Sandal Woods - Fine Woodworking & Cabinetry

Something pretty cool is happening this summer: The Lumberjocks Woodworking Awards Summer 2008. It costs nothing to enter; but you must be a member of lumberjocks.com to participate. Entries start July 1, and close July 31, 2008, 3 PM CDT; voting opens August 1, and ends August 7, 2008.

If you are not yet familiar with this wonderful community of woodworkers, I encourage you to visit http://lumberjocks.com/ and spend some time looking at projects, personal blogs, forums, reviews, and videos.

From the web site announcement posted by Martin, the head Lumberjock:

Here’s your chance to showcase your latest woodworking projects and vie for the title of “Best Overall LumberJock”. The rules are simple and, like everything else at LumberJocks, there’s no fee to enter. The best part of this competition? There will be no designated jury of experts. You and your fellow LumberJocks will cast the votes. This creates a truly democratic voting process from our exceptional woodworking community. (See below for information on the rules and point system.)

If you are a member, all you have to do is enter, per the rules of the event; and if you are not a member of the Lumberjocks community, I recommend that you consider signing up for membership, and participating in what is a truly fun event!

The hardest decision you will have to make is which category to enter your project - make sure to check the rules, because you ARE allowed to enter one project into multiple categories:

1. One Man’s Junk (…”think of an innovative way to reuse some old hardware, reclaimed wood and/or recycled junk and turn it into something unique and special”…), and
2. Serve It Up With Class (…”Use your woodworking skills to create a serving tray using at least 2 different varieties of wood. Use inlay, marquetry, carving, and/or stains to turn your serving tray into a piece of art!”).

For the complete announcement, and the rules and prizes, go to http://lumberjocks.com/awards/summer_2008.

I frequent several woodworking forums. One of them, SMC, or “The Creek”, also known as Saw Mill Creek, sees a lot of posts on a daily basis and from time to time, someone will enter a post about gatherings of woodworkers in someone’s shop.

This time it was a little different. Bill drove up from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to take care of his father’s estate, with the help of other family members who live in the Kansas City area. Mark got wind of Bill’s trip, and posted on SMC about it, wondering if anyone might be interested in a get-together for dinner and woodworking stories.

Three of us (plus the visitor) were able to make it to this nice little gathering for a few hours: Greg Cole, Bill Huber, Mark Page (the organizer), and yours truly. We chatted about our jobs and, of course, our woodworking shops, equipment, and woodworking stuff in general.

One thing that struck me was their terrific and interesting jobs; and they love woodworking as a hobby. Wonderful!

Now, for the record, the evidence - in the photos, from left to right: Greg; Bill, the visitor of honor; Mark, The Organizer; and me:

The gathering:

Greg describes the width of a board :

Thanks, Mark, for making all the arrangements. I enjoyed the gathering, the company, and the conversation, tremendously!

Entry deadline for the Sommerfeld Tools drawing is midnight Monday, June 30, 2008. Remember to send your full name and mailing address. I know you like free stuff (just like I do!), so get your e-mail messages to me with the required information; and make sure to send e-mail to sandal-woods@bbwi.net. My thanks to all!

I am making a little stool for Sierra, seven years old. She is our granddaughter #2, the guitar player. Her instructor suggested she use a stool to sit during her guitar lesson sessions. This new stool will replace one I made her about a year ago; the old one I made in a hurry, using pocket screw joinery, too narrow and thus unstable, even if only 12 inches tall.

I admit I screwed up when I made the old stool. I did not use any stretchers on the legs, and one of the legs failed at one of the pocket screws. I already apologized to Sierra for this failure - MY fault! The fact that it lasted almost a year is a tribute to pocket hole joinery, as my job on that one was quite poor.

For the new stool I pulled all the stops: The wood is cherry; I am using mortise and tenon joinery, 1-1/2-inch thick legs, proper stretchers between the legs, and a 1-inch thick top. And, to dress the aprons, a narrow groove or a bead of some sort. The plain aprons just looked too blah! even in cherry; just plain and blah!

