# De-rusting the woodworking skills



## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Finally found some time to build something once again.:smile:


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*and we are supposed to guess what it is...?*

I donno. :no:


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Two 1/2" Maple ply boxes glued up.

M&T Pau Amarelo face frame glued to the front.

95% Of 2mm veneer pieces cut on the bandsaw and drum sanded.

Drawer fronts cut, will be sized with a hand plane to yield gaps around 0.003" in face frame.

Drawers to follow and economy veneer press to follow, veneering bottoms, sides and backs of boxes.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Drawer fronts fitted snugly by trimming with restored ebay Victory handplane.

I leave the fronts 1/16" longer, so when the sides are dovetailed, the sides are recessed 1/32" each side into the fronts and backs. That allows trimming the front sides for an exact fit after the drawers are glued up.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Drawer fronts and sides dovetailed and dry fitted. Snug fit, with zero clearance, wish I can get this lucky every time.

Sides to be trimmed to length, leaving drawer fronts flush with face frame and dovetailed to backs.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> I donno. :no:


Federal reproduction side tables.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I knew it*



WillemJM said:


> Federal reproduction side tables.





:no:


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

*Finishing and fitting the drawers*

One of the most pleasant tasks in woodworking is careful and accurate fitting of drawers.

1.) Rabbet the bottom drawer members to fit the 1/4" ply base and dry assemble the dovetail joints.

2.) Cut the drawer 1/4" ply perfectly square and dry fit. Then take drawers apart, glue together and clamp the bases into the rabbet fit. The square ply bottoms pull the drawers perfectly square.









3.) Next is the fun part, being perfect fitting, I use two #3 hand planes, the drawer fronts are sized to be a perfect fit with no clearance prior to drawer assembly and the planes are used to size and fit the sides and backs. The small Victory # 3 is for a rough fast cut, the Veritas #3 has a special blade angle honed, to prevent any tear-out, meaning it is not necessary to bother about grain direction.









4.) The high blade angle also helps with end grain on the dovetailed parts.









5.) Drawers are fitted, economy veneer press (real economy and simple) to follow.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

*The veneering process*

The boxes will end up as Period Federal style side tables, so they need to be veneered bottom, sides and back. We start with the bottoms.

I use 2mm bandsawn veneer and although this method is a bit unconventional, it has served me well with pieces which have stood the test of time over more than fifteen years, in window settings where they get morning or afternoon sun.

I use only Titebond original.

First the bottoms will be veneered, they will be the bottoms of the side tables, and generally out of sight, however we want to finish the pieces properly. Veneer is Pau Amerelo (Yellow Heart)

1.) Select the pieces and tape firmly together using painters tape.









2.) Turn over and tape with veneer tape, so the painters tape can be removed later.









3.) Make the veneer press, which is as simple as a 1" piece of high density upholstery foam, cut slightly smaller than the box. The latter is important, because if the foam hangs over the edges, it will bend over the edge veneer and give bad edge adhesion.









4.) Glue the boxes and the veneer pieces with Titebond, place them in position, secure them with painters tape so they won't move. Then sandwich the foam in between the two boxes, which in turn will put a firm pressure on the veneer. Clamp, not too tight as we do not want to distort the box ply. Leave overnight and more tomorrow when we remove the clamps and trim the veneer.


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## GoIrish (Jan 29, 2012)

Nice work. The tables will be superb.


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## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

One question, and maybe I just don't understand is all. I noticed you said the drawers have zero clearance, and they looked pretty tight to me. Did you not allow for expansion?


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Duane Bledsoe said:


> One question, and maybe I just don't understand is all. I noticed you said the drawers have zero clearance, and they looked pretty tight to me. Did you not allow for expansion?


The drawer faces are a snug fit yes. My shop is not air conditioned, so generally the wood stored there will have a moisture content of between 11-12% for North Carolina. Once the pieces move into home air conditioned space, the moisture content is expected to decline to around 6-8% meaning the drawers will shrink ever so slightly and the fit will become looser.

If these had to move to a tropical environment, they may become tight and need trimming, hopefully not in my lifetime.:icon_smile:

Good question BTW.


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## Carvel Loafer (Dec 31, 2011)

Looking real nice. I like the veneer press idea, simple but it looks like it would work great.


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## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

WillemJM said:


> The drawer faces are a snug fit yes. My shop is not air conditioned, so generally the wood stored there will have a moisture content of between 11-12% for North Carolina. Once the pieces move into home air conditioned space, the moisture content is expected to decline to around 6-8% meaning the drawers will shrink ever so slightly and the fit will become looser.
> 
> If these had to move to a tropical environment, they may become tight and need trimming, hopefully not in my lifetime.:icon_smile:
> 
> Good question BTW.


You just let me understand something about my own shop I probably need to plan around. Mine is in my basement and it's heated and cooled by the same unit that heats the house. Wood in my shop acclimates to about 5-7 percent a lot of times. If I make a piece having drawers, would I need to make a looser fit in case it swells any at its new location? If so, how much allowance is enough?


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Duane Bledsoe said:


> You just let me understand something about my own shop I probably need to plan around. Mine is in my basement and it's heated and cooled by the same unit that heats the house. Wood in my shop acclimates to about 5-7 percent a lot of times. If I make a piece having drawers, would I need to make a looser fit in case it swells any at its new location? If so, how much allowance is enough?


