[TerryDowning]

Getting Started

A while back, my Son and and his fiance' commissioned a "Treasure Box" to hold the best wishes of the people attending their upcoming wedding and receptions (yes 2, 1 in the Seattle area where she is from and 1 in So Cal where He is from, small wedding ceremony to be held in San Francisco)

That is the why, now for the what.

I'm using Plum wood. Why Plum? It's what I have on hand. I harvested and processed what I could of a tree 2 years ago. Tree died of natural causes (Read Heavily pruned and never came back) I blame the nit wit owner attempting to prune stone fruit trees by himself (me).

At any rate I manged to get some scales, pen blanks and enough boards to make this treasure box. Originally I was going to use most of the trunk for Turning Blanks but then I was commissioned for the box, so I processed the turning blanks into boards.

The grains is a bit tricky and i experienced a lot of tear out when planing down the boards Plum is also fairly hard with a Janka rating of 1550 according to the wood database. For comparison Sapele shows as 1500, White Oak is 1333 and Sugar Maple is 1450, so yeah pretty hard stuff.

Here is what the wood database has to say about plum wood
Color/Appearance: Plum heartwood can exhibits a cornucopia of colors, ranging from a yellowish brown, with streaks of pink, orange, red, purple, olive, or gray mixed in. Because of the small size of plum trees, swirled or irregular grain, as well as knots and other defects are common.

Workability: Areas with straight and clear grain are easy to work with hand or machine tools. Care must be taken when surfacing irregular grain or knots to avoid tearout. Plum glues, turns, and finishes well.

I highly recommend a very sharp high angle smoother for smoothing this wood. A good amount of lubrication (wax, grease, oil, whatever you prefer) is also strongly recommended as the sole of the plane likes to grab the interlocking grain. I don;t a High angle smoother and purchasing one is just not an option so I did the next best thing. I ground a 10 degree back bevel on a spare 2" plane iron giving me an effective attack angle 55 degrees and this significantly reduced the tear out.

Here is a sample as it came off of my Band saw.

The bowl blanks I processed into boards were 11 or so inches long the tree diameter was around 6", so I had to be very careful processing this to limit the waste as much as possible. Even being careful I still had a hard time getting enough stock wide enough for the box sides and tops. I still have some smaller stock which will be used in other projects as accents or small pieces.

I now have 5 plum boards prepared for use in the box. The box dimensions are approximately 10" long, x 6" wide x 5 1/2" material thickness is approximately 3/8" thick.

I have tried full blind dovetails in material of this size and my skills just aren't there yet and I'm not convinced there is enough material for a good joint anyways. I also built a prototype box out of cherry using glued miter joints and that joint is just not strong enough. I have decided to attempt mitered dovetails as described in this video series from Fine Woodwoorking.

I had to glue up a panel for the top as the stock I had remaining would not be wide enough. I also dis not have enough stock for the bottom panel so I used some Poplar that was left over form a project my son and his Fiance' did a while back.

The Panels and boards are all at final dimension, cut to length and ready for the hard work to begin.

So far the only power tool I have used is the bandsaw for resawing the trunk into boards.

The bottom panel will be a raised panel the box will actually sit on the raised panel lifting the box slightly and creating a shadow line. You can see I have started the layout for the bottom raised panel I'll cover that in the next blog entry.

 

[Airframer]

Getting Started

A while back, my Son and and his fiance' commissioned a "Treasure Box" to hold the best wishes of the people attending their upcoming wedding and receptions (yes 2, 1 in the Seattle area where she is from and 1 in So Cal where He is from, small wedding ceremony to be held in San Francisco)

That is the why, now for the what.

I'm using Plum wood. Why Plum? It's what I have on hand. I harvested and processed what I could of a tree 2 years ago. Tree died of natural causes (Read Heavily pruned and never came back) I blame the nit wit owner attempting to prune stone fruit trees by himself (me).

At any rate I manged to get some scales, pen blanks and enough boards to make this treasure box. Originally I was going to use most of the trunk for Turning Blanks but then I was commissioned for the box, so I processed the turning blanks into boards.

The grains is a bit tricky and i experienced a lot of tear out when planing down the boards Plum is also fairly hard with a Janka rating of 1550 according to the wood database. For comparison Sapele shows as 1500, White Oak is 1333 and Sugar Maple is 1450, so yeah pretty hard stuff.

Here is what the wood database has to say about plum wood
Color/Appearance: Plum heartwood can exhibits a cornucopia of colors, ranging from a yellowish brown, with streaks of pink, orange, red, purple, olive, or gray mixed in. Because of the small size of plum trees, swirled or irregular grain, as well as knots and other defects are common.

Workability: Areas with straight and clear grain are easy to work with hand or machine tools. Care must be taken when surfacing irregular grain or knots to avoid tearout. Plum glues, turns, and finishes well.

I highly recommend a very sharp high angle smoother for smoothing this wood. A good amount of lubrication (wax, grease, oil, whatever you prefer) is also strongly recommended as the sole of the plane likes to grab the interlocking grain. I don;t a High angle smoother and purchasing one is just not an option so I did the next best thing. I ground a 10 degree back bevel on a spare 2" plane iron giving me an effective attack angle 55 degrees and this significantly reduced the tear out.

Here is a sample as it came off of my Band saw.

The bowl blanks I processed into boards were 11 or so inches long the tree diameter was around 6", so I had to be very careful processing this to limit the waste as much as possible. Even being careful I still had a hard time getting enough stock wide enough for the box sides and tops. I still have some smaller stock which will be used in other projects as accents or small pieces.

