Things are warming up!

Here in Las Vegas we've finally hit the 100+ degree phase of summer.  I believe the weather service said that this year was the ranked the fourth in being late to reach that milestone.  What it means for me is that if I need to do a glue up or any finishing I have to get up early.  This morning I needed to put the final coats of shellac on the eyeglass cases, something you should do at less than 90 degrees.  Well, at 6am it was already 86 and now that I've finished that it's 88 degrees at 8pm.  Here's how they look now:

Left to right: African Paduak, Goncalo Alves, and Spanish Cedar 

The final coats of shellac have been sprayed on and I need to wait about a week before rubbing it out and doing the final assembly. Now it's on to the other two projects I have on my list.
     I bought the Walnut for the table I've been commissioned to do, the one that will utilize the piece of marble from my clients great-grandfather.  This table will be a very traditional design and construction.  I suppose I could plagiarize Charles Dickens and call the next projects a Tale of Two Tables!  In addition to the traditional table, I'm also working on a set of three, contemporary style tables for us.  They're the ones I bought the Zebrawood for.  Having a slight problem with the Zebrawood panels that's probably caused by our low (less than 10%) humidity -- they're splitting across the width and cupping rather badly.  It's time for winding sticks and a smoothing plane to tame that.  Well, that's the project update for now.  Back to the shop before it's 100+ degrees in there which is my official get out and take a siesta temperature.

NO DUH !!!

     At times I think all of the sawdust I've inhaled through the years has affected my thinking, add the normal aging problems to that and you wonder sometimes where your brains are!  In my last post I talked about the long process of hollowing out the recess in the eyeglass cases.  The bulk of the material can be removed with the forstner bit but that still leaves a lot for the router.
     There's always been a debate between woodworkers regarding hand tools vs. power tools.  If you're talking speed it's the power tools hands down.  And, as I've mentioned before, I use my share of power tools and think of them as the apprentices in my shop.  If you've ever used or been around a router as it's cutting away they produce copious amounts of fine dust and screech at a bizillion decibels.  Between ear protection, nose protection, and eye protection you feel like Sammy Safety!  When I came into the house after doing an African Paduak box Diane thought I'd burned myself because every inch of me was covered with a bright orange sawdust.
     So, here's the "no duh" moment I had this afternoon.  The biggest advantage of hand tools over power tools is the quietness and relative cleanliness.  I have these at my disposal as you can see here:

Quiet & Dust free Tools 

     I found that by using a chisel to remove the bulk of the waste left behind by the forstner bit and then my old (antique?) Stanley #71 router plane to level the bottom just shy of where it should be I eliminated at least half of the router time for each case side --- no duh John :-( what were you thinking?

Eyeglass Case Progress & the Weakest Link!

Soss Hinge aka The Weakest Link

This somewhat blurry picture shows what could be the most difficult part of the project.  These are called Soss Barrel Hinges and they require that 10mm hole, precisely 2.5mm from the edge, 11mm deep, and in the exact same location on both parts of the case.  Here's the dilemma though, they're basically a one shot fit and to make matters worse once you put them into the case you can't take them out.  My first case is off ever so slightly but it's only to antagonize me since it's the one I use.  I'll explain the major steps to this project in pictures to help you understand the dilemma.

Template 

This is the template used to rout out the recess for the glasses.  Under the squared off sections on the right side are the holes for the Soss hinge.  After securing the blank into the template I use a plunge router to outline the opening shape onto the wood.  The first case I did I used the router to get down to the 5/8" depth, 1/16" at a time.  If you do the math that's 10 very noisy and dusty passes with the router -- yeech!

Waste removed with Forstner Bit

The easier and more efficient way to do this is to remove the bulk of the material with a large forstner bit.  This is how it looks after that process.  Of course, no step in this project is without it's challenges.  Forstner bits are used to cut a flat bottomed hole ---- but; they have a fairly long spur in the center to help it stay on track.  On the bit I had it was about 3/16" in depth which translates in to many more passes with the router.  I used a grinder to remove the bulk of this spur, you can see the mark it left on the two blanks at the right.  The farthest piece to the right is African Paduak, the other is Goncalo Alves.

After the bulk of the waste was removed with the forstner bit which; by the way,  works great in the drill press my friend so generously gave to me it was back to the template.  A series of cuts were made, about a sixteenth of an inch at a time.  The bottom is still not up to the smoothness I want but no matter how accurate the set up is, trying to smooth an area approximately 2 1/2" wide by 6 1/2" long with a router bit that has a cutting edge of 3/8", it's not going to happen.

Tadpole sander in Spanish Cedar

The next step in the smoothing process is to use a tadpole sander which you see here in the Spanish Cedar box.

     As you can tell there is a ton of hand work that goes into this project.  Before the hinge goes in it must also have radiuses formed on the outside edges, then hand sanded, then shellacked several times, and finally rubbed out with wax and synthetic steel wool.  To think that after all of that I could insert the hinge and find one of the measurements just "a silly lil' millimeter off" kind of sucks and puts lots of pressure on me.  Tomorrow morning (when the shop is below 103 degrees again) I think I'll sacrifice a pair of hinges and ever so slightly grind them down so they will slip into their holes.  If the hole isn't deep enough I can fix that.  If the holes are way off I'd rather sacrifice them then before doing all the work I listed above only to find out they're scrap.
At the Sin City Woodworkers meeting last night someone mentioned that this is a project that lends itself to CNC, computerized production.  That's not the point of my work, I want to create genuine, hand crafted items.  My preference is for furniture but with todays market, anything I enjoy is fair game.

