Fitting in

The final carcass construction for the hanging wall cabinet requires a lot of fine tuning of the drawer dividers and shelves. Even on a small piece like this, dialing in the thickness of the dividers and notching everything out to create a nice clean joint really makes the difference in a hand-built piece. Any gaps or loose joints will definitely get noticed, especially in the drawer dividers where there's nowhere to hide. This short episode also shows how important hand tools are even if you have a predominantly electron-fueled shop. Then, in the next episodes I will focus on the door fronts and then the curved drawers.

How Bois got his groove back...

Sometimes, despite your best intentions you just can't always find time to get into the shop. I hear it all the time from fellow woodworkers, but I was sure I was immune to this terrible condition. Well it finally happened to me - for about the last nine months. But I was not discouraged. I believe that in many ways woodworking is just like riding a bike - you hop back on and it all comes back. But when it comes to more refined techniques and skills, these are things you need to hone on a regular basis to stay in shape.

So with a big project looming in the future, I was a bit hesitant to just jump right back on the saddle. I decided to design something that would help me hone those skills again with a lower risk factor, while also resulting in something I could be proud of and share. You know, something to help me get my groove back. So this next episode is what I call my "groove" project. And as I'm finding out, this will take on a double meaning as you get into a few episodes. If nothing else, I hope I can inspire some folks who have been arm-chair quarterbacking to get back in the game. Or back it the saddle. Or whatever metaphor works best for you. Enjoy!

Just plane hard work

In this second episode of my live-edge table, I take to the hand planes. This slab is too wide to get through my planer let alone my jointer, so it's time to roll up the sleeves and work up a sweat. I found the slab had a fairly pronounced twist, and I also ran into some trouble finding a good way to clamp it to my bench for planing. So beware to the purists, I do actually have to resort to some key power tools to get the job done. Next time, I'm totally building one of those router jigs that Nick Offerman uses in his shop.


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Slab happy

I met with a local sawyer over the summer, and while I was at his shop, he uncovered his special stash of walnut slabs. He had almost a complete flitch of 8/4 walnut slabs, and I couldn't leave for home without at least one board. I had no idea what I was going to use it for, but it was priced right and I happily made room in my shop to store it until I had a use for it.

Well, I finally decided it was time to turn it into furniture. I had a rough idea in my mind that it would become a hall table, but I decided to use the shape and size of the slab itself to dictate the design, rather than the other way around. So this project is going to be designed as I go, and I already have a few fun ideas of some twists I can incorporate into the piece.

This first episode is all about stock prep. And with a slab almost 22" wide, my power planer and jointer are of no use. So I'll be rolling up my sleeves and doing a lot of hand tool work to start. Which is perfect because it just started getting cold in my shop!


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