General Woodworking

 I didn't get a lot done today but I am calling the bureau done. I still have a couple of cosmetic touch ups here and there but I putting the check mark in the done column. I didn't get much done because me back is acting up. It usually hurts when I first get but it loosens up and I don't feel it through out the day. Not so for the past few days with today it throwing a hissy fit on and off all day long. That along with the high 90's F (33-35C) temps and humidity I wasn't feeling much like working wood.

8" drawer box

I plugged the original holes for the knobs. I don't have to plug the holes in the drawer front. I got it aligned and installed in the PM session.

huge improvement

There is one spot where I painted over bare wood but the rest of the top is smooth and glass looking. There is/was some wood shop dust and debris nobs and nibs that I sanded off with 320. I think most of it came from walking on the floors above it.

drawer fronts

These looked better than the top. I applied another coat on everything again. That is all I got done in the AM session. Once they were painted I couldn't do anything else in the shop. I spent the time wisely doing sudoku and crossword puzzles.

no nails

In hindsight I should have made the rabbet wider (R/L) so I wouldn't have to angle the screws like I did here. I put one screw in between each of the bearer rails on both sides. I nixed the nails because of the thinness of the rabbet and that a screw will provide better holding/pull out resistance.

PM session

Putting the drawers back in so I can align the bottom 8" drawer again. It must have shifted on me the first time without me noticing it.

left side aligned

When I did this the first time I made all the drawers align on the left. I paid extra attention to this making sure the drawer didn't move either R/L when I drilled the holes for the knobs.

hole drilled

I drilled the left hole first and installed the knob. I checked to ensure that the 8" drawer front was still in line with the three drawers above it. Once I was satisfied with that I drilled and installed the knob on the right.

drawer front screws

I put four of these in each of the two small top drawers (top and bottom corners). I used six in each of the 3 large bottom drawers - two each in top/bottom corners and two in the top/bottom of the middle.

where are the screws?

Wandered around looking in the spots where I thought I might have hidden the screws but nada. The screws were in one of the compartments. I didn't hear or feel  them rattling around when I picked it up

secured

No problems getting them in and screwed down. Even the middle one was easy peasy and I was expecting that one to be a expletive laden chore.

glamour shot #1

I really like how this bureau turned out. It is a good size but I doubt Leo will take to college with him someday. It is too heavy and they have to go up a long staircase to climb to get it to his second floor bedroom.

side view

I am going to leave the drawers slightly open and give the paint some time to fully cure before I close them.

striped back

The stripes are from me cleaning/erasing the pencil lines with alcohol. I am going to put a brass plate on the back (name date etc) along with my branding iron imprint.

car storage

Amanda already told me that Leo will be using these drawers to hold some of his toy cars. I am on the fence with putting blue felt in the tray compartments. That will change if I can find where I hid my mini mat cutting machine.

same side glamour shot

I wanted to snap this pic from the right but there wasn't enough room to do that. I will have to move the tablesaw so I can get the bureau out of the shop and into the boneyard. Lucky me that my wife bought 4 mini tri-wheeled dollies that will make that job a breeze. However, they won't work a damn for going up steps.

accidental woodworker

Last post I had completed the main box.  This time it's on to the upper tray and drawer.  For the tray, I made the depth (front to back) a little more than 1/16" less than the inside dimension of the box.  It's length is about 3" shorter than the inside length of the box.  This was to allow a drill to stand up on the floor of the upper compartment and still be able to put the tray in place.

The 3/8" thick tray components dovetailed

... and test fitted into the box

Made a handle / divider that fits into stopped dadoes in the ends. The handle is 1/2" thick to add a little comfort when picking it up.

Close-up of one end of the handle / divider

One corner of the tray with cleaned up dovetails

Glued up the dovetails first, then later glued on a 1/8" plywood bottom with some creative "clamping"

It fits!

I made the height so it would stick up 1/8" from the box upper edges

I just love fitting drawers to openings.  After the drawer front and back were fitted to the opening and the drawer sides to the depth, the drawer was dovetailed together.

Fitting the front into its opening

Fitting the left side and getting its length directly from the box

The parts in relative position

Marking the sides with a triangle

... and the front/back with a triangle. I sometimes use a double triangle so I don't confuse it with a reference edge mark

Dovetails complete

I had another decision to make.  Do I plow grooves for the 1/8" plywood drawer bottom, or do I glue the bottom to the underside of the drawer?  I did a little test groove in some scrap to help with this.

1/8" groove with some scrap plywood fit in place

First, my 1/8" plow iron is a bit wider than 1/8", and the plywood is a little less than 1/8", so the fit was sloppy.  Second, if I inset the groove 3/16" or 1/4" from the bottom edges, I would lose 5/16" or 3/8" of useable space in the drawer.  So I decided to glue the plywood to the bottom of the drawer.  But since I sized the drawer components precisely, I had to remove the thickness of the plywood from the drawer parts.  On the drawer front I used a rabbet so that the plywood would not be seen with the drawer closed.

Here, I've glued the dovetails together and also glued the bottom  to the drawer, using the metal toolbox as a clamp again

Then I cut out a bit of the front to form a finger pull

And lastly I could do the final fitting all the way inserted (before the finger pull I had no way of pulling the drawer back out!)

Added a couple coats of shellac

And here it is partially loaded, ready for work

This was a really fun build.  It's solid as a rock, but a bit heavier than I might have liked.  But that's OK.  It's built for a purpose and I think it'll serve that purpose well.

Here’s the next video update of the two mandolins that I’m currently working on. It was never my intention to build the two in parallel, that’s just a quirk of the timing! Sooner or later, they shall have to diverge!

