JKM Woodworking

The case has been together and it's time to work on the drawers. As a reminder here is a pic from the previous post:

Carcase waiting for drawers

First I resawed a wide piece of basswood to provide material for the drawer sides. After planing and jointing the bottom edge I plowed a groove for the drawer bottom. This time I remembered to plow the groove before crosscutting it into smaller pieces. That's less hassle than crosscutting first and then plowing five grooves in five pieces.

making groove in long piece of basswood

Then these pieces are individually planed to fit their spaces, and marked. They are all overly long and will be cut to length later.

planed to fit

Next I fit the drawer fronts. First they have to fit between the legs side-side before adjusting the up-down dimension. I crosscut them on the bandsaw and fine tune the ends with a shooting board. Then the top edge is planed to fit.

too tall fits but tight fits with penny gap

When planing the top of the drawers to fit I tried to keep a penny gap from the top edge of the drawer to the top edge of the rail.

pennies for spacing five drawer fronts fitted

Before joining the sides to the fronts I made drawer pulls. I have two previous projects in my house with similar pulls:

homemade drawer pull, about three inches long

I made them one at a time with a saw, chisel, and plane. Now that I need five I tried to shape a longer stick all at once and then cut them free. I used an old offcut as reference.

old offcut with walnut stock

I figured the underside was the most complicated part so started with that. I plowed a narrow groove and then used a shoulder plane to make a ramp. The outside curves were made with the shoulder plane, although any plane would work. The inside curve on the bottom was made with whatever worked - shoulder plane, chisels, gouges.

1/8" wide groove shoulder plane for angled cut roundover

The drawer pulls needed a tenon to match the mortises in the drawer fronts. I made those mortises with the domino and an 8mm bit.

overlapping domino mortises in drawer front

I made a shallow rabbet (a penny's thickness) on the top edge and then rabbeted the bottom edge until the tenon was 8mm thick.

my wood battens were too flexible drawer pull stock with 8mm tenon

Finally this long strip was marked to cut into five pieces. The ends of the pulls are angled with a 1:6 dovetail marker. After cutting free and cleaning up, the rectangular tenons had their ends filed to fit into the rounded mortises. Four out of five were a tight fit. I think glue alone will hold them as it's a long-grain to long-grain joint. The loose one I will probably wedge.

drawer pulls cut free and in progress rounding ends of tenon fit into mortise front view

For joining the sides to the fronts I anticipated using rabbets and nails. Then I realized that since the drawer sides were 3/4" shorter than the fronts, there would be an exposed rabbet at the top.

drawer front is taller than drawer side

So I am going with dovetails. It's a lot more work. I cut the dovetails with a dozuki and fretsaw out the waste. The laying out and transferring can use some work. Maybe by the time I'm making the last few I'll be more comfortable.

dovetails before cleaning up. basswood is fuzzy.

I have basswood set aside for the drawer backs. They will not be dovetailed as I like the idea of leaving the sides extending past the back. There is about 19" of depth in the case. If I set the back at 16" deep then the sides can extend 2-3" further. And 16" is a good number for cutting plywood. But I'm not making any commitments yet.

potential dimensions with back at 16"

For now I have to dovetail four more drawers.

I'll pick up partway through the carving.

Set in with gouge if it fits well

For setting in I will use a gouge if the curves match, but mostly I've been using a carving chisel. I hold the leading corner above the wood and the trailing corner slices down to the desired depth.

setting in with chisel

For the modeling step I worked on the leaves first. Since they are in the background they are cut a little lower than the flowers. I try to define which go under and behind others, and round over the edges. I try to touch all surfaces so no original flat wood is left. These carvings are so shallow there's not a lot of depth to work with.

wet with alcohol so can see surfaces

There's not much of a detailing step, but I did use a nailset to add some little circles.

nailset

After finishing the carvings I made rabbets on three sides.

mark to crosscut top top edge sawn and rabbeted

I lined up the carving next to it's box and marked a top edge. I cut this with a fine tooth saw, and then made a rabbet with the saw and a shoulder plane.

with top rabbet made, mark for side rabbets

The side rabbets were made with a shoulder plane and batten. With rabbets on three sides I could fine tune the lid to fit into the grooves. Finally I crosscut the bottom edge.

trace the overhanging bottom edge to crosscut

I experimented by applying refined linseed oil to only one of the boxes. I used a rag for the box (outside only) and a brush for the carved lid and then wiped them dry after a few minutes.

note the difference between the oiled outside of the box and un-oiled inside

I intended to finish the boxes with garnet shellac. The purpose of the experiment was to determine if linseed oil provided any depth or improvement over shellac alone. I tried that with walnut and decided it wasn't worth the extra step and assumed the same would be true again.

