looking good, HMonkey, looking good.

Here you go. Sorry I didn't get it to you until the next morning. :)

Oh, ok. you're talking about end grain vs flat grain.
I thought you meant both pieces had to have the grain running parallel rather than across the other. My bad.:blush:

Hmm. You were right the first time - I was talking about the grain running parallel rather than across the other. I guess I didn't read that article closely enough. I haven't found any article to support it, though, so maybe it's not true. One possibility is that the expansion and contraction in different directions could hurt the joint, but that'a certainly not an issue at the size of my blocks.

Maybe I just wasted a bit of effort. Oh, well.

We put the foot up against the blocks, then stuck a pencil through the holes, to mark it. Then we drilled the holes and sunk some threaded inserts, as with the back.

Here it is attached.

Back to the shelf peg holes. Once I used the jig to put holes up and down each side, I put two brass inserts halfway into two holes, and propped the jig against them. I then marked the approximate location of the hole through the jig.

With another brass insert on the opposite side, I laid a ruler between them, and marked the top...

...and bottom.

Using those markings, and the original two brass inserts, I clamped down the jig, and drilled eight holes down the middle.

So here are the uprights, with the holes drilled. The middle row of holes are for a half shelf at the top, to make a tiered place for paperbacks.

Here is the middle foot. From the last picture, tongues on the bottom of the middle upright go through slots in the bottom board. The two boards on this foot clamp around each side of the tongues, and the bolts go through the holes, to pull it tight. These bolts are obviously too long. I need to get some shorter ones.

Curses!
On my first board, I was not using the drilling jig properly, and there was some drift. By some, I mean a lot. So I had to fill in and redrill the holes. Luckily, when I put the brass sleeves in, they will cover up most of the evidence.

Anyway, to start off, I put masking tape over the rows of holes at the point where things started going wrong, and then cut out the holes with an exacto knife. This was to prevent glue from getting onto the good surface, and preventing the oil (later) from soaking in.

Next, I cut a ton of pegs from some dowels we had lying about. To get the length, I drilled some holes in a scrap board, stuck the dowels in, and cut them off with a scroll saw.

With the pegs cut, I put glue in the holes and pushed the pegs down into the holes with a pencil.

Once the glue had gotten very tacky (but not dry), I pulled the tape up over the pegs. This way, the glue doesn't dry with the tape stuck under it.

Also in this picture, you can see the scrap wood I used to test this technique.

The next day, I cut the tops of the dowels off, and my dad smoothed the cuts over with a chisel.

This saw blade had too much of a kerf (the teeth pointed slightly outwards perpendicular to the blade), so I put a few layers of masking tape on one side to prevent scratching.

Once that was done, my dad resanded it, and I redrilled the holes. Today we oiled all of the pieces. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. I'll put some pictures up later.

NOTICE
 

Impending woodshop project alert!

I have been contacted by a person wanting me to build them a full-fledged casket (to their plans) to become a display item in their yet to be completed purchase hearse. :eek:

Should their deal go through, I will get the order to build.

Should I get the order to build, I will start a thread so that you may monitor the progress and see the finished product.

Whee! Company!

As promised, here are the oiled pieces, after drying for a couple days.

Time to insert the inserts. Just stick 'em in, and whack 'em down with a mallet.

edit: This shows the worst of the dowel-refill/redrill board, so you can see the final result. The bad bits are in back, so they won't be very visible at all.

Here's a contrast of the oiled sides with inserts to an older picture.

Next is the plywood backing. The face is extremely thin and prone to chipping, so I've been masking it off with masking tape, and putting a thin layer of glue around the edge. Next, we will put stiffening wood strips on the back. On its own, eighth-inch plywood doesn't feel much sturdier than the cardboard on cheap Best Buy entertainment centers.

Looks much nicer though.

The project is coming along well. Good job so far. Even the couple mistakes with the drill holes are so small nobody would notice them if you hadn't pointed them out to the ENTIRE world on the internet.

If the putty on the holes bothers you, you can always get a finishing touch up kit and try to blend the color of the putty. It looks fine to me though. Once you have stuff on those shelves, you won't be able to see a thing, even when looking for them.

Is that a home-made bow saw hanging on the wall in the last picture you posted? Does it see much use? I don't have a band saw, and am in the process of building a bow saw instead. I started in the summer. (Haven't been able to spend much time in the shop lately.)

Heh. Thanks. I'm actually pretty happy with the result.It was actually dowels, not putty.No, it was purchased. I don't think it's used much, but we've got a number of saws.

Re: NOTICE
 

Cool project.

Casket or Coffin? ;)

You answer your own question, my dear.

The quote specifically states "casket". Yes, I know the difference.

Actually, the casket will be easier. I've built coffins and that angle at the shoulder is tough to make sturdy enough for repeated use, unlike those that only need to be used once and buried forever. Or burned. I should point out though that persons being cremated are baked in a cardboard box and not the casket you bought for them. I read the textbook for future funeral directors once.

