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  1. #1
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    Nov 2012
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    Default Mid-century Modern sideboard build

    I'm making a 'mid-century-modern' inspired sideboard for my daughter's 25th birthday (and fast running out of time). I'm using some 420 mm wide recycled Northern Silky Oak boards and decided to make the 1400 x 400 mm cabinet carcase using mitre joints for neatness (mad, I know). I realised, somewhat belatedly that there was no way on earth I could control the 4 sides sliding around with slippery glue unless I used the Domino to locate the joins. So, I finally found the courage to use the Domino in a way that I never had. Yes, I know, it's pretty standard fare for Domino afficionados, but I'm cautious with new stuff.

    The first problem was that the boards, recycled from something like a built in bookcase, were finished one side only and had cupped so the edges were about 5 mm out of line with the centre. First, I tried to fix this with the 'wet lawn in the sun' trick - place boards cupped side down (so edges to the ground and higher centre off the ground) on wet grass in the sun. It certainly reduced the cupping, but it partially returned when I left them in the workshop to dry out. So, I used metho and a rag to remove/reduce the old finish on the top side and sanded them with a ROS. My drum sander objected severely to the shellac and old hide glue: how to ruin a new belt in one easy lesson. Then, it rained last night. This morning dawned grey and listless, but eventually a weak and watery sun broke through so I thought 'why not' and threw them out on the wet lawn again. Then, the sun came out bright and clear. The boards not only removed the cupping, they cupped in the opposite direction!

    IMG_2669.JPG

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  3. #2
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    Default Next

    However, I was quite pleased with that as I thought (correctly as it turned out) that when they cooled down they might be flat.

    So I cut the mitres on my mighty sliding table saw, played with the Domino and 'hey Presto' some Titebond III later:

    IMG_2670.JPG

    Basic carcase glueing-up. The dadoes are from the original bookcase, but I intend to use them for two internal dividers (the ends cut off these beautiful long boards. There is also a dado inside the front edge in which I intend to place a brass track for the sliding doors. Numerous nail and screw holes have been filled with Epox-E-Glue coloured with dry powder (2/3 ochre, 1/3 burnt ochre). Aargh only 10 days to finish this, including designing and making V shaped legs. Oh well ...

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Montmorency Victoria
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    554

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    Hi Xant.....
    Great to see the reuse of lovely timbers ... sometimes as you show there are issues to overcome ... lucky for you the sun shine trick worked.

    Keep the WIP reports coming ....

    Thanks

    Rob

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
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    Sydney Upper North Shore
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    Default

    Looking good.
    How did you control the depth of the dominoes in the mitre joints? Would biscuits have done the same job?
    Looking forward to following this build.

  6. #5
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    Yes, biscuits may have done the job. But, the Domino is a thicker, more secure and very precise machine compared to the biscuit machines that I have used. I agree, there are other, as useful systems that cost much less. But, more fiddling around to get the same result that i got today at novice level.

    Depth of the Domino cut is easy to set. There is a depth stop. Initially I set the 5mm dominos as 15 mm for the 30 mm long 5 mm dominos, That worked well for the 21 mm thick boards, but the board thickness seems to be variable so then I set it at 12 mm and cut off the end of the 30 mm dominos.

  7. #6
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    Default Forgot - moulded the front edge

    I forgot to mention that I moulded the front edge of the carcase. I used two different router bits in a router table before I cut and glued-up the carcase. On the outer edge of the boards I used a 1/4 inch radius round over bit (convex) to give a softer, more organic look. Then on the inner side of the boards i used a section of a large panel raising bit to give a soft concave curve. I am not sure how clear this photo is.

    Front moulding.JPG

  8. #7
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    Default Slow progress

    Slow progress here, but I got in a full-day's work today. The recycled boards I used as the top and base of the sideboard carcase had two existing dadoes, probably from shelves. I made sure that I lined the up and have cut and fitted vertical dividers. These were actually the ends of the much longer recycled boards.

    Sideboard carcase with two internal dividers.JPG You can also see that I have begun to French Polish it (using Hard Shellac as youngsters don't respect furniture). Only a couple of coats so far.

    I decided to use a lovely wide Northern Silky Oak recycled board for the back of the cabinet, just in case it is ever used free-standing in a room. The board was 22 mm thick and 430 mm wide, so too wide for my 310 mm thicknesser. Easy, I thought, I will take it to that workshop in Coopers Plains where you can hire the use of large machinery by the hour. Nope, they won't put recycled timber in their thicknesser. So, I bandsawed it down the middle (thinner kerf than the tablesaw) then thicknessed it down to 12 mm, jointed the edges and glued it back together.

    Back panel for sideboard.JPG here it is sanded to 400 grit and ready to trim to size.

    Next step was the legs. These are inspired by a design by Kofoed Larsen of Denmark, 1958-59 (when I was just a youngster).

    I have made a couple of mock-ups for this. My darling wife (MDW) suggested that the legs should be 1/3 the overall height, so I made some 200 mm high out of packing crate timber. They looked far to stubby. I looked at the original some more and found that the legs are actually about 40% of the height with the carcase being 60%.

    Larsen's legs are very elegant indeed, in the shape of a V with a block in the middle of the base of the V and front-to-back stability from rails running between the front and back legs. I probably shouldn't post a photo of his - it will be copyright and also would put me to shame!

