Mahogany Settee - Project of the Week

June 6, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 14 Comments 

This week’s project comes from Shannon. He writes:
Here are a few pictures of the settee that I built for my wife. It is made of Honduran Mahogany, all with mortise and tenon joints. The cabriolet legs took some work, especially with the wings. I finished it with a blend of solar flux stains, and finished it with 3 coats of a satin poly. I had the foam custom cut, and upholstered it with my wife’s choice of fabric. It was a fun project. I did all the mortising by hand. I just bought a Leigh FMT jig, but have not used it (It sure would have come in handy for this). Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing what you produce next.

End Table - Project of the Week

May 30, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 3 Comments 

This week’s project comes from Martin. He writes:

Here is my latest project, an End Table I designed from scratch. The legs and frame are Lyptus with Bloodwood “shoes” and the top is Canary Wood. Note the sliding dovetail joints which also act as a decorative element. The legs took quite a bit of work to perfect. I use a router table and pattern making bit to finish the compound curves. Lyptus is a bit splintery so cutting down grain is mandatory (I learned the hard way).

Bath Vanity - Project of the Week

May 23, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 10 Comments 

This week’s project comes from Tom in California. Here’s his story:

The fun began when a friend of mine had to cut down several black walnut trees in his backyard – trees planted by his wife’s great grandfather! In exchange for building them a 76×38 kitchen table, he gave me several large logs. I had him buck the logs to put crotches in the middle of the logs. Then I took the logs to a friend that has a small sawmill. The boards have been drying for the last 30 months now. You just cannot find more beautifully grained wood than California-grown black walnut that has been air dried and not steamed and put in a kiln.

Construction: All the drawer fronts and doors were completely replaced. The outside edge of each door and drawer front has a bead detail of moulding applied proud of the surfaces. The inside edges of the rails and stiles (closest to the panel) have a routed bead detail. Stiles and rails are jack mitered together with loose mortise and tenons. The door panels are floating. Each panel has 1/16″ book matched crotch grain (front and back) veneered to 1/8″ baltic birch plywood resulting in ¼” thick panel. The pull out drawers behind the doors are melamine with custom walnut edges with full extension slides.

Finish: The “new” face frames, drawer fronts, door rails/stiles received 5 coats of Waterlox satin applied with a rag and wet sanded flat before the last coat. The door panels received 5 coats of Waterlox gloss applied with a rag and wet sanded before the final coat.

Lesson #1: I made a rookie mistake when planing down the drawer fronts. If you look at the before pics, drawers 5, 6, 7, & 8 show a perfectly book matched grain pattern before planing. I didn’t plane each bookmatch equally, resulting in a less than desirable book match. Not a big deal, but I am my harshest critic!

Lesson #2: Next time I will just remove the face frames and build new ones. This process was very labor intensive. I milled 3/16″ veneer strips, removed the varnish on the existing face frames with a card scraper, block plane and sandpaper, and glued and clamped each piece separately. The gluing and clamping took forever.





Doll Armoire - Project of the Week

May 16, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 9 Comments 

This week’s project comes from William. He writes:

Here are some pics of a doll armoire I built last year. My niece is a big fan of American Girl dolls and stuff. Her mother asked me if I could make an armoire as a birthday present. The one in the American Girl catalog is outrageously priced for a painted version. It was a fun way to mess around with hand cut dovetails on a smaller than usual scale. The armoire stands 25 inches high. The case is made of black walnut. The drawers and door panels are birdseye maple. The feet are mahogany. The drawers are solid birdseye maple fronts with poplar sides and back. Were I to do this one again, I think I’d try the hidden rare earth magnet trick instead of the magnetic catch. I didn’t notice until after the first round of finishing that I didn’t quite sand out the score line on the drawer side. Nothing says “hand cut” quite like a score line, eh? The finish is three coats of the “Maloof blend” of equal parts tung oil, linseed oil, and poly followed by paste wax. Small scale furniture can be a lot of fun, and a great way to use up some stray boards around the shop.

FineWoodworking.com Safety Tips - Tablesaw Safety

May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Project of the Week, Safety, Video | Leave a Comment 

The tablesaw is an essential piece of shop machinery, but it can also be dangerous. Learn how keep your fingers safe and avoid kickback with tips from Fine Woodworking magazine editor Asa Christiana. For more woodworking tips and techniques, visit FineWoodworking.com.

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