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Birdwood House is a listed building, overlooking Totnes market square. It was originally called Somerset House and was the home of the Babbage family; later to produce Charles, the inventor of the Difference Engine, the first mechanical computer.

The building was refurbished in 2005 to house the Gallery, a venue for art. The art gallery is partially lit by a roof lantern. Unfortunately, the lantern had seen better days, so we were called in to do a restoration of it, starting on the 23rd December last. Listed building consent was acquired by the owners. After stripping the paint back, it was obvious restoration was not possible, and so a new lantern was made, saving and restoring the roll-top cap.

Here it is this morning, complete with anti-bird wire to replace the nasty bird spikes that were there before.

It has been a while since I have written anything about a medieval food recipe. Last year, we were re-enacting at the (pre-)historic village in Eindhoven which also involves cooking a meal for the Saturday. This time I tried out some new medieval recipies. One of them was white ravioli, a sweet dish.

Piglia de bona probatura fresca he pistala molto bene poi azonze pistando un pocho de butiro, zenzevero he canella. Et per una probaturaazonze tre ghiari d'ova ben batuta et del zucaro honestamente. Et incorpora tuti queste cose insieme. Poi fa li ravioli longhi he grossi uno dito. Poi imbratelli in bona farina. Et nota che questi volemo esser senza pasta. [marginal annotation in the manuscript: et se cum pasta li vorrai, falli.] He falli bollire adasio che non si rompano. Como hano levato uno buglore levali fora he meteli in scutelle cum zucaro, canella, he li poi far ghialdi de zaffrano.

Manuscript MS Bühler 19, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, USA, 5rv.

Of course I cannot read medieval Italian (or Napolitan as the book is believed to be of Napolitan origin), but luckily there is an English translation in the book: The medieval kitchen - recipes from France and Italy by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban and Silvano Serventi. There is also a youtube video (Italian with English subtitles, see below) of the recipe, though this does not mention the source, just that it is late 15th century.

Ingredients

600 g soft white cheese, such as mozarella (di buffola)

20 g of butter at room temperature

2 egg whites lightly beaten

4 tablespoons of (cane) sugar

flour for dredging

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of ground Ceylon cinnamon

salt

a few threads of saffron (optional, I did not use it)

 

Preparing the dish

Mash together the cheese, butter, ginger, half of the cinnamon, all sugar except 2 spoonfulls, a pinch of salt and the saffran in a mortar or food processor. When the mixture is very smooth (or a bit less smooth in my case) add the egg whites. Cool down the mixture.

Mix together the remaining sugar and cinnamon.  Put some flour in a  shallow plate for dredging.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, and lower it to a simmer.

Take a spoonfull of the mixture and form the ravioli. Coat it with flour by rolling it through the shallow plate. Set aside on a floured tray or cookie sheet.

Drop the ravioli one by one in the lightly boiling water. Do not stir the ravioli as they can break apart easily. When the ravioli are ready they float to the surface and they can be scooped out with a skimmer. Drain well. Serve with some sprinkled cinnamon and sugar mixture.

 

The white ravioli served us warm as a desert (the ravioli were served as a first course though at a banquet by Sozzo Bandinelli on 23 December 1326 for the knighting of his son) at the end of our dinner, and the leftovers cold as breakfast the next morning. They both - warm and cold - tasted delicious.

 Now that I am not having surgery for a while my wife is abandoning me and heading for North Carolina again. She didn't say when she was coming back but Mr Darcy and I will survive somehow. I can function ok without adult supervision for a little while.

glad I looked

Went to Lowes and I picked out 4, four foot, 1x12's to take home. But I checked the 6 foot 1x12 rack which I hardly ever do. In my opinion 99.99% of the pine here averages 2 bazillion knots an inch. However, I found 2 nearly clear boards in the pile. After I found these two I put the four footers back, and headed for the barn. 

breaking it down

I got everything I needed for the box out of one board. And I had a 13" long piece left over that I'll save for something else.

just a wee bit

I'm going to plane the box stock down to 5/8" thick. The first step was to establish a reference face and get it twist free and flat.

chamfers

Got my chamfers planed on the four edges down to the gauge line. One board is for the sides and the other for the ends.

fingers crossed

Got a rough patch that didn't come clean out of the planer. From looking at my gauge line here, I think I'll be able to plane all of it away.

lightly set iron

I had roughly an 1/8" to remove from this face. I retracted the iron and I was planing a path way about 3/4" wide. I went straight across the face first and then I criss crossed it R/L and L/R. 

smoothing the first one

Used both the #3 and #4 to smooth the board after planing it flat with the #7. 

done

Both boards are 5/8" thick and I'll sticker them until tomorrow. If they do any stupid wood tricks over night I'll plane it down to a 1/2". 

before I commit

I did the math for this in my head so I'm laid out a story pole on a scrap of 1/4" plywood.

