Category: Practical techniques

A small exterior door project

Post author By Gary
Post date January 16, 2018
3 Comments on A small exterior door project

This door was made for an outhouse. The client wanted an exact copy in timber that would last a little longer than the previous door. I was quite pleased how it turned out and I learned a few things, which is always good.

Before I started work on the copy of this door, I wanted to check how the upper corner joints went together, as the client specified an exact match. The ‘long and short’ shoulder joint is what’s used here, as the next shot shows a little better.

Part of the joint has broken off here, but essentially the face of the door that is rebated for panelling has a rebate that is run right through the joint in both stiles and rails. The joint has to accommodate this, so the shoulder one one side reaches further than the other. This picture is not a great illustration, as the chunk of wood behind is part of the rear profile of the stile, but you can see the stepped shoulders of the top rail.

This is a better example! From Charles Hayward’s ‘Woodwork Joints’ book.

My choice of wood for this job was Accoya. A very stable engineered wood, commonly now used in joinery applications, particularly exterior jobs. The timber should experience next to no shrinkage or movement and takes paint well.

Setting out on a kitchen table. Sigh. This job came in while I was searching for a new workshop. I’ve since signed on the new space, but the door had to be made in the interim. Sometimes you just have to ‘make do’. Here’s I’m ganging up the two stiles and marking out for mortices. I already know the thickness of the panel material, as I’ve measured from the existing door.

I treated myself to a Bridge City Tools square some years ago on eBay. It needed a bit of work to clean it up, but nice to have.

When you don’t have a workshop with a strong bench and a mortiser, you have to work out how you are going to cut deep mortises. I wanted to avoid chopping out by hand, as I was restricted to a workbench in the garden. The deep pocket cutter from Wealdon Tools turned out to be a lifesaver.

Plunging the mortises with a Triton TRA001 router and the deep pocket cutter produced a lovely result. I took a deep breath here as things started to look a bit more achievable in the time frame. This joint is the lower rail in the stile, so the mortice is equal both sides. This rail allows to the panelling by being thinner and the panelling simply passes right over it.

Not glued, just cramped up in the hallway so that I can check for square. Thankfully, it was.

I got on with the panelling next. I had already taken the Accoya panelling down to 13mm on a thicknesser at a ‘day-rate’ workshop local to me. I dropped each piece into a simple jig which allowed me to make a tongue on one edge with my bargain Katsu router. (These small routers are one of the best bargains on the internet).

Normally I would expect shiplapped boards on these doors, but the original had tongue and groove fitting. Hence I copied that and using Accoya, there should be little or no shrinkage hopefully.

The stiles are made long, so in this picture you have to imagine them trimmed back to the top of the rail, but you can see that the rebate is run straight through on the stile and the rail. the panelling drops into the rebate and I will add a groove all around the inside of the rebate later. This will mean once I cut a tongue onto the tops of the panelling, all the panels can ‘lock’ into the groove for a snug and strong fit.

The tongue and groove panelling. If this wasn’t Accoya, I would leave a 2mm expansion gap everywhere, but with engineered wood, I’m closing it right up.

Everything locked into the grooves and skew nailed into the rails. The outer strips of panelling have been cut so that they have tongues to go into stile grooves.

Some minor filling here and there and I added a few front nails too, just for good measure. Only because this is going to be a painted job.

The offset joint on the top corners. Mid and lower rails don’t need this, they are just finished thinner by the depth of the rebate so that the panelling goes over them.

Tags Accoya, Doors, Joinery

Hand Tools Practical techniques

Mini-Workbench Plans

This is a nice project you might want to make if you’re pressed for space, or if your current setup doesn’t include a sturdy bench top with a vice.
Steve Tomlin of SBT Design recently won first prize in the worldwide ‘Masters of Wood’ plans competition 2017, organised by Triton tools. His ‘Mini Workbench’ has some neat storage ideas, integrating an area for Festool systainers and also featuring the ‘holy’ worktops where you can use Festool clamps and dogs.
The bench also looks useful for traditional hand tool use, which is why I like it, with a good-sized vice and nice use of hardwood in the frame. Steve uses oak, but as the plans show, you can use whatever hardwood you like. There’s some storage for your bits under the worktop and I understand Steve is also working on a second version with a drawer included.
The plans are free, so you can download them and store them for a winter project maybe, or just crack on and get one built.

