Little Boxes

I often enjoy making boxes. Even with something this small, each one can be unique. You can use multiple woods, construction methods, finishes, lid attachment, etc. to construct a variety of boxes. Constructing these little 4 inch cubes is a great exercise to improve your joinery skills and finishing techniques. Plus, they take very little wood, and can be a nice gift.

You can see that the lids come off in several different ways. The one in the foreground above has a lip cut into the bottom with a corresponding cut in the lid. I cut these into the stock before it is even cut to length. The bottom lip gets cut from the front of the stock and a corresponding groove is cut on the back of the stock, with just a tiny bit of material between the cuts. Once the box is assembled and glued, the top and bottom are separated with one shallow cut on each side of the box, allowing the top to drop down onto the bottom.

I sometimes add something, like this stringing to show how the top matches up with the bottom, helping the user keep the correct faces together:

One of the lid designs I like best is the sliding lid, which becomes almost a puzzle to find how the box opens. On one panel, I cut the side just below and parallel to the top, using a very narrow kerf blade. On the other 3 sides, I make a shallow cut with the same blade in the same location, all the way around. That little groove gets filled with a dark wood, matching the opening on the side of the box where the lid will slide out:

This simple trick makes it tough to figure out exactly how the box opens at first, especially if your corner miters are clean and tight.

I am thinking these may make nice Christmas gifts this year.

Eight Panel Folding Barn Door

A barn door inside the house continues to be a pretty popular design element these days. It isn’t something I would normally go for, but we recently got a new washer/dryer “tower” and re-did the laundry closet. It is a very small area, and with the tower, a stainless steel table and some shelves, the old bi-fold door didn’t open to give good access to the closet. After looking at several possible ways to close off the space, I came across the hardware for a bi-fold barn door. The trick is that this hardware holding the door on the rail not only rolls, but also pivots. At first I thought this was not going to work because the door panels would be too wide, sticking out into the hallway when the doors were open. (The total width of the doors would be 68 inches, which would mean four bi-fold panels about 17 inches wide each.) But then in a little video promoting the door hardware, it showed a drawing of a door system using EIGHT door panels! There are four panels on each side, and instead of 2 pivoting rollers, there are 3. When Amazon Prime Days rolled around, the main hardware package and the extra rollers were both discounted and I bought them. I still wasn’t sure this was actually going to work. So, I decided to make a mock-up and test whether 8 very narrow panels would function properly, and actually open and close. I constructed 4 skinny and tall doors (8 – 1/4″ wide x 83 1/2″ tall with poplar rails and stiles. The fill panels are 1/4″ Baltic birch plywood. I hung the rail in my workshop and attached the hardware.

The rollers on each end of the unit lock to the rail and only pivot — they do not roll. Also, there is a pivot point on the floor, directly under the pivot point on the roller hardware. I used a plumb bob to locate the location of the floor pivot point. A small post mounts to the floor, and I drilled a corresponding hole in the bottom of the door panel. The test was done with only 4 panels, but it actually worked. The hardware allows the panels to roll along the bar and pivot to fold up accordion-style. I constructed the other 4 panels and began installing the rail above the laundry closet. Trying to match up the holes in the steel rail with studs in the wall was not going to be possible, so I attached a piece of 5/4″ southern yellow pine above the door opening and then attached the barn door rail to that. After it was painted, it is hard to even notice the backing board is there. I should mention that, in addition to two additional pivoting rollers, this design also needs additional hinges — with three hinges each between doors it takes 18 hinges. The hardware I bought came with only 9 hinges. I have worked with the supplier to get an additional 9 hinges. I sourced the hardware on Amazon from a company called BONIKLUBA. They have several different packages for different door widths, etc. Their hardware works well and I am pleased with the final result, after spraying the panels white and adding some door pulls.

Completed installation with pulls.

Refurbishing an Old Banjo

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Burls and Resin

Maple Burl and Resin Bowl

I received a bunch of maple burls from a good friend awhile back, and have found a number of ways to use the wood. One technique that is very popular these days is to use some colored epoxy resin to fill voids in the burl and then turn the resulting block. In order to get the epoxy to cure without bubbles, I got a pressure pot, which allows me to let the epoxy cure under about 60 pounds of pressure, which forces the air bubbles from the epoxy before it cures. Some of the burls are a bit punky and too soft to turn. I found a product called Cactus Juice which is infused into the burl after the moisture has been removed in a warm oven. The burl is then put into a vacuum chamber full of Cactus Juice and vacuum is pulled to remove the air and allow the resin to go into the piece. To cure the Cactus Juice resin, the burl is placed in an oven at about 190 degrees which hardens the resin and the burl.

