Friday, April 29, 2016

A Ming-Inspired Cabinet (54)

Today was the day: glue up of cabinet 1. This is where months of work can be ruined in less than an hour, so I was naturally a bit on edge.

Prior to gluing, I masked off where required, and used a gouge to make a pair of slight hollows on the side of each dovetail pin:


I did the same on the sides of the tails. The dovetail joints are a tight fit, so the hollows ensure that there will be some glue trapped within and it won’t nearly all get squeezed out by assembly. When I use glue, I try to do so judiciously, not just slathering it on everywhere. My goal is an absolute minimum of squeeze out, and I only apply glue to places where the grain-to-grain bond is a sound one. I keep glue off of end grain insofar as possible.

I was doing this glue-up solo, and therefore needed the maximum glue open time I could obtain. This ruled out hide glue and aliphatic (PVA) glue. Resorcinol would have been an option, however shop temperature is below 70˚ to that was out. I opted for a System 3 epoxy product, T-88:


This 2-part adhesive gives 45~60 minutes of open time, and cures slowly. Slow-curing epoxy is the strongest epoxy, but I mostly was after the long open time. As it turned out, the shop temp of 55˚ or so made the set slower yet, so a full hour proved to be the working time. The drawback to this epoxy is that the clamps need to be left on overnight and a full 24 hours is required for the initial cure, with the cure continuing for a further couple of days beyond that.

Still, when the epoxy was mixed, I was uncertain how much time I had or what might eventuate, so it was full steam ahead. I filmed the whole thing, but after I was done I discovered that the camera position was such that the top of the cabinet was out of view. That was too bad, but “learn as you go”. So, I’ll do another video, with a better camera angle, when I put cabinet #2 together in the near future.

When the dust had settled, things had gone totally as planned, the cabinet was together and looking good:


I took a walk outside and sat by the bank of the river for a while to relax.

I was of course wanting all the joints which were just connected, some 32 mortise and tenons, plus the dovetails, to be drawn up nice and tight with no gaps. And that was the outcome - whew!

Here’s one junction:


Next:


Another one:


Another rail-meets-carcase side:


A few photos now to show some of the longer joint interfaces, where the fits came out as I wanted and a minimum of glue squeeze out. This is the junction of the upper shelf panel and rail to the carcase side:


The inside of the upper carcase corner:


One drop of squeeze out along that junction is definitely something I can live with.

The opposite upper corner - again, one drop of squeeze-out:


Shelf and rail meets right side carcase wall:


I managed to stand the beast up - with the clamps attached it was especially heavy:


Another view:


The back side:


Detail:


As the day drew to a close, I had the upper shelf assembly glued and joined onto the second cabinet:


I intend to be slightly more organized for the next glue up - lessons learned - and hope to produce a video to boot. Stay tuned for more, and thanks for visiting.

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My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1727: Change

There are a few things we can be certain of in this world. We have all heard the saying that “the only thing that we can be sure of is death and taxes”, but as I get older, I find that something in that quote was left out… change.



While some of us are uncomfortable with change, others thrive on it. I am not sure where my feelings lie in this equation, but I think they are somewhere in the middle.



Change can be scary, as many times change is accompanied by the ‘unknown’. But without change, there is no room for growth and improvement, and I would rather experience the discomfort than live my life in a state of stagnation. How terrible that would be!



From another perspective, change can be a very useful tool to get us through circumstances that are not optimal at the time. When I am feeling frustrated and 'stuck’ in a certain situation, I find comfort in telling myself that things won’t always be the same, and that change is inevitable and will eventually occur. It really does help. 



I have been blogging on a nearly daily basis for just about six years now. I began my blog at the Lumberjocks.com website some 1700+ posts ago. It had never occurred to me to create a blog. Who would be interested in my thoughts and rambling ideas anyway? But there was interest and over the years I have developed a nice little following of other creative people who say I help inspire them and who inspire me as well. What began as something that I wanted to do to help expand and promote my business, soon became a daily habit and I have met and befriended countless other creative people who have the same desires to make things as I have. It has been mutually beneficial and I believe helps me focus much better and as a result of it, has helped me tremendously. I am very happy in the decision to try it. 



