Quick (I hope) Xmas Gifts

[pkinneb]

So do to my never ending basement project I don't have much time for my xmas gifts this year.  I decided I would make some quick boxes with Kumiko panels in the lids. It seemed like a good idea but then you multiply it by six 

Oh well onward...first up was to knock out the kumiko panels for the lids. The plan is to make them and then design the box around them. I will do basic boxes, mitered corners with splines lift on and off lids no hardware. I will probably do two white oak, two walnut, and two cherry to use up some stock on hand.

Time to prepare some stock for the panels. I'm going with 1/4" panels so after planing /jointing some stock I resawed it into 5/16" blanks and then took them to size on the drum sander

Then I made a quick jig for the grid panels

Cut the groves in the blanks

Then cut them into strips

Next up was to make the grids. I prefer a pull saw for this work, actually one of the few times that is the case for me typically I prefer western saws.

Six grids done

Then I cut the stock into strips for the design pieces, and gathered the tools needed to start filling in the grids.

Main cross pieces in all 6 grids

One done 11 to go 

Tomorrow I will try to get some pics of the process to fill these in its pretty straight forward but a bit time consuming. 

[Chet]

Are you using basswood?

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Chet said:

Are you using basswood?

Yes sir

[Chestnut]

Wow these are going to be quite the quick Christmas gifts. I thought that my Quick table and benches was going to be a lot.

You know you only have like a week left right? I'm starting to get worried that finish will be cured in time.

[pkinneb]

22 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

Wow these are going to be quite the quick Christmas gifts. I thought that my Quick table and benches was going to be a lot.

You know you only have like a week left right? I'm starting to get worried that finish will be cured in time.

I hear you. 

[Chet]

I know it is just a little part of the project but you don't put finish on the kumiko, correct?

[Mark J]

Wow, I can't believe you're going to knock this out for Christmas.  

[pkinneb]

13 hours ago, Chet said:

I know it is just a little part of the project but you don't put finish on the kumiko, correct?

Correct. I’ll spray the boxes and then friction fit the panels in the lids

11 hours ago, Mark J said:

Wow, I can't believe you're going to knock this out for Christmas.  

We shall see  I need four done for sure my wife’s can be a little late (she’s used to it) and the 6th is an extra.

[Mark J]

I'm just looking at that Kumiko work and thinking, "man right there that's a week for me, each".  

You and Chestnut.  Must be a Minnesota thing.

[pkinneb]

7 hours ago, Mark J said:

I'm just looking at that Kumiko work and thinking, "man right there that's a week for me, each".  

You and Chestnut.  Must be a Minnesota thing.

Oh I can't hold a candle to Drew that young man puts me to shame LOL

[pkinneb]

21 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Wow these are going to be quite the quick Christmas gifts. I thought that my Quick table and benches was going to be a lot.

You know you only have like a week left right? I'm starting to get worried that finish will be cured in time.

The finish just has to be dry to the touch in my case no way it will be cured

[treeslayer]

17 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

Oh I can't hold a candle to Drew that young man puts me to shame LOL

what's the problem? all you have to do is not sleep and work three times as fast as anyone on here

[pkinneb]

So I was able to get the panels completed today. I batched all the parts out and after a couple of football games worth of work they were complete 

First I had to cut about 300 individual parts. Its important to use a guide as you want the pieces square.

Here is the stack early on

Then I set up the kumiko blocks in my moxon vice and prepared for the fist cuts which are also the most difficult with this pattern. You have to split the angle 1/3 and 2/3rds

The  main thing is to keep the chisel sharp and tight against the guide blocks

You're looking for something like this 

Rinse and repeat several hundred times (ea panel has 64 pieces with a total of 224 chisel cuts) and you're done. Once they are complete I sand both sides on a piece of sand paper on the bench. After a couple of football games you have this

Next up design the box and prep the stock for those. Good thing there is a game tomorrow  

 

[Chet]

6 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

Rinse and repeat several hundred times (ea panel has 64 pieces with a total of 224 chisel cuts) 

This is where I would fall by the wayside.  I have a hard time with repetitive tasks.  Over and over doesn't go over real well.   My hat is off to those that can.

[pkinneb]

8 minutes ago, Chet said:

This is where I would fall by the wayside.  I have a hard time with repetitive tasks.  Over and over doesn't go over real well.   My hat is off to those that can.

I actually really didn't give it to much thought until i started batching out the pieces this morning...at which point I went why do you do this to yourself LOL

[Coop]

Whoa! Nut’s defiantly got some competition here! Football or not. I’m with Chet on the repetitiveness. 

