Woodworking: Amateurs, Craftsmen, & In-Between

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

That’s awesome! I love old planes. Have been keeping my eye out for them on Craigslist in the tools and estate sale sections, but they don’t seem to come available often...most staying within the family, I’d guess. 

Using red oak. Cheaper and strong, but has a decidedly pink hue. 

This luthier rubs and scrapes a black filler on his white oak guitars to bring out the grain. That pinkish hue will turn quite a dark brown with oxidation and light in a few years.:

 

 

[iNow]

I will have to try the dark filler in parallel to the white and compare. That could work

[Moontanman]

I am planning to build a plywood aquarium like this over the course of the summer. 

 

[iNow]

I would never have thought to make a tank out of ply, but it makes sense upon seeing it

[Acme]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 4:58 PM, Raider5678 said:

Also, if you're avoiding screws, it's also interesting to learn how to fit wood together like this:

This way you can avoid using wood glue. Often, it'll be a tight fit that you have to tap together with a hammer, but the idea that you

 

 

Finger joints are glued, not friction fit. One of their advantages is providing more gluing surface than miter or butt joining.

iNow, you can make a simple jig for your table saw to cut these joints if that doesn't offend your Zen.

Making a Table Saw Box-Joint Jig

[iNow]

1 hour ago, Acme said:

iNow, you can make a simple jig for your table saw to cut these joints if that doesn't offend your Zen.

Making a Table Saw Box-Joint Jig

Indeed, but if I'm to make another jig, my next one will almost certainly be a tenoning jig. Right now, I'm just hogging out material with back and forth passes across the saw blade on my crosscut sled. A tenoning jig would be nice as I'd be removing a clean square in just two passes. I don't have a need yet for finger joints, and would likely focus on dovetails where possible, anyway.

[Acme]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Indeed, but if I'm to make another jig, my next one will almost certainly be a tenoning jig. Right now, I'm just hogging out material with back and forth passes across the saw blade on my crosscut sled. A tenoning jig would be nice as I'd be removing a clean square in just two passes. I don't have a need yet for finger joints, and would likely focus on dovetails where possible, anyway.

Gotcha. A dado head for your saw will speed up the hogging and leave a smoother cut than a saw blade.

Dado Heads @ Finewoodworking

Quote

Synopsis: Steve Latta uses dado heads to cut tenons, dadoes, grooves, and rabbets in a variety of materials. Because the cost of a good set can run more than $200, most woodworkers have only one set, so it’s important to find one that works well and fits your budget. Latta tested 15 sets of 8-in stacked dado sets with carbide teeth. He and his students cut and compared more than 500 samples of dadoes cut cross-grain in red-oak veneer-core plywood and particleboard-core melamine. In addition to comparing dado brands, he also offers tips on using dado blades safely.

How to cut tenons on a table saw

Edited March 26, 2018 by Acme

[John Cuthber]

20 hours ago, iNow said:

I would never have thought to make a tank out of ply, but it makes sense upon seeing it

I wonder how long you have to spend washing it before you can use it for fish.

[Moontanman]

On 3/25/2018 at 7:05 PM, iNow said:

I would never have thought to make a tank out of ply, but it makes sense upon seeing it

I've made several over the years, mostly 30 to 40 years ago, biggest one was 3000 gal. I all I have are power hand tools.The one I want to build will be 96" long, 48" wide. and 24" tall, it will hold about 600 gallons. I'll probably have to build it and set it up on my carport, I'm thinking marine fish, sharks, rays, skates, a trio of queen angels Maybe mackerel,  cobia, pigmy barracuda, moray eels, and maybe see if my old knack of propagating live corel is still with me.

For my fish farm I plane to breed them not catch them but I can still catch and sell marine fish and I happen to know where the best ones are.

It will give an excuse to start snorkeling, great way to get into shape...

I am hesitate to say it but I plane to breed pygmy sturgeon and if I can't a few of them I'll go with shovelnose sturgeon...

Edited March 27, 2018 by Moontanman

[iNow]

Finished the mortise and tenons of the farm house style dining table this weekend. Each are 2 inches deep and about 2 inches long by 3/4 inches wide. They're blind tenons which I'll secure with glue and a through peg from the side.

There are 2 on each of the 4 table legs for a total of 8. Doing it by hand with chisel took a while, especially into the hard red oak, and I had to keep sharpening my tools multiple times, but they're done (tho I do plan to clean up the shoulder on one of them before glue up... I noticed during the dry fit that it's not as clean against the leg on all four sides as I want).

Tried our planned finish approach on the smaller table I built for my daughters (it was my test piece). Glad I did, too. It's way too dark. We may go forward with the original plan of using danish oil with some dark tint and call it a day. Need to make a test piece to confirm. 

The small table was much easier, but had 8 mortise and tenons of it's own. Lots and lots of time scraping tiny slivers of wood off at a time to make them perfect. It's been fun, but gives me a much deeper appreciation of how much work goes into well made furniture. 

Once my next conference call ends, I'm going to knock down the nubs with some high grit sandpaper and put another coat of sealer on the small practice table. When done, I'll rub with paste wax using 0000 steel wool and mark it complete.