Over the years, I have seen a change in my posts. Initially, I focused mainly on woodworking and designing patterns for the scroll saw, as that was my main focus for my work. But through time and growth, I have embraced many forms of creativity and as a result of that, I have gained followers from many different creative avenues. This is wonderful to me, as I find that those who are creative rarely tunnel themselves into one form of craft. Most people try this and that and there are several aspects of crafts that bleed over to other areas. There truly are no boundaries. It opens an entire world to us all. 



Because of this, several years ago I decided to branch out and publish my blog in several places. I learned how to do so on my own site, and besides sharing it to the original host on Lumberjocks, I also post to Facebook, Twitter, G+, and Pinterest. By expanding it into those venues, I also have been able to expand my audience, learn new techniques and make new creative friends. This all leads to some wonderfully positive results in my own designing. 



As our little company continues to grow, it also is constantly changing. I like to look at it in the same way that I view my life – a kaleidoscope of ever-changing shapes and patterns. I like that analogy because a kaleidoscope uses the same elements and rearranges them in endless beautiful patterns. It reminds me that we don’t always need MORE to make positive changes in our lives, but sometimes just reorganizing our priorities and making changes within is enough to improve things. 



With that all being said, I have made a couple of changes to my blog here that I hope you will like. 



The first change I did a couple of days ago, and I found it amusing that only one person mentioned it to me. (Perhaps my following isn’t what I think it is after all! ) The former title focused on scroll saw patterns, but since then I have branched out into so many other things, I thought it made sense to change the title to something more encompassing. Not only will it attract a wider audience, but also is more true to the content of the posts that I make. It is better all around. 



Another change I am making is that I decided to also post my blog on WordPress. I had several of my customers mention to me that my blog was difficult to read from my site on some of their devices. Since our site is on a template, it is not easy to override some of the features and it makes it hard to change things. This seemed to be a good answer. WordPress is well-liked by many of my colleagues and offers such features (as subscribing to new posts and instant notification for me when someone comments) that I my site here doesn’t offer. I posted the first blog there yesterday and I already heard that the blog looked much better on devices. I think it will be a good additional platform, and while I will still be posting here, I invite you to check it out and perhaps subscribe to my new posts. My name on WordPress is Sheila Landry Designs and you can follow the link HERE to my home page there. I will be spending part of the weekend filling in the information and familiarizing myself with the formatting. Thank you for being patient with me. I would love to hear your feedback on it when I get settled in. 



On the creative front, I am going to be working on my watercolor design that I am doing for an online class. I got started yesterday and I am happy with the result so far. Here is a little 'teaser’ for you to see:





I promise more by Monday. 



Finally for today, I want you to be aware of a wonderful artist that I discovered through my travels. His name is Jason Morgan and he does spectacular work in drawing, painting and photography. I have watched many of his videos on YouTube and purchased several technique books. I love his teaching style and like many artists, he loves to share his love of creating. 



Every Friday, Jason offers a new set of photos that he calls “Free Friday Photos” for our own use. Unlike most photographs, these are intended for us to use to create from and SELL our resulting creations – completely cost free. The only limits of use on the photos are that they cannot be sold as photos. This is most generous, and when you see Jason’s talent you will understand how amazing he is.  He is truly an asset to the art community on so many levels. 



Today Jason has an offer of a new CD he created (that is also available as an instant digital download) that contains 100 beautiful wildlife photos for anyone to use in their art. This would include those of you who scroll saw and are always searching for beautiful, quality reference photos that are truly available to use without additional cost for your creations. He is generously offering the new D at half price for a limited time! Jason talks about it in his latest YouTube Video here. You should stop by and see some of his work and tutorials. His site link is here: Jason Morgan . I hope you stop by and see his astonishing work and show him support. It is artists like this that not only encourage other artists, but make our world a more beautiful place. 



Well, that is about all for today. I hope that you all have a great weekend. I have a busy one planned as usual and I hope to accomplish a lot. 



