Entertainment Center

[pkinneb]

Coming along nicely Coop!

[Chet]

Great look, I really like the leg design, great choice.  The whole project is looking top notch.

[BillyJack]

Turned out nice. Old time entertainment centers seem to be a thing of the past.

[Coop]

As I’m not the lucky person in Illinois that won the lotto, I retreated back to the shop this weekend. As the sub-top is solid 3/4 lumber, I decided to turn it into essentially a web frame and lightened the weight by 3-4 lbs.

I got all of the legs cut and shaped to size. As I mentioned, these are laminated to give me a full 1.5” and the glue line on three were really noticeable. Thanks to @Mick S and more recently, @gee-dub for the cover the glue line face with a thin veneer trick. Thanks to my drum sander, I was able to get the veneer down to 1/32” and bevel the edges down to the glue line which covered it nicely. Side view and veneered side.

The legs are attached to the side of the cabinet with Dominos and glue. Thanks to my handy little guide, the legs extend past the front and back by 1/4”.

I’ll leave the clamps on overnight.

Tomorrow, I’ll start on the walnut top.

 

[wtnhighlander]

Nice trick with the mortise guide, Ken! 

[treeslayer]

nice legs Ken  now i want a drum sander and a Domino, this is going to be one sweet piece !

[gee-dub]

Looking good.  I forgot to comment on the drawer slides; very cool execution on those.

[Chet]

The legs turned out real nice.  The thin veneer technique is the way to go in my book.  It looks just as nice and saves you money over having to purchase thicker stock.

[Tom King]

What glue line?

[woodprox]

wow, this project is great!

[Coop]

The walnut for my top is the very last of a tree that I cut down in Louisiana and had sliced up here in Houston. The cabinet length was based on the length of these boards and it was close. After milling them down to 3/4, along with shorter pieces for the bb ends, and cutting the edges to be glue friendly, I realized that I had screwed the pooch. With 3” wide bb ends, I forgot to allow for the 1.5” tongue loss on each end. Today I went to my hw supplier and purchased 18bf of walnut at $10.25 per. Tomorrow, back to the machines to get it where I won’t need bb ends. I’ll save the original walnut for another day, another project. 

Marc once said, “sometimes you work the wood and others, the wood works you”.

[Mark J]

A valuable lesson, thanks for sharing that.

[Chestnut]

Floating tenons for the BB? I've done a few tables this way it works out just fine. imo.

[Coop]

On 8/4/2022 at 7:59 AM, Chestnut said:

Floating tenons for the BB? I've done a few tables this way it works out just fine. imo.

I thought about that and using the Domino as well. I thought if this thing is ever moved by someone other than myself, it would probably be hefted at the ends which may not support the weight. 

[curlyoak]

On 8/4/2022 at 9:56 AM, Coop said:

it would probably be hefted at the ends which may not support the weight. 

I use dominos frequently on bb ends. I'm confident it would be no problem. Regardless I am enjoying the build. Make sure to sign and date. It is an heirloom.

[Chestnut]

30 minutes ago, Coop said:

I thought about that and using the Domino as well. I thought if this thing is ever moved by someone other than myself, it would probably be hefted at the ends which may not support the weight. 

Plunging the domino close together so the slots connect is a good way to get a nice wide mortise for shop made tenon material. I've done that a few times for BB ends (I also do it all the time for all of my projects). I recently made and hefted around a 6'x4' dining table by the bread board ends installed with a domino and there wasn't any issue.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I wasn't implying using the domino though any floating tenon method would work.

I don't really think there is a right answer for your situation. Go with your gut because in 5 years time when you are looking at this you'll forget these issues but you will probably remember where the wood came from. Will it offer some meaning that it came from a tree that you had a hand in milling? Or will you appreciate that the construction was completed without compromise?

 

[Coop]

It wasn’t too bad. I was able to purchase these 3 ea. 7’ boards instead of 8’  (top will be 64” long) so less waste and there was not up charge for over 8” wide as with my other two suppliers. Although I had to rip them in half to fit my 6” jointer, at least there will be grain continuity when glued back up.

[Coop]

After an hour and a half of planing these down to 3/4” and jointing the edges, the new walnut is not nearly as dark as I would like. The original boards are darker and have a bit of red in them. Even my wife commented on this. So bb ends it will be and thanks @Chestnut for mentioning making my own domino tenons. Making them wider will also give me more surface area to make my elongated holes for the draw bore holes for the dowels on all but the center one. I’ll save these for future projects.

[Chet]

On 8/6/2022 at 7:29 PM, Coop said:

the new walnut is not nearly as dark as I would like.

That is pretty blah looking indeed. And Walnut tends to lighten over time.

[wtnhighlander]

@Coop, if you are willing to play 'mad scientist', I've used lye on walnut before, which darkens it considerably. If you choose to experiment, I  suggest multiple applications of a weak lye solution, sanding as if you had raised the grain each time. A single application of strong solution can go realy dark, really fast.

And don't forget to neutralize the lye with a vinegar wash, or it will affect the top coat.

[Coop]

@wtnhighlander, I think I will wait on the “ mad scientist” for a later project or better still, for the off cuts of these boards. What type of lye do you recommend and what is the formula? 

[wtnhighlander]

@CoopI would look for a clean Sodium Hydroxide product. It is available from many internet sources, but for a quick experiment, you can look at drain cleaner labels, next time you go to the grocery. DrainO crystals, among others, is mostly sodium hydroxide.

The recipe depends on how much reaction you want. 1/4 teaspoon to a cup of water will have a noticable effect, but may require multiple applications to reach the desired darkness. The more powder you add, the stronger the reaction, the deeper the color in one application, and the more caustic the solution. A teaspoon in 1/2 cup of water will make the water quite warm.

DO NOT PRE-MIX!  The stuff doesn't store well after activated in water, and can corrode through many types of container.

[Chestnut]

The front 2 and back board look nice the middle 2 ... no thanks. I've ran across walnut that looks like that before and while an oil finish does darken it ALOT from the blonde state it still isn't the walnut your probably wanting.

For making longer slots with the domino I find it helpful to work in 3s. Plunge the outside leaving some wood in the middle and then plunge in the middle to remove the remainder. If wide enough work in odd numbers of plunges. If you plunge in a line one after the other the rotation of the bit can cause some jerking or twisting of the tool. It won't cause any problems but it'll give you a bit of an adrenaline rush. It is possible to work this way you just have to work in the manner that the leading cutting edge is pulling the tool into the fence. I can't remember which direction that is any more because the odd number plunges works better so I just work that way now.

[Coop]

Drew, it couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. I picked 1.5” as the width of my tenon and using the 5 mm bit, drilling the outside holes first, the inside third hole cleaned out the mortise nicely. Thanks. 

[Chet]

Pretty cool work Coop.  Even from this angle the top looks a lot better then the one pictured the other day.