I now have 5 plum boards prepared for use in the box. The box dimensions are approximately 10" long, x 6" wide x 5 1/2" material thickness is approximately 3/8" thick.

I have tried full blind dovetails in material of this size and my skills just aren't there yet and I'm not convinced there is enough material for a good joint anyways. I also built a prototype box out of cherry using glued miter joints and that joint is just not strong enough. I have decided to attempt mitered dovetails as described in this video series from Fine Woodwoorking.

I had to glue up a panel for the top as the stock I had remaining would not be wide enough. I also dis not have enough stock for the bottom panel so I used some Poplar that was left over form a project my son and his Fiance' did a while back.

The Panels and boards are all at final dimension, cut to length and ready for the hard work to begin.

So far the only power tool I have used is the bandsaw for resawing the trunk into boards.

The bottom panel will be a raised panel the box will actually sit on the raised panel lifting the box slightly and creating a shadow line. You can see I have started the layout for the bottom raised panel I'll cover that in the next blog entry.

That plum wood sure is purty! Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[palaswood]

Getting Started

A while back, my Son and and his fiance' commissioned a "Treasure Box" to hold the best wishes of the people attending their upcoming wedding and receptions (yes 2, 1 in the Seattle area where she is from and 1 in So Cal where He is from, small wedding ceremony to be held in San Francisco)

That is the why, now for the what.

I'm using Plum wood. Why Plum? It's what I have on hand. I harvested and processed what I could of a tree 2 years ago. Tree died of natural causes (Read Heavily pruned and never came back) I blame the nit wit owner attempting to prune stone fruit trees by himself (me).

At any rate I manged to get some scales, pen blanks and enough boards to make this treasure box. Originally I was going to use most of the trunk for Turning Blanks but then I was commissioned for the box, so I processed the turning blanks into boards.

The grains is a bit tricky and i experienced a lot of tear out when planing down the boards Plum is also fairly hard with a Janka rating of 1550 according to the wood database. For comparison Sapele shows as 1500, White Oak is 1333 and Sugar Maple is 1450, so yeah pretty hard stuff.

Here is what the wood database has to say about plum wood
Color/Appearance: Plum heartwood can exhibits a cornucopia of colors, ranging from a yellowish brown, with streaks of pink, orange, red, purple, olive, or gray mixed in. Because of the small size of plum trees, swirled or irregular grain, as well as knots and other defects are common.

Workability: Areas with straight and clear grain are easy to work with hand or machine tools. Care must be taken when surfacing irregular grain or knots to avoid tearout. Plum glues, turns, and finishes well.

I highly recommend a very sharp high angle smoother for smoothing this wood. A good amount of lubrication (wax, grease, oil, whatever you prefer) is also strongly recommended as the sole of the plane likes to grab the interlocking grain. I don;t a High angle smoother and purchasing one is just not an option so I did the next best thing. I ground a 10 degree back bevel on a spare 2" plane iron giving me an effective attack angle 55 degrees and this significantly reduced the tear out.

Here is a sample as it came off of my Band saw.

The bowl blanks I processed into boards were 11 or so inches long the tree diameter was around 6", so I had to be very careful processing this to limit the waste as much as possible. Even being careful I still had a hard time getting enough stock wide enough for the box sides and tops. I still have some smaller stock which will be used in other projects as accents or small pieces.

I now have 5 plum boards prepared for use in the box. The box dimensions are approximately 10" long, x 6" wide x 5 1/2" material thickness is approximately 3/8" thick.

I have tried full blind dovetails in material of this size and my skills just aren't there yet and I'm not convinced there is enough material for a good joint anyways. I also built a prototype box out of cherry using glued miter joints and that joint is just not strong enough. I have decided to attempt mitered dovetails as described in this video series from Fine Woodwoorking.

I had to glue up a panel for the top as the stock I had remaining would not be wide enough. I also dis not have enough stock for the bottom panel so I used some Poplar that was left over form a project my son and his Fiance' did a while back.

The Panels and boards are all at final dimension, cut to length and ready for the hard work to begin.

So far the only power tool I have used is the bandsaw for resawing the trunk into boards.

The bottom panel will be a raised panel the box will actually sit on the raised panel lifting the box slightly and creating a shadow line. You can see I have started the layout for the bottom raised panel I'll cover that in the next blog entry.

I think that plum looks amazing, and you REALLY have to be commended on your hand planing notes on Plum wood. That advice is gold; I was just about to comment and ask how you traverse the swirling grain. Great looking panels dude.

I really would love to work with some plum, I see these cherry plum trees all over my neighborhood and im waiting for the day when I can score a log from one during tree trimming season.

 

[TerryDowning]

Getting Started

A while back, my Son and and his fiance' commissioned a "Treasure Box" to hold the best wishes of the people attending their upcoming wedding and receptions (yes 2, 1 in the Seattle area where she is from and 1 in So Cal where He is from, small wedding ceremony to be held in San Francisco)

That is the why, now for the what.

I'm using Plum wood. Why Plum? It's what I have on hand. I harvested and processed what I could of a tree 2 years ago. Tree died of natural causes (Read Heavily pruned and never came back) I blame the nit wit owner attempting to prune stone fruit trees by himself (me).

At any rate I manged to get some scales, pen blanks and enough boards to make this treasure box. Originally I was going to use most of the trunk for Turning Blanks but then I was commissioned for the box, so I processed the turning blanks into boards.

