Door Update

Fitting the Panels and Cutting Rabbet for the Glass















These last few days I've been busy with the door project; with the main frame essentially complete I focused on the four door panels. These are solid Oak about 1 1/8" thick and needed to be rabbeted on all four sides to slide into the 1/2" door dados. The dados were cut about 1/4" deeper than needed to allow the panels to expand and contract as all solid wood will do over time. A straight forward procedure that first establishes the width and depth of the panel rabbets with my marking gauge and then starting the cut with my skew rabbet plane by Veritas. I've read a few reviews of this plane and it seems like most have been good but to be frank, I still can't seem to find a rhythm with it. Maybe it's just me but this plane never quite lived up to expectations. After using it for a year or more now I still seem to get inconsistent results.? Perhaps it's the angled front knob that throws me off or the uncomfortable side profile while in use...could be the knobs that hold the fence in position have come loose on me a few times while in use and I find when I really tighten the little turn screws down to keep things tightly in place, I need a pair of pliers to get them open again.? anyone else have any thoughts on this plane? Whatever the reasons are it's not my favourite plane to use for the entire process of cutting rabbets. (as a side note I should say that my small plough and large router planes by Veritas are great tools that I use daily; just seems the skew block has some issues-at least in my hands!)
So with that in mind I begin the rabbet with the Veritas and once a shallow groove is established I'll switch over to my medium sized shoulder plane to finish off the cuts. I get better results with this approach and clean things up with my side rabbet planes to complete. Again I apologise, no shots of these last few steps...been so busy trying to get this project done that the camera is sometimes an after thought! Sorry...
With the panels cut and fit I'll lay out the larger rabbets around the window section. This is basically the same procedure as the last and I did remember to turn on the camera.
To begin, a nice deep scribe line with the marking gauge on the back of the door.

With the rabbet widths and depths nicely scribed into the Oak I'll go ahead and dis-assemble things to begin the process. Again it's a combination of the skew rabbet plane to start, followed by my shoulder plane. These are all stopped rabbets so each end of the channel needs to be cut with my large router plane. I work my way down through the fiber until I reach my desired depth. This procedure is generally the same for the four components but after I did the first two I started to remove the waste with a little more gusto. In the photos you may notice a large Japanese style chisel on my bench top; for removing this waste in a hurry I resorted to the bash and crash of the 1 3/8" wide steel and my heavy mallet.

















Once the bulk of the material is removed I clean up the bottom and sides of the groove with again the shoulder plane and router to get tight into the corners...
another dry fit to check and I can move on.






















I follow these same steps and complete the other three rabbets getting a little more aggressive with the mallet and chisel as I go; these rabbets are big and deep and in this small work space the simple task of taking a style, cutting a rabbet, fitting the rail and then taking it apart and fine tuning things is a real workout. As the door gets closer to completion my shop is feeling smaller and smaller. I can safely say that this is the first and the last door I'll attempt to build in this workspace.
From here it's on to some more hand planing but my spirits are lifted because I'm very happy with the results so far. This planing session should be one of the last and my smoothing plane is taking paper shavings off of the stock. Another dry fit and I can start to get set-up for the mouldings...
















Hallelujah!

Unplugged Summer Part Four (and final)

A Few Feet To Finish...

















The stock for the feet is cut and planned flat, I left them slightly long so I would have the option of trimming back later. The stock is also left square until I chop the mortises and on this day, is where I began ...
















Because the legs are quite thin on this little project and the tenons are sort of long and skinny, I decide to use my brace and bit to remove the bulk of the material before turning over to my mortise chisels. The brace is fast and the material bores away in seconds; the ends of the mortises still need to be squared up and the depth cleaned a little.






















These mortises are a relatively painless and fast process using this method and I'll do a test fit to see if I need some more fine tuning.
Another dry fit...






















