For the sake of continuity I’m posting more of the projects I did at woodworking school. In part I I showed the projects tackled as an absolute beginner, in part II I posted the projects that were my introduction into using stationary machines. In part III now we’ll move on to the more involved projects that followed.
Now that my classmates and I had had a proper introduction to building solid wood furniture on stationary machines, it was time to move onto using man made sheet good materials and an introduction to a new set of stationary machines. Machines that we had been forbidden to touch up until this module.
The school had a horizontal panel saw which looked like this…
There is a separate on/off switch for the normal blade and the scoring blade. It was important to remember to turn on the scoring blade.
And a vertical panel saw that looked like this…
The vertical panel saw was the safest. It was also easier to load up with sheet goods as they didn’t have to be lifted very high. The saw itself also has a tiny footprint up against a wall compared to the giant footprint of the horizontal panel saw.
We also learned how to operate an edge bander, and a time saver (industrial drum sander).
First thing we did during this module was to cut some MDF using the horizontal panel saw. We each took turns trying it out. The sliding table allows you to walk by the blade to make the cut. Many giggles were had over the “butt bar” which is a bar that you slide up behind your butt so that you can keep the sliding table from getting ahead of you as you push the table past the blade.
The MDF we cut was actually the table top for the leg and rail we had made in a previous module. Next we had to mill some solid oak and miter the corners around the MDF. We kept the oak proud of the MDF and used the time saver (drum sander) to flush the oak to the MDF.
Next up during this module we tackled many different sheet good tasks. We split into groups and made all kinds of things that were needed in the school shop. Rolling carts (MDF), drawers for lathe chisels (baltic birch ply), racks that got fastened onto the 6 lathes (for holding templates, balitc birch ply) , nesting foot stools (MDF), and new sets of throat plates for each of the 7 table saws, there were zero clearance inserts for 6 different blade thicknesses/ angles. The school board also wanted in on the free labour, and had us make some laminate desk tops destined for computer classes. One group of students cut the tops out, and I paired up with a fellow student to edge band all of the tops. Next there was a group that drilled the holes with a jig for the metal legs- which would only get assembled once delivered. Edge banding by machine is a finicky process- but I really learned a lot about the machine in the process! Every adjustment possible needed adjusting, AND the cutters needed to be changed.
The master piece for this module was that we built custom kitchen cabinets. Over in another wing of the school there was a break room that was in dire need of kitchen cabinets. As a class we designed the “kitchen”, made the cut list, ordered the materials, and then built the cabinets and installed them. The teacher specified that the cabinets would have inset doors with a cock bead profile around them. This was a pretty darned amazing experience. We had to build to fit the space, and also a small fridge and two microwaves.
We had bunch of cabinet boxes shifting around the school for a while- as it turned out we only installed the cabinets in another module because we ran out of time.
Here is the result…
We split off into groups to make the cabinets, I helped put the boxes together and build the toe kicks. Others made the face frames, side panels, drawers, doors, and counter tops.
Because work was spread out among the class it wasn’t possible to learn how to do every part, but it felt amazing to have all worked together to complete the kitchen. In theory we understood each process, but installing drawer slides would have been nice to experience, for example.
Our test for this module was to build a shooting board out of MDF and then laminate it. The shooting board design we had is double sided.
This side is simply a bench hook…
… but when you flip it end for end you get the shooting board side. The laminate was a great idea because it’s lets your plane glide with no friction.
I have two of them, and the funny thing is I didn’t build them. As it turned out I was busy with a project I got permission to do in lieu of making the shooting board. Luckily some people tossed their shooting boards by the wayside once the test was over and I was there to scoop them up!
I had connections to a non-profit and they needed some supplementary kitchen cabinets for their kitchen. A kitchen that is part of a program that cooks fresh healthy meals for students once a week for free. They were busting at the seems and needed more storage, namely a pantry unit and a hanging cabinet to go next to the stove. I proposed that my school donate my time and their materials to making these cabinets. At first, my teachers were unsure, they sent me to administration. Administration thought it was a grand idea and gave it a green light. I was psyched!
Here are the before pictures…
At the end of the cabinets in the corner is a rolling cart, that’s where they wanted to have a large pantry.
Between the stove vent and the fridge is where they wanted a hanging cabinet. Also the vent is hanging from some 2×4 framing and the chefs would stack stuff on top of the vent only to have it fall through the hollow center of the frame.
I took measurements of the spaces to be filled, consulted with my teachers about what was the best way to build the cabinets, and how to replicate the arc detail on the doors of the existing cabinets, and cut all the pieces out. I then edge banded them with an iron and wood banding, and drilled holes for shelves.
