Oil And Wax

The panels are ready for finish now. They have been rounded over on the edge and sanded to 800 grit sandpaper.

I have been using Tried And True Varnish Oil followed by paste type furniture wax for finishing my fine furniture and woodworking projects for many years now. 

I am pleased with the results, both initially and over time. This finish provides a protective film but still allows you to feel the wood.  I have pieces I finished 15 years ago that are still in very nice shape.

I am putting the oil and wax finish on these parts before assembly because, if the panels shrink in the future, they will show an unfinished portion if I don't. This product is thick, like honey. You want to apply a very thin coat. I use a cotton cloth, wadded up, to apply the oil. I wipe on a coat trying not to leave any excess. When I have covered the panel on both sides, I wipe it down with a clean rag to remove any excess oil. I let it dry for about 24 hours before applying another coat. I will use three coats of oil on these parts, followed by a coat of wax.

Panels for the front and back with one coat of oil applied

Panels for the sides with one coat of oil applied

Between coats of oil I will be working on material for the floor and lid. Thanks for taking a look. Check back again and see how it's going.

I Haven't Forgotten About You...Panel

I finished with the replacement panel today. I then trimmed all the panels to final size and set up the router table to raise the panels. I am basically cutting a tongue all around the panels, no fancy profiles, just a simple raise with nicely rounded corners.

The slot cutter bit works well for this. I removed one of the .002" shims to make the tongue just a bit looser. The panels will float in the grooves and while I want them tight, I suspect that the humidity on the East coast, where this project will live, is more humid than here. I also want to make glueing up the piece as easy as possible, and if the panels are real tight assembly will be more difficult.

Notice that I am using a backer block for the crosscuts. This keeps the end edge from blowing out when it exits the cutter. That is also the reason I make the crosscuts first, so if there is any blow out it is removed when working the long grain edges.

Well, all the panels are raised now. I will try to get them finished ASAP and then I can get the chest put together. 

Thanks for taking a look. Check back soon and see how it is going.

Book Matched Panels-Flattening

Since edge gluing, the panels have been stickered. They mostly stayed flat, but a few had cupped one way or the other.

Here is my set up for planing:

I am using wedges to hold the panels in place while I plane them. This is a very effective method of securing work. I use the ruler as a straightedge to see if the panel is flat. I then have a good idea of where to remove wood.

I am pushing the plane straight across the panel but holding it skewed. This helps make it easier to start the cut and to carry it through. This maple is figured so it is extremely difficult to get a smooth surface without using a hand plane and scrapers. As you can see below, this is full body exercise. It always impresses me to think of the life of a woodworker two or three hundred years ago and how much hard work it took just to make a smooth board.

I went over all the panels with hand planes to flatten them, checking with a straightedge periodically to see when I was done. This took about 5 minutes per panel. The work goes pretty quick if you have your workspace well prepared. Now, with one flat side, I can run them through the planer (planing the back side) and bring them to final thickness.

Next, I'll finish milling the panels, then it's on to making the walnut frame. Thanks for taking a look. Check back and see how it is going.

Making Book Matched Panels-Glueing Up

Now I begin to glue the panels up. At this point I have dry clamped the pieces and have a set up for gluing ready. Not having all the clamps I want, I can only glue two panels at a time.

For these panels I am Using Titebond II since I want the glue to set quickly and there won't be a problem with the joint setting too soon. I spread glue evenly on both surfaces to be joined. Use enough to wet both surfaces. I am using a trimmed down acid brush here to spread the glue. You don't need a lot of squeeze out.

Make sure the correct faces are up and you are joining the correct edges. Match the grain as you want and then start clamping. I line the joint up with my fingers and begin applying clamp pressure. I try to apply pressure evenly by tightening each clamp a bit at a time. This helps keep the pieces from sliding around. It can be difficult to keep the pieces in the same plane when clamping. Sometimes you need to use a block and mallet to even things up. I fuss with the clamps until I am happy. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries to get everything right. After I have the clamps tightened I set the assembly aside and start another. This is when you want more clamps, always more clamps.

After the minimum set time for the glue has passed you can take the clamps off and scrape any excess glue off. Next I'll be sizing and raising the panels and getting them ready for finish.

Making Book Matched Panels-Edge Joining

After being re-sawn and thickness planed, most of the panel material stayed flat but I did have a few pieces that bowed or twisted. I re jointed the miscreants and ran everything through the planer again to bring it all to the same thickness. Now it is ready to be jointed and glued up.

To prepare the edges for joining I gang each pair of boards up with the show sides facing each other and clamp them in a vise. That way, if the edges are not planed perfectly square they should conform to each others bevel in the book match configuration. I usually am able to make the edges very square with the face though. I use a small square to make the edges even and to see if the edges are out of square with the face.

I use 2 planes for this.A #4 1/2 Veritas smoothing plane and  an H.M.T. Gordon wooden smoothing plane. 

I start with the #4 1/2,

Check progress along the way,

And then a few passes with the Gordon plane to finish.

The Gordon plane is set for a very fine shaving and I use it for final smoothing after I have the edge nicely square. When I think I am done I check the fit by hand and then, if that looks good, with some clamp pressure. I don't want to force anything together. A small hollow in the middle of the joint is considered desirable, the theory being that the ends will shrink a bit more than the middle of a board due to the exposed end grain. This is probably more important with longer material but, if I have a slight gap (1/32" or less) in the center of an edge joint I don't worry about it as long as I can close it with hand pressure. On the other hand, if the joint is fat in the middle or if I have to apply a lot of pressure to close the joint then I need to make it fit better. 

Finally, I check across the joint for flatness while the boards are under a bit of clamp pressure. I want this perfectly flat. 

There are ten panels in this project so I repeat this 9 more times. It really goes pretty quick with material that has been properly machined. Next it's glue up.

Making Book Matched Panels

Book matching can produce some very striking results. The mirroring of the grain usually makes for some dynamic looking panels. Book matching lumber (as opposed to book matching sliced veneer) can be a bit tricky. You have to try to judge the pattern from the outside since you won't see it until you cut the piece open. You look at both sides and try to make an educated guess as to what may be going on in the interior of the piece. The more material you remove after the initial cut, the more the grain pattern can change. When you do finally make the cut for the book match, you get to see if your suppositions are correct. You can also run across defects in the wood that weren't visible from the outside, like cracks, knots and voids. Since commercial veneer is sliced there is no loss of material between slices and the match will be about as good as you can get.

To compensate for these inherent difficulties I try to use material where the grain is fairly straight through the thickness of the board. Extreme angles in the grain from top face to bottom face can result in a poor match. I also keep any thickness planing to a minimum on the faces I want to match. I leave the material a bit long and wide, just in case there is any movement in the wood after milling. Sometimes to achieve a good match the boards must be offset lengthwise a bit and the extra length is necessary.  Eventually I will size everything to exact size but I will not do that until I have glued the panels together.


With the lumber all approximately sized and planed I set up the bandsaw to re saw the panels.

First re saw,

then set aside the sized piece and joint the band sawn face of the other piece,

then back to the bandsaw for the second piece, and repeat. 

I could have milled everything down to the same thickness, then re sawn, but I wanted to keep the thin cuts that would be left over for future use.

Once the re sawing was done I then ran everything through the planer. 

Now it is all stickered and I will see if anything changes after being opened up.

Here are the panels for the front of the chest. It is a little hard to see the figure but if you click on the picture you can see it larger.

A closer shot of one of the panels

Next I'll be gluing the panels up, then sizing, fielding, and finishing them. Then I'll start on the framework.

Thanks for taking a look. I hope you check back again and see what I've been doing.