A Cutting Board

...well, sort of. What seems like many weeks ago, my brother visited from Michigan to help me with a kitchen remodel. Toward the end of the work, I found we had room to install a new 12" base cabinet so I did. This was after we had granite counters put in just a few weeks before. I had to decide if we should call the stone shop to get a granite remnant installed or install a cutting board top. I chose the latter and decided I would make it myself. The top was too small to warrant buying a premade maple top that would have to be cut down to size and would cost more than $100. So I finally bought the thickness planer I have been wanting and made the top myself from $20 worth of hard maple.

The offending cabinet.

The single board from which the top is made. 

The new thickness planer!

I used the new planer to smooth the 4/4 board down to 3/4" after chopping it to rough lengths. The planer makes a mess even when connected to the vacuum. I hope to get a dust collector fairly soon to help with this problem since the Shop-Vac can't keep up. The Dust Deputy filled up quickly while planning and I may have to upgrade its bucket.

Rough sized boards.

A messy planer.

I then ripped the boards to the 1 1/2" I decided on for the thickness of the top. I would then turn the boards on edge for the glue up. The 3/4" wide boards were glued with a roller and clamped up. I was happy that my 12" F clamps could fit the top so I didn't have to use my very long parallel clamps. I used some cauls to help keep the boards as level as reasonable and keep them from sliding past each other on the glue.

A lot of ripping.

Waterproof glue and roller applicator.

Glued up. Cauls not shown.

Waiting for butcher block oil!

After the glue set up I ran the top through the planer a few times to level the boards out. A drum sander would probably have been a better tool for this step but since I don't have one nor do I have room for one I chose the planer. This did make the top slightly thinner than I had planned but it is still plenty thick for the task and I can always replace it down the line. There are some defects in the wood and I'm not sure if they occurred in the planer or from other working I did to them but they are hardly noticeable and won't affect the performance of the top. I finished the piece by sanding with 220 grit paper and then treating it with several coats of butcher block oil.

Finished and in place.

After several coats of oil with drying for a day between coats I mounted the top to the cabinet with a few screws from inside the base. It is a nice fit and I had just one strip of wood left over from the board I used which makes for little waste. I'm sure I can find a use for the scrap maple at a later date. Perhaps another shop hammer or runners for a table saw sled is in order. With the wood being so close to where we cook we will have to make sure to clean it regularly so that cooking oils don't penetrate the fibers and then go rancid. I will also have to sand and re-oil the top at least once a year to keep it protected. This was a fun project and I'm glad I got to use my planer even though it makes a mess.

Mjolnir

Unlike Mjolnir, my mighty hammer was not forged by dwarven brothers. Nor does it have a short handle. And it doesn't have the power to level mountains. So perhaps it is nothing like the fabled weapon of the thunder god, but I made it and that counts for something, right? I based my plans off of Steve Ramsay's "Thor's Hammer" on Woodworking for Mere Mortals.

I started with a board I found in the 'exotic cutoffs' bin at Woodcraft. I'm fairly certain it is walnut but I don't know for sure. It is pretty rough on one face, probably from the saw at the mill.

Starting board.

I cut a piece to 2 1/2" wide. The board was about 7" wide which is a bit wider than I want but leave me room to make mistakes. I next cut the cavities in the inner pieces. I don't have a drill press nor do I have a Forstner bit to cut large holes like Steve does so I improvised and used a smaller paddle bit and my jigsaw to finish them off.

About 7" x 2 1/2" x 3/4".

After drilling holes.

And finished with jigsaw.

These cavities will be where the real weight of the hammer will be: fishing sinkers. I cut these end pieces off at a 2° angle to held make a wedge where the handle will go. I also cut two more piece at about 6" for the sides.

Slight angle between the inner pieces.

All pieces for the head.

I glued the inner pieces to one side piece first. Using the other side piece on top, but not glued down, to provide a clamping surface I let the glue set up before adding my weights. I managed to get quite a few into the cavities but you can still here some movement when shaking the hammer. I then glued the other side on and worked on the handle while I waited for that glue to set.

