Build Thread

[Sheets]

I'm posting a blog-style build thread, Woodwork Forums - Pinball Woodworking (http://www.woodworkforums.com/blogs/sheets/) (under Blogs), but since the majority of it involves Japanese hand tools, I may as well put it here. It will also give visitors here (like me) something to read since its been so quiet here these days.

Steve

[Sheets]

Making progress on the door (previous posts in this thread via the link above). Having finished all the basic door joints, I've moved from boring out mortices to boring the dowel holes in all the mortice & tenon joints.

I'm not going to try and delve in depth into drilling holes in wood, but I want to put in a plug for the basic brace and bit. Being hand powered, its speed can easily be controlled, its relatively easy to turn (depending on the wood species, depth and diameter of the hole - bigger and deeper tend to get more difficult). Auger bits, if sharp, make nice, clean holes and can generally make much deeper holes (when needed), than standard drill bits. Auger bits come in sizes from 1/4" (6 mm) to 1" (25 mm) with special, expandable bits allowing holes up to about 3" (76 mm) - that's a lot of work:o. They can easily be sharpened with small files when dull. They have a threaded lead screw which helps start them accurately and pull the bit into the wood.

One thing to be aware of though, is that twin flute auger bits tend to make a slightly larger hole than their marked diameter (at least the set I have). This is due to the spurs being a little wider than the diameter of the shaft. Single flute styles tend to match their marked diameter.

I've included a few pics of some of the dowel holes (1/2"). Since I'm setting the dowels up to draw the m & t joints together, I have to drill the holes separately rather than with the joints fitted together. The tenon holes are about 2 mm closer to the shoulders then the corresponding holes through the mortices. I had to employ some scrap wood fillers when boring through the sides of the mortices, so the bit wouldn't blow out the fibers entering the mortice (I've shown what this might look like). To prevent this from happening on exit from either mortice or tenon, when the lead screw just starts to come out (going slowly and feeling for it with a finger), remove the bit and finish the hole from the exit side using the small hole as the mark to place the bit.

I hope this isn't too boring for you all. Nobody else seems to be posting much these days. Anyway, comments/questions welcome.

Steve

[NeilS]

I hope this isn't too boring for you all.



Nice pun, Steve!

I had to brace myself quite a bit.... :U

I've been following your blog with admiration. Doors are just not made as well as that anymore. But, not being a joiner, I couldn't make any helpful carpentry comments, so I have been a silent admirer, and probably not the only one.

.....

[yojimbo]

Nice post, Steve! I use hand braces whenever I can (though I really need to learn to sharpen the bits). The backing piece of wood is a great idea. I'm generally using them when I need a precise depth, not so much when drilling through -- but I'll remember this tip! Nicely done, and -- as Neil pointed out -- punned.

[Sheets]

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the comments. Its a little dry on Japanese tools (my brace is a vintage Stanley and the bits are Irwin USA - both flea market finds) at this point, but once I start the panels and kumiko it will be more on topic.

When I look at the price of doors these days vs what you actually get (could be said of a lot of things), I felt I had to (and wanted to) make something better (esthetically if not functionally) and, another excuse to justify my tools. And, well I enjoy woodworking to boot:U

I'll continue with some more pics I took today after finishing all the dowel holes. I posed the door parts slightly expanded to show how all the joints will go together and then lapped the tenon over mortices to more or less approximate how the parts will fit. I'm not going to dry assemble and then knock things apart because the pine is too soft to take the hitting (even with protection) and I want the joints to stay tight. Even the tongue and groove where the inner and outer stiles is very tight and I don't want to risk breaking the tongue or the side of a groove trying to get them apart at this point. I may have to do it down the road as I said, if the glass needs to be repaired. But I'm leaning toward placing the kumiko and glass after assembly so total disassembly won't be needed. This will also allow me to use glue in the joints as well as the dowels. Even with glue, there may be enough movement in a season to cause the joints to work loose after some period of time.

I did miss-mark and drill one dowel hole, but fortunately noticed the error before I drilled the hole in the tenon, so could adjust it. And, as these big fat dowels showing after the door is finished won't look too nice, I'm going to cover them with decorative metal (pseudo hand hammered texture) furniture nails which Lee Valley sells.

Next up, cutting the kumiko (lattice) parts. Until next time....

Steve

[Sheets]

Thanks Becky. I didn't notice you comments earlier.

I thought I was being clever when I mentioned "delve, depth, drill and plug" in the same sentence (although that was totally coincidental - or should I say, coaxial?):U. I know some of my puns can require much more than a brace (10 pound sledge would be more like it) to handle.

You know, big trouble is brewing for this door. You'll notice the outdoor pics - which means a young man's fancy (well, old men too) is turning in the spring. I'm going to have to fight the urge to shift from woodwork and tools to biking, bike maintenance and bike parts. I've been stuck working in my "shop" (garage - hence all the grainy flash pics) for the past months while the bikes just hang patiently and I get fat.:(

So the grind to get the door done might give way to losing 10 pounds:?

[yojimbo]

Schedule, Stevie! Ride in the morning, work in the afternoon? Not so much?

Of course, I know nothing kills my drive to get into the shop like a good workout....

[Sheets]

Yojimbo said:

"Of course, I know nothing kills my drive to get into the shop like a good workout...."

Exactly.

[Sheets]

I'm speaking about kumiko (lattice or grid pattern) for shoji or shoji-like construction. I've decided to use this design: "Kumiko Var 3a".

Having decided how many vertical and horizontal kumiko you desire, you take the corresponding width and height of your shoji area and divide by these numbers. Remember, the resulting divisions will be one more than the number of kumiko. For example, if you want two vertical kumiko, this will divide the width by three. On paper, you end up with a number of equal squares or rectangles (call them windows). See "Kumiko Plan". Should you go directly to your wooden frame and mark the mortice positions according to your calculations and then cut your mortices, you will end up with: "Kumiko Full". If you study this pic, you might notice that there are variations in the areas of certain "windows". This is because the kumiko have actual width and take up part of the area of windows. In a corner, you have half the kumiko width taking up area on two sides. Along the edges, three sides, and in the central part, half the kumiko width takes up area on four sides of the window. So you have three different widow sizes.

Now this difference may or may not be noticeable, depending on the width of your kumiko and the relative spacing and number, etc. But, if you weren't expecting it, it can be cause for concern. So, how to compensate in the planning stage? Easy enough. Simply take the number of your kumiko for horizontal and then vertical (or vice versa) and multiply by the width of the kumiko and subtract that from the corresponding measurement. For example, if you have an overall width of 40 cm and two vertical kumiko of 12 mm, subtract 2.4 cm and then divide this result by three = 12.53 cm. This will ensure that the area of each "window is equal. See "Kumiko Corr".

You may end up with an awkward number like 12.53 cm to measure out, but there is a simple way to repeat this number many times without having to try and mark it off a square or ruler for each individual kumiko mortice. Take a straight stick (called a "baka-bo" in Japanese), mark the spacing between two mortices (using a marking knife) and then use this baka-bo to repeat the required number of marks (aligning the baka-bo with the freshly marked mortice by using the knife marks - very accurate and no possibility of making errors). See "Baka-bo". The same method can be used to mark all the kumiko by clamping them together and use a baka-bo marked with the spacing of the half laps. Half laps can also be cut after marking while the kumiko are still clamped together (as can the tenon).

I don't want to regurgitate all there is in the books on this subject. Two books in English that I am aware of: "Making Shoji", by Toshio Odate (which I have) and "Shoji: How to Design, Build, and Install Japanese Screens", by Jay van Arsdale (which I haven't read). Interestingly, the book by Odate doesn't address the correction method of planning the kumiko. I don't know if that is an oversight, or the variations are considered too small to worry about. For horizontal kumiko, the spacing is somewhat covered because it is decided by the width of shoji paper rolls (usually 9" or 11"). These days though, you can buy paper on rolls wide enough to cover the entire screen, so don't have to space kumiko to accommodate roll width - so you could end up with the lop-sided "windows" if not aware of it.

