General thoughts on Wood and Process
Text like this from Garrett. Text like this from Tim at the School.
What are we going to do about wood? They bring their own? Edensaw? We have talked about this and it is a very valuable experience, but it takes time and they are better off bringing their own wood rough milled.
Tim:We're happy to organize a trip to Edensaw near the beginning of the class so students can select wood. But we'd encourage those who have the ability to rough mill the wood to bring it along. The school is still working on equipping the machine shop and we'd quickly hit a bottleneck if everybody was trying to mill their wood at the same time. If you live near Port Townsend you can take advantage of the student discount at Edensaw (even ahead of the course).
The parts for the door specifically, and others, are best acclimated as long as possible. To rough cut the parts, they need a cutlist, with is a little bit of putting the cart before the horse, as they really need a drawing first. But here are some dimensions that seem to work. Very few parts need to be some standard — specifically only the top and bottom of the cabinet.
Tim: If as Garrett suggests below you've decided overal dimensions for your cabinet then rough milling your parts over size is a good way to go and you're not going to waste large amount of wood. Plus we'd encourage to bring some extra boards just in case..
About the cabinet design:
Sketch some ideas of what you would like to build. What will your cabinet be for? We’ll talk about design and cabinets specifically the first day, but the more ideas you come with, the sooner you can plunge in.
A full scale drawing would be ideal. Front view, side view, and top view. The top view we can work on together; it's an important drawing. Look below at the cutlist for the thicknesses of parts. Don't get bogged down in the joinery for now.
If you read Fine Woodworking or saw the on line video series I did on this cabinet, you'll have a rough idea of how the case goes together. You can buy plans from them, or download some plans, but I wouldn't. See the video, but design your own cabinet for something special to you.
Think small, and not too ambitious — remember we only have 6 days and lots of ground to cover. A good size would be somewhere between 24 – 30” high, 12 – 16” wide, and 4 - 5” deep. Smaller is fine too. So is longer. Not much deeper though. The shelves can have any arrangement you would like. Door design? One panel or more? One Drawer or 2? Come up with something that excites you. We can refine it.
Less can be more. Much more. Don’t try to do it all in this one piece.
Play with some molding shapes for at least the top and maybe the bottom of the case. I'll bring a molding plane or two, but you can do a lot of shaping with a block plane, rabbet plane, and scrapers. Keep them simple, like a wide cove or convex shape.
As for wood, choose something friendly, so that you can have maximum enjoyment using your hand tools rather than fight the wood. Basswood, clear white pine, butternut, alder, cedar, some nice straight grained air dried walnut or cherry would all be good choices. Douglas fir is beauty, especially quartersawn, but it's got its challenges. Get your wood soon, so that it can acclimate in your shop (or house if your wife will let you).
If you want to make some banding, or beads or details from something exotic, bring some of that.
Tim: the school has a supply of ebony and some other exotics which you are welcome to acquire for a donation to the school's new non-profit.
Parts List:
Without a drawing you won't know the exact sizes of your parts, but look at the drawing in FWW for basic guidelines. Leave things thick, wide, and long to be safe.
I suggest:
- Sides: 1/2" — 3/4" thick
- Top and bottom 5/8" thick (leave these thicker for now; we will plane them as a group to final thickness)
- Back 5/16" thick
- Shelves 5/16" thick
- Door parts 3/4" thick, panel 3/8" thick ± face frame, 3/4" thick (these are two long stiles the length of the cabinet, and 2 rails it's width). Keep these at least 1" wide.
