It's All About the Wood

     The last couple of days have been hotter than it should be for this time of year here in Las Vegas.  Been putting away literally gallons of water in my attempt to keep thinking straight as I continue to work on the boxes.  The lidded finger joint boxes are turning into much more of a challenge than I thought!  I'll get into that in a bit but between times the Curly Cherry boxes have received their final coats of finish. Since in my work I want the wood to be the star take a look at these photos of the boxes:

     These are about 3" tall and 5" by 7". The handles and splines are made of African Mahogany.  It's difficult to see the chatoyance of the wood in pictures but take my word for it -- it's there!
     Sometimes when a project is in the planning stages, whether it's in your mind or carefully drafted out; everything is not as clear as you think.  The lidded boxes are proof of that.  I'll need to put the front, back, and side pieces together and  insert the bottom plus the lid and hinge pins at the same time!  Seemed pretty straight forward in my mind at the time but now that I've been working on it it's becoming somewhat daunting.  The lid will have to be pretty much pre-finished before assembly.  To add to the complexity of them, the Satinwood boxes will be pegged with Walnut dowels.  The Macacauba boxes will have a brass screw driven into each finger which will then need to have the head cut off and filed/sanded smooth for a decorative touch.  I've always liked Art Carpenter's saying that Time = Care.  He contrasted that to the Time = Money and these boxes are definitely not a huge money maker.  I've always enjoyed the process of woodwork so not complaining.  Just hope I can pull all of this off.
     The lids were fitted to each box, this was accomplished using the small scale shooting board and a block plane:

Shooting the Brazilian Satinwood Top to Size

     One thing I'm really thankful for is that since the boxes are so small it'll be no problem assembling them in the cool, air conditioned confines of the kitchen on the island.  The past few mornings it's been in the mid to upper 80's when I start around 7am and temps only go up from there.  Creates a serious problem for gluing up since the glue will set quickly.  When I student taught in San Bruno in we used radio frequencies to excite and warm the glue during assembly -- sure don't need that now!

Smaller? Yes -- Easier?, No!

     As a furniture maker, an area where I can really let the wood "speak to me" is taking the time to match grain patterns and coloration of the wood.  This is one of those things that many people will look at and like but not necessarily know why one piece of furniture appeals to them more than another.  Since my preference is to keep the wood in it's natural color rather than staining it it's very important to my design ethic.  Here's a in progress photo of the series I'm calling the Lidded Box:

Lidded Box Series in Progress

     The challenge here was to keep all of the pieces and ends straight so the grain flows seamlessly around the box.  The reddish colored ones are made of Macacauba and will be joined with brass screws that will be cut off and filed even with the surface.  You can see the trial piece on the left.   The others are the Brazilian Satinwood.  They will be joined with Walnut pegs which will result in a nice contrast.  Here's a photo of that experiment:

Satinwood with Walnut Peg

     I'm looking forward to seeing how this will end up, I like it so far!  The next phase will be to fine tune the finger joints which are 1/2" wide.  This is one of those machine operations where if there was only one box to do it probably would have been just as fast to do it completely by hand but ..... with four boxes in this series making a jig and taking the time to set it up was well worth it.
     The real trick here was to keep the ends, front side, and back side organized.  After many trials the first step is to cut the side piece which is then used to set the proper spacing for the front/back:

Using the Side to set the Front

     After the first finger is cut the side piece can be set aside and the remaining joints can be cut:

Finishing the Fingers

     You may have noticed the chalk markings on the pieces of Macacauba, here is the goal:

All in a Row

     Not only did I need to keep the grain pattern in mind, especially with the Macacauba; it was important to make sure the right side faced out and the top and bottom were kept in their proper location.
     The next step was to cut the top finger from the front and back pieces.  This is to make room for the lid which will pivot on a brass pin.  This was cut oversized on the tablesaw and then planed to fit.  When I planed the Brazilian Satinwood the shavings were really cool!

Cool Shavings -- Brazilian Satinwood

     The final things accomplished before leaving the 98 degrees was to design a set up which would allow me to drill the holes in the center of each finger for the pegs and, of course; make the dowels from Walnut with the dowel plate.

