Dairy of a Chest....

[RAFlorida]

You got top stars for great work

and some very interesting pictures SARGE. If only I could do as well as you.....keep up the top notch work.

[SARGE..g-47]

I can't really tell from the pics, but is your boxjoint jig set up for dedicated 3/8" wide pins with your Frued blades, or is it adjustable? Do you go back and glue in a plug where the dado removed part of a pin?

Working with basswood is what got me into this hobby. We made a bunch architectural models in college out of basswood. I still like working with it on smaller projects (and I still have a bunch of thin stock to use up too).

The jig is made to take a 1/4" guidepin.. 3/8".. and a 1/2" I believe without going to look. They come with it as I think I purchased it from Eagle America several years ago under the name "Mighty Jig". They are simply inter-changed with one screw that sits in a slot at the base of the face frame.

The Freud Box joint set will do an exact 1/4" or 3/8" by the way you face the writing. Writing out.. 1/4".... wriiting in 3/8" and I mean exact as I mic'ed them. Flat teeth which leaves an perfectly smooth bottom and the blade are the silver ice coat. Just keep the pitch cleaned off and you don't have to touch up the joint at all.

I choose the basswood to try is it is almost crystal clear as soft maple but much cheaper here in Atlanta. Soft and measure have to be taken to avoid any splinter. But so far.. a pleasure to work with keeping that in mind.

[SARGE..g-47]

Late start as I had forgotten to puchase 1/4" ply for drawer bottoms. A trip to my hardwood supplier about 13 miles away for one full sheet of birch as it was exceptional. A new load of hickory was coming in tomorrow but I chose to go with the birch as it was there today and save gas.

But.. almost drought here in Atlanta again but a sudden afternoon thunder-storm popped up so I had to wait an hour before leaving. The bologna sandwich and cat-nap was good while waiting out the rain as the ply was exposed in the rear of the truck. We need the rain desperately.. but my luck it came when it did.

Tails first in my shop to mark pins with. 5/8" thick drawer sides so the marking gauge gets the call for 19/32" to allow the compression of the back of the chisel to take the extra 1/32" without over compression in a final chisel chop out. Then mark the tails by eye as is my preference being careful to stay somewhat random as my nature if to see symetric. Hand cut DT's are a "signature joint and they should appear random.

Clamp and cut with special attention to the initial entry as the first 3 pulls with my cheap Irwin pull saw will define the course of the remaining cut to the depth line. I use a fan blowing on the work to keep the kerf visible and to move the fine dust created away from me breathing it.

The saw has done it's work and time to clean out the major waste between the kerfs. I was taught by Ian Kirby to use a coping saw.. a coping saw does not agree with my haste to take out the major waste. I call on my smaller 12 Jet band-saw to do that job. Total concentration and a steady guide hand is required as the 1/4" 6 skip tooth will make a mess with the slightest slip or loss of concentration.

The final chop of the rear line it taken back to the bench and the depth line is clamped down on a backing board. I use a wooden jawed clamp and the side of the jaw becomes my 90* guide on the final chop with the Marples "blue beaters". Any in-significant waste will be paired with my skew chisels..

Cut the remaining set of tails and move on to mark the pins with the existing tails... Another day.. another step as I will finish the tails to-night or tomorrow. I never get in a hurry cutting DT's as it can be fatal to the result and a large loss of time.

When they are done.. they are done.. no sooner... no latter!

I'm hungry now.. when hungry I eat which is sometimes at my wife's insistence. I lose track of time when in a WW shop. I lose track of the world for that matter which is sometimes not an al-together bad thing to do.

[SARGE..g-47]

The pins have been done at this point using the existing tails laid over the stock to be pinned as a template. I vertically stand the pin board between my twin screw vise and lay the tail board on top. But.. I use a piece of scrap on the border of the tail board to keep the pin board exactly on top of the tail board.. then clamp the whole thing from over-head.

I do not want either to slip the slightest as one slip means a bad fit or start from scratch if severe enough. It is important that I properly marked left-right and oriented the side with tails to the proper adjoining pin board. Another case of if you lose concentration and orient in-correctly... not good news. I use an Exactor knife as it cuts very fine and can be held well to the inner tail walls. Just my preference as any good marking knife will work fine.