The grains is a bit tricky and i experienced a lot of tear out when planing down the boards Plum is also fairly hard with a Janka rating of 1550 according to the wood database. For comparison Sapele shows as 1500, White Oak is 1333 and Sugar Maple is 1450, so yeah pretty hard stuff.

Here is what the wood database has to say about plum wood
Color/Appearance: Plum heartwood can exhibits a cornucopia of colors, ranging from a yellowish brown, with streaks of pink, orange, red, purple, olive, or gray mixed in. Because of the small size of plum trees, swirled or irregular grain, as well as knots and other defects are common.

Workability: Areas with straight and clear grain are easy to work with hand or machine tools. Care must be taken when surfacing irregular grain or knots to avoid tearout. Plum glues, turns, and finishes well.

I highly recommend a very sharp high angle smoother for smoothing this wood. A good amount of lubrication (wax, grease, oil, whatever you prefer) is also strongly recommended as the sole of the plane likes to grab the interlocking grain. I don;t a High angle smoother and purchasing one is just not an option so I did the next best thing. I ground a 10 degree back bevel on a spare 2" plane iron giving me an effective attack angle 55 degrees and this significantly reduced the tear out.

Here is a sample as it came off of my Band saw.

The bowl blanks I processed into boards were 11 or so inches long the tree diameter was around 6", so I had to be very careful processing this to limit the waste as much as possible. Even being careful I still had a hard time getting enough stock wide enough for the box sides and tops. I still have some smaller stock which will be used in other projects as accents or small pieces.

I now have 5 plum boards prepared for use in the box. The box dimensions are approximately 10" long, x 6" wide x 5 1/2" material thickness is approximately 3/8" thick.

I have tried full blind dovetails in material of this size and my skills just aren't there yet and I'm not convinced there is enough material for a good joint anyways. I also built a prototype box out of cherry using glued miter joints and that joint is just not strong enough. I have decided to attempt mitered dovetails as described in this video series from Fine Woodwoorking.

I had to glue up a panel for the top as the stock I had remaining would not be wide enough. I also dis not have enough stock for the bottom panel so I used some Poplar that was left over form a project my son and his Fiance' did a while back.

The Panels and boards are all at final dimension, cut to length and ready for the hard work to begin.

So far the only power tool I have used is the bandsaw for resawing the trunk into boards.

The bottom panel will be a raised panel the box will actually sit on the raised panel lifting the box slightly and creating a shadow line. You can see I have started the layout for the bottom raised panel I'll cover that in the next blog entry.

Planing the plum is very tricky. Here are some additional pointers I can pass along.

I found I had to work the boards with knots from different directions as the grain direction does change. One side planing great the other popping and tearing (against the grain) Once I figured out what was happening and where the approximate change line was it was a matter working both side from different directions and when I had to straddle both directions SKEW THE PLANE!

Keep the sole well lubed, this cuts way down on the rubbing (which feels like chatter but isn't really. It's just a dry plane sole rubbing against the fibers, a wood bodied plane may reduce this as well)

Skew the plane to the direction of travel this helps to slice the shavings off, reduces tear out and reduces the amount of effort to drive HA plane a little bit.

Working with small stock is a challenge, be patient!

 

[TerryDowning]

Raised Panel Bottom

I've done a couple of raised panels now using hand planes. There are a couple of videos if you google raised panel with hand planes. One form Paul Sellers and one from Stumpy and basically they describe the same process.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a couple of issues with this process that I did not care for.

1. The raised panel itself is not cleanly defined.
2. The rabbet used to go into the sides of a frame or box are more wedge shaped and the panel does not seat claenly in the groove.

Here's an example from my prototype.

So I decided to try some additional steps and fix these issues.

To start with I laid out the raised panel and scored the lines. I scored the lines with marking knife (Thanks TerryR) and colored in with a pencil so they would show better.

Next, I scored the height of the rabbet edge that will fit into the groove.

Using my Stanley 45 with 1/8 cutter set to 1/16 depth

I broadened and deepened the score lines on the raised panel. Remember to start with the end grain sections first!

Now the raised panel is clearly defined.

The next step is to start raising the panel. For this I'm using my 60 1/2 (My Number 3 sucks and I felt that my larger smooth plane would be too large for this operation.) Cut a steep bevel on the end grain side eventually working down to the Rabbet score line

Now to make sure that the raised panel stays defined I used my skewed MF 07 (Stanley 140 equivalent) with the side removed. You could also use a shoulder plane, or some other rabbet plane just as well here. This allows the point of the blade to ride right up against the raised section while planing away the waste material. Eventually you work the to bevels into each other.

Repeat for the other end grain side. and the 2 long sides. Raised panel mostly complete. It still needs some clean up before finishing, but the hard part is mostly done.

All that remains is to clearly define the rabbet that will slot into the grooves on the box sides.
Back to the 45 I adjusted the fence and depth to approximate a 1/8×1/8 rabbet all around the panel.

Here is the completed panel with the planes used.

In the next entry I'll use my 45 again to cut the grooves for the box top.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Raised Panel Bottom

I've done a couple of raised panels now using hand planes. There are a couple of videos if you google raised panel with hand planes. One form Paul Sellers and one from Stumpy and basically they describe the same process.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a couple of issues with this process that I did not care for.

1. The raised panel itself is not cleanly defined.
2. The rabbet used to go into the sides of a frame or box are more wedge shaped and the panel does not seat claenly in the groove.

Here's an example from my prototype.

So I decided to try some additional steps and fix these issues.

To start with I laid out the raised panel and scored the lines. I scored the lines with marking knife (Thanks TerryR) and colored in with a pencil so they would show better.

