First Project - Mirror

[marvt74]

Hi All

I’m new to woodwork but after my wife saw a mirror in a local shop which to me seemed expensive I decided to have a bash of making it myself. It was a fairly large mirror with a lattice pattern across it to break up the mirror into sections. I went to the local woodyard and bought wood for the frame, the internal lattice and some plywood for the backing panel. Along with some mirror tiles (after failing to buy a large mirror sheet.

The initial plan was to be quite simple. Stick the mirror tiles (4x3 30cm tiles) to the plywood. Cut out a frame to go around the outside and then cut 2 long lengths to cover the horizontal lines and then 9 short 30cm batons to cover the vertical edges.

That was in August 2014. Since then I’d used the plywood as a base for the floor in the bathroom and some of the wood had gone rotten having been in the coalshed for 12 months.

Fast forward to now and I decided to finally to crack on with this having been promising it for so long. My plans expanded to try and be a little more technical and not just rely on butt joins for everything. I went out and did what any man does when they decide on a new plan. Bought a new workbench, circular saw and router. Along with some decent chisels! Admittedly the workbench has been needed for quite some time having used our outside round table for the last 3 years!

The plan now was the use the router to cut a groove into the outer frame for the mirror tiles to sit behind to give a slightly more finished look. Use half lap joints for the corners and then centre lap joints to interlock the lattice pieces which will run the entire horizontal and vertical length of the mirror. Whilst also doing a kind of Mortice/Tenon joint for them to fit into the frame.

Grooves cut into the frame with the router (first time using one and I’m impressed). Along with the holes chiselled for the cross sections.

Pretty decent fit for the most part

The corned lap joints are quite poor and can definitely tell that it was my first experience of using a chisel for something more delicate than pilling tiles off a wall! I noticed a big improvement as the build went on though and wish I’ve practised more on scrap wood. Think these will need quite a bit of filler/sanding.

Starting to take shape

The cross section lap joints. The majority are a really nice tight fit and I’m happy that it all fits nicely together as I’m usually a measure once, cut once, throw away and start again kind of bloke!

However this one isn’t great. Just went too wide with the hold. Any tips for the best way to repair this?

This then leads us up to where I’m at at the moment.

The plan is to glue the cross sections together and then glue the corner beams. Once the glue is set I’ll screw in from the back to just help hold it together. Once the outer/inner frame is all together. The plan is to paint it. Once done I’ll then fit it over the backing board and attach using some triangle shape brackets in each corner which will hold the board in place (I hope). I may even get a thin metal strip to brace horizontally across the back. I had thought about cutting a word into the top piece of wood but can’t decide if I actually want to do this or not.

Any opinions or suggestions for what/how I can improve?

My other concern is fixing this to the wall. It’s going to end up being pretty damn heavy so I’m not sure just some screws/string are going to do the job. Any ideas?

 

[NickWelford]

You might well find it easier to fill and paint before assembly.
You can get various kinds of mirror hanging brackets/plates for hanging heavy mirrors or pictures. Not expensive.

 

[paulrockliffe]

Great job, well done!

With your lap joints, they'd have come out perfect if you'd used your router for them rather than the chisels. I have a t-square and a spacer made for a 12" cutter, spacer on the line, t-square clamped at the other end of the spacer and then run the router through for a perfectly square edge in exactly the right place.

If you really wanted perfection you could leave the ends of the laps long and trim back with a trim-cutter on the router, but I wouldn't normally aim for that level of precision.

It's not clear from your pictures how loose the edges are, but they do look better (in my opinion anyway) if you chamfer the inner edge of the frames with your router. That might well fix a few of the problem joints a bit, though you might need to let a small piece in first on soem fo them.

The biggest gap pictured I would probably redo the problem bit of wood.

Top tip with mirror projects; keep an eye on Gumtree in the Freebies section for opportunites for free mirrors; I have a 1m x 1.4m piece in the shed that I'll be framing up with off-cuts eventually. I reckon you could pay for a few decent tools each year by collecting cheap or free glass and buildign it into something nice again and putting it back on Gumtree. If I ever have the time.....

 

[marvt74]

Cheers Paul,

I agree about the lap joints. I did those before I bought the router, although it's something i'll utilize in future.

Good tip on the chamfering, i'll give it a go if I get chance.

 

[Adam9453]

looks like a nice result for your first attempt. I have the same attitude as you when I look in shops or on websites and see things I can make relatively easily and for much less cost. Dare I say it but most of the time it also ends up being better built as I use the best materials I can afford which is not what you often get when buying ready made.

Edit: I also meant to say I probably would have made it from MDF as its to be painted anyway. I would probably have cheated and made the cross beams by using two thinner pieces of MDF to make up the thickness of them. That way to create the joins you just cut some short to leave the gap and the other pieces run straight through. The piece behind supports the face pieces and as they're non structural it wouldn't need any real strength.

 

[Paul200]

From little acorns .......

Exactly how I started making wood smaller (as my wife describes my workshop efforts). See something at a rip-off price and decide to make one - only better! Good for you.

I would remake the piece with the bad joint though.

Cheers

Paul