Chippendale mirror

[h3nry]

Hopefully this will be a quick(ish) project. I'm going to do something I haven't done before ... follow plans.

I got a copy if this book (and a new toy), and I had one board of Khaya left over from the previous project just big enough to build this.

Apart from a few small moulding pieces, it is just four frame pieces. The board wasn't quite big enough to cut out the bottom piece full width, so I had to glue up a piece.

[h3nry]

The frame is mortice and tenon joinery ...

The back needs a rabbet to hold the mirror ... time to check out the new plane. My old #78 has served me well as a rabbet plane, but this veritas plane is so much nicer ... very happy with that purchase.

The optimal thing to do would be to cut stopped rabbets on the frame sides, but that is a lot more work, and I was enjoying the new plane. So I just planed the rabbet full length across the top of the mortices.

There is still plenty of depth to the mortice, so it's not really structurally compromising. And it's on the back of the frame so not visible. I then just glued blocks on to fill in the space. planed them flat, and re-trimmed the mortices.

The rabet for the mirror is now complete.

And that is all the joinery ... the rest is just decoration.

[Coop]

If you’re going to replicate the pic, I can’t imagine the rest being just “decoration”. Looking forward to seeing your artistic woodworking. 

[Mark J]

Yes, the "decoration" looks like a challenge.  But then again, this is h3nry we're talking about .

[h3nry]

Yes the "decoration" is what this project is all about ... not the joinery.

Fortunately I don't have to do any design work, that all having been worked out by Chippendale ... so the next stage is just copying the plans onto the wood ... with a little help from the team.

[Mark J]

Well done on the design transfer.  

[h3nry]

First step is to cut out the shape at the bandsaw ...

I haven't yet done the top of the lower rail, or the right hand stile ... these need to be mirror images of their opposite pieces. So I will clean up the bandsaw cuts first and use them as templates for the rest.

[h3nry]

Finished shaping the frame today ... first cleaning up the bandsaw cuts down to the line with rasp, file and sandpaper ...

Then after cutting out the remaining edges at the bandsaw, making sure left and right match ...

And finally I have the shape in the frame...

There's still a little finessing to be done where the frame pieces meet, but that will wait until after glue up.

[h3nry]

Cutting back the background to provide the relief for the carving ...

My bench isn't 100% flat so I laid down a piece of plywood, and clamped on a board to act as a support for the router.

Since there is some quite large areas needing to be removed I wanted a larger base on the router, so attached a small piece of plywood to it, so that the base would always span the removed area.

Since the plans called for 7/8 stock, and my board was at least 1 inch, there seems to be quite a lot of relief for the carving ... but that's better than too little.

[Coop]

Looking great!

[pkinneb]

Very nice!!

[Mark J]

Does that large router base obscure your view of the bit and layout lines?

[h3nry]

On 1/14/2026 at 6:18 AM, Mark J said:

Does that large router base obscure your view of the bit and layout lines?

I made the hole in the base the same size as the router to minimize visibility problems ... but to make cutting the hole easier, I just cut away the front too  I think this increased airflow a little and helped the chips blow away, so it maybe even helped visibility. 

It's still a small router so visibility is restricted, particularly on the side nearest me. But when doing the detail it is easy to flip the piece round when needed. It's only when routing away the edges at the end that the external supports are needed.

[h3nry]

When routing away the waste I accidentally erased the tip of one leaf ... so a block needed gluing back on to replace this ...

Finally, some if the carving pattern, such as the shell and scrolls, will be carved below this background level. So the pencil design was removed by the router, and needs redrawing. I had traced these parts of the pattern before routing, so was easy to copy them back.

I haven't yet decided what order I'm going to start carving things ... so I've kind of paused for the day while I work that out.

[wtnhighlander]

As I have recently learned, doing similar 'background removal' with a wide acrylic base, visibility in @h3nry's design is probably better. The acrylic gets coated with chips slmost immediately, where the cut-out in the plywood base should remain relatively clear.

[Mark J]

So, if you make an acrylic base, maybe make the hole large, and open at the front?

[wtnhighlander]

@Mark J, couldn't hurt. Just meave enough material opposite the cut-out that it doesn't twist.

[h3nry]

Started the carving ... starting with the easier side pieces ...

[wtnhighlander]

Looking great already! Are those Flex-cut tools I see? How do you like working with them?

[h3nry]

On 1/20/2026 at 4:45 AM, wtnhighlander said:

Looking great already! Are those Flex-cut tools I see? How do you like working with them?

Yes, Flexcut tools. It's kinda hard for me to really comment much on them since I've never used any other carving tools. However, for the carving I've done so far (relief carving on furniture) I've been happy with them ... you've seen the results here.

The steel is a teeny bit springy, which is probably why they're called flexcut, but it holds an edge well, and with regular stropping stays sharp through a lot of use. They came sharp when new, so most of them have never seen my stones.

Having removable handles gets old quickly if you don't have enough handles for all the blades used regularly. But fine to mix between blades that rarely get used. However I found it pretty easy to make extra handles for them by cutting a kerf in a 1/2" dowel and inserting it into a wooden handle.

At the moment, I like them, and they seem to do what I need.

[h3nry]

A little more progress ... the bottom rail carved.

[wtnhighlander]

@h3nry, how far to you progress with knives and gouges, before switching to abrasives? The end result is extremely well refined, suggesting impressive skill with your blades.

[Mark J]

I just gotta say, I love volutes (scrolls).

Then I'll echo Wtnhighlander's question.  And how much sanding do you do?

[h3nry]

Impressive skill with blades? or impressive skill with sandpaper? I'd say neither and somewhere in between.

I do way more sanding than I'd like. Since a sanded surface looks slightly different, once you've sanded one part, it all has to he sanded. Ideally I'd go straight to 220, but I usually start at 150. That's often enough to remove most of the remaining irregularities ... although large smooth areas sometimes benefit from a coarser grit, particularly long sweeping curves.

Getting paper into all the fiddly corners with enough room to move it is very hard, and often fairly ineffective, so I do try hard to need as little sanding as possible ... but I'm not that good, so lots of sandpaper scraps get used.

Sanding also tends to round over edges slightly ... great if you want a softened look, but not so much if crisp clean edges are what you want.

My carving still has plenty of room for improvement ... but practise is the only path forward.

[Beechwood Chip]

On 1/22/2026 at 12:23 PM, h3nry said:

Getting paper into all the fiddly corners with enough room to move it is very hard, and often fairly ineffective

Would a Dremel with a grinding stone bit or polishing bit be useful?