I'm pleased with the look of the piece with the feet attached. It's rewarding to see it coming together and finally standing on the shop floor in front of me. Until now it was only an idea, curiously being watched and studied as the form was taking place.






















I decide to shape the feet beginning with the long tapers from the front leg to the toe and again a shorter, quicker slope down to the heel. I begin with the taper and my smoothing plane...in a minute or two I get down into the Khaya and meet my scribe lines to reveal the lines of the feet. From here I take my coarse rasp and do some more shaping at the toe to round things over. I follow with a finer rasp and again stand back to see if I like where things are going.
I decide to add a bottom stretcher to add some stability to the frame. Again with a brace and a bit and the mortise chisel dance, I'm there.






















I place the box and stand on the bench top and decide to leave it there for tonight. I'll dismantle everything in the morning and go over all of the surfaces with my smoothing plane followed by my low angle block plane to gently chamfer the edges and make things inviting to the hand...

















5 a.m. sunlight pouring into the wood shop makes those tiny chamfer shavings come alive. Like a camp fire dancing across the bench top I'll break all of the edges and decide to add a small bead detail to the mid-stretchers just under the drawer box area. This is one of those details that you'd only find when you really stop and take a closer look at a piece of furniture. From a standing perspective you'd never see it do to the overhanging drawer box section; but when we crouch down to look closer at the lines in the hardwood, only then may we discover these tiny little details, hidden treasures kept away from eyes that are simply wandering by. These are the elements and reasons we work the wood; it's these small trophies we keep hidden away for others to discover.

















My beading tool, an older model from Veritas is simple in use, easy to set up and a pleasure to work with. A gentle touch to begin I slowly work my way down into the wood grain being careful not to tear as I go. When the beading is done and the final surfacing completed I'll go ahead and glue things up. I leave the wood shop for the remainder of the day and this evening I'll come back and remove the clamps, clean up any squeeze out and fine tune the joinery.






















The next day came and went and maybe a few more as well...getting sidetracked away from the project for the far more important things in life: sand castles on the beach, destined for higher tides to come and wash away those tiny little foot prints left on the strand. My children, 3 and 4 years of age, having the most incredible time of their young lives; through the campfire ghost stories and summer songs being sung- visiting friends and family all come to enjoy these days that we spend time in our home out there on the coast in Cape Breton.
When I finally arrive back in the shop I like what I see...this strange little table affair, 'a side server' I now call it; do to the fact that is what it became. A natural progression not following any rules- a kind of evolution in design. I rummage through some off cuts and find a great piece of Angelique just big enough for a drawer front. I'd also discover some Poplar and fit it to size, the first step in making a traditional drawer is to get the drawer sides to fit the opening. I'll plane the Poplar so it 'just fits' and from there I'll have to re-saw the stock.






















Funny now thinking back to a year or two ago, the thought of re-sawing a piece of lumber by hand was so far from my mind. I don't know exactly when it happened but at some point over the past 14 months my mind shifted from..."How am I ever going to do all of this or all of that with only hand tools?" to these long summer days of simply doing the work and never giving it a second guess. Working with hand tools now is so natural and for anyone out there who is still at those early stages where you still may want to talk yourself out of dimensioning all of that lumber by hand...you'll get there, believe me-it'll come sooner than later. These days it seems just another quick process in getting the wood ready for joinery.






















My rip saw makes quick work of the challenge and from there it's a frenzy of bench hooks and hand planes. Surfacing the freshly sawn surfaces and then shooting board to ready. My Bad Axe saws arrived around this time and I was so excited to finally get them in my hands.

















