A young woodworker student looking for a little help and advice

[AlexHayward]

Hey Guys,

i hope this is the right spot for this query....

I am about to go into year 12 in Australia. I would like to get the majority of my planning and prep for my woodwork subject done before school starts again unfortunately this means no teacher advice or guidance is available so any and all help is much appreciated!

We have complete and total freedom of design along with a complete design concept folio for our project next year and its quite daunting. I am keen to make a small project and focus on Quality of construction and Wood selection.

My main constraints are:

• it needs to completed in a school year, realistcally this will equate to about 3 terms (quarters)
  
• some sort of finish must be applied
  
• a year 12 standard of complexity and quality
  

My favourite idea so far has been to make a Chess board with two drawers for pieces similar to the style of the one made by "mere mortal's" Steve. I have heard rumours of these "exploding" including one said by the wood whisperer himself! is this true?

I would like to make it from Walnut and Maple for their contrasting colours. good idea?!?!

If you guys have ANY suggestions at all for "Do's" and "Dont's", Joint types, board construction with even squares or alternate timber choices it would be greatly appreciated!

Alternatively do you have any other project suggestions that could display the above criteria

I have drawn some plans on paper with a three part "Sandwich" construction consisting of:

A top layer (board and surrounding frame)

A carcass box for the middle part that is smaller than the top allowing for an overhang.

A bottom frame that is a mirror of the top.

for the middle carcass I would like to use "corner post" dovetails to try and gain extra marks, have you had any experience with these joints? what are they like to make and how do they hold up?

thankyou

[jHop]

I've been looking for the David Marks version of a chess board on YouTube. I know it used to be there, but I think it was removed due to the issues David had with the production staff of Woodworks. (I stumbled across one video of his projects on DIY, so that's the next place I'm checking.)

Personally, I'd suggest something similar to the Shaker Table for the Guild Build. Just expand it slightly in scope. This will allow you to showcase your selection of wood grain on the table top itself.

[AlexHayward]

Thanks A J Hopkins!

I will keep an eye out for that David Marks board sounds interesting! let me know if you find it.

I do like the look and design of the shaker table although i made an incredibly similar project with a reasonable level of complexity; dovetails etc. but obviously not the level of the guild build last year in woodwork class and i would like to branch out and make something a little different, something that is a little unique and has that "wow" factor.

thanks

[flairwoodworks]

So you won't be making one of THESE sets then.

I'd suggest veneering the top of the board using sheet goods for the substrate - MDF or plywood, both of which have plenty of stability so there will be no risk of spitting. You could go wild with the top - use burls for the squares, or even try some parquetry. You could make the squares rhombuses (is that how you make "rhombus" plural?). Anything goes.

[AlexHayward]

So you won't be making one of THESE sets then.

I'd suggest veneering the top of the board using sheet goods for the substrate - MDF or plywood, both of which have plenty of stability so there will be no risk of spitting. You could go wild with the top - use burls for the squares, or even try some parquetry. You could make the squares rhombuses (is that how you make "rhombus" plural?). Anything goes.

OH MY GOD!!! is that even within the bounds of what is humanly possible!!!! that is an incredible table!!

I really like the concept of using solid timber as much as possible, I am not sure why. I think it would be sensible once the board is glued with the squares to then glue that to a square of plywood, and then sit the whole construction in a rabbet groove in a mitred frame

I like the idea of going crazy on the top, I think naturally that is the focal point of the piece. how about adding curves to the mitred frame and adding some weaving interlocking inlay (parquetry or marquetry i can never remember the difference!) Rhombus very cool idea i'll jump into sketchup and churn out some designs!

As for the plural i have no idea maybe its Rhombi??

thanks

Alex

[Simon]

In a woodworking class I took 2 years ago, we had the choice between 10 furniture plans for our project. Most of them where traditional chests of drawers. I wanted to do something with curves for a change so I selected the Louis XV Game Table.

All but the chess board is made of black walnut. The chess board is half blck walnut and half maple veneer glued to a 1/2 in. MDF substrate.

So far I put 120 hours in this table as the legs where shaped by hand with rasps, files etc.. What remains is to sculpt some patern on the sides but I do not know yet how to sculpt. So this project is on the shelf for now.

I thought this would give you ideas to explore ...

Simon

[Bombarde16]

David Marks's site links to a few of the episodes that are still online on DIYnet.com. The chess/checkers board is one of these and can be found here:

http://www.diynetwork.com/videos/game-board/39682.html

Chessboards explode due to wood movement. Any sort of banding, frame, inlay, table, etc. that you apply around the sides of a solid wood chessboard will create a cross-grain glue joint that is guaranteed to fail. The obvious solution (detailed copiously in David's video) is to veneer things onto plywood. Make your veneers nice and thick so that you have some stock to surface off when it comes time to flatten things.

I don't know how Australian schools are set up, but such a project certainly seems challenging enough for high school. Especially if you intend to turn a set of chess pieces to go with it.

Good hunting.

[AlexHayward]

Thanks guys,

Simon: wow that is really a fantastic table however i would rather make a stand alone chess board rather than run the risk of not completing it due to lack of time but well done and good luck on the sculpting!

Rob:thanks for the link but the site won't let me watch it, it says the video "could not be found" but from the photos on his site it looks to be a great project! How thick is a "thick veneer"?? In my current plans I have a 8-10mm (.39 inches) board material glued to a plywood substrate I was hoping that this would counteract the wood movement but I am not sure.

[adamnolen]

So I was going to reply and tell you how I would do it, but David Marks beat me to it. lol. Definately apply a veneer to ply. Don't be discouraged by using ply. It'll never be seen and it will keep everything flat and with no movement. I made a chessboard as my first project ever. I did complete solid wood (no veneer) and it hasn't exploded yet. I didn't know any better at the time and I don't recommend doing this. I believe that sometime in the future the frame will give in and bust out. You can check out mine here. I took alot of direction from Steve when I built mine (with the exception of not using veneer.) Now, I speak from experience, I would suggest using a THICK homesawn veneer. You are going to have to flatten this thing out several times, so you need all the material you can get. You can probably get away with 8-10mm. I would go with 10mm at least. I may even go with 12mm. That's kind of thick to be called veneer, but like I said, you are going to remove ALOT of material. You'll be flattening this thing 3 or 4 times once you put the frame on, so it'll get thin fast. Hope this helps.

Adam