Making A Box Or Two

   I don't really have any projects ahead of me so I think I will make some boxes.  You can always use another box.  To begin I made some lumber. In my lumber rack are many 18 - 30 inch long bits of left over wood.  Much of it is rough, reclaimed from skids or construction lumber. I decided to make some 3/8 and some 1/2 slabs ahead of need.  The joiner and the planner have to be rolled into the centre of the shop and they are both noisy. I  wanted to get the unpleasant part of the work out of the way first. 

various bits of wood.  some of it is domestic but some 

is recovered  exotic hardwood from skids.  A couple of the 

pieces have amazing grain patterns. 

 

Edge gluing clamps. I don't need them 

often but when I do ...they are great.

 For a change I thought I would use my Incra IBox jig fo make a bunch of finger joint boxes.  The previous time I used this jig I had it set up for use on the router table.  This time I thought I would use it on my table saw.  I had to return to the instructional videos as I couldn't remember the set up.  Frankly it doesn't seem intuitive to me.  As you see below, following the instructions enables you to cut finger joints, and quickly once it is set up.  I will make all the boxes with this width of fingers. 

This box is made from a spruce 2 x 4 cut down to 3/8 inch.  Once it is sanded and stained it will look fine.  I think it will be used as a flower box on a window ledge.

  Box making is a nice diversion and generally the result is useful.  The weather is improving, the motorcycle is on the road as is my electric computer bicycle, shortly the car will be only used for cargo trips.

 

I like  Blue Bikes.

cheers Ianw

Small Box Project - What you can get from a Skid

   In our kitchens there has always been a 'Junk Drawer'.  In this drawer lives the many miscellaneous house hold things that need to be at hand, but....don't really belong.  This drawer holds, zip ties, twist ties, rubber bands, string, a flash light, and emergency radio and other stuff.  This drawer served as the inspiration for a proof of concept project. The tins holding the twist ties and rubber bands have gotten nasty and rusted, time to be replace with something nice and without sharp edges.

 

 It is fashionable to collect and up cycle wood, happily there seems to be no end of skids at the end of driveways asking to be taken away any used.  Over time I have collected skid wood, some ended up is camp fires but the heavier hard wood bits have been kept back for future consideration.  Often , given the nature of the wood, I have chosen to make most of the projects pretty rough or aimed at life outside in the elements.

  This time a sorted through my collection of hard wood from skids. 

  All the wood is rough, often a little twisted and I have no idea what species of wood the pieces are. But it is all 'hard wood' and should have some personality once cleaned up.

King Joiner 

12 inch Planner 

  A hand tool wood worker faces the same first steps in using reclaimed wood as I.  Being a hybrid shop I used my jointer and planner to get my wood to consistent  workable dimensions.  For this box I machined the board to 1/4 inch thick.  Next I ripped the board to 4 inches wide and cut off four 4 inch pieces.

  With a bottom of soft wood cut to size the four sides were glued in place and left over night to dry.  The quality of modern glues means that as long as the seams are tight and the glue allowed to cure no fasteners are needed.

  Since this box is made from hard wood. Actually really heavy, hard wood it sanded very smooth. I went to 400 grit when sanding and then used clear varnish to finish this box.  The grain is quite interesting and the glued butt joints perfectly solid. 

  The next box will push the envelop. The wood is only 1/8 thick.  Next blog you will see the result. I have high hopes for the glue joints.

cheers, ianw

  p.s get out and enjoy the fall colours while they last.

The Tool That Changes Wood Working the Most for Me.

 

  I am not going to claim that this is my favourite tool.  It is certainly not the tool that has been in my shop for the longest either. It is however the tool have has made the greatest impact on what I do and can do in my shop.

 I bought the 6inch joiner to mill the lumber for the Grand Kid's crib, just over two years ago.  My plan had been to use pine for the crib but once I got to Brant Custom Wood and found that poplar was stronger, nicer and cheaper I opted for poplar. 

  The poplar was rough and there was no way that I was going to try and hand plane a crib's worth of wood.  If you look at project photos you can see that the crib is slats on all four sides, something close to 80 slats.  The only real solution was a joiner to compliment my planer and I bought the King. It was fairly reasonably priced, and readily available, also I had experience with that tool before and felt then, and still feel that it is adequate to my uses.  If I made more furniture I would probable feel that joiner was a bit small.   I found the learning curve quite short, I had taken a power tool course at Mohawk College the previous winter.  The course was very useful and I am glad that I took it.
  
  The joiner enabled me to use rough lumber for my projects.  Until I got the joiner I was stuck with ready prepared lumber, generally twisty and only approximate thicknesses.  Starting with over sized rough lumber and working it through the joiner and then planner has meant that I can make much nicer projects than I could have otherwise.  The latest example is the shelf unit for the Toronto kids but the ongoing example is the dozens of cutting boards that I have made in the last six months.  Without the joiner I could not make the boards efficiently enough to by able to sell them at a reasonable price.


   The method of deducing a rough board to usable lumber is not artistic, it is systematic.

1. join the board until you have a flat face.  If the board is cupped join the concave side first until flat.

2.  join one edge until it is flat and square with the good face.

3. cut the material to width on the table saw, good side down good edge against the fence.

4. run it through the planer until the correct thickness.


Things I've learned though probably obvious to other people.
1. Mill all the lumber for the project + a couple of extra boards all at once, that way they are exactly the same size and thickness, exactly.

2. Sharpen or change the blades in the joiner and planer more often that you probably do now. Sharp blades make a difference there too.

3. Have lots of push sticks around, lots, they fall on the floor and it is easier to reach for another one while working than it is to interrupt your work flow to crawl under something to get it back.  

4. Two words --dust collection--

Foot Note:
I know that you can plane and join edges with Hand Planes.  I love hand planes, I love the smell of the wood, the lack of noise, the lack of wood chips etc. etc. etc.
I am just not there in my personal evolution yet. I may never be able to abandon some of the labour saving devises of the shop, only time will tell.