Sideboard for the Dining Room

[Chet]

On 4/10/2023 at 7:07 PM, gee-dub said:

My buddy who helped me build the shop is down for a visit.  I put him to work processing drawer box blanks.

He probably thought he was just going to drink coffee and watch, I guess you showed him. 

[pkinneb]

Another great build gee-dub!! I love following your builds you always provide great tips and I typically pick up something from your shop org, jigs, etc keep up the great work!

[gee-dub]

Thanks all.  Just got back from Texas . . . attended a wedding. Time for some drawer boxes. This is how I usually do the fronts and backs for drawer-lock joinery boxes.

The push block acts as a backer board to avoid blowout. The clamp is due to my gimpy wrist.

I usually run the sides using a tall fence but these sides are sub-15" so the regular fence is fine. The featherboard lets me concentrate on feed rate and vertical position.

And you end up here.

Now I just have to do that 6 more times.

[Coop]

So the one bit makes both cuts.  Do you leave it at the same height for both cuts? 
I’m looking at Infinity’s 55-512 Drawer Locking bit, something similar? 

[gee-dub]

On 4/16/2023 at 6:42 PM, Coop said:

So the one bit makes both cuts.  Do you leave it at the same height for both cuts? 
I’m looking at Infinity’s 55-512 Drawer Locking bit, something similar? 

Yes.  This one is a Whiteside.  They come in small and large diameters and I have both.  They both have the same profile / result.  I find the smaller bit geometry yields less tearout / fuzz.  The height stays the same, the depth is changed for sides versus fronts and backs; that is; two fence settings and one height setting.

[Coop]

Infinity offers a set up block for their bit but it’s for 3/4” material and my drawers are usually 1/2”. Do you trial and error on each project or, which I would bet on, you made your own setup block? Do these determine the two fence settings? 

[gee-dub]

On 4/16/2023 at 7:43 PM, Coop said:

Infinity offers a set up block for their bit but it’s for 3/4” material and my drawers are usually 1/2”. Do you trial and error on each project or, which I would bet on, you made your own setup block? Do these determine the two fence settings? 

Like with dovetails, differences of 1/64" can be pretty obvious.  With the tolerance being pretty tight, plywood varies too much for a setup block to be much good batch to batch.  This can hold true even for well milled solid stock done at different times.  They get you in the ball park but there always seems to be a few test cuts on scrap required anyway so I pretty much abandoned them. 

I generally have a few scraps left over from cutting the drawer parts so I use those for a test cut or two.  Once I'm happy with the fit I just run all the parts for one half of the joint, move the fence and run all the others.  I start with a skinny 3/8" bit height and generally move down a little from there until I get an air tight fit.  A couple of square pieces of scrap give me four test cuts.  Two are usually enough.

[gee-dub]

Mostly just gluing up drawer boxes, chamfering inner edges and shellacking today.

I mounted one box just so I could feel like I was doing something.

[gee-dub]

All drawer boxes are glued up, shellacked, and installed.

We have cut the blanks for the back slats. Ready for profiling.

More exciting progress tomorrow

[gee-dub]

I space these half-lap back slats with 1/8" hardboard strips. I keep these around in different lengths for this purpose.

I wasn't happy with the false front material I originally tried. I cut these from a single board and am more happy with the color and figure match.

I will cut frame parts for the left and right drawers tomorrow.

[Chet]

Using 1/8" spacers on your half laps, do you cut your rabbets at 1/4"?

[gee-dub]

On 4/24/2023 at 9:30 AM, Chet said:

Using 1/8" spacers on your half laps, do you cut your rabbets at 1/4"?

1/2".  I want a good 3/8" of overlap.  Despite wood movement being minimal in my area I build for movement in case something ends up in Alabama after I croak .  I should have mentioned that the slats get finished prior to install to assure that any wood movement doesn't allow unfinished tongues to play peek-a-boo due to seasonal changes in humidity.  I know, I know, they're in the back . . . who's gonna see them . . . I can't help myself.

It was great having my buddy visit and helping me out.  Now that I am on my own again I need to work around the gimpy-wrist situation . . . it's getting better every day.

I cut the frame stock for the left and right bay drawer fronts.  If you refer back to the SU drawing you will see that these drawer fronts are floating panel . . . although false fronts none the less.

My tenoning jig has obviously been setting patiently. Time to clean it up and put it into service.

I added a sac-panel to the cast iron face and drilled screw holes to allow me to quickly attach backer blocks.