Again, the little side server would have to wait a few more days while I put the new back saws through some tests. The saws as I mentioned in an earlier post are two of the nicest I've ever had the pleasure to work with. They're really everything you'd need in a handsaw. Another week passes and suddenly we're closing in on our vacation time, I think about the Oak door waiting back in the city. Almost time to shift gears and make tracks but I did want to finish the project at hand.
I made a traditional style drawer as I always do, half blind dovetails in the front with through dovetails in the back. Solid poplar for the sides and bottom and a thin piece of Khaya for the back. The front as mentioned was Angelique. I didn't put a back on the box when I made it, no rabbets or dados, grooves or blocks. I didn't put anything back there because I wanted to leave it open. This also led to the decision of not adding any drawer pulls. Why bother right? You simply walk over to the piece and gently push out the drawer from the opening in the back; the piece is so small that this is not a problem. I decide now that it's officially been labeled a side server to build a tray for the top. I again used some Khaya and made a bread board style top. This is removable so when in use you walk up to the server, push out the drawer from the back and place it on the tray at the top. Then you simply lift off the tray, holding the drawer and can bring it along with you to the table or work area. In my infinite wisdom though, I'll have to tell you that the entire process of building the drawer and top removable tray I didn't take any pictures! Sorry...
This being vacation time (as you all know) I didn't bring along a computer; so when my camera would get full I'd go visit my parents who are nearby and upload the pictures into their computer. Then I'd simply dump them into my little zip drive thingy...well over the last week of building this project my parents left the Island-my camera was full so I couldn't get any more shots...no way to dump the memory card! Well, you'll have to take my word for it that the drawer turned out really great-one of my best fitted drawers to date. (of course Mr. Murphy, no pictures eh?)
The top tray was pretty straight forward, the main tray with two wide ends attached by split mortise and tenons. What I did end up doing, that I thought was kind of cool, and again another Krenov thing, was before I attached the bread board ends I rabbeted a small groove along the inside edges of them where they meet the main top surface. This created a shelf that supports the drawer when it comes to rest on the tray. The drawer in turn, never touches the tray top but sits firmly in these little rabbets. The idea came from Krenovs 'silver ware cabinet'. His piece is designed so the drawer will rest, just floating above the surface...his silverware case doesn't have a removable tray and besides this obvious detail there's nothing about the two pieces the same. I should also mention how the tray connects to the top? I simply ploughed out some deep grooves to correspond with the two top stretchers on the main frame. I was hoping that these two stopped dados would be enough to balance the top and the tray would kind of 'float' when in place. This never panned out. When I placed anything on it, it would fall slightly forward touching the drawer box. A quick fix...I drilled a small hole in the top center of the drawer box and inserted a dowel. This dowel is enough to keep the tray balanced and secure when it's placed on the upper frame assembly.
So that's basically it, that's where I left it. I really wanted to do some more on the interior of the drawer, make another little box that slides on some runners. I think this design will develop further and I'll be building another version of it over the winter. (I left it there in our summer home...no room in our Nissan to fit it..suppose I could have left the children instead?)I really like the idea of a side server sitting in a corner of a formal setting or perhaps in a kitchen. You could make the drawer interior into a spice box so when you're cooking at the stove you can go over and again, push out the little drawer, place it in the grooves and carry the whole tray over to your work space. Then remove the drawer with all of it's nicely fitted interior components and use the tray as a work surface...a cutting board perhaps?
I'll leave it at that for now and promise to get a few shots of the piece next summer...the way time flies it won't seem too long. I apologise for taking you so far into this piece and never having a final picture of it. Here's a sketch I did before I left, hopefully it'll get the ideas across and you'll see what I did.


















Thanks for reading...
Cheers.

Heritage Door Update

Getting into the Oak

The door build is getting back to it's before summer pace and things are coming along as planed. For anyone following this project (Dan!) I should apologise for not updating sooner...wanted to get some of the summer project down first. I left the door frame seven weeks ago with the tenons sawn and mortises chopped, nothing was fit, no haunches or shoulders cut or dressed...this is what still needed to be done to complete the main frame and get on with the panels. This is where I started to get back into the Oak.














