Not very fine woodworking

[Reclaimer]

Good evening all!

Prepare yourselves for that one of my dreaded WIP/woodcrime threads.....
Members of the old Woodhaven will remember (with varying degrees of horror and dismay) the Great Pirate Chest of Many Lids That Didn't Fit thread from Xmas 2011:

The need arose for a bit more storage space, so a couple of drawers underneath seemed like the best way to go. A simple softwood carcass would only take an afternoon to whack together using odd bits from the woodpile...except that all I could scrape together was a mongrel assortment of varying lengths, widths and thicknesses, ranging from this delightful pair of bed rails with a few *minor* defects:

To these "immaculate" pieces of PSE which appear to have been planed up using a housebrick:

A scattering of equally unsavoury smaller odds 'n' ends completes the inventory and I realise from checking against my hastily-scribbled sketch that I can't afford much in the way of wastage/cock-ups.

 

[Phil]

That last pic - what wood is it? Oregon Pine? Some nice close grain.

Cheers
Phil

 

[Reclaimer]

I'm not sure what it is, Phil- bearing in mind the dubious sources from which this assortment was reclaimed it could be any number of softwoods. Having said that it's quite nice for softwood- good and dense.

In the midst of gluing up the boards. As can be seen, some of this timber is pretty ropy. The cleaner lengths I liberated from a mate's garage where they've been quietly cupping, warping and bowing for the last couple of years:

And, yes. Some of these light alloy clamps have been subjected to wanton abuse. It all depends on your interpretation of what constitutes "light to moderate clamping duties".

Some of this lot has cleaned up better, some worse. Fortunately it's all going to receive a good slathering of nice dark stain. Just as well, considering some of this is pretty scabulent:

Upon inspection of the glued-up boards, a teeny weeny amount of bowing seems to have also crept in during clamp-up, exacerbating the existing deformities in the timber. Meh.

Some of this is no doubt due to the cringe-inducing amount of clamping force needed to crush these disobedient pieces together. Alas that my planer/jointer is tucked away at the back of the shed where I can't get to it. Re-squaring the joining faces might have helped, but it's too late to worry about it. I adopted my normal policy of pretending it didn't happen,and ploughing ahead regardless.

 

[Robert]

Entertaining as always and I don't doubt this will turn out better than your write up suggests

I look forward to your posts. You show all the bits the rest of us don't post pictures of - leave those last 2 pictures off and everything's going fine!

 

[AndyP]

Not many of us can boast a bbq in the workshop either.

 

[Rod]

Actually I have two - but they are small portable ones and only stored there [emoji3]

Rod

 

[9fingers]

Maybe you could minimise the curvature by firstly checking that it has reached an equilibrium in the final surroundings for the finished piece then cutting two fine kerfs the full length of the board 1/2 to 2/3 deep through from the side that wont be seen 1/4 and 3/4 across the width.
Collect some resulting clean sawdust to make a filler. Belt sander sanding dust is quite good too mixed in - a bit like sand and stones when you mix concrete if fills the fine gaps
Clamp the boards down flat, ideally in the environment that the piece will live and then fill the kerfs with a sawdust and glue mix. In fact I might put neat glue in the kerfs first and then sprinkle sawdust in and press in firmly with a filling knife. Allow to dry for a couple of days, sand off and titivate the filling as needed and you should have some workable boards.

Next time try and alternate the direction of the growth rings for each board. It is OK in the second picture but not in the first one.

hth

Bob

 

[Reclaimer]

I'm ashamed to say I did know about the growth rings, but completely neglected to pay attention. Out of practice, see?

Cutting the various bits to length:

Inquiring minds will no doubt wish to know why on earth I am using a straight edge and circular saw to make a 5" cross cut in 3/4" pine. Simples: a) radial arm saw inaccessible at back of shed; b) sliding mitre saw inaccessible at back of shed; and c) I cannot cut straight by hand. At all. Ever. Not even a weeny little 5" cut like this one. Please don't tell anyone.

And now for the the drawers:

Nicely rebated in at the front, crudely boshed together with screws at the back. Just look at the sheer indifference that's gone into the accurate spacing of those screws. That's crapmanship, that is. Also cast your eye over the inaccurate measuring that led to some of the boards being "slightly" different lengths. Drink it in.

A bit of plywood filched from a skip goes to make the drawer bottoms. I did at least rebate these into the drawer rather that tosh-nail them straight on. Attention to detail, innit?

By this point both I (and my cat) have entirely lost the will to live, so rather than make any more sawdust, or for that matter, cock-ups, I decide to give the drawers a couple of coats of treacle, whilst Samson goes for a noble snooze on the sofa:

 

[oddsocks]

great thread to read....is your next project a door to the back of the shed

Dave

 

[Rod]

Dovetails next?? [emoji3]

Rod

 

[Reclaimer]

Dovetails? I wish, Rod. They're on my list of things to learn. I've had a couple of goes and been thoroughly disheartened by the results. Maybe one day.....

 

[Tusses]

Have a look at this .. learn with Frank !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrAAglKLPh8