Greetings from the Dark Side ....

**Driver** · 13th January 2005, 05:16 PM

:eek:

In the absence of the Jedi Master, Darth Cohen (currently engaged in a mission to strip Britain bare of its stock of old hand tools), it falls upon me to lure you down the slippery slope. Everyone poised, are we? Ready to point your feet downhill and let her rip? OK - here we go!

I've been on leave this week and I have been intermittently engaged (between watching cricket, drinking wine and beer, reading some of the books I got for Christmas etc) in making a cabinet for the front room. Over the course of yesterday and this morning, I put the top panel together. This involved edge-jointing three boards and then flattening and smoothing the finished panel.

The only power tool used in the process was my GMC biscuit joiner (of which more later).

To produce clean, straight, edges on the three boards that make up the panel, I clamped each pair (ie, boards 1 & 2, then boards 2 & 3) top faces together in my trusty old Workmate and planed the edges using a Stanley #6. This is the longest plane I possess and it did a reasonable job of producing a flat and even edge. (Note, by planing each mating pair together, you negate the effect of any tendency to plane out of square. If the two board edges are both planed at a slight angle, they will still mate. One or two degrees out of square on one edge will be cancelled out by the mating edge being equally out of square in the opposite direction. Does that make sense?)

A long straight edge (in this case, a one metre steel rule on edge) was used to check for peaks and valleys on each board edge. Only a minor amount of correcting was needed. If I owned a longer plane, say a Stanley #7 or #8, the correcting may not have been required.

The three boards were then marked up for biscuit slots at roughly 150 mm intervals and the biscuit joiner plugged in. (Cutting biscuit slots produces a heap of sawdust. I have a fairly crude DC set-up, using a modified Triton dust bucket as a cyclone connected to a vacuum - do a search on this BB for "Triton", "cyclone" and "Sturdee" for Peter's excellent cyclone design. Connecting this rig directly to the biscuit joiner's dust outlet gets rid of nearly all the offending particles). The GMC biscuit joiner does a good job at very low outlay.

Once the slots were cut, I dry-fitted the biscuits and tested the integrity of the board-to-board joints. Once satisfied that there were no nasty little gaps, I started the gluing process.

Note: it's a good idea to rehearse this process, especially if you're doing it on your own. Get out all the required clamps, scrap pieces for protection, greaseproof paper (more on this later) and carefully work out where everything will be positioned. You won't have a lot of time once you have applied the glue so you don't want any surprises or missing pieces. Delay is the enemy of a successful result. (If that sounds like the voice of bitter experience then it is an accurate reflection of reality).

The glue (Triton PVA in this case) was applied to the biscuits and the edges of the boards. The greaseproof paper was carefully laid over the sash clamp surfaces where glue run-off and drips could occur (you don't want to glue the work to the clamps. The greaseproof paper prevents this). At the ends of each joint between the mating boards, a clamp was applied to line up the board ends. I used quick release clamps for speed but G clamps would work equally well. Once all the clamps were in place and after several nervous minutes checking for squareness and absence of gaps, the bottle of red was uncorked and the work left overnight.

This morning, I took off all the clamps and carefully removed some excess glue with a chisel.

I then laid the completed panel on the bench, secured it and proceeded to flatten it. I used my Lie-Nielsen Low Angle Jack Plane (the capital letters are quite intentional - a tool as superb as this deserves its proper title). The plane was set with an extremely narrow mouth - just barely wide enough to show a tiny line when held up to the light. I planed across the panel first, at right angles to the grain, removing transparent tight little floaty curls until a check with a straight edge (and a touch test with a thumb) showed an acceptably flat surface. Then a couple of passes across the entire surface with the grain. This still left a couple of roughish spots and some minor tear-out. The panel is made from jarrah and has a couple of fiendishly gnarly grain patterns. Looks great but it's a bugger to plane.

Final treatment: a cabinet scraper. I bought a Lee Valley Veritas Variable Burnisher (capital letters again - for the same reason - another really well-designed and executed tool. If you read this Rob Lee - well done!) some months ago. It comes with a simple scraper. I used the scraper to clean up the rough bits and it did a great job. The real value of the burnisher is that it only takes a couple of seconds to put a decent hook edge back on the scraper. This is important with our tough Aussie hardwoods. Jarrah takes off the edge very quickly.

