JRA Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 I was just browsing through the forum and noticed the thread where Carlos was asking questions about wood species, different thicknesses, and terminology. It got me to wondering who else is interested in this stuff and what types of things you like to build. Here is a project I've been working on for Lesley's birthday. They are going to be end tables for our bedroom. They are built from solid cherry and will be finished to match the other cherry furniture we have. I build quite a bit of cabinets and such (all built in work like ET centers, bookcases, custom closets etc..) for the custom homes I build for a living. Anyway here are the unfinished end tables Here's a not so great picture of one of the drawers showing the dovetails Here is some of the left over lumber I have from various projects. It includes oak, cherry, poplar, sort maple, birch etc. I build all of my projects from rough sawn boards which I plane. That's 6/4 oak in the left front. The must have machine for any serious woodworker. It's a triple router table. This enables me to set up all the bits I need for making raised panels at one time. And finally another must have machine for a serious wood worker. It's a drum sander (with a dust collector to the right). This sands flat my glued up panels wich I use in cabinet doors or as decorative end or front panels. It'll sand a panel up to 32" in width. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjacobs Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Nice work JRA!!!. I teach Woodworking here in Sacramento. Been teaching since '78 both Junior and Senior High. Had a 3 year stint in a custom cabinet shop. My speciallty there was custom conferance tables. My baby was a 11' x 17' walnut oval with 1/4" brass inlay. The table was build in 3 pieces so the ends could be joined to make a seperate table. Also have(probably had) a few pieces in the state capital and attorney generals office. If its wood in my house I built it. Couldn't afford to buy it anyway. Any way if you have questions I'll try to answer. Sorry no pics (my son has to teach me. The dovetailed drawer? The bottom tail looks wide (sorry thats the teacher in me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motobeagle Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Very impressive guys. I seriously respect the patience, and skills you guys obviously have.J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveK Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Hats off to all that can do that shit ! Must be a true feeling of accomplishment to see those pieces in YOUR OWN house in the end ! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KA Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Very nice work JRA. I love the smell of cherry. With all those beautiful dovetail joints contrasting wood would be nice. I do a little woodworking, mostly on imports. Cocobolo, Ebony, Tulip, Honduras Rosewood, Kingwood, and others. If you go to Smith & Wesson's site / Products / Firearms / What's New. The grips on the 329PD and 686 38 super are mine. Just picked up a new toy. A Laguna 24" bandsaw. It's great but like all shop equipment could use double the horsepower. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampNut Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Wow. Nice work. Nice shop. The drum sander is interesting, never seen a horizontal one or one that large. Seems like it would be similar to a planer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pace Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 I gotta give respect to anyone who knows how to build real furniture. Too bad the mass produced crap has become de rigeur for Joe American. -Pace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRA Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 The dovetailed drawer? The bottom tail looks wide (sorry thats the teacher in me I'm actually builing a copy of something my wife liked. There is a rabbet that runs all the way around the bottom of the drawer to allow the slide for the drawer to be recessed so that the drawer front is flush with the frame (it will be inset). If I had centered the pins on the dovetails it would have left a very small pin at the top and the bottom which wouldn't have allowed me to make the rabbet at the bottom and the pin would probably break off . It's hard to explain but I really thought it through and that was the only way to do it with the jig I have. Here is a pic of a drawer that isn't as deep. I was able to line the pins up differently on these so they are more centered. Here is some of the built in work I did in a custom home. All of this is built out of rough sawn poplar and birch and painted. The photos are from a 35mm camera and are of poor quality. It's hard to take good shots inside of a house of large pieces of work. I didn't even try on the last job. This is in the master bed room and the bed actually slides in between the cabinets. There is over head lighting above that is concealed behind the soffit for reading. It looks a little odd in this photo, but if you could see it with the bed in place (there is a really nice tray ceiling above the bed that extends up to twelve feet and has three different layers of built up crown moulding) and all of the decoration in the room it really looks good. This is in the great room. The cabinet to the right holds a tv swivel that pulls out. It's hard to see that it's this big but it has like a 45" TV inside of it. The cabinet on the left holds the whole house stereo system. It's a killer stereo. The owner paid about ten grand for it. There are also multiple storage areas for DVD's, CD's, VHS tapes etc.. The carving over the mantel belongs to the owners. I had nothing to do with that but with all of the other decoration that's in the room now, it looks really good too. This is an ET center in the master bedroom. It holds a TV on a swivel/pullout, plus doubles as built in furniture. This is a photo of part of the master closet. Another part of the master closet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRA Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Carlos, the sander can be used as a planer but it's really slow. It's much easier and quicker to thickness plane with a real planer and then if you need to, run the board through the sander. I rarely use it for anything else but sanding glued up panels. I've sanded panels over thirty inches wide and six feet long with it. Once you learn how to use it the results are excellent. I've had it for about three years now and I'm guessing I've made about 500 raised panels with it. I wouldn't trade it for anything (well except maybe a bigger, more powerful one). :grin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