Here is a table: http://workshoppages.com/WS/Articles/Wood-Movement-Charts.pdf

So for instance for the following condition.

Shop moisture content = 5%
Maximum possible moisture content in summer = 11%
Drawer in Cherry is 3" high

From the table 11%-5% = 6%, thus allow 0.16" for a 12" panel

Thus 0.16/12x3 = 0.040" or 1/25" clearance allowance will do the trick for a three inch high drawer.

For flush with face frame drawers on slides I normally work with a minimum of 1/16". The tables I am building do not contain any hardware such as slides, screws, brads all assembly is joinery and glue, so it is a different animal.


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## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

Is that 1/16" on all sides normally, or 1/16" total each way, meaning 1/32 all the way around?


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Duane Bledsoe said:


> Is that 1/16" on all sides normally, or 1/16" total each way, meaning 1/32 all the way around?


For inset drawers using Accuride slides I do 1/32" all way round. You need good slides.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

You must have drank some Evaporust. Consider your skills de-rusted.

(Evaporust is not for human consumption. The above statement is meant to be a comic metaphor. I do not endorse the drinking of Evaporust or any other rust removing fluids, solids, or gels.)


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## Duane Bledsoe (Oct 18, 2012)

WillemJM said:


> For inset drawers using Accuride slides I do 1/32" all way round. You need good slides.


I haven't yet attempted a project using drawers but to be honest I have more interest in sdoing so with all wood parts as opposed to using modern metal parts. Thank you for the information however. I'll remember it for when the time comes. I bookmarked the site with the wood expansion chart.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Very nice. Looking forward to more posts.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

*Making the case side veneer panels*

Walnut and Pau Amarello, start with glued-up mess.









Then resaw and they are ready to go on as veneer.


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Nice! :thumbsup: :smile:


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Nice veneer!


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Now we're talking! looking great! :thumbsup:


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

The Federal side table boxes with drawers are done, needing only a bit of clean-up and sanding.

Somehow, while waiting for veneer glue to set, a segmented salt and pepper mill jumped off the lathe. These are no spill, the mechanism sits in the top with a closing lid or cap and the filling plug sits in the bottom.









Next up are the legs, they will be done in four parts and need Federal reeding. For the latter, I have to design and build a router jig. Something I still have to figure out?

The joys of working with air dried Walnut, these are the top leg parts in progress.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

The fun in each project is always doing something for the first time.

Never built a reeding jig before, so got that out of the way.









Top parts of legs get reeds, a slice of Satinwood is doweled and glued in, and the legs are ready to turn.


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## Miller Woodworks (Dec 11, 2013)

What bandsaw blade do you use to cut the veneers? And how thick are they?


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

That is a very good question and it took me a long journey a couple of years of experience to get to where I am successful today.

Short answer:

I use a 17" Grizzly bandsaw, with a 1/2" x 0.025 4 tooth hook Lenox Diemaster 2 Bi Metal blade. Can cut 12" high 1/16" thick with fair accuracy using a slow feed. Blade life is pretty good.

Long answer:

I started off with a Grizzly 1" blades, hopeless.

Then a Lenox 1" Tri-Master carbide tipped blade approaching $200. It did fine the kerf a little wide but clean fast cut. The blade did not last long, it started cracking due to metal fatigue and failed. With some research and advice from Lenox, I concluded that a 0.035 thick blade is too thick for the Grizzly 16 3/4" diameter bandsaw wheels, hence the failure.

From above decided not to go above 0.025" thickness

Laguna makes a 0.025" carbide tipped blade, but it costs a fortune, so that was out of my budget.

Tried a 3/4" x 0.025 Timberwolf blade, the cut was extremely slow and lasted about 3 cuts, before it was dull.

That is how I got to the short answer above. :smile:

Tip: If you want to order Lenox blades, go to Lowes, they will order it for you at a better price than anyone else. It takes about a week to deliver to the store for pick-up.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Legs are on one table, next to follow. Then we have to start working on making the table tops.


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## EdS (Mar 21, 2013)

I am impressed. Nice work!


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Tops are done, first one glued to table.
Now if we had enough clamps, we could of glued up the second one as well. :blink:


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## captainawesome (Jun 21, 2012)

These look incredible! I really like the veneer, and check out the legs!

You obviously know more about this than I do, so please excuse my ignorance. By glueing the top to the table, won't you have issues with expansion/contraction over time? I may have missed what you glued the veneers to, but the top looks like solid wood, trapped inside of solid wood, glued to a base.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

captainawesome said:


> These look incredible! I really like the veneer, and check out the legs!
> 
> You obviously know more about this than I do, so please excuse my ignorance. By glueing the top to the table, won't you have issues with expansion/contraction over time? I may have missed what you glued the veneers to, but the top looks like solid wood, trapped inside of solid wood, glued to a base.


Some applications solid wood just won't do it. This is one of those.

The table box and top is 1/2" veneer core Maple ply.

The top ply has 1/16" band-sawn Pau Amarello veneer on top, with a solid walnut frame surround.

The table top is glued to the box, so we basically have two 1/2" ply pieces laminated together.

We should be good from Florida, to Arizona weather with no issues.


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