More Lap Desk Work

Finally back home now, I got to work installing the hinges and attempted a monogram carving in the lid, I'm happy with how it came out, but need to order some other carving tools to make the process a little easier. I could only find some #3 by 1/2 inch screws for the lid hinge leaves, now I have to nip and file them down to fit.

I also got materials to solder up the hasp, but I'm still working on the design. In the hasp drawing I think it's a bit too wide, and perhaps the slot is too far down.

Pine Lap Desk

I've begun work on a small lap desk out of pine. Because of my lack of space (I'd love to build a nice writing desk with drawers and pigeon holes) the best solution seemed to be repurpose myself into a desk with a few pieces of wood. I originally looked at Christian Becksvoort's article in Fine Woodworking, but made several modifications... It has no inkwell drawer, while I admire the interesting construction involved with his drawer stop, it's overly complex and I don't like it. Furthur, I don't plan on using dip ink anytime soon (not that I haven't, used to take class notes with a dip pen). I also adjusted the dimensions to a certain style of notebook I like and made a compartment for writing supplies.

The dovetail layout for this piece was a bit tricky. I had chosen the slope of the top beforehand at an angle that felt comfortable for an work surface on the lap, this means that the likelihood of having a layout match up, front to back, was pretty low. after some fuddling, I got pretty close, but on the second one I plan to define the slope based on tail multiples rather than a given angle. Cutting them is a cakewalk, it took me all of one and a half hours, considering I hadn't cut a dovetail in months that is pretty good for me.
 

 Mock-up with the lid on, I still need to acquire some QS Easter White Pine for the bottom.
 

Overhead shot showing the dadoed divider.

This is the part I'm most proud of, the breadboard lid. All the stock in this project is 3/8" thick, so the breadboard tenon is 1/8" thick by 3/8" long and the breadboard itself is 1 1/8" wide. I'm really happy how it turned out. The breadboards themselves are QS sycamore that I got from a fallen tree in a park right up the street. I slabbed some of it and this is the first bit I've gotten to use! 

Kitchen Table Progress, Finally

 I may have titled this post, Thank God for Motivation, or Visit PFW and You'll Get Things Done, but they aren't as immediately descriptive. Today started by finishing my "work season" in the morning, I took a walk to the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop to say hello and drop off some custom machined centering points. While I was there Mario Rodriguez asked how my table turned out, if you recall months ago I went over for some direction on pleasing leg shapes and turning. I hadn't done very much, and his comments spurred me into action. I put in a ton of hours in the last two days and now it's starting to look like something.   

Drawboring a Short Side

Mockup, little more legroom needed so off to cut corbels into the long sides and start finishing.

Currently it's got a coat of primer on the base and a 50/50 BLO/Turpentine prime on the top. The final coat of paint will be a dark slate, the top will get another wash of the 50/50 then one or two coats of BLO.

Second Kumiko Panel

Here is today's work on another more thoroughly planned piece.

This shows my layout drawing and some of the different stock pieces I used for the panel (jigumi), I plan to do the leaf pattern (asa no ha) in a darker wood for contrast, maybe cherry or walnut.
 

Two pairing jigs, I now realize I need one at 22.5 degrees to to most of the leaf pattern. So I must finish that before work continues.

Kumiko Work

New tool arrived! Had to start putting it to work. Wood is Port Orford Cypress, which smells wonderful. I have more strips to thickness now, before starting to fit the internal pieces. I'm very happy with the fits so far, some careful layour and cutting on the miter box makes for really easy work once the prep is done.

My layout was a little tedious, to continue I think I need a fixture with interchangeable sawing guides for square and triangular cuts and of different pitches.  

Consumerism

You may have guessed that I loath consumerism. As a person that "does" things for himself, from homemade butter, bread, veggies, building most of my furniture, I usually abhor marketers and peddlers attempting to sucker people in.


However when a certain beloved tool manufacturer puts up a free shipping deal around tax return season (coincidence? methinks not), who could look upon their shopping cart and not buy the plane one has been wanting-for since it's release? Certainly not this guy. I caved and set myself up.

I plan to give customer service a call to thank them, and inquire about acquiring a second fence, so that I can swap fences rather than applied wooden fences. That seems potentially easier, though maybe wood fences with threaded inserts and machine screws would work as well.
On happy accidents... I found that with a heavier cut one can produce spills with the Veritas Skew Rabbet (Veritas Moving Fillister). I don't think they are as tight as a dedicated spill plane, but I'll be able to get a feel for them before I build one.

Table and Stick Chair Progress

Here's some more on the two projects that will inhabit my kitchen in the near future. First up the chair seat.


Lines drawn in a grid on the surface help me to visualize the compound curves of the seat. I do this with all sorts of shapes to illustrate form to my students too. Try it, it's surprising how much more informative a surface becomes with simple lines on it.


This photo shows the centerline particularly well, and with it, the basic contour of the seat. I've done most of the scraping, but there is still sanding to do. After a coat of primer, I'm sure to find high spots that I've missed and I'll need to do some more carving and sanding.

Here is one of the legs, primed and painted with the undercoat. I couldn't wait to see how the paint showed up. Right now I'm laboring through the morti, 8 2" deep 4" long and 1/2" wide holes are big, I'm just using a huge mortising chisel, instead of boring and paring.