    My version is nowhere near Larsen's elegance, and is also somewhat lower, being only about 650 mm high in total rather than the normal 850 to 900 mm high for a sideboard.

    I have chosen boards of Queensland Blackwood (some subtle fiddleback figure), with a central block of highly figured Tasmanian Fiddleback Blackwood. The blocks were 'fun' to make as they had to be concave on top and have each side tapering down at 7.5 degrees. I machined the timber to the width the blocks had to be at the top (40 mm), marked the centre-line (one of Ian Wilkie's beautiful pencil-gauges came in handy) and the centre of the circle for the radius to be cut (at 70 mm from the end). I part machined with a drill and part hand-carved the concave top. Then I cut the angles on the sides with the table saw (blade set to 82.5 degrees). With the same blade angle I cut the ends of the two sides of each V. Gluing was also 'interesting' given how slippery glue is and that these joints were also at angles. I cheated -- I used my air-nailer to pin the components in place after liberally applying Titebond III. Then, I clamped.
    Leg being glued.JPG

  9. #8
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    Feb 2003
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    back in Alberta for a while
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    68
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xanthorrhoeas View Post
    IMG_2670.JPG

    Numerous nail and screw holes have been filled with Epox-E-Glue coloured with dry powder (2/3 ochre, 1/3 burnt ochre).
    can you tell us where you get your dry powders
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  10. #9
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    I purchase the dry powder pigments from Bolgers in the UK. They sometimes sell on eBay as 'Endlessgreen" and sometimes as Bolgers. They stock a wide range of natural earth pigments very finely ground. it is probably a couple of years since I purchased a big stock, but I have, in the last few months, purchased some other items from them.

  11. #10
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    I have been very busy indeed. Today is my daughter's birthday, so I had to get it to a presentable stage at least.

    Here is the back, in place but not attached. A couple of coats of Hard Shellac on it.

    Sideboard back being polished.JPG

    I moved on to the legs. I used a taper jig to cut them on the bandsaw - a 7.5 degree angle to the front and back of the legs. Before I started I fixed a piece of timber in the top of the V to stop the force of the blade pulling the top down and twisting the leg dangerously. I did not need to buy another tcg tct blade (expensive!). I used the table saw at the same 7.5 degrees (82.5 on the face) to cut the required angle on both sides of the front-back rail that will serve as the attachment for the legs to the base. Then I positioned the leg assemblies on the base to eyeball the proportions that looked best. The position shown here was not the final one - they were too far to the centre.

    Sideboard with legs unfinished, unfixed.JPG

    I was in my workshop for 12 hours yesterday, 9 am to 9 pm and I glued the legs to the cross rail last thing. However, I was a bit worried about whether the glue alone would be strong enough so I decided to try cutting a couple of dominos through the outside of the leg and into the rail. That was not a success. Maybe it was too early in the morning or more likely my inexperience, and lack of sensible preparation, but the domino jumped around like a mad thing. In hindsight the layer of protective plastic over my workbench was not a good idea. Some non-slip and some clamps would have been the go. Anyway, I abandoned that approach and simply drilled and screwed the legs to the rail as reinforcement for the Titebond.

    Then I got out the shellac and put a decent coat on the legs. It is marvellous how quick drying shellac is, even on a cold Brisbane morning, especially with a heater and fan going! Once a decent-ish coat (not finish coat unfortunately) of shellac was on, I positioned the leg assemblies and screwed them to the bottom of the cabinet. That gave me an almost finished item to present to my daughter when she came over this morning. Talk about last minute rush ...

    I'll take some photos of the almost finished item today and post later. I also have yet to meet the challenge of fitting the doors, though I have decided I might have two side doors hinged and a central sliding door.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  12. #11
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    Apologies, tuckered out ... no photos today.

  13. #12
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    Whoo! I had imagined the legs going on up the other way. Got to get my head around this now.

  14. #13
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    Default Some photos of the presentable, but not complete build

    This is what it looks like at this stage, before the front doors are fitted. Top and bottom aluminium tracks are fitted but the side dadoes not yet filled-in.

    Sideboard front - before doors.JPG Front, some wide-angle lens distortion, but it gives the idea

    Sideboard back.JPG Back, lens distortion as above. Can you spot the join?
    Nickel-plated brass screws with trims on rear of sideboard a.JPG Details of the Nickel-plated brass screws and trim rings. I decided to screw the back on to give maximum flexibility for the future. My daughter may want to make some modifications in the future and a glued-on back could make life difficult.

  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by aldav View Post
    Whoo! I had imagined the legs going on up the other way. Got to get my head around this now.
    Do you mean that you expected them to be wider at the floor? That would mean that a very strong attachment would be needed at the carcase or else they would tend to break off. But, i admit that I had not even thought of that because I was inspired by (sorry artist wife says correct term is 'informed by') the design by Larsen, which had (more elegant than mine) the legs in this orientation.

    David

  16. #15
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    Yes, that's what I meant. Excuse my ignorance concerning Larsen's design. Since you've posted the pictures with the legs attached I'd have to agree that it is quite attractive. I'm a bit upset about the Silky Oak though - even though I've noted your comments about the cabinets potential placement that Silky is far too attractive to possibly endure a life facing a wall.
    I wholeheartedly support your re-purposing of this timber. Far too much just gets thrown out these days. Nothing like a bit of 'proper' recycling.

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