Cherry and Walnut Homework Desk with Son (Part 1)

[Gunny]

2 minutes ago, John Morris said:

you gonna drop me your contact info so we can get your MWTCA membership out to ya?

Okay I will bite, what is that and why am I am member?  Most important, will it get me anything, maybe even a cup of coffee for free??

[John Morris]

Just now, Gerald said:

Good job there @John Morris. You know there could be several reasons for the bowed panel, but one preventative is to use cauls and time in clamps does not cause bows that I have ever seen.

 

One more tip for your son is planning methods. Instead of pushing across the bench . Plane parallel to the bench and this allows you to use your body . Kinda of a rocking motion for a short panel.

Great advise Gerald, thanks for all of it! Cauls would have a been a great thing to do, ho hum, next time.

As for my son planing across the bench, you can blame me for that, since I taught him! I am comfortable either way, but for my boy, ya he should be going along the bench, thanks Gerald.

[John Morris]

3 minutes ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Okay I will bite, what is that and why am I am member?  Most important, will it get me anything, maybe even a cup of coffee for free??

See this Gunny!

 

[FlGatorwood]

Thanks for the project update.  It's always great to see the younger generation learning from the experiences and knowledge of their forebears.  Great job on the planing.

 

I saw the chair in the background and was hoping (I know you've been sick, but I'm trying cut you some slack) to see some caning on the chair.  Did you ever get the materials?  

[John Morris]

9 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

I saw the chair in the background and was hoping (I know you've been sick, but I'm trying cut you some slack) to see some caning on the chair.  Did you ever get the materials? 

Well, ya, the chair has been sitting around a bit. I did however manage to get a couple coats of finish on it while I was out on leave from work, then I turned my focus to sons desk. And now my family is asking me to finish our kids bathroom that I started a year ago.

But, yes Gator, I do have the material for the seat, all I need to do is one more coat of finish, and we are ready to weave the seat!

[PostalTom]

14 hours ago, John Morris said:

Before I started working the boards I planed a chamfer on the edge where the plane exits each stroke, by doing this you avoid edge tear out, since the plane is working almost perpendicular to the grain, the risk of edge tear out is high.

John, you should post this idea in the Woodworking Tips.  That is a good idea.

[PostalTom]

14 hours ago, John Morris said:

Here is one complete panel, or desk end, we are debating if we should cut the bottom rails to finish off the appearance. Strength wise is a non issue, since I cut the stopped grooves for the panels, but we could mortise in bottom rails, it would look nice.

That would also be another great teaching opportunity.

[John Morris]

11 hours ago, PostalTom said:

John, you should post this idea in the Woodworking Tips.  That is a good idea.

I will! Thanks Tom.

[John Morris]

11 hours ago, PostalTom said:

That would also be another great teaching opportunity.

Agreed, taking a different road on the fly, always fun. Thanks Tom.

[Gunny]

1 hour ago, John Morris said:

Agreed, taking a different road on the fly, always fun.

I used to get hammered by my CO and XO about having a plan, and following the plan. 

 

Loved to watch the smoke come out of their ears when I admitted, "I just make it up as I go, Sir."

[FlGatorwood]

John, if were me and I had the choice of the chair or the bathroom, priority would be the bathroom.  Otherwise, your name is worse than mud.  The chair won't go anywhere nor complain.  

[John Morris]

7 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

John, if were me and I had the choice of the chair or the bathroom, priority would be the bathroom.  Otherwise, your name is worse than mud.  The chair won't go anywhere nor complain.  

Great point gator!

[Larry Buskirk]

7 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

John, if were me and I had the choice of the chair or the bathroom, priority would be the bathroom. The chair won't go anywhere nor complain.  

The bathrooms not going anywhere either.

 

23 hours ago, John Morris said:

And now my family is asking me to finish our kids bathroom that I started a year ago.

Only a year?

The chairs been waiting longer than that.

7 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

Otherwise, your name is worse than mud.

Mud?

At this point mine's at the bottom of the ocean under a pile of whale poop. 

[Gene Howe]

On 8/5/2019 at 5:32 AM, John Morris said:

And now my family is asking me to finish our kids bathroom that I started a year ago.

 

I guess you really do need reminded every 6 months.

[Gene Howe]

13 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

I used to get hammered by my CO and XO about having a plan, and following the plan. 

 

Loved to watch the smoke come out of their ears when I admitted, "I just make it up as I go, Sir."

Those types are not known for out of the box thinking. 

[Larry Buskirk]

14 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

I used to get hammered by my CO and XO about having a plan, and following the plan. 

 

Loved to watch the smoke come out of their ears when I admitted, "I just make it up as I go, Sir."

Plan....Plan........We don't have no stinking plan.

 

43 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Those types are not known for out of the box thinking. 

Could be why they're referred to as block heads. 

[FlGatorwood]

21 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

John, if were me and I had the choice of the chair or the bathroom, priority would be the bathroom.  Otherwise, your name is worse than mud.  The chair won't go anywhere nor complain.  

Please don't ask how I know from experience.  

[Gunny]

8 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Those types are not known for out of the box thinking.

Yeah this really wound them up.

 

[p_toad]

On 8/5/2019 at 11:49 PM, Woodbutcherbynight said:

"I just make it up as I go, Sir."

you did say Sir.  

[John Morris]

Well here we are folks, a little update from the last one. We actually worked on this project last weekend but just did not get any new images up of our progress, and while my son was in school today I worked on the desk a little as well, so here are a few updates.

 

So, how about a knuckle head mistake! While grooving the dadoes into the legs for the desk panels, the first cut, on the first leg, right off the bat, I ran that sucker right through all the way! Made a nice clean groove from one end to the other, it was supposed to stop 4 inches up the leg, but boy did I show it!

So I took a spline of cherry and glued it into the mis-hap slot and planed it down flush and no one but me and my son will ever know, and of course you all!

 

 

Then the tapered legs are laid out, the orientation of the tapers were actually a bit confusing for me to come up with, without tapering the wrong side. I am not sure if my mind is still really slow from current health conditions, or I'm just out of practice, but I really sat there and had to think about this simple operation, we want the taper on the insides of the legs, not all around. So the front corners of the legs should be straight, and the back and sides of the legs should be tapered. I finally figured it out, really, it was ridiculous how long I sat there and just stared at them till I got the pencil lines down. My brain is slow these days, it truly is.

 

 

I took the legs over to my Shopsmith band saw and cut the tapers, leaving some room for clean up with the plane.

 

 

The legs are tapered.

 

 

With my No. 4 I planed down the bandsaw marks.

 

 

The tip of the legs, I took a block plane and planed chamfers on the edges, to prevent the legs from splintering on carpet and what not when in use. When doing an operation like this, plane with the grain first, then you can tackle the grain that is perpendicular to the edges. If you chamfer the perpendicular grain first, you'll likely have chip out and splintering, so to avoid that, chamfer the easy grain first.

 

 

So, this is basically all we had time to do last weekend, we only spent a couple hours on the project, we had a few things going on in the home that needed attention.

 

Today (Friday the 16th) I worked on the project and made some progress, later I will post up some more images and text of what happened today, it's starting to look like a desk! Stay tuned.