A Very Generous Friend

     A friend of mine, who also is a woodworker, showed me his very generous nature.  In the current vernacular he's having some "issues" and he's shared them with me since both of us have had the misfortune to have the same type of issues.  Since we can share these things it's too bad that he is moving back home to the east coast, Las Vegas just doesn't compare to the place he's lived most of his life so I really can't blame him.
     Yesterday we were talking on the phone and I mentioned what a headache I was having with my old (1940's Craftsman) drill press.  I told him how the pulley kept spinning and the allen screw wasn't holding and right away he said: "just come over and get my drill press".  At first I thought he was kidding but he was serious!  He said to me that he hardly ever uses it and it would be one less thing he'd have to pack up for the move.  I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted, told me come over right now and bring some Starbucks and it's yours!

If you look past the clutter in my shop you can see that it's a great machine.  Sixteen and a half inch capacity, nice large table with castings for T-bolts, heck, it even has a light.  Once I figured out where to put it and then familiarize myself with adjustments, speeds, etc. it's a dream.  My old drill press will be taken to the neighborhood garage sale this weekend.  I had some nostalgic attachment to the old one but the newer one performs so much better -- the heck with nostalgia!

Here's the set up I finally came up with to drill the holes for the Soss hinges.  They have to be exact since there isn't any adjustment.  10 mm in diameter and 11 mm in depth and the wall thickness has to be 2.5 cc .............whew!  I made the jig and blew the chips off after each hole to prevent any chips from messing up those precise measurements.  I had a few problems setting the depth on the new drill press so a few had to be rebored.  Next step is putting the recess for the glasses, anxious to see how that will work out.  Lots of unknowns here.
Need to start drawing the plans up for the Walnut side table that will have the piece of marble inset on the top.  Now that we're finally hitting our 100+ degrees I need to get back to my habit of working in the shop in the morning but once the temperature hits 98-100 it's time to head for the air conditioned house.
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Like an Open Book

     For your reading pleasure I've just book matched these beautiful boards that are destined to become glasses cases.  For the refined and quiet look there is a piece of Spanish Cedar on the right.  This is a popular wood for making cigar humidors.  For the more flamboyant reader the wood in the center is African Paduak.  For the discriminating reader that just wants that quiet elegance the board on the right is Goncalo Alves.  I went to Woodworkers Source in Phoenix last Wednesday because they are a good source for exotic species like these.  I also picked up some Walnut for an upcoming commission -- more on that later.
    At this point it is still speculation but after my meeting with the folks at Obika I feel pretty confident that this will be a marketable item.  In the foreground is the template that I've been working on for the cases.  With this configuration, the sides are 1/4" thick  and I've left the maximum amount of space for the glasses to fit into.  At this point, the wood has been book matched and planed to exactly 3/4" in thickness.  I should be able to yield 10-12 cases.  Next step will be to make a drill press jig to locate the Soss hinges, this has to be precise because there is absolutely no adjustment on them.  They either fit or it's scrap!
     I've just been commossioned to make a side table that will feature a heirloom piece of Marble that was quarried by the great grandfather out of a quarry located in Vermont.  The piece of marble is beautiful and about 12" square.  Soon as I draw up the design I'll get started on it.  It's pretty awesome to be entrusted with this heirloom and have the responsibility of creating a piece of furniture that will preserve it for generations to come.

Reckoning went Well

     The meeting at Obika went very well yesterday.  Diane and I went to there and met with the manager, the controller, a salesman, and the lab technician.  Everything was very positive, when people admire your work it makes it all worthwhile.  As an artist/craftsman, your reward is not so much financial as it is an appreciation for what you do.  They are very interested in them, more as a gift for their special clients rather than a standard inventory item.  They are a specialty optical concern, located in Tivoli Village which is an up-scale shopping, restaurant, and office complex.  Future tenants includes the type of cliental that they attract.

Day of Reckoning!

     I hesitate writing this blog because I'm not sure of todays outcome.  Will it be successful or another disappointment as I try to find a marketable item in our current economy.  The salesman at Obika showed the Zebrawood glasses case to one of the managers but ..... he's not the one who writes the checks!  That manager is supposed to be in today so she's my target to approach today.  Here's how the current model of the glasses case looks now:

Zebrawood Case

     I made a larger opening to accommodate more frame sizes.  Still really like the way the grain seems to curl into the recesses which it actually does since the interior is routed away.  Should I be lucky enough to have the store carry this case on a trial basis I need to get a new bit to rout out the recess.  Currently I'm using a core box bit and it requires a lot of finishing on the bottom of the recess.

The thing that's always been appealing to me about wood is the grain pattern and coloration.  This is how the case looks when it's closed.  The technique used to make it is referred to as a "book match".  The easiest way to explain that is you take a board, cut it down the middle of its thickness, and then open the two pieces just like a book.  One side is a mirror of the other.  When you reassemble them the grain pattern is continuous, the only slight break is from the material removed to smooth out the saw marks, this is done with a hand plane.

Bits & Pieces

     In this final photo you can see the sequence of the main steps for this project.  At the top is the initial piece of Zebrawood, it's about 1 1/2" thick.  In the middle is the template used to rout out the recess.  This is made of 1/4" MDF.  The bottom shows the two halves of the box, shellacked, waxed, and ready for assembly.  Well, just about time to see the folks at Obika --- no matter what the outcome is, this project kept me off the couch and mentally stimulated as I tried to solve the problem of how to get a good looking glasses case without succumbing to the mass produced, imported stuff!!