Competition 063/01 AndyG - Cutlery Canteen

[Newbie_Neil]

The project is a cutlery canteen. So, the storage part is covered. As for the curve, well, I've gone through a whole bunch of ideas, but haven't really settled on anything.
Here are the pictures so far, hopefully they'll get a bit more interesting as the project goes on!!

Here's the timber, the longer planks are European Oak. They've been resawn and thicknessed. The other piece on top is American (I think) Cherry.

A bit further on down the line. Here are the frame pieces roughly cut to size. You can just make out my trusty retrofitted workmate underneath. Hopefully after this project, I'll get around to finally building my bench!!

These two should make the general idea a bit clearer. The cherry is used for the frame, and the oak will be used as panels in between.

That's it so far. I'm currently just getting all the bits of frame planed to size. Then the more interesting joinery should start.

Andy

 

[Newbie_Neil]

It seems I've spent forever planing all the bits of frame to size. Anyway, I thought it was time for a bit of a progress update.

Here are the frame pieces all planed to the right thickness and width.

The next stage was to rout the channels for the oak panels. Here are the frame pieces all routed up. A very noisy task, and possibly costly, but more on that in a bit.

Here's another view of the frame pieces to attempt to show how it all fits together. The pieces are arranged upside down, not sure why, brain must have been off at that point. The pieces from the top are; the bottom rail, with grove to hold the outer panel, the center rail with the grove to hold the inner panel, and finally the top rail with the grove to hold the outer panel and the inner panel. Not massively clear I'm sure, but hopefully as the project unfolds things will start to make sense.

The routing was done using my trusty router table. Not the most glamorous bits of kit. I made this ages ago and despite it's rather shabby appearance, it works really well. If it works, why fix it...
However, I think my poor router is coming to the end of its life. It was making noises a router really shouldn't make. I think the bearings might have seized up. Hopefully that's all it is. It's not a particularly powerful unit and probably does quite well putting up with the jobs I ask of it. But, I think an upgrade is on the horizon

Andy

 

[Newbie_Neil]

After getting a few more garage hours in this weekend, I've moved my competition entry on a few more steps. Here's the current state of affairs

Here are the mitres all cut. The inner two pieces are for the top frame, the outer two, the lower frame.

Although once the uprights are finished they will add strength to the mitre joints (you'll have to wait and see for that one!) I was still a little unhappy about just butt joining the mitre. So to strengthen the joint I added a couple of false tongues. The group on the right just show the groves, whereas the two pieces on the left show where the tongues fit in. (Or is it more of a mortice and tennon...:?)

Here are the two frames. One on top of the other glueing up on the kitchen table. The garage is still too cold and after all the information in this thread, I thought I'd go for the safer option.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Well, things are starting to come together a bit more now. This project has seemed to be just a collection of random bits for quite a while!!
Below are some pictures of how the two frames will join with the uprights, and how together, they will hold the panels.

This is a picture of the corner, showing the front panel in place. The top of the upright is still to have the joint cut, thus why it looks a bit long.

This second picture shows the joint that connects the frame to the upright. The tennon-type bits aren't quite as long as I'd hoped (I didn't think about it until the frames were glued up) But hopefully the joint will still be strong enough once glued.

I managed to photograph one of the least well fitting mitres!! But I'm hoping once everything is cleaned up and finished, it wont notice as much (fingers crossed).
Hopefully, this weekend I'll get all the uprights finished and I'll be able to get the box all glued together.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Nothing like a bit of pressure to focus the mind. Well done those who've finished.
Sneaked in an hour and a half in that garage this evening so have moved things along a little further.

First of all, in all of the following pictures, the box is upside down. This one below shows the inner and outer panels. The rail in the centre (with the X on) will support the base that will make up the tray in the top of the box.

This evening, despite not having finished cutting the joints in the uprights, I thought I'd get some of the side panels finished. This 2nd picture shows the inner and outer frames locked into one of the corner uprights. The big gap is for the tray rail (the bit that had the X on).

This photo is just to show the gap between the two panels.

I only realised after I got these picture into the computer that I forgot to take one of a whole panel. 'fraid it's a bit cold now to go back out to the garage.
After 3 busy weekends, I'm planning some project time this weekend. So more pictures soon...

 

[Newbie_Neil]

My plan for the weekend was to get the main structure of the canteen all together. Well, plans are never a good idea So, I'm afraid it's all still a pile of bits. But, I promise it'll start to look like something soon, no really....

Anyway, I made a start on the drawer that sits in the bottom half of the unit. To try and improve the look of the drawer, the front is cut straight from the front panel. To do this I routed the majority of the front drawer panel out.

Here is a close up of the routed groves. I then released the piece by sawing into the corners.

Here is the drawer cut out and cleaned up. I've also cut some beading to go around the front (this will fil the gap). This is in cherry so it'll tie in with the frame timber.

This was a really nerve racking operation. Luckily it all went OK apart from one bit where the timber moved slightly in the wrong direction when on the router table. Luckily it cut into the drawer front piece, so I planed it slightly thinner and made the beading a bit thicker.

