cusas6 Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Hi All, I'm just getting started at building nice things out of wood. I've done lots of rough construction. Built a few really nice sheds and what not, but now I want to build some nice furniture. The first thing I built was a dog gate. Used some red oak from Home Depot, sanded it down, used dowels in my joinery and all and all it turned out nice. Probably a little overkill for the 3 chihuahua's we have, but it works. My next project is to build a side table that doubles as a dog crate. I've spent several weeks with Sketchup and think I'm ready to get building. I've got the tools (grizzly jointer, dewalt planer and a porter cable tablesaw, bosch router, etc). The only thing I'm really missing to make my "shop" complete is a bandsaw. But that'll be my first purchase if this side table turns out good. I'm all set to build this thing I just don't know what to build it out of. I'm assuming I should avoid buying my wood from Home Depot or Lowes. I've been to our local lumber yard and they have a few options to choose from in the way of walnut, cherry and other types. Some in 4/4 and others in 6/4 or 8/4. I was planning on making 2 of the 4 sides with sort of a raised panel door style (so the dogs to pee out those sides) and the other two were going to have slats and the long side, a door. All of the sides I wanted to be 3/4" thick. My thought was get some 4/4 something and joint it and plane it down to 3/4. The top I wanted thicker so i was going to get 6/4 or 8/4 and plane that down and joint several piece together to make the big piece I needed. The bottom I was thinking melomine in case of accidents. I've uploaded the sketchup drawing if anyone would care to see it. I didn't add any detail to the top, but I do plan on routing some type of edge on it. I also didn't "Raise" the panels because I couldn't get sketchup to do what I wanted it to. I'm not sure what kind of wood to make this out of. I don't want to break the bank, but I want it to look nice. Any sugestions on the wood type or comments on my plans? Thanks all, ScottDogCrate.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suiciedchild Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Like the sketchup , pretty cool idea. Im pretty impartial to walnut, If i were building this for myself, I would go with walnut because I like it, or QS white oak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 i think that you should not get a 2 inch top that is like having a work bench top. are you planing on hammering and chisling the hell out of it? avoid box store for most domestic lumber as its 3 times as expensive and its poor quality. do the leg work and find a small miller in the area. if you can its better to buy from him and buy 4/4 rough and clean it up yourself you will find that a couple passes will clean up your boards and you wont have to take it all the way down the 3/4 of inch like a box store has it. while miller are fewer and fewer i found 3 withing a hour of my home so they are out there. just talk to other wood workers, cabinet shops, tree removal, ect... they can point you in the right area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyNoName Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Scott - Very cool idea. I think I would stay away from walnut, because of the dogs. Walnut can be toxic or an allergen to plants, animals, and even some people. It might be best to stay away from walnut as well as some other woods like cedar. Poplar is great wood to start to play around with, and it isn't going to break the bank. If you take your time, you can find some clear and evenly toned peices. Jonathan =========================================== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 ==> side table that doubles as a dog crate bottom stretcher is drawn flush with bottom of legs -- usually legs protrude a bot to allow for floor leveling. Do you intend to use adjustable foot inserts to level on floor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cusas6 Posted March 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 All, Thanks for the advise. duckkisser, good suggestion, not buying 8/4 stock will probably save a few bucks. Johnathan, thanks a ton, hadn't thought about bad interactions with the pets. hhh, I had thought of that, I was going to put adjustable feet under it. This is what I love about this forum, keep the suggestions coming. -Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wleingang Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 I second quartersawn oak since it looks mission/craftsman. There is nothing in this project that can't be done with 4/4 wood so I would just make a cutlist before you buy. I still bet that will cost a couple hundred bucks in wood. Plain sawn oak would be cheap and still look great. If you go with Poplar make sure you have your finish/stain picked out ahead of time. You will want to condition the pieces before you glue them up since poplar can reveal inconsistent finish results. I can't wait to see the finished product. Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 I second quartersawn oak since it looks mission/craftsman. There is nothing in this project that can't be done with 4/4 wood so I would just make a cutlist before you buy. I still bet that will cost a couple hundred bucks in wood. Plain sawn oak would be cheap and still look great. If you go with Poplar make sure you have your finish/stain picked out ahead of time. You will want to condition the pieces before you glue them up since poplar can reveal inconsistent finish results. I can't wait to see the finished product. Looks great! if your woried about breakign the bank if you go toa small miller i offered to take all his end cuts and odd lengths and odd boards from him. he is going to sell the school 500-600 board feet for around 5 hundred dollers he is even going to strait line it and flaten one side for us so then we can finish it all up on the planer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suiciedchild Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 I think I'd still use walnut , maybe I just don't like my dog as much as you guys. I considered the toxicity possiblity of the walnut , but if his dogs had a tendency to eat furniture I doubt he would be making them a crate. You may also want to really plan out the finishing , I would say you would want to prefinished the insides at least , doing that would be rough once it's assembled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cusas6 Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Is it better to leave the joints unfinished for the glue to bond or can I just finish all of the sides completely and then glue it together. One thought I had was to not glue at all, rather pocket hole screw it all together after finishing and they way I can take it apart down the line if I need to (Not that I can think of a reason to take it apart). Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suiciedchild Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Yeah, I am going to be doing something similar, on the inside of a project, finish the areas , not the actual joints, you can put blue tape on areas you want to protect, I have alot of tight inside corners that I don't want to have to struggle finishing. So they will be done before assembly. Not sure of the pocket screws , never had a chance to use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian VanVreede Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Isn't redwood in California like cherry in Pennsylvania? If so, I would use that . It would be cheap, and it would look great with a little oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wleingang Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Redwood is really soft so it would show if it gets scratched. I love working with redwood and it's really cheap compared to any hardwood. +1 for pocket hole joinery. Use glue too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cusas6 Posted April 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 So I went with Red Oak. The thing is going to weigh a ton, but I'm comfortable finishing it. I really wanted to go with Poplar, but I didn't want to paint it and staining it sounded like a lot more work. Thanks for everyone's advice. I will post pictures when I am finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 Sorry I didn't see this earlier. One piece of advice I would add to the other's thoughts is, that since you have milling capabilities, avoid standard dimensions as much as possible. That's one of the great things that sets custom apart from production pieces is the ability to work in non-standard dimensions. Just something to think about for your next project. (null) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cusas6 Posted April 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 Hi Vic, I'm not sure I follow you. Are you saying when building and designing, don't make something 3/4" thick, go 5/8" or 7/8"? Can you give me a example of what you mean? This is the kind of experience I like to learn from. Thanks, Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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