I added and subtracted right

I was shooting for a 1/2" of wiggle room R/L and I have about 3/4". That should be sufficient for taking it out and putting it back in.

I took the table off and did some measuring and I am sticking with it assembled. The width was the same but the depth and height changed by a few inches. Not enough to convince me to put up with putting it on and taking it off each time I use it.

found it

This is/was going to be the bottom back rail for the base on the miniature dresser I just made. I'm not sure if I'll put it on now but if the urge moves me I'll keep this underneath it in the the interim.

block plane pit stop

Chris S just wrote a blog about when should you sharpen? For me it is to avoid it for as long as possible. Even if I know the tool is too dull to use. As long as I can strop it and get by, I consider that sharp enough. But that only applies to my chisels - not the planes. These planes are my frequent fliers and they were dull.

RML shavings

What a difference - it was making shavings before but after sharpening it the shavings spilling out of the mouth effortlessly. This LN 102 small blockplane is my favorite out of all the planes I have in my herd.

LN 60 1/2

This used to be my favorite until I got the LN 102. When the iron is freshly sharpened it will shave the gnarliest end grain. That is how I gauge how dull this plane gets.

I was on a roll

I hope to be doing dovetails tomorrow and I sharpened the chisels I'll need for that. These probably were sharp enough to do the pine but they will be awesome now that they are freshly sharpened.

any bets?

It is a crap shot with stock from Lowes. I have found that the longer it hangs out in the shop, the greater the chances are for it do stupid wood tricks. I'll find out in the AM.

extra

I think it is a good idea to buy extra when buying wood. Especially in this instance where I only needed one 6 footer but bought two of them. Finding almost all clear pine in a #3 common pile is rare. 

Blogger went bonkers on me typing up this post. I had to close out and sign back in 11 times. I think I know what the problem is now. I noticed that the automatic save  function was working overtime. It was switching between gray and red on the half circles arrows. During that time I couldn't click on anything. Maybe it is the almost 15 years of daily blog posts that are causing blogger to go bonkers on the save as you type function.

accidental woodworker

I went to the shop for a little while this AM but didn't get much accomplished. I didn't have any wood for what wanted to do anyways. My thoughts weren't really on woodworking but on my afternoon urology appointment. 

That went well and I was in and out before I knew it. The procedure was uncomfortable but I did get to see my bladder and prostate in color. The good news is that I didn't have any tumors in the bladder and the enlarged prostate will be easy to fix. I have a pre-op appointment in April and a TURP will done the end of April or early May. At least I know what the next step is going to be.

might as well

Decided to make a box to house the Kreg loose tenon jig. The first step is to eyeball it and choose the size of the box. That is dictated by the jig itself. So getting some overall measurements - width, length, and height - was in the batter's box.

hmm.....

The table is screwed on and can be removed. However, I don't want to bother with having to take off and reinstall parts every time I use it. The jig in this orientation is close to a perfect square. It is 12" R/L and about the same T/B. The front to back is a little under 8".

horizontal orientation

This is the way I what the jig to lay in the box. This will keep the height of it to about 10" with the length and dept being 14" over all.

bonus

The boxes for the loose tenons fit on the table. I don't have to devote any real estate in the interior of the box for them. I like having the jig and all its accessories all in one spot.

tenon cutters

I can use the space under the table to to stow the 3 tenon cutters. Or I can stow them elsewhere and keep this space for storage more loose tenons. 

got lucky

There is enough room here to stow the box with an inch or two to spare. This is as far as I got today. I have some pine in the shop but it is 5 1/2" wide and I don't want to glue up stock for this box. 

I'll call Koszela Lumber and see if they have any wide pine or poplar. If not I'll make a run to Lowes to get some #2 pine to make the box.

accidental woodworker

There are challenges we can do nothing about, and then there are the challenges we face in the work we do and might choose to present to ourselves on purpose. That curved balustrade that sweeps gracefully between floors up and along many metres, following the sweep of the stairway to the stars, can be complicated,...