However, I guess the video is already out-of-date………

 After I killed the lights I knew that I was a lot closer to being done today than yesterday. What is going to hold up the check mark in the done column is painting. That is what I got done today. I did that in the PM session so I wouldn't stir up dust in the shop if I had done it in the AM session. I'm very anxious to see how all the after the fact sanding and card scraper work paid off. 

setting the drawer unit

Before I painted the top I positioned the drawer unit where it will live on it. I marked the screws and I did all 3. I don't think I'll have any hiccups being able to screw down the middle drawer opening screw.

done

I laid out and drilled the holes for the drawer front screws. I made the hole a 1/8" more than the diameter of the screw shaft.

setting the drawer fronts

I decided it was best to do the drawer fronts now rather than after they are painted. Any dings or scratches done now will be painted over after.

oops

Me thinks I had made a me-steak again. I know I said I would leave the dust panels off until I got the drawer fronts on. But..... I have no way to gain access to the inside of the drawer front so I can drill and fasten the screws.

got lucky

I already drilled the holes for the knobs and I used that hole to screw the drawer front to the drawer box. If I hadn't tripped over this lucky bit I was going to try using a hot glue gun.

huh?????

The screws don't seem to be long enough for the next drawer front (7" one). Both the 1 1/4" and the 1 1/2" screws were too short as was a 2" brass screw I tried.

Yikes!

I have done a lot of bone headed things in the shop but I think this one is now at the head of the line. The screws weren't too short, I hadn't put the drawer box in yet.

wow

I was so happy with how this looked that I almost wet myself. All the margins are perfect dare I say that. I also kind of like this distressed look of the bureau.

it is stable

The bureau isn't tippy in the least with all the drawers opened. Of course there isn't anything in the drawers but this is encouraging. I have never opened all the drawers of my bureau at once so I think I'm good to go.

for the knobs

I got the last package of 2" long 8-32 screws at ACE. The pliers nipped about a 1/4" off and the die chased and cleaned up the threads. Decided to keep going forward and got all the knobs installed too.

another worry dashed

I didn't have a warm and fuzzy about the size of the knobs but now I do. They are going to work fine. I wish they were a tad bit bigger but this is all LV had. Even the two top drawer knobs don't look off to my eye. They are 6 1/8" in from the outside edges and 7" in from the inside edges. 

This bureau is the heaviest piece of anything I ever made. I think only my workbench weighs more than this does. On the bright side it is solid, feels substantial, and should withstand anything a young Leo can throw at it.

the PM paint session

I wiped  down all the parts I was going to paint with a damp rag.

something is amiss

I'm pretty sure that I paid attention to my labels. However, when I was getting ready to remove the knobs and the drawer fronts I noticed a hiccup. The bottom drawer wasn't aligned with the other ones. It was about an 1/8" off to the left. It was enough that I saw it immediately and it is something I'll have to correct.

feeling much better

It had been about an hour after I painted the top when I eyeballed it. It is smooth with no brush marks and no ridges showing. There are a few spots where the paint is over bare wood and they don't look glassy smooth but that is to be expected. I didn't prime the top again and this will take at least two topcoats to finish. Based on the first coat look the 2nd one should come out looking 100% glassy smooth also.

one more coat of shellac

I got four coats on the entire drawer box. I wanted to get one more (possibly two) on the interiors. The insides had a bazillion teeny ridges left by nicks in the planer blades I scraped, steel wool, and sanded off. They may need another coat to melt the shellac and blend them out.

came today

I got something to read before I check my eyelids for light leaks tonight.

 accidental woodworker

I’m in between projects and my garage is a mess so thought I would pull out pics from this old project. Some pictures are from the original build and some I took just now for clarification.

It is a cart for storage organizers. These are the “20 Bin Medium Portable Parts Storage Case” organizers are from harbor freight. In the past they’ve gone on sale for $4-5 each. By the time I got 10 or so of these I decided to make some storage.

If you search online you’ll find lots of people making similar meta-organizers. Even the harbor freight review section has a lot of pictures. I’ve seen some using drawer slides for each compartment, or some made out of metal bread racks. I like this style that doesn’t have a 1/2 or 3/4″ shelf between every organizer, saving space and material.

The main inspiration for mine was from the youtube video “[21-B] DIY Rack for Harbor Freight Plastic Parts Bin Storage” by bremtech. In it he describes the critical measurements and recommends cutting an angle on the leading edge of the rails to make the sliding in less jarring.

This was a real scrap project, made from leftover advantech OSB. The carcase was pocket screwed together.

The organizers are held up by their edges on thin wooden rails. The rails are made from pine ‘lattice’ from Lowe’s which is 1/4″ thick. They were fastened with glue and short pneumatic nails. I used a spacer in between the rails as I went along gluing and nailing–I didn’t measure and mark each location. The angled cuts at the front of my supports are too extreme. A smaller angled cut or rounded corner would work better.

The critical dimensions are 16 9/16″ side-to-side between the walls (not between the rails) and 2 1/2″ up-and-down between the top of one rail and the next. In my project one half was too tight. I cracked the pocket screws loose a little and slathered wax all over the slides which resolved it.

The drawer is 1x pine with a plywood bottom. It doesn’t work well. Maybe it’s too wide (about 34 inches) or too loose fitting. It also doesn’t help the thing is on wheels. If I had to do it over I would make the bottom cavity to fit some different type containers and not have a drawer.

For painting I took a yellow insert to Lowe’s and they made a matching yellow cabinet paint. I usually do one coat of primer and two coats of paint. The hardware is from Lee Valley, here is an example pull. Just search for ‘tansu’ to find the rest. I thought the yellow cabinet with black hardware would match the yellow and black organizers. The casters are from harbor freight.

By the end I regretted using osb, at least for the top. I considered filling all the imperfections with drywall compound before painting. I also thought about painting the silver parts of the casters yellow. In the end I did neither.

The cart has 18 slots for organizers. Harbor freight also sells a taller “8-Bin Large Portable Parts Storage Case”. They are twice the height of the medium organizers, and simply take up two slots.

success

Home Depot didn't have the blonde plywood brand that Lowes sells but they had this which IMO looks just as good. I almost gave up on because this was not with all the other plywood. It was a few aisles over in  a place I would have never thought of to look for it. I was wandering around up and down the aisles to see what they had to offer and came across it.

