Sunday, November 30, 2008
Nightstand Saga I
Hello.
This is installment 1 of me going in to excruciating detail about making matching nightstands. If you do not appreciate anecdotes about my private carpentry projects, I hear YouTube has some good stuff.
Anyway, Nightstands. I have already planned what it will look like, after looking at some models online.
The next step was selecting the wood. My dad has some cherry, oak, and black walnut that he said he would let me use. Normally, selecting the black walnut would have been a no-brainer, due to it's complex and deep grain, but it didn't really match my other bedroom peices, my bed and lingerie dresser in color (they are white walnut). I ultimately decided to use it regardless of the fact that it will be much darker then my white walnut pieces, simply because it is so darn beautiful (click on pics below)!
I worked for the better part of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning selecting the wood, and cutting out oversized blanks for what will become the crucial pieces of the nightstands.
I started out with the widest boards for the table-tops. I went ahead and glued them up and put them aside.
I then started to make the side panels (again, see this link for what the piece will look like).
Here is what some of them look like dry-fitted together, but without the center panel.
Here are two. the one on the right is partially disassembled so you can see the construction type.
On this piece, I decided to make the rails and styles (the horizontal and vertical boards) mate using a mortise and tenon joint.
I am pretty sure that this was overkill for this type of joint and normally I would not have done it this way, but I wanted to try a new joint type on this piece. Also, for those of you who speak carpentry, because this piece has legs, I have to do a blind-dato, and I also didn't know how to square-off my dato where my bottom style was.
It required the use of a mortising chisel, which is like a drill press with a square chisel surrounding the drill bit.
I have never used one, but I have seen Norm do it, and it was pretty simple.
here it is in action:
far
This is installment 1 of me going in to excruciating detail about making matching nightstands. If you do not appreciate anecdotes about my private carpentry projects, I hear YouTube has some good stuff.
Anyway, Nightstands. I have already planned what it will look like, after looking at some models online.
The next step was selecting the wood. My dad has some cherry, oak, and black walnut that he said he would let me use. Normally, selecting the black walnut would have been a no-brainer, due to it's complex and deep grain, but it didn't really match my other bedroom peices, my bed and lingerie dresser in color (they are white walnut). I ultimately decided to use it regardless of the fact that it will be much darker then my white walnut pieces, simply because it is so darn beautiful (click on pics below)!
I worked for the better part of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning selecting the wood, and cutting out oversized blanks for what will become the crucial pieces of the nightstands.
I started out with the widest boards for the table-tops. I went ahead and glued them up and put them aside.
I then started to make the side panels (again, see this link for what the piece will look like).
Here is what some of them look like dry-fitted together, but without the center panel.
Here are two. the one on the right is partially disassembled so you can see the construction type.
On this piece, I decided to make the rails and styles (the horizontal and vertical boards) mate using a mortise and tenon joint.
I am pretty sure that this was overkill for this type of joint and normally I would not have done it this way, but I wanted to try a new joint type on this piece. Also, for those of you who speak carpentry, because this piece has legs, I have to do a blind-dato, and I also didn't know how to square-off my dato where my bottom style was.
It required the use of a mortising chisel, which is like a drill press with a square chisel surrounding the drill bit.
I have never used one, but I have seen Norm do it, and it was pretty simple.
here it is in action:
far
near
That machine would make the mortise (the female part, on left below) and I would cut the tenon (the male part, on right below) by rebating the end of the wood with the table saw.
I hope to have these done by 2010. Things move slowly in the furniture business.
# posted by fooiemcgoo : 4:21 PM
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hey fooie, tell me a story about hickory. I've got some down on my land and I'm thinking about having it milled and give it to a woodworking buddy of mine. Is it any good for working with?
# posted by 
: 11:01 AM
: 11:01 AM
I do not know much.
i know it is very very hard. so it is good for stuff like tools, bats, etc. It makes durable and good-looking flooring.
I would not personally want to make furniture out of it, but it is commonly done, from what I know. I imagine it is hard to work with, and not terribly good looking for my tastes.
maybe if we are lucky my brother will chime in.
have any cherry, ash, maple,or walnut trees? them's is the good ones.