And here are the after pictures…
I machined all the parts at school and hauled them over in my car so could only assemble the cabinets onsite. The cabinets are melamine. The doors I made out of MDF- heavy! I also had to paint the doors before installing them- a pain! The door here is slightly ajar I think because I drilled the holes for one of the hinges slightly off my mark- rookie mistakes!
I had to scribe the toe kick to fit the wonky floor, 1/2″ difference from one edge of the cabinet to the other! I used a jig saw for cutting. I secured the cabinet to the wall in many spots. All but two shelves are adjustable.
I unfortunately was just learning to understand plunge routing at the time of routing these doors to match the others in the kitchen… I didn’t know that there was a lever that locked the router at the desired plunge depth- I was trying to hold it the router plunged down and move it along… made for some variable depth detailing… *doh!*
This cabinet has one adjustable shelf. I had to make cleats for the cabinet to hang on and drilled tap con screws into the concrete. I was very satisfied with how solid both cabinets were once installed. I had some help to put the cabinets in place- I’m not crazy! You can also kind of see how I added a “top” to the stove vent and painted the 2x4s so that it would be a functional shelf and blend better.
Thankfully the mistakes I did make were minor enough- not very obtrusive, and there was a happy free-storage-solution ending. The non-profit even had a plaque made that now hangs in the kitchen giving thanks to my school.
For the next module we had to tackle how to incorporate jigs and fixtures into our work practices. The assignment we had was to split off into groups and make a production line. Each group would have one part of a a whole piece of furniture to build in multiples. The piece of furniture we wanted to make multiples of was a shaker table. We aimed to make sixteen of them. I worked in the group that processed the legs, there were three other groups, the shaft/spindle group, the table top group, the drawer assembly group.
Each group had to brainstorm what jigs would be necessary, and what procedures to follow to process our respective parts.
A couple of cool jigs that we learned about:
-Turning on the lathe using a router and a jig! It’s mind blowing! Though our jig was more sophisticated, this plan is similar. The spindles came out all exactly the same, and the router/lathe combo made the surface look like snake scales all along the spindle!
-Using a liegh type jig to cut dovetails… unfortunately only the students on the drawer assembly understood how to use the jig…
-A template cutting jig on the router table- we used this to cut exact replicas of our legs and drawer runners keeping the grain direction in mind when cutting. This plan is similar to what we made.
-A tapering jig for the legs once they were already cut. We built a jig to send through the planer that would hold the legs at an angle to the table. We ended up using the jig to send them through the drum sander instead- just to be certain there wouldn’t be tear out.
-A jig for cutting out circles on the band saw, and a jig for routing profiles on a circular work piece
This module really taught us that there is a jig for everything, and they really do help you get precise and repeatable results.
Here are some photos from the build…
The spindles fit into the drawer assembly with a wedged tenon. You can also see the sliding dovetail slots that were to receive the legs.
The tops got the first pick at the lumber stack to ensure we’d have pretty tables!
The parts got paired and awaited assembly.
The entire class worked on sanding all the parts and assembling the tables.
The drawer slides in and out from either side of the table. Here you can see the dovetails, and the curved drawer slides.
And the final product!
Since we had several vocational programs running in our school, we got to collaborate with the finishers on what finish we wanted for our respective tables. I chose oil and lacquer. I want to see the cherry age naturally.
Next up we had an introduction into veneer. We learned out to use a veneer press ( industrial grade), and a vacuum press (most likely what I’ll have, on a much smaller scale), a fret saw, a veneer saw, and an electric scroll saw.
Here are some of the projects I made during the module…
This was a test after we made some parquetry designs, we had to make a four way book match with a frame around it. I didn’t choose the best sheets of veneer for this- the grain is crooked and not consistent…
We finally finished our table tops for the leg and rail! First we started with the B side- this gave us a chance to work out the kinks with our technique and in my case- a case of the ugly ( This practice run let me know not to pick colours at random!)
And this is my final table! I learned while sanding with an orbital sander that veneer is VERY thin, I have one spot where I sanded through, but thankfully the cross banding veneer underneath is a similar colour so it’s not too in-your-face.
I did a practice run of this pattern first- glad I did because it was really rough compared to this.
We were told to make different styles of shoes and that a series of the shoes would be hung up later on the wall- unfortunately most people didn’t hand in the shoes so I never go to see them all together.
We all attempted to replicate a picture of an elephant standing on a ball- as our introduction to using a fret saw. Cutting by hand is really hard!! I didn’t finish mine.
And finally this was the test I had for marquetry. We each got one of four designs to cut out, assemble, and glue within four hours. We also had to use a technique new to us- burning the veneer for shading by dipping it into sand in a hot pan.
Thanks for reading! Happy woodworking.
Stay tuned for more posts on the projects I made at woodworking school.
Warped Boards 