I remembered my super-cheap set of router bits bought at a clearance sale via mail order; maybe a Vee bit might give me a small enough feature near the bottom edge of the aprons? It turned out too wide, with a flat bottom in the vee. It actually looks like this: \_/ ; no kidding! So, scrap that one.

What I really wanted for the aprons was a bead with a skinny edge, just like on old furniture. I am sure there is a name for that type of bead, and I just don’t know it. I struggled with how to make something like this, until the proverbial light went on last night: About three weeks ago I went to an antique hand tool auction SW of Kansas City, where I bought several items; among them was a Stanley 66 beading tool:

 

BINGO! Problem solved. Not only perfect timing, but the perfect tool rescued, and used on this little stool. I had to sharpen the cutter; I also put the sole of the 66 on the belt sander, and in about 10 minutes I made some test passes on a piece of scrap cherry. Then I went to work, and made the beads on the aprons. The results are terrific - I just don’t have a power tool that can replicate the look of this bead on the aprons.

More and more I use my hand tools to get the job done on these little details. I find them pleasingly quiet, and I love them!

If you are more inclined to go with newer tools, with all their cutters, you might be interested in looking at the Lie-Nielsen bronze beading tool version of the Stanley 66 that Woodcraft sells:

Lie-Nielsen’s bronze version
of the Stanley 66 at Woodcraft:

Or is it bush…?

Summers in NW Missouri involve many outdoor activities, including setting aside time to collect berries from blueberry bushes and mulberry trees. Our trees are loaded with berries! And the blueberries should be ready to pick in a few days, if wild animals don’t get to them before we do.

This weekend we had wonderful weather, everything is green around us and, for a change, no storms have hit our area in the last few days. The ground has dried to some extent, at least sufficiently so that driving the truck in 4-wheel-drive mode was a cinch. Time to get the girls on the back of the pick-up, and head for the two largest and most prolific trees:

Procedure:

1. First, a tarp of similar implement is placed on the ground, closest to the area where one suspects the berries are most likely to fall.
2. Then one must shake the living daylights out of the limb(s); no climbing is allowed for older folks, and was ruled as unsafe for the little ones.
3. Collect as many berries while successfully avoiding stepping on them. Better yet: Fold the tarp into a smaller area, from which one scoops the berries carefully - no smashing is allowed at this point
4. Maximize the take by shaking the limbs a little more, to see if more have loosened since they were first shaken.
5. Count the number of quarts, or gallons, or buckets, etc., and take home to render into delicious jams and jellies.

Results:

The following is a photo summary of Saturday’s event - we should be able to savor the results in a few days, after our daughter is able to wash them and can them:

YUM! I can already taste them! These trees have enough berries in them for at least another 5 gallons’ worth…

Edit on Monday, June 23 2008, to add: At this time we can ship only to North America -the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

It’s time for the Sommerfeld Tools giveaway for June. This month we are giving away the Easy Mark hardware drilling jig:

This jig is super handy to align and drill the hardware mounting holes for knobs, handles and hinges quickly, precisely and with absolute repeatability. I have been using it for almost two years, and cannot do without it - handy for ALL cabinets! You can read all the details on the Sommerfeld Catalog page.

To enter this month’s drawing, all you need to do is send me an e-mail message to sandal_woods@bbwi.net; Edit to add: please include your full name and full address. If you have registered for previous drawings there is NO need to re-register.

Good luck to everyone!

 

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Download Quicktime (*.mov)

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In this episode I show how overlapping rabbets provide one solution to fitting the doors to the cabinet, while minimizing the door gap. I used a small shoulder plane to clean up the rabbet surfaces, to improve the fit and allow the doors to close with a nice, tight fit.