Enjoy what life has to offer you! If things aren’t going well, remember that change is just around the corner. 



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Thursday, April 28, 2016

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1726: More Updates, Sales and a Newsletter

I have so many wonderful plans ahead of me!  



As I dream about our new, larger home as well as my very own studio, my head is filled with more ideas than ever. While I am proud of the way we made our business work while living in and working out of a small, one bedroom place, I can’t help but feel wonderful that the time here will soon be behind me and both Keith and I will be able to spread our wings and really FLY!



I am hoping that I am not deluding myself into thinking that with more room comes more hours in the day. Perhaps I am just already counting the hours that I will not have to be rearranging and cleaning and be able to walk into our shop and just start WORKING instead of clearing out the kitchen and moving everything out of the way to cut wood, paint or make a video. When I think about it, those hours sure add up. Not only the time taken to prep the area, but also the clean up afterwards. But you “gotta do what you gotta do” and for the past seven years it worked for us. It is just time to close this chapter and begin writing our next. You are all invited along for the journey. Not only do I see more productivity, but also more instructional videos and things like that, as I have so much planned for our future. It is truly exciting. 



But we still have two months until we are there, so until then we will plan and draw and dream of our future. What a wonderful place to be in our lives! 



We are going to send out a newsletter today, as Keith has some new designs that he put on the site and we have a new pattern for the scroll sawyers.  His new SLDK668 Then We Had You sectional plaque pattern is a great way to commemorate family, and has some nice variations to make it personal to your own needs:



I really enjoy seeing what Keith comes up with next, as his designs are so wonderfully attractive and classy. He never seems to run out of new ideas! 



We also changed the free woodworking pattern on our site. Again, Keith did a splendid job on this pretty plaque that would be wonderfully appropriate for the upcoming Mother’s Day holiday:



For a limited time, you can download it free from our Free Patterns and Resources page. While you are there, I hope you browse around and check out all of our articles and videos and other resources. Lots of folks really find them helpful.



I am going to be writing out a newsletter to mention all the site updates and it will mail out later on today. If you are not on our Mailing List, I invite you to join. We send out about two newsletters per month that lets you know what new products we have and we also (from time to time) offer special promotional codes and discounts for newsletter subscribers only. We never share your information with anyone or SPAM you, and we respect your privacy completely. 



Finally today, I want my painting followers to be aware that Art Apprentice Online is running a great promotion on their DecoArt Traditions paint brushes. 



I absolutely LOVE these brushes and they are really top-notch in quality and performance.  I especially love their Dome Blenders, as they are great for blending, dry brushing and even stippling. The angle brushes are also lovely and I am sad to say that the 1/8" angular shader is going to be discontinued. I made sure to stock up on several for my arsenal and I understand from Sue at AAO that there are still some in stock. 



The special that they are having is only until midnight tonight (Thursday) and you will receive 30% off ALL your brushes by using the coupon code ALLBRUSHES30 at the checkout. While I understand that you all have to watch your craft budget, I think these are pretty close to the nicest brushes I have used as far as quality. They last a long, long time with proper care and are a beautiful investment. These brushes are made by DecoArt and are yet another one of their amazing products that they create. They always stand behind their products and I know that I am getting quality supplies. 



I think that  Art Apprentice Online is an extraordinary source for classes, instructions and quality supplies. I have been a fan for years and have learned so much from them. I hoep you head over to their site and see what they have to offer. They have classes for ALL levels – from beginners to advanced painters, and their personal service and online instruction is unsurpassed! 



Well, that is about all for today. I am off to write our newsletter. If you subscribe, be expecting it sometime this afternoon. 



When I am done with that, I am working on my online class for Interactive Artist Magazine, which is coming along beautifully.



The sun is shining, although it is still cool here in Nova Scotia. Spring is trying very hard. I am home for the day though and I am grateful for the bright and sunny sky. It truly makes the day more cheerful.