[Sheets]

I had an idea (get lots of those). Designing this door was in some instances, straight forward because the overall dimensions and other constraints for a door were already decided. So when it comes to the parts that are unique, one has to pause and think about it.

We always see pics of peoples' finished works and often at some stages along the way (as in this project). But what is usually glossed over or omitted is the planning. Sometimes hours (see Chris Hall's blog. That man could probably make the Guiness Book of Records for drawing) working out the details so that when you arrive at a particular step, its just a matter of completing it. Nothing worse (I suppose, never happens to me :roll:) than making a part or parts and then finding out that your idea won't work that way.

I must admit to being a dummy with SketchUp. I find it frustrating trying to learn it (No. I don't have time for the tutorials), so the old standby pencil, ruler and paper are the mainstay of my planning. Of course, it isn't without its problems either, especially for me who doesn't like to waste paper and must search (in vain at times, alas) for some set of calculations or list of dimensions which gets lost in the clutter and I have to do it again (hopefully, not incorrectly). Anyway, its all in my head, so if worse comes to worse, I can.... where was I?

As to progress on the door, I've been planning and constructing a means of holding the glass and kumiko since I decided not to make any means of doing it directly in the door frame itself. So I designed and made plans for a separate framework which will contain the glass between the kumiko and provide mortices for the kumiko themselves. I had to work out the kumiko spacing (see the previous post) first, so that the frame would coincide.

I'm also including some pics of layout using an inkline (sumitsubo). I have a "modern", mechanical type - KDS sold by Japan Woodworker. When I was shopping for one, I decided the prices for the traditional types where too expensive (they do involve more labour if hand made). I've found that mine works very well and has the additional advantages of being somewhat less messy and the ink does not dry out (it has sat for months between uses and still works no problem).

Where a kebiki (marking gauge) will mark a very accurate line, it needs an equally accurate reference edge to do so. I needed to cut some long slices off one of my rough pine boards and could have used the kebiki except the edges of the board were not flat or square. Rather than plane the board edge, I just snapped a line along the centerline of the board (easy to locate using a rule or square). Then, with this centerline as my reference, I could measure and mark where I wanted my pieces and snap lines for them. I still have to deal with the rough edge, but just cut it off as waste.

To rip cut these parts, I snapped lines on both faces of the board so that I could flip it and cut from both sides (since rip saws have a tendency to wander off line) and keep the cuts straight. I used a Z saw "king" rip blade - very large and fast cutting teeth in softwood. I could use a ryoba, but then you have to deal with the teeth set on the cross cut side producing extra friction. I used a nail to wedge my kerf open as I went along - this helps prevent any pinching of the blade even with a kataba and would certainly be necessary with a ryoba. My board was 114 cm (45") and each cut took about five minutes (with the board just held down by hand on the WorkMate). I would normally have completed this type of cutting by standing on the board on low horses (probably have been able to saw faster and no need to get on my high horse at this point:U), but my low horses are currently covered in stacked lumber - oh well.

Nice time of year, but I still have to clean up.

[NeilS]

Ah, Steve, there is even some wabi-sabi with that shot of the tools on the deck...:)

.....

[Sheets]

Its part of the complete experience. I'm certainly one who believes, "Its got to be the going, and not the getting there that's good" (from the song "Greyhound", by Harry Chapin).

Steve

[Sheets]

One of the tranaslations for “baka-bo” (see the post “What’s the Difference”) is, “stupid stick”. That’s because if you follow its markings, you won’t make any mistakes like you could if you were trying to repeat making the same measurements off a ruler many times. Another advantage which fits the “stupid stick” connotation, is that if you do make any mistakes when marking the baka-bo, you won’t have ended up with said error making it into your work (providing you check the baka-bo before using it).

Anyway, I needed to make a baka-bo to mark out the mortices and half-laps on my kumiko and frame parts. Remember that piece of waste that came off when I was ripping some parts (see the previous post, “If Only I Had A Plan”)? As it turns out, this piece is just right for the job. Its long enough for the longest of my parts and has multiple faces so I can use it for the different spacing between verticals and horizontals.

After dimensioning the four vertical frame pieces, I clamped them together with my baka-bo. I only had to mark half the mortices on the baka-bo (they are actually half-laps but will function like mortices for the horizontal kumiko) because after transferring the marks to the four pieces, I just flip the baka-bo end for end and mark the remaining joints. So as not to lose the precise indexing afforded by the clamps, I unclamp one end at a time, lift up that end of the baka-bo, reclamp the four parts and then repeat in reverse once the baka-bo is repositioned. Its not a big deal if the parts get moved out of position, but it saves the hassle of trying to re-align all the parts and re-clamp. There was the option too, of marking all the mortices on the baka-bo and not have to worry about the re-position/re-clamp. But here I was trying to measure 7.83 mm spacing between 12 mm kumiko widths (10 times in all), and since that involves eyeballing the .3 mm part, I didn’t want to have to attempt it any more than necessary. Any errors will only get repeated half the time and each half of these frame parts will end up alike.

After all the marking is done, I remove the baka-bo and keep the other parts clamped so that I can cut the joints at the same time. I just need to mark the depth of the cuts on the outside pieces. Cutting them clamped together (26 cuts), in this case, saves me 78 cuts if done individually :o. For the talented (I’m not) its also possible to remove the waste from between the cuts while still clamped together. I haven’t quite mastered the delicacy required and with soft pine, delicacy is required.

I notice my knife is dull - the marks are as much crushing the wood as cutting them. Running the knife along a steel rule or square tends to dull it faster. Also, I’ll point out that I’m marking on the hidden side of these pieces, so they are not planed as cleanly as the faces will be.

Next I'll complete these joints, then I should be able to start cutting the kumiko strips.

Also, I found a really nice door knob on ebay which arrived a couple of days ago. This style will fit our decor (very rough around the edges:U) and from Lee Valley, I have on order some rustic strap hinges to match (generally).

Steve

[Sheets]

Nice and sunny again today, but cold. The wind was from the east across the water, which is still only about 0 deg. C, so makes for a very efficient air conditioner. I only managed to do the cross cutting of the half-laps before retreating into the house.

I used my nifty jig (referred to in a previous post) to align and maintain the saw blade vertical while I made the very shallow (6 mm) cuts. There are many other ways to make these cuts, from just eye-balling it to using other guides clamped to the surface or merely held by hand. I find this jig nice because I can stop and check the depth of the cut on the far side and the saw is still held vertically in the kerf without shifting around.

I did manage to remove the waste in the joints while everything was still clamped together, but I did it the conventional way, just lightly paring off waste until the bottoms were smooth and equal. There is a method which uses the bevel of the chisel like a wedge, and its drawn along the kerf on one side of each joint and the waste is broken out rather quickly and neatly. I’ve yet to find the right balance with this method between force required and force applied without either nothing happening, or breaking more than just the waste. So I’ll stick with the slower, but safe way.

I went to look and glass today. I had been interested in some stuff called “Glue-chip”, which is made by applying a layer of glue to the glass and then pulling off the glue which “chips” the surface, leaving and intersting, translucent texture reminiscent of frost. Neither my wife nor I liked it very much after seeing it. But the trip to the stained glass place wasn’t wasted. Being there we could see everything on display so spied a textured glass we did like - something with subdued vertical stripes (or horizontal if the glass were set that way). Anyway, once I know the precise dimensions for my glass, I’ll have them cut it.

On a side note: while at the stained glass store, we noticed some Arts and Crafts style lamps for sale. Now these lamps have real stained glass shades in the style and look OK. The prices was $395.00 Cdn. By my estimation, that would be $390.00 for the shade, because the wooden base was a piece of crap. The lamp base I just recently finished (here:http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii152/Sheets_album/DSCF2029.jpg?t=1263431751) would be museum quality by comparison. I wonder if anybody actually pays that much for a lamp? I’d feel embarrased asking that kind of money even if my lamp had a real glass shade. Oh well, “a fool and his money” as the saying goes.

Steve

[yojimbo]

Just dropping a line to say I'm enjoying this thread very much. Thanks, Steve!

