Inbox Project: Part Two
After presanding all the drawer parts, on their inside surface anyway, I applied some tape and then glued them together. The tape is to catch the glue being squeezed out of the joint by pressure and so I can easily peel it off and not have to fuss with scraping and sanding lots of inside corners filled with dried blobs of glue. This is something that age and experience has taught me that I wish I had known in my younger years.
Above, all nine drawers are glued up and I have roughly sanded the outside surfaces to prepare for the next steps.
Because the corners of the drawers are also mitered joints, weak joints for wood, I added contrasting splines to all of them which was a fair amount of work cutting all those splines gluing them into place. I should note, that the drawers are all made from leftover cedar from my porch swing project that I completed a couple years ago. My shop smells so nice whenever I'm working with cedar.
Those are beautiful family heirlooms! Love the tape trick. Interesting how that results. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteI guess time will tell if they make it to the status of heirlooms.
DeleteI love the smell of cedar! Hope that everything is going well at your house and that your wife is healing quickly.
ReplyDeleteShe is!
DeleteAre these for your own use, or for someone else?
ReplyDeleteI guess it is undecided at this point. I posted the completed ones on Facebook to see if there was interest and got no responses. I don't want the hassle of trying to sell them using online market places and dealing with all the associated headaches that come with that so if I can't sell them, I'll probably keep one for myself and give the other two away as gifts.
DeleteI would buy one or both of those from you. I'm not on Facebook so I don't know how to buy them. I live in eastern Iowa so I could pick them up at a designated point so shipping would not be involved.
DeleteWendy, if you click on the link under the Contact Me part of my sidebar and send me an email, we can discuss details.
DeleteThe smell of cedar is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is. I usually associate it with Christmas since we always harvest a red cedar to use as a Christmas tree.
DeleteI am always looking for good gifts for the hard to buy for men I know.
ReplyDeleteYes, we can be hard to buy for. I mostly buy myself my own Christmas gift to stick under the tree. At least I know I will be getting something I want that way.
DeleteI don't get the splines. Will they be shaved off before assembly? Looks beautiful just stacked up.
ReplyDeleteThey are shaved off, sanded and I actually round over the corners too. The splines merely strengthen the joint as well as add a decorative element to them. Mitered corners are essentially end grain joints. The easiest way to visualize is to grab a handful of drinking straws and attempt to glue them to the end of another handful of drinking straws. Wood gets absorbed up the hollow straws and their isn't much contacting surface area. Inserting a spline means you are gluing the sides of the drinking straws from both handfuls to an inserted piece of wood.
DeleteThe tape is brilliant, Ed!
ReplyDeleteWe went to wood working village in Vietnam. They were working in cedar - I forgot how nice fresh cedar smells.
I never thought of cedar as being in Asia but I guess I should since I know there are versions in the Middle east.
DeleteYou're making great progress. Interesting to see how they're made, especially since it's something I'd never do.
ReplyDeleteIt had been a long time since I made the first two so I spent a fair amount of time trying to remember how I made them.
DeleteLooking great! You are an excellent woodworker!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go that far but I will agree to the word competent.
DeleteNice, I was thinking about trying do make splines joints. How strong will they make the joint? https://fromarockyhillside.com
ReplyDeleteIt really depends on the application. I'm guessing you could sit these drawers on edge and put 100 pounds of weight on them and they would now hold up without breaking, far more weight than they will ever see if used as intended. Without the splines, they might hold 1/4 the weight which is likely also more than they would ever see in normal use. What I am really protecting against is an accidental drop to the floor where it lands on the corner, much like a picture frame. The impact would tend to break that joint where with the splines, probably unlikely to happen. It I were making a piece of furniture to stand or sit on, I would avoid mitered joints and splines in favor of other more substantial joints.
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