The stock was measured over a 4 hour period with a moisture meter. This bass-wood was dry at around 5% - 6% as it is dry and hot here in Atlanta. My normal humidity in the house is around 9% so... I will cut them slightly loose and they will expand somewhat. Rain expected tomorrow and I expect sooner than latter. Loose now but they will come home with an increase in humidity and moisture.

Once I have hand cut the pins... I chop them the same as the tails so I won't duplicate pictures. They are sitting waiting for me to take the intentional tips of the pins protruding 1/32" off with a low angle plane. I always want them a hair "proud" as better than a tad short. Then they get surface sanded with the ROS to 180.

No glue at this point even the joints will hold it together. It's time to cut the drawer bottoms exact to fit there 1/4" by 1/4" slot in the base of the inside drawer components. Then two coats of shellac both sides to the bottoms. I want to seal the ply as I nor anyone knows if formaldehyde was used in the glue. Better safe than sorry.. so we seal with shellac.

Another day... another dollar $ short which is the story of my life..

To-night after taking my wife to dinner the drawers will be cut and the sealing begin going through tomorrow.

Tick-tock... tick-tock...

[SARGE..g-47]

Drawer bottoms were cut for both the top and bottom drawers. I wet both sides lightly with distilled water to raise the grain. Distilled has the minerals removed in the distilling and removes the chance that minerals will inter-act with tannins.. etc. in the wood to latter show as various spots appearing through the finish.

Sanded the raised grain to 220 grit to remove the fuzz before application of two coats of shellac padded on each side to give the ply bottom a hint of amber but mainly to seal off any un-wanted vapors from glue components in the ply.

Round over the edges for drawer sides and touch the end grain with a light gel stain to accent the exposed joints. The drarwer are now ready for glue-up and final prep to add drawer fronts and knobs. Two have been glued and the remaining 3 won't be until Wednesday as I have to drive my wife for an epidural for a degenerating disc tommorrow early. Will like take the remainder of the day off.

Hot in Georgia but not that bad in the shop as it is partially under-ground with the rear shop being totally under. But with doors open to vent shellac fumes.. the heat and humidity will roll inside in a matter of minutes. Another day.. another step complete.

Tick-tock... tick-tock.....

[wardprobst]

Hey Sarge,
Wonderful thread and I hope all goes well with the Mrs.
DP

[SARGE..g-47]

Hey Sarge,
Wonderful thread and I hope all goes well with the Mrs.
DP

Thanks Ward.. the epidural went fine as she had the left side of L4 disc removed 15 years ago. The right side has deterioated and probably will require a fusion. But... you have to go through the preliminaries for the HMO of trying fixes first before you do the more expensive surgery.

Her remaining sister from PA. was arriving for the 4th today.. so spent yesterday cleaning house.. cutting yard.. etc. Then I had to replace the CPU on the computer that went "bye-bye" Sunday evening. I am clueless so she sat in a chair and "directed" while I made hook-ups and punched buttons she told me to punch to transfer info from the old hard drive.

I don't know much about that stuff... all I know is the new CPU has somewhere around a zillion "mesquito-bytes" and several million "snake-bytes" or something like that. It does seem to pack a lot of venom so...

Back to my shop today which incidentally is probably where I belong after fooling with a computer for several hours. Not exactly my cup of tea as I'm certainly no "natural" in that category.

Regards...

[jackellis]

First, I wish your wife a speedy recovery.

Second, could you please help a city boy out by explaining what a dairy, where they produce milk and related products, has to do with building this chest. Or do you mean "Diary of a chest"?

[SARGE..g-47]

First, I wish your wife a speedy recovery.

Second, could you please help a city boy out by explaining what a dairy, where they produce milk and related products, has to do with building this chest. Or do you mean "Diary of a chest"?

Spell-check is a help for the challenged even though normally I'm not a bad speller at all. Diary is not a very used word around my home. But dairy is and if spell-check is not available combined with haste often leads to waste. So.... what you see is what you get with hopes that someone will see through the mucky water created and unravel the mystery.