If you are insterested in putting in the time, it may make some inexpensive flooring for yourself.
i know it is very very hard. so it is good for stuff like tools, bats, etc. It makes durable and good-looking flooring.
I would not personally want to make furniture out of it, but it is commonly done, from what I know. I imagine it is hard to work with, and not terribly good looking for my tastes.
maybe if we are lucky my brother will chime in.
have any cherry, ash, maple,or walnut trees? them's is the good ones.
If you are insterested in putting in the time, it may make some inexpensive flooring for yourself.
We have tons of maple and ash, slim to none point none cherry and walnut.
We're mostly looking to do this for the experience, just to say we've done it (the milling). We found a portable saw mill for sale for $4k, a bit too steep though. The hickory trees were removed as part of some work I had done on the pond dam. They are piled up right next to the road, so very, very easy to cut into logs and load on a truck. That's why we picked them to start with.
I have all the floors I need.
We're mostly looking to do this for the experience, just to say we've done it (the milling). We found a portable saw mill for sale for $4k, a bit too steep though. The hickory trees were removed as part of some work I had done on the pond dam. They are piled up right next to the road, so very, very easy to cut into logs and load on a truck. That's why we picked them to start with.
I have all the floors I need.
# posted by : 4:02 AM
: 4:02 AM
i happen to like hickory as a floor, if it is quarter-sawn. flat sawn, not so much.
it is medium hard wood & it has some broad distinct grain like oak does, but the grain is closed (unlike oak). it is pretty popular as cabinets & flooring.
foo - if you remember when we were building houses pappy scored some solid pecan prefinished floor; hickory is very similar to that. in fact, i believe hickory & pecan are from the same family.
i cant say ive ever seen any furniture built w/ it. if there were, i would imagine it would be kinda "country" style. ash is actually the preferred bat material, but it is the material of choice for tool handles because of its toughness. i once had to split a tree worth of hickory (foo - the big one that used to be next to the gazebo on the fenceline) for firewood and @ 22 years old, it damn near killed me.
it is medium hard wood & it has some broad distinct grain like oak does, but the grain is closed (unlike oak). it is pretty popular as cabinets & flooring.
foo - if you remember when we were building houses pappy scored some solid pecan prefinished floor; hickory is very similar to that. in fact, i believe hickory & pecan are from the same family.
i cant say ive ever seen any furniture built w/ it. if there were, i would imagine it would be kinda "country" style. ash is actually the preferred bat material, but it is the material of choice for tool handles because of its toughness. i once had to split a tree worth of hickory (foo - the big one that used to be next to the gazebo on the fenceline) for firewood and @ 22 years old, it damn near killed me.
# posted by : 4:33 AM
: 4:33 AM
We cut 3 8.5' hickory logs from our downed trees and took them to the sawmill. The dude was underwhelmed, but said he'd seen more pathetic displays of trees in the past. He promised not to laugh until after we left. We left them there for him to cut on.
Encouraged by the sawmill dude, we spent part of the weekend cutting up some trees. We ended up with 10 maple logs ranging in length from about 8.5' - 10'. We also drug out a 50' pine log and a 16.5' pine log. We're hoping to get some good furniture style boards out of the maple and some 2x4s out of the pine.
Details to follow.
Encouraged by the sawmill dude, we spent part of the weekend cutting up some trees. We ended up with 10 maple logs ranging in length from about 8.5' - 10'. We also drug out a 50' pine log and a 16.5' pine log. We're hoping to get some good furniture style boards out of the maple and some 2x4s out of the pine.
Details to follow.
# posted by : 5:38 AM
: 5:38 AM
I think if they locked the three of you in a room with different types of wood, you could build a contraption that would save the world.
the idea of burning up that maple makes my heart cry.
if i had the time, money, and place to put them, i'd buy them from you.
the hickory can go to hell in a handcart.
how is that for alliteration?
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if i had the time, money, and place to put them, i'd buy them from you.
the hickory can go to hell in a handcart.
how is that for alliteration?
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