Bowl infused with Cactus Juice and Epoxy Resin then Added

The blue tones in the epoxy resin create a nice contrast to the burl colors, and tend to be the color combination I have used most often.

American Flag Display Case

Flag Display Case

A neighbor and good friend passed away recently. He had served our country in the Navy in his younger days, and his family asked if I would build a box to display the flag which his wife received as a reminder of his service. I was honored to be asked, and wanted to make a fitting case for the flag. Some time ago, I was given some really nice mahogany which had been reclaimed from church pews. That seemed like a good material to use. The only tricky part to constructing the case was cutting the matching 22-1/2 degree angles to make the 45 degree corners. I borrowed a technique I found online and used a tenoning jig on the table saw with the blade tilted to 22-1/2 degrees. One other tip is to get the actual flag in hand and measure it to establish your dimensions — my case needed to be larger than many measurements I found on line. It was truly an honor to be asked to build this case .

Following the Service

Burl for Bowls and Box Tops

A good friend has generously given me a bunch of maple burl. This came from a tree that most likely was planted by his grandfather before the Civil War. The main trunk was covered in burls. Each one is unique in size and shape, as well as color and grain pattern. There are some with voids, some are a bit punky, but I hope to explore methods of stabilizing and filling so every piece can be used.

Here’s a look at the first burl I began working on:

Maple Burl

After cutting out several bowl blanks, I cut some of the burl on the bandsaw into 1/16” slices. I took a couple of these and glued them to 1/4” Baltic Birch plywood. I then covered them with clear pourable epoxy resin. When cured, I cut the piece into a top for a 6 sided box.

Burl and finished box top

The burl also yielded several bowls of various sizes and shapes.

Small bowl with filled voids

Nothing like starting a project with such colorful and beautiful stock! No matter what gets made, it’s gonna look fantastic!

Turning a Bathtub into a Plant Platform

A friend posted an idea she had for turning a bathtub that was seldom used into a plant platform. After she and I commented back and forth about how it could be done, I drew up a couple quick sketches and convinced her that cypress would be the ideal wood to use. It was a fairly straightforward project, with the platform neatly skirting the faucet, and a trap door to access the area underneath. I wanted to make it strong enough to allow her to stand on it so all the plants could be watered and tended. She is very happy with the result, and it will certainly change the look of the bathroom.

Cypress Platform installed over Bathtub

“Trap Door” opened for access under Platform

Been Making but not Blogging!

It has been more than 2 years since I added anything to this blog. I have been very busy in the workshop during that time, and the making is what has kept me going in the time of masks and illness and travel restrictions. I think I have missed live music more than most anything though.

So, my time has been taken up by cutting, shaping, turning, and sanding lots of wooden objects. Here are a few highlights as I try to catch up and hope to be a bit more timely with posts going forward. In no particular order:

Guitars

My 4th guitar is almost finished. Here are the first three:

First one (left) Mahogany one, (center) Lefty one (right)

Tool Cabinet

I finally figured it was time to upgrade my old red and black Craftsman rolling tool box that had housed the majority of my hand tools over the years. After all, shouldn’t a woodworker have a wooden tool cabinet? So, with some quarter-sawn white oak, my dovetail router jig, a bunch of drawer slides and a little bit of time:

New oak tool cabinet

Little Boxes

Seems I am always making little boxes of some sort. One of my favorites these days is a hexagonal shaped box that was described in a Fine Woodworking article by Clark Kellogg. I had the pleasure of taking a course from Clark several years ago, and he does some very fine work. One of the little embellishments I added was to attach a crystal to the top of some of the boxes. Others use highly figured woods. They are fun to build and look much more difficult than they actually are.

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  Hex Box with Crystal

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  Hex Box

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  Jewelry Box

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  Hand-Cut Joinery Box

Spoon Carving

I took a “Zoom” class on spoon carving from Curtis Buchanan and Elia Bizzarri. It is a very different type of work than I am used to. Much more emphasis on grain structure than cutting a straight line. And the best part is, they go right into the kitchen and are put to work!