Making the Walnut pegs

     The Lie-Nielsen Dowel Plate is well worth its' cost, can't think of any other way to get accurately sized dowels out of any species needed.

Sneak Peek at Some Boxes & Wood Has Arrived

Collage of Boxes

   
     Here's a sneak peek at the boxes that are almost completed.  Durette, at the Urban Ranch General Store, asked for some photo's that she'll use to promote the show.  I thought it would add interest to give the boxes names to identify them.  The box in front is called Slanted Dovetails, on the left is Dominoes?, in the center is the Pagoda Box, and the right side one I'm calling VaVaVoom because of the lid design.  The box in the rear is named in honor of the Urban Ranch so (no duh!) it's been dubbed the Urban Ranch Box.  Rustic and somewhat distressed, the Knotty Pine and finger-jointed corners emulate the character of an old time general store.
     Late Wednesday afternoon I heard one of my favorite sounds, the diesel roar of that UPS truck!  Sure enough he had a 65 pound bundle of wood from Woodworkers Source in Phoenix.  I would have loved to go there and pick it out myself but they generally do a pretty good job at it.  Besides, the 5 hour, one way trip would have cost much more than the $25.00 shipping charge.  Here's what I have:

Wood for Boxes to Be

     From left to right  is Brazilian Satinwood, Quarter-sawn Sycamore, Leopardwood, Macacauba, and a small 8/4 piece of Zebrawood laying on the bench.  The only piece I'm less than thrilled with is the Sycamore, the quarter-sawn rays are really small.  I may experiment with dying it to see what happens then.
     Working on a series of boxes like this is almost, but not quite, like doing production work which I really dislike.  Since there will be 4-5 examples of a particular design I need to streamline the machine phase of the operation.  I don't plan to make two boxes of the exact same size but there will be variations on a theme; so to speak.
     For a few boxes that will feature pinned finger joints the first step was to laminate two narrow boards together to make a piece wide enough for the lid.  This was with the Macacauba, a wood I've never worked with or even knew about until I received a sale email!  Beautiful, check this out:

Macacauba being Jointed

     The coloration is stunning and since it has a very straight grain it promises to be a good match even though I can't book match the pieces.  I need to yield 1/2" thick panels for the tops of these boxes.
     While this is drying I began work on the ends and side pieces for the Slanted Dovetail series.  They start out with a piece of 8/4 stock that is planed down to around 1 5/8".  The noisy, dusty part of these is cutting the angles on the sides of them.  Probably would make a safety inspector cringe but here's the set-up:

Slanted Dovetail End Pieces

     By using the panel raising jig, a rip blade, and some clamps to secure the work; fifteen degree, angled cuts are made on the outside surface.  This is the Zebrawood and you can probably tell that there is an uncut sliver of wood where the two angles don't quite meet.  It's close enough though and gives me some leeway for the best part of this whole box -- planing the surfaces to reveal that beautiful grain.  At this point there are side blanks cut from Maple, Cherry, and the Zebrawood.  They'll be combined with contrasting wood for the box sides and lid.  From here on out it's mostly hand work cutting the dovetail joints.  The variation comes from where the dovetails are located on the angled ends which is the fun part.  The handwork phase of woodworking is the most exciting and challenging -- one slip and it's either firewood or yet another variation on the design!

Taming the Curly Cherry

     An exciting, yet challenging part of woodworking is working with woods that may not want to be worked with!  I received a piece of Curly Cherry, along with another piece of Curly Maple, from a woodworker in Virginia.  I had shared plans and details with him about making the scrub  plane and this was his generous way of "paying it forward".  When wood  comes from anywhere there is humidity to our dry (2-5%) climate it will tend to react by twisting, cracking, and bowing.  A shipment of some exotics came from Woodworkers Source in Phoenix and since their climate is similar to ours usually it's not a problem but we'll see!
     The first step to taming the curly Cherry was to cut it into smaller pieces, that way it seems to be easier to locate the highs and lows of the wood with winding sticks:

Checking with Winding Sticks

     It's pretty obvious that the board has some issues.  Winding sticks are used by placing them on the ends of the board and then sighting  down it to see if corners are high or low.  You can also place the board on a flat surface, see where it rocks, and work it that way.  In the background is the Scrub Plane -- not a good choice for this piece of wood as I tore out a good sized chunk of it, curly grain is tough to work!  This called for a good old fashioned Cabinet Scraper:

This Works!

