Stepwise refinements

In the freetime at the GuildSchool I traced the photo of the chest from the online catalogue. It was a quick and dirty trace just to show my class mates how to transfer a photo to be used in a cnc-tool. Outer frame is 42mm * 17mm half size of the chest I carved at the GuildSghool.

Here is the first cutout in cherry. Intention at this point was to make the basic and boring cutout using cnc and then add the finer details using handtools.

And in a piece of pear. Still problems with the stems.

Then I retraced the original photo. This is done by drawing small line segments following the contours in the photo.

A little better:

Adjusting some of the cutting parameters for the cnc-machine. Now the pearwood grain gives trouble so back to cherry.

Before I made the last cutting I added more details!

Monday I will try staining the piece. I don't have the right colours right now.

Have done a little touchup using handtools :-)

Have fun
Niels

No dust

Well, I spent three days cleaning up my old workshop. One corner a day. So one corner left :-) I also dismanthed the large mdf cnc-machine. It took up too much space and I haven't used for about a year and I wasn't really satisfied about the performance.

I had decided to wait trying the new thickness sander until the workshop was in better shape. Today I couldn't resist any longer.

For dust collection I use an wacuum cleaner intended for removing ash from a stove. It doesn't have a bag inside.They come in two styles here in DK. One with a motor and one without to be used in front of an ordinary wacuum cleaner.

Then several years go I got a smart Proxxon device. When the sander is turned on the wacuum cleaner starts and when the sander is turned off the wacuum cleaner stops after 5 seconds. I looked through the new Proxxon catalogue and couldn't find the device. Instead they sells a wacuum-cleaner with same functionalty. I like the idea of a separate device better.

How is the sander?

Very good! Off course a sander is for removing wood in small increments. But for delicate woods with grain in all directions it is the only way to go. And for sizes less than 1.6mm which id the minimum for the Thicknesser DH40.

And at last todays photo. I found this little Chevrolet Spark LS  in an american modelcar shop. Unfortunately they didn't have it in black like ours. This blue one was parked in front of our neighbours house for a few hours. I had to play a little.

 The model is 1/24 scale.


Have fun
Niels

A great week is gone

After a nice week at the IGMA Guild School in Castine I'm back home.

We had a nice tour from Castine to Boston. The most fascinating sight on the tour was those creatures.

 Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs. I had never seen them in real before.

One was lying on the shore so after having taken a photo I gently moved her or him around and she/he crawled into the water. I wasn't sure about the tail was dangerous like an scorpion. Later I found out it wasn't :-)

Well, back home I wen't to the garden for removing some of the weeds. When doing that I heard the sound of buzzing bees. Has my neighbour got a beehive ?

No. It was this plant that was filled with bees. (I don't know the name.)

There was hundreds.


Lessons learned at the GuildSchool: Carving a lot. I took both of the classes given by Ann High. She was a very good teacher so we learned a lot.


24 hour class: 16th Century Carved Chest (with a little extras :-)

12 hour class: 16th Century Boarded Stool with Pierced Tracery

And a little extra just for fun

Next is to try out the new tool I brought home. A Jim Byrnes drum sander.

I made a drum sander many years ago but it has two big faults. The sandpaper is glued to the drum so changing isn't easy and it doesn't have an easy way to collect the dust so sanding is a mess. So this new thickness sander is a nice supplement to my Proxxon Thicknesser for preparing wood.

Have fun
Niels

PS: A photo trick. I use a black granite tile to get the mirror effect.

If you don't like...

what you see! Scratch it!

During the last week I had all excuses to myself for not going to the workshop because I didn't like the ongoing project.

I found too many imperfections so I'll start all over.

Have fun
Niels

Top dawer section

Took the change to cut the legs to nearly desired length and started shaping of legs. Despite cutting freehand all the legs touched the floor. Well a little more will be cut off later.

One of the top corners.

And then to my grief I discovered that I had forgotten to mirror the sides

A new side was made.

And then when dry assembling the four sides I remembered a small but important detail of the top section.

Drawing of wrong side

Here is the right drawing

 Spot the difference?

At the bottom the tails is visible and at the top the pins is visible. That makes sense when assembling a realsize cabinet.   Because that way the top is lowered onto the cabinet. 

I'm running out of wood.  All the dovetails is hidden behind  the moldings 


Niels

Moving forward

A little progress

Sidepanels before assembly. All the mortises in the legs made a little trouble. Actually I had to make 2 more legs because I cut in wrong places.

Lower with internal drawer dividers

And with drawers.

The postman came with this.

That's a replacement of the photo process for making brass fittings. I haven't tried the method yet but it sounds promising.

The design is printed on the tonertransfer paper (left) and then the print is placed on the brass sheet and heated in a laminator or with an iron. The toner from the laserprinter is then transferred onto the brass and after washing the paper off in water the brass is ready to etch. Of course the image has to be transferred to both sides of the brass else the design is etched away :-)

More to follow


Have fun
Niels

Cabriole legs

After a little trial and erroring I managed to make four perfect legs for the highboy.

Leared from previous experience and forgotten again :-)

Jigs is a must. 

So a special jig was made for mounting legblanks in the milling machine and then the legs came out as I wanted them.

The blocks on the ends will be cut off when the mortices for drawerdividers and sidepanels has been cut, By keeping the blocks I have absolute control over locations.

Below is the same leg in three different  scales.

Top down; 1/12, 1/24 and 1/48 scale.

Have fun
Niels