Hello all.
I just came across pictures of my very first project from a few years ago. These are two hope chests that I made for my older daughters. They are birch sides, juniper legs, and juniper bottom for that cedar smell. This started my obsession with homegrown wood.
It started like this. We moved to a new house that had a 40 foot weeping birch tree that caught a disease. So down it came, but I left the trunk standing. I couldn't bear the thought of ruining such a wonderful piece of wood. I stared at this wood for about 14 months every time I walked from my house. I knew I had to do something with it.
So, the next summer I was enlarging our RV pad and had a bunch of fresh smelling juniper (cedar, for you east coasters). Again, I couldn't bear the thought of sending these to the dump, so they got neatly stacked.
A few times throughout the year, I would need some wood for something. Instead of going all the way to town to get a piece, I tried cutting some of the juniper on my table saw. It worked quite well. I made a few shelf racks this way. I used a box jig with two screws into the ends of the log.
Then I got to thinking. I would turn that birch into boards. Now the entertaining part... It was using a 14" craftsman saw that was 10 years old or better. I would run, but it took constant fiddling with the choke.
I snapped a chalk line and free handed the rip cuts. I ended up with 1-1/2 to 2" thick boards that had the texture of a rocky creek bed. So... I let these dry by the pellet stove for a while, then a made a "planer jig" out of my router and a 1/2" bit. I used two x fours as a guide and turned my whole router table upside down and ran it up and down the board. Yes... Many, many, many times.
Then came the hand planing... I must have resharpened that planer 20 times by the time I was done. My floor was full of about 100lbs of scrap. Certainly no the most efficient use of wood.
Then to the cedar. I again used a box jig to get one flat side on the table saw. I used another 1/4 board to get a straight edge and ripped 1" x 3-1/2" boards of juniper. In one 3-1/2" board I counted 45 (YES, forty five) growth rings. This was sure some slow growth wood.
Anyway... After drying, planing, sanding, planing, drying, planing, sanding, it was time to assemble. I joined the boards with a homemade birch spline (from the scrap) and made a groove in each board to accept the spline with the router and table.
I screwed up the alignment, so I had to plane and sand some more.
Then, after all this work, my daughters had finally realized that I was building their Christmas present. One daughter was studying the Oregon Trail in school. She went on to tell me that on the Oregon trail, they didn't HAVE screws. ARRRRGH!!
So... I had to assemble the whole thing with wooden dowels and glue to be in the pioneering spirit. I was able to convince her that these came from a very rich family and imported hinges from England (Thank god!
).
After box assembly, time for the legs. I found some nice straight juniper and trimmed it to 18" (the size of my box jig). I used the hand plane, some straight chisels, and a pocket knife to clean these up. I used the jig to cut perfect 90 degree slots for the box. I used dowelscry in semi random fashion to attach.
The top is traced with wooden battens and cut on the jig saw with a 1/4" round over routed in. The cross boards add support for the spline joints. I had to scribe these cross boards because the wider boards I used for the top were not quite flat.
There... I was done. Needless to say, I was disappointed at Chrsitmas when they liked their Ipods better than their boxes, but I included some keepsakes to get them started and a lock to make it private. I hope in time they will come to cherish these.
I have yet to finish them... I bought the stuff but can’t stand the thought of ruining these.
Thanks for listening (reading). This started my wood gathering career. I now am a full-time firewood burner; I've scrapped the old craftsman; I save any wood I find to build stuff out of. That juniper is really amazing wood.
I just came across pictures of my very first project from a few years ago. These are two hope chests that I made for my older daughters. They are birch sides, juniper legs, and juniper bottom for that cedar smell. This started my obsession with homegrown wood.
It started like this. We moved to a new house that had a 40 foot weeping birch tree that caught a disease. So down it came, but I left the trunk standing. I couldn't bear the thought of ruining such a wonderful piece of wood. I stared at this wood for about 14 months every time I walked from my house. I knew I had to do something with it.
So, the next summer I was enlarging our RV pad and had a bunch of fresh smelling juniper (cedar, for you east coasters). Again, I couldn't bear the thought of sending these to the dump, so they got neatly stacked.
A few times throughout the year, I would need some wood for something. Instead of going all the way to town to get a piece, I tried cutting some of the juniper on my table saw. It worked quite well. I made a few shelf racks this way. I used a box jig with two screws into the ends of the log.
Then I got to thinking. I would turn that birch into boards. Now the entertaining part... It was using a 14" craftsman saw that was 10 years old or better. I would run, but it took constant fiddling with the choke.
I snapped a chalk line and free handed the rip cuts. I ended up with 1-1/2 to 2" thick boards that had the texture of a rocky creek bed. So... I let these dry by the pellet stove for a while, then a made a "planer jig" out of my router and a 1/2" bit. I used two x fours as a guide and turned my whole router table upside down and ran it up and down the board. Yes... Many, many, many times.
Then came the hand planing... I must have resharpened that planer 20 times by the time I was done. My floor was full of about 100lbs of scrap. Certainly no the most efficient use of wood.
Then to the cedar. I again used a box jig to get one flat side on the table saw. I used another 1/4 board to get a straight edge and ripped 1" x 3-1/2" boards of juniper. In one 3-1/2" board I counted 45 (YES, forty five) growth rings. This was sure some slow growth wood.
Anyway... After drying, planing, sanding, planing, drying, planing, sanding, it was time to assemble. I joined the boards with a homemade birch spline (from the scrap) and made a groove in each board to accept the spline with the router and table.
I screwed up the alignment, so I had to plane and sand some more.
Then, after all this work, my daughters had finally realized that I was building their Christmas present. One daughter was studying the Oregon Trail in school. She went on to tell me that on the Oregon trail, they didn't HAVE screws. ARRRRGH!!
So... I had to assemble the whole thing with wooden dowels and glue to be in the pioneering spirit. I was able to convince her that these came from a very rich family and imported hinges from England (Thank god!).After box assembly, time for the legs. I found some nice straight juniper and trimmed it to 18" (the size of my box jig). I used the hand plane, some straight chisels, and a pocket knife to clean these up. I used the jig to cut perfect 90 degree slots for the box. I used dowels
cry in semi random fashion to attach.The top is traced with wooden battens and cut on the jig saw with a 1/4" round over routed in. The cross boards add support for the spline joints. I had to scribe these cross boards because the wider boards I used for the top were not quite flat.
There... I was done. Needless to say, I was disappointed at Chrsitmas when they liked their Ipods better than their boxes, but I included some keepsakes to get them started and a lock to make it private. I hope in time they will come to cherish these.
I have yet to finish them... I bought the stuff but can’t stand the thought of ruining these.
Thanks for listening (reading). This started my wood gathering career. I now am a full-time firewood burner; I've scrapped the old craftsman; I save any wood I find to build stuff out of. That juniper is really amazing wood.
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