The drawer sides and back are cut, but are still awaiting joinery. Better get the joinery books out. I think I was at school when I last cut dovetails.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

I finally got all the pieces of the main frame finished last night So this is the first time that the bulk of the canteen has all been put together. Hopefully, the following pictures will make things a bit clearer than before

Here is the front of the unit, showing the gap where the drawer will be...

This is looking into the top. The plan is that this will contain a removable tray to hold the cutlery. I think the tray will have to wait for another project.

This is a close up of one of the top corners, it shows how the inner pannels connect up.

Here are some pictures with the canteen upside-down. This is the space where the drawer will sit.

The same view but with the frame removed to show the joinery

Also an upside-down view, this time with one of the panels removed too.

Luckily everything seems to be going along quite well so far. I hope to get this all glued together quite soon. Then, at the weekend I can finish the drawer, and make the top.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

This evening I made a start on the canteen's drawer. To attach the drawer sides to the front I've used (reaching for the joinery book) a half-blind dado rebate... apparently
All the cutting was done on my trusty router table. This makes keeping the accuracy a lot easier. Here's the process I went through.

Here are the side pieces, with the ends squared.

Next I cut a rebate into the sides that will take the beading pieces that will eventually surround the whole drawer front. Left, without the beading, right, with.

Next I cut the groove (or is it a dado) that will accept the front piece. This is the sides sorted.

Next a channel needed cutting in the front piece. This is to accept the locking part from the side pieces.

This shows a side (left piece) connecting with the front (right piece). The end of the side pieces can be trimmed down on a shooting board so that it will fit into the front.

The last job is to trim down the rear lip on the front piece so that the front will connect with the side.

The advantage of doing this on the router table is you can do both corners at once. Just got to hope I don't make a mess of the other end of the sides pieces now

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hope no one minds more pictures. I think I might have got a bit carried away the WIP photo thing.
Just thought I'd post a quick picture of the two drawer joints.
I've used dovetails for the rear drawer corners. I thought I'd better put some completely hand made joinery in seeing as most of the others have involved a router! I marked them out at 1:9 thinking this was the correct ratio for hardwood. It wasn't till I checked the books that this might be a bit steep. They seem to hold OK though. They'll be planed flush after they've been glued up.

This is the front corner again, it shows a bit more clearly how the beading will fit around the front piece.

On to the coopered top tomorrow :?

 

[Newbie_Neil]

A few more highlights from the weekends work. This first picture shows the drawer slides and how they fit into the main frame.

Last night was the first big glue up. Apart from a few moments requiring a large mallet, it went OK.

This is as far as I've got with the coopered top Going to be a few busy evenings before Friday!!!

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Here are the last set of WIP photos...

The final part was getting the lid made. The original plan was to do a coopered top. Well, after some thought I decided on a slight adaptation on this. Rather than angle all the pieces, I decided to use a staircase like construction, then round off the top part. The image below shows the plan. The blue parts are the oak strips that make up the top, the grey horizontal bit is the top of the main box, the pink shows the final curve, the yellow bit is a ply that hides the underside of the curve. Oh, and those little yellow rectangles (over grey bits) are the strips to strengthen the joints.

And after some gluing and a lot of planing here is the real thing.

And a close up of the curve. Amazingly, the curved part matches the initial plan quite closely.

So that the style of the lid more closely matched the rest of the unit, I wanted to frame it. The picture below shows the lid with the frame sides pieces in place.

This one shows the underside panels.

After all that, here's the glue up.

Once glued, I needed to plane the frame edges flush with the curve. This turned out to be quite an operation, there was plenty of
wood to remove.

Here's the lid all planed flush

Last job, giving everything it's first coat of oil.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hurrah, all done!! Thought I'd leave it to the last minute. It was planned that way, no really, honest

These are the pictures of the final cutlery canteen. The full story, with all the extra photos, can be found here.

I've really enjoyed this project. It's taken a long time, but I've learnt a great deal on the way. The project has been full of firsts. For starters, I'd been looking for an excuse to do some real panelling for ages and the canteen gave me a chance to give it a go. Really pleased with how it worked out. Certainly a technique I'll use again.

Another first, I'd not used Cherry before either. It's an amazing timber to work, and would really recommend it to anyone. The only possible problem is the little pockets of black resin you can get. These can be a pain if they appear right on a joint.

The requirement for a curve threw up some real headaches. When I've got more time I think I'll give real coopering a go, but I'm happy with the staircase solution. It's certainly easier working with the pieces all in the same plane.

I'm ashamed to say this project required the first dovetails I've cut since I was at school. They were certainly a test of my rather dodgy sawing, but they came out OK in the end. Think it's time for a proper dovetail saw though

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Links to the competition entries: -

For the Next, Previous or Voting.

Cutlery Canteen from AndyG.

Chisel Cabinet from Dedee.

Bowfront Chest of Drawers from Johnboy.

Small Bowfront Cabinet from Jorden.

Pew Seat with Storage from Offcut.

Mirror with Secret storage from Steve Maskery.

Poker Chip Box from Stewart. (Information Only)

Lacewood Veneered Box from StevieB.

Scalectrix Chest from Syntec4.

Cherry Cabinet from Waka.