Hand Cut Chamfers: An Easy Process

     During this weekend I've taken a break from the table bases since the material I ordered won't be here until Monday.  Perfect timing since the humidity is really rising by desert standards and what work I've done is somewhat sweated upon!  Not a good picture is it?  There's been a couple of hours shop time each morning so I'm not having withdrawal symptoms.
     One of the things I did was to put the first top coat on the Maple Splendor box, when I brought it into the house last night it felt as if I took it out of an oven, temp in the shop was 104.  This morning I decided to work on the two remaining boxes in the River Runs Through It series.  Here's how they compare to the first edition:

A River Runs Through It: #1-4

     The original ones are the two in the upper right of the picture.  Once the lids have been brought to length to fit their perspective box, the next step is to put a chamfer on the ends.  When ever you cut chamfers or raise a panel for a box or door you should always go across the grain first.  My preference is to cut the piece to length, chamfer both ends, and then cut it to width.  The reason is that you have the potential for splitting off the edge at the end of your cut.  The potential for this is there whether you're cutting by hand, with a router, or a saw.
     The chamfer on these lids is about 3/16" which is penciled in on both the top and edge of the ends.  You don't need to do the long edges since the lid hasn't been sized for width yet.  I do this with a pencil and a small combination square.  Rather than use a router to do this it's an easy process using a block plane.  It's quieter, safer, and much less likely to split the piece as it goes off the end grain.  The technique is to hold the plane at the required angle and then plane evenly to the lines.  Your goal is to reach the line on the top and the one on the edge at the same time.  Takes a bit of practice but very doable with a sharpened and correctly set up block plane.  Once the ends are done the lid is taken down to it's required width and the lines are drawn on the edges, top and side.

Close Up of Chamfer

   
     Although the lines are drawn on the long edges they are not as important as the actual cut.  You'll find that by holding and maintaining the same angle on the edge that you did on the end the cut will tell you when to stop.  The goal is a clean, mitered cut that goes diagonally to the corner of the lid.  You can see the pencil line remains but that's okay, it'll erase!  Just a slight chamfer like this adds interest to the overall design, it appears to bend as it goes off of the edge.  I would discourage you from sanding this chamfer, you'll more than likely round it over and soften the edges with the sandpaper even on a sanding block.  Besides, a clean, crisp, block planed edge looks much better than a muddied up one created by sanding.
     The final step to the box was cutting a rabbet all around so that it fits into the box.  Here I use the tablesaw by first setting the required height of the blade.  Always use a scrap piece of MDF to check your adjustment.  Same thing applies here, cut the end grain first but use a backup block to get more support against the fence.  Once that's done, readjust the fence and blade height and cut as shown:

Cutting the Rabbet

     So much has been written about tablesaw safety people are reluctant to post a picture of one without making some ridiculous disclaimer like "guard removed for illustrative purposes only, always keep guards in place".  Let's face it, there are operations that cannot be done with a guard or splitter in place and as woodworkers we need to take responsibility for our own actions.  Look at the picture, the blade is only up 1/4" or so, I'm using a backer block to increase the surface on the table, and my hands are safely straddling the top of the rip fence.  Could something go wrong?, I suppose but not very likely.
     Anyway, sorry to get on my soapbox but if using the saw that way is worrisome it's almost as simple to use a backsaw to cut this part and then  a shoulder plane to finish the job.  So now that it's Monday I can head to the lumber yard to pick up the material for the aprons needed for the end tables.  Since there are so many duplicated operations on the tables I'm trying to do all the machine work for all the pieces at the same time to avoid having to set the tablesaw and mortiser up multiple times.  Then it's on to the quiet work with chisels, saw, and rabbet plane of fitting each joint -- can't wait!

This is Fun!! Happy Fourth of July

Almost Ready for Finishing

     Couldn't resist posting these unfinished box pictures, I think they're a fun use of wood and somewhat playful in design.  They're roughly 2" tall and 3" x 7".  The one thing I realize though is that even though my plan was to produce a few boxes fairly quickly and price them to be what I'd call an "impulse item"  I'm guessing there is no such thing!  That's okay with me, it really isn't about the money.  For me the creative part and the process of working with the wood is what it's all about.  These are a good case in point.  Art Espenet Carpenter said it right; Time = Care rather than the standard adage of Time = Money.
   
     The lids were fun to make and I'm pleased with how they came out.  Since our humidity has been so low lately I thought it would be wise to allow some space between the rabbet on the lid and the box sides.  I'd much rather have the lid fit a bit looser than not being able to take it off if the lid expands in more humid conditions.  Having never worked with these species of wood seems like a good idea.  Many times you hear arguments/discussions among woodworkers about machine work versus hand work.  The chamfer on the top of the lid was done by hand.  Doing it manually eliminates the noise, dust, and probability of burning the wood with that spinning router bit.  Really didn't take long at all.  First of, a pencil and small combination square was used to draw the line to work to:

Chamfer Lay-Out

     I was able to clamp the lid between the bench dogs at the rabbet.  This way there was no danger of the plane hitting them.  Always go across the grain first, this applies to hand work or machine work since the the grain will tend to tear out.  This tear out will be eliminated when the edges are cut.  Here's a close up of the work on an end:

Working to the Line

     What's so cool about this is that it just gets to be a matter of muscle memory.  The line drawn on the edge and face is really just a loose reference point and your objective is to move the plane at the angle so you reach both lines at the same time.  I find that I also count strokes, the ends took about 30 each.
Once they were completed the sides had to be done, this is more a visual thing than anything else.  The goal is to create a crisp, 45 degree cut from the intersection of the lines to the tip of the lid:

Have to be Ambidextrous...

to Plane with the Grain!

     It's not to difficult to see how the edge meets the chamfer planed on the end, should make a good miter.  By putting a low bench dog in the outside vise jaw I was able to plane without any interference, this is where being ambidextrous comes in handy.  I may try spraying these smaller boxes with shellac but, the weather may not cooperate with that plan.  Most recommend temps below 85 degrees or so and that's just not going to happen.  I'll do an experiment by spraying some 1/2 lb. cut through an air brush and see what the results are.  I have a gorgeous piece of Curly Maple that I'd really like to finish with super blonde Shellac --- we'll see.

Cabinet Scrapers are Awesome!

Nothing Like It

     Although most of my time has been spent working on the dovetails for the Maple Splendor box I needed a break from the exacting work so am playing around with some of the Brazilian Satinwood and the Macacauba.  Maybe it's corny but I'm going to do a series of boxes and title them "A River Runs Through It".  They will feature some free form bandsaw work on the tops reminiscent of a river or stream running between it's banks.  These will be smaller sized boxes that will be decorative and functional.  Smoothing out the irregularities and removing the Gorilla Glue was easy work with my freshly burnished cabinet scraper.  Here's another shot:

     It's pretty amazing how the shavings even stay together where the two woods are joined!

     Once the rest of the box was resawn and mitered the shooting board was used to make them the exact same width.  Here's something I should have shown at the demonstration I gave at the Sin City Woodworkers last Wednesday; how to insure that each piece is the same width.  That's done by clamping a stop block to the fence as shown here:

Use of the Stop Block

     Here's what it looks like from a different point of view:

Stop Block

     When I made this shooting board I considered making a more sophisticated stop block arrangement but this works just fine.  Quite often, simple is better.  It got too hot in the shop and besides it's time to call it a night.  Tomorrow I'll continue work on the slanted dovetail box plus fit the bottom to these boxes and assemble them using packaging tape.  Needs to be done when it's as cool as possible but since these are so small I'll more than likely assemble them on the kitchen island in the air conditioned house!