Sticks, Stones, and Paper Stew Blog

Wednesday I tried a fairly new tool. We’ve had a router for years and I’ve buzzed a few bull noses before, but never cut out an interior space. The router probably would have saved loads of time instead of using the coping saw. It’s all a learning process.

Pulled out the router book and checked things over.  Discovered I’ve been making rabbet joints, not lap joints. Also got out the beast to familiarize myself with it again.  Router bits, safety devices ( eye, hearing and lung protection ) also located.  New information found! One can set a starting depth and ending depth (accomplished in a couple of passes) using a ring gauge on the sides. I wasn’t the quickest to figure out how to really adjust them until later.  Pretty cool stuff.

I made a few passes and checked out the feeling on a scrap of pine. Ended up using the same scrap to create a holding block that was screwed onto a separate scrap. Loaded my walnut in place, screwed down an extra holding block and I was ready to go.

This is after the second pass on the walnut. There were a few discrepancies along one edge that required some extra sanding.

 

Next step is a  door for the battery area. Lots of questions to figure out. Do I find hinges or create a lip for a door to slid in place? It has to have a low profile… can I really do that on the table saw? Then what do I do for legs? There will still be a need for just a tad more clearance between door sliders and table top. Probably should have gone for hinged option, but finding hardware at this point could be difficult.  Guess it will be option #2, the sliding door.

Here are the rails glued down.

Closed and open images. Works ok, but there are a few problems. Maybe when the battery pack is installed things will be better. Things are getting down to the end!

Had to toss in the goofy photo of me. Kind of a  monkey/Darth Vader look. Maybe I should wear this to the door on Halloween!

Glue! That’s where we’re at today. Plus some cuts to create the base.

Here we go:

Started the day by gluing the 4 walls together. Sorry, no boring photos of that! I’m sure you can imagine it. Not certain at this point how to work the lid into place. Moved on to the base. Took my largest chunk of walnut remaining in my stash and cut it to size.  It was almost 1″ thick (scrap from a table created several years back)

Next I created the raised platform space by cutting away about 1/2″ from the sides and top using the table saw.

By this time, the clamps could be removed from the sides and trial fitted on the base. Not too shabby! I think I’ve figured out how to address the “lid” portion.

So rather than creating a lightweight lid that lifts off the top of the box, the entire box lifts off the pedestal to reveal the mystery inside.  I had to create a 1/8″ deep lap joint in the top to securely receive the walls. Wood glue applied and everything clamped for the next couple of hours. I’ll tackle the sanding and over-gooping tomorrow.

Heavy duty clamping in action!

Wow, it’s starting to really take form! Amazing! And no help from the cats today. Maybe tomorrow.

 

Back on Friday I cut out the side panel windows.

Telephone books are handy for drilling surfaces!

This was as far as I went before heading to Eugene. Ready for sanding.

Positive progress was made today. Spent the entire day  sanding down the window spaces. The downstairs is now covered with a fine dusting of walnut. Might have to bring out the air filter!

Nigel felt he had to be involved. Four times he plopped down on the work table, used his tail as a duster and added cat hair to the mix.  Glad I wasn’t gluing yet! Equally happy he was not out in the rain. Wet cat paws, wet hair and sawdust…

Here is the basic look w/ windows and the unfinished lid.

Gluing, lid and base construction tomorrow.

I dropped Dave off at PDX Wednesday morning (stinking early!) and spent that day recouping from lack of sleep. On Thursday morning, I was ready to get started for real.  By the end of this project 2 boxes will be created, one for sale at The Arts Center in Corvallis & the other for my mom.

Where does one pick up 1/4″ walnut? Well, no where around my house! I did stop at Jerry’s in Eugene because they had some years ago, but only found 1/2″ stock. My dad came to the rescue! He stopped by a couple of his haunts, didn’t find any so picked up new darker stock and put it through the planer. This was during the highly stressful time when my mom was still in hospital ICU. Big sister thought it was a good distraction for him to work on, even though it only lasted a grand total of 4 hrs.

Last weekend I completed the scale drawings for the final piece. The walnut was not the same dimensions as the poplar, close but not exact.  There have been multiple runs to hardware stores to pick up missing items, like new coping saw blades and extra c-clamps.  I also invested in new hearing protection since George ate the last pair.

The cuts went well but I did discover the board width decreased by 1/32″ to 1/16″.  So I had to shave off 1/16″ on the 4 sides. Voila! Basic box form.

I opted for a three window look on the long side, pictured below. The coping saw worked just fine with the harder wood. Some rasping, filing and sanding needed, but that’s just how it goes.

More sanding needed on each window edge. The basic form is coming together.

Today’s agenda is a rainy grey trip to Eugene. It’s been five days since my last mom visit. Saturday is still open for cutting the side panel windows and the base. More fun to come!

Starting disclaimer: I am not a woodworker! Anything I do in wood is a bit crude so be patient! The end product will look pretty good. Tool supply is limited too.

Rather than jumping into this project with Black Walnut, I created a test using poplar. It was ok for a test, certainly not for a finished product since it is an extremely soft wood.

First step:  measure out the board thickness and width then created a measured line drawing.  This step is something I learned from my father, a real woodworker. Best to get everything down on paper prior to cutting.

Next, I transferred this information to the board and cut using a table saw. I used lap joints rather than miter. Once the lap joints were smooth, I tested the basic fit.

Things looked good so I moved on to creating the windows.

Windows were the tricky area I just didn’t know how best to approach.  Did I want a single big window or multiple? How easy was it going to be to smoothly cut this space? What tool would be the best? I drilled holes close to the four corners and chose a coping saw for the cuts. The blue is painters tape used to hold 2 boards together (why not kill two birds with one stone?). Not great but an interesting trial.

Basic window was cut but a lot of sanding would be needed to get the edges level.

I decided I didn’t like the look of the large single window and decided to break up the space with two smaller ones.

This seemed to work a bit better for my taste. Next problem is the window treatment.

I thought about using a thin printmaking paper but it didn’t provide enough transparency. Then I thought about sandwiching cut black paper silhouettes between waxed print paper. Too much! How about leaves? I certainly have quite a few left around…

Things are starting to work better. I think multiple small window are the way to go for the final project. Hopefully the walnut will cut better than the poplar. The windows will have to be sanded before gluing the box together. The unit will then drop on top of the base unit (that will hold the wire heart).