Saturday, September 26, 2009

Top This!

Well I have made some modest progress in the past couple of weeks, mostly relating to the top of the cabinet. Unlike the original design, I decided to make the top a frame and panel as well.

I got the panel cut to size, the edged rabetted, then the whole thing polished up and waxed. The frame is 3/4 glued up, as well as having had a bevel put on the front and the two sides. The rest of the panels in the cabinet are not rabetted, but I did so on the top so that items placed on the top will not sit below the front frame piece.

I really just need to get the final fitting done on the fourth piece of the panel, and then mount the whole piece. May happen tomorrow if all goes well.

I was already going over my veneer for the five shelves last night to figure out which pieces were 'worthy' of being top pieces and which were going to go on the bottom! I think one piece of the 5x5 Baltic birch ply will be enough to get my five shelves out of, with an extra to boot. Will also need to acquire a veneer press.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Summer's Over!

Well that was a crazy busy summer! Unfortunately, not busy with progress on the bookcase. But things are back to normal now, and I actually made a tiny smitch of progress.

I had been up to Robert's Creek this summer and popped into the IP school to say hello. I asked Robert about my plan to use oil or polish on the elm. I had also been re-reading The Cabinetmakers Notebook and in it observed JK's comment that oil is not an appropriate finish on elm as it does bad things to the colour. Robert suggested I consider just using plain Clapham's wax. Which I thought about and decided to use, as it easy to apply, non toxic, and I really like the finish I got on the elm with the 3000 grit sanding.

So I applied wax to the elm today. It darkened it up nicely, I think it goes well with the sapele. I also smoothed the sapele frame parts with 2000 grit sandpaper to remove any nibs and whatnot, in anticipation of giving them a final coat or two of shellac shortly.