A Little Upgrade..

Gary Zimmel

Member
Messages
356
Location
Stony Plain, Alberta
It was about time I got my butt in gear and continue on my shop upgrade.
This winter will have two big projects.
A dedicated morticing station and to change my chop saw station to cherry.
These two projects will pretty much turn the whole shop into cherry with hand cut dovetail drawers.
I usually start with a basic idea in my head but changes or additions always seem to take place....
My shop is already in disarray as my lumber rack has to come off the wall and be moved.

I won't bore you with the slapping the carcasses together as it is not one of my favorite things to do.
This part I want to get through as quick as possible so I can work with solid wood...
The cabinets won't be the big part of the project.
I'm thinking there will be around 20 drawers. Hand cutting the dovetails will take me a bit of time.

As any project you can't have enough clamps.

clamped cabinet.jpg

Did I mention I like drawers.
Everything behind doors or in drawers.
So....
Five drawers in this one.

single cabinet.jpg

And after about six sheets of cherry ply I am just about done with the carcasses for this phase.

All cabinets.jpg

When I say just about, as I look at this pic, two more small cabinets will be added.

And now a shot of what I like to work with.
A little bit of cherry.
Picked this up today so I will give it 3 or 4 days to get comfortable in my shop.

cherry wood.jpg

Then face frame duty!

Hope everyone is getting a little shop time.



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Amazing!

Now Gary i would like to hear more on your thoughts on draws.

I used to think draws were a cool idea. But i am now having second thoughts. Here is why.

First up i found unless they are shallow such that only one too can lie in them the tools or "stuff" gets put on top and covers or hides the layers further down.

Then next i found i as i get more gray my memory is not remembering as well where it was i put xyz item. So often a hunt ensues that ends up taking me down the primrose path.

Finally when i saw your draws full of chisels for example the really look great and organized but it does mean going back into the draw each time you want to change to another chisel. In this particular case i like my wife made tool rolls. I can take my whole roll of chisels out lay them at the end of the bench and never have to open another draw until i put them back. An added benefit i have found is that while i work with one chisel the others are protected and dont go rolling off the edge of the bench.

Dont get me wrong i love what you got going i would like a little insight to how you work it and how you see it working out down the road as the memory thing takes root over time.

Looking at the tool chests many old school woodworkers produced the use the concept of a cupboard more with making use of the doors and custom racks and holders to display the tools. This way one opens up and most are visible and within reach but no need to do anything but lift it use it and it an go back in its place when done with ease. No need to even clutter the workbench.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
 
Amazing!

Now Gary I would like to hear more on your thoughts on draws.



Then next I found I as I get more gray my memory is not remembering as well where it was I put xyz item. So often a hunt ensues that ends up taking me down the primrose path.

Hey Pasquinell

It's more about all the time you've spent up in the mountains & hills by your self & long hair & the coon skin cap & talking to your self & the squirrels to much. Makes you kind of nutty if you know what I mean.

Now about the drawers... I don't pretend to know much about draws but drawers I understand a little about. One thing is if your going to make a 2x the tool depth drawer put in cleats & a sliding tray. if you put sets of tools in the little tray you can lift the tray out & take the whole set over to your bench, you can even build trays to set into the single tool depth drawer if you just make thee drawer a little deeper..;):D:thumb::eek:
 
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Amazing!

Now Gary i would like to hear more on your thoughts on draws.

I used to think draws were a cool idea. But i am now having second thoughts. Here is why.

First up i found unless they are shallow such that only one too can lie in them the tools or "stuff" gets put on top and covers or hides the layers further down.

Then next i found i as i get more gray my memory is not remembering as well where it was i put xyz item. So often a hunt ensues that ends up taking me down the primrose path.

Finally when i saw your draws full of chisels for example the really look great and organized but it does mean going back into the draw each time you want to change to another chisel. In this particular case i like my wife made tool rolls. I can take my whole roll of chisels out lay them at the end of the bench and never have to open another draw until i put them back. An added benefit i have found is that while i work with one chisel the others are protected and dont go rolling off the edge of the bench.

Dont get me wrong i love what you got going i would like a little insight to how you work it and how you see it working out down the road as the memory thing takes root over time.

Looking at the tool chests many old school woodworkers produced the use the concept of a cupboard more with making use of the doors and custom racks and holders to display the tools. This way one opens up and most are visible and within reach but no need to do anything but lift it use it and it an go back in its place when done with ease. No need to even clutter the workbench.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

Rob, upside of having lots of of drawers is nothing will be piled on top of each other.
All of my drawers never are full depth (to the back of the cabinet) and each part of my shop is dedicated to something so all the gizmo's are pretty much in some kind of organized order. When I am doing things like dovetails the tools that I need are on my bench, or in the bench tray, and then go back after I'm finished with them.
I'm too lazy to be going back and forth...;)
With the flatwork as something comes out it will be out till the end of my session.
After a bit it seems I know where everything is. Well most times.
What I really need is a cabinet for pencils.
I sure waste a ton of time looking for where I put the thing down...
 
A Bunch of Sticks...

Well I couldn't wait to start to machine some of this cherry.
So with a little shop time today I got all my small pieces machined.
I'm not to worried if the cherry is not fully acclimatized to my shop as these will be glued piece by piece to the carcasses.

