LancsRick
Established Member
I've done a fair bit of woodwork over the years, but I'd class pretty much everything I've done as either a) building related, or b) turning. I've never really done what I'd consider "proper" joinery.
Since I needed a small set of shelves for my study, I thought I'd change that. In short, I pulled together some white oak shelves, with a number of joinery techniques that were totally unnecessary but were good practice for me. Comments more than welcome, photos and thoughts below...
http://imgur.com/a/KfICu
> Made from American White Oak, planed down to 15mm
> Finished with sanding sealer and microcrystalline wax.
> Corners are dovetails done in a jig
> Little shelf on the top right is a half blind dovetail, all other joints are butt joints.
> Sliding stand on the bottom was an afterthought
- I didn't notice until partway through that my RAS was about 1mm off true over the length of its travel. There's therefore filling present. Really annoying, but hey, this was to learn.
- My attempt at using woodglue + oak dust/shavings looks horrible. Need to come up with a better solution for the future (the best solution of course being not to need it in the first place!)
- Sliding dovetails are really hard to get right. Practice required.
- The verticals for the sliding stand are blind mortise and tenons. I chain-drilled the base because it was too small for me to use my router. I need to make a jig for routing small pieces so they can be held.
- My hand planing got better by the end, but to start with my technique wasn't great and I had the blade set too deeply. Blade marks are evident if you look closer.
- My workshop is small and crowded. Numerous "dings" added to the piece just down to moving it in a cramped environment. Maybe I should claim that it's a deliberate aging effect?
+ On the plus side, everything is plumb square!
+ I've kept decent edges on the planks, as numerous scratches on my hands will testify to
+ I had fun!
Since I needed a small set of shelves for my study, I thought I'd change that. In short, I pulled together some white oak shelves, with a number of joinery techniques that were totally unnecessary but were good practice for me. Comments more than welcome, photos and thoughts below...
http://imgur.com/a/KfICu
> Made from American White Oak, planed down to 15mm
> Finished with sanding sealer and microcrystalline wax.
> Corners are dovetails done in a jig
> Little shelf on the top right is a half blind dovetail, all other joints are butt joints.
> Sliding stand on the bottom was an afterthought
- I didn't notice until partway through that my RAS was about 1mm off true over the length of its travel. There's therefore filling present. Really annoying, but hey, this was to learn.
- My attempt at using woodglue + oak dust/shavings looks horrible. Need to come up with a better solution for the future (the best solution of course being not to need it in the first place!)
- Sliding dovetails are really hard to get right. Practice required.
- The verticals for the sliding stand are blind mortise and tenons. I chain-drilled the base because it was too small for me to use my router. I need to make a jig for routing small pieces so they can be held.
- My hand planing got better by the end, but to start with my technique wasn't great and I had the blade set too deeply. Blade marks are evident if you look closer.
- My workshop is small and crowded. Numerous "dings" added to the piece just down to moving it in a cramped environment. Maybe I should claim that it's a deliberate aging effect?
+ On the plus side, everything is plumb square!
+ I've kept decent edges on the planks, as numerous scratches on my hands will testify to
+ I had fun!