[Sheets]

Just dropping a line to say I'm enjoying this thread very much. Thanks, Steve!

Thanks. Its basically to have something here to read about since its been so quiet. Its nice to know somebody besides me visits regularly.

[Sheets]

So what do you call the person using the baka-bo? If you’re hoisting something with it, you might be baka-bo derrick. If you’re just holding it idly, you might be baka-bo diddley. If you marked it wrong and used it, you might be baka-bone head.

So what did I do wrong? Well two days ago when I was so diligently marking out my half-laps at 7.83 mm, somewhere before the last joint, I started to mark 7.38 mm. Not enough of an error when I was squinting in the sunlight to notice and I didn’t even notice until today (after cutting the joints yesterday). Oh well. Tilt - reset. Put in another quarter. Its only four strips of wood - four rip cuts, a bunch of planing, re-mark the other side of that baka-bo, re-clamp, re-saw, re, re, re, etc. Maybe I’ll just re-post that entry and pretend it didn’t happen.:~

Seriously, its not a big deal. At least I discovered it before having cut all the vertical kumiko as well. That would have hurt.:C Re-doing the work will be for tomorrow.

Today, I needed to finish some details on four of the horizontal frame parts (previously cut). I’ve decided to have these four pieces (ones I made a little rebate in to place the glass) morticed into the door frame itself. If I ever have to repair some glass, I can still do it without having to remove these pieces (unless they get broken too - but I hope not). Anyway, because the upper pane of glass needs to be supported, its better to have the bottom of the frame connected to the door by more than just brads. I’ve arranged the center two horizontal frame pieces so that the one above (supporting the upper glass pane) rests on the one below (which forms the top horizontal frame for the lower pane) if that makes sense. The lower glass piece will have its weight supported by the actual door even though it sits on a frame piece too. I don’t really have a good picture of the arrangement yet. Anyway, I marked the two inner stiles for the mortices.

Steve

[yojimbo]

You failed to mention your baka-bo jeste.

Sorry.

Really. Sorry.

[Sheets]

You failed to mention your baka-bo jeste.

Sorry.

Really. Sorry.

Thank you, baka-bo peep:U

[yojimbo]

::shakes fist in impotent fury::

[Sheets]

ala baka-bo jutsu?

Anyway, lest we descend (further) into the well of silliness. What I should have done was use a short baka-bo with only the spacing for three joints on it (double checked for correctness) and then moved it along the length of my pieces until all the joints were marked. That's really how it should be done to prevent the very mistake I made. Yea, that's it - I did it on purpose to illustrate the problem. Honest:wink:

p.s., re: baka-bo jeste - that was rather well done

[yojimbo]

Thank you, sir. And how clever of you to include a "deliberate" mistake (sure, I buy that) in your blog so as to better teach us heathens.

Overall, though, seems like a long way 'round to plea for acceptance of the whole "size doesn't matter" debate. :-

[Sheets]

Well I'll have to confess a preference for "little" mistakes as opposed to big ones.

[Sheets]

Well I figure if I have to suffer and re-do some of my work, you all should suffer too and have to re-read about it.

So I marked some wood to rip the pieces to replace those I miss-marked and have to discard:(. I ran into a sap pocket on the first cut and the saw took off sideways almost as soon as the teeth bit into it. The "wow" in the kerf was into the waste side, so I pressed on and finished that cut. Next cut was to remove a piece I did want to keep, but the same thing happened because the pocket extended into it as well. This time the kerf was into the adjacent piece (also meant to be a keeper) so that ruined both of them. I usually leave a fairly generous allowance for the kerf to wander (which it usually does somewhere along the way), but this was too much. In any case, the sappy wood would cause problems finishing later.

I did have enough from this board to cut what I needed without sap or large knots and the cutting went very well after that. The two thick slices were re-sawn again to make the four pieces I need. The pics show (1st and 2nd) the two good parts (that become four) along with the sappy spots on the bad parts (a close-up of the bad kerf) and then (I'm amazed- 3rd, 4th and 5th) some arrow straight ripping:U

[yojimbo]

Looks like a cross-cut you're using. Is it?

[Sheets]

Not cross cut. The same "Z" saw rip blade as pictured in "If Only I Had A Plan" -Mar 11 post ('course that WAS last week).

[yojimbo]

D'oh!

Who remembers back that far (or that we're on page 2 of a blog...)?

Got a link for that? Never heard of 'em. (Which I do remember thinking when I read that post, lo, these many days ago...)

[Sheets]

D'oh!

Who remembers back that far (or that we're on page 2 of a blog...)?

Got a link for that? Never heard of 'em. (Which I do remember thinking when I read that post, lo, these many days ago...)

I've got more links than a 100 fathom anchor cable (so long as I use Google:U)

Here you go (3rd from the top. Translation courtesy of Babel Fish):
[zetsutoso] P.2 (http://66.196.80.202/babelfish/translate_url_content?.intl=uk&lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.z-saw.co.jp%2fz2_a.htm#15011)

I got mine from Tashiro's in Seattle (mail order, ca. 1993?) but a search turned up:
TASHIRO HARDWARE, LLC since 1885 P.O. Box 3409 - Seattle, WA 98114 -# [email protected] tel: (206) 328-7641 - fax: (206) 328-1256 ######## Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. enhanced Z-saws (http://www.tashirohardware.com/Tashiros_Hardware_LLC/Home.html)

Stu (Tools From Japan) could probably get them too.

[NCArcher]

I'm also watching this thread with interest so keep 'em coming. :2tsup:

[Sheets]

First, welcome to any new watchers/readers (NCArcher). Now the pressure's on.

I did a few things today. Finished planing my replacement frame parts to size. But before I re-marked them with the baka-bo, I remembered that my knife needed sharpening, so I did that. I don't know about you, but I love a shiny and sharp tool.

I don't usually work at my dining room table, but the ocean breeze air-conditioner was on again (nearly froze my fingers doing the sharpening outside), so I enjoyed the sun from inside while I took my freshly sharpened knife and performed a proper baka-bo marking operation. Anyway, same basic idea as before, but I cut the old baka-bo short (keeping the correct markings) and then just moved it until all the joints were marked.

Later in the shop (garage), I finished the small mortices in the short stiles I needed for the horizontal glass/kumiko frame parts, and then posed them as they will be in the door. You can imagine a pane of glass, a layer of kumiko on either side, and then the frame notched to hold the kumiko. I posed the arrangement using the miss-cut vertical pieces as I've yet to cut the joints in the new ones. Those pieces not morticed into the door I'll attach with brads or screws. Its a door. Honest.

Thanks for reading.

[NeilS]

.... I don't know about you, but I love a shiny and sharp tool.



Yes, Steve, sharp and shiny or sharp and misty-haze does it for me.

Looks like a natural edge waterstone you are using there. Any chance of a closer look at it and some info about it?

.....

[Sheets]

Neil said,

"Looks like a natural edge waterstone you are using there. Any chance of a closer look at it and some info about it?"

Sure. A diversion. If diamonds are a girl's best friend, I'm sure for some of us, toishi are a man's best friend (a man and his stones after all).

This is not new to you Neil. If you remember the discussion I started back in the fall of 2007, about non-Japanese natural stones?

One thing about rock, it sure takes a while to wear out (and at this rate, I'll never use it all up). And it is a disease - I keep getting more than I'll ever use:C

So for those who may be interested and missed the prior discussion, this slate stone is from right here in Nova Scotia. It cost nothing because its just laying around all over the place (usually crushed and used as drainage or topping/base for roads). Problem of course, is the stone as found doesn't have nice flat faces or always a suitable size, so some amount of labour is needed to make it work as a whetstone. Another problem too, is that there are a ton of variations within the local slate, from hardness and composition, including pyrite (fool's gold) and grit size which makes finding the suitable stuff more difficult. Even the pieces that I've found which work, usually contain little teeny bits of pyrite which I have to watch for and dig out. Because of the contaminants, it would never be profitable for someone to market this type of stone commercially. And it does not compare at all to natural Japanese stone in fineness, purity and cutting strength. I'd put the grit size finer than aoto/iyoto (middle stones), but much less than awase-do. If I had to guess, I'd say 8-10k. Good enough to produce an edge that cuts well (say for a marking knife and maybe a scrub plane), but not even close for fine finish work like chisels and shiage kanna.

