Small cabinet build-along
#41
Did you ever have a week where you thought you'd spent some time in the shop, but you couldn't really account for it? That was this week. Luckily, most of us are amateurs and we have nothing to account for. I got off of country music (though I did listen to a lot of Charley Pride while I was not woodworking) and spun some jazz. Art Farmer, Blame It On My Youth, which would be near the top of my favorite flugelhorn records even if I owned any others. Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette, Live at Montreaux (great sound quality, great session!). Duke Ellington, Money Jungle. Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert. Ellington at Newport. 

I must have gotten something done, because I have 3 photos to share.

The side panels will fit exactly into the rectangle of the legs and the upper and lower frames. Those dimensions are already set. The side panels have to be cut exactly to size.

I made a plywood test piece. It fit nicely.

[Image: i-Dgjg4LL-M.jpg]

To my amazement, the same panel fit the other side equally well.

I cut the veneered side panels to size. I admit that I cheated, and I don't feel the least bit bad about it. I cut them a little oversize, and trimmed them to final size with a duplicator bit on my router table. The test plywood piece was the template.

Looking promising. 

[Image: i-wM2cxcD-M.jpg]



The panels will be held on all 4 sides with splines. While the cabinet was assembled earlier,  I carefully marked locations of the insides of the upper and lower panel frames on the legs. In other words, marked where the top and bottom of the side panel meets the legs. 

I cut the grooves for the splines on the legs with a trim router, coming a bit short of the top and bottom marks, with a router. Used a chisel to square up the ends on the legs, and to extend them to the marks. Routed (same trim router) matching grooves in the panels. 


The panels will sit exactly flush with the insides of the legs. That made an easy reference point for routing, just needed one setup for legs and side panels. I also have to make spline grooves in the top and bottom side frames, to capture the top and bottom of the panels. But the frame pieces obviously extend way inside the legs. The reference point is lost. This will require careful marking and some fixturing to get the groove located accurately. 

Also, I have to make the splines. So simple, so time consuming to dial in. 



[Image: i-tzFFbfg-M.jpg]
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
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#42
Well done.  It looks great and I know like all the rest it will be perfect.
As of this time I am not teaching vets to turn. Also please do not send any items to me without prior notification.  Thank You Everyone.

It is always the right time, to do the right thing.
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#43
You get anymore done this weekend or working on the other projects??
As of this time I am not teaching vets to turn. Also please do not send any items to me without prior notification.  Thank You Everyone.

It is always the right time, to do the right thing.
Reply
#44
(04-06-2020, 11:28 AM)Arlin Eastman Wrote: You get anymore done this weekend or working on the other projects??

Hi Arlin,

Thanks for asking. This project is on a brief pause while I make a gift for someone. I'll get back to it very soon.
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
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#45
Finally got a little more done. Does your job affect the way you approach woodworking? It does for me. I'm a technical lead for a company that makes research instruments for biotech. There's a lot of planning and rigor, and a lot of it is fun -- but when I hit the shop, I need a break from all that structure. I probably should have made a model of this thing, mostly to make sure it will all go together. But except for the legs, and making the model legs was fun, I didn't. I thought about how the project would go, and went for it. My current thinking is that I have to glue this thing up in stages. Somehow I convinced myself that I have to glue up the sides early on, and for some reason that meant I have to shape the legs now. So I am.


Some tunes involved were Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder, Dr. John's Right Place and Gumbo, a bunch of Statler brothers music I bought, mostly to help out our local record store (I only sort of wanted the CDs, but I like supporting the store -- mailed them a check, old school), Don Williams anthology.

I fitted the splines on all 4 edges of the side panels, and cut their mortises in the end frame pieces. I messed up the pic, so I'll deal with that tomorrow.

The legs. I placed each leg on edge in my trolley and sawed the corners off, making the "side bevels" (to give them a name). The right and left are not exactly the same (the pic exaggerates it for some reason), but I didn't notice until later.

[Image: i-bKdJcnZ-M.jpg]

The outside of each leg will be rounded. The top will be have a smaller profile than the bottom. I crosscut at the transition point, where a bevel will eventually be.

[Image: i-6GpSmkm-M.jpg]

The top of each leg is marked with the curve I want to plane down to. But first, I used a bandsaw to remove a lot of the waste, from the top down to the crosscut.
 
[Image: i-FS6jMKV-M.jpg]

Used a marking gauge to mark where the curve ends on each edge. 

