bril
New member
Hello fellow woodworkers!
I'm new around here, although I've been reading your excellent forum for a while.
In fact I've been a 'virtual woodworker' for several years, by way of subscriptions to Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking... well-thumbed copies of the Workbench Book, The Seven Essentials of Woodworking, Thos Moser's How to build Shaker Furniture, Christian Becksvoort's The Shaker Legacy... and of course regularly reading this forum.
But now, thanks to a small inheritance from my Mum spent on tools, and my final reluctant acceptance of retirement, I've got started!
My first project is this workshop cabinet, based on a 'Shaker Tinware Cupboard' article by Christian Becksvoort downloaded from the FW website, and intended as a practice run at using my new tools.
I've learned a lot from this project, but I'd still appreciate some feedback on these (sorry) long and complicated topics:
1. Because this was a 'practice' project, I decided to use 15 mm birch plywood for the case, and 19 mm solid wood for the face frames. I couldn't find solid birch for the face frames to match the plywood anywhere, so I bought PAR beech from British Hardwoods. I personally don't like the contrasting colour of beech and birch, but ironically that's the thing most of my friends first admire. Perhaps I should have used maple instead of beech for the face frames?
2. I don't have a planer/thicknesser, band-saw or hand planes, so I wonder how I'd do similar projects in future with solid wood throughout. The 'small order-friendly' wood merchants I have found on the internet (BH and South London Hardwoods) only seem to offer 19 mm thick PAR hardwoods. Should I buy a thicknesser, and knock this 19 mm PAR down to 16 mm, or would it be best to get a planer/thicknesser and start to buy sawn stock? I don't have much room, and I'm not keen on all the noise and dust from either of these, but I've assumed that hand planing the stock for a project of this size would be beyond both my skills and patience.
3. If in future I go down the thicknesser route using PAR stock, I noticed a glowing review for a US-only DeWalt DW735 thicknesser at http://www.popularwoodworking.com/features/planers.0204.pdf, which includes an integral dust blower that eliminates the need for a dust collector. (I do have a vacuum set-up with my Festool CS70 table saw and power tools, but I've barely got room for a thicknesser, further less a large dust collector). This interesting US site http://www.maxtool.co.uk/index/dw_Planers.asp offers UK shipping on the DW735, along with a 'UK 230v to 115v Step Down Transformer'. Is this an OK solution?
4. I'm about to finish the cupboard with Danish oil. But I read that it's better to use shellac on the inside of cabinets to avoid lingering solvent smells. So I bought some, ready mixed in a bottle. Then I remembered I want to protect the shelves from spillages, and that shellac is poor protection for water stains. Should I revert to Danish oil for the inside, or is there something better? Maybe milk paint -- would this work as a translucent wash?
5. My final confession is that I used a biscuit joiner for all the joints on this project. I did this because it's a practice run, and I learned that even a biscuit jointer needs care and experience to use accurately. (I didn't check for grit and shavings beneath the base plate, and had to fill and re-cut several slots.) So my final question is: would it be wrong to keep on using a biscuit joiner instead of 'proper' joints on future projects? My biscuit joints seem strong and invisible now, but how well will they last?
Thanks for all the information and inspiration I've already gleaned from this forum, and thanks (hopefully) in advance for your feedback!
Brian L
I'm new around here, although I've been reading your excellent forum for a while.
In fact I've been a 'virtual woodworker' for several years, by way of subscriptions to Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking... well-thumbed copies of the Workbench Book, The Seven Essentials of Woodworking, Thos Moser's How to build Shaker Furniture, Christian Becksvoort's The Shaker Legacy... and of course regularly reading this forum.
But now, thanks to a small inheritance from my Mum spent on tools, and my final reluctant acceptance of retirement, I've got started!
My first project is this workshop cabinet, based on a 'Shaker Tinware Cupboard' article by Christian Becksvoort downloaded from the FW website, and intended as a practice run at using my new tools.
I've learned a lot from this project, but I'd still appreciate some feedback on these (sorry) long and complicated topics:
1. Because this was a 'practice' project, I decided to use 15 mm birch plywood for the case, and 19 mm solid wood for the face frames. I couldn't find solid birch for the face frames to match the plywood anywhere, so I bought PAR beech from British Hardwoods. I personally don't like the contrasting colour of beech and birch, but ironically that's the thing most of my friends first admire. Perhaps I should have used maple instead of beech for the face frames?
2. I don't have a planer/thicknesser, band-saw or hand planes, so I wonder how I'd do similar projects in future with solid wood throughout. The 'small order-friendly' wood merchants I have found on the internet (BH and South London Hardwoods) only seem to offer 19 mm thick PAR hardwoods. Should I buy a thicknesser, and knock this 19 mm PAR down to 16 mm, or would it be best to get a planer/thicknesser and start to buy sawn stock? I don't have much room, and I'm not keen on all the noise and dust from either of these, but I've assumed that hand planing the stock for a project of this size would be beyond both my skills and patience.
3. If in future I go down the thicknesser route using PAR stock, I noticed a glowing review for a US-only DeWalt DW735 thicknesser at http://www.popularwoodworking.com/features/planers.0204.pdf, which includes an integral dust blower that eliminates the need for a dust collector. (I do have a vacuum set-up with my Festool CS70 table saw and power tools, but I've barely got room for a thicknesser, further less a large dust collector). This interesting US site http://www.maxtool.co.uk/index/dw_Planers.asp offers UK shipping on the DW735, along with a 'UK 230v to 115v Step Down Transformer'. Is this an OK solution?
4. I'm about to finish the cupboard with Danish oil. But I read that it's better to use shellac on the inside of cabinets to avoid lingering solvent smells. So I bought some, ready mixed in a bottle. Then I remembered I want to protect the shelves from spillages, and that shellac is poor protection for water stains. Should I revert to Danish oil for the inside, or is there something better? Maybe milk paint -- would this work as a translucent wash?
5. My final confession is that I used a biscuit joiner for all the joints on this project. I did this because it's a practice run, and I learned that even a biscuit jointer needs care and experience to use accurately. (I didn't check for grit and shavings beneath the base plate, and had to fill and re-cut several slots.) So my final question is: would it be wrong to keep on using a biscuit joiner instead of 'proper' joints on future projects? My biscuit joints seem strong and invisible now, but how well will they last?
Thanks for all the information and inspiration I've already gleaned from this forum, and thanks (hopefully) in advance for your feedback!
Brian L