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Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it.

I use my Japanese planes for shooting all the time. Despite the 2- and 3-point contact design used for the sole of a Japanese plane, using them for shooting is perfectly fine. If you're on the desktop version of the blog, you can do a search for "shooting" to find all the posts I have on using a Japanese plane with a shooting board.

I've covered shooting the end grain and the long grain edges, and other details about using a shooting board.

You may think that the 2 or 3 point contact set up of the sole of a Japanese plane would cause problems with a shooting board, but in practice, it's not an issue. I've also used shooting boards with western planes. In both cases, the results depend more on technique than on the plane itself.

I recently noticed that it’s been FIFTY YEARS since the musical duo of Richard and Linda Thompson released their heartbreakingly luminous song “Dimming of the Day.”

How did fifty years flash by so fast?

Notwithstanding the dynamics of their marriage and splitting (the breakup was so traumatic that Linda was hysterically mute for a couple years afterward) their seven-album output from 1974-1982 was as good as it gets.

Just more captivating music to listen to while imposing organization of the first (basement) floor of the barn.  There are times when having 7,000 square feet of space is not a blessing.

I actually like this one because it’s an eye opener for those who actually sit and watch the whole video.

 Today was a beautiful early spring day. The temp got up to 55F (13C) and I went to the store without a coat or a sweater for the first time this year. The daytime temps are forecasted to be in the low 50s F until the weekend. The ice in the driveway has finally melted but there is still a lot of snow in the back yard. Maybe that will be gone by the weekend.

Tomorrow I have an urology appointment that I'm not really looking forward to. It may or may not keep me out of the shop for few days. I won't know that until tomorrow around 1500. I left off in the shop today in a good spot and I have the AM session tomorrow to squeeze in something.

it worked

This is the divider I broke yesterday. I was able to square off the tapered ones I had done yesterday. Why didn't I think of holding it this way then?

how I did it yesterday

I must have been brain weary to try and do it this way yesterday. I can see why my sanding and planing came out tapered.

done

I wandered into '....one more swipe' land and the dividers are loose in both directions. In my defense, I only planed enough to square up the ends.

dividers loaded up

I couldn't find any mini, 1x, or 2x dowels in the ones I currently don't have on Amazon. Time to search the WWW and see who else is selling them. I have empty compartments to fill.

first glamour pic

It still needs a few more coats of shellac on the knobs but I'm calling it done.

I snapped this pic standing about 5 feet away and I couldn't pick out the drawers with missing veneer on the fronts. I think I'm going to leave them as is for now. It is something I can address at anytime I want now.

errant pilot hole

This is totally invisible from 3 feet away. The one to the left of this is 90% hidden by the drawer front.

took a beating

The pine I used for the drawers is overly soft. All the dents and divots on the top drawer are from clamping the veneer on. The other side is worse than this one along with the other two drawers.

I really like the faux stiles and rails on the sides. I wonder if my gluing them on will cause any issues with the sides expanding or contracting?

the back

I should have done the faux stiles and rails on the back too. Just saw that I forgot to put the back rail on the base. I looked for it but I couldn't locate it - not a big deal IMO and I think it will be fine without it.

the finale - side pic

I applied Howards feed 'n wax only to the top. It was ready to move to its new home.

30 minutes later

It took me that long to clear off this table and vacuum the 3 tons of wood dust that covered everything here. I had one more dresser to put here - the one I made for my Dowel Max jig.

half of the crappola

The other half is on the workbench. I couldn't believe how stuff I had on this table just laying around loose.

maybe

This isn't set in stone yet. I had all 3 side by side but I put the nail dresser on top the Miller Dowel dresser. Two things I don't (didn't) want to happen - #1 that the dresser arrangement would cover the framed poster. It may stay this way because I have zero wall space for it anywhere else in the shop.

#2 I don't want anything in front of the dresser that will interfere with opening the drawers. I dislike having to move things that are in the way of getting to something else. That maybe unavoidable due to my affinity to load up empty horizontal surfaces in a New York minute.

 

two hours later

I moved the trim router box and its bits over here along with the Kreg loose tenon jig. I will be making a box for it but I don't know when. I also moved my box of japanese tapered wooden nails here. In the future I want to keep this pile of crappola associated with each other.

more empty horizontal space

A few things that resided here, now reside on the table with the dressers. I know it is not going to take more than few days to fill this up with all kinds of crappola.

hmm......