[Chestnut]

Wow the Kumiko looks awesome! Defiantly tedious but the end result is pretty neat.

Are each of the lengths unique or are you able to batch some stuff out? Being able to batch out would make it a lot easier.

2 hours ago, treeslayer said:

what's the problem? all you have to do is not sleep and work three times as fast as anyone on here

I don't know if I should laugh, be offended, or take this as a compliment .

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

Wow the Kumiko looks awesome! Defiantly tedious but the end result is pretty neat.

Are each of the lengths unique or are you able to batch some stuff out? Being able to batch out would make it a lot easier.

I don't know if I should laugh, be offended, or take this as a compliment .

Yep many are the same or at least very close you start with the same and trim to fit 

[treeslayer]

9 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Wow the Kumiko looks awesome! Defiantly tedious but the end result is pretty neat.

Are each of the lengths unique or are you able to batch some stuff out? Being able to batch out would make it a lot easier.

I don't know if I should laugh, be offended, or take this as a compliment .

Compliment all the way Drew!

[pkinneb]

Got the boxes knocked out tonight

After milling the material to size I set up my 45 degree sled with a couple stops, had to make a small block for this project becuase the stops were physically to big for the size I wanted. I like to have both stops set at the same time so that everything lines up nice.

I also like to mark the angles on the edge so I don't mess up once I start batching them out

With the everything set up the actual cutting goes pretty quick

Then I set up the miter gauge up to cut the bottoms and tops out

After a test fit I batched those out as well

I spent waaay to much time thinking about how to trim the panels down to fit the lids, in the end I went with the edge sander. I'll do the final fit friction fit with a chisel after the boxes are glued up. Worked very well just have to be careful I've had this machine grab things if you're not paying attention 

Ready for glue up in the morning. Then I need to find or make a new jig to do the corner keys, glue those in and trim them, cut the lids off, add the bevel to the lids, and finally make the inside box that will hold the lids. Should be ready for finish tomorrow, Sunday at the latest. Then back to the basement 

[Dave H]

Those are some sweet looking box's, whoever gets those will be very happy! Excellent job.

[wtnhighlander]

Would riding the kumiko panels on a flat sled of scrap material help prevent them from grabbing the sander?

Looking great, btw!

[pkinneb]

28 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said:

Would riding the kumiko panels on a flat sled of scrap material help prevent them from grabbing the sander?

Looking great, btw!

Not a bad idea, Thanks!

Thank you!

[pkinneb]

Ok I was starting to get concerned about 4 o'clock but ultimately I am now construction complete on all 6 boxes and have started finishing the 2 I need to deliver on xmas eve.

This all happened over the last 2 1/2 days sorry for the data dump but I was tired last night

In this pic I have sealed the beveled edges with a 50/50 mixture of water & glue. This helps keep the glue from sucking into the end grain during glue up ultimately providing a stronger joint...so they say.

After letting that dry for about 3 hours I started gluing up the boxes.

Once dry I removed the tape and cleaned them up a bit

Then I had to whip up a quick key jig as I never did find the one I had. My guess is it was for the old PM66 and most of those jigs went with the saw when I sold it since they didn't fit the SS.

Then I cut up about 80 keys

Made a test fit

Then started cutting the boxes. I used stop blocks for each location and also wrote on the jig which side the top should be on.

Next up was to glue in the keys. These little glue bottles work great but you need to clean them as soon as your done or they will be a one use tool, ask me how I know. They come with covers but they don't work long term so I use hot water to clean them up quick.

Rinse and repeat

Then I headed to the belt sander to make quick work of the clean up

Next up was to cut the tops off ...well almost. I left about a 1/32nd so that I didn't have to worry about the blade catching

Then use a knife to cut them apart 

...and clean up the little bit left with a plane and sanding block.

You can see in this pic not much there

The last thing to do was make and fit the liners. First I resawed some stock. this is right of the saw with a $40 Woodslicer blade . just over 1/8" thick

It was time to make another jig. I needed a 45 degree jig to make the liners. Pretty straight forward then I mounted it in the vice and started working

I find this kind of work very satisfying

and some final shots (sans finish) 

Thanks for following along and I hope you all have an awesome Christmas!! I will post some final pics after the finish is dry to the touch  

For now I'm off to bed and then back to the basement...

[Coop]

Very well done Paul. I’ve gotta try ONE of these. Thanks for the trip.