Thinking of a gift for a loved one?

This is the best advice I can give. Go with Leigh!

Leigh Industries 2012 Christmas Guide

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!

— Al Navas

 

The utensils box as a Work-in-Progress

Rick in Rhode Island wanted some details.

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!

The rest of the story.

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!

— Al Navas

Curves are attractive

Draw curves by hand

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 the back board

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!

What do you think?

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.

Do you make toy furniture?

If you do, I would love to hear from you, the projects you have worked on, and how you tackled each project.

— Al Navas