Woodworking with passion
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This is the best advice I can give. Go with Leigh!
I wish all my friends, colleagues, and readers of the blog, a wonderful Holiday Season. May you be lucky to get the jig you have been wishing for all along. And, if you do, please let me know. The free shipping is a great deal – enjoy!
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Rick wrote me a note, asking details about making the kitchen utensils box. Specifically, he wanted to know at what point I cut the steps on the sides of the box.
Rick, the simplest way I know to keep all sides properly registered against the side stop is to make a “regular” box first, as follows (remember, I used finger joints, machined on the Leigh R9Plus jig):
The kitchen utensils box, a WIP (Work-in-Progress)
Why do I want proper registration? If the work piece is not properly registered againsthe side stop, and also under the finger assembly, the box may not be square. Simple as that!
Following a couple of dry fit runs to make sure I had all the sides oriented properly, I used the band saw to cut the steps. This is the safest way I know to get the steps right. I suppose I could have used a hand saw of some kind. Next time I will – maybe.
Some may wonder what I do with the off-cuts from the rift-sawn white oak. I simply keep them in a barrel, until I find a small project. However, storage is getting limited in the shop – so I might have to change my ways in the future.
Thanks for writing, Rick!
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Trust your instinct. Even if you have never been a great artist, or even a mediocre one, you will be able to draw a nice curve. Draw it on paper, cut out the shape, and transfer it to a piece of wood like you would use a stencil.
I do not consider myself an “artist”; I cannot draw like a good artist draws on paper. But I am pretty confident about drawing curves. I have shared in the past how I do it, like I did when I drew the curves on the cradle for our newest granddaughter (this link is to the article Why you must trust your eyes).
Curves on trundle bed
This 1:4 scale trundle bed pictured on the right is the “secret” small project I have been working on. Even the mortise and tenon joinery is close to scale. It is fashioned after the the bed in use by one of our granddaughters.
Now I must cut the curves, followed by shaping on the spindle sander and a bit of work with rasps. For joinery I machined tenons on the ends of the large back board, and cut the angles to allow dry fitting the entire assembly.
Now I can start thinking about the actual trundle bed that will go under this assembly. I have not decided what joinery that will have. Tiny dovetails, or tiny finger joints? I have already made one decision: The trundle bed will not have wheels!
Although some might question my desire to keep the joinery quite faithful to the real thing, I did not hesitate for one minute. The reason: I will make even smaller furniture, on commission. It will be just very much like the real thing.
If you do, I would love to hear from you, the projects you have worked on, and how you tackled each project.