This is a cut off guide I had made for a circular saw. Since I don't have that saw anymore I am going to repurpose this for the bandsaw.

works

The left edge of the sled is flush with the bandsaw blade. The right side support extends out over 16". The only difference between this one and the other is there is no support on the left side of the saw kerf. It cuts square and I envision using it to square ends. I have a little over 5" to work with.

Before I forgot again

I went through my Eric Sloane books writing down the titles I have. I ended up with 3 duplicates that I'll pass on to my nephew. I know have a solid foundation knowing what books I have and what I still have to acquire. I would like to get all the books that he wrote or co-authored.

accidental woodworker

Well, Scots pine is also known as Redwood, Russian redwood and more names than you can shake a redwood stick at. In the sixties, we bought Redwood (Pinus sylvestris) from Russian climes in beams to resaw into vast numbers for a wide range of work. The smell filled the rafters and wafted around the shop...

Source

I can’t believe it’s been 15 years since I first started writing Giant Cypress. Time flies, and it’s been a fun ride. Here’s to another 15 years or more!

The doors for the series of modular tansu that I’ve been covering in this series of posts are styled after traditional tabi-dansu doors like the one on the cabinet on the left below: The doors on these cabinets are made from edge glued quartersawn panels with a mitered frame. All the tabi-dansu that I’ve seen… Read More »Modular Tansu – Veneered Doors

The post Modular Tansu – Veneered Doors appeared first on Big Sand Woodworking.

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.

 I thought I would be done with the dresser today but it didn't happen boys and girls. Came close and two things held it up. The first was a divider breaking in two and the other was the shellac. I wasn't happy with the 3 coats I had on everything. However, I didn't think getting a few more coats on today would hold things up but it did. So maybe tomorrow before the oohs and aahs and glamour pics.

3 coats

For the most part I'm ok with this except for the top. It is splotchy looking and lacks a consistent shine. The sides and front are ok. I got a 4th coat on it and it helped a bit but not enough.

these are good

However, I am going to apply however many more coats of shellac I end up putting on the carcass on just the fronts.

hmm.....

Four coats of shellac and the first two drawers won't close as freely as they did. I can shut the top one but it fought me the entire travel distant. The middle one won't close up flush. The bottom drawer still rides in and out on a cushion of air.

oops

The top drawer drawer is tight at the top. The oops is I veneered the back and not the front - the front was toothed. 

pure beeswax

After planing the two drawers to fit again on a cushion of air, I waxed the bottoms and sides of them all.

back on

I put shellac on both sides of the back which precluded me gluing and nailing the back on. So the back was just nailed on - 5 nails along each of the four edges.

6 coats

I think this is done now. I like the consistency of the coverage and the shine. 

why?

I'm blowing in the same mint OS again because I'm stubborn. Both of these Linux books proved to be absolutely useless in addressing the problems. I tried to use 14 commands and only one of them worked. That one was the cmd 'help'.

so far so good

I didn't have any problems blowing the OS back in. However, I installed the OEM version and I didn't write down the password so I couldn't boot into Mint. So I'll be blowing in another Linux OS in the AM.

tenon jig

Whacked this out to trim the tenon to length. The wood is as thick as the drawer fronts. After I trimmed them length I sawed a kerf for the wedges.

cherry wedges

I wanted maple for the wedges but I couldn't find any maple scraps. Cherry was the only other hardwood I could find. I don't like using pine for wedges in birch/maple - it is too soft and it doesn't spread the kerf in hardwoods sufficiently.

oops

I over sawed the kerf on the left one. I went through the base and it sticks out like a neon light. I thought I could put it faced down but it was still visible.

2 of 3

I didn't have these two Sloane books and I bought another duplicate. The Grange book is a first edition which I wasn't expecting for $4. The age of barns is a soft cover reprint.

half laps

I laid out the half laps and sawed the slots on the bandsaw with the sled. I was extremely happy with how well that came out. I don't think I would have been able to saw half laps this deep, in this thin pine, with a handsaw.

wee bit too snug

It kinda of fits but I was leery about using a mallet to seat the half laps.

self supporting

I sanded the area where the half laps were first but that was slow going. I used my #3 with a finely set iron to plane it. I got away with that because I was expecting the planing action to cause the divider to buckle and snap into kindling.

super glue

This is the bottom divider and it was a tad loose in both direction. I applied glue to the bottom of the divider. I also wicked more super glue on the bottom junction between the dividers and the bottom after setting it place. Finished up by wicking more glue into the half laps from top to bottom.

