Hello!

 

More from the cedar wardrobe. Within c.1920s-1950s cedar wardrobes so plentiful in these parts (many older row houses constructed with no closets) there are some pieces of the bird more prized than others. The wardrobe base panel(s) are the best. No shellac, no screws, no stresses. They've lain in darkness, flat, in steady temperature and humidity, for 7-10 decades. Choice factory-joined, like an A-Grade lumber core board.

 

Sorry the pics are small; I deleted the originals by accident; these were forwarded back from the only friend who held onto them. 

 

 

My two boards are ripped after consulting a stave calculator from drum manufacturer Uniontown Labs

 

https://uniontownlabs.org/tools/stave/

 

 

 

The slats are glued in threes, then rabbetted at both ends.

 

 

 

And the threes joined through various techniques of clamping, squeezing, lead weights, and elves.  Cat pics for size perspective and Dave.

 

 

 

 

More joining, then filling seams with my usual: cedar powder, Titebond, and a splash of branch water.

 

 

 

 

Dry fit slats to both ends, sand'n'scrape, slice in two [crosscut].

 

 

 

 

Glue the slats in-place. Fairly tight fit but shims get it even tighter. Spirit varnish slightly diluted with Behlen Behkol Solvent applied.

 

 

 

 

The smaller of the vessels is shaven, its circumference reduced, to allow a stock SimpleHuman Code B bag to fit.

 

 

 

 

All done. Thank you for joining me in this journey.  -  jim

Nice job

Excellent finish and some very nice joinery.  Kudos.

Bet your shop smelled great!!  That sure is some beautiful wood and made some gorgeous projects 

From one who has spent the last 6, 7 (?) years taking barrels apart.

 

Very nicely done.

4 minutes ago, lew said:

Bet your shop smelled great!!

It might be old cedar but you can plane a piece and the smell is right there!   And dusting myself off outside, it certainly smells like progress. I hear it is white cedar from NJ;  that is where the maker was located.   I'm using all of the carcass, just like making scrapple! I appreciate it, Lew. Looking at what you made with old beams, I'll be a little more thoughtful, I bet, when I get a nice old piece of heart pine.

 

2 hours ago, Gerald said:

Nice job

 Thanks, Gerald.  Whenever I think I'm taking a short cut, like the other day dressing my card scrapers, I think of the effort you put into your work bench.  And I take it a little more slowly.  Like old Harry North said to me, "What's the rush, kid? You have some place you have to be?"

 

This was #2 and #3 of 2021; the next batch will be tapered both top and bottom. I am very happy you enjoy my efforts.

 

2 hours ago, HandyDan said:

Excellent finish and some very nice joinery.  Kudos.

Thank you, Dan. The inlaid bottoms were my favorite parts even though you do not see them. I had plenty of slats and cut a few of them twice to made it as tight as possible. Sanded up to 320. The finish is the easiest part. Spirit varnish is very forgiving. Add a splash of denatured alcohol. I might have mixed it 50/50, in fact. And move fast. The alcohol evaps quickly!

 

9 minutes ago, frenchwwr said:

From one who has spent the last 6, 7 (?) years taking barrels apart.

 

Very nicely done.

THANK you  These are cheater buckets, with machine-sawn non-tapered staves. I know all of you guys know they are not too hard to make, but I do appreciate your comments.  I was able to roll the vessel across the outside work bench, chasing it with a palm sander; I worked up from 80 to 320. Also, I was able to get the sander inside the vessel and hit the openings to 120.  One important thing I did learn, it is darn hard to plane the exterior through thick knots! Guess that is why barrel makers use clear straight grain wood?

Here's another detail: After the staves were cut, along with spares, I selected my 18 and laid them across the table. Sorted and arranged them to give greater contract in grain between mating pieces. Hence the numbers on the ends.  I did get it mixed up but was 80% successful. 

 

43 minutes ago, Dovetail said:

 One important thing I did learn, it is darn hard to plane the exterior through thick knots! Guess that is why barrel makers use clear straight grain wood?

1/4 sawn straight grained

5 hours ago, Dovetail said:

Cat pics for size perspective and Dave.

 

Most excellent Jim. Great repurposing of material and beautiful work. A whole lot more patience than I have.

Thanks for sharing.

9 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Thanks, Dave.    Here are more pictures, the first vessel, around April 2021. The rabbetting was to each stave, and too shallow. Other construction issues as well, hidden to history, obscured with putty and sanding block. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for viewing  -   jim

Most cool Jim!  Beautiful project with some great info for us

56 minutes ago, Cal said:

Beautiful project with some great info for us

Thanks!  I made this image for a soon-to-be (I hope?) GF, after she kept asking me how I did it ... 

 

Awesome work Jim. Appreciate the pictorial detail. You've upped the game here not only for repurposing material but pursuit of a lost craft and art.

Great pictorial PIP. I had hopes that was silver bars but that was crushed with the annotated pic. Do you mold your own bullets?  I have a little lead from childhood scrounging behind the local newspaper , but nothing compared to your collection.

No, just a semi-retired plumber who appreciates a nice bar of lead.  Got four 7.5 lb. bars for about a buck a pound delivered from a guy who smelted an old sailboat keel. They fit neatly inside a small Priority Mail flat rate box. USPS would not deliver. Wonder why?  Gave one away to someone who used it for lead / oakum joints.

 

Then there is the 8 lb. scuba tank weight. The brass pipe clamps have a bit of heft in them as well. 

Love it! And, thanks for the pics and tutorial. One question, though. What is your process for obtaining the correct angle for stave cuts? 

Thanks.

Thanks Gene!

 

 I fooled around with this stave calculator program to look at options:

 

https://uniontownlabs.org/tools/stave/

 

That got me the board width necessary to produce the diameter I was shooting for as well as the angles. While toggling between quantity of staves. 
 

Here’s another great program. I used it to develop projected height angles; I’ll put something together for the Tricks subforum. 

Taper And Angle Calculator 

http://www.magafor.com/841/uk.htm

 

 

Edited March 5, 20224 yr by Dovetail
more More MORE

On 3/1/2022 at 5:47 PM, frenchwwr said:

From one who has spent the last 6, 7 (?) years taking barrels apart.

Thanks again, Kevin.  My next cylindrical build is coming up. Bigger volume - mo' laundry.  I'm bringing this back up for your experience, please. 

 

Everything online, like A Guide to Stave Construction for Woodworking and Woodturning by Gord Rock, all barrel and drum sketches, show angled edges on both sides of a stave. To accommodate inward pressure from straps, waterproof joints, etc. As well as tradition. 

 

My stock is a c.1920 spruce countertop. Tight straight grain, no knots, it'll be lovely to plane. The vessel is going to sit with laundry; no transportation of deleterious spirits, tar, coal.  I'm wanting to minimize cutting and possible errors in accuracy which could add up.

 

Is there any difference in outward assembled appearance if I leave one stave edge 90˚ and cut the other at, for instance, 20˚, rather than both at 10˚ ?  I've wracked my 3-dimensional abilities, and coming up with "No", figure I'm missing something. 

On 5/5/2022 at 5:31 AM, Woodman said:

Is there any difference in outward assembled appearance if I leave one stave edge 90˚ and cut the other at, for instance, 20˚, rather than both at 10˚ ?

Some visual part of my head started working.

 

From the inside, the 20˚ edge will stick out past the 90˚ edge. From the exterior when planed to round, all of the staves should look uniform in width. If I do not scrape the interior to round, the interior will have a nicely quirky zig pattern. Flat, short angle, flat, etc.

 

Lower strength because the glued area of each stave is reduced. Likely not an issue.

Great job!