Thread: WIP Shaker Sister's Sewing Desk

Originally Posted by artme

This will certainly be a tedious but interesting part of the build Fuzzie.

I'm a bit suprised that the hoop is proving difficult to deal with.

I'm not at all surprised, Artme. I've encountered this problem on numerous occasions when using aged, soft, woods (I put the commas there to show I mean soft woods, not just those of the conifer families). In fact, I usually avoid using them for this very reason, unless repairing an old piece, & I have to re-make a part that's beyond repair.

I suggest it's due to degradation of the cellulose, &/or other wood components so that the wood doesn't hang together like it does when fresh. The initial cut down on the line is usually clean for a couple of mm, then you get progressive collapse & crumbling instead of cutting, as you go deeper. Often as not, a goodly chunk breaks out of the middle, leaving a gaping hole. I cut away most of the waste as Fuzzie is doing, use very sharp chisels, and shallow cuts, which help a lot, but I can't eliminate crumbling altogether, on some pieces. If anyone knows some way to get around the problem (other than using new, crisp-cutting wood), please let us in on the secret!

Cheers,

I was using some Douglas Fir in Toyama when I was there, and had precisely this problem. Didn't matter how sharp the chisel was, the wood crumbled leaving a series of massive holes. After inadvertently teaching the young fellow on the tategu course in the same area a few choice words he'd never pick up in English conversation lessons at school, I was advised by the sensei to keep dipping the end of the chisel in water as I cut the joints. This gave the wood the moisture it needed, and there was little crumbling after that.

I cut some dovetail drawers a couple of weeks ago using kauri, and I had this same problem on one of the rear pieces, only much worse - a crumbling mess. Dipping the chisel in water worked to a degree, but the wood was still breaking out. What I did was cut out most of the waste with a coping saw, then sprayed the areas to be chiselled out with water from my spray bottle. I left it a few minutes for the water to soak in, then chiselled out the rest of the waste (the chisel still needs to be super sharp). No more crumbling. Obviously you need to let the joint dry out thoroughly before gluing up.

This worked for me, so hopefully it can be of some help.

Des

Originally Posted by Des.K.

..... What I did was cut out most of the waste with a coping saw, then sprayed the areas to be chiselled out with water from my spray bottle. I left it a few minutes for the water to soak in, then chiselled out the rest of the waste (the chisel still needs to be super sharp). No more crumbling. Obviously you need to let the joint dry out thoroughly before gluing up...

Now why hadn't I thought of trying that? Seems so obvious now you've told us!

I have definitely stored that one in the old noggin computer for future use - thanks Des!

Cheers,

Des, you are a genius!

That trick needs to go down in the Hall of Fame. The latest lot of tails was like cutting butter!

Cheers, Franklin

Originally Posted by Des.K.

..... I was advised by the sensei to keep dipping the end of the chisel in water as I cut the joints. This gave the wood the moisture it needed, and there was little crumbling after that.

I cut some dovetail drawers a couple of weeks ago using kauri, and I had this same problem on one of the rear pieces, only much worse - a crumbling mess. Dipping the chisel in water worked to a degree, but the wood was still breaking out. What I did was cut out most of the waste with a coping saw, then sprayed the areas to be chiselled out with water from my spray bottle. I left it a few minutes for the water to soak in, then chiselled out the rest of the waste (the chisel still needs to be super sharp). No more crumbling. Obviously you need to let the joint dry out thoroughly before gluing up.
......

Des; what a great tip on cutting dried out soft wood.

No progress for a few weeks while I was holidaying in NZ, but construction is now complete!

The dovetails could be a lot cleaner. Fitting the side drawers was fiddly and resawing and gluing up the 5/16" drawer bottoms from a 3/4" board ended up a bit rough so no looking at the undersides. In the end everything went together smoothly enough and the glue locked them all together.

I need to tidy up the drawer fronts a bit, shellac the insides and oil them and I'll have a functional piece of furniture.

I'll probably use some temporary knobs to get the desk out of the workshop and into its new home before I work on trying to turn 12 approximately similar Shaker style knobs to complete the whole thing.

drawers.jpg

All good, Fuzzie. Leaving undersides of drawer bottoms rough was pretty common practice in the mainly hand-tools era, I think. I've seen some pretty rough-looking bottoms & backs (of furniture! ), anything from deep saw-marks to oblique scrub-plane grooves, even on quite pretentious stuff, so you're in very good company.

To each his own, but I much prefer the smell of wood when I open a drawer. Much as I like shellac on the outsides of pieces, I don't like it inside - all too often it ends up a sticky mess, down the track. Unless there is some pressing reason to put something on it, like an off odour or a wood that has a truly unpleasant smell, I much prefer bare wood inside drawers. In fact I go to some trouble to find & use woods like Camphor or Atlantic cedar (really strong so use with caution!), for desks - you don't want the cockroaches to eat your will & other valuable documents, do you?! ...

Cheers,

I would say enjoy your holiday but suspect you might already gone.

After fighting the lathe and tools I've progressed from temporary knobs to interim knobs. I managed to complete 6 knobs suitable for the top gallery of drawers, although I'm not overly happy with their quality, but they will do until I manage to master a few better skills at the lathe. In the meantime I'm sticking with the other 6 commercial knobs I had on hand for the lower drawers.

Looks better than a pile of cardboard boxes...

shaker sewing desk 1.jpgshaker sewing desk 2.jpgrear.jpg

Good one!
Regards

Well the knobs look ok from a distance..

Turning a bunch of identical anything takes a while to master. If you stick at it, you'll get there, & wonder why it seemed difficult at first. I well remember the fisrt set of table legs I turned. The first leg took a couple of hours, but the other three each took twice as long as that, & even then I had to put the two worst ones to the back! That table hung around for years, & as my turning got a lot better, I used to look at it & wince - it wasn't just the slight discrepancies, it was the overall poor workmanship and timid cuts that bugged me more & more. Eventually it annoyed me so much I pulled it apart and put the legs back in the lathe. It took about 10 minutes each, this time, but the results were a lot more satisfactory!

Cheers,