I had to wait 20 minutes to find someone to saw the full sheet in half for me. This was $49 for the full sheet which isn't too bad of a price in today's market. I sawed one half to fit the bureau and stowed the other half in the boneyard.

this sucks

I still have brush marks/ridges in the top. I was expecting the paint to fill them in and smooth it out but it ain't happening boys and girls. I don't think even multiple coats will fill/smooth this in/out.

primer

Lightly sanded again with 220 and primer popped out again. This is really starting to draw blood and chunks out of my arse.

the back

I am not going nutso on the back like I intend to on the front. All that matters here is about a nice one inch border on the sides and 1 1/2" at the front. The rest can stay as is.

close

This is right on 1 1/2" and I will sand this out and away. The white dot on the edge is a definite it will be gone candidate.

dry fitted

The back was slightly out of square - I planed a 32nd taper on the right side with a jack plane. I also had to knock down about 5"-6" on the top right to flush it.

screwed in place

No glue, just screws - 5 in each bearer rail. I still have to nail the back into the sides of the carcass. I'll use my nail gun to do that if I don't forget it tomorrow. The bureau is rock solid now along with being a lot heavier. This thing weighs a ton and a half at least but I'll bet a lung it will never rack. 

top attached

I attached the top to the top bearer rails with 8 screws at the back and 8 screws at the front. The first row of back screws are screwed directly into the underside of the top through the bearer rail. All the other screws I elongated the holes so the top can contract/expand towards the front. I didn't put any screws in the center cleats because I remembered them after I got last screw driven home. 

pay me now or pay me later a lot more

I got no one to blame for this crappy paint job but myself. I got lazy and didn't do what I should have done. First I didn't do a good enough job sanding the top before I put the primer on. Secondly I didn't sand the primer coat and subsequent topcoats like I should have. It is going to take a lot of calories to fix this screw up starting with 120 grit. I will sand the top until it is baby butt smooth no matter where I check it. In other words 100% of the real estate will be smooth after this go around.

90 minutes later

Sandpaper and a card scraper and all is feeling and looking good with the top now. I can't see any ridges/brush marks anywhere and it is baby butt smooth all over. I shouldn't have fallen for the paint filling in the smoothing out the top. 

knob screw

The supplied screw is too short.  FYI - did you know that 99.99% of knob screws are 8-32s? My first thought was to install the knob on the drawer front and then attach the drawer front to the drawer box. After thinking on that I nixed it. It would be a PITA to remove the drawer front to deal with a loose knob screw. Instead I will buy some longer 8-32 screws and go through the drawer box and the drawer front. I had some 1 1/2" 8-32s but they were sticking out less than a 1/4". I will buy some 1 3/4" or 2" long ones and cut them down.

tray is done

I got four coats of shellac on the splines. The carcass still shows some open grain but I am leaving it as is. I don't have anything to fill in the pores and I don't want to wait and order something neither.

top dust panel

I used ghost sticks to hold the dust panel in place as the glue cooks. I may also nail it off depending upon how small the pin nail I have are. I also glued in the other two dust panels. The bottom one is just nailed in place.

making a jig

This is going to be my alignment jig thingie thing for drilling the holes for the knobs the same on both sides of the drawer front.

nothing fancy here

A scrap of pine and 1/2" birch plywood is all I needed. A couple of nails and some glue and I didn't have to wait to use it.

all three in one jig

All the knobs for the 3 bottom large drawers will be in line with each other top to bottom and in from the sides about 6".

reversible

The two cleats on the outsides put the jig tight to the side and bottom on either end.

drill guide

Clamps hold the jig in place and the drill guide ensures that have a 90° hole to the face.

done

 The holes on the 3 big drawers are inset from each outside edge 6 1/8" and are slightly off center (1/4") from the bottom. I don't like having knobs dead centered top/bottom. I like the asymmetrical look of it being off center.

small top drawer fronts

I decided to align the bottom drawer knobs with the two top drawers. The knob will be inset from the outside edge (left edge on the left drawer and the right edge on the right drawer) 6 1/8". These two knobs will also be slightly off centered R/L and T/B.

more sanding to do

I am going to sand and correct the drawer fronts like I did the top and the 3 drawer unit. Although I will say the drawer fronts are better than the bureau top.

labeled so I can forget it

This is the back of the drawer front and won't be seen once it is attached to the drawer box. On the backs I only had to sand and correct a border about 1 1/2" all the way around.

a little over an hour

The drawer fronts are sanded baby butt smooth to feel and look. I'll paint them tomorrow because I doubt it will happen tonight. This is was not what I had planned for today but I'm glad I got done what I did.

accidental woodworker

1/2" blonde wood

This is the first thing I did in the shop this AM. This is is what I want to use for the back of the bureau. It is a couple of frog hairs shy of being flush sitting in the rabbet which is perfect for this. Once I verified this I went on a road trip to Lowes.

Ran into two snags at Lowes and neither I could overcome. The first was the cut off saw was out of order. The back of the bureau is about 25" x 29" so I would have to buy a full sheet of 1/2". (Lowes didn't have any half sheets of 1/2".) The second hiccup was Lowes didn't have any 4x8 sheets of 1/2". 

When I went out in to the parking lot the skies had opened up and rain was pouring out of the clouds. This was a bit of serendipity for me because the plywood (if I could have gotten it) would have been soaked by the time I got home.

On the way home I decided to go to Staples to get a box. I needed one to ship something to my sister Donna. I couldn't find a box that was reasonably sized for what I intend to ship. I settled for a box twice the size needed and I'll just add extra crappola in it to fill it up.

trimming the splines

The cutoff saw did an awesome job. I didn't get any scratches in the sides and the splines were a frog hair proud. Easy peasy work flushing them with a chisel.