After allowing the linseed oil to dry overnight everything got several coats of garnet shellac. It was frustrating to apply as rags didn't work for the carving, and the cheap paintbrushes I used kept losing bristles.

4-5 coats of shellac on the outer surfaces.

Now we're finished. The sapele box with the daffodil lid is the one I used linseed oil on before the shellac. The sapele is darker and the carving is darker and more defined than the irises. So for butternut carvings and sapele it appears that linseed oil + shellac makes a difference over shellac alone.

Sapele boxes, butternut lids, bamboo nails, cherry plywood bottoms, hide glue. Finished with garnet shellac +/- linseed oil. Width x Length x Depth approximately 8 x 11.5 x 3 or 4.5 inches.

daffodil carving iris carving

Here is a family picture with my last box. That lid was finished the same as the iris lid. It must have just gotten darker with time.

bulbs from another mother

I planted daffodil and tulip bulbs last fall. No irises. I've been watching the tulips emerge and waiting for them to bloom. Deer ate them last night.

I guess deer don't like daffodils

I have this offcut of sapele I've been carrying around for a long time. It is about 8" wide and 22" long. I resawed it by hand before I had a bandsaw. Since then I've been carrying the pieces around.

took a long time

I decided to make small sliding lid boxes. The purpose was to practice carving butternut. I thought I was just going to knock out a quick project—that was two months ago.

thickness planed

Construction is much the same as my previous box made out of sycamore. I thought that box was too tall, so I ripped these sapele pieces to make two shallower boxes rather than one deep one.

sawing rabbets after plowing grooves

Grooves are made before crosscutting. The long ends have rabbets to hold the short ends. One of the short ends has it's top cut off for the sliding lid. Rip and cross cuts were made on the bandsaw with a coarse blade. The rabbets were made with a japanese saw and shoulder plane. Sawing with the blade parallel to the bench isn't the easiest but it's a short cut and allows not readjusting the holdfasts.

The bottoms are cherry plywood. I cut two pieces too narrow before I stopped measuring and just held the plywood up to the short ends to make marks.

mark, don't measure

I glued up the boxes with the bottom in place and later added bamboo skewers as nails. I would have liked to make sapele nails but they did not split straight.

bamboo skewer nails with hide glue butternut tops may not be wide enough

The widest piece of butternut I have is barely wide enough to work. I may have to glue some more on the edges. I should have checked that sooner. This 4/4 piece was resawn and planed to just under 3/8" thickness.

daffodils, tulips, irises

I found three potential carvings in Paul Hasluck's "Manual of Traditional Wood Carving". This is the type of book that is so old it's available for free. I got it from the library and took pictures. I stretched the dimensions to fit and printed them out. I transfer the image by putting graphite paper underneath and tracing the outline with a ball point pen.

the shiny black side goes down it's quick when it works

The boards are oversized which allows the holdfasts to be placed out of the way. I position it at the corner of the bench so I can approach from different angles.

I've heard different terminology for the stages of carving. I will borrow from Chris Pye as I just watched some of his beginner tutorials. He lists them as:

• Lining In
• Lowering
• Leveling
• Setting In
• Modeling
• Details

Lining in is done with a v-tool, outside the lines. I think most of my carvings are not deep enough so I went over the lines at least twice. Lowering is done with a #7 gouge against the grain up to the v-tool lines.

v tool outside the lines lowering leaves ridges

For me the leveling and setting in steps blend together. I mostly set in by slicing along the lines with a chisel, but sometimes use a gouge that matches the curve. Leveling is done with chisels or a #3 gouge up to the new set-in lines. I got some new old carving tools from an old tool fool, including my first bent gouges and a carving knife. They should help in tight spaces.

The left side is set in and leveled, the right side is not. We're in a tight spot!

Now I've got the daffodils to the modeling step and have yet to start the irises.

two box lids in progress

I'd like to experiment with different wood stains and finishes, but spending $15-50 for a small container usually stops me from trying something new.

I've tie dyed clothes a couple times and wondered if it would work on wood. There's not much on the internet about it. Most woodworking sites lean towards made-for-woodworking dyes. But since I was making a batch of clothes I thought I'd see how they worked on wood.

powdered dye and bottles

The dyes are called fiber reactive or procyon-mx dyes. I order mine online as I think they are more vivid than dyes from the craft store. I get my supplies from Dharma Trading. They also sell the squirt bottles and ready-to-dye clothing.

The dyes come as a powder which is dissolved into warm water. Most of these bottles are 8 fluid ounces and they need 2-4 teaspoons of dye depending on the color.