Next, I scored the height of the rabbet edge that will fit into the groove.

Using my Stanley 45 with 1/8 cutter set to 1/16 depth

I broadened and deepened the score lines on the raised panel. Remember to start with the end grain sections first!

Now the raised panel is clearly defined.

The next step is to start raising the panel. For this I'm using my 60 1/2 (My Number 3 sucks and I felt that my larger smooth plane would be too large for this operation.) Cut a steep bevel on the end grain side eventually working down to the Rabbet score line

Now to make sure that the raised panel stays defined I used my skewed MF 07 (Stanley 140 equivalent) with the side removed. You could also use a shoulder plane, or some other rabbet plane just as well here. This allows the point of the blade to ride right up against the raised section while planing away the waste material. Eventually you work the to bevels into each other.

Repeat for the other end grain side. and the 2 long sides. Raised panel mostly complete. It still needs some clean up before finishing, but the hard part is mostly done.

All that remains is to clearly define the rabbet that will slot into the grooves on the box sides.
Back to the 45 I adjusted the fence and depth to approximate a 1/8×1/8 rabbet all around the panel.

Here is the completed panel with the planes used.

In the next entry I'll use my 45 again to cut the grooves for the box top.

Man, I shoulda done a video of my panel raising experiment with the 78…

Nice process, Terry, certainly a fine result!

 

[TerryDowning]

Raised Panel Bottom

I've done a couple of raised panels now using hand planes. There are a couple of videos if you google raised panel with hand planes. One form Paul Sellers and one from Stumpy and basically they describe the same process.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a couple of issues with this process that I did not care for.

1. The raised panel itself is not cleanly defined.
2. The rabbet used to go into the sides of a frame or box are more wedge shaped and the panel does not seat claenly in the groove.

Here's an example from my prototype.

So I decided to try some additional steps and fix these issues.

To start with I laid out the raised panel and scored the lines. I scored the lines with marking knife (Thanks TerryR) and colored in with a pencil so they would show better.

Next, I scored the height of the rabbet edge that will fit into the groove.

Using my Stanley 45 with 1/8 cutter set to 1/16 depth

I broadened and deepened the score lines on the raised panel. Remember to start with the end grain sections first!

Now the raised panel is clearly defined.

The next step is to start raising the panel. For this I'm using my 60 1/2 (My Number 3 sucks and I felt that my larger smooth plane would be too large for this operation.) Cut a steep bevel on the end grain side eventually working down to the Rabbet score line

Now to make sure that the raised panel stays defined I used my skewed MF 07 (Stanley 140 equivalent) with the side removed. You could also use a shoulder plane, or some other rabbet plane just as well here. This allows the point of the blade to ride right up against the raised section while planing away the waste material. Eventually you work the to bevels into each other.

Repeat for the other end grain side. and the 2 long sides. Raised panel mostly complete. It still needs some clean up before finishing, but the hard part is mostly done.

All that remains is to clearly define the rabbet that will slot into the grooves on the box sides.
Back to the 45 I adjusted the fence and depth to approximate a 1/8×1/8 rabbet all around the panel.

Here is the completed panel with the planes used.

In the next entry I'll use my 45 again to cut the grooves for the box top.

Man I didn't even think about my MF 85. That would have made short work of the process.

 

[Smitty_Cabinetshop]

Raised Panel Bottom

I've done a couple of raised panels now using hand planes. There are a couple of videos if you google raised panel with hand planes. One form Paul Sellers and one from Stumpy and basically they describe the same process.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a couple of issues with this process that I did not care for.

1. The raised panel itself is not cleanly defined.
2. The rabbet used to go into the sides of a frame or box are more wedge shaped and the panel does not seat claenly in the groove.

Here's an example from my prototype.

So I decided to try some additional steps and fix these issues.

To start with I laid out the raised panel and scored the lines. I scored the lines with marking knife (Thanks TerryR) and colored in with a pencil so they would show better.

Next, I scored the height of the rabbet edge that will fit into the groove.

Using my Stanley 45 with 1/8 cutter set to 1/16 depth

I broadened and deepened the score lines on the raised panel. Remember to start with the end grain sections first!

Now the raised panel is clearly defined.

The next step is to start raising the panel. For this I'm using my 60 1/2 (My Number 3 sucks and I felt that my larger smooth plane would be too large for this operation.) Cut a steep bevel on the end grain side eventually working down to the Rabbet score line

Now to make sure that the raised panel stays defined I used my skewed MF 07 (Stanley 140 equivalent) with the side removed. You could also use a shoulder plane, or some other rabbet plane just as well here. This allows the point of the blade to ride right up against the raised section while planing away the waste material. Eventually you work the to bevels into each other.

Repeat for the other end grain side. and the 2 long sides. Raised panel mostly complete. It still needs some clean up before finishing, but the hard part is mostly done.

All that remains is to clearly define the rabbet that will slot into the grooves on the box sides.
Back to the 45 I adjusted the fence and depth to approximate a 1/8×1/8 rabbet all around the panel.

Here is the completed panel with the planes used.

In the next entry I'll use my 45 again to cut the grooves for the box top.

It may not give you the results you're looking for if they're cabinet doors, but it sure nails drawer bottoms. Worth a try, I'd say.

 

[TerryDowning]

Raised Panel Bottom

I've done a couple of raised panels now using hand planes. There are a couple of videos if you google raised panel with hand planes. One form Paul Sellers and one from Stumpy and basically they describe the same process.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a couple of issues with this process that I did not care for.