I use a sliver of the same type of rock as a nagura stone. This stone is fairly hard and doesn't build a slurry very quickly.

One thing about sunlight on steel - it can make even crappy steel look wonderful (not that my kanna has crappy steel - I just used one for the pics I took this morning. Much warmer today btw).

[yojimbo]

"I've got more links than a 100 fathom anchor cable (so long as I use Googlehttp://cdn.woodworkforums.com/images/smilies/happy/biggrin.gif)"


Thanks, Steve. On my ever-increasing, increasingly impossible wish list. Need work!

[NeilS]

Thanks Steve for the diversion.

I'm impressed with your Nova Scotian waterstone. Nice idea to use your local stone.

You have inspired me to investigate again our local slate the next time I am cutting it. The last time I tested some pieces they were all too hard, but as you say there is considerable variation and maybe I didn't try enough pieces to find one soft enough to do the job. My slate is all from the same quarry, so might also try some from another to see if it is any softer.

.....

[Sheets]

I find a fair amount of usable stone (not too hard or full of contaminants) and slate seems to cleave naturally leaving a flatish surface. But the quarried stone is processed (crushed) before use into different sizes. A lot of the pieces of good quality are too small (being basically gravel) and the jump in size to something larger (as pictured) seems to omit the flatish surface leaving a lot of work to make one (not to mention the problem of getting it home). I've tied splitting some, but the fracture wasn't very flat.
Anyway, I'll never really wear out the one I have, so not much (beyond the disease) to merit having more.

I could buy some flat slate from the stone vendors, but then that would cost money:(

I do have "real" Japanese awase-do as well (which I did have to spend money for), but I can't seem to resist trying my local stuff.

[Gadge]

NeilS,

I live in Sydney and have found suitable stone in the old gold mining areas behind the Blue Mountains. I was in Adelaide late last year and was looking at all the shale and siltstone with interest. I was only there a few days so couldn't explore. Going up to the Adelaide Hills, those cuttings have a lot of stone which looks good from the road. I'm sure it's worth a look.

I carry a course diamond stone with me and flatten off a piece to test, if I'm in the field. I usually test using an old Nomi as the jigane quickly shows up a black streak if the stone is working well.

Garry

[NeilS]

.... the jump in size to something larger (as pictured) seems to omit the flatish surface leaving a lot of work to make one (not to mention the problem of getting it home). I've tied splitting some, but the fracture wasn't very flat.



Having a large rock cutting saw, getting a flatish face is no prob for me. But, having cut the face, there is still some hand work to remove the cutting lines and to get it dead flat. Pity we are so far apart, Steve. With your stone and my diamond saw we could turn out a nice lot of stones...:U.


NeilS,

I live in Sydney and have found suitable stone in the old gold mining areas behind the Blue Mountains. I was in Adelaide late last year and was looking at all the shale and siltstone with interest. I was only there a few days so couldn't explore. Going up to the Adelaide Hills, those cuttings have a lot of stone which looks good from the road. I'm sure it's worth a look.

I carry a course diamond stone with me and flatten off a piece to test, if I'm in the field. I usually test using an old Nomi as the jigane quickly shows up a black streak if the stone is working well.

Garry

Garry, some good thoughts there.

I'm sure the Glen Osmond slate at the bottom of the hill that you can see in the cuttings at the bottom of the freeway (which, BTW, were used in all those old bluestone buildings in Adelaide) is worth investigating. There is always another chunk of it falling from the cutting. Will just have to fake a breakdown at a strategic spot there some time....:U

BTW, welcome to the forum.

.....

[Sheets]

While were on the subject of stones (again, apologies if this is old info), I have some stuff from Stonehaven, New Brunswick (guess where the name came from?).

Here's a blurb to read about it (attachment). Its not just specific to the quarry at Stonehaven. If you don't want to read the whole article, here's a quote:

"But the stones from Stonehaven, I can say without bragging, were probably the best grade in the world for grinding a tempered-edge tool. That is why the Stonehaven quarry was able to survive longer than any of the others", Herbert William Read (Read Stone Company)

Obviously, Mr. Read had not been to Japan, but probably wouldn't have wanted to brag up a possible competitor if he had.

Steve

p.s., There are a lot of other places mentioned in the article that I must visit someday. Also, the stone from Stonehaven is a medium grit (despite it being called "grind stone") but leaves an edge almost good enough to use. When I was at Stonehaven, it was not a protected site (still isn't I don't think) so it was OK to pick stuff up on the shoreline (lots and lots of cut and dressed pieces of varying size. Probably abandoned because of breakage).

[NeilS]

Very interesting article, Steve. Just love reading about those early craft industries.

What a note to finish on, the last scythe stones went to Leonard Lee the sharpening guru.

.....

[yojimbo]

Since we were talking about saws (lo, these many comments ago), I'm gonna pop a quick question in here -- I have some burls that need cutting. And I have no idea what to use that won't be immediately dulled by them. Anyone got any suggestions? How would you guys do it?

Thanks,
Becky

[Sheets]

Since we were talking about saws (lo, these many comments ago), I'm gonna pop a quick question in here -- I have some burls that need cutting. And I have no idea what to use that won't be immediately dulled by them. Anyone got any suggestions? How would you guys do it?

Thanks,
Becky

Hi Becky,

What type of wood are they? I've never cut any burls myself, so hopefully somebody else can be more helpful.

[Sheets]

Neil said,

"What a note to finish on, the last scythe stones went to Leonard Lee the sharpening guru."

I bought two of them (even though I don't own a scythe) just because of the short blurb in the catalog when they went on sale. That's also when I decided to detour to visit Stonehaven on a trip to New Brunswick (1987-88?).

[yojimbo]

Hi, Steve, and all -- the burls at the moment are almost all Wild Cherry (don't know if it's got another name elsewhere -- but they grow very dense and sometimes huge burls. It's certainly a type of cherry wood, but I only know them by their local name.

And often, a local tree trimmer gathered some for me, so I'm not even sure if they're all Cherry.

Helpful, eh?:-

Thanks,
Becky

[Sheets]

I'd suggest (lacking any more expert and useful direction), taking a burl that you consider to be somewhat expendable, and trying to cut it and see how it goes.

If that's a scary idea, perhaps you can pose the question in one of the other forum categories (maybe woodwork - general) - there are surely some members who can tell you how its done correctly.

[Sheets]

An extension to the diversion (stone stuff).

Here are pics of the Stonehaven stones I have. The scythe stones (I found them in the garage - boy do they smell musty) and the large piece with a smaller chunk I use as a nagura. The kanna is 65 mm for comparison. The big rock is 32 mm thick and the shape is as found (perfectly flat on both sides). The last pic, I wet the surface so you can see the grain.

[yojimbo]

I'd suggest (lacking any more expert and useful direction), taking a burl that you consider to be somewhat expendable, and trying to cut it and see how it goes..

Yeah-but... with what kind of saw? Power? Hand saw (wouldn't they kill it?)?

Will take your advice and post in another thread. Thanks, Steve.

Back to our regularly scheduled build thread.:sorry2:

[Sheets]

Continuing a bit with the re-theme.

Yesterday I went biking. I would have gone the day before, but my daughter called up and wanted help with a project (I had to wire a plug for her). Now I took it easy, since Dec 8 last year was the last time I was on my bike (I always take a break over the winter- no indoor trainer or spin classes. Biking from March to December, well it gets a little repetitive, so I enjoy the break and look forward to starting again in the spring). I also said to myself, that I should wait a day before the next ride since certain body parts need to re-adjust to the activity. Well, today I spent time outside working and looking at the beautiful sun, and it was warm (unseasonably so), so I decided by mid afternoon to go again. Not exactly a mistake, but, I do feel a little bit funny - the body not yet accustomed to the activity (particularly me ####) and, as luck would have it, the wind was off the water by afternoon and COLD. Not a drop of sweat. No power in the legs. Ah well, no fool like an old fool.

