Terrestrial Woodworking Q

[RAGNAR]

Very nice work, Chuckles. Thanks for posting.

[RAGNAR]

One of my -- everyone's, no doubt -- favorite wood furniture makers (their pieces look much, much better in person than they do in pics):

Thos. Moser : Solid wood furniture, crafted by hand to last a lifetime.

If I remember correctly, the Japanese market embraced this concern way before the US market did. (Given Japan's woodworking standards, that's one hell of an achievement.)

[TrueBlue]

I've got a Thos. Moser dining room table and chairs at home, bought when the last architectural firm I was with (before going solo) furnished 8,000 sf of office space with his furniture. I got a great discount at the time being the building's designer ;-).

The furniture is mostly hand crafted - unheard of today, with chair legs hand-pegged, wedged and doweled. Individual pieces are all signed by the craftsman, who obviously are proud of their work. Great American designs - inspired by Shaker simplicity and purity of line.

I've got a few pieces by Michael Maxwell too - bought the first through his Fine Furnishings Show Exhibit and became hooked.

[hellosailor]

I'd agree that marine ply is way overkill but caution that "engineered materials" vary widely in their properties. I've seen some 15-20 year old kitchen cabinets starting to crumble next to a dishwasher and sink, where heat and humidity are highest. The cabinet doors are simply pulling off the hinges, the material they are set in is falling apart. And, every door in the cabinets is out of kilter as they shifted in the screw holes.

But a lot of good commercial cabinetry is built from engineered materials, which I still lump together as "particle board". (I don't like it.) A recent "flip that home" show on TV pointed out another potential land mine: The new owners wanted to install granite counter tops, the counter people said no way, you can't put that on composite boards they'll buckle from the weight.

If you are building the lower units...and there's any chance you'll want to place a heavy countertop on them, don't use composite. And if you do use composite, check the particular materials, and maybe see for yourself how well they hold screws or resist moisture, try a sheet before you commit to a whole project.

[soulesailor]

I'd stay away from MDF or LDF for your project. It's just sawdust and glue, very little strength. Not enough to support its own weight as an upper hanging off a few screws filled with plates and glasses and food. It would be asking for disaster. The lowers or a vanity don't have the structural problem of hanging off a wall but they still swell, screws strip out, edges chip easily, etc. It's not worth it for two rooms of your house that add more value than any other part.

The doors, drawer faces and cabinet face frames are all going to be solid wood, so the sheet work left is simply the box carcass. I recommend cabinet grade plywood but you can definitely use normal interior ply, too, just make certain in has at least five plys plus the veneer. Four ply is becoming more prevalant and it really warps and moves. It's junk.

There really is no noticable difference between working regular ply and marine ply, so no sense spending all the extra money for the experience.

Nice looking cherry cabinets, chuckles. You gonna give the admiral some pulls or what?

[Freesail99]

They are now selling a pre finished maple plywood veneer. My friend covers the areas he plans on cutting or milling with blue tape, so he doesn't mar the surface. Nice looking stuff.

[Freesail99]

In the past I've use a biscuit joiner to attach a solid wood face frame to a plywood carcass.

[Stillraining]

What is every one here a master craftsmen or something...Im getting an inferiority complex...

I now know where the money for my windless installation is coming from...The sale of my wood shop tools...

[UncleJosh]

Two words... Pocket screws. They make you look like a pro for a small initial investment, and they hold like crazy.

[chucklesR]

Originally Posted by soulesailor

,
Nice looking cherry cabinets, chuckles. You gonna give the admiral some pulls or what?

Still deciding on what look and feel she/we want. I'm thinking Ebony wood knobs, she's think stainless art deco. We have a convergence issue I think.

I use biscuit joiners to put face frames on, having a regular sized Dewalt and a Ryobi minibiscuit.
I prefer hand tools, but give in to the reality of my skills and schedule as needed to get the job done. I love sharpening a tool to razor sharp and the feel as it slices wood.

First thing I built as an adult was my USN retirement shadow box (holds a the flag from my moms funeral and all my rank insignia and medals ribbons). No power tool touched it. Solid Walnut from a 80 year old barn. Hand planed, handcut rabbets and joints. Rubbed oil finish.
My first piece of furniture is a set of walnut bedside tables with tapered legs and marble inlays. Same wood as the shadow box, handcut the joints and inlay rabbets but used the table saw on the tapers. The hardest part was not having a power planer, the boards were all uneven thicknesses. You waste a lot of wood while in learning mode.

From there I moved to Adirondack chairs - made a half dozen, gave most away. Then got a set of plans for a 10 ft V-bottom dinghy, a couple sheets of Okume from Chesapeake Light Craft and built the boat. That was both a good and bad experience. It took a lot more effort than I thought it would. Here's a little boat related plywood work, starting at me getting the sides out of a sheet of ply, ending with me laying out the mast step
http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/j...nt=cutting.jpg
Note that the work bench is the stained, painted and poly sealed MDF cabinet I spoke of earlier. I've moved it to the new house and it's still in use. Cost me 40 bucks to make. That's the cupholder and cockpit table to my old boat lower left, waiting it's turn in the to-do list (strip and refinish).
boatshape3.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Taking shape with liberal amounts of duct tape holding it together just for the picture.
BuilderinBoat.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
I modified the heck out of the bow, plans called for a 3/8 inch ply king plank - I wanted bigger and for the bow to be covered. I wanted dry storage and a prettier 'big' boat look.
9 months of when I get to effort, sold the house and moved in the middle of building it.
edit - someone explain to me why I can only see links, not the pictures?