Turning

I am a complete novice at turning. I hope to take some courses when the world returns to “normal” someday. In the meantime, a friend provided me with some red oak burls to play around with. Here’s the first result from it.

• 

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Red Oak Burl Bowl

Okay, that’s enough stuff for now. The workshop has been a real blessing during the pandemic. Back to work now!

Simple Bedside Tables

Recently, I made a king size platform bed for the guest room. With the king bed taking up more space than the double bed it replaced, I wanted to make a couple of bedside tables that would have a rather small footprint and a simple design to complement the bed.

I again used ash lumber with a small amount of walnut as contrast. The bed has legs that taper from bottom to top, and I incorporated that “reverse taper” into the legs of the tables. The table top is designed to mimic the platform bed itself, with a central panel surrounded by a mitered frame, or “platform.” The mitered corners have walnut splines which strengthen the miter joint and provide a color contrast. Where the top frame and center panel meet, there is a small chamfer all the way around, which emphasizes the frame and panel look.

Matching tables near completion

The overall look is clean and simple, with the light-colored ash wood completely visible under several coats of clear shellac. For a guest room, it will provide just enough space for a small lamp, and  a place to put some personal effects. There is a small shelf below that will undoubtedly end up filled with reading material, etc.

As for construction details, the apron has tenons which go into mortises on the legs. The stretchers which hold the lower platform also use a mortise and tenon.

Top Clip shown from underneath 

The top is secured with little metal clips which fit into slots on the inside of the apron and screw to the underside of the top. These clips allow the wood in the top to expand and contract without splitting.

Since the platform bed is fairly low, the tables are only 26 inches tall, and the tops measure 15 inches square.

There will be a few other pieces built for the guest room eventually, but for now it is ready to go!

3-D Look Cutting Board

It seems that people are always asking for cutting boards, once they know that I have made a few. I have several patterns that I have made and continue to make, but this “waffle” pattern has always intrigued me. The trick is to be able to hold a 45 degree mitered corner with a 90 degree square behind it for a nice tight glue joint. Each little square is made with a mitered piece of cherry and one of maple with a walnut square in the inside corner. The way I construct these is to create a 36 inch long piece of each wood, glue them into a long square piece that is then cut into 2 inch sections and rotated so the end grain becomes the face of the board.

Gluing Jig

I was finally able to build a jig that captures the mitered components and holds them together for gluing, while at the same time NOT having the piece get glued to the jig from the excess glue squeeze-out. By using non-stick UHMW plastic for all the contact surfaces, the pieces come free after the glue dries. The jig uses a combination of screws to hold the pieces tightly in place. It is not a very quick method, but it does work.

I think this pattern will prove to be popular. It is one of my favorites. The board finishes out at about 13″ x 16″ and about 1-3/4″ thick. It is finished with a food-safe mixture of beeswax and mineral oil.

Making the Bed

The Big Ash Platform Bed

Making the bed is something many of us do every day. This is not that. This is actually MAKING the bed.

 

Our guest bedroom has had a nice old antique double bed in it. Unfortunately, that double bed is not the most comfortable for guests, especially when couples are trying to share it. So, when it came time to get a new mattress for our own king bed, we decided to donate the old guest room double bed and accompanying furniture. Then, we would move our current king size mattress to the guest room. You get the picture — we needed a king bed for the guest room.

I made the bed in our own bedroom several years ago. It is quarter-sawn white oak, and has matching chests of drawers, side tables, etc. The guest room doesn’t get all that much use, and I decided to do something a bit more simple.

I had not forgotten how much room it takes to build a king size bed. My workshop is not all that large, which is great for making smaller pieces. So, I thought I would try to build something that would at least have smaller components – a platform bed. I chose to build if from ash because of its strength, availability, and price. Plus, ash is a lighter color, which looks good with the coastal theme we have in the guestroom. The legs angle out, providing a little more stability and a nice counterpoint to the squareness of the platform.

Head and foot pieces with lap joints.

The rails are made of 5/4 x 6 inch ash, each with an edge piece of 2 -1/4 inches border. Each corner is made as a lap joint, with a large square mortise underneath to accept the tenon on the leg. The lap joints have 5/16 in carriage bolts holding them together, and a 5/16 hex bolt which holds the platform to the leg with a T-nut. There is a center support, with an adjustable center post. The slats are Southern yellow pine. This construction technique allows the bed to be broken down easily for transport. Not that I am looking at transporting it anywhere, but it was relatively easy to get it upstairs to the guest room.