Also, speaking of “Play Again”, my bike rides typically have me stopping at the halfway/turn around point where there is a Tim Horton’s coffeee place (I’m not that much of a fool). Anyway, this time of year is their “Roll Up The Rim” contest (where you actually roll up the rim of the paper cup to see if you won anything). Naturally, I see the words “Play Again”.

So, on to the door. Sad to say, but “Play Again” has also hit me once more. Anyway, I re-cut and re-joined the replacement frame parts as previously explained. But, I laid one of these suppoesdly correctly made verticals against the inner stile and found another error.

I’m afeared you people will think all I do is make mistakes. So, while digesting the impact of this “problem”, I needed to find out where I had gone wrong. When I do my math, I eschew computers and calculators, believing that using my brain and doing it long-hand is a good thing. Where the machines will give out garbage when garbage is put in, they will also put out right when the input is right. My brain, alas, can input right, but output wrong. Not a big error mind you, in case that makes it any better.

One of the “fun” aspects of DIY is having to deal with certain unknowns as they occur. Anyway, this mistake is small and easily accounted for. When I was calculating (in my head) the spacing for the horizontal kumiko (laid out on the verticals), I used 7.83 mm instead of 7.91 mm. This accumulates at the very top and bottom of my window space as a 4.8 mm gap. I could have left it as is and just adjusted the last joint of the vertical kuniko. But having expounded to some length on “correct” kumiko spacing, I decided to adjust the upper and lower frame parts to accommodate the error and have the kumiko “windows” all exactly uniform. I (simply) moved inward the top/bottom frame mortices by 5 mm and then made thin shims to fill the gap below these parts. If I didn’t tell you, you probably wouldn’t notice (this time).

So the shims I glued on and then planed to the right depth.

I’m also including a couple of pics of the re-cut half laps. This is to illustrate (again) the beauty of using a marking knife (kiridashi). If you look at the difference between the edge of the kerf, where the outer limit was marked with the knife, the edge is so perfectly smooth, while the other has a bit of raggedness. If I had used a pencil, not only would I have possibly made errors due to the pencil mark thickness, but there would be no cleanly cut edge to my joint. Now granted, this example is easily covered up with final planing or sanding (provided one left allowances for it), but on larger surfaces with larger saws, the tear-out from the saw teeth can go pretty deep. Using a knife simply avoids even having to worry about it.

[Sheets]

Yeah-but... with what kind of saw? Power? Hand saw (wouldn't they kill it?)?

Will take your advice and post in another thread. Thanks, Steve.

Back to our regularly scheduled build thread.:sorry2:

Well I'd say that a handsaw made for hardwood would work (lots of work perhaps). But, if that isn't going well, try a power tool (but I can see holding it - burl and tool - maybe problematic). Anyway, I'm not being helpful (speaking from the cuff as it were - from whence I know naught of what I speak).

No need to apologize. I think its great this forum is alive and well.

[NeilS]

Since we were talking about saws (lo, these many comments ago), I'm gonna pop a quick question in here -- I have some burls that need cutting. And I have no idea what to use that won't be immediately dulled by them. Anyone got any suggestions? How would you guys do it?



Becky - my experience is with cutting burls for woodturning, so may not be relevant to your purpose.

In my case, I rough cut with a chainsaw then dimension my turning blanks with a bandsaw. Burls can be hard on the blades. The chainsaw can be easily resharpened and the blades replaced on the bandsaw. But, I wouldn't use any of my good handsaws on the hard burls we have. If I had to hand cut a burl I would use a bowsaw with a replaceable blade, the type you can buy quite cheaply from your local hardware shop. They cut with quite a wide kerf and will wander if not fully tensioned up, but it will get the job done quickly, albeit a bit roughly.

.....

[yojimbo]

Thanks, Neil, will pick one up today.

[Sheets]

No biking today (inspite of another perfect day for it). No, today was major assembly day.

Everything went very well, except a couple of the dowels made a nasty mess on exit (always on the underside of the work where you can’t see it until its too late). I tried to compensate for the fact that the dowels would be off kilter as they try to line up with the off center holes. But I think I gave the pine more credit for strength than I should have. This and there would be considerable friction as well, so I’ll chalk this up to a learning experience. I’ll have to chop out the broken fibers and glue in some filler pieces. All part of dealing with those unexpected happenings. A rosey bit of luck though (or, as I see it, all part of my devilishly clever plan), is the repair can be hidden by a strap hinge.

The rails had to be coaxed on with a hammer (the spacing being too long to use a clamp), so I made a small piece of wood which fit into the groove so as not to have to hit the outer edges of the groove (even with a piece of wood as protection, I think the fibers could have been crushed or broken with an errant hit).

To get the outer stiles on, I could use the long pipe clamps to help draw things together and only needed a little help from the hammer. I only applied glue to the groove on the outer stiles and the tenons on the rail ends. That should be enough to keep things from shifting with gravity over the years. Once the glue had dried, I removed the clamps and flush cut the dowels.

The last pic is of the door as it is. Its over exposed, so I’ll take another next time I have it outside.

So that’s it for today. I’ll take my random orbital sander and smooth the major frame, which still has its rough surface. Then I need to make the actual kumiko pieces next as well as the panels (which I’m still wrestling with trying to decide what wood to use).

Thanks for reading and hope you’re all enjoying the weekend.

Steve

[Sheets]

The problem with aiming for the bull’s eye, is you are more likely to miss. So why not aim wide where you’re garanteed to miss? That way you will always be successful.

My projects are like that. I don’t aim for perfection (good thing, or I’d be one discouraged puppy).

Anyway, I chopped (sounds a little harsh - maybe chiselled, or perhaps nomi-uchi sounds more sophisticated) the wood from around my dowel holes that were wide of the bull’s eye, squaring them up and then made some wooden plugs to glue in. Nor pretty, but will do the job and the worst will be hidden by a hinge. All part of the character of this door.

Next I’ll sand the surfaces and get on with cutting the kumiko.

Yesterday I took a pause to make the graphics on kanna that I posted under the kanna tutorial thread. I won’t make up any coprehensive written instructions, because there are lots of pics and videos on the web that anyone can find and watch it being done. You always learn more by doing, so eventually one has to decide they have enough theory to take the shot - expecting to be short of perfection the first time or two.

[Sheets]

Between a rainy day and some drier, but decidedly colder days, I managed to sand one side of the door, pick-up the hardware from Lee Valley and visit a friend with a bandsaw. I also found myself “diverted” with trying to finish sharpen the kanna refered to in the “Kanna vs Genno” thread.

I’ve decided to use some elm to make my panels. I rumaged a little ways down my stack of elm boards and pulled a couple out that would yield enough wood for the job (well, any of the boards would have enough wood, but my stack is hard to access being back against a wall in the garage and most effectively blockaded behind much “stuff”. All of which to say is the garage is a mess). The big problem with these elm board is their thickness - about 30 mm. I need panels of 8-9 mm thick, so re-sawing is a must, but I don’t relish doing that job by hand (and I don’t have a good hand saw for the job, either).

So the band saw. Its in my friend’s basement (he lives up the street). About this time last year, he brought me down to his workshop and stated that he wasn’t going to be doing woodworking anymore (he’s 75 and no longer interested in it). He was going to sell all his tools, but I could choose and have one free. I chose the band saw (Craftex 15”). I didn’t take it from him right away (garage is messy - no room) so its still in his basement. You don’t miss something that you’ve never had, so not having used the saw in the last year was no big deal. My friend doesn’t mind that it stays where it is either as its not in the way.

But this is now. I’ll need to re-saw my elm for the panels. The max cutting height of the saw is 6” as stock, which is not very much. Fortunately, they make an extension kit for this saw to raise it a further 4” to a max of 10”. Still not a lot, but enough for my panels anyway. I purchased the extension kit and we installed it yesterday (it includes one longer blade which is suitable for re-sawing).

