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I'm finally going to call it done. It's a wedding gift for my niece.
It started life in my shop as two 8/4 sticks and one 4/4 stick of mahogany. The stock was milled to 1-1/8" for the side braces and wheels, 3/4" for the fixed tray sides, 1/2" for the removable tray sides, and 3/8" for the tray slats. The bottom tray is fixed and the top consists of a fixed holder with removable tray. I used dovetail joinery on the trays becuse, well because I wanted it to be fancy.
The side braces are formed with half-lap joints. Everything is held together with connector bolts so I can break it down for shipment to their home in Florida. I fretted for a long time about the hardware for this, but didn't see a really good alternative.
Last, and definitely least, are the wheels. The four rim pieces are held together with splines. The spokes, hubs, and rims are glued together. I just could not resist the challenge, but the wheels were very complicated and difficult. There are not many nice commercial alternatives, but the work required for these was too much at about half the project time.
It's finished with five coats of wipe-on satin poly and two coats of wax.
Lessons learned:
JR
It started life in my shop as two 8/4 sticks and one 4/4 stick of mahogany. The stock was milled to 1-1/8" for the side braces and wheels, 3/4" for the fixed tray sides, 1/2" for the removable tray sides, and 3/8" for the tray slats. The bottom tray is fixed and the top consists of a fixed holder with removable tray. I used dovetail joinery on the trays becuse, well because I wanted it to be fancy.
The side braces are formed with half-lap joints. Everything is held together with connector bolts so I can break it down for shipment to their home in Florida. I fretted for a long time about the hardware for this, but didn't see a really good alternative.
Last, and definitely least, are the wheels. The four rim pieces are held together with splines. The spokes, hubs, and rims are glued together. I just could not resist the challenge, but the wheels were very complicated and difficult. There are not many nice commercial alternatives, but the work required for these was too much at about half the project time.
It's finished with five coats of wipe-on satin poly and two coats of wax.
Lessons learned:
- I made MDF patterns for the sides, tray ends (the ones with handles), and wheels. This was a first for me, as was the use of dovetails. I will not hesitate to use patterns in the futre. This techique provides a wonderful way to create a pleasing form, then replicate it on the good stuff.
- I don't regret making dovetails, but found the jig setup to be too time consuming for the few dovetails on this size project. I think hand-made dovetails are in my future.
- I made a circle-making jig out of 1/4" plywood that was one of the most fun parts of the project. 3/8" holes placed at strategic points provided a pivot point for my router for making the inside and outside of the wheel rim pattern. I just drove a dowel through the hole into the center of the MDF, cut first the outside then the inside circle. I then used the same jig to run the finished wheels through the OSS, making the whole assembly concentric (no they were not perfect when they came out of glue-up!).
JR
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