And since we go through about 6 gallons of dairy product a week.. there is the option to use the chest to store empty plastic dairy containers until a depression with thoughts that the price of plastic might rise even higher which leaves one sitting in the "drivers seat"... at last!.

Ah yes... a Dairy Chest.... someone should have thought of building one long ago. But... my good fortune and I will apply for a patent early Monday when goverment offices re-open to put us farther in debt. ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..


Happy Birthday America... and King George can kiss my... well never mind as we do "Dairy" and not tea anymore.

[SARGE..g-47]

Holidays and all my wife's remaining sisters consider Georgia sun with the aid of a pool (my BIL's at his mini farm) the perfect spot to vacation. Of course a cheap place to stay would not enter their mind. We want to do this.. we want to go there.. could we.... a nightmare for getting anything done.

But back to the shop where stock for drawer fronts had to be machined to look like well.... drawer fronts. Need some drawer handles also which will be made from a single block of wood. Can't forget a base.. waist molding to tie the top and bottom and need a top to keep the rain out.

Nice to be back admist the saw-dust in lieu of hosting as a tour guide.. referee for someone else's kids... mediator among adults that see things from a several different views and just picking up checks for dinner as a "southern host".

The sound of machines and the quiet of hand-tools has a ring that I have waited several days to hear. Off and running.... tick-tock.. tick-tock..

[SARGE..g-47]

Coffee break is over...

[SARGE..g-47]

Home-made drawer handes take some time as there are several steps I use starting with a single block of wood. Drilling a hole center line along the lengh with a Forstner bit.. then ripping. To the router table for coves on both sides. Then round over the tops. Cross-cut to get the individual handles and then round over the ends.

Drawer faces have to be cut down to actual size and then a round-over or whatever method you chose on the edge. The same with the top after it comes out of the clamps. Cut down to size.. plane any ridges.. treat the edges. Same with the base runners which have the additional step of cutting a pattern using a MDF template and an over-head bearing pattern bit after cutting to 1 mm of the actual line for the pattern.

Then all has to be sanded and the grain raised with distilled water before the final grit. At that point I can apply a coat of Watco Danish and let it cure before it get any shellac. Details.. details.. details.... Wood-working is full of detail.

And the hands on the clock continue to move.. tick-tock.. tick- tock...

[crokett]

Ah yes... a Dairy Chest.... someone should have thought of building one long ago.

Somebody did. God, if you believe in him. If not, then whatever deity you do believe in.

[SARGE..g-47]

ROS and hand profike sanding until mid-nite last night. Today the base-boards got attention with cutting to length with miter cuts on the corners before the curve was added. But.. a discovery that the bottom side to side runner had bowed out 1/8' in the center and tapered out to 1/32" bow out on the ends. Several simple passes with an LV low angle smoother took care of that. Sand down and add more Danish oil there.

The curves... normally takes some time to build an MDF template from 1/2", but it was already built for the 6 drawer chest and TV stand that match. So.. use the template to draw the curve. Take it to the BS to cut to within 1 mm of the actual line with relief cuts coming before the main cut. Once the stock has been cleared to 1 mm I attach the templates on the back sides with screws as that side won't be seen. If it were double side tape gets the call.

Once attached... one simple pass on the router talbe with an over-head bearing pattern cutting bit with the bearing riding on the template leave a perfectly smooth.. exact curve as it followed the template. The template takes time to build.. but once done hundreds of duplicates can be made very quickly depending on how steady you are with a band-saw. The OV bearing takes care of that step with very little chance of a foul-up.

About time to add a coat of Danish to the several components built in the last few days. It need to cure a few days before considering shellac. I wilk do a little work on the belt molding tomorrow.

Moving along at the moment as the clock continues to move forward....

Tick-tock... tick-tock...

[SARGE..g-47]

Somebody did. God, if you believe in him. If not, then whatever deity you do believe in.

They wouldn't give me the patent.. life is full of dis-appointments.

Regards...