severdog Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Nice work, JRA! Your shop puts mine to shame. I have built a lot of furniture for my house but it's been a while since I've done a piece. I've done a fair amount of shaker pieces, they're relatively easy and they look good in small town Ohio. I've also been a rat bastard at times; to build my sons' bunkbeds, I "stole" the plans from a local furniture store. They had a unit exactly like what I wanted, so I sat there with a tape measure for about half an hour taking down all the measurements. "No, I'm just looking. I want to make sure this fits in my son's room." I have an old house, built in 1916. When I re-insulated the attic, I replaced the old 1"-by floor boards with inexpensive OSB. I harvested the wood, which was really tight-grained fir, and built a coffee table and a kid's playhouse out of it. It's cool to have a piece of furniture that was built "from" the house. But cherry is my absolute favorite wood to work with. Cuts great, sands easily, and in a year or so turns into that beautiful orange color. (not that dark crap stain color that is sprayed on the cheap furniture) Talking about this is giving me a woodie..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N1K Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 I gotta give respect to anyone who knows how to build real furniture. Too bad the mass produced crap has become de rigeur for Joe American. Amen... I can't stand cheap furniture... If it aint solid enough to fuck on... It aint worth buying... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjacobs Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 O.K. the drawer looks much better. I have to learn how to upload and download pictures. Theres tons of cool stuff I built when I worked for a custom cabinet shop. But no pictures at all. The T.V. reminds me of one we build for Linda Ronstant. It was at the foot of her bed inside a (blanket) cabinet. With the push of her renmote it raised up. Never did meet her though, or her room for that matter. She was cute back in the early 80"s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spEEdfrEEk Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 My father owned a construction business when I was younger. As a result I did alot of construction and carpentry. I must have cut thousands of dados, rabbits, and miters.. Best carpentry pick-up line: "Hey baby, wanna play mortis and tenon?" :razz: :cool: TJ :cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRA Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Just in case anybody is interested in seeing the outside of the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N1K Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 Beautiful house John! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvking Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 That is some fine looking furniture, John. Are those tools in your basement? I don't remember seeing them. I guess I was too busy looking at the bikes. :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRA Posted November 11, 2003 Author Share Posted November 11, 2003 Hi Todd, it's so great to see you back on the board! Yes, all of that stuff is downstairs. At various times it'll be on a job somewhere (we usually set up a temporary woodworking shop at each house that we're working on), but it was all here this summer when you were visiting. You probably didn't notice because all of this stuff is located on the other side of the basement. :grin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvking Posted November 13, 2003 Share Posted November 13, 2003 Feels good to be back. Doc changed some meds around and I feel much better. :grin: Still got the Bird? I thought you had a buyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRA Posted November 14, 2003 Author Share Posted November 14, 2003 That's great Todd. You are in our thoughts and prayers everyday. Yes, I still have the XX. I've had a couple of offers on it but I haven't taken either one. One of them was pretty good and I got it within about two weeks of putting it up for sale, but just couldn't pull the trigger. Now six months later and having only ridden it a few times this year, I'm a bit more motivated (but not That motivated). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRA Posted January 25, 2004 Author Share Posted January 25, 2004 Well, they are finally finished. Just thought I'd share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvking Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Photo Island must be in the crapper again. Red X's :sad: Even your avitar is toast, John. Tried to copy and paste the URL's, still no go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvking Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Hey, I got pics! Sweet looking stuff, John. That is down right beautiful. :cool: Did you get it done in time for Lesley's birthday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampNut Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Well, they are finally finished. Just thought I'd share. :shock: :worship: Stunning. When you have time, how about posting this in a new thread and tell us what wood you used, stains/finishes, and any techniques that particularly were important, that sort of stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRA Posted January 26, 2004 Author Share Posted January 26, 2004 I'd be glad to. It might not be today, but I'll do it as sonn as I can. Thanks for the compliments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampNut Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Oh yeah, and a list of the major tools you used, and the tools you wish you had if doing it again would be fantastic. I'm still at the level where I can envision what it should look like, but not sure what tool to use to make it look that way. I have a shipment of exotic woods arriving tomorrow, gonna have to build something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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