The Lid, Part Two: Breadboard Ends

I cut the top to length after glue up is done. There will be two 2 1/4" wide breadboard ends, each with three 1 1/2" deep mortises and a continuous 3/4" deep groove. They will overhang the sides 3/4", so I cut the top to the outside length of the front.

Now I lay out the pieces for the breadboard ends. I am making them a bit thick and will plane them even after the breadboard ends are glued on.

There will be three mortises in each end as well as a groove.

I mark the start and end points for mortising,

then transfer the marks to the top.

I check the set up one last time and I make the mortises.

I then run the groove using the dado head on the table saw. I set it up so I would make two passes, one each side. That will give me a perfectly centered groove that lines up with the mortises.

As I push the piece through the saw I can feel the resistance lessen as the dado head enters each mortise.  It is rewarding to also hear that the dado head is not cutting anything when it passes through the mortise. My set up is right on.

Now I set up the router table to cut the tenons for the breadboard ends. I put the largest rabbet bit I have (3/4") in the collet.

It will take three passes each side to cut the tenons and tongue this way but I don't want to use the dado head or run something this large through the table saw on end. I make a few test cuts with the offcuts of the top and then I have at it.

I am using a backer block to keep the back side from blowing out when the bit comes through. It's on top of the board in the photo below as I need that hand when I start the cut. This isn't as awkward as it looks. While more table in front would be nice, the table is wide enough to register on.

With tenon length cut I mark the locations of the rip cuts from the mortises in the breadboard ends. I used a jig saw to make these cuts. The scrap piece keeps the baseplate of the jigsaw off the work.

The crosscuts are also made with the jigsaw, except for the ends. I cut them a bit long and I'll trim them with a chisel after I get the tenons fit.

I must have let the top drift a little on one side when I was routing the tenons. I should have used a featherboard somehow to hold it down.

It's not much, about a 32nd of an inch, in the middle. I'll use my shoulder plane to fix that.

The tenons are too tight so again with the shoulder plane.

And after some more fussing around the breadboard ends are fitted and ready to glue.

I'll get this glued up but I want to get the top surfaced for finish first. Then I can plane the BB ends down to the level of the top and not have to try to work up to crossgrain. When your tool is sharp it is a delight to use hand planes.

Thanks for taking a look. There's more to come so check back soon!

The Lid And How To Make It

Here is my lid material cut to approximate length. I am using triangle marks to show orientation of the pieces.

I flatten on the jointer and square an edge, then run through the planer.

Now I check the fit and set up for glueing. I have some Bessey clamps and often don't need clamp blocks. Below I have dry clamped the first two pieces I will be gluing. 

I have laid the clamps out on the bench and put blocks beneath the work pieces to raise the work slightly above the clamp beam, I have a damp rag, the dry fit looks good, and I am ready to glue!

I apply a bead of glue to each surface and spread it with something convenient. I like to use a piece of formica but I couldn't quickly find one (it's getting a little cluttered here, I'll have to clean up soon) so I am using a thin piece of walnut. 

If my glue up is good enough I won't need to do any serious surface planing so I work to keep the surface of each piece level with the other along the length of the joint. I use my fingers to feel the joint as I work along and tighten the clamps.

If necessary I also use a block underneath the joint and one on top which I strike with a dead blow mallet to even the surfaces.

I check across the width with a straight edge for any cupping. This can be caused by clamp pressure if your clamps are crooked or all on one side. Alternating the side the clamps are on can remedy the cupping 

You will notice I have added some clamping cauls here for the second set of boards to help spread clamp pressure across the boards. Now it's on to other things.

Well, it's been a few days now and I need to join the two pieces I have made thus far. One set has bowed a little. I have some thickness to play with although I think it will end up a little thinner than the 7/8" dimension I had in mind initially. Of course it's the 11" wide piece and my jointer is 8". It is possible to joint half the board, turn it and joint the other half, although it does require removing the blade guard and that is not something I relish doing.

It could be done by hand, or, I could use the planer. If I just run the bowed piece through the planer the planer rollers would push the bow down against the bed instead of removing the high part only. But, by putting the board on a flat base and shimming the hollow portion to keep the planer rollers from pushing the bow down I can basically use the planer as a jointer.

Here I am using a piece of plywood for the base. I ripped some thin pieces and also used some wedges to shim the high points in the middle.

I then added side and end stops with double stick tape. I measured the high point to get a starting point for the planer and I am ready to go.

That worked pretty well. I was able to get the bow out of the face and then plane the other side to even thickness, a bit over 13/16". I jointed the mating edges on the planer, then ganged them together for hand planing.

Now I can glue the pieces together.

Next time Breadboard ends!

It's Fitting...