So today, after selecting the elm board I want to use, I marked it off into the three pieces I’ll use for my panels, and cross cut those pieces. Each piece will have to yield two slabs as I need a total of six to make the panels.

In Japanese woodworking, book matching is seldom used. It is considered proper to use wood in the same orientation as it grows in the tree. So the outside of boards face out and grain patterns are set vertically whenever possible and exposing end grain is avoided (there are always exceptions; some forced by engineering, i.e., beams must be set horizontally, and sometimes by design, as sometimes it is more attractive to arrange the grain against its natural orientation - but rarely book matched). This displays a sensitivity and respect for the natural material for which the Japanese are famous (and extremely adept).

In my case, my panels will be comprised of three edge joined boards (each about 22 x 22 cm to make up a panel 22 x 62 cm when trimmed to size). The boards will have the grain run vertically and when re-sawn, rather than opened and joined like a book, the front/back pair will be separated like a deck of cards with the top “cards” forming the upper panel and the bottom “cards, the lower with the outsides all facing out. Confused? I’ll have a pic soon.

[Sheets]

Kumiko Splits

Well, more nice weather so once again I’m enjoying working outside. I work on a WorkMate, I work on low horses, I work outside on my deck. I think its a real asset not be tied to working on a bench. Of course, some work is not so portable. But when it is, its nice to just haul out a few hand tools and set up anywhere I like. I also finished sanding the other side of the door.

I haven’t started the re-sawing of the panels yet as I’m waiting for the wood to acclimatize to the drier conditions in the house. The last time I used some elm from the garage, it moved a lot once in the house - and after I’d cut and dimensioned it for a box. So this time I’ll give it longer before cutting it further.

I did, finally, cut the kumiko pieces and have been working on dimensioning them to near final proportions. I had some pine flooring left over, so used it to produce the 28 parts (8 verticals and 20 horizontals). I cut the floor boards at 13 mm widths, needing 12 mm as a final width for all the kumiko. But, because the floor boards were 19 mm thick, I needed to take them down to 12 mm. To reduce the thickness, I once again used my splitting gauge to slice off the excess. A good workout, but hard on arthritic thumbs.

The thing to remember when using a Japanese style marking guage, is always make the first mark very shallow. Otherwise the blade will follow the grain if it angles toward the fence (the fence will prevent the blade from being pulled the other way). After the first shallow mark is made, then you can deepen subsequent passes either to highlight your mark or to split the wood. If splitting, the resulting surface will not be flat. This is because the blade is wedge shaped and you are compressing the wood fibers as you force the blade deeper in the cut. After planing the surface flat, watch for some movement as the wood de-compresses; you may need to make another pass with the plane later.

After all the splitting and planing to dimension, I selected the best surfaces to face out (I prefer to have face grain showing, but with wood like pine which does not have a prominent grain, it wouldn’t look out of place to mix in edge grain exposure) and marked the kumiko in groups for the half lap joints. I used some of the previously cut frame parts to provide the references for the joints, ala baka-bo fashion. I used my trusty, nifty jig to cut the half laps on the horizontals and will complete the verticals tomorrow. After that it will be chiselling out the waste from the half laps and test fitting them together.

That’s it for this post. Thanks for reading.

Steve

[Sheets]

Last post was marking and cutting the shoulders of the kumiko half lap joints. Today was half lap day - chiselling out the waste in each of those joints plus the tenons on the kumiko ends (which are also half laps). In case anybody likes big numbers, that works out to 136 joints. And I thought I was bored drilling dowel holes. (Of course, work like Des does: http://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/asa-no-ha-variation-daughter-111252/ would take the gold medal for large numbers of joints).

You may have noticed in the last post, the alternating arrangement of the joints. This is to weave the kumiko together and provide additional stiffness to the lattice which will help prevent any bowing over the length of the individual pieces. Probably not so important in my door as the glass will help the lattice keep its shape (at least in one plane), but traditional shoji have nothing but paper (usually only on one side) to help the kumiko stay flat.

I marked all the horizontals and verticals and matched them in groups. Its not that a particular piece couldn’t be flipped to match the joint of a crossing memeber, but since each piece has a front (the display face), matching everything prevents the backs from ending up out front.

To cut the tenons, I’m using a Nakaya rip dozuki (purchased from Tools From Japan). I only bought the blade and made the handle/spine out of some scrap walnut. This saw is made for delicate work, so doesn’t need anything beefy to hold the blade - the wood is fine. This particular saw has a ridiculously thin blade - so thin that the kerf easily fits in the width of a marking gauge or knife mark. So you basically mark the exact dimensions of your joint, cut on the line (provided its a thin line) and the joint will need no further cleaning up or paring to the line. Its a great saw for the price, even if purchased with the handle :2tsup:.

Next stage will be to trim the tenons to length as most are too long. Then tidy the kumiko and frame parts, and purchase and install the glass. I’m going to use screws on the frame parts that hold the kumiko so I don’t have to try nailing them on in close proximity to glass :o. Then I’ll tackle the re-sawing of the panels (I’m still new to the bandsaw, so need to cut some scrap to get accustomed to setting it up to cut accurately:?).

[Sheets]

I spent most of today tweaking some of the parts. Trimming tenon lengths, kumiko widths and mortice dimensions to dry fit all of the window frame parts except the horizontal kumiko.

So not too much to add since yesterday.

If you notice the edges of the door (knots and knot holes) and wonder how that looks anything but ugly - the door width as it is now is actually too wide for the opening. So, when trimmed to the correct width, these blemishes will knot be there.

'Til next time.

[NeilS]

.....these blemishes will knot be there.



'Knot' be there..... :U

.....

[Sheets]

Since last time, I’ve cleaned up the horizontal kumiko and glued them into the verticals. All that went pretty well - only a few tight joints and one which cracked, but I was able to glue and clamp the crack (after “kerfing” one edge to ease the fit). I dry assembled all the kumiko and frame parts except for the long vertical frame parts into which the horizontal kumiko tenons will fit. I don’t want to press these parts together until the final, permanent assembly as I think pulling them apart once fitted could be a problem and not really necessary.

I ordered and picked up the glass. Beforehand, I made sure that I measured twice and I even cut pieces of wood to the right lengths to ensure the measurements were correct. But somehow, as I was passing these dimensions over the phone to the glass place, I misquoted the width of the glass. Was it fate?, ESP?, or mere stupidity? Anyway, I said 14 5/8” wide instead of 14 7/8”. Why?:doh:

A smart man would replace the glass in the right size (eating the $65). But I, clever chap that I think I am, of course managed to salvage the day. I had a piece of broken window glass waiting to get thrown out with the trash (its been broken and awaiting disposal for quite some time - sometimes it pays to procrastinate) so was able to cut some filler pieces that will go on either side of the glass panes and make up the missing 1/4” (the fillers will be wider than this as there is excess space under the vertical frame pieces). I’ll use some clear silicone to glue the extra glass onto the main pieces. This will leave a seam, but the vertical frame pieces will just meet this seam and to the unsuspecting eye, will still see light passing through glass even if the filler pieces have no texture. I haven't included the shims in the pics of the glass since they're not attached yet.

As to the panels, I’ve been letting the elm acclimatize in the house and a good thing. They have cupped one way then the other as I’ve turned them over with stickers in between. There was some undulation in the board even before I cut the three pieces for which I was prepared to have to plane out on the one side that will be the reference for the bandsaw fence. I used a Makita 3 1/4” power planer to flatten the reference faces (could have done it by hand but there was as much as 6 mm to take off in some spots - a lot of work for a hand plane). The Makita is a good tool for removing wood fairly quickly, but isn’t really made to flatten wide surfaces, invariably leaving tracks along the edge of the cuts. But provided the depth is set fairly shallow, the tracks are not too deep and easier to plane out later.

So now I should be able to take the elm boards to the bandsaw and re-saw them into thinner pieces (and I can discard the remaining uneven face as waste). I’ll try to get that accomplished this week.

[Sheets]

About the band saw: sometimes what should be a step along the way ends up being an unseen and convoluted path.