Leg with tenon

 

It is sturdy. The wide-based legs offer great support and the 5/4 ash is solid. The piece is finished with a few quick coats of sprayed shellac.

Over the next few weeks, I will come up with some bedside tables to go with the bed. Again, something simple.

First Guitar

One of my goals upon retirement was to build a guitar. I love music. But the only music I can play is a tune on my phone. I can make things from wood, so I have built a guitar in hopes that someone can actually play it.

Retirement offers the chance to do many things that were impossible with work interfering. In 2018, I was able to attend Merlefest, a music festival in Wilkes County, NC founded by the late Doc Watson. It is a fantastic four days of music on multiple stages by lots of different musicians. One of those performers was Wayne Henderson, an amazing guitar player and a world-class luthier. Following his performance, I managed to find Wayne, introduce myself, and get an invitation to his shop in Rugby, VA. A couple of weeks later, I made the trip to Southwest Virginia, camped in Grayson Highlands State Park, and spent a day at Wayne’s workshop as he put the finishing touches on a guitar and worked on a mandolin as well. With his encouragement, I decided to embark on building a guitar. On the way home, I stopped at West Penn Hardwoods near Hickory, NC and picked up some East Indian Rosewood for the back and sides, and a piece of Mahogany for the neck. I got some Sitka Spruce off eBay for the front, and got busy when I returned home.

The first order of business was to build several jigs and fixtures necessary to cut, hold, shape and glue up the instrument. I also built a little steam box needed to bend the sides. The plans came from a free .pdf file I found on-line.

I should back up a moment and say that I had a sheet of plans for making a copy of a Martin OM size instrument that I had purchased several years ago. But on the way home from Wayne Henderson’s shop, I happened to hear a song by Nanci Griffith called “Listen to the Radio.” There is a line in the song that goes, “I’ve got a 00-18 Martin guitar in the back seat of my car.” I took that as a sign from the guitar gods that maybe I was supposed to be building a 00 size guitar. That was when I started looking for some plans. The ones I found were a free download, but making an oversize copy cost about 55 bucks at Staples. The plans had a lot of basic dimensions, but there was also a lot of details which were left to the imagination. That meant watching a lot of YouTube videos, looking at other plans, referencing books, etc. Supplies and parts such as tuners came from Stew Mac and Luthiers Mercantile, as did some good advice on the building process.

The little emblem on the head stock is called a “koru,” and is a Maori symbol based on the unfurling of a silver fern. It is made of mother of pearl cut out on a scrollsaw and is inset into the headstock by hand.

One of the things that I learned from the visit to Wayne’s shop was that he puts the neck on to the body as one of the last steps. I am not sure that I would have waited that long, but it made sense when I did wait until the body was finished, etc.

It isn’t perfect, but it does look and sound like a guitar, and I am pretty pleased with it as a first attempt. I took it to my friend Tim McLean who plays guitar very well and had him give me a critique. Here is a short video of him playing it.

 

My next project was a left handed model. Being left handed, I thought I would at least make one that I had a slight chance at being able to play. Maybe I can trade a guitar for some lessons!

Windsor Chair Class

My Finished Windsor Chair

Back in January of this year I took a Windsor Chair class with Elia Bizzari. (http://handtoolwoodworking.com/) I had been wanting to learn the process of building a loop back style Windsor for some time, and had been on the waiting list for a class with Curtis Buchanan in Tennessee. (https://www.curtisbuchananchairmaker.com/) Elia learned the process from Curtis, and builds from Curtis’s plans. Elia was highly recommended by Curtis, and as an added bonus, Elia’s workshop is in Hillsborough, NC, less than an hour from my home. When I heard about an open spot in Elia’s class, I signed up immediately.

Elia’s Workshop

Building a loop back Windsor is a pretty intense five and a half day class experience. That does not include the process of putting a finish on the chair. The great thing about the process is all the new tools I used and the new techniques required to build a chair out of mostly green wood. It was great fun, and I can highly recommend Elia’s classes for anyone interested in chair making.

We began by taking a white oak log and splitting it with wedges, a sledge hammer, and a froe. We continued splitting until we had a bunch of pieces that were about an inch square and 30 inches long. These became the back spindles. We then spent a lot of time at the shave horse with a draw knife and then a spoke shave getting the size and shape roughed out. Here is the beauty of working with split green wood — the wedge and draw knife follow the grain.

