When I said it was time to wrap up a few things around the shop, I wasn't kidding! Remember those four drawer fronts I've been working on for-fucking-ever? The ones with the inset pulls
and the carved areas?
To tell you the truth - once I started carving them - ugh.... I wasn't all that about them.
In fact, I really didn't like what was happening at all. You have no idea how tough it is to be working on a piece that you're not "feeling."
One of the best things about owning every tool under the sun is that at least one of them will do what I want it to do - in this case - I used a router with a straight bit to eliminate the carved area. Took it right out!
See, I wasn't satisfied with the carved area - it just didn't pull the piece together for me. I had been planning on using a little MilkPaint in the carvings, for some contrast. But instead - I came up with a scathingly brilliant idea.
(Ode to Hayley Mills...)
Why not inlay the area with a contrasting wood? There were a couple of details to consider - the grain of the wood had to run in the same direction as the drawer fronts. So I glued together a piece, and then cut and thickness-sanded the pieces to the correct dimension.
They already look great - much more like what I envisioned.
I needed to put a small chamfer, but the wood was so thin - it was a dicey operation. A router table and a scrap piece of wood to act as a hold-down was all I needed.
Here's the routed edge.
Before and after pieces.
It's funny how I really hated working on this piece before, when I was carving it. Now that I was doing something that I really felt, this was coming together beautifully.
Normally when you glue two pieces together, they will slip and slide around a bit, usually ending up mis-aligned. But this hold down clamp secured the two pieces nicely.
One side was applied almost flush- just a hair over the edge, so I would get a good glue joint.
Here's an edge waiting to be cleaned-up.
One or two passes with a plane evened things up.
I trimmed the other edge flush on the tablesaw.
Don't these look a hell of a lot nicer?
Last thing to do was chamfer the two long-grain edges.
Ready for sanding - and knobs. Knobs will be the next design decision... but this time, I feel much more equipped to make the right decision!
One last thing - Happy Mother's Day, mom! I miss you and wish we were hanging out together. And Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
1 comment:
Nice Job !! I've never quite understood the meaning behind this saying: "There's more than one way to skin a cat" but it's fitting for sure. Loved to see the reaction to that saying, especially from my prison boys who, I think, took it literally.
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