March 2009

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Who Needs a Scrub Plane?

March 25, 2009 in Hall table, Hand tools | No comments

In keeping with the overall design of the table project, the table top looks best if it tapers towards the ends.  If you look closely, you can see it in this photo of the mockup.  I don’t want to taper the whole underside of the top; that would unnecessarily weaken it.  So, I will only shape the edges, leaving the center at full thickness.  How to do that?  I suppose I could jig up something to make the cuts on the bandsaw, but by the time I did that, I could have done it with a handplane, or a series of handplanes.  My students sometimes ask when they would ever need a scrub plane, if they own or have access to a jointer and planer.  Here’s an answer.

The first pic shows the unmodified top, with my layout lines.  You can see only one of the lines in the photo.  There is also a scribe line on the end grain, created with a marking gauge, and another pencil line on the right edge.

The next pic shows the bulk of the material removed with a scrub plane.  Note the size and shape of the shavings; they will change as the tools change.

Next, I used a #3 bench plane, set for a pretty course cut, to get within about 1/32″ of my lines.  I was still planing across the grain, and the shavings reflect this.

I used my #5 to make sure things were flat, then finished with my #4 smoother, set for a light cut.  The shavings are much thinner, and the surface is more clear.  The process took about 30 minutes.

Finally, I shaped the front edge.  I need to wait until I determine the final width of the top before I shape the back edge.

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Feeling Groovy

March 16, 2009 in Hall table | No comments

It’s easy to cut a square groove, square to a face or edge.  Just raise the blade on your table saw the appropriate amount, set the fence, and go.  Works great for through grooves, not so great for stopped grooves (I use my router table for those).  Also helpful is a Forrest Woodworker 2 blade, custom grind #1.  Awesome blade, cuts cross grain as well as with the grain and leaves a dead square kerf.

But what happens when your groove is at an angle to the face of the board?  Tilt the blade, right?  That works if you are only making a single pass with the blade, but if you move the fence to widen the groove, you now get a stepped bottom.  You could raise or lower the blade to compensate, but that would be difficult to get things just right.  Not an option.

I needed angled grooves on my drawer sides for the hall table/cabinet.  To make them, I ripped a length of stock, with the correct angle, then cut it into four pieces about 2″ long.  I then used hot-melt glue to stick them to the inside face of each drawer side.  Cutting the grooves now becomes virtually identical to cutting a square groove.

Prior to cutting the grooves, I dry-assembled the drawer front and sides, and used my marking knife to mark the width of the grooves.  With some careful alignment of the fence, I was able to cut the groove widths to within .004″ of the groove on the drawer front.  Groovy!

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Drawing Arcs

March 12, 2009 in Jigs & fixtures | No comments

Just a quick post to follow up on a comment I left on Chris Schwarz’s blog.   Here are a couple of pics of a jig I made to create large radius arcs, based on a concept I learned from John Nyquist.  Jim Tolpin describes the process here.

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Chairs

March 6, 2009 in Chair | No comments

New project…  Yes, I haven’t finished the last one, but I’m teaching a chair class and therefore I’m making a chair.  Actually, two chairs.  Two dining chairs.  It’s kind of like clamps; you should never buy just one clamp.  And one chair doesn’t seem right, unless you’re a student and you haven’t done it before and you’re still figuring things out.  So, I’m making two chairs.  Two cherry dining chairs, because that’s what my customer wants.

I started with a mockup, which was pocket-screwed and hot-melt-glued together.  The mockup is made from a 4 x 6 x 8′ douglas fir beam I scavenged.

Note the scabbed-on supports on the back legs.  I started with a back angle of 9 degrees, but after test-sitting, I decided the back was too vertical, so I cut the legs, added a pivot (1/4″ bolt), and tried some different angles.  Twelve degrees worked well.  The seat will be upholstered and the 1/2″ plywood situated there simulates the height of the compressed foam.

Here’s the real chair in process.  I have the front and back rails attached via loose mortise and tenon.  The jig locating the front and back subassemblies is from Jeff Miller’s chair book.

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Dovetails

March 4, 2009 in Hall table, Joinery | No comments

I’m skipping ahead a few steps here.  As I stated in the previous post, there was a bit of work getting the drawer front to this stage.  I started with a piece of walnut, S4S’d it to size, then cut the bottom edge into the crescent shape.  I don’t want the front face to be flat, so I used a plane to “sculpt” it a bit.  The shaping is subtle and barely shows up in the photo below, but if you look carefully, the bottom edge (left side in the pic) is a little thinner.  It’s more apparent when you see it from the end.

The next step involved veneering the bottom edge; I did that by applying two coats of yellow glue to the veneer, letting the glue dry after each coat, then using a hot iron to re-activate and set the glue.  I used my vacuum bag to press veneer onto the front face, since it would easily conform to the surface.

Once that was done, I sanded everything to about 240 grit.  Then I carefully measured the drawer size and cut the drawer front to size.  I made an appropriately angled wedge, and used my shooting board to shoot the ends to the correct angle.  The dovetails came next.

As you can see in the photo, I’ma tails-first kind of guy.  I haven’t cut angle dovetails before, so these were a little more challenging than usual.  The drawer sides are angled in about 8 degrees (if I remember correctly), so the dovetails are similarly angled.  The photo shows the left drawer side in position to mark the pins.

 

Here is the dry-fit joint.  I’m pretty happy with the fit.

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Drawer

March 3, 2009 in Hall table | No comments

I can’t say “drawer” without thinking of Frank Klaus.  Frank was at Cerritos College, where I teach, several years ago.  His Hungarian accent is unforgettable; if you’ve ever talked to him or seen one of his videos, you know what I mean.  When he says “drawer,” it sounds like “drow-er.”  It made an impression.

Before I committed to making the drawer for my hall table, I wanted to make sure It looked okay.  The drawer front on this thing is not a simple endeavor.  I have to cut out the crescent shape, contour the front face (it’s not flat), veneer the bottom edge, veneer the front face, cut out the drawer front (with a very small kerf), shoot the ends at an angle, and cut angled, half-blind dovetails.  I can’t wait.

This mockup is the same size as my drawing and quarter-scale mockup.  I tried another one that had a larger radius, but it didn’t look quite right, so I’m sticking with this one.

On to the real thing… 

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