The beginning of my woodworking life


LarsCW

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My first project might be over ambitious, this has to do with my creative mind.

My goal is to both make boxes with dovetails, possibly also handmade hinges and also do woodcarving on the things I make.

keepsakebox.jpg.93be46dcafa49355e8ac59d1box.jpg.f9eae896d7f4a584af0039a478597dc1

I designed this little keep sake box to put celtic knotwork on the legs. I used the inside of the leg to create a blind dovetail joint. I did not think about the lid of this little box.

I designed the knotwork to fit on the 1"x4" surface of the legs. Depending on the tools that i ordered I might have to scale up the size.

56845689e6ada_PencilBox.jpg.4ea1af9405ec568456896dac6_PencilBoxjoints.jpg.0efd97

This is a box to hold coloring pencils. I added 1/8th on each side of the lid as i want to carve on both sides. As this box will be for my son, I will try to carve a pikachu drawing instruction on it and on the inside of the lid there will be a pokebal with pikachu and ash.

toolchest.jpg.fdfcd2398072aa944b3712e0c1

This is the design for my toolchest. As you can see it's not fully done. I intend to put in 3 drawers. A deep one on the bottom and 2 lower ones above.

The lower drawers are to hold my chisels. The 7 side panels and the top of the lid will be filled up with my attempts to carve.

To joint the sides to the front and back, I intend to use bow ties as everything looks better with bow ties :-)

Call it the nerd in me.

I should get my tools in the first or second week of January 2016 and to keep the budget low I was thinking of buying a 2x12 piece of construction lumber, which is around $10

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6 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Interesting drsigns, Lars. Maybe I'm not interpreting the image correctly, but on box #1, with the dovetails as shown, I don't think you will be able to slide the fourth sidewall into place. Maybe it works if you slide both opposing sides into place at once?

The idea is to put a panel in between 2 legs and then you put the bottom and the 3 other panels in between the other leg pieces.

Then you should be able to slide the 2 parts together.

keepsakebox_dovetails.jpg.101a068353a520keepsakebox_dovetails1.jpg.dbe45f35adc07

I hope my thinking is correct and otherwise I will learn a lesson :-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was surprised to get the stanley plane with such a rough blade though, luckily it was only on the back of the blade so that was easily removed with a sharpening stone i used to use for my knives.

When the lumber came in our 14 y son directly tried to claim it to make a sword. We designed one together that can be taken apart in 3 pieces, a hilt and some sort of pistol shaped handle. He just doesn't know that after i make the joints for the blade, he will be using a coping saw.

I think it's cool he shows interest

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16 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

Cool idea and not to shoot your project out of the saddle, but why would you have dovetails if you're going to cover them with an end cap?

The idea was to design something that required a lot of exercise. The corner pieces can be carved separately. One idea i had was to put celtic knotwork on them another idea was to use acanthus leaves that blend in with the lid.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I haven't posted an update as I got myself a nasty cut while trying out my gouges.

I knew I was testing my luck and i knew I should have gotten my workmate out and clamp the piece down.

The main problem i an walking into is that my cuts aren't acurate.

The new saw is amazing when it comes to cross cutting, yet leaves a lot of tool marks while the japanese saw leaves a smooth surface but tends to go left and right a lot more.

So the cut goes well at the top and the further I go down I lose acuracy.

I could use any advise here.

Should i think in the direction of bad tool choice or bad technique.

I tried to rip saw the 2x12 i bought, something which went bad using the new husky saw. with the japanese saw it seemed to go better. I do not get consistent thickness with the japanese saw, which would mean that i would have to plane a lot after jointing the pieces.

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43 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said:

Try using less downward pressure when cutting with the japanese saw. Let gravity pull it into the wood. Keeping the cut straight should be much easier.

Thank you for your reply.

Would using too much pressure also be why the teeth of the saw fill up with dust?

My main problem beside not getting a straight cut seems to be that the teeth gum up with dust.

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