middle drawer dividers

This one tore out a lot on the darker divider. I had checked and thought I was planing with the grain but I wasn't. The tear out didn't effect the fit though - still got a snug, self supporting fit.

another good fit

This one gave me fits trying to fit it into the drawer. The long and short divider was a couple of frog hairs too long.

sigh

This was not only difficult to plane/sand, it was )&W%)@*%_@* incredibly frustrating too. It was hard to hold and sand or plane the ends. 

yikes

This happened on after trying to remove it after the 5th trim and check the fit. Part of the problem was I was sanding/planing at angle. So it would go down (tapered) until it would jam. Then I had to fight it to remove it - I lost the 5th attempt but I did go 4 for 5.

now I wait

The part broke into two when I tried to open it to get glue in the break. I'm lucky that nothing is married to this. The alignment on the faces was flush and I let this cook until the AM.

top drawer divider

This one went together off the bandsaw. No sanding or planing necessary. It is snug and self supporting.

lots of room

This might be over sized but I'm ok with that. If need be I could empty this of the dowels and dividers and repurpose it. I doubt that will happen in my lifetime but the grandsons might do that.

accidental woodworker

In my “Bowl Adze Primer” article (Part of the Adze Owner’s Manual materials), I discuss adze bevel geometry. After receiving a good question via email yesterday, I’ve just added this illustration to clarify the geometry that has worked well for … Continue reading →

In prepping for the tool cabinet parquetry mock-up — that is as exact as I can make it rather than my previous proof-of-concept — plus the actual parquetry on the cabinet, I was going to need dozens if not hundreds of the diamond units.  A task that large is similar to eating an ox.  You do it one bite at a time.

Here’s that first bite.

My starting point was cutting hundreds of 30-60-90 triangles both with the grain and across the grain.  My veneers were all white oak cut from leftover scraps from the French Oak Roubo Project, and man was it dense.  I tried cutting the triangles using jigs and handsaws (that is how I teach introductory parquetry workshops like the upcoming one at Wood and Shop near Charlottesville VA), but soon came to the realization that this ox needed a little prodding.

Given my recent success using my Delta benchtop bandsaw with a fine blade, combined with a new strategy for working the parquetry, I decided to do all the sawing on that little machine.

Soon enough I had two plastic shoebox-sized tubs each filled with hundreds of the slightly oversized triangles I needed for what would come next.

Changed horse #1.

Even though I wasn’t sawing the triangles by hand I was determined to edge plane each one using precise shooting jigs fabricated especially for that purpose.  A few dozen of those, especially the ones that are primarily cross-grain, and that determination flagged.  I needed a different system if I was to get the ox eaten.  That “new system” will be the focus of my next post on the project.

Changed horse #2.

In addition, once I first established the size of the parquetry pattern I created a brass template to make each diamond the perfect size and fit.  I was so intent I used trigonometry calculations and a vernier caliper to get the dimensions and angles really precise.  (If you ever wondered when you would use what you learned in 11th grade Trig class, now you know.)  The frustration of this fussiness soon depleted my enthusiasm for this approach.  The alternative I devised will be demonstrated in a post a way down the road.

Changed horse #3.

Stay tuned for “what would come next.”

PS  Posting might continue to be sorta sketchy for another little while as grandson #3’s arrival is imminent, and grandsons #1 and #2 have birthdays right on the heels of #3’s introduction to his share of the national debt.

On a recent blog post I wrote that I have been searching for a Stanley toothing blade for the #12 scraper forever. This morning I saw one for sale on Jim Bode's site for $95. That initially seemed overly rich but this is the first one I've seen in all of my searching. I believe Stanley made these toothing blades in 3 flavors too. I should have pulled the trigger on it when I first saw it. I went back on his site in the afternoon and it had sold. If you snooze, you lose. Maybe a miracle will happen and another will pop up for sale.

ready to go

I had brought this upstairs yesterday after mixing up a batch. I shook and stirred for the entire night. When I checked it this AM it was fine. All the shellac flakes had dissolved.

bottom clamps

I used only glue to attach the bottom dust panel in place. I didn't have any short brads to nail it in place. The smallest brads I have are 3/4" long and I didn't want to nail them in at an angle. Just glue is probably a better choice for this application.