Disadvantage of a hand-held scraper: barbecued thumbs, man! Mine are now twice their previous size and the local dogs and cats are sniffing the wind.

Advantage of same: a shiny, natural-looking finish that shows up the beauty of the grain like nothing else would.

The cabinet's top panel has now only to be trimmed to length and it will be ready.

No photos to accompany this little essay, unfortunately, because I left the digital camera at work. However, I hope it might encourage some of those who, like me, don't have a lot of experience. If it also encourages those that do have a lot of experience to contribute their thoughts, even better!

Col

**journeyman Mick** · 13th January 2005, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by Driver

................No photos to accompany this little essay, unfortunately, because I left the digital camera at work.............. Col

And there I was thinking that it was because a digital camera just wouldn't fit in with the neanderthal approach!

Perhaps a lithograph (using real Bavarian limestone of course, none of these new fangled metal plates) or a simple series of sketches done with hand made willow twig charcoal pencils (self made of course

) or some ink drawings using a quill pen with lamp black ink on real parchment

Sorry Col, couldn't resist. One day after I've retired and finally worked through my ever growing "to do" list I'll build a traditional timber bench, dust off and sharpen my hand tools and enjoy doing what you've been doing.

Mick

**Rocker** · 14th January 2005, 07:06 AM

Col,

I would suggest using Timbecon's urea-formaldehyde glue for gluing up panels, rather than PVA. PVA often produces a small, but unsightly, ridge along the glue line after some weeks or months, owing to its tendency to creep. Of course you have to get the proportion of hardener to glue correct. It should be 1:8, although there is nothing to indicate this on the bottles. It is best to reduce the amount of hardener slightly if you are doing the glue-up in hot conditions.

Rocker

**IanW** · 14th January 2005, 09:30 AM

Yairs - agree with you completely, Rocker. I used PVA glues of various 'improved' types for years, and still do for lots of things, but got fed up with the occasional un-predictable failure on pieces that were meant to last, and the little ridge you mention, due to moisture changes in the wood near the join - very annoying on a freshly french-polished surface!. Over the years I used urea formaldehyde, melamine or occasionally epoxy, where I had any doubts about the longevity of PVA, but a couple of years ago, went back to hide glue, for anything I hope will last a generation or two. You just can't beat the dissembly/repair characteristics of hide glue, and it is still amongst the strongest of joints, with better gap tolerance than most of the modern synthetics. And once I bit the bullet, and re-learnt the minor mysteries of brewing and handling it, it really isn't as daunting to use as you might fear. You just have to be highly organised once you actually start putting glue on wood - no time to stand about pondering which bit goes where!
Part of the biscuit process depends on water swelling the compressed biscuit, so you could theoretically use hot hide glue for biscuits if you were very quick on your feet. Has anyone tried this? I do occasionally use splines for alignment on large panels, and that gets to be a really tense business during glue-ups - can't do many lineal metres at once on a hot, dry day!
Cheers,

**Termite** · 14th January 2005, 10:19 AM

I've been using Titebond Polyurethane for panel and cutting board glue ups. Wouldn't use it for general work due to the foaming mess, but on flat gluing thats going to be planed anyway I find that once dry it cleans off very easily with a Veritas flush plane or chisel.
The reason I like this product is that on an average temperature day I have about 30min working time and a total cure time of 4 hours. And with some small gap filling properties as well as sticking like the proverbial to a blanket. It's not cheap but it's worth it in my opinion.
I use Titebond 3 for general work as this gives 10min working time and if I want a quicky I use Triton yellow glue.

**HappyHammer** · 14th January 2005, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by Driver

:eek:

In the absence of the Jedi Master, Darth Cohen (currently engaged in a mission to strip Britain bare of its stock of old hand tools),

Sorry Driver, got this far then died of boredom....

HH.

**Driver** · 14th January 2005, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by HappyHammer

Sorry Driver, got this far then died of boredom....

HH.

No need to apologise. If you're bored, get out to the shed and make something.

**outback** · 14th January 2005, 03:52 PM

Well I didn't get bored, I enjoyed it all.
It does make me think about glues a bit though. I use titebond 2 for pretty well everything. A couple of panels haven't turned out as well as I'd thought after a little creep. Maybe I need to add another adhesive to the storage cupboard, or even the panels as I glue them up.

