Time For Assembly

Over the past week I have cut out and sanded every piece I need to assemble my chair. I have refined my table saw techniques, as well as learning some basic sanding a planing techniques. I will outline the basic process required for each of these pieces:

1. Get the raw lumber, often a plank, and make sure you have the dimensions for the piece. Make sure the plank is the correct thickness, anything else can be changed
2. Measure it out, and mark it with pencil. Measure twice cut once, as the saying goes.
3. Make a rough cut, in this case with a handsaw, to get the piece down to something you can work with easily on the table saw. I only make one cut here, to separate the peice from the rest of the plank
4. Make a rip cut (cut with the grain) to get the piece to the correct width.
5. Now use cross cuts (cuts with the grain). First one to shave off a little of one end to get a square angle, then another to get the piece to correct length. I use a cross cutting rig, which is pictured at the bottom.
6. Erase any pencil marks on exposed sides, and sand, or plane, everything down. What you are left with is a rectangle (possibly) worthy of furniture.

After having gone through that process several t imes, I am left with this pile of wood:

What is pictured here are my chair legs (clamped in the table), angle supports, and several other support and chair back type things. To get the angle on those supports I turned the saw blade on the table saw sideways, to a 45 degree angle, which worked very well.

Pictured here is my dad's table saw. The gold device is the crosscutting rig. It provides a back which is square with the blade, and using the red thing attached, can be set to a certain width, which is most useful for making multiple cuts of the same length. You can see to the right my eye and ear protection, very important, and over the blade is the clear shield of sorts, which will prevent peices being thrown back at you.

And here is a dry assembly of my chair! This is done to make sure all the pieces fit satisfyingly. In this picture there is currently no seat or supports between the bottoms of the legs. This is held together solely by clamps, no glue or screws.



This week I decided to revisit some of the blogs I have commented on before:
The Bluegrass Blog by Ben
Organic Architecture: Changing the Landscape of Design by Dillon
and  iOS Programming: App Development by Mayank

See you in a couple days when assembly is (hopefully) complete!

Vlog!

In this first ever "vlog" (video log) I talk about my inspiration for choosing woodworking, and some of the resources I have been using to learn about it.


Woodworking Vlog from Will Frank on Vimeo.

If the video does not show up, here is a link:
http://vimeo.com/62209698

More Construction

     This week I begun more construction; I have both my back legs cut out, and marked out the seat. Progress on the legs has been slow because they are the only pieces that require curving cuts. To do this I used a jigsaw, which is like a hand held scroll saw. This saw allows you to cut straight lines with gentle curves. The rest of the pieces are squares or rectangles, making them much simpler to do. I will be using a table saw to do the rest, making the cuts quick and efficient, but slightly more messy. Because the table saw produces more dust, which is either flung into the air or sucked into a vacuum, I needed to purchase some safety goggles. These will also be useful for future projects. I have done some practice cuts on the table saw. Here are some safety precautions I learned:

1. When using the table saw always be sure to use eye and ear wear
2. Never reach over or around the blade when it is spinning
3. Always try and use some form of device to push the wood with; the farther your hands are from the blade the better
4. Make quick, precise cuts to avoid the piece catching and being flung back at you by the blade
5. Most importantly, respect the saw. It is dangerous, and can hurt you if you are not careful

I also learned about the two main type of cuts, crosscut, against the grain, and rip cut, with the grain. When you make a cut with the table saw, you want to make it quick to avoid burn marks on the wood. When setting up the saw you want it to be just higher than the piece. The table saw is something that will really help me speed up my work. Progress has been slow so far, but as various school projects rap up, and the actual process becomes easier, my progress should speed up. I have found that it is often hard to motivate myself to stop whatever it is I am doing and work on this project, but once I get started I generally enjoy myself. I am looking forward to spring break where I will be able to work for much longer periods of time. I can not wait.

The two back legs. These were cut by the jigsaw,
some planing is still necessary.

The two back legs; these were cut with the table saw.

This week I visited and commented on:
iOS Programming: App Development by Mayank
ERB Cinematography by Ethan
and My Journey Learning Hebrew by Ian

Construction Begins

     This week I have begun actual construction on my chair! I have chosen cedar as my wood of choice  for the chair. I have chosen cedar because it is soft, making it easier to shape. It is also waterproof and weatherproof, making it good for outdoor use, which is where I intend putting my chair. Over the weekend I began on the back legs. I made a template, and traced out the two legs. Unfortunately because I was sick Friday and Saturday, I was unable to make as much progress as I would have liked, although I did learn some things from what I was able to finish.

Picture of  leg template

     To make the template I had to measure out the points, and trace lines between them, which was very simple. Cutting out the template was the harder part, but still rather easy. While doing that I learned the proper technique for cutting, which includes alignment of the body, angle of the cut, placement of the feet, and using enough force while not using too much, all of which are important to making clean efficient cuts. The cut I made was rather rough, and was not close enough to the line to be exact. To Improve the quality and precision of my template I used a block plane to plane back the edges. I made the template out of a thin, cork-like piece of scrap wood. I used the template to trace out two legs onto a piece of cedar. This was as much as I was able to do, but progress should pick up once I get going.  My next step is to cut out the legs, then repeat the process for the front legs. All the other pieces are squares or rectangles, so they will be much simpler.

Example of a Block Plane

      As a follow up to last week's post, my dad bought a pocket screw jig and pocket screws, which were rather inexpensive. This was the only thing that I still needed, and now that I have it production can carry on, full steam ahead. As I build my skills should increase, and hopefully I can get to a point where I am working completely by myself, with minimal assistance from my dad. This would allow my work time to greatly increase. Until then, I will try to get in an hour of work every other day, or more if I can.



This week I checked out:
Learning to Execute a 360 by Nick
I Got the Magic by Noah
and Perspective Drawing by John

Research

This past week I have began researching and gathering resources. I have 
been reading books, such as Encyclopedia of Furniture Making by Ernest Joyce, and browsing very helpful websites, such as finewoodworking.com, where I have found many tutorials which I will be able to refer back to once I have begun building. On that note, I have found a simple chair design online that will still help me to learn many woodworking skills. Here is an image on the right. I found this design, along with rather detailed steps, go here to check it out yourself. I have also begun to gather all the supplies I will need, which includes mostly wood, screws and fabric for the seat, which is am optional comfort. I have access to a large supply of raw lumber, through my dad, and access to all the tools I will need. The only step that I would not potentially be able to complete is making pocket holes, a process which is described here, but the author of the chair plans provides an easy alternative.
My other reading includes Puzzles in Wood by E.M. Wyatt, Hand tools published by Fine Woodworking Magazine, and Making Little Boxes From Wood by John Bennet. These books, as well as the one I mentioned earlier, have helped me learn about just what their titles say. I have been looking through the second and fourth books for a possible second project, because the majority of the projects within them are quite simple, yet exciting. The book on wooden puzzles particularly interests me, and I hope I can find the time to make at least one puzzle in wood. I plan to begin the construction process of my chair this Monday, time permitting, but I cannot wait!


On another note, each week I will be checking out three of my peer's blogs, and leaving a comment. Here are this week's:
The Bluegrass Blog by Ben
Organic Architecture: Changing the Landscape of Design by Dillon
and The (Undecidedly Evil or Not Evil) Genius Project by Owen