A frequent reader commented on the amount of moisture in my basement shop over the summer and was asking if and how much the wood swelled up these past few weeks. I had been thinking this same thing during my time out East and was surprised to discover that nothing seemed to really change. My moisture content was still between 9 and 11% which is ideal in my work and the wood looks as straight and flat as when I left in late June. This is a good thing...a really good thing.
I use a Wager Extended Range Moisture meter, I purchased it at Lee Valley a couple of years ago and it was one of the smartest investments I ever made. Because I use as much reclaimed and salvaged lumber as I can in my work it's a practical tool in the wood shop. Here is a pic I borrowed from the Lee Valley website along with a little blurb about what they say about the unit.

This non-invasive meter uses advanced electromagnetic wave technology to accurately measure wood moisture content without damaging wood surfaces. It instantly scans an area measuring 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" to a depth of 3/4", computes the average moisture content for the area, corrects for the specific gravity of the species being worked and then shows the result (from 5% to 30% in 0.1% increments) on the large digital display.







Its continuous scan ability allows measurement of numerous board feet within just a few seconds. For testing in hard-to-reach areas where you can't read the display, a handy "hold" feature lets you take the measurement and then remove the meter to read it. The specific gravity correction is push-button programmable within the 0.20 to 1.0 range in 0.01 increments, making it suitable for use with domestic and exotic wood species.

So to get back to the door procedures I have to say that it's a real bonus being able to work these shoulder cuts with my new Bad Axe back saws. They make quick work of the hardwood and I move on to some fine tuning and removing the small waste left behind from my cuts. I try to keep this process as simple as I can while maintaining as close to perfect execution when cutting to my knife lines. When we stop and think about this concept it can really be as easy as it sounds; make a nice deep knife line and cut down to it. Never past it and never leaving a trace of fat on top of it...simple enough right? Certainly sounds like it could be but care and patience must be taken when removing the wood from these joints. A small slip with a chisel or a few too many passes with the shoulder plane can quickly turn a tight fitting joint into a loose one. (and who enjoys loose joints right?)






















I start of with one of my long paring chisels at the lower shoulder line and carefully place the tip into the still visible knife line. I pare away the waste leaving a clean and polished shoulder. A small combination square quickly tells me things are as they should be and I can move onto my medium shoulder plane which is presented in the top picture of this post.






















This small shoulder in turn becomes a perfect fence or perhaps guide is a better word for my plane to ride against. With the shoulder plane I remove the waste from each cheek of the tenon careful not to pass my scribe lines and then I'll switch over to a small low-angle block plane to get the end of the tenon to size. ( I think the Rabbet Block plane Lie Nielsen manufactures is somewhere in my not so distant future...a close friend in Cape Breton has used one for a few years now and swears by it) A quick chamfer on the leading edges and I'll test fit the pieces.
















This door design has a lower rail, a locking rail, a header above the window and finally a top rail. Four rails in all with slightly different mortise to haunched tenon configurations in each. Why make them all the same right? That would just be so boring! Seriously though, a bit of research into the history of door making through books like The Practical Woodworker by Bernard E. Jones and Modern Practical Joinery from George Ellis were quite indispensable and really helped me when deciphering my options in exterior door examples from the past. My joinery options are all pre-determined by the history laid out before me.














Because I'm building a door for a 'Heritage' home I cannot in any way deviate from the original design. This was kind of a painful aspect for me through this project but is turning out to be a kind of pleasure as well. It's all there in front of me, the information I need. Solid, living examples all through this historic neighbourhood we call Cabbage Town. I strolled through the street like a man with a purpose, knocking on doors asking if I could take a 'closer look' at things. Some faces seemed to fill with fear and others a little skeptical of me on their door steps asking if I could 'look at their doors' (at least I wasn't building a heritage bed or bathroom project) A few of my clients neighbours were welcoming and forthcoming, curious while I studied a few of the doors that are still in use. A few are in rough shape (potential future clients I hope!)but some look as if they were build in the last 20 to 30 years. We're talking about doors that are over 100 years old here! A great testament to the true power of solid wooden joinery. Standing through these Upper Canadian winters and then the sweltering, humid heat of these Southern Ontario summers- they're perfect in their use and beautiful in purpose through design.






