A bunch of jointing and planing and we have the start.
Some guys wonder why we need these extension tables on our saws...
Where else are we going to our machined goods.;)

planed wood.jpg

Cherry has a habit of burning.
A sharp blade, and a freshly cleaned blade really help fight the burn marks.
Quick pushes through out the cut and we get the result we are looking for.

cutting rails and stiles.jpg

The odd time the cut off side gets that little nub at the end
so a quick trip to the jointer assures me I have a straight surface again.

jointer.jpg

Lots of sticks for all these carcasses. A few extra made. Just in case...

all rails and stiles cut.jpg

And now to get ready to start to attach them....
That will be my next session in the shop.

rials on cabinet.jpg


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Gary,

I have said this before---I am amazed at your cabinetry. To me making one cabinet is a major undertaking---you toss them off like M&M's and make them look beautiful and functional.

Let's put it another way---I am jealous!!! I love cabinets with shallow drawers. I put larger stuff in boxes in cupboards instead of drawers.

Enjoy and have a wonderful "build."

JimB
 
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Morning Shift...

Looks like this is going to be my first big shop time day for the past while.

With lots of sticks to install I'm hoping a double shift will get the face trim all done.

Simple process to me, just time consuming given the amount that have to be done.
I first clean up the edge on my shooting board.
My #9 makes this job a snap.

shooting board.jpg

No tapes or long rulers here to find the lengths
I find the most accurate measuring tool is the tip of my finger.
Gets me that length that I'm looking for.

finger measure.jpg

With the length just so, a trip to my table saw makes the last cut for my 1/2 lap joint.

table  saw.jpg

To help with the alinement I throw a few biscuits in for good measures.

bisquet jointer.jpg

And now we are ready to put the piece home.
One at a time, but with everything set up the process is very quick.

ready to glue.jpgglue on.jpg

And now for a quick break to let these set so we can go on to the next batch.

clamped rails.jpg

The afternoon shift will be ready to go in the next half hour...


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Getting close

Well the long job of getting all these sticks on the front of the carcasses is getting close to being done....
It's pretty bad when the lowers become workbenches.

glue up. 800jpg.jpg

I'm really hoping that these will be on tonight so I can get a little of my floorspace back...


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Little Oops

So all in all it was a good night in the shop.... Just about...

You got to hand it to the guys that make clamps.
They seem to have one for pretty much all applications.
I've got to glue in a bunch of strips on the shelves that are built in.
With the carcasses having backs it's hard to clamp.
These little babies make short work of it.

clamped fillers.jpg

With so many pieces to glue on I also found another job for my table saw.
The out feed table seems to be a good place to glue on the trim for the shelves.

shelf.jpg

And now my little oops....
I had to make the filler strips for the fronts of the shelves that are not moveable.
Not a big deal as I wanted to plane down some of my scraps to 1/2".
As I was feeding them into the planer I didn't notice I grabbed one of my pieces for the trim that was already fitted.
Here is a pic of what the joint is supposed to look like.

half lap.jpg

And one if you run a piece a few extra times through a planer.

bad 1:2 lap.jpg

Tomorrow night I will try and make an exact piece....:(

Upside is it will be the last piece to complete the face framing.


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And one if you run a piece a few extra times through a planer. Tomorrow night I will try and make an exact piece....:(

Upside is it will be the last piece to complete the face framing.

You just did that to make me feel better after reading about me ripping off an extra inch on some wide boards for my chest of drawers. You are too kind. Misery loves company but, you go too far :rofl:

I'm enjoying watching the progress Gary. Keep it coming.
 
Faces Done....

Well what I thought was going to take me till Sunday night has run a little long....
But the faces are finally on these first eight carcasses.

face frames on.jpg

Keen eyes will notice the where the oops was.;)
Now it is time for the 7 doors.
And if the weather ever clears up here I will be able to pick another couple of cherry sheets for a few more lowers in phase two of this upgrade...

As I look at this pic in the preview it sure doesn't look much different than the pic without the frames on. :huh:

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I'm enjoying watching the progress, Gary. I'm with Jim...you did in a few days what'd take me a couple of weeks. And that's if I had the space to build them in. You've done this a time or two, huh? :D
 
I'm enjoying watching the progress, Gary. I'm with Jim...you did in a few days what'd take me a couple of weeks. And that's if I had the space to build them in. You've done this a time or two, huh? :D

And would take me a year.:eek::rofl::rofl:

Vaughn did you notice Gary teasing you with all the sneaky shots showing big yellow spinny thing in the background.:D

Well done Gary but you could have left a few clamps in the stores for the rest of us to buy.

Those cabinets came out great.:thumb::thumb: Man you a machine.


If you do not mind could you shed some light on how you work. You have shown us how you make em up and glue em up etc in as big a batch as possible at one time.

But when you processing the ply on your TS do you have any specific method. Like do you cut one sheet at a time or do all at the same time on each fence setup? Same for Dados ?

Definitely going to show this to my wife. She will get an understanding then of why the clamps.:)

Any chance of us getting a shop tour out of you ;)


Oh and please keep any bad weather out your way till at least past Thanksgiving i am out in the woods this weekend and would like to be dry and warm.:rofl::rofl:
 
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