Next big effort will be the panel glue up for the table top of the dining table. Seven 2x6s by 6ft long then lots of effort getting it flat and level across the top will follow.

[Mordred]

My current project wishing well made out of cedar, Dimensions 30 inch diameter, height of bucket 30 inches. Costs roughly 150.00 Canadian for the wood. Magic angle for the hexagon 22.5 degrees

Edited April 19, 2018 by Mordred

[iNow]

8 hours ago, Mordred said:

Magic angle for the hexagon 22.5 degrees

Very nice. What did you do to join the miters together?

[Mordred]

Dowel joint on the trim pieces, with glue of course. Further strength is added by the bottom base inside with screws hidden by the bottom trim.

[StringJunky]

8 hours ago, Mordred said:

My current project wishing well made out of cedar, Dimensions 30 inch diameter, height of bucket 30 inches. Costs roughly 150.00 Canadian for the wood. Magic angle for the hexagon 22.5 degrees

What error bars did you work to and what was the uncertainty that it would work out?  

Edited April 19, 2018 by StringJunky

[Mordred]

The angles and ensuring precise 22.5 degrees took some scrap pieces to fine tune. For the other cuts I usually make sure I am within 1/16 of an inch.  That often requires some chiselling to fine tune the joints. For squaring up each side I used a tape measure diagonally from corner to corner.

Edited April 19, 2018 by Mordred

[iNow]

Spent a bunch of time last week squaring the edges of the boards that will be glued together into a panel / tabletop. 

Went out today and did a dry fit and tested my clamp setup and the cauls I built from scrap in the discounted cull pile at the box store. 

It all came together really well. Was able to  tap each board edge flat to the one beside it with a hammer and tighten the clamps. There were no ridges or bumps btw then across the surface. Worked so well I decided to proceed with the glue up. 

When I did, however, the edges didn’t flatten to the one beside it like it did when I did the dry test fit. I’ll need to do far more planing and sanding than I’d hoped now, but I’m trying to figure out why the hammer didn’t knock the boards flat like it did when dry. 

Maybe the glue had setup too much already and prevented the boards from sliding up and down like they did when dry? Maybe I put too much pressure too early on the clamps?

Not sure, but I hammered the shit out of the boards to get them flat but to no avail. Lots left now to plane and sand. Any thoughts?

[Mordred]

Never force wood excessively beyond light placement taps. Glue does take up spacing but more likely it is a case of placement from dry test to glue stage. I typically place alignment marks when matching pieces together to ensure the same placement from one stage to the next.  Such things do occur regardless of how diligent.

As mentioned before this thread. A good craftsman isn't one that never makes mistakes but knows how to hide any mistakes.

 ALL Too often joints can be too tight, it should only take light taps to get a tight fit, excessively tight fits are as you noticed problematic.

 If you find gaps a trick to to mix glue and the same sawdust as the material used as a filler. Its not perfect on blending but better that many store bought fillers in matching coloration (use a stain ready glue).

PS the very statement "You hammered the $$$$ out of the boards" tells me your fit was misaligned on gluing stage and possibly too tight. Once glue has already started to set even if not completely dry it is too late to realign.

 Practice chisel skills as well on joint and levelling corrections/blending. Chisel skills can oft remove unwanted material as well as save a lot of time in coorections. For fine detail slice not tap or force. I've found that one truly learns to understand the strength in the different grains of different woods when chiselling joints. For example oak is easier to fine tune chisel than maple. Teak one must take extra care on cleaning the natural oils from tools and hands as you work.  Speaking of maple you will also want to develop your chisel sharpening skills.

Edited April 22, 2018 by Mordred

[iNow]

Chisel sharpening is good. Did that quite a bit while carving my tenons and mortises. Issue here starting was board thickness. Lacking planer, not all we’re equally thick. Idea was to get the tops flat and leave any ridges on the under side. Glue seems to have prevented that. Appreciate all the good tips 

Also unsure it matters but it was a rubber tipped dead blow hammer. Fairly sure that if I’d used my framing hammer it would have complied (though left horrible indentations). 

In retrospect, I probably should’ve glued up just 2 boards at a time. Doing all seven 2x6x6s at once added an element of time crunch I could’ve better planned for. 

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Chisel sharpening is good.

Have you got the first inch of the back  of your chisels to a high polish; a chisel is only as sharp as the back is smooth because that is the edge.

Edited April 22, 2018 by StringJunky

[iNow]

Yes. My chisels are extremely sharp. They weren’t used in this part of the process though. 

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, iNow said:

Yes. My chisels are extremely sharp. They weren’t used in this part of the process though. 

Can you shave your arm hairs with them?  

 

[iNow]

Yes

One of the first investments I made in this endeavor was a quality sharpening system

[StringJunky]

10 minutes ago, iNow said:

Yes

One of the first investments I made in this endeavor was a quality sharpening system

I'm thinking about that. I don't know whether to go for waterstones or adhesive-backed sheets on glass.The advantage of the latter is it's always flat. I've got a diamond plate but it's only a cheap one.

Edited April 22, 2018 by StringJunky

[Mordred]

For honing I prefer the sheets on glass works extremely well

[StringJunky]

1 minute ago, Mordred said:

For honing I prefer the sheets on glass works extremely well

You've convinced me.   It seems the best way to go.