Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Sixteen

Over the last week I have done quite a lot of work on the cabinet.

The first thing that I carried out wast dry tested the cabinet. This means that I put it all together, without glue to make sure it all goes together properly.

Dry testing carcase

Once I had dry tested it I then glued and clamped it all together, and then began work on the drawers.

Carcase Clamped up

Carcase finished gluing

To glue and clamp up properly you have to make sure you don't cover up the pins with the packing piece, otherwise the joint wont go together properly, and the packing piece should reach both clamps. Clamping up the carcase was relatively easy, as it was already square, and I just got someone else to help hold the packing pieces in place while I tightened the clamps.

I also planed and cut the sides to length and size, and also started the drawer fronts. Finally I also started making the drawer slips, which were made out of spare Walnut which I had left from the fronts. However during the week when I was finishing off one of the drawer fonts I cut it to small, and therefore had to make another one of of scrape would, which meant they were slightly different shades.

Slightly different shades of Walnut.

However once I corrected this mistake I started to create the joints for the first drawer.

Apart from the mistake at the beginning of the week, everything went smoothly, and I managed to get two joints complete.

Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Fifteenth

Over the last week and today's lesson I have managed to get of the other joints complete, but the main focus of this lesson was veneering. I will be veneering both the back panel, and also the drawer bottoms.

I first learnt about different types of veneering:

The first kind of veneer is called 'Running Veneer', which is when two pieces of veneer are joined together, with the grain going in the same direction on both piece.

Running Veneer

The next is called 'Book Matched'. This is when two pieces of veneer are joined together, with the grain going in the opposite directions, and look like the pages in a book.

Book Matched Veneer

Thirdly this pattern of veneer is 'Diamond'. Diamond is when four pieces of veneer are joined together, and the grain flows smaller into the center, creating a diamond shape.

Diamond Veneer

The last pattern is the 'Reversed Diamond', which is the same as the previous pattern, but the grain flowing in the opposite direction.

Reversed Diamond Veneer 

To join veneer you first have to wet strips of veneer tape that are 50mm long, are spaced out across the join. Once you have done this, then you place a strip all the way down the join.

 

After the lesson today I decided that I would veneer the back of the cupboard. To do this I first went and picked the veneer which I required from the veneer shed. 

Next I cut the veneer up to size using a veneer cutter. To do this I worked with others to make it easier.

Veneer Cutter

Next I glued the over sized veneer sheets on either side of the backboard, and then placed it into the veneer press for ten minutes. Finally I then cut the over sized veneer to the board size, and then cut the board down to size to create the finished backboard.

 

Finished veneered backboard

Test fitting the backboard in cabinet

PPD - Task 3 - Pratt's Furniture and local furniture designers

This week is Task 3 of the Personal and Professional Development (PPD), and it is in three parts. Part one is all about Pratt's Furniture in Leeds, and what furniture they make. Part two is all about the ways which Furniture Makers mark their products and finally part three is about furniture makers which are local to my home away from university.



Part 1:


The furniture designer I have chosen to write about is Schneider Designs.


1. What kind of furniture do they make (In the designers own words):


"At Tom Schneider, we are passionate about creating distinctive contemporary furniture with a strong sense of movement. The collections are pure and honest; they are beautiful in form and need no additional detailing. We believe that furniture should stand the test of time and not go out of fashion; instead they should become contemporary furniture classics. Every piece of furniture is individually handmade by a team of craftsmen, which means that by ordering a Tom Schneider piece of furniture, you are choosing a truly unique, inimitable creation."


2. How many ranges, options, choices of wood / fabric they offer:


They have a wide range of furniture, which includes the rooms:

• Hallway
• Living Room
• Bedroom
• Dining Room
• Kitchen

They also offer to design and make bespoke furniture, to your exact details and requirements. I found this unusual, as not many I was looking at offered this amount of flexibility.


There website lists all the materials that are available to be picked, and include images of each one. Below is a list of all the woods:

• Maple
• Ash
• Oak
• Cherry
• Walnut
• Wenge
• Zebrano
• Ebony
• Black 
• White

And the fabrics:

• Leather - Rio and Harlequin ranges
• Any material of your choice

3. What awards have they won:


I couldn't find any awards which were listed on their website, however they have been in many magazine publications, such as 'Cabinet Maker' and the 'Times' Magazine.


4. What is their most expensive product:


There most expensive product was this Caress Corner Sofa, at £5,595.

5. What do the company think their unique selling point is:


They feel that it is that all their furniture is handmade, and will never go out of fashion. They also believe in simplistic furniture, but curved shapes, especially within the wooden pieces of each piece of furniture.


Part 2: Find five different ways manufacturers mark / brand their furniture:


1. 

Wally Woodworker

2.

Wood Touch furniture

3.

Bob Timberlake

4.

Charles Mackintosh

5.

Wilf Hutchinson

Part 3: Find three furniture designers within a three mile radius of my home:

Gallery136:

• http://www.gallery136.co.uk
• A wide range of all furniture for the house, along with ceramics and Artwork.

Made in wood:

• http://www.madeinwood.com/index.php
• A wide range of all furniture for the house, including paneling and worktops.

Blades Joinery:

• http://www.bladesjoinery.com/
• Furniture and custom built in storage units.
• They employ five people

Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Fourteen

Today was a slow day, where I completed one joint, and also made the divider so it fitted into the grooves.  I made the divider first, and this was just cutting it to the right size, which is shown below. this was quite easy, however I did have to sand it down and chisel the groove slightly larger to get it to fit correctly.

Divider cut ready to size

I then cut and fitted my first joint. This was a mitred dovetail, and was quite easy to get to fit. However I miss-cut one of the pins, which means that you can slightly see the groove from the outside. Also I learnt from videos on the internet how to get mitres to fit as tightly as possible by running a saw along the join, and then finishing the joint by tapping it together.

Mitre joint

Finished joint - Corner 1

Overall this lesson went really well, and now that I have done the first joint, it will be easier to do the other four corners.

Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Thirteen

During this lesson I decided it was time to create the groove for the back and divider of the cabinet. I did this using the methods previously explained further ↓ the blog ;)

The main problem I had during this lesson was the fact there were only two combination planes, and I left mine at home :( . However I decided it would be better to go home and pick it up, rather then waste lesson time.

I also had to put on a wooden guard on the plane to stop it from marking the cabinet wood. The groove that I created was 4mm deep, and 6mm wide.

Wood attached to guard

Groove cut in wood ready for cupboard back

I then used a combination of chisels and a number 71 plane to create the divider groove. The biggest problem was tear out along the edge of the groove, but I learnt from the first one that I did and chisels deeper first. This meant that the second groove was much better. This groove was 16mm and 4mm deep.

Grooves complete

Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Twelve

After yesterday's lessons mistake of the corner being planed to low, I learnt from my mistakes and this lesson went much smoother. I managed to finish hand planing the face and edge of the wood, and then using the Surface Planer, made sure that the face and two edges were perfectly flat and square.

Above: Surface Planner

After this it was put through the Thicknesser, to get it to the perfect height of 16mm, ready to be cut into the correct sizes, 

Above: Thicknesser

Finally I then stacked it using stickers to allow air to circulate around all the faces of the wood.

Hand Production Techniques - Lesson Eleven

This lesson was primarily used to sort out all the wood which was going to be used to create the carcase of the cupboard.

This wood had been ordered  and delivered, so all we had to do was mark any defects, cut it to length and plane a face and edge.

To begin I first used chalk to label the piece of wood with my name, and also any defects on any of the edges, so when I marked out my cabinet pieces there would not be any chips or dents.

Once I had marked out the the defects, I then cut it into length using the Radial Arm Saw.

Above: Radial Arm Saw

Finally I began to hand plane one face and an edge. To stop the wood from warping I also lightly planed the top service of the other side. I used a variety of hand planes, including a number 4, 5, and 7 jointer plane.

Above: Wood being planed to create a flat face

Although this was quite an easy task to understand, it took a long time, and A LOT of hard work, as I still haven't finished planing yet and will continue in tomorrows lesson. However I did hit a problem when I realised one corner was lower then the rest, which meant I have to plane the rest of the face to meet this corners height.