Woodshop fun

Today, I did some work improving the woodshop.  I like to try to make things out of wood.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t work.  We don’t have enough room in our basement for a decent shop right now (the ceilings are low, and the basement is going to need some significant help before I can start to really build a shop down there), so the “woodshop” is in my parents’ basement.  They already had a pretty good workbench, and an entirely awesome belt-drive table saw (you want one of these if you’re doing lots of woodwork–the start-up is nice and smooth, so the table doesn’t have a tendency to jerk on start-up, which can throw a cut off-line).

I’m on my way to learning how to build cabinetry and furniture.  Two of the tools that make mortise and tenon joints easier are a drill press and a band saw.  The drill press makes mortising things much easier, especially deep mortises.  The drill press also makes it easy to drill perfectly straight, 90-degree holes and bores in things, which is a good thing when precision-fitting things.  The band saw makes it easy to remove waste from deep tenons, and also makes curved pieces easier than using a jigsaw.  Bandsaws are also great for resawing lumber, and for making thin strips for inlay work.  This project is going to involve a bunch of mortise and tenon joints, some interesting curved detail bits, and some inlay work, so these tools should make things much easier and more enjoyable.

My wonderful wife bought the band saw for me.  She is awesome.

My aunt and uncle bought me the drill press, which I hadn’t been able to use significantly yet.  Now it has a nice home, and is going to help to make some hopefully nice furniture.

Test #1:  Can I join and glue-up a thin panel?  Can I do it without destroying anything?  Will I make it so that it doesn’t suck, and is flat, and doesn’t fall apart when I go to cut it to size?

Test #2:  Can I make six mortises and six tenons with mitred beading detail?  If you want to know what this is, I’ll probably have some pictures of me screwing it up on the first few tries, so just wait.  Basically, beaded trim on paneled construction with rails and stiles requires one to mitre the beaded trim in the places where the rails meet the stiles.  It is probably going to suck for the first few times I do it, so I’m going to practice first.  Many times.

Test #3:  Can I build a crosscut sled that works and does not suck?

Lots of questions, but tomorrow should be fun.  I’m going out in the morning to buy wood and some nice bar clamps for building panels and doing heavier clamping jobs.  I am going to get the panels started first thing, so that I can hopefully have those glued-up and ready to cut and rout by later that day, or maybe Sunday.  I’m going to raise the panels first to match the panels in the doors here in the house.  Then, in the center panel, I’m going to rout a band around the inner part of the panel for an inlay of mahogany (salvaged from an old mantel).  Lastly, I want to try to do an inlay design in the center with more mahogany and some unknown wood that has a nice fine grain to it.  I’m probably going to do just the band inlay on the two outer panels.  We’ll see.

jonathan