3 topcoats

I am disappointed in the coverage of this paint. I still had a few spots here and there where I could see the white primer coat. I had to paint the drawer fronts again because of white primer showing on them too. I'm not sure if I did two topcoats where it showed though. I might have missed those edges on the last go around.

fingers crossed

An hour after painting the 3 drawer unit all the drawers went in/out without any binding. I painted the back even though it will never be seen once it is up against a wall.

a little on the bald side

I have to get shellac on the splines and I'll put one coat on the sides of this drawer. After it has dried I'll check to make sure it still smoothly goes in/out of its opening.

it is toast

I love this pencil sharpener but it was getting a wee bit dull so I put in a fresh blade. Once I did that the sharpener would no longer sharpen a pencil. That sucks pond scum through a double straw. I tried 2 other brand new blades and got the same results - wouldn't sharpen a pencil. I will use another sharpener until I sort out this hiccup. There isn't enough of a space in the mouth - akin to the mouth on a plane being too tight. 

more than primer showing

One thing about painted surfaces is that they show every defect in the surfaces. The drawer fronts showed all in the indents in them from the painter triangles along with drag marks from being moved on the same triangles.

I didn't get to putting the drawer fronts on today. I did get 3 coats on the splines and I'll get one more tomorrow and that will be done. I also have a road trip to Home Depot planned for sunday. I'll be there at 0800 and see what the have for 1/2" plywood. I think they have a larger selection of half sheets of plywood than Lowes offers. I should be able to get the top screwed on so that will be my cherry on the woodworking sundae.

accidental woodworker

 I'm hoping that I won't have too many more parts to Leo's bureau. I made a sizable dent in what is left but I also had to take a step back. I thought again on how am I going to get this out of the shop? Even with the drawers removed the carcass is awkward and heavy to move around. I am not looking forward to getting the wife to lend a helping hand. Hold a gun to my head and I would say no more than 4 more days to finish it.

came last night

I forgot that these were scheduled to come yesterday. My wife was also expecting a package and found it for me. These knobs have a 1 1/4" diameter but I wish it was larger. These were the largest ones that Lee Valley had. 

wee bit tight

I wasn't expecting the paint to tighten up the fit as much as it did. The center drawer had no problems but the two smaller outside drawers need to be shaved a wee bit. They both stuck and bound after coming out about 3/4 of the way.

oops

I am liking the  shellac shine but I forgot to add splines. This was the step back for today.

another oops

I planed the splines for a snug fit and that bit me on the arse. I applied glue to the slot and the spline and it froze on me. These are pine splines and trying to beat them into submission didn't work.I had to glue another piece in the gaps. I only had one spline that I didn't have to add extra shims to.

oops come in three's

I usually don't have problems with expansion and contraction. I've had good luck with allowing sufficiently for it. These doors swelled and wouldn't close. I planed the outside rabbets and the that helped some but the doors were still not closing fully and easily. I had to plane the back bottom edges of the rabbet too. The doors close easily and the magnets grab and pull the door flat and tight again.

not even

I planed the doors in place and ended up with a tapered gap. I don't want to plane anymore because the doors will shrink this winter and I don't want to see saw into a 3 mile gap.

almost screwed up

I marked the center of the top and the carcass and I almost screwed the top down. I stopped because I want to get the two top drawer guides in first. Having the top on would make attaching the drawer slides a Royal PITA squared.

I changed my mind with using 1/4" plywood for the back. I want to use 3/8 or 1/2 inch plywood. That would be stronger than 1/4 and resist racking better. The bearer rails are the only thing holding the carcass sides together. 

nailed the back on

I was going to leave this off until I got the screws installed holding this down to the bureau top. Changed that because one, due to the back stop thing on the top I won't be able to reach the screw in the middle drawer opening. And two, the back stop thing would stop me from being able to nail the back on. If I can reach in from the front to do the middle screw I will. If I can't I'll get by with the two outside ones.

more painting

I thought I could get by scraping a little paint but I didn't. It helped some but the drawer was still binding when being pulled out. I had to sand the side top on the right and the bottom on the left. 

drawer slides installed

Doing the slides took forever. Bending over to screw them in place sucked pond scum. Bending down to get on my knees has turned into a comedy routine that should be on SNL. FYI gravity starts to be a PITA the older you get.

4th oops today

I put every single slide on the drawer boxes backward. I had checked it before I started to make sure that I was installing so that they were flush at the front. What I did in error was to flush the back end of the slide at the front. Oh well it only took a few to take them off and screw them back on right.

no hiccups

All the drawers went in and opened/closed smoothly and easily. Even the top left drawer which previously wasn't operating smoothly now was. The goal for tomorrow is to get the top on and the drawer fronts. Should be doable.

over time

After lunch I ran some errands. One of them was going to see Maria from the frame shop. I have an idea for a picture frame and I wanted to make sure it was doable. Maria send no problem because she has a special machine (basically a CNC for mat boards) that can cut out any shape opening anywhere on the mat board. Good to know stuff. The errands made me stay late in the shop. I really wanted to get the drawers installed back in the carcass today.

accidental woodworker

 I'm getting closer to being done with the bureau. More painting and shellac today but at the end of it the light was shining brighter. Still haven't done any work on anything else but I do have something in mind for the next project. I have to fix up the 'night tables' my wife brought home but I have something new in mind. Still thinking on that but I'm concentrating on getting the bureau done and out of the shop first.

2 hours

I got another coat of shellac on the two tray thing first. After that I rubbed down the drawer boxes with steel wool. It took a wee bit longer to apply the shellac then I thought it had and I'm almost calling that done. I will apply one or two more coats of shellac on the interiors of the drawer boxes before I get a check mark.

started a little before 8

I didn't intend to work straight through. I still hadn't done my crossword puzzles when I wandered down to the shop but I saved them for doing later on tonight. I didn't think it would take this much time to apply the shellac. Should be easier to do the shellac on the just the drawer box interiors.

got 3 on it

The coverage is looking pretty good for 3 but this wood along with being dense is opened pore too. Not sure if a couple of more coats of shellac will fill them in. I'll get the number of coats I think it needs and evaluate it then. 

the ubiquitous blurry pic

This is the crappy pic of the fixed/repaired coffee pot table. I got two coats of shellac on the top and one on the bottom. That should suffice with helping to dust the table as needed.

bureau top

The paint is popping out  the  glue joint and IMO looks like crap. I filled it in with putty and painted the underside. I will try to sand and paint this after dinner.

wood putty

I had to fill in a couple of dings from the painter's triangles too. 

