Materials question

[cjupdike]

Hello all,

I'm new to woodworking and thought I'd try my hand with a small project, a small tool chest. I got a copy of some plans out of an old magazine and I went out today to get materials, some red oak boards. Well, I came home with nothing and a bit confused on a couple points.

1) the plans call for 1/2" thick boards but all I could find on the shelves were 1" thick. Am I to plane half the board off to get what I need? I have no planer so I hope not.

2) The plans also called for 14" wide boards. Now I was reasonably sure that I wouldn't find something so wide, but I didn't find anything even reasonably close. I guess this is where the 'glue up' that I keep reading about comes into play. Any tips and/or ideas.

If anyone wonders which plans I'm using it's in the woodsmith sample issue here http://woodsmith.com/issues/sample/42-43/

Thanks for any replies!

[Warren]

If you are looking only at lumber yards and big boxes, your choice is limited. A speciality shop would probably have wood in larger widths than you want. You would have to resaw and plane to get the thickness. Then you would cut to width and length.

An alternative would be to go with what you can afford, building wide planks where needed and planing as required using deminisional lumber from the local yard or big box.

The big boxes usually have, at a cost, half inch red oak, just not in the width you desire.

I would look at this as an opportunity to build your skills. You could modify the plans to fit the wood that is available. Or, spend time learning to work the wood into the dimensions you want.

As an example: I would build the wide planks with an eye to color and grain in a length that would provide the sides and top (don't forget the kerf!) so as to have the grain flow up and down the sides and across the top. The drawer front grain would flow left to right.

The plans are too small for me to read, but the chest bottom as well as the drawer bottoms would be of plywood. Interior pieces could be left over oak or what ever is laying around the shop.

Have fun with it. Take the plans and make the final piece distinctly your own. Good luck! Pictures when finished if possible.

[radhak]

you are exactly at the spot I was just about a year ago. I was just as puzzled, and worse - I did not know of this site (oh, how I regret it! ).
I am still no expert, but can share some 'novice-to-novice' insights.

ok - i am guessing you visited HomeDepot or Lowes for the RedOak. If you noticed, all the RO (really, all type of lumber) there is marked 1 x 2, 1x4 , 1x6 etc, translating to 1 inch by 2 inches, 3 inches etc. These are the thickness and width of the stock (wood). If you had a ruler with you, you'd have measured it and been more puzzled - the thickness is actually 3/4" and width of the 2-incher is really 1.5". But once you read more about all that, you'd know that this is the 'standard' for surfaced lumber. Surfaced means planed at least 2 sides, or 4 sides as in HD/Lowes.

So anytime you need a 4" wide board, you'd need to buy the 6" wide one and rip it to 4". (as the 4" is really 3.5" and the 6" is really 5.5" ). And if you wanted a 14" wide, you'd really have to join narrower pieces, no other way out.

As for thickness - to get a thinner stock that 3/4", you'd need to 'resaw' thicker wood. This means slicing wood with a bandsaw to the width you want. (A planer could do it too , but it would take a loooong time).

And what tools do you have? What expertise have you with them? Have you used a tablesaw or a router?

Seeing that this is your very first project in wood, I would say the toolbox you selected, while very good looking (and small looking), is slightly complex and not something I'd choose as my first.

Still, some thoughts - you could start with using 3/4" thick stock for the drawer-sides (instead of 1/2"). This will make the drawers a bit heavier, and the inside dimensions of the drawer would change a bit - nothing too serious.

Even for the case, where the plan asks for 1/2", you could use 3/4", with the same issues - heavier, and change in the plan-dimensions. If you are good with math, you could alter the plan for this.

As i see it, the bigger problem for you is jointing narrower stock to get wider planks. Off the shelf RO from HD is nice, but not good enough for jointing. What you could do, is use Oak plywood from HD for the case, ie for pieces A, B, and C. (HD used to sell 1/2" thick Oak plywood but don't nowadays in my area; but they still sell 3/4" thick ply).

You'd still need to cut dados and rabbits with the router, and they don't come easy, believe me (unless you are more experienced in all that than I am giving credit for).

Do ask if you have any more thoughts on this.