The beginning of the week was very humid and hot here in the Minneapolis area. I am lucky to be in a basement that feels quite dry and cool. Although that coolness did not allow for my epoxy dog-strip glue up to cure in a speedy manner. What to do while waiting? If the first thing in or mind isn't flooring and sheet rock, well, you don't know what you're missing!
So yes I "coincidentally" took a break from the bench to turn on the room as the epoxy and some extra time to cure. Special thanks goes out to my good friend Evan for helping me carry this stuff through 95 degrees and thick humidity on a sunny afternoon.
So yes fast forward a couple days and I'm working on the hardware. Here cutting a slot for the tail vise track. Yes a couple weeks ago I ended up getting the Triton plunge router because it was readily available, half as much as a festool, and should work well mounted to a router table. I'm sad to say that a shaper does not look to be in my near future unless there is some ridiculous deal somewhere. This bench project is causing me to pick up the router more than I've done before. I'm not fond of them. They make a terrible noise, I don't like the feel of them, the super high RPM, and the overall lack of "grace" I guess.
One day I will have a nice sturdy torquey relatively quite shaper, but till then it will be whinning and moaning from the router table... and probably some from me as well.
Hardware is my least favorite part of any project, but it needs to be done. This pictures a little aid I made to help remove some of the variables in the hardware dilemma. The L block was cut on the table saw to the height that I wanted the plate to go. Clamp the block to the bench and you have a nice sturdy stop to position the plate.
I'm getting close. I imagine in the up coming week I will have a completed bench at my disposal. I'm sure I've said it already I'm looking forward to moving on but have a number of things to do before I can get back to furniture.
6 comments:
Using slot cutters is my least favourite of the router operations.
A shaper would be nice but the router tables work well, just pack your ears with spray foam before putting your muffs on.
what are you talking about? i LOVE slot cutters, they're so cool, especially when you run them too slow and they yank the piece right out of your hands!
I met you at Gilmer's in Portland about 6 months ago and, since then, have been following the progress of your elm/cherry cabinet. Photos of the finished piece have just been posted on the inside passage web site. It looks great! Congratulations.
Hey Jason... the one with the Bulgarian Walnut that I later decided that I wanted but by April it was too late? heh
How's it going?
Yeah I saw the photos, I do not have them yet but once again I'm not all too happy with the some of the ones I see. There is a lack of color that is present in the piece. Same thing with the photos of the box. When I got the photos of the box I did a little work on photoshop to make it what I think is a bit more accurate. So we'll see when I actually get all the photos... I'm afraid I wont be posting any on here until I have access to the raw files.
Ha I still can't take a compliment... thanks!
Do you have any new or in process works?
Yup, that’s me.
I’m sorry the colors aren’t to your liking but the shape/proportions/graphics all look great.
I have recently started a reproduction of Clark Kellog’s “Showcase cabinet in Teak and Yellow Cedar”. I’m self-taught, so I thought this will be a great introduction to veneers and laminate bending- something I've been wanting to learn.
The plan is to make a larger cabinet with the aforementioned Bulgarian walnut. It will be frame and panel construction- the walnut in the frame. I’m looking for some wood for the frame. I thought wenge might look good. Any suggestions.
Ah that case. It's a lovely piece. Simple and sweet.
The thing with wenge is... although it may be attractive, you'll never want to work with it again. I only made a couple planes out of the stuff and I have a strong feeling that I will never use it in a piece.
You could use a different walnut like claro or if you can find air dried black walnut, or Peruvian. All are nice and friendly.
Do you have a blog and/or are you going to start one?
I think these blogs are a nice way to keep up with fellow craftsman. I kind of took the atmosphere of the classroom for granted, now I'm back in Minneapolis and haven't met anyone I can related on a wood craft level.
In short, do it I wanna see! That goes for all you craftspeople out there!
Post a Comment