the finishing plan

Applying shellac is all the 'woodworking' that was going to be done today. In the AM session I wanted to get 3 coats of shellac on the bottom of the carcass and the drawers. Wash, rinse, and repeat for drawers and carcass in the PM session.

soaked in

Isn't this exciting? A blog post about shellac drying? The veneer I glued on was still adhered. There weren't any bubbles where the veneer wasn't glued down. It was still tight on four edges around the fronts too.

done and gone

I got 3 coats on everything including the plywood back panel. The shellac from 1/25 is almost empty - there was just enough to do the 3 coats. What little that was left I dumped in to the shellac I mixed yesterday.

sigh

Found another missing piece of veneer. That makes all the drawer fronts a matched set. All three drawers have a missing piece that I will have to fix. Decided to do that after the shellac goes on and I can eyeball the dresser in situ. If I can live with the missing pieces I'll leave them be. But I doubt my OCD will allow that.

)_&(*@($^*%_)@ piece of sh*_(@&*%@_)%t

I haven't used this since I reloaded it with the Linux OS. I turn it on a couple of times a week just bring it up and go online. On sundays I update it but that didn't happen today. One of the lines of computer crappola said there was a BIOS error. This is usually an indication that the CMOS battery voltage is low. I'll put checking that on the list of things to do maybe.

knobs

Glad I caught this on the second coat of shellac going on the drawers and the carcass. I will put 5-6 coats on the knobs due to their upcoming up wear. These paper clamps work great as work holders. No shellac on the tenons.

any bets?

That these will be out of sight and out of mind?

missed it

I put the veneer on the bottom drawer the wrong way. The straight grain at the bottom should have been at the top. There is a collision between the bottom of the middle drawer and the top of the bottom drawer. Not much I can do about it now - can't remove the veneer because I don't have any more oak in my pizza box of veneer.

Other than that brain fart, the drawer fronts look good. I already did a sneak peek with them in the carcass and they looked good. You can't really tell that the carcass isn't oak also.

The goal for the rest of the day is get back to the shop after dinner and get the third and final coat of shellac on everything. I already have two on but I may go more than 3. It depends how I like the look of 3.

accidental woodworker

 I do believe that all that is left before the oohs and aahs commence, is to apply a couple of coats of shellac to the dresser. It hit me just before lunch that I had no more woodworking to do on it. Now that this is done I can turn my limited attention span back to the maple kitchen ladder/stool. 

I think the cherry one is going to be resting for a while before I get back to it. I don't want to use the lunchbox planer in the driveway with the cold temps and snow. After that I don't know what else is on the horizon to challenge me.

last drawer

Brought the drawer back to the shop this AM after it slept all night by the kitchen radiator. I did get this caul covered with wax paper before I glued the veneer on.

got nervous

The caul didn't want to come away. I had to use a chisel to wedge it at the top before it separated.

difficult to remove

I tried the marking knife and that was iffy at best. A fresh razor blade didn't work neither. I couldn't hold it flush to the side to cut with. Tried the veneer saw and that was a dismal failure - the hide glue gummed up the teeth and it wouldn't saw. I finally got it removed cleanly with a chisel. I put the bevel against the side and tapped it with a mallet. The waste came off clean and flush.

veneer repair coming

I planed the veneer proud at the top with a blockplane. This end was brittle and loose - the glue didn't bond that well - a chip came off.

nope

A chunk of the pine came off when I chiseled the angle for the veneer repair. Sigh. Not sure how I'll fix it now. I set this aside and kept on trucking.

cleaned up

Used a card scraper to clean the veneer. There were a few bits and pieces from the caul but I had no problems scraping those off. 

more veneer issues

Clueless as to how this defect came to be. 

right on the edge

After what happened on the first veneer repair I am on the fence with this one. It is hard to see and the underlying pine color is a good match with the oak veneer. This will be another veneer repair I'll sleep on.

can I fix one now?

I gathered up some of the shavings I made with the card scraper and stuffed them in the defect. I then flooded it with super glue.

five minutes later

I block planed most of the waste first followed up with the card scraper. From directly above it I had to search to pick it out. This worked surprisingly well and like hide glue, super glue is invisible to shellac too.

sneak peek sans the knobs

It doesn't look that bad. I had some concerns about the oak being too wild looking in the grain department but it isn't glaring here.

shaker knob choices

The left one is birch (or maple) and the right one is cherry. The cherry is too small for these drawers and especially the middle and bottom drawers. I am using the birch knob for the drawers.

getting close here

Got the holes drilled for the knobs and I'll install them after the shellac. I found some thin pine scraps to use for the drawer dividers. The plan is to divide each drawer into 4 compartments. I think that there are only 4 Miller Dowels - birch, cherry, oak, and walnut.