Tags Festool, SBT Design, Triton, Workbench

Practical techniques Uncategorized

Nearly finished…

Finally getting to the end on this house renovation. This week I got to finally work with some wood, albeit only plywood.

Love these Festool tools. Routing in the sun!

This is the right hand space. The wall at the back of the room has been left alone throughout the renovation and now has a sort of Cy Twombly/Basquiat feel. 🙂

The front bedroom needs some built-ins in the alcoves to right and left of the chimney breast. I’ve already made some plinths, because the idea is to stand cabinets in the holes, rather than try to deal with hanging shelving onto the wall. The walls in these corners are in quite bad shape, as is often the case with older houses. The walls elsewhere are great, but one had to be entirely re-plastered.

I built the cabinets with birch ply and have routed out the rear to accept a ply back board. I did all this on a rare sunny day in London and I have to admit I was very pleased I’ve recently invested in a secondhand Festool router, (so old it’s actually pre-Festool and called Festo). I also have a secondhand TS55 plunge saw from Festool and these two tools are worth their weight in gold for this type of work.
All the sheet stock is now prepped to size and I lipped the shelves with tulipwood, so that you don’t see the raw ply edges. The shelves have had two coats of clear varnish.

To add the lipping I cramped three glued-up shelves up at once, for speed.

Adding lipping. I shaved back the lipping after the glue went off. Went as close as I dared with a sharpened plane, before taking it right down with glasspaper.

When I get to put the cabinets together, (I don’t have a Domino), I’ll screw the main parts together and maybe even screw the shelves in too. Not sure they’ll need to be moved much, so might avoid doing the shelf-pin-hole thing. I figure I’ll then add pocket holes around the outside and once I’ve sized up for a face frame to hide the cabinet edges, I can attach in that way.
Only other decision is whether I should attached the doors to the face frame, or size the face frame so it’s nearly flush and add hinges to the inside of the box in the conventional way.

This little Grex pinner is a great tool to have around when making cabinets on your own. You can hold elements flush and pin them, while you find you drill and screws. I watched the late great Joe Fusco do this. God bless you Joe, you will live on through YouTube!

All the stock cut to size and routed out for back panels.

Giving the shelves two coats of clear varnish, sanding in-between with 240 paper.

Any thoughts on both methods would be appreciated. The first method will require some proper face-frame hinges and would also require face-frame material of a good quality. Something like maple with good strength, which would be more resilient to knocks. I could circumvent this by going down the second route, the face-frame being decorative with Euro-style hinges attached to the box. I’ll have to decide on this.

Tags cabinets, plywood, storage

Hand Tools Paul Sellers Practical techniques Saws

Paul Sellers on crosscut saw sharpening

Post author By Gary
Post date April 13, 2016
No Comments on Paul Sellers on crosscut saw sharpening

Paul Sellers is always worth a watch in my book and slowly I’m finding more and more reasons to sign up for his Woodworking Masterclasses. My lack of available space to put anything into practice is the only thing that holds me back. I know once I have watched his Tool Cupboard series I would be dying to make it.
Ho-hum.
For the time being, the free video about sharpening crosscut saws is of interest, especially the idea of using a paper template for the sharpening angle.
It’s worth scrolling through Paul’s videos, because he done a lot and a good proportion are free.

Tags sharpening

Book Practical techniques

‘The Arts of Mitring & Coping’ – Owen B. Maginnis

Post author By Gary
Post date February 12, 2016
No Comments on ‘The Arts of Mitring & Coping’ – Owen B. Maginnis

A free pdf for all you readers who might want it. I’ve found this fascinating reading since I found it online. To quote the title page:
A complete treatise on the proper modern methods to apply practically in joining mouldings. A book for working carpenters, joiners, cabinet makers, picture frame makers and woodworkers. Clearly and simply explained by over 40 engravings, with full directive text.
You can download a pdf of the book here (5.5mb).

If you have pdfs related to woodworking you would like to share with other readers of this blog, then please forward the details. Similarly, if you are looking for a pdf, let me know and maybe I can put a post out soon on the blog. The title needs to be out of copyright, so that I don’t incur the wrath of the publisher.

Tags B.Maginnis, mouldings, Owen