I wish you all a wonderful day as well. Happy Thursday to you all! :)



 




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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Mini Ring Box Rustic

Mini Ring Box Rustic Wood Personalized Ring by rusticcraftdesign, $16.00

via Tumblr http://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/143499905324

Oak Ring Box Wooden

Oak Ring Box Wooden Ring Box Custom Ring by FeathersOfTheForest

via Tumblr http://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/143499905524

Pixie - handmade pro

Pixie - handmade proposal box, engagement ring box, wedding ring box, keepsake, stash box from Zebrawood on Etsy, $45.00

via Tumblr http://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/143499905774

DIY Wooden Ring Box

DIY Wooden Ring Box – Great wedding gift!

via Tumblr http://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/143499904809

Ring box. Graham wil

Ring box. Graham will say “Oh this is easy, I could make this” Lizzie say “True, but will you?” Graham will then battle his creative and self reliant nature with reality.

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My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1725: Creating Every Day

OK.  It may appear that I have been ‘slacking’. 



Between cutting mountains of ornaments, having a cold/flu for a couple of weeks, and having some family things to take care of, it may seem that I have somewhat fallen out of the habit of posting here each day.



There may be some merit to that, as it is no secret that I haven’t been here every day as I have for the last several years, but that doesn’t really mean that I am not creating. I just try my best to keep my posts here relevant to some sort of creating and I fear that showing piles of cut ornaments over and over may bore some of you.  Funny how we start to filter ourselves like that… 



I said from the beginning of this blog, some 1700+ posts ago that I would not only blog on woodworking, but also the other creative aspects of my life. Since then – over six years ago – I have not only increased my productivity, but also the scope of my creative endeavors. It makes for a wonderfully fun and interesting life. 



One thing that I figured out is that it is rare that a person does only one type of creating. My friends and customers often are a lot like me in that they dabble in many different types of media and love to discover new ways to feed their creative souls. When I began blogging on Lumberjocks.com (a woodworking site) I chose the name for my blog “My Journey as a Scroll Saw Pattern Designer” because that was my main focus. But as the years passed and I branched out to other aspects of creating, I sometimes feel that the title is somewhat misleading on all sides, and should be a bit more encompassing as to all the types of things that I design and make. But that isn’t always easy to do. I have to think about it. 



As I find myself not posting as much due to the things I mentioned at the beginning, I am also seeing a surprising, albeit slight drop in my own production. I often mention that sharing things here in public with you all isn’t only for you – but it helps me sort, focus and keep on track for myself  which is something that is of the utmost importance when one is self- employed. It is to me, anyway. So I will try to do my best to stop in here each and every day during the week at least to keep you posted on what I am doing, no matter how 'mundane’ it may seem to me at the time. As always, you can skim over that post if it doesn’t interest you. But hopefully you will see a little flicker of inspiration in it or it will encourage you to do some things on your own. I hope so, anyway. 



This week started off with a bang for me. On Monday I slightly injured my footie while at the gym. I won’t trouble you with the photos, but long story short – I dropped a 45 lb weight square on the top of my foot. You can bet I did some 'dancing’ and saw constellations that I never thought existed. It swelled terribly initially and I thought surely it would require a trip to the hospital. But it 'settled down’ and I iced it and it actually is feeling pretty good today. I can walk normally without any pain and while it is sore on the top and slightly puffy, nothing is broken and I am fine. All is well again. 



I spent yesterday with Keith’s mom for the day. She needs round the clock company (precaution) for the first 10 days after her surgery, although she is doing splendid. The pre-op exercises she did for the past months really seem to be paying off, as she is cruising around with her walker faster than I have ever seen her move. What a great success story that is! 



I brought some things to work on while I was there for the day, as she is a crafter as well and we always like to create together. So I will show you my progress to inspire you and let you know that all is not lost with me. I AM still working on stuff and I have lots to share with you in the near future. You are going to love the new ideas I have! (I HOPE!)



Over the weekend, I created these cute ladybug toys for my cats. I used my lovely Valdani threads and black wool and used some wonderfully colorful pure wool felt that I got on Etsy from Bear Dance Crafts.



The bodies are filled with catnip and the head has a bell in it. The wings are sewn on freely from the body to add interest and so far the cats love them. Richard already gave his toy a “drink” (SIGH!) which to him is the mark of  'acceptance’. They were fun, fast, and a relaxing project to make. 



