Finished-Couple of things from this weekend. *BIG Pictures*

[syntec4]

Hi all,
managed to get another few hours in the workshop this weekend. Not finihsed anything but nothing major left to do These are all for Christmas presents so a need to get them done!

First up is a another set of drawers, this time for my sons room. Similar to the last set construction wise, although this set are taller and narrower



Second is a Jewellery box with coopered lid in Sycamore and Mahogany. Made a former for this one to make the gluing of the top easier. Worked out ok, its only small , about 8"x6" and manged to get the gaps pretty tight.

Another box in Mahogany this time. Still need to finish the top on this one and install some tiny brass hinges. Not given the finish much thought yet.

next a step stool for the kids to be able to wash hands at the sink and for SWMBO to reach the wall cupboards without standing on a chair.

Lastly, I aquired some BIG slabs of Teak that used to be a bar in the Midland Hotel in Manchester. They are 2" thick and 2' wide. I have started to make a coffee table for the lounge out of them. One side is in pretty rough shape. I have taken a bit off with my #4 1/2 and smoothed off with a cabinet scraper. B*&^y hard work, but it's going to be worth it.

You can see the slabs on the bench.

After the scrape they come up very nice.

Thats it for now. Sorry for the huge post

Lee.

 

[Gill]

Great piccies, Lee .

As you might guess, the boxes are my favourites but I like the other projects too. Thanks for showing them to us.

Gill

 

[Philly]

Nice work Lee! You've been a busy boy =D>
regards
Philly

 

[syntec4]

Cheers Gill and Philly,

Workshop time is limited and precious! Especially at this time of year. So when I get chance I have to make the most of it!

lee.

 

[Johnboy]

Good stuff Lee, you have been busy. I especially like the boxes.

John

 

[PowerTool]

All very nice,Lee - hope you get them all finished in time [-o<

The mahogany box is my favourite;think I would just wax it (if I could make one that looked as nice.)

Andrew

 

[wrightclan]

Nice.

Keep it up. I'm sure all recipients will appreciate them.

Brad

 

[Good Surname or what ?]

At first I thought you'd made them all this weekend :shock:

But still, very productive! And very nice!

 

[syntec4]

At first I thought you'd made them all this weekend :shock:

But still, very productive! And very nice!

I did. ALthough I started the Drawers during the week. And the coffee table is not really that far on. It is not a priority as the other things are all for christmas presents.

Thanks for looking.

Lee.

 

[woodbloke]

Lee- all good projects. Hope the coffee table works out well, the teak looks good - one of my favourite timbers but a little hard on edge tools as you've probably found - Rob

 

[Gary H]

Lovely job Lee! 8) I'm after making a jewellery box myself for TPTB (only about 4 years late so far!! ). Some nice ideas there....

The Midland Hotel? It ain't shut down has it? Been there for years that place.
Or is it just a refit?

Gary

 

[syntec4]

The Midland Hotel? It ain't shut down has it? Been there for years that place.
Or is it just a refit?

Gary

Just a refit. A neighbor is doing the new Bars. He lets me have anything interesting that he removes

Lee.

 

[syntec4]

Managed to get some more done on the drawers today.

I have fitted the top using two battens and elongated holes to allow for some expansion.

I had some problems adding the thin strip of veneer to cover the edges of the ply. I was worried about planing through the face of the ply whilst trimming the piece to width. How do you guys do this? I thought about using a router but it wouldn't have anywhere stable to run on. I did it in the end using a lot of block plane/sanding work.

Got all the parts for the drawers cut and routed. Just need to change the bit to a 6mm straight cutter to cut the dado for the ply drawer bases.
I also need to get a finer blade and/or a new saw as I was getting some terrible break-out cross cutting with this ply. I ended up scoring it all with a marking knife before cutting it to try to reduce the problem. I have plans to get a new saw in January so not sure its worth investing in anything for this saw.

Using the newly installed dust collection system on the outfeed/assembly table means I have a connection on each side of the table. This is handy as we now only have a short piece of tube from the portable machines or sanders. You can see the router table plugged into it here. Basically we ran some 40mm waste pipe from the vacuum which sits behind the table saw to each side of the table. I simply unplug the stop end from the connection I want to use and plug in the sander, router, router table or whatever. I also have a 4 way on each side of the table as well now which have there own RCD for plugging the tool. It means I don't have any cables or pipes to fall over.

Should get these drawers done by weekend hopefully. thanks for looking.

Lee.

 

[DaveL]

Lee,

Cutting ply is often an problem, on panel saws they often fit a scoring blade to just cut the surface before the main blade cuts the sheet.
Using a sharpe (new) blade helps, making a scoring cut by lowering the blade and then raising the blade and cutting the sheet may solve your problem. Something that can help is a strip of masking tape along the cut, carefully remove once you have made the cut.

Good looking draws, how are you going to finish them?

 

[syntec4]

Thanks for the Tips Dave. They all seem very logical, I had not really used much ply before.

The finish will be the same technique I used on the slightly bigger set I made for my daughters room a few weeks ago. Simply a few coats of Liberon 'White Polish rubbed on. It's very forgiving for a newbie to apply and mistakes are easily rectified.



Thanks for the help
Lee.

 

[Shultzy]

Quote
"I had some problems adding the thin strip of veneer to cover the edges of the ply. I was worried about planing through the face of the ply whilst trimming the piece to width."

This only works if the grain of the veneer runs parallel to or DOWN into the plywood. I always make sure this is the case before I glue the veneers on.

Lay the board down over the edge of the bench, with the veneer on your right (assuming you are right handed). Using a new stanley blade and pulling the blade toward you, carefully cut down into the veneer at a shallow angle until you come to the plywood. Continue to pull the blade toward you keeping the bevel pressed onto the plywood. This should remove most of the veneer, the remaining can be cleaned with sanding. Repeat for the other side.

 

[Matt1245]

You got some good work going on down there lee.

Wish i could work as fast as you

Matt.

 

[syntec4]

Thanks Shultzy I'll try that and the other suggestions on the next lot.

The Drawers are now finished.
I ended up using button Polish As I couldn't find any white Polish locally. Still its not much darker and still looks nice.

I was expecting this morning to just go and install the handles, glue in the drawer depth stops and Cut/install the ply back. I had one of them mornings where everything was fighting me. Firstly the handles are supplied with screws which were not long enough to go through the fronts. I ended up doing deep countersinks with a forstner bit from the inside. I made up a quick jig but it still took ages. Then I managed to put a screw through the drawer front as I grabbed the wrong screw length from the box :evil: This was one of the screws that hold the front onto the drawer box. I used Hot Glue to stick them in place, then drilled the holes, removed the glue and put the screws in. One pocked right out through the front. I managed to hide it with a small shaving stuck in the hole and covered it with shellac. I know it's there,but it just looks like a tiny knot now. Top drawer in case you a looking for it!

The depth stops are just a small piece of offcut superglued in place then a screw through for good measure.

The other items are all one now as well. I'll post some more pictures later.
If you're not bored already there are some more pictures on my website
Cheers
Lee.

 

[PowerTool]

If you're not bored already there are some more pictures on my website
Cheers

We never get bored of seeing great pieces of work

Drawers look excellent - fantastic job!

Andrew