Hi all. Thanks for looking!

So in a nutshell: This year at the show, I'm building a walnut and birdseye maple tool chest and work table in the Master's Workshop. I got to thinking that it was kind of a waste to just spend three days putting together some project that may or may not appeal to the readers, so I decided to so something a little different this year....and hopefully give something back .

The thing with doing a project for the MW is that I actually have to build two of them (one for display/photography) and one to actually be built at the the show, so rather than have two of these things in my shop......here's what I came up with.

The first build: Because not everyone can make the show, I am going to do day-by-day updates and pictures right here showing the progress of the build. Right from rough lumber to the finished (I hope!) project.
Of course, anybody going to the show next weekend can see it built in person.

If anybody has any questions, suggestions, etc. I'd love to hear them. Just post them here in the thread and as I go I will check back in and see what I can answer.

Now the name..."The Habitat Chest"?..... It's named that for a very good reason.
Remember how I said I couldn't really use two of these chests in my shop? Well, rather than just sell it we came up with a different idea.
The woodworking community has been very good to me, and in hopes of giving a little back, I came up with this: I am going to fill the chest with tools and use it over the course of the show to build the second one....but while it's there we are going to sell raffle tickets to win the whole thing.....INCLUDING the tools! I will then be donating 100% of the proceeds to the Habitat for Humanity to help them in their quest for affordable homes for those less fortunate.

There are going to be some great tools in there......stuff from Veritas, Dowel Max, etc.....Planes, chisels, marking and measuring......all the stuff I use on a daily basis is going to go home with someone at the show. I'll reveal the tool list later on (I still have to figure out which tools, placement, etc) but I can say that the value of the hand tools alone will be 2 1/2 - 3 thousand dollars....(plus the 50 bucks that the chest and table will be worth.)

I hope everyone who comes to the show will help support this cause (and maybe take home my tools in the process! )

The first actual build entry will be later today (I hope)....stay tuned!

Ryan

PS: Please feel free to link to this blog on the other forums......this is about Habitat, not individual sites, so any added exposure will be great Besides....you could be the reason that somone decides to come and ends up winning

To start, here's the conceptual drawing of what I want to build. The inside is sparse in the graphic.....namely because I don't know what is going to go where.



Let's begin
Day one: So today was all about lumber. The Lumber order showed up, courtesy of Century Mill in Stouffville. A huge pile of 4/4, 5/4, and 8/4 Walnut, hard maple. African Blackwood and birdseye.....all of it was top grade. http://www.centurymill.com



*But*...there was one issue.......nothing huge, but there were a few boards that I couldn't use due to the size. Much to my amazement, Keith (one of the owners of Century Mill) actually drove replacement boards up to my shop in Penetanguishene that night after work! Holy cow....that's service. No wonder they have been in business for 150 years.

So while I was waiting on the walnut replacement, I decided to start on the table. I decided to first make the 1 3/4" thick maple top.

The boards were marked, then ripped oversize.....


...then sized to the final dimensions on my planer and jointer........


.....and then laminated into two blanks. I chose to do two separate blanks so A: My 15" planer could handle the width, and B: So I could move the parts around without having a couple of people there to help me! That top is heavy!


Once the top pieces were laminated, I removed the excess glue and planed them down to a final thickness of 1 3/4", and then marked and drilled the holes for the bench dogs with a forstner bit,





And then laminated the two halves together to form the top:


And that is enough for the first day. More tomorrow!

Ryan

Sweeeet.
Ryan, remind me to buy a ticket or two when I stop by at the show.

Are you aiming for "standard" workbench height, or tablesaw-outfeed height? Is it going to be mounted on some locking castors? That's probably what I'd do for versatility. If so, make sure that all four pivot. I hate the two-fixed/two-pivot style that so many people seem to use.

How do you like those Irwin Parallel clamps? I saw them at the show last year, but not much anywhere else. I was thinking about trying out some of the new Bessey K-body REVO clamps myself. I want some 12" Parallel clamps...

best,
...art

Hi Art

The table is standard height ( about 35 1/2") with just rubber non-slip feet. Castors can be added for sure....and I thought long and hard about putting them on, but I decided to go with a stationary setup.

The clamps: LOVE them! They work as well as my Bessey's, but actually have an advantage: No "teeth" on the bar. This makes knocking glue off the bars super easy, where with the toothed models I usually really have to work at it.

Ryan

Day two:

With the top laminated and drilled (and the first of a dozen coats of poly applied) it was time to move on to the base.

The base of the table is made of Walnut with a finished thickness of 1" and 1 3/4"....and while this will make a sturdy base, it certainly adds some weight!

I spent the morning rough cutting, jointing and planing the walnut to size, then did the final component cuts for the rails, legs, and cross members.



Next it was time to mark and cut the mortises in the legs, and the matching tenons on the side rails.


And then start the scallops on the rails. To make these I cut the curve with a forstner bit, then cleared the waste on the bandsaw.


Finally, I cut the 1 3/4" X 3 1/2" cross members to size, and cut the notches that straddle the rails. I did this with a few passes over the tablesaw......


Then completed the task with a chisel.


