Quilt Rack

[JR]

This is a gift for my sister, who retired last week. She is a very avid quilter and she seemed to really like this red oak stand.



I have to admit that the opposing 30 degree half laps made for some complicated joinery. I ended up puttying over my failings. This shot shows the most egregious joints. Also note the glob on the underside of the forward curve where I had some tearout. Sigh.

All the cross pieces are attached with dowels. I have a heckuva time with dowels, but couldn't figure any other way to do it.



Coincidentally, I used all Minwax finishing products on this piece. Golden Oak stain and matching putty, for obvious reasons. I used the water-based gloss poly, which was highly rated in FWW recently. It worked well, notably drying withiin the advertised three hours. This really sped up finishing as compared to an oil-based varnish. In fact, it tended to flash off in mid wipe, which led me to put on a lot more than I was used to.

As usual, comments of any kind and questions are welcomed.

JR

[cabinetman]

That's a right nice rack. Well done and a nice gift. Loose tenons might have been a bit easier than dowels.
.

[Mr__Bill]

Nice work.

The sign of a craftsman is the ability to cover up his mistakes.



Bill

just a wee bit north of you in Oregon

[Larryl]

Nice work, bet your sister is proud of it. A mistake is simply a design correction.

[docrowan]

I've looked harder at the pictures than I normally would due to you pointing out the errors. I still can't see them. Nice job!

[Black wallnut]

looks great to me also JR. Echo what Chris wrote.

[Richard in Smithville]

Looks great. I usually build quilt racks as wedding gifts and you can be sure this design will be placed in the back of my head.

[JR]

I guess my photography skills are, thankfully, worse than my joinery!

I normally do a lot of boxes, requiring perfect workmanship. Larger projects like this can stand a little slop. I rarely use putty, but in this case it was required. I suppose it's the realization of actually having to use it, more than the sloppy joints, that shocked me.

Cabinetman, I noodled through a number of M&T possibilities, but making mortises on a 30 degree angle with only a bumch of curves to register against just defeated me. I ended up using a doweling jig clamped into place. It actually went reasonably well, but I always find it difficult to get all the holes aligned and drilled in proper plane. I cranked down my clamps to the max to overcome the angular displacement.

Richard, the rising cross members are meant to display more of the quilt on the rear two rungs. My sister agreed that was a great feature.

Thanks for the kind comments, all!

JR

[Uncle Cracker]

That really is a gorgeous rack... (I'll have you know that the last time I made that observation, I got slapped... )

[LCHIEN]

Don't see any mistakes. You must be mistaken about mistakes.

[jabe]

Good Job!!! I'm of the same opinion as Mr. Bill.

[Pappy]

The curved shape to the top of the ends really drew my eye to them. Very graceful!

[SARGE..g-47]

Very nice job on the initial execution and the recovery JR... did the tear-out on the curve come from using a template and bearing pattern bit? Just curious.. And you mention wiping water based poly. I am within a week of using water based poly for the first time since I around 1998 when I brushed it with less than satisfactory results. I understand they have made improvements in the water base since then.

If you had success wiping it describe the procedure briefly if you don't mind. Do you cut it or out of the can.. type of wipe cloth.. etc.. etc. I will be in the shop all day so I'll catch an answer latter but thanks in advance.

Again... well done on the rack!

[JR]

Sarge, I used a jigsaw for that inner curve. The problem is that the half-lap and the curve are meant to taper together, leaving a weak piece a tthe joint. I forget if the mistake happened when cutting or running it through the OSS for final shaping.

I used the wipe-on poly right out of the bottle, with an old t-shirt as an applicator. Sanded to 220, stain left on overnight. Sand with 220 between coats. To me oil-based poly feels like it's penetrating. The water-based didn't feel that way - it just sort of lays there.

I wouldn't cut it, it flahes off very quickly. A few swipes with a wet applicator and it started to drag. I seemed to be able to put a lot on the wood without undue buildup or streaks. Of course, this means you have to be careful on subsequent coats not to put too much in the corners. I had to battle "nibs" in the corners on the later coats.

I used gloss, about four or five coats. I had planned to put satin on top, but the gloss wasn't a really plastic look, so I left it.

HTH,
JR

[SARGE..g-47]

Sarge, I used a jigsaw for that inner curve. The problem is that the half-lap and the curve are meant to taper together, leaving a weak piece a tthe joint. I forget if the mistake happened when cutting or running it through the OSS for final shaping.

I used the wipe-on poly right out of the bottle, with an old t-shirt as an applicator. Sanded to 220, stain left on overnight. Sand with 220 between coats. To me oil-based poly feels like it's penetrating. The water-based didn't feel that way - it just sort of lays there.

I wouldn't cut it, it flahes off very quickly. A few swipes with a wet applicator and it started to drag. I seemed to be able to put a lot on the wood without undue buildup or streaks. Of course, this means you have to be careful on subsequent coats not to put too much in the corners. I had to battle "nibs" in the corners on the later coats.

I used gloss, about four or five coats. I had planned to put satin on top, but the gloss wasn't a really plastic look, so I left it.

HTH,
JR

Thanks for the clarification on the blow-out. I make a template from 1/2" MDF and use an over-head bearing after I draw the finalized template pattern on the piece and cut to within 1mm outside the line... attach template to piece and if you oriented the grain correctly I have never had a blow-out considering the bit is only biting off 1 mm. But.. you had a totally different situation with the joinery of the tapered curves. I would probably have done that with a rasp.. files and spoke-shave.

Now.. you say don't cut and wipe straight from the bottle which is the key word here. So... you are not using Mini-wax water base from the quart can obviously. That's what I have and wondered if it had to be cut. When you get wiping oil poly already in the can.. it is nothing more than standard poly cut with mineral spirits at a higher price. Is there a specific poly already packaged stating wiping poly in water base? I am guessing that is what you are using.

The drag you refer too sounds similar to shellax drag when wiping. You have to soak your wipe cloth in denatured alcohol and wring it out often or the shellac dries so fast it will drag and make a general mess if you are not experienced with it. I assume the cloth you wet was done with dis-stilled water to prevent the drag as water is the solvent for water base.

Anyhoo.. coffee is over and back to the 81 degree shop as glue-up's and strecher templating await me... Ain't getting hot.. sweaty and covered with saw-dust fun.. haha

Thanks and catch you latter JR...