chrisphr

It is the one Mel points out. It could very well be dull, since these are the last mortises in the project. The tear out is below the surface, so wouldn't have been a problem had I not later removed material to add the curve. Note to anyone considering this project: Make the handle blanks early in the project while your punch is still sharp. These are great ideas, really appreciate it. I think this will be the plan of attack in this order: Save the parts: 1. Try some layouts elongating the mortises. If it looks good and is proportional, save the parts. Remake the parts: 2. Try the hollow chisel mortiser on a piece of scrap to see if that will give me a clean result. If that doesn't work... 3. Burn some cash on a tool I may never need again (cone sharpener) Thanks again for the ideas! I just assumed it would be hard to keep straight after the curve was added, but this is another thing to try on a piece of scrap first. I'll reorder my options above to make this number 2 above. Better solution than trying to get the HCM set up.

Thanks Terry, I'm using Cherry for this project. Remaking the part makes sense, but part of the reason I was leaning to a repair is I'm not sure what I did wrong the first time. I'm afraid if I remake the part, I'll get the same result. Do you think the scoring will work? The challenge is since the shaping happens after the mortise punching, the shaping exposes the damaged fibers hidden beneath the surface. Another idea I had was to crack out the hollow chisel mortiser chuck it with 3/8 bit and put the mortise in after the shaping. Or I could try to use the punch after shaping, although it might be tough to locate and hold straight.

Thanks for the comments everyone! So the current challenge is the handles. When I put the plug mortises in the blank, they were near perfect, nice crisp edges. After shaping the piece using a stationary sander, it exposed imperfections in the mortise below the surface (I'm assuming the sanding isn't the cause). You can see what I mean in the picture. Is this a sign the mortise punch is dull? Bad technique? What do you think is the best way to fix? I was considering chiseling it straight again, then gluing a small piece of wood in there, then pairing that back till I get to my 3/8 hole. Or should I try to fill with a dust glue mix after the plug is installed?

Base and case merge, it is a beautiful thing! Add the top, free of any sapwood (thanks everyone for talking me out of that error of judgement). My wife is giving me crap about being on the computer so I'll post my question later. ?

Making plug mortises. Created a hairline crack in one of the panels, fixed it with epoxy and some great guidance from Carus and Trip. Cut the dado for the bottom panel, rounded over all the corners, fit it all together. Had to use a hardware store file to do a lot of the rounding, need to add a rasp to my tool kit soon. :-) Got the mitered base together. This would have been tricky without the domino... Getting the round overs on the base, next is the glue up.

So I wasn't planning on doing a journal for this project, and it is also kind of weird to post one now since I am in the home stretch but I have another question I'd like to get the forum's feedback on and rather than create a third thread on the same project in general woodworking I'll put it in a journal so I stop littering the forum. While this project appears to be one of the simpler guild builds (and it may be), it was plenty challenging for my skill set. Gained some good experience from this project. It is riddled with imperfections and errors, but I think they've been hidden well enough that only me and other woodworkers will notice. Layout: Patching up a knot and a crack on the inside of one of the panels with some epoxy: Pattern routing complete, squaring off the corners: Test fit case finger joints:

If I didn't have one already I'd probably chase this down. I will say the price has me suspicious that it is "hot." But for now I'll give the benefit of the doubt. Seems like a great deal for someone in NC. Comes with domino assortment set. FESTOOL DOMINO DF500-Q-SET $550 http://charlotte.craigslist.org/tls/5309694183.html

Oh snap!

Bob, I m totally cool with making this thread about your freakishly long toes. That said, sorry about them toesies gettin mushed. Put some ice on it so you can survive to show off them strechies at a 2016 bbq.

Oh no! So frustrating. I vote for a doing the part over.

I like the space saving by having the router table inline. However, I wonder if you might run into situations in which you have the router table dialed into a particular setup and you need to use the miter saw. Probably not a big deal because you can always go to the TS in a pinch... Just food for thought.

For me, a crosscut sled. Used on every project.

I respectfully edit my post: Replace "bummer about the false positive" with "Glad to hear your jig is ok." ?

Bummer about the false positive. I'm sure Sawstop has figured out an NPV of annuity payments for every sawstop sold for replacement brakes. That said I am really thinking hard about getting one, pay for a little peace of mind. While I have respect for all my power tools, the stress level is a tad higher than others when I flip the TB power switch to "on".

The other thing I might add is get your feet checked. If you have imperfect bone structure the docs might be able to give you some options that improve your posture.

Look up stretches you can do for your back. Tad older than you, but have had both significant upper and lower back pain (knock you to your knees pain). Since I started stretching, the back pain is way less frequent or as intense.

This is taking my original post in a different direction, but just curious to learn new things... If there was a little bit of sap, I think some of you suggested airbrush dye. How is that done? I get that a perfect match is impossible, particularly the way cherry darkens with time, but can this methodology create passable results? This question is partly hypothetical and partly not :-).

Ok, so the boards I posted above are an epic fail. I shall throw them into the wood chipper, take those chips and burn them, bury the ashes, curse them to hell and salt the ground.? Looked through what I have on hand and while I don't have enough straight grain for the whole top, I think I can get all the glue joints in straight grain area. I can get 8" out of the wide board (without hitting more sap) with straight grain on both sides. I'll have to figure out how to flatten the board on one side without an 8" jointer, probably a great opportunity to try out that low angle Jack I just bought. I recall Marc has a video on it somewhere. The 6" board is all straight grain so the plan is two 8" boards in the center sandwiched between two 4" boards cut from the 6".

I think I am going to print this out poster size, laminate it, and glue it to the wall of my garage.?

Ha, totally not discouraging! I have more cherry to work with, this was an experiment to see if I could do something cool with a really sappy board. When I got done with these boards I was like, "kinda looks cool, but also kinda weird". Don't have a great eye for this, that's why I am really appreciative of your second opinion.

Working on the lid of the G&G Blanket chest and thought it might be cool to make it interesting by including some sapwood. Thinking I would cut the sapwood out you see on the right edge then sandwich those three boards between two clean boards (hopefully of similar color) to center the sapwood feature on the lid. Not using the board on far left. Never tried this before so I don't trust my eye on this. Love to get some opinions.

Triple h, amazed at the depth of your knowledge. 90% chisels and plane blades. I have two lie Nielsen planes with stock blades, low angle block (which I've had a year), low angle Jack that has yet to taste wood of any kind. Chisels chrome vanadium, German brand, MHG

My sharpening stuff! Thanks for the tips on stone quality and flattening. Got the 1000 and 8000. Does adding a 5000 just speed thing up to create the primary bevel, or does the middle grit have other benefits?

That turned out really nice! Great work.

Awesome, thanks for the tips. I think I was spooked by the price of $180 for a DMT dia flat lapping plate. $50 for a diamond stone or some sandpaper and a hunk of granite are back into reasonable price ranges.