I start milling the bridle joints I will use for the frames.  I don't really need the strength.  I just like to add visual interest.

I use the L fence to cut the cheeks off.

I will save the off-cuts for the glue up process later on.  This will make sense shortly.  They fit together like so.

You can see that the "fingers" are a bit proud.

This oversize dimension lets me "fit" the drawer fronts to the openings for a good look.

[Chet]

On 4/25/2023 at 10:17 AM, gee-dub said:

I should have mentioned that the slats get finished prior to install to assure that any wood movement doesn't allow unfinished tongues to play peek-a-boo due to seasonal changes in humidity.  I know, I know, they're in the back . . . who's gonna see them

I like this philosophy.  I try my best to make sure that no matter what angle or who may be looking, there isn't any surprises, I hope, when view my projects.

[gee-dub]

So here's why you hang onto those cut-offs.

The bridle joint is an open-ended M&T. Since we like the tenon to fit snugly we can sometimes force the outer edges open due to the glue film thickness. The cut-offs distribute the pressure from the clamps and make everything fit nice and tight.

Is it just me or does this look like an M.C. Escher drawing?

[gee-dub]

On 4/25/2023 at 10:52 AM, Chet said:

I like this philosophy.  I try my best to make sure that no matter what angle or who may be looking, there isn't any surprises, I hope, when view my projects.

Amen.  My buddy was giving me a hard time about selecting material for the drawer fronts.  I had to explain that I am not the guy who just grabs the next board off the stack.   I'm not a snob but I like to enjoy my work and feel good about my efforts.

[treeslayer]

I agree completely @gee-dub, sometimes I’ll spend an hour at the lumberyard picking out the “right” boards, I don’t care if it doesn’t matter to someone else, it matters to me 

[gee-dub]

I know I am limping along on this but I posted a disclaimer at the onset . . .  Here's a roughed framed drawer front.

The bridle joint.

In situ.

I wanted this detail to be visible when the drawers were opened.

More to go.

[GlennL]

Slow and steady wins the race!!! Looks GREAT!

[gee-dub]

I've settled on a finish. An oil varnish blend with a light bit of coloration.

This is a lesson to take the whole 60 seconds it takes to swap blades. My laziness resulted in some burning.

A swipe with a hand plane cures the problem but the process took longer than swapping the blade would have .

Here's a poplar mock up of the pull design showing proportions and location.

The pulls will be sepele just like the rest of the piece. The mortise is just colored by a felt pen.

In reality this will be a piece of ebony pillowed and proud of the surface.

Ever onward.

[curlyoak]

On 4/28/2023 at 3:57 PM, gee-dub said:

I've settled on a finish. An oil varnish blend with a light bit of coloration.

I'm enjoying your build. Thanks for sharing. What brand of finish are you using? Thanks

[gee-dub]

Thanks.  It is a 3:2:1 blend of McCloskey 7509 gloss:Mineral spirits:BLO.  I use the wipe on, let soak and wipe off method so the Gloss finish ends up being closer to a satin sheen.  I slightly modify the mix based on weather and stage of finishing.  I will blend a little heavy on the oil for the first coat and blend a little heavy on the varnish for the last coats.  This is pretty subjective and I do it based on the way the finish is behaving during application.

For materials that lighten over time like walnut I will add a bit of Transtint dye to set and maintain the color.  The sepele didn't really need a color push IMHO but LOML liked the sample with about 1 part of Watco Light Walnut added in.  This is what is used in the pics.

[wtnhighlander]

@gee-dub, are you referring to Watco Danish oil, or some other product? If Danish Oil, do you take any special steps to ensure the pigment is even? My experience with has been less than stellar, but perhaps I am missing something?

[gee-dub]

@wtnhighlander - Yep, the typical stuff you find at the BORG.  If I am using this product (and many others) . . . and I will exceed the amount of mixture I have made up . . . I make more before I start.  That is; I do not count on one can looking just like the next can.  If I need a lot of finish I dump all the colored finish into a new container and mix it together before doing the rest of the mix.

[gee-dub]

These are the handle blanks.

Ripping some ebony for the inserts.

The top being glued up.

[gee-dub]

Fitting the breadboards

I drill stopped holes from the bottom for dowels.

These holes go through the bottom mortise cheek, through the tongue and into the top mortise cheek about 1/8".

The middle and rear holes get turned into slots to allow for movement.

The front 3" of the tongue gets glue and a glued in dowel.

The middle and rear dowels get glued to the underside mortise cheek and float in the tongue.