You see, when I knew I had access to a band saw, re-sawing some elm seemed like an easy and reasonable step to make the panels and grow closer to finishing the door. And in most cases it would have been that straight forward. But there are a number of factors which have occurred to make the process drag out.

None of these factors are a total surprise, but when considering the likelyhood of any of them occurring, I perhaps put less weight on the odds than I should have. Nothing is lost or seriously derailled, so, I just have to take them in stride and accept the delay in getting things finished.

Anyway, here is what has happened:

1. The saw is new to me, so there is a learning curve. And even though the saw is not new to Ross, putting the extension kit on has put him in the position of not having any experience with the saw in this configuration, so he can’t help to the extent he would otherwise.

2. The saw is still in Ross' basement, so I can't use it whenever I want to, having to coordinate with Ross.

3. I have a very good book: “Band Saw Handbook” by Mark Duginske. I purchased this book in 1990 (there is an updated version now in print), anticipating that some day I would have a band saw. Needless to say, I have been re-reading it and refering often to the very necessary information in it (the manual which is provided with the saw is, shall we say, rather sparse). Without the book, I would be at a total loss to understand how to make the saw run correctly (as correctly as a consumer grade tool can) or how to diagnose the problems encountered.

4. So, while trying to learn the machine (I'm still not there) and make my panels, I ended up with less than optimal dimensions for the panels (too thick, which is fortunate, although I did ruin one by cutting it too thin when the blade wandered. I did have a spare piece from a previous project, so again, fortunate) which has forced me to spend much time trying to pare them down to thickness with the Makita power planer and hand planes. The power planer I use outside because of the dust and shavings, so have to wait ‘til the weather cooperates, and lately its not been, further slowing things down.

That’s where things stand as of today.

How's it going with you guys?

[NeilS]

That’s where things stand as of today.

How's it going with you guys?



Was starting to think that we hadn't heard from you for quite a bit Steve. So, just a dalliance with a bandsaw...:U.

If you have managed to re-saw those panels without much prior experience you have done very well. And, I imagine you would have been using a relatively narrow blade on that bandsaw which makes it even more challenging.

As for me, I'm currently busy being a full time grandparent for a couple of weeks to my 3.5ry old grandson while his parents are in Europe. We are hoping that they will be returning on the weekend, volcanoes permitting.

Also working through a large shed full of green wood (English Oak, Silky Oak, Blackwood, Pear & Cypress) that needs to be pre-turned before it all splits on me.

.....

[Sheets]

Quote,

(Originally posted by Neil)

"Also working through a large shed full of green wood (English Oak, Silky Oak, Blackwood, Pear & Cypress) that needs to be pre-turned before it all splits on me."

Yes, nothing worse than a fissure in your figure. Unless, you know, you were born that way.:-

[Sheets]

So as not to be totally idle when the weather is nasty outside, I've been working on another weather instrument project. I'm making this one as a gift to Ross, who's given me the band saw.

I made the base out of curly maple (top part is elm) instead of the usual walnut and I decided to attach the two parts using only screws inserted through the base bottom. I'm a little pressed for time, so decided on the simple base attachment. The edges are finished with a simple chamfer.

I've got one coat of tung oil applied so far which is still curing so I'll give it a couple more days before putting on more coats. The wood may look dry, but if you rub the surface with a finger, the oil will heat up and turn liquid. I'm using pure tung, so it takes its time to cure and one just has to wait.

I'll have to run over to Lee Valley for the instruments (barometer and thermometer).

[NeilS]

Nice bit of curly maple there, Steve. Imagine you needed your best finishing plane to avoid tear-out with that grain.

.....

[Sheets]

Nice bit of curly maple there, Steve. Imagine you needed your best finishing plane to avoid tear-out with that grain.

.....

$40 Kakuri block plane,...but it was sharp:oo: (that's the secret).

[Sheets]

Finished and delivered (actually, picked up - Ross came to visit, so I gave him the gift. Not exactly a fair trade, but he was happy).

[Sheets]

I’ve finally gotten the panels roughed to dimension. I’ve taken pics of the surfaces I had to deal with after the “coarse” dimensioning with the Makita. There is also some remanants of the bandsaw blade on a couple. The pattern is due to the saw vibrating which makes the blade react in the wood and leave a distinctive mark. I will need to work further on the saw to try and eliminate the source of the vibration (could be out of balance/round wheels, a lack of rigidity due to the extension block, compounded harmonic because of the floor/base, poor tensioning, etc.)

I’ve also shown pics of the two basic planes (kanna) that I use. One I got from Fujibato, an online seller in Japan (I don’t know what brand it is) which was under $30. This one is sharpened with a fair radius accross the edge and acts like a scrub plane. The other is a Kakuri block plane from Lee Valley Tools (about $40). Both of these kanna are small (44 and 42 mm blade widths) which makes pulling easier with a fairly thick shaving (providing they are sharp). Because the bodies (dai) are relatively short, the wood needs to be fairly flat to start with, although these kanna could be use to flatten as well if you worked only on the high spots first.

I plane both accross the grain and with the grain until the planer marks are gone and then finish with the grain. Since the scub plane leaves concave tracks, the Kakuri helps to level the ridges. The surface looks pretty good as-is, but a finish kanna would be needed to remove all traces of the rough planes and give the finest finish. Since I’m going to be covering the door with urethane, I may just sand the panels same as the rest of the door.

Next I’ll trim the individual pieces to height/width, glue them up (I’ll deal with that job in another post), plane/sand them flat as a unit and then I can assemble the door.

[NeilS]

Coming up a treat there, Steve.

.....

[Sheets]

Thanks Neil.


Having reached the thickness of the panel pieces (just a hair over so I can either finish plane or sand - I’d rather the planed surface as it looks so much nicer than a sanded one), I have been trimming them to width. I’ll leave them too tall until they are glued up, them trim the height.

Making sure one edge was straight, I used the marking gauge (keshiki) to score the line where I want to cut one side, then scored another line beside it where I will plane to at the final dimension. This way if my saw kerf wanders too much, I won’t impinge on the final width and I still have a marked line to follow with the saw (as opposed to just trying to saw outside the line). Once one side is done, I can use it as a reference to determine the other edge and repeat the same marking and cutting. I could possibly have used the keshiki to split the waste off instead of sawing, but I was concerned the amount of force needed might break the panel(s) before the split was complete.

I’m getting pretty good at ripping to the line without any wander (it shouldn’t be difficult in material only 9-10 mm thick) and I’ve shown a couple of pics (you’ll have to believe me that all the pieces went as well). To make these cuts I set the boards ontop of my WorkMate and use a space between the jaws for the saw blade to pass through. A cross-wise piece of wood acts as a stop, so I only have to use my free hand to hold down the work and not press so hard to keep it from getting pulled back by the saw (which I’d have to do if ripping something longer than the bench top). When the kerf reaches the stop, I just slide the board away from it and finish the cut with a few easy strokes since there are metal parts below the top which would not be kind to the saw teeth if they made contact.

I should probably make myself a shooting board, as right now I just eyeball the 90 deg. angle on the edge when planing them. But, I also make a couple of extra passes right at the end to put a very slight concavity to the edge (narrower at the middle of the panels). This way, when the pieces are glued and clampled together, I can clamp the boards across the middle and the clamp pressure will pull the small gap together (the wood at the ends compresses rather than the panels “bending” to close the gap). Otherwise, the clamp pressure could compress the wood at the center creating a gap at the ends. That’s the theory, anyway.
As to arranging the parts, I’ve posed a few of them in a way I think works OK. The center pieces are 20 cm wide, while the outside are 20.7 cm to account for the width thast fits into the grooves. Bearing in mind, I’m trying to honour the concept of having the boards oriented as they were in the tree (i.e., outside/inside of the boards all face the same way), while still presenting a pleasing arrangement without any obvious clashing of grain or texture. The idea is to have things look natural, but not repetitive. So I’ve flipped the center pieces 180 deg. (top to bottom), even though this means the grain will run counter to those on each side. Its still the inside/outside orientation, but I’ll have to plane the center part from the opposite direction to go with the grain. Of course if sanding, it won’t matter. And the difference in light reflecting off the parts shouldn’t be too obvious either in this application.