When I mentioned that this process could be a bit on the painful side for me it's mostly due to the fact that my shop has a working footprint area about 12' x 12'. The door is in the 3' x 7' ball park and is already gettin' as heavy as sin. This is the frustration in my small basement shop. I'm thinking ahead to my final assembly, the glue up, the finishing-my back is starting to ache! My dining room is calling me up from this space. Sounds funny I know but sadly I'm not kidding. Hey, a drop cloth and some saw benches, a nice thick sheet of some 3/4" plywood and I'll have a make shift work surface to get this project finished. Speaking of finishing, once I had all of the tenons dry fit I dis-assembled the frame and started to lay out the dados for the door panels. The panels are a full 1" in thickness but will have rabbets all around bringing the edges into the 1/2" range. The panels are flat which may also be a surprise to some. I test run and pleaded with the old plough plane I've been tuning but sadly the results are not up to par.






















I have the small plough plane made by Veritas which I really like using but this plane only offers a 3/8" iron as it's widest. I went to visit Dan Barrett before the summer began and he hooked me up with some irons and a wedge for this great old plough plane I had been trying to get back into working order.(Dan makes incredible wooden planes at his shop here in Ontario...DL Barrett and Sons link on the side bar)
















It was really my hope to be able to use this antique plane to carry out this part of the build but the fence is still just a bit too finicky so I decide to go ahead and use the small plough plane. Having to take a few extra passes (almost double the amount of work) I also used my side rabbet planes and my large router plane.















All in all the dados went really well taking a few extra hours of my morning and I'm able to move onto the panels. Another dry fit and I cut and dimension a few scraps to test fit the corners of the dados. This is getting exciting as things progress onwards.






















Cross cutting the panels is a real pleasure with my old saw and this Oak. I've been working with this wood now for awhile and it can still stop me dead in my tracks and reminds me to consider just how lucky I am to be working with it. These 1" by almost 9" quarter sawn planks for my panel stock is truly an amazing specimen; straight and clean with a nice blend of rays throughout the panels I find myself staring at it while I work and drifting away down deep into the wood grain. (maybe that's just the funky cream in my coffee talking?)
















At any rate I'm jointing two thin strips onto the pieces to make up the width needed for the openings. I'll have lots of room for wood movement underneath the heavy mouldings that'll come to wrap the panels.















Most of the heritage door examples in the area all show me that the builders back then did this very thing; nice wide panels, no visible joint lines all made up from solid timber.















I'm sure they moved and they shrank-they slammed and they welcomed. The quarter sawn Oak is one of the more stable woods and I'm confident there will never be an issue with it. So I'm onto the hand plane routine again, from surface to shooting board I get four panels all to size, flat, square and true.















Again the wood shavings quickly pile up and the sweat falling off of my forehead these past few days is giving me a nice raised grain effect!
















So here I sit at my computer tonight, writing instead of working this wood-
(!@(*?@%$*&>!!)
I have two of the four panels fitted and the frame structure suddenly went from really heavy and strong to-'brother, this thing will be around for another 100 years!' Really, the panels add so much integrity to the frame, just a real solid feel and all sitting nicely with an even gap around the edges. Lots of room for movement without any danger of exposed seems due in part to the mouldings that'll cover the jointed edges and the large rabbets. I'll get some shots in the morning and keep going on the other two bottom panels. My double-thermo glass panel is scheduled to be in this Thursday so it'll be onto the mouldings early next week. In another two weeks time, depending how the finishing goes, we'll be driving over to the nice part of town to install.
More to come...

