difalkner Posted April 29, 2018 Report Share Posted April 29, 2018 This is a beautiful build, Derek! Walnut is my favorite wood to work outside of the exotics. Matter of fact, I buy Walnut every 3-4 weeks and probably 95% of what I build is Walnut. Pretty, isn't it!! Can't wait to see this go through the stages and it looks just great. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 7 hours ago, wdwerker said: It's probably the most difficult shape I can think of. I admire the shape but can see myself building one or buying one either ! Can or can’t? I know as a child of the 60’s, it’s not something I’d find myself putting my tighty whities or crew socks in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 Typo definitely can't. But if one was free I would find a place for it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post derekcohen Posted April 30, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 We left off with a dovetailed carcase, which had been given stopped dados made with a saw, chisel and router plane. The vertical dividers were made, but yet to be installed. Chest on its side ... The dividers will be fitted, so ... The dividers are slid in, and the section ahead of the stopped dado is marked with a knife ... .. or a cutting gauge ... .. and then cut away (I prefer a Japanese dozuki for this cut and it is cleaner than off a Western saw) ... They need to be flush with the curved lower end of the chest (the sides dividers are yet to be shaped to the curve. That will be done later to avoid damage) ... ... while the upper section of the chest has a 12mm overhang ... Note that all measurements and marking is done from the lower end of the carcase/dividers. This is the reference end. It is now time to add stopped dados to the dividers. The first step is to begin marking their positions. As before, this is completed with dividers ... Each drawer is 100x100mm and the drawer blade/divider is 12mm ... The dado lines are scored across the divider ... The ruler has a non-slip underside made of 400 grit wet-and-dry sandpaper, a tip I got from Andrew Crawford ... The insides of the carcase are marked similarly ... Finally all the stopped dados are marked. There are 40 in all - 10 in walnut and 30 in merbau. The merbau is an extremely hard and brittle wood. It was chosen as a secondary wood as it was cheap and will stand up to any wear from sliding drawers, unlike a soft wood like pine. The dados are 3mm deep (as 12mm wide). With a 12mm thick panel, and 3mm from each side, there will be 6mm remaining. That is sufficient for structural integrity. With 40 dados, I decided to use a power router, and built a simple guide ... The guide is a one-shot job for a 12mm dado. Just place the slot against the lines made earlier, and run the router until it hits the stop ... This is too easy ... ... and I become complacent, and cut against the wrong line! Fortunatley, this is a simple fix and will not be seen .. So, at the end of the day the chest is dado-ed to death. The horizontal drawer blades will be fitted next time. This is going to be an interesting time since they will curve to fit at the front. Regards from Perth Derek 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 Great build Derek. The merbau that you are using on the interior, is that a native speices? My dad purchased a small chest from the Philippines during the later part of World War II that is made from Eucalyptus wood and it has a real similar grain and appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekcohen Posted April 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 Hi Chet Intsia bijuga is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native to the Indo-Pacific. It ranges from Tanzania and Madagascar east through India and Queensland, Australia to the Pacific islands of Fiji and Samoa. It is mainly used for outdoor furniture and decking, a lot like teak. Regards from Perth Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 My first thought when you said how many dados needed cut was "I would cut at least one on the wrong side of the line." Glad I'm not alone. Great progress and recording so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted April 30, 2018 Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 So the grain direction on the patch. Is it thin enough that your not worried about wood movement? Loving the build btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekcohen Posted April 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2018 Drew, the patch is 3mm thick and 12mm wide. It is not structural. Nothing to worry about. It is inside the carcase where it will never be seen. Regads from Perth Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 Oh i was thinking along the lines of it popping off. I'm not an expert on wood movement so just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted May 1, 2018 Report Share Posted May 1, 2018 Plywood gets glued up in alternating layers. Thin pieces seem to behave where thick and wide pieces tend to fail. Thanks for showing your mistakes & repair Derek ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted May 4, 2018 Report Share Posted May 4, 2018 That's a lesson we all need from time to time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post derekcohen Posted May 7, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 This is the work completed this weekend. It includes rebating the rear of the carcase in preparation for the back (at the end of the build), tuning up the dados for the horizontal drawer blades, and building the drawer blades. Rebating the side panels of the carcase is pretty straight forward. The rebate is 6mm x 6mm. Planing the full width is unobstructed. However, where the upper and lower panels need a rebate, planing through will lead to gaps in the panels as these end in dovetail pins. There would have not been an issue here had I used mitred dovetails, but this was an oversight at the time. Now I have a couple of choices, one being that I add a bead around the read panel, however I do not want additional adornments on the chest. The decision is made to use a stopped rebate at each end. If completed at this stage it would lead to a weak set of pins. This is where the rebates would end ... Instead, they will stop short of the end at this stage, and the remainder chiselled out after the carcase is glued up (glueing up will support the weakened pins) .. The ends of the panel are excavated to start and end a saw cut, and then the shoulders are sawn with a azebiki ... You do not need to create a chisel wall for the saw teeth if you knife the line with a Japanese cutting gauge or a thickish knife. This opens a wide enough kerf ... No guide, just muscle memory... A cutting gauge from each side will clean out the rebates ... Cleaning up the dados The strategy for the dados was to make them 20mm with a power router, which was done, and then fit panels to these. The panels were completed with the assistance of a jointer-planer/thicknesser, and this made it easier to dial them close to 20mm. Final surfacing was with handplanes. Although the dados were made with a brand new 20mm straight bit, they were not as precise as I would have expected. A little tuning was necessary to bring them to width. The tool of choice here is a side rebate (rabbet) plane. This one is by Veritas. It is in stopped mode to cut to the end of the stopped dado ... This was the fit ... A total of 40 dados needed to be tuned (that took a few hours!). The drawer blades below are, in fact, for the 24 drawers, and will be cut to fit the compartments. The drawer blades The design of the chest called for vertical dividers. This would create an emphasis on the vertical. Every apothecary chest I have seen used horizontal dividers/drawer blades as the primary construction. It would have been a lot easier to have done