The last post ended with me considering how to fix a
problem where I had the leopardwood needed for the false front glued to piece
of cedar backing. After a day or so
thinking about it a solution that does not involve making new veneer came to
me. Luckily for me the fix is not as bad
as one would think. All I have to do is remove the cedar backing which though
sounds hard ended up being fairly easy.
The veneered panel gets run through the thickness sander loaded with
36-grit paper and the cedar being really soft gets quickly ground away. I do have to change to an 80-grit paper and
take a few passes to smooth out the surface but all told it did not take too
long. The photo below shows the sanded
veneer on the left and a cutoff at the right showing what the leopardwood/cedar
panel looked like and the oak false front blank below.
At this point the newly prepared veneer gets glued onto
the oak base just like before with the pieces sandwiched between plastic, cauls
above and below with several clamps.
The next day the clamps are removed and the blank squared
up. Running the blank through the sander
is next to get proper thickness. Last is
to cut the blank to size so there is a 1/16” gap between the false front and
the base. Here is what it looks like
once all that is done. Once fitted the
drawer gets removed and the slides taken off.
They will be put back on after the piece has been lacquered.
Next, I am going to work on preparing the base for
finishing rather than going back and working on the top. Because I will be adding the finished plugs
to all the mortises after the frame has been lacquered, I need to put a
temporary pine filler piece in each place where a plug will go. That’s to prevent finish from getting sprayed
in them so I can get a good glue joint when the final plugs are installed. There are 40 finished plugs that have to be
made in four different sizes. Four ½”x
1½” oak, eight ½” square oak, sixteen 3/8” square black and twelve 5/16” black
ones. That’s plus the equal number of
pine ones to be used during finishing.
It all starts with ripping material slightly oversize then running them
through the thickness sander to remove any saw marks and get a perfect
fit. This photo shows oak being ripped
for the ½ x 1½” plugs.
Here are all blanks sized for thickness and width. The top two groups are the ½” x 1½” oak and
pine filler along with the ½” square oak and filler. The bottom two groups are the 3/8” square
cherry and filler along with the 5/16” square cherry and filler. The cherry pieces will be ebonized black.
As the temporary filler plugs vary from ¼” to 3/8” long they are
just too short to be cut on the chop saw.
In its place they will be cut using the bench hook and the Japanese pull
saw. Here is the setup along with a
couple cut plugs. Before cutting to
length the ends got one swipe across sandpaper to add a little bevel. That makes them easier to start in the hole.
After being cut they are pushed in flush. Below the left photo shows the end while the
right photo shows the back left top set of plugs. If you are wondering what the little hole is
in the lower right plug it’s not decoration.
When installing I had pushed this plug in a little too much so it needed
to be backed out a little. The only way
to do that is to run a small screw partway in then using a pair of pliers pull
the plug out flush. Once flush the screw
is removed leaving the hole.
Since there are a lot of these plugs to make it makes
sense to set work out a production method to make them. The bevels on the end of the plug are
first. Shown below is the ½” plug that
has a 3/32” bevel. To save time I only
marked opposite sides as that gave me enough marks to make the four bevels.
The bevels are made using the 12” disk sander. After setting the fence to 45 degrees the
blank is set so I can see the line. The
first bevel is made by gently pushing the blank into the sanding disk stopping
when the angle intersects the line.
That’s shown in the top photo.
The blank is then flipped 180 degrees and the other side is
beveled. The bottom photo shows that
completed.
Next the remaining two sides are beveled the same except
the bevel is brought down to the line.
You can see that in the left photo.
As a check the bevels are closely examined to see if they meet at the
corner. If one is short it’s touched up
until the corners and the transition between the bevel and the sides all match
up. Because the disk sander has a pretty
coarse grit, they bevels need to be sanded smooth. To maintain the crispness of the edges a
220-grit cloth back sanding disk is pressed onto the big sander. The coarse disk is rough enough it holds the
220 one in place. Moving the fence back
and forth keeps the bevel constant and sands it smooth just like with the ends
on the shelf supports.
Here’s the ½” square cut plugs ready for the next
step. Only eight are needed but I made
three extras in case there is a problem later on. It’s easier to make extra now when everything
is set up than to redo the setups later.
Also, once setup making them went pretty quick. As a matter of fact, it took almost as long
to set up the tripod, camera, lights and the like to take the photos as it did
to make these. That said there are still 32 plugs of various sizes to go.
Next Up – Plugs Completed & Making the Handle
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