Which was followed with the smooth plane set with a very small mouth opening to tame this piece of Curly Maple:

Beautiful Isn't It?

     The board was then re-sawn so that it would yield two pieces approximately 1/2" thick.  These were surfaced and the sides of the box sized and cut.  There is a well known box maker by the name of Doug Stowe who shows a method of re-sawing and laying out your wood so the grain runs continuously around the box, this is a page from his book that shows that process:

Ready for Sizing

     The 45 degree sled I recently made works great for this process.  With a good, sharp blade the mitered ends need just a pass or two on the shooting board to make a perfect joint.

Using a Stop Block to Ensure Identical Pieces

 A box like this is a perfect one to use the packing tape clamping process on.  The size of these boxes is approximately 3" tall, 5" wide and 7" long so this method works fine.

Tape & Clamp

     In this instance I decided to add a strap clamp to the top, yes; I've been accused of over building things but what the heck!  The tape method is very easy and once the box was assembled placing the strap over the top was simple.  While they were drying I started work on the lids, these will have a pillowed effect which starts out by cutting a raised edge all around with a panel raising jig.

Pillowing the Lid

     Working the curly grain of this piece of Cherry is tricky at best.  Planing requires a very light cut since the grain reverses directions over and over.  Using a card scraper is possible but can still cause some tear out as you approach an edge or end of the piece.  On a piece like this, sanding is in order.
     Once the box was slotted for the miter keys I encountered the same problems blending those into the rest of the box.  To compound that I decided to use African Mahogany for them and the knob --- what was I thinking!

Cutting Miter Key Slots

     Even though this is a small sized project it takes every bit as much time as a larger one would.  Little details like the knob and cutting the mortise and tenon used on it take as much time as doing that joint on a table leg.  It may actually be more of a challenge since you're working with such a small piece of material and it's complicated trying to hold it while you work.  In any case, I'm enjoying the process and hope the show will be successful.  That would be a plus by giving me exposure to new, potential clients and keep the Urban Ranch General Store in the eye of the public.  With the current economic situation we can all use all the exposure we can get.

The Urban Ranch Box

     As I've been writing, I'm gearing up for a show of custom boxes that will be held at the Urban Ranch General Store here in Las Vegas.  If you're ever in the vicinity it's well worth a visit.  Durette has an incredible collection of hardware and an eclectic mix of home accessories in her studio.  Anyway, in honor  of her store I've created what I'm going to call the Urban Ranch Box.  I plan to make them in a small, medium, and large size but started with a size in the middle for the prototype.
     Since it's a ranch store it's only fitting that the wood used is what you may have actually found in an old general store.  I choose Knotty Pine for these and am using finger joints stay true to the character of that era.  You would have found Knotty Pine boxes for anything that needed to be shipped and the finger joint, aka box joint, would have been used for it's strength.
     Using a finger joint jig the pieces had all of the joinery cut and dados to house the top and bottom panels:

Ready for Assembly

     The green tape is put into the corner to minimize clean up of any excess glue inside of the box.  After the glue dried the next phase is to trim the fingers which is easily done with a low angle block plane:

Trimming the Fingers

     The only thing you need to keep in mind is that you can't drag the plane back over the edge of the box.  Even with it's low angle there's the possibility of chipping the grain.  Here too you can see the raised panel for the top of the box.
     Now came the hardest part of this project for me -- giving it some age!  If this was really a box from the General store era by now it would probably be pretty beat up so out came the weapons of destruction!

Beat Out Your Frustrations!