2x dowels came today

Size comparison between the 1x and 2x. I bought a package deal on the 2x dowels - 40 birch ones and the drill bit which I didn't have. I also got 100 cherry mini ones. That was all that I could find on Amazon.

bottom dry fitted

I thought this was the last of the woodworking but there was a wee bit more. This will keep any crappola from getting into the drawer from underneath them. I screwed the base to the carcass with one hiccup. I am always wary when screwing into end grain like I did here. I used #8 x 2" brass wood screws and all four tightened and felt secure.

sigh

I drilled two holes for screws for the front of the base to be screwed to the carcass. These will seen even with the drawer closed. I didn't think that they would end up this close to front edge.

another big sigh

This was confirmation of what I already knew and didn't want to see.

making 1/8" dowels

The holes are a 32nd under an 1/8". I have 1/8" dowels but they were smooth and were a loose fit in the holes. The dowels I made were a slight friction fit. 

not perfect, but much better

With a casual glance they shouldn't be noticed. 

base molding done

I glued this just to the base - tried not to get any glue on the carcass. I used my pin nailer to clamp them while the glue cooks.

drawer dividers

Smoothed the rough sawn faces and then sawed them to length. I'll do the half laps for them after the drawers have their finish applied to them.

mixing shellac

I buy empty quart paint cans from my local paint store and I use them for my mixed shellac. I finally figured it out that 2 1/2 cups of Everclear and 6oz of shellac flakes will just about fill the can. This is a 2 pound cut of shellac. The batch I mixed last month is almost gone and definitely not enough to do the dresser.

Still having hiccups with blogger. It isn't freezing 5 or more times and it is now down to one freeze up in each of the last 3 days. PITA because to clear it I have close out and go back in. I wish it would go away and annoy someone else.

accidental woodworker

The only thing two days might have in common with one another is the unpredictability of them. We plan one thing, and then something happens that turns what we hoped to accomplish completely on its head. It’s life. A road works, temporary traffic lights and a redirection sends us a different, much longer way. Today...

Source

 Everything fell into place so nicely for me today in the shop. I got all the drawers fitted before lunch. I was expecting to spend a good portion of the day knocking them out. The three of them were done before lunch time. In the PM session I got two of the drawer fronts veneered but not without one me-steak and a potential second one.

reference done first

The bottom of the drawer is my reference for fitting them and I deal with that first. All I did was smooth and flush it and checked it for twist.

hmm.....

I thought I was starting with the top drawer but..... It fits in the opening this way but too tight R/L. All I had done at this point was to smooth the bottom.

helping hand

This scrap is as wide as the drawer. I need it to keep the jaws parallel when I tighten the drawer in the other end of the vise. This vise will close on the drawer and toe in the other end without it.

I'm learning

All I had done to this point was to flush the pins protruding proud on the sides. That is all I did and I resisted the urge to take a couple more extra swipes. There is a gap on the front top so the hang up is at the back. From this point on I only plane the top edge for fitting - the bottom won't be touched at all.

wee bit tight

There is a gap on both sides and it is tight on the back right top. The left side top has a frog hair gap.

almost  there

The margins on the front look consistent and the drawer will go in/out but it could be better. It is a wee bit stiff and I want the drawers to open/close freely like they are riding on a cushion of air.

Took the drawer out and made three planing runs around the top edge. I followed that up by planing a slight hollow on the top back between the sides. That did the trick and I got my air cushion open and close.

toothing blade

This is a Kunz toothing blade that fits the Stanley #12 scraper. I have been looking for years for a Stanley toothing blade without any success. I used this freehand to tooth the front face of the drawer in preparation for the veneer.

wow

I had to pinch myself because I had two drawers fitted in less than an hour. 99% of the planing to fit the drawers was done on the top edges. Basically all I did on the sides was flush the pins and tails. Not complaining but I was expecting to do a lot more planing and fitting dance steps.

the top drawer

High corner and opposite of the one on the 2nd drawer. The bottom is laying flat at the back and the front. Treated the first drawer to same treatment as the 2nd one.

done

I can push both drawers almost 3/4 of the way out the back with a gentle tap on the front. Fingers crossed that I won't have any expansion headaches come this summer.

coulda, woulda, shoulda, but didn't

If I had thought this through I would have started fitting the bottom drawer first. That way I could have used the same jaw spacer - I would just have to cut off some for the next two smaller drawers. Duh!

flushing first

The pins were slightly below the tails - I planed the tails flush with the pins and planed the hump flat on this side.