Working on the Shave Horse

As long as you start with a straight-grained log, your final piece will be straight. With sawn lumber, the blade doesn’t care about following the grain, and there is a good chance that delicate pieces like the little spindles would have places where they could snap easily because of cross grain. Once you get the feel for allowing the draw knife to follow the grain, it is a great feeling to work the spindles down, first to square, then to octagonal, and finally to round. They are tapered as well, and the challenge is to make about 10-12 pieces that are similar looking. After shaping, the green spindles are put in the kiln and dried while we built other parts.

 

The curved back seemed like an impossibility to me at first. I didn’t think there was any way to split out a piece of wood (red oak for the loop piece) and end up with a consistent width and thickness along a piece about 5 feet long. Not only did I surprise myself by keeping it consistent, I was able to use a scratch stock and put a couple of decorative lines on the loop. For the loop, we again began by splitting out a piece from a green log, working it on the shave horse with draw knife and spoke shave, and then putting it in a steam box to soften the fibers before bending it around a form. The loop and the form are both then put in the kiln to dry, and when finished, the loop holds its bent shape amazingly well.

Carving the Seat with a Scorp

The leg spindles would have taken another several days, so Elia supplies pre-turned maple legs and stretchers. The seat starts as one big block of pine, and requires a LOT of stock removal and shaping. This is done primarily with the draw knife and a scorp. The final shape is very comfortable. I guess that is why this design has been around so long.

Once all the parts have been roughed out, carved, dried, shaped, etc. we began final shaping and fitting. This involves drilling holes at specific and unusual angles. The leg holes are then tapered as well.

Final Fitting of the Pieces

Many of the holes were drilled with a hand brace and bit, with mirrors strategically placed to make sure that the angles were correct. Finally, the pieces begin to look like an actual chair! I must confess that there were times during the week that I thought that there was no way that I would be walking away with anything that looked or felt like a chair. I attribute my success in building this chair to the classic Windsor design, the construction process that has been repeated so many times, and mostly to the teaching skills of Elia. The class was a lot of fun, I learned many new skills and techniques, and walked away with a chair that I am very proud of.

When I brought the chair home, I wanted to finish it in as traditional manner as I could. Historically, the chairs were painted, often with milk paint in order to unify a piece made out of so many different species of wood.  After sanding, I began with a base coat of dark red/burgundy, followed by black finish coat. The result was just what I hoped for. In addition to being sturdy, the chair is amazingly light weight, and is comfortable to sit on.

 

 

 

Angled Mitered Box

With retirement now a reality, I have had some time to visit the North Carolina State University College of Design, where I spent my college days. The students today use equipment that we could not have even imagined in the early 70’s (CNC machines, 3-D printers, laser cutters, etc.) Of course, we used equipment that they probably couldn’t imagine either, such as slide rules and drafting machines. The thing that hasn’t changed is the experience of taking on a project, from concept through completion, with the pressure to meet a deadline.

With that in mind, I decided to give myself a project: build two identical boxes from design concept to finished product in one day. My only stipulation to myself was that the boxes must have sides that rise at an angle other than 90 degrees.

The photos don’t capture the angle, but the sides do slope at about 5 degrees. If you have ever tried to get a mitered corner to meet at an angle other than 90 degrees, you have either had to do some higher math (slide rule, anyone?) or you have found a way around the math, which is what I did. By cutting a slab of wood as a wedge at 5 degrees and putting it under my side material, I was then able to use a miter sled and make a normal 45 degree miter cut. With the wedge under the box side, it automatically got the angle right. The box is primarily rift-sawn white oak, with a spalted tamarind top. The inlaid band is wenge and tamarind. The band is designed to emphasize the curve at the bottom of each side panel through contrast. The curve gives the box “feet” at each corner without adding anything extra. The inlaid band also is supposed to mimic the small rabbeted reveal at the top of the box, which is supposed to make the top appear to float. The top has a slight rabbet all the way around the underside to register it into the top of the box. The whole thing is finished with sprayed shellac, because it dries quickly, allowing it to be completed in one day. The final dimensions of each box  were about 8″ x 4″ x 3.5″ tall.

I was scheduled to meet with the Dean of the College of Design the next morning, so I decided to present one of the boxes to him, and the other to a member of the College’s staff, who has been instrumental in arranging my visits to the school. I am just happy that I can visit the school and not have to prepare for exams at this time of year!