3 drawer unit

I forgot to plane the saw marks off the bottom front edge. I didn't want to plane off two coats of paint so I used wood putty to smooth it out.

The plan for tomorrow is to get the slides back on the drawer boxes. I am using drawer screws to attach the drawer fronts to the boxes. They are basically screws with an integral over sized washer. Installed in an oversized hole it allows you some adjustments R/L and T/B of the drawer fronts. I'll drill the holes for them but I'm not sure if I'll get to them on tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

I use Sapele (sə-PEE-lee) lumber pretty often. I use it much more than you would think considering I mill my own lumber (which I would argue makes it almost free) and I have to buy Sapele. When it showed up on a recent bill from our lumber wholesaler, my wife/accountant who tends to question my purchases asked, “What’s so great about Sapele? I thought walnut was the best.” Well, after ordering even more for a recent door job, here are the reasons I came up with to defend my purchase:

1. The Look. Sapele or Sapele mahogany is just pretty, like mahogany. It is a nice rusty red color which darkens and gets richer with age. Usually the lumber is quarter sawn which creates a ribbon striation in the grain. And, the chatoyance (light reflectivity variation), just wow!
2. Takes stain great. As nice as Sapele is, sometimes the project calls for the wood to be stained. This semi-ring-porous wood accepts all stains evenly. Really, it is hard to mess it up.
3. Durable. Use Sapele inside or out – it doesn’t matter. The wood will last a long time either way.
4. Affordable. Sapele sits at about the same price point as a middle of the road domestic lumber and is cheaper than walnut.
5. Stable. Sapele lumber is usually quarter sawn, even without specifying, which makes for some very cooperative wood.
6. Wide and long. I’ve never seen a Sapele tree, but they must be huge. The lumber is often wide and commonly available in lengths over 12′.
7. Machines well. Sapele isn’t quite the perfect wood to work with (it is sometimes a little chippy), but it is up there with our favorites. By the way, my favorite to work is sassafras.
8. Not too heavy. For an imported and durable wood, Sapele is quite light in weight. Pick up some Bubinga and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m sure that there are even more reasons that will pop in my head after I post this, but let’s just say I like Sapele a lot – enough to go out and buy it when I am already surrounded by “free” wood.

Click on the YouTube link above to check out our latest door project
and to see the great Sapele lumber in action.

As I’m sure many of you do too, not being able to stay engaged in the woodworking I love means I spent some idle time looking through the internet and experimenting with the swivel knife which is on the left side of the picture above. At Tandy, they taught how you can take an image from the internet, print it out, and then cover the back of the page with packing tape. You then wet the leather; technically called casing; and use a ball shaped engraver to transfer the design to the leather so you can cut the design into the wet leather. There are numerous YouTube video’s showing leather working and if you’re like me you find some you like and other’s you can’t stand to listen to! One I like is Don Gonzales, a saddle maker from Texas. He offered a plan on how to make a cover for a Field Notes booklet so I decided this would be my first project. I use notebooks to sketch designs and also to keep notes on how I do things and these come in either lined or with a dotted paper which I like for sketching. I used the larger size so needed to expand the pattern from Don Gonzales but that wasn’t a problem.

To make stitching easier I needed to make a stitching pony. After looking at many examples I came up with this design that allows me to use it either in my shop or Diane’s air conditioned studio. I can clamp it to whatever table or bench is available. The initial holes are laid out with a tool that has a toothed wheel to mark the spaces in the groove made previously. I then used punches to go through those holes and enlarged them with a diamond shaped awl as needed. Waxed thread is used which makes pulling through the leather easier, especially at the end when you back stitch to lock everything in place.

Here is a collage of pictures showing the completed project, learned a lot and created something useful!

 I am at the stage with this build when I go dead in the water. After I get things painted or shellac applied, I have to stop. That is what was on the menu today. I got the topcoat on the bureau parts. I got shellac on the drawer boxes and for the life off me I don't remember how many coats I applied. I think it is 3 but I will put on another coat tomorrow just in case. I am happy with the build of the blonde shellac even if it is only two coats.

shellac

I got 3 coats on the bottom of the two compartment tray. I did that first so I could then apply shellac to the rest of it. The 3 drawer unit drawers are done. I have to wait until the carcass for the drawers is painted.

ready for topcoat

I got all the primed parts sanded (180) and wiped down secondly. I applied shellac to the drawer boxes first. With the heat & humidity the shellac is drying almost immediately. So far I haven't had any hiccups with it blushing.

two compartment tray

The shellac darkened the wood more than I thought it would. I got one coat on it but I can still see the grain. 

sucks to get old

I let the painted parts go until tomorrow. I could have put on the 2nd coat in the PM session but decided to let it cure for 24hrs. I am getting real close to calling this done. One more coat of paint (fingers crossed) and then I can put the bureau together. It is going to be a lot of fun getting it out of the cellar and upstairs.

accidental woodworker

Last time, I ended up with the main carcass like this.

Two ends dovetailed to the bottom, horizontal divider joined to the ends with multiple 1/2" x 1/2" through mortises and tenons

I decided to fit the front and back panels into grooves.  The front panel is shorter due to the drawer opening below the divider, so grooves went near the front edge of the divider as well as near the front edges of the ends above the divider.  For the back panel, the bottom and ends were grooved near the back edges.

Putting a 5/16 groove near the front edge of the divider

Rabbeting three edges of the front panel - homemade rabbet plane at left, restored skew rabbet plane right

I didn't get a picture, but to fit the back panel, the toolbox bottom got a groove near the back edge. Later, after the bottom and ends were assembled, the groove showed as a hole (on the outside of the carcass) that I had to fill in.  That is one of the few things about this build that I didn't like - the filler pieces don't match the grain very well and it's fairly obvious (at least to me).