**Driver** · 14th January 2005, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

And there I was thinking that it was because a digital camera just wouldn't fit in with the neanderthal approach!

Perhaps a lithograph (using real Bavarian limestone of course, none of these new fangled metal plates) or a simple series of sketches done with hand made willow twig charcoal pencils (self made of course

) or some ink drawings using a quill pen with lamp black ink on real parchment

Mick

Mick

You're right, of course. The series of sketches will take a little longer (I'm waiting for the hand-made paper to dry) but watch this space.

Col

**Driver** · 14th January 2005, 05:47 PM

Rocker, IanW and Termite

Thanks for the advice on glues. I haven't had problems of the kind you describe with PVA. Do you think this may be a result of Perth's drier climate? You all live in areas with much higher relative humidity.

Col

**bitingmidge** · 14th January 2005, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Driver

Mick

You're right, of course. The series of sketches will take a little longer (I'm waiting for the hand-made paper to dry) but watch this space.

Col

Col,

I think you can skip the paper stage.

One of the beauties of digital photography is that it is DIGITAL...that is, the image is really just a series of numbers which tell the computer which pixel to colour which colour, and how to link them.

If you are REALLY serious, you could hand-code a "photographic" image, created entirely without the use of a camera!! That way you could be true to yourself while still sharing with us in this digital medium!

Someone, somewhere has probably done it :confused: :confused: :confused: but don't come asking for tips!!

Cheers,

P

**Driver** · 14th January 2005, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

If you are REALLY serious, you could hand-code a "photographic" image, created entirely without the use of a camera!! That way you could be true to yourself while still sharing with us in this digital medium!

BM

Now that is seriously DARK SIDE! Your absence from the BB was obviously spent on the planet Coozbane with Yoda or Yogurt or whatever the hell his name is.

May the schwartz be with you!

Col

**IanW** · 17th January 2005, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Driver

Rocker, IanW and Termite

Thanks for the advice on glues. I haven't had problems of the kind you describe with PVA. Do you think this may be a result of Perth's drier climate? You all live in areas with much higher relative humidity.

Col

Dunno, Col,
I doubt it's the humidity. The creep problem derives mostly from the thermoplastic nature of the glue. It softens sufficiently at high ambient temperatures to allow movement/flow if there is any stress on the joint. Can't speak for the others, but some of my failures have been due to faulty technique, like glueing a slightly bowed board between straight boards, with no spline or biscuits to help keep them aligned. Other failures were with woods like Blackwood, which moved unpredictably after the piece was finished. I've had consistent failures using PVA glues with both Southern Silky Oak (Grevillea) and Northern S.O. (Cardwellia). These were with carefully made, low-stress joints - they just let go after about a year. I noted that the glue residue was powdery, and I assumed some chemical reaction with compounds in the wood was responsible. I had two goes at re-glueing after the first time it happened, carefully cleaning the edges and making sure all was as close to perfect as possible. But the same thing happened. Luckily, it hasn't occurred with every S.O. piece I've made, some are still holding soundly after 10 or 12 yrs., but I avoid using PVA on S.O. for now.
Cheers,

**Rob Lee** · 18th January 2005, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by Driver

:eek:

(snip)

Final treatment: a cabinet scraper. I bought a Lee Valley Veritas Variable Burnisher (capital letters again - for the same reason - another really well-designed and executed tool. If you read this Rob Lee - well done!) some months ago. It comes with a simple scraper. I used the scraper to clean up the rough bits and it did a great job. The real value of the burnisher is that it only takes a couple of seconds to put a decent hook edge back on the scraper. This is important with our tough Aussie hardwoods. Jarrah takes off the edge very quickly.

Disadvantage of a hand-held scraper: barbecued thumbs, man! Mine are now twice their previous size and the local dogs and cats are sniffing the wind.

(snip)

Sometimes -I wonder why I look at a post and then I get halfway through it only to run across my name... Then it strikes me.... maybe "I'm a Bulletin Board Dowser"...

...OR ... is it ......the Force???

I will, however, echo the calls for a photo...

Cheers -

Rob

**echnidna** · 18th January 2005, 10:32 AM

So mosta youse just pretend about the DARK SIDE.

Look at all the modern stuff you lot use.

WHO does everything genuine Dark Side???

for example Who uses HIDE GLUE??

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