Yesterday I did some work on my 12 Days ornaments by Lynne Andrews. This is the beginning of “Day 5” for me, which is my favorite. I can’t wait to show you all how cool they are! 



I invite you to join our Facebook group “12 Days of Christmas Ornaments - We are Making Them!”  You can join as a participant, as we are doing this at our own pace, or join us as an observer (who I like to refer to as a “cheerleader”) to see the beautiful variations that everyone is doing on this lovely design. We are having fun and personally, I have made many new wonderfully creative friends through the group. It is great to surround yourself with other creative and positive people. It sure helps to make life happy. 



I also worked on my new embroidery sampler designs by Di VanNiekerk.  You may recall that last year I did a beautiful sampler that Di designed called “A Perfect World”. You can see the photos of that result here in my Picasa Album.



This one I call “Every Flower Has a Soul” and I am working on Panel 4:



I learned a new stitch for the red Hollyhocks yesterday. I didn’t think I could do it, but I tried and it looks pretty nice:



I got a bit better as I worked on it. The stitch that I learned was a “Cast On” stitch that I used to make the circular flowers. I am proud of that. 



I love the texture and colors of Stumpwork and Ribbon embroidery. It is truly relaxing for me and I hope to create my own kits to sell soon.



So you see, even though I have been lazy posting, I have not been idle. I still have more things to show with stencils, watercolors, pencils, paints, woodworking and other media that I have been playing with. I just need to keep things organized and work efficiently to get everything out here to you. That is where this blog helps me so much! 



Thank you to all who follow me regularly. Welcome to those of you who are new. I hope you come back often and comment too with your own thoughts and ideas. I think that by sharing out thoughts on creating and crafting, it helps us enjoy what we do even more. 



I saw this quote on Facebook today and I wanted to share it. 



I thought it was worth sharing. 



Have a beautiful Wednesday and enjoy all that the day brings to you! You will be much happier for it! 



Until tomorrow … 



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My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1724: Checking In

It seems that lately I haven’t been here very much (blogging, I mean.)  Even though I have felt that I am busier than ever, Between starting off the year with a tremendous amount of orders, getting sick for a couple of weeks and then ‘catching up’ with things, I have felt very much out of my regular routine. I don’t know if that is a bad thing or a good thing, as I am still accomplishing a lot, but just not in the usual places. 



Add to that we are planning to move in several weeks. While the move won’t occur until the final weeks of June or the beginning of July, we have so much planning to do that it has been taking quite a bit time to plan, shop and get things ready for the change. Even though it is only about a kilometer away, it will be a huge change for us. We will still be right near the beautiful Meteghan river and in the same neighborhood, which is wonderful, but we will move our little business from a one bedroom apartment to a full house with probably four times the room PLUS a huge, two story barn which we will be able to use for storage and eventually for a shop. The potential is tremendous. 



I think that I am most excited that I will be able to have my own “studio”. I know that sounds “La-de-da” but having a room to call my own is something that I have always longed for. Even when growing up, I spent most of my years sharing my room with my sister. Ironically, soon after my parents finished an addition on our house and I moved into my own room, I left for university and only was able to enjoy my personal space occasionally when I came home on break. Such is life … 



My room at the new place is about 12’ x 12’ in diameter, with the staircase on the side making it look even larger. It is on the front corner of the house and has a large front window and one at the side, making it extremely bright and cheerful. The floors are beautiful birch and it has two lovely glass pane French doors which lead to the main living area which I can close for quiet and privacy. I admit that I have been spending a good amount of time browsing online for furniture that will be both functional and beautiful as well as provide storage for my supplies and things that I am working with. It has truly been a lot of fun. 