In addition to the groove in the bottom, the ends received grooves near their back edge from bottom to a height equal to that of the grooves for the front panel.  I had laid out the dovetail joints at the bottom corners of the carcass so that the grooves would not interfere with the joints.

The left end.  Note the stopped groove (shallow mortise) on the near edge. The groove at the far edge goes all the way to the bottom of the end piece.

One further note: I had originally made the horizontal divider as wide as the ends and bottom.  But for the back panel to fit, I cut off 5/8" to allow the inset panel.  When figuring out how much to cut off the divider, I dry-assembled the toolbox after the rear grooves were cut in the ends (and before the back panel was put in place.  I marked with a knife where to cut the divider directly from these grooves.

Once the panels were fitted, I was able to do some shaping on the ends, as well as the handle.  Then a dry assembly showed it was really starting to look like something.  The glue-up followed shortly after a couple rehearsals.

Shaping an end

A first dry assembly

And then with glue and clamps

I ended up adding a couple more clamps after this.  I saw that the bottom dovetails had not quite closed up.  Another clamp and a few hammer blows got them seated.

I also glued strips to the interior of the front and back panels that would support the tray.  These 3/8" x 5/8" strips were positioned so that their top edge was 3 1/4" above the floor of the upper compartment.  That allows 3 1/4" of vertical space below the tray - just enough for me to fit my battery drill in there.

Gluing in the tray support strip. The wooden block in there was used to set the height of the strip.

Next time I'll write about making the upper tray and the drawer.

The heat continued today with the humidity being bearable due a breeze blowing. I got the primer coat on the top, drawer fronts, and the 3 drawer unit. I got 3 coats of shellac on the drawers for the 3 drawer unit and one coat on the bureau drawer boxes. I got a  quart can of of smoke gray that I'll use maybe in few days. I am getting close to saying this is done.

knobs

These are oil rubbed bronze knobs. That are close enough to black for me to use on the 3 drawer unit. I bought 8 larger oil bronze knobs for the 5 drawers. I got them from Lee Valley and they set me back a little over $70.

sneak peek

I like the scale of the knobs with their respective drawers. I changed my mind on painting the drawer faces. I will paint the carcass smoke gray but the drawers will be left natural and get 3-4 coats of shellac.

one down, one to go

I finished this chamfer with a chisel. The other side would be a couple of inches longer so I unscrewed the back stop thing. That allowed me to plane the chamfer on that side from front to back.

passed

Freshly painted surfaces will stick to things placed on them. I painted this about 2 weeks ago and it has been hanging out on the enclosed porch. I left this board on the top for 30 minutes and it didn't stick. I could easily move it around with one finger. I'll put 3 coats of shellac on the top and bottom shelf and get it back to holding the coffee maker.

I got the time

The coverage wasn't enough with one primer and one top coat. I sanded the bureau carcass and the primer coat showed through. I got a second coat on the bureau and that looks good to go now. I decided to apply primer to remaining bureau parts waiting to be painting. I am betting that I will have to put two topcoats regardless and the bureau ain't going south until september.

top and carcass

I sanded the carcass with 150 and the white streaks are the primer coat. The sanding leveled the topcoat and smoothed it out. All the brush marks disappeared and the next topcoat laid down sweetly.

drawers

I did go back to the shop after dinner and I got a third coat on the 3 drawer unit drawers. The bureau drawers only have one coat and it was too hot and miserable to be rubbing steel wool on the drawers and putting a 2nd coat on them. I should be able to get 2 more on them tomorrow.

3 drawer unit drawers

Ran out of horizontal surfaces to put the wet parts on. I installed the bottom dust panel with brads, the other two are in loose. I want to have the carcass open for when I reinstall the drawer guides.

accidental woodworker

 It was miserable hot and humid today. The mercury topped 95F (35C) and my shop temp is now up to 76F (24C). It no longer feels cool when I go down to it but it better than the living room which was hovering around 86-87F (30C). I took it real slow again today pacing myself so I wouldn't work up a sweat. I have a lot of painting and shellac work up coming and I'm not looking forward to that. I'll slog my way through it as best I can.

changed out

Put on the replacement back stop thing, marked the ends and removed it. Sawed it to the correct length and screwed it back on - no glue.

no round overs

I plan on putting a small chamfer on 3 sides of the top. IMO the angled cut will fit in better than a round over would.

another sneak peek

I wanted to put a chamfer on the 3 drawer unit but there isn't enough real estate in front of the tray. The chamfer would be at most a 1/8" and that is too small.

stop hinge

This is the hinge I am using on the tray lids. The other option was using a chain fall lid stay. I think this one will be a better choice but I'm not sure how well this will fare once Leo takes possession of it.

flushing the lids

I sawed out the lids so that they were a wee bit oversized front to back. The hinges are installed and I used the block plane to flush the lid to the front of the tray.

took some fussing

It took a few dance steps getting the gap between the two lids consistent. I got lucky with how well the grain flows and matches across the gap. 

thumb catch

I roughed in both the catches with rasps and smoothed them with sandpaper. I found it much easier to make the catches with a rasp vice a chisel.

prepping the drawers

I will paint the front of the drawers with shellac on everything else.