Now to put it all together
I am going with a hybrid construction method on this one....the side rails are M&T, and the front and rear rails are doweled in (with the Dowel Max of course!). Here's the trick: By using four 3/8" dowels per joint, and using longer 2 1/2" dowels in the outside holes, the longer dowels serve to "peg" the tennons in place, but only through the outside edges of the tennon. A solid lock without weakening the tennon as much as if the dowel holes were through the center.




To attach the top and shelves, I drilled oversized countersinks in the bottom of the crossmember with a 7/8" forstner bit, then completed the hole with a 3/8" brad point. By using oversize washers and 1/4" lags, the top can move freely but still be held down tight.

The crossmembers themselves are held to the rails by driving more countersunk screws down through the top of the member and into the rails. The top holes are covered by the top itself, while the bottom ones get an ebony peg. This not only covers the holes, but adds a visual element as well.

So here is the table, ready for final sanding an finish......tomorrow we start on the chest itself. By the way, I had a Lee Valley shipment show up today,...there is some serious hardware going into that chest! Anyboody else like Brusso? I'll take/post a pic in tomorrows update.



Thanks for looking, and as always: Comments definitely welcome.
Ryan

"Officer, arrest that man for speeding!"

Sheesh, Ryan, you're flying on this.

Do you have a tripod, or is your wife taking all these action shots?

That's looking great Ryan. Put me down for a load of tickets when I see you at the show. You might have already said, but will this be featured in the magazine for the other guys who don't win? This way Art can make his own when I take this one home .

Hope to see you on the friday.

_________________
Five million Cybermen, easy. One Doctor? NOW you're scared!

Hi Richard! I hope to see you too.

Yes, the chest and table will be a project article for sure.....the cabinet I did at the show last year just got printed though, so there could be a wait

As for the winner....I sincerely hope one of the people here win it.....once you see what's going inside though, you might want to take out a loan to buy a few extra tickets......

Ryan.

Day three:

Not a whole lot to show as far as pics today. Most of the day was spent dressing walnut and birdseye, laying up panels and cutting the door components. I cut three raised panels, and three sets of stiles and rails on the router table....really putting these new bits to the test.



To make the 3" deep clamshell doors, I actually built a 6" deep box on the Leigh, then cut it in half to get perfectly matched dovetails.




I then took all of the 1/4 sawn walnut I could find and dessed it down to 1/2" X 2 1/2" to make up the drawer components, including the all walnut full-extension slides






aaaaaaaannnnnnd that's t for today. I'm having a quick bite, then back out to the shop for a couple hours to clean up....it looks like a tornado went through there today. So far I am at 7 55 gallon bags of
shavings.....and I think 1/2 of that is off my floor

I will do my best to post another update tomorrow, but am heading down to Hamilton tomorrow afternoon to do a TV segment with my daughter Emmy (6) on E! Morning (CHCH) Friday AM about "kids in the workshop"....she's convinced that she's now going to be a "Movie Star"

Thanks for looking!

Ryan

I'm back
The Hamilton TV thing was a lot of fun, Emily is a natural Anybody happen to see my little girl building her toolbox?
Anyway, I have another one Monday AM on A-Channel Barrie (Nice to be closer to home, that's for sure)

Back to the chest:

So the next step was to raise the three panels that make up the back of the cabinet and the two doors. I've been evaluating the new Blue Tornado line of bits and blades from Busy Bee, and I figured a good (albeit risky) test would be to try their panel raising bits on curly walnut and Birdseye maple.....risky with any bit (esp. the birdseye), but I'm happy to say that they turned out great.



Stiles and rails were next....my forst time using "panel barrel" spacers, and definitely not the last. Lee Valley sells 100 of these things for about 6 dollars......man they make life easy. No rattle, and the panels stay cenetered.




I then took the laminated panels I made up earlier and hit the D4R to cut some dovetails.
I also decided to give their sliding DT setup a try for the mid-divider, and they were pretty much bang on




I taped off the bottom of the pins and tails, and gave them a couple coats of finish on what will be the inside:




And then went on to the drawers. The sides are 1/4 sawn walnut, and actually make the first component of the full extension slides. The faces are birdseye, and the bottoms are curly walnut veneeer over 1/4" VC ply.



Because of the large sliding dovetail cutout in the drawer sides, the only feasable aption to reinforce the joints on the drawer were 1/4" dowels....once trimmed off and pared with a chisel, they looked really good.


Finally, I had to do the final prep-work on the case. This consised to hogging out material with the drill press/chisels so I could mount the recessed brass handles





And cutting the recesses for the Brusso hinges. I like to mark and score the hinge location, then do a series of cuts witn my Japanese saw before clearing the waste with a chisel


Speaking of Brusso, here's the Lee Valley shipment



And speaking of shipments, a firend of mine owns lasermark enterprises.....Mark surprised me by having his daughter drop off a couple of additions for the build:


Last thing on the agenda was to get the clamshell doors I made the other day ready to accept the face frames. A few swipes with the handplane and they were nice and flat.



A quick dry assembly to check fit, and day 4 I should be ready for glue.



If all goes according to plan, I shopuld be able to reveal the tools in tomorrow nights blog.......stay tuned

Ryan