I pretty much have everything I want picked out though now and it is time once again to get back to other things that are pressing. I have so many designs in my head in so many different types of media that I can hardly decide which direction to head first. I have painting designs as well as my scrolling designs that are already 'in progress’. I also have designs for some embroidery kits that I really want to see come to reality. Then there are the wood orders that have been a mainstay for my business this year. I can’t help to think how wonderful it will be to have a designated place to cut wood and do woodworking. Many of you may not know that I currently do this all in my kitchen. It is quite the process both before and after each session to keep things clean and neat. What a luxury (AND time-saver!) it will be to be able to walk into a room and just start cutting! It will save me literally hours of work and clean-up time!  



Yes – good things lie ahead for us! 



My mother-in-law’s surgery went well last week. Everything went as planned and we are very releaved to say that she is home and well on her way to recovery. She had her knee replaced and now she is in the midst of the physical therapy that typically follows this type of thing. She did well before the surgery, preparing herself completely and exercising and even losing a bit of weight. We are really proud of her!  I plan on being with her tomorrow, so I doubt that I will blog then, as we need to leave here early. I am going to bring some work with to her place and see how much I can get done there. We shall see. 



There is part of me that misses posting every day. I wonder if that isn’t why I feel a bit unorganized in my thoughts and work. I can’t tell if I am a bit out of kilter because I haven’t been blogging or if I haven’t been blogging because I am a bit out of kilter. Maybe just a little bit of both. One thing that I am certain of though is that there are going to be a lot of wonderful things to come. I ask that you all have faith in me and keep checking back. I am surely going to get back on track and get back into the habit of posting every day again. I can assure you of that. Perhaps it is just a time for me to break away for a little and focus on other things for a while. I feel that is the right thing to do. 



With that said, I do want to show you a new pattern that Keith created and posted to the site. 



This is SLDK667 - “JOY” - Jesus First plaque and is another lovely addition to his beautiful word art plaques. I hope you like it. 



In closing today, I want to thank you all for your wonderful notes and well-wishes for Keith’s mom. (Dianne) We all appreciate so much that you are thinking of us and while I miss visiting with many of you online, I know it is a temporary situation and soon I will be back. Sometimes life calls us to other directions. 



Have a wonderful day and a great week ahead. Remember each day is what you make it. We have more control over our lives than we may realize. 



Happy Monday to you! 



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A Ming-Inspired Cabinet (53)

If you read this blog with a phone, there are many things - widgets and the like - on the right side which you will not see. I just learned this by seeing the blog by way of my wife’s phone. I am thinking I may need to change/modify the template so as to make those sections, which include contact info, build thread index, links to previous posts, TAJCD essay links, links to other sites, etc., visible. If you’re curious about that side bar material, then accessing this site by personal computer is necessary in the meantime.

————–

Finish application work and assembly on the two cabinets continues. This stage involves fitting the lower shelf assembly to the drawer framing assembly completed previously.

Here is a view of the underside of the shelf assembly. The central divider is also test-fitted to the shelf assembly, as a final check of the fits between shelf panel and rails:


With the tenons from the vertical divider poking through the rails and panel, I marked out offsets at the mortises for the wedges which will lock the tenons in place:


Sliding dovetail joints lock the rails to the drawer stiles, while the middle of the drawer stiles fits to the panel with a simple housing.

A view of the same assembly in its normal orientation:


There is but modest clearance between frame and panel in this system. Normally, there would be sufficient clearance gaps to allow the panel to float and accommodate seasonal movement but they can be made much smaller in this framing system, especially given that all the material is quartersawn and will not move much anyway.

The parts were then re-separated and the mortises in the rails and panel flared by chisel and file in advance of wedging.

I then took the opportunity to film a short (6 min.) video, which I trust gives some idea of how things went together. I start the video with a clip showing the lower tenon kerfing on the central divider, after which we jump to the commencement of assembly, noting that the step where I applied a little glue to the vertical stile tenons and the dovetail mortises was not filmed:


I know, I know: I look like a homeless person. I realize I’m supposed to take care to present a professional appearance in this public format, meaning ‘neat and tidy’, with my shop immaculately clean and meticulously organized, with the right sort of tools hanging on the wall to suggest old time hand tool craftsmanship, etc.. I have a ways to go.