I went to the Benjamin Moore store to get another can of paint but they were out. He told they will be getting a shipment in tomorrow so I headed back to the shop to find something else to do.

story stick

I want the drawer fronts to be centered on the bureau. The story stick fits between two 3/8" brass bars flush on each side.

drawer layout

I was able to use the bottom 8" drawer front. Instead of putting it a 1/4" up from the bottom I made it 3/8". I used 1/4" plywood as spacers between the drawer all the way up to the top.

road trip

Went to the local package store and got a bottle of Everclear. I mixed a quart can of a 2lb cut of shellac. I'll shake and stir it tonight and it should be ready in the AM.

accidental woodworker

 Had a productive day. I started early and I almost worked through lunch. I was in the groove and everything was falling into place for me. All the drawers are done and fitted to their openings. The tray is done minus hinging it - still on the fence on that. Got the top of the bureau done and the drawer fronts are next. All in all a good day where I planned on quitting early due to the heat and humidity today.

all done

I did the two small drawers correctly. The middle one I put the bottom of the drawer on the top. It still works and the only odd thing is the top is labeled rather than the bottom.

middle drawer

The drawer went in all the way and I was able to push it straight through and out the back.

right drawer

The height is good but the R/L is a 32nd over.

repeat on the left

Height was good on this one too. Both drawers planed up without me tearing out chunks of wood. I haven't had good luck planing drawers lately. 

tray ready to unclamp

I added a band clamp on the top to keep the miters tight top to bottom. I didn't try to break the miters after unclamping. Had my toes and fingers crossed that I would get the bottom and splines glued before they got stressed.

the top

I am going to saw out the center portion between my fingers. That will put cathedral grain on each tray lid. I like this face better than the underside one. That face has cathedral grain too but it is darker and harder to see.

center divider

The fit was still on the loose side but it is hard to see. The dark wood is working to my advantage and hiding the joint lines. I will be gluing the bottom to the center divider too.

banding

I sawed up an off cut into 1/8" strips. I only need two but I'll save the extra for a box in the future.

1/8" plywood bottom

 Got the slips and the bottoms dry fitted on all 3 drawers.

glued and cooking

I glued the side slips in first and let them set for 20 minutes before I glued the front slip in. The bottom isn't glued and is secured at the back with 3 brads.

sweet

This wood (whatever it is) is a dream to use a card scraper on. Planing it is ok-ish but the card scraper left a much better surface than the plane did in both the look and feel.

past lunch time

Got the 1/8" plywood bottom glued and cooking.

good flow L to R or R to L

I can't wait to see what the lids look like with some shellac on them. I am going with surface mounted hinges. I have some small 90° ones that will fit at the back. I would use butt hinges but I am not thrilled with having to chop the mortises for them in this mystery wood. The center divider dado didn't come out clean - the edges were ragged out a little on both walls.

couldn't wait

I had to squeeze in a sneak peek of the drawer unit and the tray. I was thinking of leaving the the 3 drawer unit natural but I am going to paint it. The tray will definitely be left natural and finished with blonde shellac.

banding going on

I glued on the short ends first and let them cook for 30 minutes before I glued on the long front and back ones.

change #1

I sized the front to back to be a 1/4" beyond the drawer front. I didn't like the look of that so I add a back stop thing and I like this over hang. I'll be sawing this so that it is a 1/2" now.

banding is done

Due to the thickness of the banding I didn't miter the corners. The one I did try to miter splintered and ragged out badly at the toe. Again the size of the banding and the darkness of it will obscure that it is a butt joint.

change two

I screwed the back stop thing on with no glue. One point deducted because I put it on backwards. The face here is the bottom and I will swap it out for the one behind the tray. It is taller and I will clip the ends at a 22 1/2 angle or I might round over the top ends. It depends upon the moon phase on thursday.

accidental woodworker

 Didn't get much done as much as I thought I would today. My back has been throwing a hissy fit from when I ran some stock through the lunchbox planer. It is especially bad when I first get up in the morning. It gets better as the day wears on but it ain't easy bending over at the waist. While working on the dovetails today I had to do them super slow (for me) and go vertical more than bent over. Fingers crossed that I'll be done with them tomorrow.

drawer stock prepped

The two outside openings are within +/- a 32nd and the middle one is an inch wider than them.

last one

The drawer fronts are a 1/2" thick and the sides and back I thinned to 3/8".

ready for dovetailing

I planed smooth all the rough bandsawn faces. I didn't go nutso trying to get them +/- within an atom of 3/8". When all the rough was gone, I was done.

new back

The back I did for the first one was short on the height. I hope that I remember not to install the back until after I get it screwed down to the top of the bureau. Doing the middle screw from the back will be easier than trying to reach it from the front.

drawer slips

Dug out all the scraps in the shitcan and banged out a boatload of slips. 3/8"x1/2" with a 1/8" groove for the plywood bottom. I wasn't trying to do it but I got the groove perfectly centered on the 3/8" width.

tray cooking

I didn't size the miters. I've been watching miter glue ups on You Tube and I haven't seen one person size them first. These will be reinforced with maple splines so they will show against the dark wood of the tray.

My center groove is on the loose side. I chopped a stopped dado because I didn't want the groove to show at the top. I think the glue will swell and close it up some and due to the darkness of the wood it won't be a neon glaring sin to see.

half blinds

This little step makes marking the tails on the pin board so easy. I originally bought the skew block plane for doing bread boards but I use it mostly for this now.

done

Dry fit is pretty good. The drawer will go all the way in with a little gentle persuasion. I only got one more drawer done today before I said No Mas and killed the lights.

glued and cooking

A couple of the tails weren't cooperating and fully seating. Needed some help with the clamps.

two down, one to go

This fit isn't as loose as the center drawer. I plan on making all three on the loose side because this is going to North Carolina. I won't be able to make a house call to fix a sticking drawer.

