Popular Post bleedinblue Posted January 25, 2023 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 25, 2023 Here we go again. This is the Rockler 3 in 1 crib that so many of us have made. I made my first for my now 7 year old daughter. It was really my first big project. That crib took me the better part of a year. This crib? I started three or four weeks ago and I'm probably a week away from assembly. I intended to journal this, and will, but as I started snapping pictures I became very aware that there's nothing ground breaking with this build. It's all pretty standard stuff...at least it is for me now. Oh well. Here we go. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bleedinblue Posted January 25, 2023 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted January 25, 2023 The big change this time around is species. Maple this time. Walnut last time. The panels are ply and I didn't want boring plain sawn maple ply, so I ventured into veneering to do some curly maple panels. I bought the gear from Veneersupplies.com. They were great. The veneer I bought though? That was a no go. I didn't expect the waves and I just couldn't get them flat. Shop sawn it is, just like I should have from the beginning. I even had the stock on hand. So, I gave up on the bought veneer and sliced it up. Then spent 372 hours at the drum sander. But. The construction of the legs and the mortises the panels fit into meant the panels had to be the same thickness as the center of the three-board-laminated legs. 3/4" mdf, plus the two 1/16" layers of veneer, and I'm thicker than the milled 4/4 stock for the legs. Another 234 hours at the drum sander to thin the mdf (and ply for the end panels that will need threaded insert holding power) and that problem was solved. The drum sander really bailed me out here. The largest panels was wider than my widest curly maple, so I had to join two veneers edge to edge. To clean them up I sandwiched them together between layers of mdf and hit them with a hand plane. They looked good, but the veneer tape didn't bring them in tight enough. I'm not happy with the resulting seem...but its not bad enough to scrap. It's going to be one of those things that I will always notice and no one else will. Oh well. The first time using the vacuum bag went smoothly and I got my curly maple panels. Onward. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bleedinblue Posted January 25, 2023 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted January 25, 2023 Now legs. Super simple here. Three laminated layers of 4/4 and notch the center board for the world's easiest mortises. The only trick here, one that would be largely unnecessary, was I made a quick jig to trim the finished legs to the exact same length under the bottom mortise. I did this with the first crib as it was a big concern for me, I didn't want to accidentally cut one leg 1/16" longer or shorter than the others. So a sacrificial board on the miter gauge and a glued piece of scrap that fit into the bottom mortise to register correct length. Drilling the numerous holes accurately is a pain. The instructions stink on this...I don't know how I figured it out the first time. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 26, 2023 Report Share Posted January 26, 2023 Silly me would have laminated the legs, THEN remembered the mortices! Like it so far, keep those entries coming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 31, 2023 Report Share Posted January 31, 2023 This looks like a good plan I'm really interested to see how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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