Back to the Blog

You know it has been a long time since you’ve written anything in your blog when you can’t even remember making the last project you wrote about. I was surprised that my hiatus has lasted this long – almost two years now.

I have been making all kinds of things in my workshop. In fact, the production has increased since retiring earlier this year. (BTW, I recommend retirement to anyone who hasn’t tried it yet.)

Perhaps I will try to write a few lines and provide some photos of some of the stuff I have made during my time away from writing. Among the projects:

• several quilt racks
• a wine rack
• numerous cutting boards
• a toy chest
• a Windsor chair
• outdoor furniture
• a sharpening cabinet for my workshop
• a couple of guitars
• over 200 toy boats for donation to Toys for Tots
• lots of little boxes

Maybe I can use the excuse that I haven’t written anything here because I have been traveling. 2018 has been a good year for travel with trips both far and near. A European river cruise, music and art in Asheville, Broadway in New York, friends and family in Arkansas, and humpback whales in the South Pacific have made the year enjoyable.

Okay, back to woodworking after this post. But first, just a few photos I took snorkeling with humpbacks in the island kingdom of Tonga. This was a baby humpback who came out to watch us while we were watching it.

It takes something pretty great to get me out of my workshop. Snorkeling with humpback whales is one such activity!

 

Reclaimed Chestnut Box

Chestnut Box, approx 7″ x 7″ x 5″

I have had a small piece of reclaimed wormy chestnut set aside for awhile, waiting for the right project to come along. My idea was to use it to make something for some friends of ours. They have been making things out of found and reclaimed stuff, and this old barn board seemed to fit right in with that.

I was able to keep quite a bit of the character of the old surface while still getting the board straight and flat enough to use. The oil finish brought out that texture and the deep, weathered colors of the wood.

The box actually has two compartments – the lid lifts off to reveal the main one, and the bottom “secret” compartment is held together with magnets. The box therefore has 2 bottom panels, each made of reclaimed spruce salvaged from a discarded piano. The knob on top is walnut, and is the only part not made of reclaimed wood.

Shoji-Inspired Doors Installed

Completed Shoji-Style Doors

This project began as a way to improve the functionality of the kitchen by eliminating a pair of swinging doors and replacing them with sliding ones. But going from a pair of very cheap, builder grade doors to these has a significant aesthetic benefit as well.

The photo doesn’t really show it, but I replaced the trim with oak as well, which helped to tie it all together. The top trim board was tied in to a nice quarter-sawn white oak valence board which hides the rolling mechanism.

The rolling system works so well that I had to add something to hold the doors closed: the slightest touch would cause them to slide open slightly. I did this with a couple pieces of spring steel which act as a brake in the last 4 inches of travel.

At the very top of the photo you can see just a bit of the tin ceiling which went in with this renovation. At the bottom is the new floating vinyl floor which I just recently completed as well. The only remaining item to complete the kitchen now is replacement of the windows!

 

Stuff that Works

“Stuff that works, stuff that holds up
The kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall
Stuff that’s real, stuff you feel
The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall”    — Lyrics by the late Guy Clark

This is not a forum for advocating anything in particular, including any brands, types, or manufacturers of tools. But when I find something that works unexpectedly well for me, it makes sense to put it out here. I spent quite a long time pounding away with a chisel and mallet, cleaning out and squaring up the rounded corners on the Shoji Style sliding doors.

Before

After

Each of the two doors has 12 square acrylic panes, with four corners each. That’s 96 corners to clean up, in some pretty tough white oak.

I tried several different chisels, trying to find one that would work quickly and do several corners before it needed to be sharpened. A couple of no name chisels failed very quickly. My old Stanleys and newer Lie Nielsens did relatively well. Finally, I settled on a Lie Nielsen mortise chisel to chop out the majority of the waste , then clean it up by paring with a Stanley bench chisel. This combination worked great. After pounding on the Lie Nielsen mortise chisel for over half of the corners, its edge is still in great shape – it’s going right back into the drawer with no need for sharpening. And that Lie Nielsen mortise chisel is a wonderful tool. But this post isn’t about the chisel. It’s about the mallet.