So next will be the glue-up, trim to heigth and plane/sand to final thickness. That’s for next post (whenever that is).

[Sheets]

Well the glue-up is complete and went OK. Before that, I did "shoot" the edges as a test-fit proved my eyeball was not accurate enough.

My clamp apparatus is a bit of a Rube Goldberg, but I don't do these things everyday, so just grab what I have on hand and use it. I needed a way of clamping near the middle of the panel but also a way to keep everything flat - maybe the rock by itself would have been enough?

I've trimmed the panels to size, but still need to finish the surfaces. I just went as far as taking down the glued edges where they were slightly off in thickness. I'll tune-up one of my finish kanna and see how it goes. If I can't get a clean enough result (since I have to reverse direction on the middle pieces), I'll try a scraper but may resort to sanding.

Once the panels will fit into the grooves in the door, I need to trim the door to exact width and height and I want to chamfer the edges of the border where the panels go. I'll have to do the chamfering free-hand (at least into the corners) since I can't run a plane unrestricted. I'm still mulling over a stain to give the pine more colour (probably instant coffee - one of my favs).

So still lots of work left to do, but it shouldn't drag out as much as it did with the panels (I hope - we are into cycling season).

[Des.K.]

Coming along nicely Steve. :2tsup:

Personally, I'd let the pine grain talk for itself, and go with a clean hand-planed finish, rather than trying to turn it into something it's not (no way in the world am I going to spell that "knot":wink:); but that's only my opinion, for what it's worth.

Looking forward to seeing the end product. Hang in there.

Des

[Sheets]

Thanks for the advice Des. I know the pine will darken over time, so I could wait and let it happen naturally. Just toying with ideas. I thought the coffee stain would be an espresso of my creativity and taste:D I'm not a milk and sugar guy. Whichever way I go, I'll have to pine over it.

I had a look at your website link - really fantastic work. That's where patience and precision are most evidently required. Thanks for the inspiration (again).

Steve

[Sheets]

One of the aspects of doing things by hand and from a plan which is home-made, is that many details only get fleshed out as they arise during construction. Its not that you can’t think of everything during the planning stages, but often, things are not expected to be problematic so you defer dealing with them in detail until later. You may know you are going to use a particular joint somewhere, say a mortice and tenon, but the exact size is only determined as you hold the parts in your hand and use your best judgement. Nothing unusual about that. Its a downer though, when your judgement proves to have been in error.

So, in the last few days, I’ve finished the panels and assembled the door. First, I had seen some nifty items in the Lee Valley flier, called panel barrels (here): Panel Barrels - Lee Valley Tools (http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=58675&cat=1,250,43298)

Seemed like a neat idea, but I didn’t need so many as come in a package (100) and even though they are cheap, I thought I could make my own. Being a cyclist, I have no shortage of old inner tubes with not much use for them. So I cut them into small strips, rolled the strips into a ball and used rubber cement to keep the rolls rolled up. Somewhere along the way, we acquired these tiny clothes pins, which just happened to be the right size to hold my “panel barrels” rolled up until the cement dried. I made two sizes, one for the sides of the panels and one for the bottoms. I still have 95% of the tube left, but at least some of it got recycled.

I’ve also taken a pic of a jig used to hold things like doors upright on edge for doing work on them. A slot in the base with one side angled to match a wedge. Simple and effective. I made this jig (two of them required) from a design in a book I had on door making when I was making the purpleheart front door.

When I was making my mortice and tenon joints, I left the tenons a bit fat, so that the joints would be tight. I “judged” the pine to be able to compress somewhat to absorb the extra thickness when the joints were assembled. But, I mis-judged the strength of the mortice to compress the tenon, and as happened to one joint, the force split the mortice :doh:(not rocket science, now that I think of it). Oh well. I’ll squeeze some glue in the split and clamp the crack back together (hopefully the tenon will get compressed and everything will stay together). So as not to risk the same happening on the other rail, I thinned the tenons before assembly and they went together without a problem.

I’ll give all the surfaces (except the panels) a final going over with the orbital sander (a few dings here and there from moving and getting bumped into), cut the chamfer then urethane all the wood parts before installing the glass and kumiko. That should leave the hardware to go and then hanging the door. Then I have to come up with something to make for my Mother’s 80th birthday in July (well, maybe her 81st?):C.

[Des.K.]

Hi Steve

Bad luck about the split mortice. Rather than a bit of extra meat on the tenon cheeks, a smidgeon extra along the width of the tenon may have been the way to go, provided of course you had a haunch and/or a horn to prevent the mortice popping out at the end.

For all our shoji doors and windows at the college, we used double mortices and tenons (they were essential when making up glass doors and windows). For the top rail of, say, 45 mm, we made a mortice of 22 mm, and a haunch opening of 23 mm, plus there would be the standard 10 mm horn for the shoji top (to aid in on-site adjustments and fitting). We would make the tenons about 23 mm, and the haunch about 22 mm. The thickness of the tenons would be the exact thickness of the mortices, otherwise the timber would split, as you discovered.

This extra 1 mm or so of tenon width would compress as the rail was driven home, pushing it right up against the front of the mortice to give a tight and very clean fit.

I wouldn't like to try this with hardwood, but for pine, and the yellow cedar we used up in Japan, it worked well. And the added bonus of this was that clamps were completely unnecessary. Mind you, it only works the once, there's no trial fitting. But as my instructor said when I asked what would happen if I made a mistake in the fitting, "Don't make a mistake."

So I think you had the right idea about the timber compressing, but in width, not thickness.

The door's looking good, and it will be interesting to see the finished product with the glass and kumiko in. That will give it a completely different character.

Ganbatte. がんばって

Des

[Sheets]

Hi Des,

Thanks for the comments and advice. I'm aware of the m/t arrangement you refer to having read Odate's books, (also used it when making some shoji with poplar) but I was hesitant to try it on such long and deep tenon, but shouldn't have scared myself off it as you say. Also, with using the draw-bored dowels, I was pretty confident of a tight fit (and they are tight). But I'll definitely not think of making the tenon a little thick next time.

I had left extra width on the rails to provide more strength during the making of the mortice, but I should have perhaps left this extra there until after the assembly - it might have provided just enough flex to take the tenon. Then, when I trimmed the rails to size, ...it would have split:o (no way around it - this was not a good idea).

I'm anxious to see it finished as well. At that stage where I have to force myself not to rush just to get it done because the end is in sight (and with some pressure to start the next project).

Steve

[Sheets]

I've started to finish the door. No stain. The sealer coat is not particularly impressive, so no pics yet. I smoothed it out this morning, but as its starting to rain, I'll have to wait to put on the next coats.

I took a pic of the bottom rail which had the split - it came nicely together with the glue and clamps. Also, the chamfering went well. I used a marking knife to define the width on the faces and then a pencil run along the end of an adjustable square for the depth. Then just pared away the wood with a 24 mm paring chisel.

So the end is nigh.

[Basilg]

G'day Steve :2tsup:

I am building an extension on my workshop which requires an exterior double door, and your thread has provided me with some inspiration to do something different. Is this your own design, or have you sourced it from a supplier.

Regards

[Sheets]

Hi Basilg (Basil I presume?),

The design is mine. I decided to do something different as well.

Steve

p.s., the door is finished and hung btw (and it opens and closes:2tsup:).

[NeilS]

Swish, Steve..........:2tsup:

.....

[Basilg]

Steve

Very well done, nice design & well executed.

Regards

[simonmags]

So how is the door coming along, very cool build thread. Looking forward to seeing what you do in the future. I clicked on the blog link in the first thread and did not get taken anywhere, not sure if that link is broken.

Cheers

[Sheets]

The doors up and running as in the pics above (no broken glass yet :wink:).

I deleted the blog. It got too much time-wise and since I'm not working on anything (too much biking and little energy for much else at the moment) it would have been really empty of new material.

Thanks for asking, though:)