And the sprayed finish came out perfect!
In the pictures of the top you see what look to be imperfections; these are actually worm holes in the wood. The story with ambrosia maple is that worms get into the tree and all of the brown streaks you see are secretions from these bugs. It “technically” is a defect, but if you ask me, I’ll take that defect all-day-long!
The top has is actually made up of two pieces, so there is a glue joint in it. Can you find it? This is probably my best grain matching yet!
So as we move into the summer, often there is less time to build because more time is spent outside enjoying the weather, but this year I am going to try and crank out some new work! On the horizon I have a few pieces for our house in design phase. Once I get caught up on some odds and ends, we will begin the fun stuff, this will probably be by mid July. Also, towards the end of the month I will be attending my first woodworking class in Hand Tool Techniques at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks; makers of high-end hand tools. This will be ALOT of fun! Check back soon!
Thanks for reading! -NWB
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May 18th, 2009
This is the final entry for the bowfront table since I completed it this weekend. I used “Figure 8’s” to fasten the top to the leg assembly. They are simply small metal pieces that are screwed down into the aprons and then up into the table top. These pieces allow for seasonal expansion and contraction of the top by not limiting the cross grain movement. The other pictures show the table fully assembled and the last two are including the finish. The finish I used on this piece is sprayed clear shellac andI am very happy with the result.
Well it has been a long road but I have finally finished the bowfront table. I am quite pleased with the results and had alot of fun with it. I look forward to seeing the piece in its permanent home!
Thanks for reading - NWB
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"Figure 8's" are used to secure the top to the leg assembly
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Final assembly, prior to finish
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Finished product
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Another finished shot
Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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May 6th, 2009
Despite how busy our lives have been lately I am very pleased with my progress on the table! Here’s where we are:
I first took the front apron out of the bending form and did some cleaning up on it. The next task was to cut it to length and cut it’s tenons.
I used two different types of mortise and tenon joinery on this table. The first, which was used on the two front apron/leg connections is called an integral tenon. This is because the tenon itself is actually part of the apron. The second type I used is called a loose tenon. This was used in the remaining six apron/leg connections on the sides and back. The loose tenon is so called because the joint consists of two mortises (one in the leg and another in the apron) and a “loose” piece of wood that is inserted into both mortises creating a very strong joint. Both of these techniques are durable and will last the test of time, but sometimes I prefer the loose tenon because of its versatility and method of fabrication.
Now with all of the joinery cut, and after some finessing of each joint to proper fit, its time to get the first real glimpse at what the table will look like!
On to the dry fit. As you can see below it is coming together nicely and we are getting close to completion! Once I was satisfied with the fit of every mortise and tenon joint, I began gluing up the short side aprons with their corresponding two legs. I prefer to do my glue ups in stages because it prevents rushing and allows me to pay close attention to final fit of each joint. Last night I also planed the top to thickness and have it marked out ready to cut the front curve. I will not cut this curve until the rest of the table is completely glued up. Only one more glue up to go and some final sanding, we should be in the finishing room by the beginning of next week.
Hope you like it!
-NWB
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Fresh out of the bending form
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Cutting the front apron to length
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Integral tenon of the front apron
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Router and jig used to cut mortises
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Jig used to cut mortises in the legs
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Mortises in the legs cut with a router
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Prepared stock for the loose tenons
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Loose tenon stock after rounding the edges
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first complete dry fit
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Another view of the dryfit
Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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April 28th, 2009
I made some great progress this weekend on the table. It started with constructing the bending form. First, I used a full size, scale drawing to cut out the shape of the front apron. I then cleaned that up by hand and began to cut the four other pieces that would make up the form. The form is made from MDF, each layer gets glued and screwed and then cleaned up with a flush trimming bit on the router table.
Once the form was done, I made a maple apron to practice the glue up. It worked perfect! So, I moved right into the cherry one. The glue I used for this task allow extra working time but it also requires 24 hrs to cure. Thus, the clamps were left on over night.
Now that the front apron is “baking” I went onto the legs. They are a standard design, tapered on two sides from 1.5″ down to 1″. The initial taper cut is done on the table saw with a jig. I then clean them up on the bench with a handplane.
I also got the other three aprons dimensioned and prepared for joinery; which will be my next task. These will be standard mortise and tenon joints.
Thanks for looking!
-NWB
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First layer of the bending form
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Glued and screwed.
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Then off to the router
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Laminates through the drum sander
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Hurry up and wait! 24 hr clamp time with this glue...
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Tapering the legs
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Cleaning up the tapers with the good 'ol Stanely No.5
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Legs after being cleaned up with the hand plane
Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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April 23rd, 2009
The first step on this table will be to make the bent-wood lamination for the bowfront apron. Since everything else on this table hinges on this, I will complete it first and work from it.
marking gauge set at 3/16"
I prepared the stock for the apron to rough size, I then used my marking gauge to create a line to follow on the bandsaw.
Cutting a laminate on the bandsaw
After each cut on the bandsaw, I handplaned the surface of the next piece to eliminate extra sanding down the road. The picture below right you can see the difference in a bandsawn surface vs. the handplaned surface. These faces need to be clean and smooth in order to create a sufficent glue bond.
Cleaning up the cut face
Close up: shows the handplaned surface vs. the bandsawn
Here all of the cherry laminates are cut. They need to be run through the drum sander to clean up the one rough side in preparation for the glue up. Next I will build the bending form out of MDF. I will be doing a practice lamination on this one just to work out the kinks in the glue up process. So I have identical laminates ripped out of some tiger maple that will produce a similar apron.
laminates for the bowfront
More to come soon. This should be a productive weekend coming up!
-NWB
Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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April 7th, 2009
Last weekend I took a trip to my lumber supplier and picked up the material for my next project. The piece will be a bow-front table made out of cherry sized specifically to fit the clients entry. I have added a couple of pictures of the raw stock that I will allow to acclimate for a week or so. The materials need to adjust to the environment of my shop to ease the milling process.
To be top of bow-front
I have also added a few of the Sketchup drawings that I did to give us an idea of the finished product. This drawing will also help me with joinery layout and a bending forms for the bow-front. Check them out and let me know what you think. Feel free to leave some comments and share your thoughts throughout the build!
-NWB
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To be top of bowfront
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Materials for bowfront
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Overall view with dimesions
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Bowfront sketch
Tags: bowfront, cherry, table
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