“I’d rather be a hammer than a nail.”   — Song lyrics by Paul Thorn

Blue Spruce Toolworks Mallet

I have to admit that I bought the Blue Spruce Toolworks mallet because it looks great. A classmate at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship had one and raved about how wonderful it was. When you hold it, it weighs WAY more than you can believe. Like its filled with lead or something. The Blue Spruce website says it is, “totally infused with acrylic resin to fill every cell.” I don’t have any idea how they would have done that to a gorgeous piece of tiger maple. But it looks great, with the African blackwood handle, and feels balanced and ergonomically perfect in the hand.

But here’s the amazing part: after beating on chisels, not only on this project but many others, there is not so much as a scratch on the mallet. Blue Spruce Toolworks claims that the acrylic infusion “helps prevent crushing of the face grain.” I can vouch for that. How does a mallet not get dented and scratched with use?

The Blue Spruce Toolworks mallet is a tool that works. I won’t ever have to buy or make another mallet. It feels great to use, works perfectly, and, yes, it still looks great!

Sliding “Shoji-Style” Doors, a Work in Progress

Kitchens never seem to have enough space. A pantry with double doors swinging outward require room to open, and must be accounted for when arranging other items. In our case, the kitchen table and chairs must be placed to give sufficient room for the doors to swing open.

A work in progress.

As an improvement, I am building a pair of sliding by-pass doors. Most everything in the pantry is small enough to access with only one door open anyway. So, there is limited down-side to this modification. Eliminating the need for the doors to swing open is a significant up-side.

I wanted a door that was strong, and light-weight, and would not look too out of place in our kitchen. After building the cabinetry from quarter-sawn white oak, the natural choice for the doors would be to continue with the same material. But to keep the weight down and to add a lighter tone, I have gone with a door that has acrylic panels which I have covered with a rice paper style film.

The doors are about 25 1/2″ wide and 78″ tall. The outer frame and center cross piece are 7/8″ quarter-sawn white oak. The interior muntins are 1 1/2″ x 3/4″and are placed 1/8″ back from the styles and rails. The corners are joined with some major mortise and tenon joints, and the muntins are also mortised into the outer frame.

 

Where the muntins meet is a modified bridle joint. I am sure it is something that has been done before, but I haven’t found a photo of a joint done quite like this. I began by cutting  an “X” on the front of the vertical muntin about 1/4″ deep (with a Japanese Dotsuki Takebiki saw.)

Mock up of modified Bridle Joint

On the back side, I also cut 1/4″ deep and the full 1 1/2″ width of the muntin. I then made mitered cuts on the front and grooved the center to fit the vertical piece. I hope the photo of my initial mock-up offers a better explanation.

The finished modified Bridle Joint.

The doors will hang from a vertical track made by Grant. I set up the arrangement in my shop, hanging the track and attaching the rolling trucks to the doors, and they slide with the slightest touch.

The rice paper window film uses no adhesive — I guess it is just the static charge that holds it in place. In the photo, the acrylic sheets are held in with only tape. I will finish the door first, then permanently install the panels with small quarter-round pieces tacked in on the back side of the doors.

So, its a work in progress. I will finish the doors then modify the opening to remove traces of the existing hinges, etc. With a week off at the holidays, perhaps I can make some quick progress on this project.

 

Tiger Maple Box

While taking a box making class in Maine at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship this Fall, I saw a box one of the instructors had made. It was a long, narrow box with a curved lid, constructed out of teak, and the shape kept grabbing my attention. The overall size was about 12″ long x 4″ wide x 3.5″ tall. I tried to make something similar from oak during class, but it the open grain of the oak just didn’t have the look I wanted.

I ran across a really pretty flitch of tiger maple a month or so ago, and purchased it with mandolin necks in mind. But after getting the wood home, it started to look like a box instead of a musical instrument neck. Figured woods look so fantastic, but all that figure means the grain of the wood is reversing itself. If not done carefully, there can be a lot of  grain tear-out.

Most of the work was done by hand. I did re-saw the stock on the bandsaw to get close to the final thickness of about 1/2″. The box jointed corners were done with a router. The rest was done using hand planes and chisels. The box itself was constructed first, and the lid was made to fit. With blades being sharpened often, I was able to tame the wood’s grain.

In order to really emphasize the tiger maple grain, I used two colors of wood dye. The first coat was lemon yellow, which was applied and wiped off quickly. Next, I used a beechwood dye that really brought out the contrast in the grain. A few coats of shellac, and a bit of wax are the finish coat.

This just might be one of the prettiest pieces of wood I have ever run across. There isn’t much of it left, so I will have to come up with a way to make the best use of what I do have remaining.