Key Cabinet: Frame & Panel Back

Today was a great milestone, the back of the cabinet is finally finished! I brought the gorgeous Sitka Spruce stock I'd milled for the frame, which will be bridal jointed. This spruce was graciously donated and comes with an inspiring pedigree. It was hand bucked from fallen trees, split and carried out of Alaska on foot. It truly is amazing stuff to work, planed surfaces glimmer. The panel is a piece of 4mm PlyBoo, which was a bear to work, even a finely set plane tore out huge slivers, only a cabinet scraper could tame the piece and get it to size, the back is beveled to fit a one-eighth groove. for scale, the bottom rail is 3" wide.



The panel is pre-finished with two coats of clear lacquer and wax. I'm not sure what the rest is going to be, perhaps a homebrew oil/wax type finsh. I want something that looks inviting to the touch, and not too glossy, yet something that will dance light around on the inside. Now I have to start on the door, walnut and glass maybe a spruce muntin or two?

Sycamore Score, and What I've Been Up To

 I was driving from school to my other job (very close) to get some work done during my two hour break between classes. I took a wrong turn, there are three turns that all go to the same place and they all look similar. Oops. Lucky for me some surgeons were taking down a beautiful sycamore. They let me take some, unfortunatly I didn't have a giant flatbed and the ability to take a huge burly (figured) sycamore trunk to a sawmill I know. Damn.

I sawed this guy down the center, and painted the ends. I'm hoping I'll get to take it over to my bosses shop, he has a large resaw capacity Rikon, to QS it into boards and turning blocks.
   

I really like the wave this piece has, there is some reaction wood, so we shall see how it goes. I got it split and painted within about 4 hours of it coming down so I'd hope things are off to a good start.

Here is a shot of what I spend my Sunday morning on, they are maple and rosewood. I start by cutting blocks and drilling for a 3/8" pin. Then glue the pin and let dry. Then I turn, finish with beeswax, polish and glue a drilled cork on. I cut about 85 pins from dowels in a little miter box I made to cut two 1" long 3/8" pins for my class, I just used one slot and cut 2" long pins. The corks get drilled in a special chuck on the lathe. A wooden block turned round, with a #8 cork taper cut into it spins in the lathe, With the machine running a cork is forced into the chuck with a block of wood. The block applies even pressure and allows you to adjust the cork for runout. Then drill and presto! I drilled 50 corks in about 20 minutes with this technique. 

Welcome to my shop

Hello and welcome. I'm Trevor Walsh, a senior about to graduate from the Industrial Design program of Philadelphia University; then it's on to get my graduate degree in Technical Education where I plan on inspiring young people like me in the shop. 

I bit the woodworking bug after my first pine wood derby in Boy Scouts. As I was sitting on the front steps "filing" away at my chunk of wood with the abrasive concrete my dad came home with a coping saw, my first ever tool. We still have it. I moved on to metal and build robots on a high school team involved with F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) founded by Dean Kamen (that guy who invented the Segway). School became about product design and after four years of it the corporate world is where I decided to never to go; I think I can do good teaching, and tinkering in my shop. 

This blog is going to be about several things, metalworking, woodworking, and a place where they meet that I'll call toolmaking. I may also have some product design in there if I decide to run with the big boys and market my tools. 

So stay tuned, I'm going to be adding my plane making adventures and other projects as my busy final semester schedule allows.