1. The raised panel itself is not cleanly defined.
2. The rabbet used to go into the sides of a frame or box are more wedge shaped and the panel does not seat claenly in the groove.

Here's an example from my prototype.

So I decided to try some additional steps and fix these issues.

To start with I laid out the raised panel and scored the lines. I scored the lines with marking knife (Thanks TerryR) and colored in with a pencil so they would show better.

Next, I scored the height of the rabbet edge that will fit into the groove.

Using my Stanley 45 with 1/8 cutter set to 1/16 depth

I broadened and deepened the score lines on the raised panel. Remember to start with the end grain sections first!

Now the raised panel is clearly defined.

The next step is to start raising the panel. For this I'm using my 60 1/2 (My Number 3 sucks and I felt that my larger smooth plane would be too large for this operation.) Cut a steep bevel on the end grain side eventually working down to the Rabbet score line

Now to make sure that the raised panel stays defined I used my skewed MF 07 (Stanley 140 equivalent) with the side removed. You could also use a shoulder plane, or some other rabbet plane just as well here. This allows the point of the blade to ride right up against the raised section while planing away the waste material. Eventually you work the to bevels into each other.

Repeat for the other end grain side. and the 2 long sides. Raised panel mostly complete. It still needs some clean up before finishing, but the hard part is mostly done.

All that remains is to clearly define the rabbet that will slot into the grooves on the box sides.
Back to the 45 I adjusted the fence and depth to approximate a 1/8×1/8 rabbet all around the panel.

Here is the completed panel with the planes used.

In the next entry I'll use my 45 again to cut the grooves for the box top.

Next time. This panel is actually the bottom of the box. It will lift the box sides of the surface it's sitting on creating a shadow line making it look like the box is floating a bit.

 

[Mean_Dean]

Raised Panel Bottom

I've done a couple of raised panels now using hand planes. There are a couple of videos if you google raised panel with hand planes. One form Paul Sellers and one from Stumpy and basically they describe the same process.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a couple of issues with this process that I did not care for.

1. The raised panel itself is not cleanly defined.
2. The rabbet used to go into the sides of a frame or box are more wedge shaped and the panel does not seat claenly in the groove.

Here's an example from my prototype.

So I decided to try some additional steps and fix these issues.

To start with I laid out the raised panel and scored the lines. I scored the lines with marking knife (Thanks TerryR) and colored in with a pencil so they would show better.

Next, I scored the height of the rabbet edge that will fit into the groove.

Using my Stanley 45 with 1/8 cutter set to 1/16 depth

I broadened and deepened the score lines on the raised panel. Remember to start with the end grain sections first!

Now the raised panel is clearly defined.

The next step is to start raising the panel. For this I'm using my 60 1/2 (My Number 3 sucks and I felt that my larger smooth plane would be too large for this operation.) Cut a steep bevel on the end grain side eventually working down to the Rabbet score line

Now to make sure that the raised panel stays defined I used my skewed MF 07 (Stanley 140 equivalent) with the side removed. You could also use a shoulder plane, or some other rabbet plane just as well here. This allows the point of the blade to ride right up against the raised section while planing away the waste material. Eventually you work the to bevels into each other.

Repeat for the other end grain side. and the 2 long sides. Raised panel mostly complete. It still needs some clean up before finishing, but the hard part is mostly done.

All that remains is to clearly define the rabbet that will slot into the grooves on the box sides.
Back to the 45 I adjusted the fence and depth to approximate a 1/8×1/8 rabbet all around the panel.

Here is the completed panel with the planes used.

In the next entry I'll use my 45 again to cut the grooves for the box top.

That second panel looks a thousand times better than the first! Nice job on finding the info on how to do the raised panels with hand planes.

 

[CampD]

Raised Panel Bottom

I've done a couple of raised panels now using hand planes. There are a couple of videos if you google raised panel with hand planes. One form Paul Sellers and one from Stumpy and basically they describe the same process.

Unfortunately, I have discovered a couple of issues with this process that I did not care for.

1. The raised panel itself is not cleanly defined.
2. The rabbet used to go into the sides of a frame or box are more wedge shaped and the panel does not seat claenly in the groove.

Here's an example from my prototype.

So I decided to try some additional steps and fix these issues.

To start with I laid out the raised panel and scored the lines. I scored the lines with marking knife (Thanks TerryR) and colored in with a pencil so they would show better.

Next, I scored the height of the rabbet edge that will fit into the groove.

Using my Stanley 45 with 1/8 cutter set to 1/16 depth

I broadened and deepened the score lines on the raised panel. Remember to start with the end grain sections first!

Now the raised panel is clearly defined.

The next step is to start raising the panel. For this I'm using my 60 1/2 (My Number 3 sucks and I felt that my larger smooth plane would be too large for this operation.) Cut a steep bevel on the end grain side eventually working down to the Rabbet score line

Now to make sure that the raised panel stays defined I used my skewed MF 07 (Stanley 140 equivalent) with the side removed. You could also use a shoulder plane, or some other rabbet plane just as well here. This allows the point of the blade to ride right up against the raised section while planing away the waste material. Eventually you work the to bevels into each other.

Repeat for the other end grain side. and the 2 long sides. Raised panel mostly complete. It still needs some clean up before finishing, but the hard part is mostly done.

All that remains is to clearly define the rabbet that will slot into the grooves on the box sides.
Back to the 45 I adjusted the fence and depth to approximate a 1/8×1/8 rabbet all around the panel.

Here is the completed panel with the planes used.

In the next entry I'll use my 45 again to cut the grooves for the box top.

Thanks for this just got myself a 45 now I have another project for it.