so as well since the bow front could be shaped in, and then the curved drawer blades attached to the carcase. This would have been followed with the individual vertical dividers which, while needing to be aligned, would be straight and uncomplicated to align. Starting with the vertical dividers meant that the bowed horizontal drawer blades presented a complication with alignment. I built another template ... This was similar to the plan drawn up at the start. It differed in that it represented the drawer blades plus the area seated into the 3mm deep dados. Cut to size ... The curved ends were removed ... ... and a second template made to form the bow front of the drawer blades (above and below) ... In the meantime the (horizontal) drawer blades were sawn to size. Not that the grain for all runs across the width of the chest. Expansion takes place front-to-back. The sections will still require shaping to a bow ... I had a chance to use the mitre gauge I built for the Hammer slider ... The shaped merbau drawer blades now need to be given their walnut end faces ... These are glued with the aid again of blue tape .. The templates from before are now used to shape the ends ... And the result is a drawer blade ready to fit into the dados ... Fitting next .... Regards from Perth Derek 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 Great work as always Derek. Interesting technique, using your cutting gauge for clean up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 You're wearing me out, but don't stop, I like how this is being done. I always learn something from your builds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 Someone's been busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 Nice clean work! Learning a few things from this build so thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim DaddyO Posted May 7, 2018 Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 Stunning work. Well above something I would attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post derekcohen Posted May 14, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 The previous weekend had seen the completion of the drawer blades. There were 24 to make - 6 rows with curved faces. The walnut was flushed ... ... and then were slid along the dados in the carcase ... At this point the build came to a grinding halt. The drawer blades ... dados ... were not coplanar ... level ... damn! We are talking a millimetre here-and-there, but the combination looked terrible. What went wrong? It was the marking out. I ignored a very simple rule - I failed to use a common reference point. This should have been done with the dividers installed - with the inside base of the carcase as the reference - and not marked outside the carcase. I could have repaired the dividers, but I decided to scrap the lot and make new ones, and cut new dados. The carcase was repaired. The dados were filled in ... Flushed ... None of this would be visible when the new dados were made. Then I did what I should have done when marking the positions of the dados - made a series of MDF templates, which could be used as left- and right hands ... These were used for all dividers, with a line scored by a sharp knife ... The power router and guide were used again. Tempting fate, perhaps, but I was convinced that the fault lay with the marking out, and not the cutting of the dados. I was tempted to just do the dados by hand - I do feel more in control with hand tools - but 40 needed to be done in all, and in hard merbau, before the weekend was over. I am not going to bore you with pictures of the dados being made. It was the exact same as before ... except this time I did not cut on the wrong side of the line with one! Here is the rear of the chest with the drawer blades inserted ... And a couple of the front ... The dividers and the drawer blades have yet to rebated to fit the stopped dados, nevertheless the shape of the chest is becoming more defined. Regards from Perth Derek 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 Well it's a good thing those dados were cut so perfectly from the get go so the patch went well. The separation from the beginner to the expert is not plowing on but going back and fixing your mistakes good work! I really like how the look is turning out. This is beautiful. This build is making me consider building something similar myself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 Really nice piece Derek! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted May 14, 2018 Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 Nice recovery Derek. There are two types of wood workers, those that make mistakes and admit it and then find a way to fix them, and those that lie about never making mistakes. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post curlyoak Posted May 16, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted May 16, 2018 Great skills and technique. A pleasure to follow. There must be a reason not to clamp the glue joints and only use tape? Thanks for showing your error. It gives me comfort to know that at your skill level you find an answer and get it done. I do that too but I don't like to admit it. A comparison is to see a pro golfer hit an amateur shot like me. Not that I am wishing for an error to see what you do. Maybe the next time I screw up I won't cuss myself out as much...Thank you for a great presentation! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post derekcohen Posted May 21, 2018 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 Well the carcase was finally glued up, everything square as can be ... and I forgot to take a photo of this! However, while planing the outside, I discovered that the black walnut required nothing more advanced than a simple single-blade common angle plane. Many years ago I received a smoother from Steve Knight. This was the first occasion I got to use it. Just wonderful to work this wood! The next step was to complete the vertical dividers. These were inserted and, with some relief, these were square as well. A reward for attention to detail? The photo below shows the next steps: the stopped dados need to be extended, and the faces of the dividers need to be shaped to match the angles of the carcase. The dados are marked to 12mm from the edge ... ... and chiselled and pared away ... These were then glued in place (yes, I got that one! ) ... During the dry fit I had been careful to fit them flush with the rear rebates, and then saw them parallel. This made it easier to ensure that they were glued square (since the fronts could be flush with the lower edge of the carcase, but not the upper edge, which has an overhang) ... Time now to install the drawer blades. These were positioned loose, as before ... To fit them to the stopped dados, the front was marked out ... Below the rebates are marked and knife walls cut .. The first saw cut is across the top to establish the face ... Then saw diagonally along the vertical line ... .. before finishing on the horizontal ... This will maximise obtaining a straight saw cut. This is the fit once all is done ... The drawer blades will remain loose until the drawers are completed, since they still need to be used as a template for each drawer. At the rear of the cabinet, the drawer blades are marked for length and sawn flush (in the photo below, half are flush, with half to go) ... All done. Each is marked for repositioning ... So that is it for this past weekend. The drawers are next. Curved fronts and compound dovetails. How much fun is that! Regards from Perth Derek 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted May 21, 2018 Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 This is some real amazing work and attention to detail. It is fun to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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