HappyMonkey/HMD WOODSHOP - Page 12

lookout123 · 03-18-2005, 12:53 PM

my neighbor is a professional cabinet maker. he does some absolutely extraordinary things that i just don't get. i hang out in his shop while he and his crew build some things and i have to leave after only 10-15 minutes because i just can't understand how they do what they do.

wolf · 03-18-2005, 01:08 PM

This thread is too cool. I idolize Norm Abrams, but can't personally operate a power tool to save my life.

BigV · 03-18-2005, 01:43 PM

This is the only power tool I know of that can save your life. All the others hunger for fresh meat. I watched a fella shorten his right index finger by one knuckle on a bandsaw once. Those machines care nothing for the length of your life, unless it means they get fed something besides wood wood wood, day after day.

Although, this machine operates so well, that I find it hard to believe. A strictly vegetarian table saw. Whooda thunkit?

Happy Monkey · 03-18-2005, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

That's actually a challange to me. You need the edges of each plank to be very straight, otherwise they won't fit tightly and the glue joint will not be strong. Sometimes you can get away with an edge left by a table saw or that is already on the board when you buy it, but often you have to plane one edge of each board until they are nice and straight. You can then just glue them together.

A joiner (power tool) can make a good edge, but my dad uses a hand plane and a straight edge. Use a long straight edge to find bumps and valleys, and plane them down.

Quote:

Or if you want the joint to be extra strong, you can cut a slot into each edge and fit a long thin strip of wood called a spline into that slot to support things a little more. And glue them together.

Here's a cross section example.

Quote:

For me, the challange is when you are trying to put together a whole table top, because you have multiple pieces, and the glue starts to dry on you before you can get them all together properly.

You just have to get it all ready before starting to apply the glue. Or you can do one joint at a time.

xoxoxoBruce · 03-20-2005, 05:22 PM

Nice work, glatt.

Quote:

stick a little football shaped disk into those slots when you glue it up.

The "footballs" are beech, I think. They're pressed and dried so they expand to hold tight when they come in contact with the glue.

Quote:

How do you put two planks together to make one big plank?

If you clamp them up with an overlap then saw down the length, through the overlap, the pieces will match. Same as matching wallpaper without a pattern.

Quote:

i have to leave after only 10-15 minutes because i just can't understand how they do what they do.

They do it one step at a time. To understand how, you have to break it down into those steps. To understand why, you have to do it wrong at least once.

Quote:

but my dad uses a hand plane and a straight edge. Use a long straight edge to find bumps and valleys, and plane them down.

Your Dad is extrordinary. Most people would spend years developing that skill and some could never get it right. Knowing exactly what your hand and that plane are going to do before they do it, on every stroke, is damn near witchcraft.

Happy Monkey · 03-20-2005, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Your Dad is extrordinary. Most people would spend years developing that skill and some could never get it right. Knowing exactly what your hand and that plane are going to do before they do it, on every stroke, is damn near witchcraft.

Tell me about it. I never got the hang of hand planing. Whenever I try, I get chips and skitters everywhere. I put it down to some combination of two factors: 1) I'm left handed while many planes are right handed, and 2) I never practice.

mrnoodle · 03-30-2005, 10:19 AM

hey glatt, did you stain your cabinet yet?

Happy Monkey · 04-13-2005, 11:40 PM

I'm not sure which thread to put this in so, as I'm now using flickr, I'll go ahead and put it in both!

My dad just finished making me a cool box to store my markers and tape in. Here it is, closed, empty, and full:

Happy Monkey · 11-27-2005, 10:17 AM

We're starting a new project, a chest of drawers for my sister. It starts with a trip to the lumberyard.

It's a pretty nice lumberyard, with good variety and quality wood. This view was substantiated during this trip when we ran into one of my dad's woodworking inspirations, Peter Kramer. If he's willing to drive an hour to get wood there, it's good stuff.

We picked out three cherry boards, eight feet long, an inch and a half thick, and six to eight inches wide. These will be the sides of piece.

We bought the boards rough, so we put them through the planer until the faces were clean.

This creates a lot of sawdust.

Happy Monkey · 11-27-2005, 10:21 AM

And here are the boards with the large faces even. Now for the edges.

The chest will be about four feet high, so we cut the boards in half.

Ready for edging.

We have a very nice tool that lets you run a router along a track in a straight line. Our previous efforts without this router trolley have been much more labor intensive.

An action shot, from the side.

With the edges squared using the router and trolley, the gluing went extremely smoothly. Next up, squaring the ends.

xoxoxoBruce · 11-27-2005, 07:42 PM

Router trolley?
You jumped from the 19th to 21st century.

Is this a git-r-done by Christmas project?

Happy Monkey · 11-27-2005, 09:32 PM

Wait till you see the next picture...

Happy Monkey · 11-28-2005, 10:27 PM

The sides are going to be tapered; thinner at the top than the bottom. My dad is doing this with hand planes. (How's that, Bruce?)