I must admit though it's kind of refreshing to whack away at the box and give it some age and patina.  Also difficult because I really admire and try to achieve a smooth, lustrous piece of wood.  Need to have some exceptions to the rule!
     To make a lidded box this is the easiest way.  The box is assembled with the top and bottom in place and then they are separated.  This can be done with either the bandsaw or the tablesaw with the tablesaw being my preferred tool to use.  The problem you can run into though is that as you're making the last cut, the kerf may close up and you end up with an uneven mating surface.  My technique is to make a full depth cut in the long sides of the box but then lower the blade so it only cuts a bit more than two thirds of the way through the short sides:

Close Up of Short Side Cut

By leaving that small amount of material on the short sides there's no risk of the lid and box closing in on itself leaving you with an uneven cut.  All that's left now is to take a flush cutting saw to complete it:

Separating Lid from Box

Which leaves you with a small piece of material that's easy to plane flush with the rest of the surface:

Just a bit of Planing

     At this point the brass hinges are soaking in some vinegar to age them, I've fashioned an interesting knob for the box and it's had it's first coat of Danish Oil.  This box will also have a sliding tray to double the storage room.

Pure Gum Turpentine vs. Turpenoid

     Unless you have a bit of scientific curiosity and like to experiment with different ways to finish wood, this blog may not be too interesting to you!  You've been warned but I'd encourage you to read on because I found this quite fascinating.  I'm scheduled to do a show this September at the Urban Ranch General Store which will be of a series of boxes I'm currently working on.  These will be original designs and be made from unique and exotic woods, you know me; it's all about the wood!
     Virtually every piece of furniture I've ever built is finished with Danish Oil which is followed with a three part mixture that has pure gum turpentine as its' solvent.  This is hand sanded/rubbed onto it.  Generally, a minimum of 4-6 applications of this concoction leaves a finish that is beyond compare.  This finish was demonstrated by Art Espenet Carpenter at San Francisco State University when I was there in the mid 70's.  I've shared it with many woodworkers and the beauty of it is that it's very easy to repair and leaves a luster on the wood that can be felt and seen.
     So, where's the experiment you ask.  Well, I decided to try to substitute the pure gum turpentine with a synthetic, deodorized replacement called Turpenoid.  I did some research on the web and most of it was based on artists usage but I found some interesting tidbits of information.  The most interesting had to do with artists noticing that the residue in the bottom of their jar of Turpenoid used for cleaning brushes appeared stringy, something not seen with pure gum turpentine. The reason I wanted to try the Turpenoid was because of the odor of pure turpentine (which I happen to love!) but some may find objectionable.
     I noticed a few things about the Turpenoid, first of all it didn't dry as quickly and it felt "soft" to the touch.  No matter how well I rubbed it out, the next day there would be rougher areas and evidence of shiny  spots where the finish oozed out of the wood and dried on the surface.  Here's what I found:

Turpenoid vs. Turpentine

     I use a pie tin to hold the mixture.  The difference in color is because the tin on the right has been used for many, many years.  The Turpenoid has only been used for a couple of coats.  Pie tins are used since it's easy to saturate wet/dry sandpaper in them to rub into the finish.  See the difference?  Here's a closer look, this is the traditional finish with pure gum turpentine.  Note how it's dried:

Pure Gum Turpentine

   
    Compare that to the Turpenoid, see how it's dried -- very wrinkled appearance:

Turpenoid

     I'm not a scientist but there is a definite difference and I'm supposing it has to do with how the solvent evaporates which effects the finish left behind.  The last test was similar to the Pepsi challenge.  I re-did one of the box lids with a single coat of the pure gum mix and had Diane do a blind folded "feel test".  In every instance she confirmed that the pure gum turpentine finish felt smoother than the Turpenoid one.  Scientific or not it proved that Turpenoid is an inferior solvent and it will no longer be used on my work!

   

   Hope I didn't lose too many of my followers!

Walnut Shelf Photo

Finished & Installed

    For those of you that were asking about the elliptical shelf I was commissioned to make here's a photo of it.  Looks pretty sharp if I do say so myself!  Started out as a couple of rough, 8/4 pieces of Walnut and this is what we ended up with.  Don't know who the designer was but personally I really like how the long, glass tile mimics the long sweep of the shelf.
    Here's yet another photo that shows how tall this glass tile, curved wall is.  When you figure an outlet is usually placed 12"-16" from the floor it makes it a pretty tall wall!  I believe it's the back of a staircase but not 100% sure.