Unplugged Summer Part Three

Building a Stand for the Dovetailed Box













With the dovetails dry fit I'll take some of my scrap wood and try to get a sense of the weight and dimension the stand should be for the piece. I want things to be slight and skinny, with a modern sensibility about it. The exposed joinery on the box will also be reflected through the stand joinery but first I'll have to dimension some stock.
















This 16' long plank of Khaya would be a dream to most but sadly it's so warped and twisted that getting a 30" length out of it without any kind of hollow or wind proves to be a real challenge. (now what's that about building myself that new 16' work bench?)

















I'll continue on with some cross cutting and ripping followed by some more surfacing, shooting and then smoothing until I have all of the components needed to make up the stand.

















The Tite-Mark is again in high demand around the wood shop and the stock thicknessing is a slow but pleasant affair. I'll scribe one side of the long narrow leg and then over to the bench for another round of surfacing...
The process is repeated again at my make shift saw bench.






















Above you can see the nice deep scribe line I'll be able to cleanly plane to; the round blade and body of this style marking gauge makes it easy and accurate to 'roll around the edges of the work piece.






















With the legs silky smooth I'll go ahead and glue together the box. Once dry I can finish plane it and then start fitting the legs to snugly wrap around the dovetailed carcass. I'll lay things out on the bench with clamps and knife in the joinery lines.
















The top corners of the frame will be simple bridle joints with some mortise and tenon joinery for the cross stretchers and feet. This is a good half day of work getting the lower frame dimensioned with the joinery laid out. I'll leave it there for today and start sawing the corner joints and chopping the mortises in the morning...














5 a.m. and I'm up to get the early worm. Some coffee and a fire will clear away yesterdays shavings and I'll begin the joinery. In the next shot you can see I've laid out the mortises but I totally gapped on any shots of the bridle joint sawing.

















The pieces are clamped securely down to the bench to with my surface clamp and a scrap oard so I don't bruise the freshly planed surfaces. I'll carefully chop out the waste with my mortise chisel and go ahead sawing the tenons. This process continues on from mortise to tenon, bridle to bridle.














I find some days that these early morning wake up calls can get the brain on auto-pilot and before I know it I'm dry fitting the front lower assembly.
I say front assembly because I've decided to make two upright frame sections for the stand; a thinner front assembly with an identical rear frame slightly larger than the first. This will add to the modern effect I'm looking for, almost cosmopolitan or a reflection of the city scape I've left behind a few weeks ago.






















The shot above shows the front assembly clamped into my shoulder vise with the rear assembly piece balanced to see if I like where I'm going. Again the design evolves as I work and I allow the wood to dictate the forms as they develop into this small frame assembly almost alien in nature holding up the small structure.






















The rear frame components follow the same pattern as the first only with slightly larger pieces and joinery. I'm moving along and am excited to get the feet started so I can stop rigging things up with clamps on the bench top. In the last shot you can see some of my Cabinet Master clamps acting as feet to hold the work tall and proud, this will again assist me in delivering a verdict on this design.






















I'm happy with the way this piece is progressing and I'll rough out some stock for the feet. I decided to add another lower cross stretcher giving some more stability when the carcass gets pushed a little further 'through' the frame opening and cantilevers out a little bit more. The front left leg has a wild twist in it; I didn't notice it until the four legs are together around the carcass. I think about removing it but later choose to let it stay where it is. It gives the piece a strange kind of movement, almost a sense of waiting, perhaps on a journey somewhere?
I've got the feet to chop for the leg tenons and then I can do some more shaping. This will have to wait a few days; we have some summer company coming to visit and there's a list as long as my arm of things needing to be done around the house. I'm off to the timber frame pile next to the shop to cross cut some planks for my daughters bed. We just set up a nice old sleigh bed for her and it seems to be missing the cross rail supports that'll lie underneath the mattress. So with my panel saw and a framing square I have about 32 cross cuts to make in some old planks. It feels good for the soul to be outside under this summer sun working wood again.














Stay tuned...