 

[TerryDowning]

Top Panel and mitered dovetails

So,

I thought I wood try my 45 for making the top panel. Now I fully understand Roy Underhill's and Patrick Leach's comments and concerns regarding the 45. While it is a versatile lane. It does not do well when the grain is interlocked and/or the wood is hard. Coupled with the narrowness of this stock. It was not looking good.

So, time to burn some electrons.
The down side of power tools are:
setup time
adequate time for testing
you make mistakes faster.

I did not spend enough time testing the setup and it wound up blowing out part of the panel.

Fortunately the panel was longer than I needed so I was able to trim this off adjust the setup test again and redo the cut.

I used the same setup to cut the dadoes in the top an bottom of the box sides.

You can see in the photo above that I also started on the dovetails. Of note are the scribe marks on the right side of the panel running along the face of the front panel. Those marks delineate the kerf of the table saw blade that will be used to separate the top of the box (right side of line)

I positioned the front and back pieces together and cut the dovetails at the same time. To ensure the opposite sides were lined up correctly I flipped the board and used the same kerfs as a guide. Note the orientation of the dadoes

Waste was cleared as usual for dovetails (Not doing a DT tutorial here)

Marks tranfered to pin side and saw cuts made. Here is where things get interesting and deviation from normal dove tails begins to show up.

The saw cuts need to be performed on miter as the waste is removed on a miter. Hence mitered dove tail.
Mitering the waste removal will leave a nice mitered corner on the top and bottom of each peace.

I used a mitered piece of stock to serve as a miter jack and guide my chisel in the waste removal.

One down, three to go. You can see I'll need to adjust the top and bottom panels as well.

 

[chrisstef]

Top Panel and mitered dovetails

So,

I thought I wood try my 45 for making the top panel. Now I fully understand Roy Underhill's and Patrick Leach's comments and concerns regarding the 45. While it is a versatile lane. It does not do well when the grain is interlocked and/or the wood is hard. Coupled with the narrowness of this stock. It was not looking good.

So, time to burn some electrons.
The down side of power tools are:
setup time
adequate time for testing
you make mistakes faster.

I did not spend enough time testing the setup and it wound up blowing out part of the panel.

Fortunately the panel was longer than I needed so I was able to trim this off adjust the setup test again and redo the cut.

I used the same setup to cut the dadoes in the top an bottom of the box sides.

You can see in the photo above that I also started on the dovetails. Of note are the scribe marks on the right side of the panel running along the face of the front panel. Those marks delineate the kerf of the table saw blade that will be used to separate the top of the box (right side of line)

I positioned the front and back pieces together and cut the dovetails at the same time. To ensure the opposite sides were lined up correctly I flipped the board and used the same kerfs as a guide. Note the orientation of the dadoes

Waste was cleared as usual for dovetails (Not doing a DT tutorial here)

Marks tranfered to pin side and saw cuts made. Here is where things get interesting and deviation from normal dove tails begins to show up.

The saw cuts need to be performed on miter as the waste is removed on a miter. Hence mitered dove tail.
Mitering the waste removal will leave a nice mitered corner on the top and bottom of each peace.

I used a mitered piece of stock to serve as a miter jack and guide my chisel in the waste removal.

One down, three to go. You can see I'll need to adjust the top and bottom panels as well.

Diggin the mitered DT's Terry!

 

[terryR]

Top Panel and mitered dovetails

So,

I thought I wood try my 45 for making the top panel. Now I fully understand Roy Underhill's and Patrick Leach's comments and concerns regarding the 45. While it is a versatile lane. It does not do well when the grain is interlocked and/or the wood is hard. Coupled with the narrowness of this stock. It was not looking good.

So, time to burn some electrons.
The down side of power tools are:
setup time
adequate time for testing
you make mistakes faster.

I did not spend enough time testing the setup and it wound up blowing out part of the panel.

Fortunately the panel was longer than I needed so I was able to trim this off adjust the setup test again and redo the cut.

I used the same setup to cut the dadoes in the top an bottom of the box sides.

You can see in the photo above that I also started on the dovetails. Of note are the scribe marks on the right side of the panel running along the face of the front panel. Those marks delineate the kerf of the table saw blade that will be used to separate the top of the box (right side of line)

I positioned the front and back pieces together and cut the dovetails at the same time. To ensure the opposite sides were lined up correctly I flipped the board and used the same kerfs as a guide. Note the orientation of the dadoes

Waste was cleared as usual for dovetails (Not doing a DT tutorial here)

Marks tranfered to pin side and saw cuts made. Here is where things get interesting and deviation from normal dove tails begins to show up.

The saw cuts need to be performed on miter as the waste is removed on a miter. Hence mitered dove tail.
Mitering the waste removal will leave a nice mitered corner on the top and bottom of each peace.

I used a mitered piece of stock to serve as a miter jack and guide my chisel in the waste removal.

One down, three to go. You can see I'll need to adjust the top and bottom panels as well.

No kidding…very sweet joinery going down!

Thanks for sharing the photos, Terry…

 

[Slyy]

Top Panel and mitered dovetails

So,

I thought I wood try my 45 for making the top panel. Now I fully understand Roy Underhill's and Patrick Leach's comments and concerns regarding the 45. While it is a versatile lane. It does not do well when the grain is interlocked and/or the wood is hard. Coupled with the narrowness of this stock. It was not looking good.

So, time to burn some electrons.
The down side of power tools are:
setup time
adequate time for testing
you make mistakes faster.

I did not spend enough time testing the setup and it wound up blowing out part of the panel.