Credit for the overlapping rabbet solution belongs to Norman Pirollo, who publishes the blog The Refined Edge. Thanks, Norman!

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Download Quicktime (*.mov)

Edit to add: I have substituted the video, due to the error in the URL for Norman Pirollo’s blog, The Refined Edge. The URL is now shown correctly as http://refinededge.blogspot.com/.

In this episode I show how I did the layout, and chopped the mortises for the knife hinges in the doors, and in the carcase. Then, for the first time, I do a dry fit of the frame and panel doors to the carcase.

The knife hinges provide an elegant solution in this cabinet, because they are unobtrusive; they remain hidden for the most part, with only the heel showing a fraction of the hinge. They are seen only when we open the doors.

The tricky part of using this type of hinge is the layout: The more accurate the layout, and the more accurately we cut the mortises for these hinges, the better they appear once we finish chopping the mortises. The secret (I can’t remember where I read it) is to cut inside the dimension of the hinge, and then enlarge the mortises to final dimension when we reach at least half the final mortise depth. This ensures a tight fit; on the other hand, if we start at full mortise width, we run the chance of ending with sloppy mortises, much wider than the hinges.

Chopping the mortises using hand tools, using only sharp chisels and a small hammer, is a pleasurable experience. This is the time to take our time, and do a good job, for the reward is nice-looking, and tight-fitting mortises around the hinges. I found myself taking breaks, both planned and unplanned, during the time I was chopping the hinges. Planned, to allow me to retain my concentration, and unplanned due to powerful storms that swept through our region. But over the course of two days I finished the eight mortises, with total time of about 6 hours on the 8 mortises.

Remaining patient is absolutely key, to make it a pleasure to do this job. Turn on some jazz, or whatever favorite music you enjoy, and get it done!

Now, an apology to Norman Pirollo, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Norman, I made a typo on the web site address I gave for your blog. The correct URL for Norman’s The Refined Edge web site is: http://refinededge.blogspot.com/ . Norman does superb work in his studio; from reading his blog I have learned several hand tool techniques I employ in the building of this cabinet. And, after reformatting my 500GB hard disk drive (the result of one of the brutal storms that swept through here), and other video rendering problems possibly caused by power surges, I did not dare go back to make changes to the final version of the video.

Relevant links: All posts in my blog dealing with the Krenov-inspired cabinet, from veneering, book- and slip-matching, to making the doors.

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I had an opportunity today to take three of our granddaughters to one of the local home improvement stores (guess which one…), for an exciting Catamaran build. This is a free program at both orange, and blue, home improvement centers, for children of all ages.

Mellisa, from our local orange store Customer Service Department, was charged to conduct the program for two hours, which she did wonderfully! And in less than a half an hour, our three girls had built their first sailing ship, with canvas sail and pontoons.

Of course, the questions went from “Papa, will this kato-moroon really float?”, to “Papa, this wood is really hard!” I was busy taking photographs, and concentrated primarily on the facial expressions. What do you think? Looking through several dozen photos I took during this construction project was priceless - I will probably go along for the next several project builds.

The local home improvement retailers all have active programs for the children year-round. It is a terrific Community activity in which more parents should enroll their children, as it will plant woodworking seeds that are likely to last a lifetime.

Our granddaughter #2, S., never misses an opportunity to spend quality time with me in the shop. And I enjoy the experience every single time, for lasting memories are made of such special moments.

I present three of our granddaughters, immediately after completing their catamaran. Mellisa, the instructor, is the young lady on the left. To her left is E., four years old (granddaughter #4); then S., (#2), seven; and on the right is M. (#3), six:

E. had to try even the floor, to drive the nails in “…this really hard wood!”, while her two sisters worked away and concentrated on their project:

 

In this episode I show how I made the cabinet doors, with emphasis on the simple design elements that enhance their looks; but the focus is on the nice (resawn) spalted maple panels.

Edit to add:
Relevant links for “Krenov cabinet” in this blog