Popular Post Cliff Posted November 25, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 This is my first guild build. I expect it will go slowly and at some point into this process I'll start a second one, as one is for my wife and one for her mother. My stock for the wife version is 3 figured walnut boards I picked up about 15 months ago. I bought them thinking they would be perfect for a jewelry box. Turns out they aren't perfect at all as the biggest one is just over 6" wide. But I refuse to get different stock because these cost $100 and have been sitting there long enough. I thought they'd be sequential cuts from the same tree and therefore bookmatched. Well, I don't think they were, because I couldn't find a combination of side by side comparisons that made sense with the sap wood. I took the best match I could come up with, I guess I'll just have to see. On pics 1 & 2 i almost looks like they were made to be together, but the third, it's off. I did rough layout on the case parts, except for the sides and door pieces which will come out of the 6" wide piece that I cut in half and glued to get the proper width. Then I milled the drawer parts. I'm using all birdseye maple, not just the fronts. I really love this piece of wood. I think it was used as a post or something. It was split down the middle (badly) and then roughly splintered from the base - the base is not in my possession. My wife will love the imperfections and bug hole areas through the pieces. Before jointing. After I finished most of the rough cuts and glue ups I needed to get full size parts today. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan G Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Looking good Cliff! Looking forward to following along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Lovely choice of materials, Cliff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Looks like some beautiful material for a present she will treasure. Careful layout work when using figured and flawed stock can eat up a surprising amount of time. But it really pays off in the end. Wiping with a damp rag can help you see some of the affect a finish may change the appearance. Alcohol barely raises the grain and evaporates quickly, mix in some water to slow it down. Just a quick wipe with a damp rag, don't put liquid on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Count me in for the ride Cliff, are you going to make both at the same time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Even if you don’t find sequential cuts you are spending time and taking care to get the most pleasing wood match. Keep up the good work and you will get some fantastic boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Looking forward to watching this, Cliff. Steve and Terry are right the fact that you are taking the time on layout will pay off in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Looking good, Cliff ! Im building this as well for my wife for Christmas. I will be following along ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Nice material Cliff. 2 hours ago, shaneymack said: Looking good, Cliff ! Im building this as well for my wife for Christmas. I will be following along ! Guessing you didn't even start yet... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chet Posted November 25, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 34 minutes ago, JosephThomas said: Guessing you didn't even start yet... I think Shane said he was going to start on Dec. 23rd. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 2 hours ago, Chet said: I think Shane said he was going to start on Dec. 23rd. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 I love the birdseye. I just bought some from Eric's yard and it wasn't half as figured as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted November 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 7 hours ago, treeslayer said: Count me in for the ride Cliff, are you going to make both at the same time? I thought I was originally but now I see that is a bad plan. I'll go all the way to the end or get to the finish stage before starting the second one. I've also not decided on material yet. I want to see if I can find some curly cherry and more figured walnut. We'll see if that is in the budget during the money-sucking-christmas months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cliff Posted November 25, 2017 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 So I'm saving for a table saw. Two months in and managed to get around 1/5th the price of the 3HP Sawstop Professional. Today I'm feeling so much hatred towards my saw that I'm seriously considering a Grizzly cabinet saw to hold me over. Here is one reason, any time I try to cut through something harder than cedar it just about blows up the saw, and burns heavily. So nearly every surface I cut needs scraped to get rid of burning. There are other reasons that the saw is terrible for me, but this is not a "whine about table saw" thread. I cut my base to final size, and the sides. I couldn't resist throwing some mineral spirits on to see how it looks. I managed to forget to try and get the seam in the center of the board, but really I'm very pleased with this. It doesn't look natural, but it doesn't look horrid to my eye either. I think the sides actually came out better. Most importantly, a lot of the base isn't going to be seen anyway. I busted out my router table for the first time in forever. And the Incra/Whiteside bits I bought. Happy to say there was a 3/8" dovetail bit in there. I followed Marc's setup exactly to find the middle of the bit and get it positioned correctly. It went pretty well, but freaked me because I have exactly zero spare material. I did go a bit further than I was supposed to on the first cut. I think it's because the lighting isn't good over my router table. Need to fix that. Then I did the male test pieces using cut offs from the final sizing of the sides. Went pretty smoothly, but putting the sides in, I could make the left one flush with the back of the base, and have a gap at the front. The other one was as it should be, I had to trim a little off the dovetail to get it to come all the way and be flush with the base. I cut the tiniest of pieces and rounded it with sandpaper, and glued it into the end of the dovetail socket. Tomorrow I'll trim it flush and trim up the left side dovetail like it's supposed to be. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 Cliff, I think the walnut nut glue up looks fantastic! On the male and female dt cuts( you and I are probably the only ones that call them that as i’m Sure there’s another term), I would have tested them on a scrap piece first, but obviously you didn’t have to! Good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted November 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 1 hour ago, K Cooper said: Cliff, I think the walnut nut glue up looks fantastic! On the male and female dt cuts( you and I are probably the only ones that call them that as i’m Sure there’s another term), I would have tested them on a scrap piece first, but obviously you didn’t have to! Good job! Oh I did test. But it didn't stop me from overshooting my mark by about 1/16 to 1/8th of an inch heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 26, 2017 Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 Ok, so I just bought this thing. Now 4 projects to build before Christmas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted November 26, 2017 Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 Nice recovery. If you think you can save up the rest in 4-5 more months, I would just wait and get what you want at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted November 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 49 minutes ago, K Cooper said: Ok, so I just bought this thing. Now 4 projects to build before Christmas Good luck with that. I don't know that he'll even have it done by then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Coop Posted November 26, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 Never thought about that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 26, 2017 Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 Ken, I doubt Cliff is old enough to recognize those guys .... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted November 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 I really don't. I'm 38. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted November 26, 2017 Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 How can you not know L and H? Aren’t they the two with the aircraft factory woodworking antics? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted November 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2017 My repair to the sliding dovetail socket went ok. I don't think it will be too noticeable. Of course I took a little too much off the shoulder and there is a tiny gap. I took my measurement for the upper divider. Then I cut it, ruined my piece, and then repeated that process twice more. So what happened first is I took the measurement, made a cut, brought it back, put the piece in the wrong direction - where it looked like about 1/4" too wide, took it back to the saw and cut the material from the actual side. So I measured right side, cut right side, test fit wrong side, measured wrong side, trimmed right side, threw piece out. Wow. Due to varying degrees of idiocy, I ruined two more pieces. The second, which was no longer figured as I'm out of that material - had metal in it. I am not sure how I managed to avoid dinging my planer blades. So I cut another, managed to undercut it because I foolishly decided that 3/16 x 2 = 1/8. I know that isn't true. I just know it. I don't know what happened there. So I made a 4th piece and finally got it right. At this point I was done in the shop. It was clearly a terrible day for me. I think the upper divider not having figure isn't a big deal. Here is the comparison- 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 27, 2017 Report Share Posted November 27, 2017 Sounds like you were way over due for a beer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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