Gluing the inner pieces to one side.

Lots of weight added.

I followed Steve's process on creating a simple tenoning jig out of some 2x4 stock I had lying around. It probably isn't the most accurate jig but it gets the job done for this project. I used a scrap of purpleheart I had left over from the table saw sleds I made some time ago.

Using the tenoning jig.

I then cut the wedges for fastening the handle into the head of the mallet. These were cut from the walnut board I had and were also cut at a 2° angle. Because I wasn't very accurate with my tenoning jig I had to make wedges of various sizes.

Wedges and handle.

Head glued up.

To add a little style to the head and comfort to the handle I tilted my table saw to a 20° angle and trimmed off the corners of both parts. I ran the handle through in different orientations to smooth out any hard corners. Afterwards I put it all together by gluing the wedges into the top of the mallet head in between the handle's tenons. I coaxed these in with my regular hammer to ensure a snug fit. I let the glue set up and then cut the excess off with my Japanese razor saw.

Added wedges.

Trimmed down.

Finished with boiled linseed oil.

After a bit of sanding to smooth out the top and then some finish sanding to smooth out the handled I applied a coat of boiled linseed oil which I can renew as needed. I do plan to add leather patches to both sides of the mallet head to help protect my work pieces. I do need to practice my tenoning as the mallet head doesn't quite sit right on the shoulder cuts of the handle. Being a shop project I wasn't concerned with the woods used but I noticed that the walnut and purpleheart don't really compliment each other very well. Overall I'm quite pleased with the end result and look forward to using it in the shop.

The Infamous Bookcase

As the largest piece of furniture I've built so far, the bookcase was a very interesting project. I've been telling many people that I was building one for some time now and I have finally completed it. I started with some simple plans that I did not adhere too. This was okay but made for some fixes later on. First, I started with the panels for the carcass. The bottom and sides were 3/4" oak veneer plywood and the top was 1/2". The shelves are 1/2" plywood with oak fronts.

Using my panel sled for the carcass and shelves.

Shelves cut.

The sides have rabbets for the bottom and back. The top has rabbets for the sides and back. And finally the bottom has a single rabbet for the back. The trick with all of these is to cut all of the similar ones at the same time (e.g.: 1/4" rabbets on the top, sides, and bottom for the back panel). This makes it so you only have to set up the saw once and all of your cuts will be the same.

A sacrificial fence for rabbets.

Rabbet for 1/4" plywood back.

Rabbets galore!

After all of the plywood was cut I could start assembly. I started with the carcass and used glue and finish nails to hold it all together. I made sure to make it square by measuring the diagonals and verifying they were equal. This made cutting and attaching the back panel very easy. I just attached it with some pin nails.

Carcass coming together.

Fastened the back with pin nails.

The shelves were cut from 1/2" plywood and a 1" x 2" oak board was used to dress up the front as well as add some reinforcement. It is attached with glue and some nails.

One shelf at a time.

I also used the same oak boards as the face frame and trim for the carcass. This was one of the fixes I had to do for not following a plan. The trim was needed to simply cover the plywood ends that I probably would not have had if I had followed my plans. Lesson learned! It did turn out fine in the end though.

Trim and face frame for the carcass.

Complete!

I finished it in boiled linseed oil and this added a nice glow to the oak. I had a lot of sanding to do before I started with the finish but it made the BLO turn out that much nice. I did not fill in the nail holes and left them as 'shiners'. I'm not sure if I like this look but I didn't want to ruin the natural look of the wood with fill. This could be avoided if I get a biscuit joiner to attach the face frame to the carcass or by filling with a matching wood fill.

Some things I notices as I constructed this piece: The bottom frame isn't totally level, luckily our floor isn't either so they cancel each other out. I think I should I have found matching fill for the nail holes but the finish nails are small enough to barely notice. Also, I need more clamps. I could only build one shelf at a time as I ran out of clamps.