Before the adhesive (hide glue) cured, I got the wedges in there, with a dab of glue also applied to the wedges:


The view is of the underside of the panel, normally something you would not be able to see readily in the completed piece. Without a little glue, the wedges will tend to work themselves loose over time from seasonal movement. You can also see a small patch in the panel to the left of the mortise. I can’t remember why the patch was needed, but curly bubinga flakes all too easily so it may have occurred while mortising.

The double wedged mortises form the connection between  front edge of the vertical divider and the front rail, upside-down in this view:


After the glue was set, I zipped off the excess with a flush trim saw:


Later on, both units were complete to the same stage:


Next up in this build will be the fitting up the upper shelf and the assembly of the carcase, which I hope to complete in the next couple of days.

I also was processing some more shedua today through the usual jointing, resawing, jointing and planing process. I mentioned several months back that the SCMI planer had a poorly designed digital readout that tended to lose tolerance over time, and I had fitted an i-Gaging readout with linear scale so as to have something to rely upon. Since that time I haven’t touched the machine’s built-in readout, and have found the i-Gaging readout to be dead accurate 10 times out of 10. Today though I was shocked to note how far apart the readings had gotten, with the i-Gaging readout at top (dead perfect) and the factory SCMI readout below (a whopping 0.1", 3mm, out):


Surely they have redesigned this feature by now(?). It’s a decent planer otherwise and gives good results, but I’d really rather have a T-45 Martin. Hah! Wouldn’t we all?

I have the painter’s tape with 'Compressor On?’ stuck on the front as a reminder, since the planer employs pneumatic roller pressure and doesn’t plane so well if the compressor is turned off.  I need to set little reminders for myself in a few areas of the shop, as 'lost the forest for the trees’ can certainly apply in my case.

All for today, thanks for visiting the Carpentry Way.

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Monday, April 25, 2016

My Journey As A Scroll Saw Pattern Designer #1724: Checking In

It seems that lately I haven’t been here very much (blogging, I mean.)  Even though I have felt that I am busier than ever, Between starting off the year with a tremendous amount of orders, getting sick for a couple of weeks and then ‘catching up’ with things, I have felt very much out of my regular routine. I don’t know if that is a bad thing or a good thing, as I am still accomplishing a lot, but just not in the usual places. 



Add to that we are planning to move in several weeks. While the move won’t occur until the final weeks of June or the beginning of July, we have so much planning to do that it has been taking quite a bit time to plan, shop and get things ready for the change. Even though it is only about a kilometer away, it will be a huge change for us. We will still be right near the beautiful Meteghan river and in the same neighborhood, which is wonderful, but we will move our little business from a one bedroom apartment to a full house with probably four times the room PLUS a huge, two story barn which we will be able to use for storage and eventually for a shop. The potential is tremendous. 



I think that I am most excited that I will be able to have my own “studio”. I know that sounds “La-de-da” but having a room to call my own is something that I have always longed for. Even when growing up, I spent most of my years sharing my room with my sister. Ironically, soon after my parents finished an addition on our house and I moved into my own room, I left for university and only was able to enjoy my personal space occasionally when I came home on break. Such is life … 



My room at the new place is about 12’ x 12’ in diameter, with the staircase on the side making it look even larger. It is on the front corner of the house and has a large front window and one at the side, making it extremely bright and cheerful. The floors are beautiful birch and it has two lovely glass pane French doors which lead to the main living area which I can close for quiet and privacy. I admit that I have been spending a good amount of time browsing online for furniture that will be both functional and beautiful as well as provide storage for my supplies and things that I am working with. It has truly been a lot of fun. 



I pretty much have everything I want picked out though now and it is time once again to get back to other things that are pressing. I have so many designs in my head in so many different types of media that I can hardly decide which direction to head first. I have painting designs as well as my scrolling designs that are already 'in progress’. I also have designs for some embroidery kits that I really want to see come to reality. Then there are the wood orders that have been a mainstay for my business this year. I can’t help to think how wonderful it will be to have a designated place to cut wood and do woodworking. Many of you may not know that I currently do this all in my kitchen. It is quite the process both before and after each session to keep things clean and neat. What a luxury (AND time-saver!) it will be to be able to walk into a room and just start cutting! It will save me literally hours of work and clean-up time!  