For my woodworking experiment I used only three primary colors: #1 Lemon Yellow, #12 Light Red, and #25 Turqoise. By overlapping them you create secondary colors. These are also the colors I use to create the classic spiral on fabric.

swirl or spiral shirt from three primary colors

For the wood I selected some scraps of light colored species: soft maple, ash, white pine, and basswood.

top-to-bottom: maple, ash, white pine, basswood

My first try was a total failure. I squirted the liquid on and it didn't really soak in. It just blended into a yucky colored soup.

yuck

So I flipped the boards over and wet them. I wiped them with the same soak I use for shirts, which is washing soda dissolved in water. I thought the pre-wet wood might absorb the liquid dye better, which was a little true, but still was disappointing.

better than yuck but still not good

But I could see the grain through the dye, which I was hoping for:

grain detail

At this point I figured I should stop treating the wood like clothing. With clothing you can squirt the colors near each other and see what happens when they blend. With woodworking nobody pours Early American stain next to Dark Walnut and expects to be delighted. I planed or sawed the surfaces and then laid out some lines for more careful application.

the dye soaked into the ash deeper than the other species third try gives better results

Every other space is a solid color, and in between those are mixed colors. I applied the dye to a rag and then wiped onto the board, so the color mixing happened in the wood. Mixing the liquids in the bottles would be more reliable.

annotated

This experiment was better than the first two. Also notice how the colors don't behave the same for different species, most noticeable for the white pine.

end view

The big question is how lightfast these dyes will be. Paula Burch has an authoritative hand dyeing site which includes a FAQ about lightfastness. On a scale of 1 to 8 with 8 being the best, my dyes are listed with lightfastness of 6-7 (yellow), 5-6 (turqoise), and 4 (light red). That sounds good enough for indoor items for me.

That's where my experiment ended. I think tie dye would be a good choice if you're looking for bright, primary, unnatural colors. And it leaves the grain visible. I did not apply any finish on top. I think lacquer would be a good choice as it's pretty clear.

This project is loosely adapted from Chris Schwarz’ White Water Shaker Bench. I used to find the article online, but for now was only able to find it in the book “Classic American Furniture” by Schwarz & the Editors of Woodworking Magazine which I got from the library.

Part of the appeal of the project is supposed to be its simplicity. There are only three pieces of flair: a cutout curve on the bottom of the legs, angled ends to the aprons, and notches at the top of the legs for the aprons to set into. I should have stuck with that, but had the wise idea to add grooves/rabbets/dados to lock all the pieces together. That was unnecessary and added a lot of effort and time.

It is made from white oak, my first time using oak. I started with a 10″ wide board and two 2 1/2″ wide boards. The narrow boards were 48-50″ long and I just left them at that length for the aprons. The 10″ wide board was eight feet long, so after cutting off the checking and two 17″ legs it ended up about 60″.

To make rabbets on the underside of the bench I used a plow plane with a wide blade. I had to make two overlapping courses to get to a 7/8″ width.

For the legs I drew ogees with a compass. I drew similar ogees at the ends of the front apron. All of these curves were cut with the bandsaw. With a wide bandsaw blade some parts were more nibbling than smooth. I later cleaned these up (a little) with a file.

With the aprons and top almost done, I was ready to mark the locations of the legs.

I traced the legs and carried the marks across the inside of the aprons. I thought I could saw out the walls of these dadoes while all three pieces were clamped together, but that was not ergonomic. I sawed and chiseled out the dadoes individually.

Before notching the legs to fit inside the aprons, I decided to glue and nail the aprons to the top.

I was under the impression that regular fasteners may leave stains or discoloration on the oak, though now that I type this I’m not sure if it’s true. I considered nails from copper, stainless steel, or wood, and went with copper.

Fairwind Fasteners sells them by the piece. I got some 8 and 10 gauge sizes to try. The 8 gauge nails needed 3/16″ pilot holes, and the 10 gauge nails used 5/32″.

I glued the aprons into their grooves with liquid hide glue and let it set overnight or longer before nailing. Once the aprons were glued and nailed, I worked on fitting the legs. The notches were marked with a marking gauge and a saddle square. They were cut easily or even too loose. The top of the legs that fit into the dados were a bit tight and some of their edges had to be planed.

Unlike the aprons which I let sit for a while, I wanted to get the legs square and nailed up quickly. I drilled the first part of the pilot holes first. After glue was applied and the legs were positioned I drilled the rest of the pilot holes and hammered in the nails.

I did not think of finishing until I was almost done. “No finish” was a strong contender, but I also would like to bring out some of the contrast or color. I made test boards of sealcoat shellac and refined linseed oil and chose the shellac.

By this time the project was nailed together which would limit any sanding or scraping, so I’ll have to live with the imperfections. I applied 4-5 coats on the top and front apron and 2-3 on the legs and back. I applied the shellac with a rag. Later I rub it with a brown paper bag which reduces some of the shine.

For now it will live in the garage. I even found a boot tray that fits between the legs.