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/68170862/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/20/68170862_931d7e8e8a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Glued" /></a>

The pencil mark shows how far down we have to get at this end. Click on the photo (or, indeed, any of them) for the flickr page, then click "All Sizes" to see the line clearer.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/68171614/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/30/68171614_5a3d880754.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Goal" /></a>

And these are the planes he's using to do the tapering.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/68172811/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/9/68172811_f96fb1886d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Planes" /></a>

xoxoxoBruce · 11-29-2005, 09:08 PM

Hey, I wasn't being critical, it just seemed like a philosophy shift which made me wonder if there was time constraints.

btw- I got a nice email from Peter Kramer.

Happy Monkey · 11-29-2005, 09:21 PM

No worries, I wasn't being defensive, just making a segue into the next phase.

It wasn't so much a philosophy shift as a new tool availability (we got it in August, and hadn't tried it out yet. It works great). Our power tools pre-trolley were too imprecise to get a result better than a hand plane, and power tool imperfections are harder to deal with than hand tool imperfections. Additionally, this wood is thicker than some of the handplane blades are wide, and would have been much harder to work with.

Why'd you get the Peter Kramer email?

03-18-2005, 12:53 PM	#166
lookout123 changed his status to single Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Right behind you. No, the other side. Posts: 10,308	my neighbor is a professional cabinet maker. he does some absolutely extraordinary things that i just don't get. i hang out in his shop while he and his crew build some things and i have to leave after only 10-15 minutes because i just can't understand how they do what they do. __________________ Getting knocked down is no sin, it's not getting back up that's the sin

03-18-2005, 01:08 PM	#167
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	This thread is too cool. I idolize Norm Abrams, but can't personally operate a power tool to save my life. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

03-18-2005, 01:43 PM	#168
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	This is the only power tool I know of that can save your life. All the others hunger for fresh meat. I watched a fella shorten his right index finger by one knuckle on a bandsaw once. Those machines care nothing for the length of your life, unless it means they get fed something besides wood wood wood, day after day. Although, this machine operates so well, that I find it hard to believe. A strictly vegetarian table saw. Whooda thunkit? __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.

03-30-2005, 10:19 AM	#172
mrnoodle bent Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: under the weather Posts: 2,656	hey glatt, did you stain your cabinet yet? __________________ Sìn a nall na cuaranan sin. -- Cha mhór is fheairrde thu iad, tha iad coltach ri cat air a dhathadh

04-13-2005, 11:40 PM	#173
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	I'm not sure which thread to put this in so, as I'm now using flickr, I'll go ahead and put it in both! My dad just finished making me a cool box to store my markers and tape in. Here it is, closed, empty, and full: __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

11-27-2005, 10:17 AM	#174
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	We're starting a new project, a chest of drawers for my sister. It starts with a trip to the lumberyard. It's a pretty nice lumberyard, with good variety and quality wood. This view was substantiated during this trip when we ran into one of my dad's woodworking inspirations, Peter Kramer. If he's willing to drive an hour to get wood there, it's good stuff. We picked out three cherry boards, eight feet long, an inch and a half thick, and six to eight inches wide. These will be the sides of piece. We bought the boards rough, so we put them through the planer until the faces were clean. This creates a lot of sawdust. __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

11-27-2005, 10:21 AM	#175
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	And here are the boards with the large faces even. Now for the edges. The chest will be about four feet high, so we cut the boards in half. Ready for edging. We have a very nice tool that lets you run a router along a track in a straight line. Our previous efforts without this router trolley have been much more labor intensive. An action shot, from the side. With the edges squared using the router and trolley, the gluing went extremely smoothly. Next up, squaring the ends. __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

11-27-2005, 07:42 PM	#176
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Router trolley? You jumped from the 19th to 21st century. Is this a git-r-done by Christmas project? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

11-27-2005, 09:32 PM	#177
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	Wait till you see the next picture... __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

11-28-2005, 10:27 PM	#178
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	The sides are going to be tapered; thinner at the top than the bottom. My dad is doing this with hand planes. (How's that, Bruce?) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/68170862/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/20/68170862_931d7e8e8a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Glued" /></a> The pencil mark shows how far down we have to get at this end. Click on the photo (or, indeed, any of them) for the flickr page, then click "All Sizes" to see the line clearer. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/68171614/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/30/68171614_5a3d880754.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Goal" /></a> And these are the planes he's using to do the tapering. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymonkey/68172811/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/9/68172811_f96fb1886d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Planes" /></a> __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

11-29-2005, 09:08 PM	#179
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Hey, I wasn't being critical, it just seemed like a philosophy shift which made me wonder if there was time constraints. btw- I got a nice email from Peter Kramer. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

11-29-2005, 09:21 PM	#180
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	No worries, I wasn't being defensive, just making a segue into the next phase. It wasn't so much a philosophy shift as a new tool availability (we got it in August, and hadn't tried it out yet. It works great). Our power tools pre-trolley were too imprecise to get a result better than a hand plane, and power tool imperfections are harder to deal with than hand tool imperfections. Additionally, this wood is thicker than some of the handplane blades are wide, and would have been much harder to work with. Why'd you get the Peter Kramer email? __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

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