[Image: i-X66QqFc-M.jpg]

The tablesaw cut doesn't go all the way around to the edges of the section I will plane away. I used a chisel to define the last bit.

[Image: i-93P4476-M.jpg]

Make it round!

[Image: i-FHDQpVQ-M.jpg]

The spokeshave can't get all the way to the bottom. I used a curved card scraper, curved rasp (saw handle rasp from TFWW) and, and the end, chisels to get right into the corner.

[Image: i-6q5vSd9-M.jpg]

[Image: i-5xgb29p-M.jpg]

Bit of a pose in this pic, but you get the idea
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After finishing the top of the first leg, I looked at the top and noticed it was not symmetric. I evened up the side bevels on all 4 legs with a hand plane. 

[Image: i-wQsHc6J-M.jpg]

The tops are shaped but not smoothed.

[Image: i-8g7PT4L-M.jpg]

[Image: i-54BdvHs-M.jpg]
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
Reply
#46
I love all the details you are sharing.
"I tried being reasonable..........I didn't like it." Clint Eastwood
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#47
A little more today. Music was mostly repeats of stuff I've already posted.

Here's what my nutty side panel joinery looks like. Splines on all 4 edges. Grooves to receive them on the legs and the frame pieces. I did manage to get the grooves in the legs to exactly match the height of the panel, so there will be no alignment slop when I glue it up.

[Image: i-CCjGfJD-M.jpg]

With the round profiles established on the leg tops, next step is shape the bottoms. The bottoms are a bit bigger on the curved face. I needed a way to mark the bottom profile from the top. I posted a request for ideas a while back, and the best suggestion was to wrap something around the top. The official offset spacer is three layers of Cheerios box, marked with a chisel-point H pencil. That's regular Cheerios with the hearts, not Honey Nut, mind you. I wanted 4 layers for a more pronounced bevel between top and bottom, but my stock was a little small. I'll leave it as large as I can though.


[Image: i-pSJtK9x-M.jpg]

Next up, plane the curved profiles on the leg bottoms, down to the pencil line in the last pic. I got a head start with the bandsaw, then planed for a while. 

[Image: i-LMRmx2C-M.jpg]

Plane to the mark. Cheerios. Nothing less will do.


[Image: i-CcHCc6H-M.jpg]

I did all four. Here are the rounded bottoms. Somewhere in this build, I messed up the one with the blue tape. See the asymmetry? I don't know what I did, but I think I can make up for it later.

[Image: i-dXg6KqK-M.jpg]
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
Reply
#48
I do not know how you came up with the leg shape like that but it looks really neat.
As of this time I am not teaching vets to turn. Also please do not send any items to me without prior notification.  Thank You Everyone.

It is always the right time, to do the right thing.
Reply
#49
More leg shaping. Rock: Oasis, Parliament, and a few by Little Feat, my favorite rock band since I was 16.

First, I evened up that one leg that was asymmetric. It took a little patience with a spokeshave, chisels, and a small wooden block plane, but wasn't too bad.

At that point, the legs are rather tubular. I want to lighten the look. This curved template is taped to the inside corner, lower leg section. The bottom is under my hand. Everything covered by the poster board will be gone.

[Image: i-wBGKvVC-M.jpg]

After bandsawing most of it away, I used spokeshaves and a small block plane to get to the line. The top part has a lot of curvature, so I got to use my LV round bottom spokeshave.

[Image: i-ChFx2Zr-M.jpg]

Looking at the picture with the template attached, it doesn't look like much wood will remain. In reality, the effect is much less dramatic.

[Image: i-372hwGd-M.jpg]

At this stage, the bottom outsides of the legs still look a little heavy to my eye. So I tapered the sides of the lower sections with a hand plane. This photo is of 2 upside down legs. The left one is tapered, with the right one not yet tapered. 

[Image: i-6Pwp9sh-M.jpg]
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
Reply
#50
Johnny Cash today.

The upper and lower leg sections are separated by a ledge. Next step is to turn those into bevels. I need to mark the bottom of the bevels an even distance below the top, so I made this gauge.

[Image: i-FB7tk6p-M.jpg]

The shallow rabbet rides on the ledge as I mark around the lower part.

[Image: i-hqRHBbx-M.jpg]

Chisel an angle all around the curved part, from the scribed mark on up.

[Image: i-2khtgwd-M.jpg]

The transition area afterwards. 

[Image: i-ZCQ6wcg-M.jpg]
Best,
Aram, always learning

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery


Web: My woodworking photo site
Reply


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