Yes – good things lie ahead for us! 



My mother-in-law’s surgery went well last week. Everything went as planned and we are very releaved to say that she is home and well on her way to recovery. She had her knee replaced and now she is in the midst of the physical therapy that typically follows this type of thing. She did well before the surgery, preparing herself completely and exercising and even losing a bit of weight. We are really proud of her!  I plan on being with her tomorrow, so I doubt that I will blog then, as we need to leave here early. I am going to bring some work with to her place and see how much I can get done there. We shall see. 



There is part of me that misses posting every day. I wonder if that isn’t why I feel a bit unorganized in my thoughts and work. I can’t tell if I am a bit out of kilter because I haven’t been blogging or if I haven’t been blogging because I am a bit out of kilter. Maybe just a little bit of both. One thing that I am certain of though is that there are going to be a lot of wonderful things to come. I ask that you all have faith in me and keep checking back. I am surely going to get back on track and get back into the habit of posting every day again. I can assure you of that. Perhaps it is just a time for me to break away for a little and focus on other things for a while. I feel that is the right thing to do. 



With that said, I do want to show you a new pattern that Keith created and posted to the site. 



This is SLDK667 - “JOY” - Jesus First plaque and is another lovely addition to his beautiful word art plaques. I hope you like it. 



In closing today, I want to thank you all for your wonderful notes and well-wishes for Keith’s mom. (Dianne) We all appreciate so much that you are thinking of us and while I miss visiting with many of you online, I know it is a temporary situation and soon I will be back. Sometimes life calls us to other directions. 



Have a wonderful day and a great week ahead. Remember each day is what you make it. We have more control over our lives than we may realize. 



Happy Monday to you! 



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Saturday, April 23, 2016

A Ming-inspired Cabinet (52)

The first picture of today’s entry in this build thread is the carcase for cabinet #1, which has recently had the strips which serve as backstops for the demountable rear panels glued into place:


Here’s carcase #2 together so that the strips to back the demountable panels could be glued up:


Over the past week, much of my time is consumed with applying finish to piece after piece, decking the finish flat, and re-applying finish, and repeat. I’m putting 5 coats on. It didn’t seem worth taking photos frankly.

Today, a little assembly at last - here, I’m kerfing the central tenons of one of the drawer stiles:


Before the two stiles can be fitted to the bottom carcase board, the drawer support runners and three-piece front rails need to be fitted. In the next picture, assembly is just getting started:


Moving along:


I thought I snapped a picture of the ‘together’ moment, but I guess not. Oh well….

So, instead, how about a short vid?


After the parts were firmly together and I had let the adhesive cure on the outer connections, I flipped the assembly upside down, and placed a very heavy chunk of steel on the lower carcase board, to be sure the drawer stiles were fully seated prior to putting the wedges in:


I use a bit of sandpaper to adjust the side clearance on the wedges prior to fitting.

The wedges get a dab of hide glue, otherwise the joint is done dry:


The projecting portion will be trimmed off later.

I managed to get that chunk of steel off without damaging anything, myself included:


Then it was time to fit the wedges, shachi sen, to the opposed 2-direction tongue and grooved rod tenons:


This one is down:


Trimming the excess with the flush-trimming Miyano saw:


The first pair is done:


Another view:


And the other side too:


A second pair done:


Once all the wedges were fitted, I did some minor clean up at the junctions and applied another coat of finish to the front edges:


Another view or the right side junctions:


The finish dries fast, so some areas in the photo look dry while other areas look wet. I’m looking forward to seeing the finish after it has been waxed and polished.

Here’s the left side a little closer in:


Here’s a view along the front edges of the 3-piece rails, to show that after the joints are wedged up tight, the rails form a straight line:


I’m pleased with the way these joints have come out, from the design materializing in execution. They were my adaptation of a classical Japanese joint form, and not something you would normally come across on a piece of Japanese furniture. Something borrowed and adapted. The assembly is rigid and the joints have drawn up tightly, so that is the important thing.

All for now, thanks for visiting.

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