Now it is time to start putting it all together. First I mitered the ends of the rail tenons. I used the mitre gauge that came with the table saw to guide the work piece. I placed a stop block on the fence to set the first cut. Since I was making each tenon about a 16th inch shorter as well as mitering it, for cutting the other end, I used a shim about the thickness of the saw kerf instead of re-setting the stop block.

Next I have to fit each joint. I try to cut joinery so everything fits without too much fussing around but when I want each joint to be as good as I can make it, I tend to leave some hand work to do.

There is usually a little bit to remove at the intersection of the cheek and shoulder cuts. I hold the piece in the vise and use a chisel to clean this up.

I work each tenon, and finish by chamfering the ends to allow easy entry into the mortise when gluing up.

Next I check the fit against the mortise. I use my shooting board as a bench hook to hold the work and my shoulder plane to bring the tenons to a perfect fit. I want to be able to hand insert (and hand remove) the pieces. I also keep in mind the complexity of the glue up. As I fit these parts I realized that this glue up will be pretty intense, so I have tried to compensate and made some parts a bit easier to bring home than if I was gluing a piece with fewer parts.

I had a bit of trouble at first planing the short tenons on the stiles. I found I had to be very careful not to plane unevenly across the tenon. A few ended up twisted slightly, maybe out by a 64th inch or so. That won't work for me so, while I had the frame assembled I used some tape to mark the sides that needed help. I made a thin rip on the table saw and rebuilt the thin part. I made a good guess on thickness so they didn't need any further planing and the twist was gone.

So it is starting to look like something more than a nice stack of wood now.

Finally, I set up the router table with a 3/8" straight cutter and made a groove in the bottom rails to hold the floor. 

Lower rails with groove for floor

Well, I have a bit more work to do now to get the frame parts all assembled so I better get to it.... (time passes)  Well, now I have the frame parts fitted and it is looking pretty nice! 

I still need to do some surface prep before I glue up the frame, and make the floor before I can do final assembly. Check back again and see how it's going. Thanks for taking a look.

Blanket Chest Lumber

After another trip to the lumber store I now have all the material that I need for the blanket chest project. I have milled it all to approximate dimensions and have figured out where each piece will go. I will start producing the book-matched panels soon. I milled that material first since I knew I would pre-finish the panels prior to assembly.

Here is a shot of the material for the lid

And a shot of the walnut with a sample of the frame pieces in position

Today I sat down and worked out the details for the joinery. There is a bit of complexity where the legs and frame come together but I think I have the details pretty well nailed down now. 

In the meantime, I still need to make an astragal for the double doors so I will probably work on that for a while. By the way, I sure do like having the dust collector out of my shop. I gained a fair amount of floor space and it is quieter when only the dust collector is running. 

Til next time, thanks for taking a look.

Milling Lumber

Milling lumber from rough stock is an enjoyable endeavor to me. As each board is jointed I get a good look at the grain pattern and color. At this point I can make some critical judgements about the placement and use for each piece. I work hard to try to make the grain of the boards I use "work" harmoniously together, at least to my eye.

I begin milling by breaking the large pieces down into smaller sizes where possible. This makes the material easier to handle and also reduces the amount of stock removal for bowed and cupped pieces. I use a chop saw or skil saw to cut stock to length and the band saw to rip cut.

Now I flatten one face at the jointer. The jointer and planer I own (Powermatic 8" jointer PJ-882HH and 15" planer 15HH) both have Byrd helical cutterheads. These heads really work well in figured wood. I experienced almost no tearout in this maple and I know from running this type of stuff through a jointer and planer with straight knives that that is remarkable. The helical design also makes the machine quieter but I always wear hearing protection when running almost any tool.

Next I joint an edge square to the just flattened face, then the stock is ready to be thickness planed and ripped to width.

I started milling with the maple since I had a good idea of what I needed from each piece and I was eager to see the figure in the pieces I had bought. Here I have jointed one face flat.

And here I have jointed an edge at 90 degrees to the face and have planed the opposite face. The material is stickered and resting for a few days before final sizing and resawing. I'm pleased with the material and think it will make some gorgeous panels.

The walnut took a while to figure out what to cut where.  I am still mulling things over for this project and fear I may be short a bit on material. I had chosen some material to resaw for legs which was riff sawn, and I thought I had all the other parts figured out but I'm still making decisions.  Here is the rough stock waiting to be made into something.

Here is most of the stock milled into rough sizes.

 Here is an action shot of me resawing at the bandsaw...

and the produce of my effort.

The boards on the left must have had some inner tension because they both bowed to the outside in the middle when resawn. I was planning to use those for the top rails of the frame front and back but will have to see if they will still work. They may lose too much material when flattened. If so I will have to rethink my layout. At this point I have stickered everything and will let it set for a few days before I start final sizing and joinery. Well, that does it for now. I'll be back in a couple of days with more.