I rough cut the rails and drawer front together in the hopes of having the grain match. I spent a lot of effort on that and don’t think it was worth it. Each piece lost material with planing, and then more when fitting the drawer.

For the drawer sides I wanted a light colored wood so the dovetails would contrast with the cherry. Choices were poplar, soft maple, and basswood. I went with basswood as I thought the softness might help jamming the dovetails into their sockets. I ripped a long piece to match the width/height of the front and then plowed grooves.

There’s a lot of info and gurus about cutting dovetails. I don’t have a set routine. But I know when I cut the tails with a japanese saw, I can’t cut the waste out with a coping saw. The coping saw blade is too thick to fit in the kerf. I have to use a fretsaw.

The sockets I chisel out with a mortise chisel for the open areas and smaller skew chisels for the corners.

I ease the underside of the tails to help get them started quicker. I think I learned that from Rob Cosman’s videos. All of these edges will be covered. If they were through dovetails you’d have to leave the exposed ends alone.

I made a mistake I didn’t notice until gluing up the drawer box. I had cut the drawer back to fit between the sides by using the front to gauge the distance. But I dadoed the sides which means the back should have been that much wider.

Discovering an error at glue-up didn’t leave much time for problem solving. I could have cut a new piece, but once I realized the cause I moved it forward a little to where the dado wasn’t.

I planned to pin the back with skewers but did not. I did glue some scrap into those dados which I hope will act like corner blocking.

At this stage I had to solve the problem of fitting drawer guides into the already glued carcase. The plans call for gluing them to the sides. I wanted to do extra as this table would be a Christmas gift. I didn’t trust glue alone to be secure long term and I wouldn’t be around to repair it. Another reason is that the unseen inner sides were not planed as well as the outside, so it might not be a flat glue surface.

I lost several days trying to think of screw-free ways to install the supports. Things got easier when I resigned myself to just using screws. I used poplar and ash for the guides as I had scrap close to the proper dimensions.

The runners and kickers are notched to fit. Each has a screw into the front rail and the back leg. They are also glued along the side apron. The picture also shows the screw holes for mounting the tabletop, circles for the front and back and elongated on the sides.

I returned to the table top whiich I had glued up oversized. I put the tabletop upside down with the frame on top and decided where to crosscut it. I also traced the corners of the legs to know where to stop chamfering.

To chamfer I eyeballed half of the thickness, ran a marking gauge around the edge, and filled it in with a mechanical pencil. The bulk of the waste was removed with a #5 plane and a #7 was used when closer to the line. I like watching the line in the corner develop. Oddly satisfying.

I scraped and hand sanded to 220 grit. I drilled pilot holes but did not attach the tabletop until after finishing.

For finishing I sprayed shellac. I did one coat of garnet shellac (all I had left) and then 3-5 coats of sealcoat. The drawer knob I supported by poking the screw in cardboard with the threads wrapped in tape.

After finishing I put the drawer bottom in, screwed in the knob, and screwed the top to the table. I waxed the business end of the drawer and runners.

I made this as a Christmas present and delivered it 650 miles away on January 2nd.

It is about 24″ high with a 16″ square top. The legs are 1 1/8″ square at the top and 5/8″ at the bottom. The aprons are 4 1/2″ wide and 11 1/4″ long.

My next project is a cherry end table. This is based off the Popular Woodworking plans by Chris Schwarz. I have made two similar tables in the past.

His plans called for a table 27″ high with a top 18″ square. I checked that against tables in my house and thought it would be too tall. I adjusted the dimensions to 24″ high and 16″ square.

For stock I bought a 6/4 cherry board 11″ wide and 8-9 feet long. My goal was to get all of the pieces out of 1/2 of the board, leaving a large offcut.

The edges of the board are good for the legs, as the grain is diagonal. After that, I had to decide which order to crosscut, rip, and resaw the pieces. The drawer front and its rails were cut out and set aside first. Then the larger section was resawn for the top and aprons.

These will be all the easily visible parts of the table. They were run through the planer enough to freshen up the show sides.

The legs started a full 6/4 thickness and I planed them to 1 1/8″ as suggested in the plans.

I laid an apron on the top of the legs and marked a little lower to begin the taper. I try to orient the tapers to cut off the sapwood and minimize grain run-out. They taper to 5/8″ at the bottom.

I cut close to the line on the bandsaw and then clean up with a plane. I tried planing in the moxon vise since it was already setup. It was slower and not any better than my older method of having the legs loosely held on the workbench.

All of the joinery for the aprons-to-legs were dominos, except for the top rail. I felt better keeping this a dovetail joint.

The domino joints were easier. I squared up the ends and marked to have the aprons set back 1/8″ from the legs.

Before glue up I scraped and hand sanded the pieces to 220 grit.

The two sides were glued up first and the next day the back and front rails were added to make a little table assembly.