The hardware is what concerns me the most...I can't just go to the hardware aisle of my local Home Despot and buy casket handles, hinges and latches, not to mention the decorative touches. I'll have to order these online from a retailer of such items. I have several manufacturers already lined up but this stuff is EXPENSIVE! Sheesh!

Maybe I can sneak in a piano hinge instead and hope he doesn't notice.

Brian

I wanna be baked in Le Creuset .

When we were picking out a casket for my Dad, they had some pine boxes that were built with no metal, for cremations. The whole thing was glued and pegged with no nails, screws, hinges or handles.

Are you just reinforcing the edge with glue? The project will still be a knock down, won't it?
BTW, super job, you done good. :beer:

Thanks.

Yes, I'm just smearing glue along the edge, since the facing was chipping and peeling a bit along the edge. It'll still be knockdown. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be going anywhere once it was together.

Whew! I thought you were trading that new car in on a truck.:D

update, my friend won the auction and is scooting around town in his very own hearse (with a flame paint job no less).

We're talking about the casket now.

Brian

my dad used to be a bassist in a band when i was little. When he was youger, a friend from the band had a Packard Hearse. They played proms, and had a casket sized orange ( the fruit) crate that they'd pull out of the back. A member of the band would rise from the coffin, and they'd unload the rest of the gear.

We traded a '77 Cadillac hearse a few years ago. It was beat pretty badly, but I was amazed at how substantial the rear suspension was. It was like a delivery truck to drive. It took the guy a good hour to uninstall his array of kicker boxes and preamps. It had big aluminum rims and BF Goodrich whiteletter radials, too. I thought it was pretty cool. I think he got $500 for it because I remember thinking that the wheels and tires were worth more than the car.

This one is an 81 Cadillac hearse. I'm trying to get him to send a pic of it that I will post if he is able.

I *gotta* see the flaming paint job on a hearse.

here's a similar hearse with no flames
 

I hope he has his camera and didn't leave it with his wife, in VA as I think he did. SHE has the baby you see and you know how women love taking pictures of their offspring.

A quick plug for the oil I use, if anyone was curious.

Today we started cutting the shelves to size. Due to imperfections in the construction (alas), I am marking the approximate location each shelf is cut to fit, along with the direction it is supposed to face.

All but one of the shelves are cut and oiled. Today I oiled the plywood. In preparation, we glued some stiffening slats on the plywood.

Here is one of the plywood sections oiled, and the other plain.

I also oiled the pins for the top.

Almost there. I'm going to put some short pegs on the underside of the shelves, to keep them from sliding forward, then wax everything, and it's done!

A shelf just resting on pins can slide out, so I drilled a few holes, and added these pegs with a dab of glue, to lock the shelves in place.

Then it was time to wax everything.

Smear the wax on with one rag, rub it down with a second, then buff it with a third.

Unfortunately, two of my glue blocks did not hold. Before waxing the bottom, I had to reglue, and add screws to all four blocks.

Here are all of the parts, relocated to my bedroom.

And here, at long last, is the
completed bookcase!

And, finally, here are the proud woodworkers.

oh, man. and you already started your teddy bear collection. You've been around bruce too long, it would seem.


[big round of applause]

excellent! it looks just like the computer generated image you posted. I am seriously impressed. how cool to see it go from start to finish. thank you very much, Hmonkey.

Thanks. That teddy's been around for quite a while, though. I expect he lost hope for a collection long ago.

Well done DUDE !!!!!!!!!

That is a most wonderful achievement. It is a beautiful piece of furniture! I wish I could do stuff like that. I can barely assemble Ikea furniture.

Man that thing's gorgeous. I'm such a sucker for shimmery wood grain. You've definitely earned the right to be extremely proud of yourselves.

Wow, you think it's bad to lose an Ikea piece in a divorce. What do you do when the judge gives her that.:mad:
Kudo's to you and your Dad!!

Excellent work! I'm jealous. But then again, I use power tools mostly... I do not have the tools OR the skill to do it the old-fashioned way like you do!

Salud! :beer:

Awesome HM!

Heh. We don't have the space for all the power tools we'd like, or we'd have more. But there is satisfaction from doing it the old fashioned way.

It is sometimes funny watching "The New Yankee Workshop". If someone played a drinking game where you chug a bottle every time Norm uses a hand tool, that someone would never get drunk.

On the other hand, I think I need more power tools than they use in "The Woodwright's Shop".

The Woodwright's shop is awesome. That guy kick's Norm's ass.

What I would really like to see is a show where the woodworkers from Colonial Williamsburg make stuff with hand tools. Fine quality projects made the old fashioned way.

The Woodwright's Shop was a little too rustic (sloppy) for my tastes, but I liked the idea of doing things with hand tools.

One of the things I like most about hand tools is that they are quiet and dust free. You don't need the earplugs, fogged up goggles, and dust mask. You just pick up the tool and work.

I wouldn't skip the earplugs when using a mallet and chisel, but otherwise I agree.

On the other hand, power tools have a satisfaction of their own. :D

One of my ex-girlfriends does color matching and finishing for a shop that makes 18th century style furniture to order. This is the breakfront she's starting now.;)