I came up with a plan for the bottom on the tray. As of now it will be 1/8" plywood glued to the bottom. I will install banding on the bottom edges to hide the plywood. That is subject to change though depending upon how the tray behaves out of the clamps.

accidental woodworker

 Realized today that I was being overly optimistic about finishing up Leo's bureau. I still have a fair bit of woodworking left to do. Applying shellac to the drawers is going to be a PITA. They will eat up a lot of real estate while they dry between coats. As for the bureau I have to attach and paint the top, make drawers for the 3 drawer unit, make the two compartment tray that goes on top of it, and finally paint and attach the drawer fronts. Add to this mix what to do about the knobs? Make them, use what I have on hand, or buy something?

cooked overnight

Ready to unclamp this and keep on trucking with it.

not square

This end divider is out of square by a 16th. It leans inboard at the top that much. Having fitted drawers to an out of square opening, I wasn't looking forward to doing it again. You have to match the out of square side to that side of the drawer for it to work.

doubled my fun

The opposite end divider is out of square too. Along with the screw up I made with the opening that spells doom and gloom for this 3 drawer unit.

tray stock

I had cherry (my first choice) but I didn't like how it looked against the gray of the bureau. Whatever type of knobs I use they will be black and this tray will be a nice contrast with the knobs. I think this wenge but I'm not sure. 

one down, 7 to go

I had several 1x 6 x 24" boards of this radiata pine stashed. I didn't have to plane any of the pine I did for the 3 drawer unit.

insert a scream of your choice here

I was checking this as I chopped each dado to make sure I hadn't wandered out into La La Land. I fixed this one like I did my first screw up.

cooked over lunch

I got 3 1/2 of the dividers fitted. All of them were snug and I had to shave a wee bit to fit them.

less than a 16th

The first thing I checked were the two dividers on the ends being squared. They were along with the other two. I got to clamp this again, this time with glue.

#8 screw

This is something I forgot to do on the first drawer unit. I put one screw on the end drawer openings at the front. The middle drawer opening I put it at the back. I will screw this down to the top of the bureau.

tray stock

I am mitering the tray and I will install splines to strengthen the them. The wood in the besseys is the center divider for the tray. 

miters shot

I didn't know what to expect planing this stock. I didn't run into any hiccups with it. The miters came out clean and smooth. The plane didn't have any problems with the wood. What I did have problems with was planing the edges for gluing up the center divider. The outside edges splintered off and I couldn't get a seamless joint line.

dry fit

It took some fussing but I finally got the corners flush. I stopped here because I haven't decided on the bottom yet. I will have to attach the tray somehow to the top of the 3 drawer unit. Maybe inspiration will strike overnight.

need more booze

I have two empty quart cans, almost a pound of blonde shellac, but I am on the low side with the Everclear. I have enough for a pint but not the quart I want. 

squared the ends

I am overhanging the sides and the front 1".

cupped a wee bit

I could easily flatten the cup down to the workbench with one finger. I know that the top will lay flat once I screw it down. I clamped it now to keep as flat as I possibly can until it is attached.

accidental woodworker

Some of you may have noticed I haven’t been too active lately. Thankfully I remain in good health, but life has been super busy. I’ve missed woodworking and creating things with my hands, though, so I ended up making a small card/deck box for a friend. Small boxes are great! You can knock one out in a day or so, and this felt like a good project to get me back into some woodworking. If any of you have played Magic the Gathering, it’s a box to hold that sort of cards… most people buy cardboard or plastic boxes to keep their cards in, but this was meant to be a special thank you. Anyways, feel free to click through the pictures or grab a cup of coffee or tea and read on.

 We are just shy of having declared independence (1776) for almost 250 years.  George Washington was not inaugurated as the first president until 1789. That was 13 years after the Declaration of Independence. It took a few years to sort things out with a war and then getting the 13 colonies to act as a collective voice than individual states. I wonder what kind of a country my grandkids will be passing on to their grandkids?

done

I got five coats on the top (4 on the underside) before I hit the rack last night. The shellac I mixed has a better shine to it than the store bought stuff. I still have to mix a new batch because I don't have enough to do 3 coats on all of the drawers.

had enough

This surprised me a lot. I would have bet a lung I didn't have enough to get one coat on the carcass and base. I still have to paint the drawer fronts and the top. All of those are waiting in the wings for their cue.

before I forget again

I looked through my remaining 1x12's and picked the flattest and straightest one. The growth rings on this board a rift for about 70%. It should make for a stable, trouble free top.

flat to the clamps

I didn't have to plane the edges on this - they laid up almost perfectly as is. I planed a few shavings off each edge to give me a clean one to glue up. I'll let this cook until tomorrow.

drats, and double triple drats

What a brain dead, fart stinky, idiotic me-steak this was. I clearly marked where the dado was to be chopped and I promptly ignored it. On the flip side the dadoes all came out snug and self supporting. I'm getting better results each time I chop one of these by hand. I filled this in and after it has set up I'll chop the dado to left of this one.

I like the look

I will use half blinds on the drawer and they will be inset and flush with the front edge of the dividers.

the back panel detail

This will be screwed down to the top of the bureau which will be up against a wall. Amanda said she already has a spot for it in Leo's bedroom. I sawed a rabbet in the two end dividers and shortened the two middle dividers a 1/8". This way the back won't be seen if the drawer unit is viewed on the sides.

correct dado chopped

I waited about 45 minutes for the insert to set up before chopping the new stopped dado.  The me-steak dado will be hidden by the drawer.

back fitted

I used 1/8" chinese plywood for the back. I didn't see any need to use 1/4" and have it eat up some real estate from the drawers.

another drat, and double triple drat

My drawer opening are asymmetrical but not in an orderly way. The left and center drawer openings are 6 5/8" and the right one is 6 1/16". To my eye it is just over the line of saying 'hey the openings are OTL (out to lunch)'. I really don't want to make another one mostly because I don't have any more 1/2" stock for the top and bottom. Instead I'm thinking of keeping the drawer unit as is and the tray on top I'll make one compartment bigger than the other mimicking the bottom drawer openings.

possible

I'm not entirely onboard with using these knobs for the bureau. I like shaker knobs (my favorite) but I'm not thrilled with how they look with this bureau. I may warm up to it as I have more to do on it. I looked on Lee Valley and nothing jumped out and slapped me saying 'use me, use me.....'.

done

I'll leave this open for a few days for the shellac to harden and set up. It is kind of muggy so the days may stretch into a week or more. 

I used the same glue on the dovetails that I used on the lid that went south on me. So far the tails and pins are solid. No movement in either along with no gaps or shifts in alignment. Regluing the pins and tails ain't going to be as easy as regluing the lid was.

accidental woodworker