3rd drawer

The fitting of this drawer was going incredibly fast and easy. This is the fit of it after planing the bottom and flushing the pins/tails on the sides. This drawer didn't have any high corners at the back or the front. Planed the top corners flush, smoothed the top, and planed a hollow at the back. Done - drawer slid in/out on a cushion of air.

I was happy that none of the drawers had any hang ups with the drawer runners. I thought maybe the two I put in backwards might have caught the bottom edge of the drawer being a frog hair too low. But that wasn't so, all drawers had no hang ups.

I got to the shop a little after 0900 and all 3 drawers were done by 1019. A little over an hour. I thought I was being optimistic thinking it would take me all morning to get that done.

where it will live

The plan is to clear off this table and put the new dresser here. I am going to move the Dowel Max dresser over here too. I can fit those two here along with this one which has my Tremont cut nails.

glue blocks

I put glue blocks on all 3 drawers to tighten them up. What a difference they made - the sound when hit bottom with and without them was a big difference. I used hide glue to attach them and rubbed them in place and left them to cook.

1/4" back

The back is dry fitted and ready to attach. I will leave it off until after I get the knobs and finish on the carcass and the drawers. After that is done I'll glue and nail it on.

after lunch road trip

Went to the Frame it Shop after lunch and picked up the frame of the grandkids and the parents. This came out fantastic IMO. The frame colors and the mat complement each other perfectly. I went with an asymmetrical placement for the pics - this arrangement is interesting looking IMO.

veneering prep

Made a clamping caul for each of the drawers.

checking the first veneer

Sawing this veneer was not easy. I have a fine tooth veneer saw (50TPI) and cross cutting with it did not go smoothly. The rip saw cuts were ok and easier. But the saw didn't like making cross cuts - it took a lot of calories and dance steps to saw through thin veneer. After the second drawer I used my marking knife to do the third one.

oops

Screwed up the 3rd drawer veneer. I got the length off of the side instead of the front or back. Had to pick out new veneer and I settled on oak only because I could get a continuous grain flow from top to bottom with the two pieces I had.

before the oak veneer

I think this is ash but I couldn't get 3 pieces to match. I played with these swapping them around and trying different looks but in the end I said No Mas and went with the oak.

clamped and cooking

Got two clamped and after dinner I'll try to get the last one clamped and cooking too. I wanted to use these clamps to do it and I ran out of them. Forgot that I had small 5 and 6 inch F clamps clamped on the floor joists I could have used.

fingers crossed

Just realized here that I hadn't put any wax paper between the clamping caul and the veneer. In the past when I have veneered, the hide glue has bled through the veneer. I don't know what to expect with this and if there will be any glue squeezed through gluing the caul and the veneer together.

If that happens, I used hide glue and it is reversible. I will have to pick a new veneer and start over after I remove the veneer. I'm thinking happy thoughts that I won't have to.

optimist

I prepped the last drawer caul with wax paper. That will be ready to use regardless of what happens with the first two drawers.

clamping the veneer dry

The oak veneer is bumpy and wavy. I clamped it dry to see if that would help flatten it some. I'm counting on the caul to flatten the other two veneers and the hide glue to keep them that way. I'll find out if I should have done any pre-flattening treatment when it comes out of the clamps.

accidental woodworker 

PS after dinner work, I couldn't wait and let it cook until the AM

3rd drawer

Got the last drawer front glued, clamped, and cooking.

it was stuck

I was able to get the cauls off. I had use a chisel as wedge and pry them off. this drawer front caul broke into 3 long pieces. If I had let this go until the AM the caul would have been glued solid to the veneer. That white spot above my thumb are remnants of it - I had planed a lot of it off already. Originally it was about 5-7 inches long. A card scraper was working well with cleaning it up and I'll finish up with that in the AM.

2nd drawer

The caul on this drawer was plywood and just some little bits and pieces were stuck to the veneer. The first drawer caul was solid pine. I had to reglue some veneer that lifted at the top right edge. Both of these will camp out in the kitchen overnight next to the radiator.