So, this hope chest I am building is a frame and panel design. And, when it comes to building the frame, it’s important to make sure that everything is milled properly. After all, if you are using a cope and stick type of joinery system, everything has to be the same thickness so it all comes together nicely.

But, first, come on. Look at that lid!  It’s a thing of beauty! A little planing, a little sanding, and it will be something to look at.

Now, back to our milling operation. I had to identify the pieces I was going to need. The rails and stiles, where they were going to go, their dimensions… the works. So, I went to my wood pile, picked out a few nice looking pieces and cut them to rough length. I had to employ a sophisticated method of keeping track of which pieces ended up where.

Yeah, amazing what you can do with a marker and some painter’s tape…

Once I had those pieces cut to size, I ensured that I had one flat face on each board. By breaking them down to smaller pieces, it was easier to remove any wind or twist in the pieces. After that, it was off to the thickness planer.

There were two reasons for this. First, I could get rid of some of the gnarly skip-planed look, making the surfaces a whole lot closer to finished. Secondly, and more importantly, was to ensure each of these pieces would be the same thickness, which would make joinery a TON easier when I got to the router table.

After planing and some straight-line ripping, my stack of boards is ready for the next step. Now, I have to find some time in the shop to take that next step!

I miss my maternal grandmother. As we get closer to Easter, that was her holiday. She cooked the holiday meal for us, and I can remember her sending me back to college with a huge brown paper grocery bag full of leftover ham sandwiches, dyed Easter eggs and – of course – lots of chocolate. I was still her little grandson, even in my late teens.

The one thing I couldn’t get into? Her watching the Lawrence Welk Show. I know it was her kind of music, and I know it was her kind of entertainment, but I usually ended up watching baseball with my grandfather.

As with any good band leader, I’m sure Mr. Welk would remind his musicians during rehearsals that they were going to take it from the top when practicing a new piece of music. After all, that’s where the start of the music would be – at the top of the sheet!

With my latest project, I am taking it from the top as well, literally!  The latest piece is a hope chest for the third niece turning 16 in my family, and it’s time to get my toes tapping out in the shop. First, though, I had to go through a one or a two boards in the repertoire…

Ahh, these two boards seems to come together in a harmonious fashion. I guess it was time to help make these babies sing. But, first, it was going to take a little time to tune up the pieces to ensure the sound was going to be tight. So, I used my Bora straight edge clamps to set a fence to ride against the rip fence, and used my Grr-Ripper to push the stack through, to keep my hands safe.

After sweetening up the fit, It was a simple matter to glue up the two boards that were going to make the top. No pressure, right?

Wanting everything to stay true, I decided on putting an edge on the board just to make sure thing stayed flat. I turned to a tongue and groove router bit set and got the router table all set up for this kind of work. It took very little time, but it was ready to go in short order.

After grooving the breadboard ends and putting a tongue on the panel, I glued the middle four inches of the tongues on the panel and slid the ends into place, clamping them. Of course they were long, but that’s fine, I would trim them later.

Now, just a little sanding and this top will be just about ready for its debut. And, since I was taking it from the top, now I know the exact dimensions I need to build the rest of the chest to, and I am sure I used the nicest looking boards for the most visible part of the project.

That’s music to my ears!

New Yankee Workshop’s Barrister Bookcase

So, light week at Tom’s Workbench. Yeah, I confess that changing jobs has cut into my blogging time, but I promise that while on my commute to downtown Tampa, I’ll be more attentive!

In the meantime, a huge part of what I have been moving has been books. Lots and lots of books. Reference books. Training manuals. Hurricane studies. The works. What I will eventually need is a bookcase to keep them in. One that – maybe – I could bring with me.

That’s what this barrister’s bookcase can provide – a stackable, sealable, handsome place to keep all of my reference materials in case I have to move them again. What I like most about Norm’s plan is that it doesn’t use hardware for the flip up doors – just wooden solutions. Which is pretty darned cool!