Fortunately the panel was longer than I needed so I was able to trim this off adjust the setup test again and redo the cut.

I used the same setup to cut the dadoes in the top an bottom of the box sides.

You can see in the photo above that I also started on the dovetails. Of note are the scribe marks on the right side of the panel running along the face of the front panel. Those marks delineate the kerf of the table saw blade that will be used to separate the top of the box (right side of line)

I positioned the front and back pieces together and cut the dovetails at the same time. To ensure the opposite sides were lined up correctly I flipped the board and used the same kerfs as a guide. Note the orientation of the dadoes

Waste was cleared as usual for dovetails (Not doing a DT tutorial here)

Marks tranfered to pin side and saw cuts made. Here is where things get interesting and deviation from normal dove tails begins to show up.

The saw cuts need to be performed on miter as the waste is removed on a miter. Hence mitered dove tail.
Mitering the waste removal will leave a nice mitered corner on the top and bottom of each peace.

I used a mitered piece of stock to serve as a miter jack and guide my chisel in the waste removal.

One down, three to go. You can see I'll need to adjust the top and bottom panels as well.

Love watching this build Terry, your son and future daughter in law are going to love it, thanks for blogging your progress!

 

[TerryDowning]

A little more on the mitered dovetails

When I left off I had completed the first of four for this box.

I thought I would share a little more on the process of the mitered dovetails and update the progress on this project.

Something I have learned about dovetails in general is to clearly mark the waste sections to be cut away. It only takes a few seconds and really makes the difference when clearing the waste. I can't tell you how many times I have cut on the wrong side of the line. Marking them clearly is the answer.

Additional tips for successful dovetails.

A sharp true saw is a must.
Sharp chisels with a really flat back are an absolute must. Take the time to strop often and don't resist going back to the stone for a touch up.

Be aware of the hardness and grain properties of your wood. Poplar tools really easily compared to this plum which is very hard, brittle, and wears the tools much faster.

On the mitered dovetails DON'T cut all the way through like a standard dovetail cut on the waste side of the line at a 45 degree angle.

With the cuts complete you can resume excavating and paring the joints as described in the previous blog entry.

With all four dovetails cut I found I had to re-size the top and bottom panels. Nothing a few minutes on a shoot board could not handle.

The reddish curlies are from the plum top panel, the lighter curlies are from the poplar bottom. You can see the top panel in this photo.

Another tip. Leave any precise router table setups in place until you know the project is complete or you no longer need it. I had to re route the grooves on the trimmed side of the top and had to reshape the raised bottom panel. I used the very same router setup to cut the rebate on the bottom panel. Having the setup in place saved me a ton of time.

Now all of the joints are cut, and I'm dry fitting.

Sides, Back Top and Bottom are complete. I need to finish dry fitting the front (It's still a little too tight)

I need to patch these joints as they aren't as precise as I would have liked. Each one gets better though.

Once that is done, I can do the initial finishing (Finish the inside pieces BEFORE glue up!) and then proceed to glue up.

 

[terryR]

A little more on the mitered dovetails

When I left off I had completed the first of four for this box.

I thought I would share a little more on the process of the mitered dovetails and update the progress on this project.

Something I have learned about dovetails in general is to clearly mark the waste sections to be cut away. It only takes a few seconds and really makes the difference when clearing the waste. I can't tell you how many times I have cut on the wrong side of the line. Marking them clearly is the answer.

Additional tips for successful dovetails.

A sharp true saw is a must.
Sharp chisels with a really flat back are an absolute must. Take the time to strop often and don't resist going back to the stone for a touch up.

Be aware of the hardness and grain properties of your wood. Poplar tools really easily compared to this plum which is very hard, brittle, and wears the tools much faster.

On the mitered dovetails DON'T cut all the way through like a standard dovetail cut on the waste side of the line at a 45 degree angle.

With the cuts complete you can resume excavating and paring the joints as described in the previous blog entry.

With all four dovetails cut I found I had to re-size the top and bottom panels. Nothing a few minutes on a shoot board could not handle.

The reddish curlies are from the plum top panel, the lighter curlies are from the poplar bottom. You can see the top panel in this photo.

Another tip. Leave any precise router table setups in place until you know the project is complete or you no longer need it. I had to re route the grooves on the trimmed side of the top and had to reshape the raised bottom panel. I used the very same router setup to cut the rebate on the bottom panel. Having the setup in place saved me a ton of time.

Now all of the joints are cut, and I'm dry fitting.

Sides, Back Top and Bottom are complete. I need to finish dry fitting the front (It's still a little too tight)

I need to patch these joints as they aren't as precise as I would have liked. Each one gets better though.

Once that is done, I can do the initial finishing (Finish the inside pieces BEFORE glue up!) and then proceed to glue up.

That plum is sure gorgeous!
Thanks for the DT tips, Terry…

 

[shipwright]

A little more on the mitered dovetails

When I left off I had completed the first of four for this box.

I thought I would share a little more on the process of the mitered dovetails and update the progress on this project.

Something I have learned about dovetails in general is to clearly mark the waste sections to be cut away. It only takes a few seconds and really makes the difference when clearing the waste. I can't tell you how many times I have cut on the wrong side of the line. Marking them clearly is the answer.

Additional tips for successful dovetails.

A sharp true saw is a must.
Sharp chisels with a really flat back are an absolute must. Take the time to strop often and don't resist going back to the stone for a touch up.

Be aware of the hardness and grain properties of your wood. Poplar tools really easily compared to this plum which is very hard, brittle, and wears the tools much faster.

