WIP Comp entry Sideboard Thingy

[Dave D]

Thanks for the nice comments.

To answer the questions from PaulO I have not had any planing problems.
Rapula lacewood is a funny timber. Very hard and brittle. If I pick up a rough board without gloves I get a handful of splinters yet when planed it is beautifully smooth.
The photo shows wood straight from the planer.

Final hand planing is with a BU plane with a 52 degree cutting angle leaving a polished finish which does not need sanding. I try to avoid sanding on suitable timbers after reading James Krenov.

Very sharp blades of course.

Maybe I have been lucky with my batch. Yandles of Martock have tons of the stuff so I was able to pick and choose carefully.

I also liked the look of the gaps between the boxes on Sketchup but that idea was squashed by a combination of Cabinet Makers Droop* and Arachnophobia.

The droop was apparent when I hung the first box as it could move up and down with pressure despite being clamped to the rail so boxes would not keep in alignment with varying contents.

The real killer though came from Herself who said "You are not having those gaps! They will be filled with cobwebs and spiders in minutes."

* Cabinet Makers Droop is like Brewers Droop with meths instead of beer.

 

[Dave D]

Things have been a bit slow on the WIP front lately since I have been having a go at turning.

What do you think?

:^o :^o :^o

Actually the pot was the only thing that my wife and I bought at Westonbirt.
Sorry for the gloat but we thought that it was the most amazing piece of turning that we had ever seen and it is just the right size to sit upon the sideboard thingy when it is finished.

The actual turning was done by Frans Brown from a solid piece of monkey puzzle tree.


Now for the real reason for the slowdown. I have made a BIG mistake by not buying enough birds eye maple from Yandles for the whole project at the start.

They had such a lot of it at the time that I thought that this was normal and that I could go back anytime for more.

It turns out that this wood was exceptional even for them and the guys at Yandles, helpful though they are, can't guarantee to find any more as nice as this

Is there an emoticon for me kicking myself?
I suppose this will do
](*,)

Now for the plea for help. Has anyone any suggestions for another supplier of birds eye maple?

Alternatively do you think that I could get away with veneering birds eye on to solid pain maple?

 

[OPJ]

Yandles is normally the first place that comes to mind when I think of bird's eye maple. You could try Oscar Windebank. I was down there a couple of weeks ago and they stock maple. I don't recall seeing bird's eye but it may be worth a shot.

Robbins in Bristol also stock maple but, again, I can't guarantee they'd have the bird's eye variety.

Veneering solid timber with slices of another seems odd to me... In that situation, you may as well buy veneered MDF and lip the edges, saving the other maple for another job.

 

[Dave D]

First may I congratulate the winners and also those who finished in time.
I am afraid that I belong to the overly optimistic brigade as it is still not finished, but being modular, at least I have made enough for it to be useable.

Now that I have made three cupboards and one drawer box I think that I have solved all the problems so potentially progress could be quicker except that I have to stop in order to make a Christmas present for my grandson.
Now that will HAVE to be finished on time.

Progress so far.

Inside the cupboard

The drawers

The drawer fronts are fitted with brass inserts in keyhole slots

Cedar bottomed draws smell fantastic.

BTW my birds eye maple shortage was fixed by a diversion to John Boddy's on my way back from a holiday in Scotland.
They have tons of the stuff, much cheaper than my usual source because it is just piled up in the warehouse with no planed face to view but the guys there were very helpful with their fork lift and at their prices I could afford to get a bit extra in case.
When I got it home and put it through the planer it all looked wonderful.
I feel a couple of jewellry boxes coming on.