On the mitered dovetails DON'T cut all the way through like a standard dovetail cut on the waste side of the line at a 45 degree angle.

With the cuts complete you can resume excavating and paring the joints as described in the previous blog entry.

With all four dovetails cut I found I had to re-size the top and bottom panels. Nothing a few minutes on a shoot board could not handle.

The reddish curlies are from the plum top panel, the lighter curlies are from the poplar bottom. You can see the top panel in this photo.

Another tip. Leave any precise router table setups in place until you know the project is complete or you no longer need it. I had to re route the grooves on the trimmed side of the top and had to reshape the raised bottom panel. I used the very same router setup to cut the rebate on the bottom panel. Having the setup in place saved me a ton of time.

Now all of the joints are cut, and I'm dry fitting.

Sides, Back Top and Bottom are complete. I need to finish dry fitting the front (It's still a little too tight)

I need to patch these joints as they aren't as precise as I would have liked. Each one gets better though.

Once that is done, I can do the initial finishing (Finish the inside pieces BEFORE glue up!) and then proceed to glue up.

The box is looking great Terry.
Can you explain the functional reason for mitered dovetails?

 

[TerryDowning]

A little more on the mitered dovetails

When I left off I had completed the first of four for this box.

I thought I would share a little more on the process of the mitered dovetails and update the progress on this project.

Something I have learned about dovetails in general is to clearly mark the waste sections to be cut away. It only takes a few seconds and really makes the difference when clearing the waste. I can't tell you how many times I have cut on the wrong side of the line. Marking them clearly is the answer.

Additional tips for successful dovetails.

A sharp true saw is a must.
Sharp chisels with a really flat back are an absolute must. Take the time to strop often and don't resist going back to the stone for a touch up.

Be aware of the hardness and grain properties of your wood. Poplar tools really easily compared to this plum which is very hard, brittle, and wears the tools much faster.

On the mitered dovetails DON'T cut all the way through like a standard dovetail cut on the waste side of the line at a 45 degree angle.

With the cuts complete you can resume excavating and paring the joints as described in the previous blog entry.

With all four dovetails cut I found I had to re-size the top and bottom panels. Nothing a few minutes on a shoot board could not handle.

The reddish curlies are from the plum top panel, the lighter curlies are from the poplar bottom. You can see the top panel in this photo.

Another tip. Leave any precise router table setups in place until you know the project is complete or you no longer need it. I had to re route the grooves on the trimmed side of the top and had to reshape the raised bottom panel. I used the very same router setup to cut the rebate on the bottom panel. Having the setup in place saved me a ton of time.

Now all of the joints are cut, and I'm dry fitting.

Sides, Back Top and Bottom are complete. I need to finish dry fitting the front (It's still a little too tight)

I need to patch these joints as they aren't as precise as I would have liked. Each one gets better though.

Once that is done, I can do the initial finishing (Finish the inside pieces BEFORE glue up!) and then proceed to glue up.

Going with the mitered dovetails for lots of reason.
I wanted to make a stronger joint that a plain miter. The prototype was plain miter and I still need to repair the miter joints on the lid.

I really did not want to build a box holding jig for splines and I also wanted to stick mostly to hand tools. Running up the power tools at 7-8 AM is pretty discourteous to my neighbors. So spline or lock miters were out as well.

I have tried full blind dovetails but that experiment was more of a you need way more practice before you can do this successfully project.

This material is also quite thin at 3/8" and there really isn't enough for full blinds with my current skill set.

Wedding is at the end of this month so I had to get on it.

If I were to do this design again, I would put the tails on the sides so they don't show on the front and rear sides. I would also practice a heck of a lot more before committing to these. Oh Well, I'll make what I have work.

 

[Slyy]

A little more on the mitered dovetails

When I left off I had completed the first of four for this box.

I thought I would share a little more on the process of the mitered dovetails and update the progress on this project.

Something I have learned about dovetails in general is to clearly mark the waste sections to be cut away. It only takes a few seconds and really makes the difference when clearing the waste. I can't tell you how many times I have cut on the wrong side of the line. Marking them clearly is the answer.

Additional tips for successful dovetails.

A sharp true saw is a must.
Sharp chisels with a really flat back are an absolute must. Take the time to strop often and don't resist going back to the stone for a touch up.

Be aware of the hardness and grain properties of your wood. Poplar tools really easily compared to this plum which is very hard, brittle, and wears the tools much faster.

On the mitered dovetails DON'T cut all the way through like a standard dovetail cut on the waste side of the line at a 45 degree angle.

With the cuts complete you can resume excavating and paring the joints as described in the previous blog entry.

With all four dovetails cut I found I had to re-size the top and bottom panels. Nothing a few minutes on a shoot board could not handle.

The reddish curlies are from the plum top panel, the lighter curlies are from the poplar bottom. You can see the top panel in this photo.

Another tip. Leave any precise router table setups in place until you know the project is complete or you no longer need it. I had to re route the grooves on the trimmed side of the top and had to reshape the raised bottom panel. I used the very same router setup to cut the rebate on the bottom panel. Having the setup in place saved me a ton of time.

Now all of the joints are cut, and I'm dry fitting.

Sides, Back Top and Bottom are complete. I need to finish dry fitting the front (It's still a little too tight)

I need to patch these joints as they aren't as precise as I would have liked. Each one gets better though.

Once that is done, I can do the initial finishing (Finish the inside pieces BEFORE glue up!) and then proceed to glue up.

Terry the box is coming along nicely. Can't wait to see that plum when it's al finished, it's gonna look great.