"WoodRat — New Projects and Uses"

    Beth is clamping the 6' long board on the Incra 5000 sled. I have never used it for this long a piece. I do not want it to twist during the cut. Needing a straight edge is too critical.

    

   The cut is going very well. The arrow points to a roller stand that is turned crosswise to the board resting on it. Actually, there are two stands with a slight overlap. The wood doesn't roll on the roller but slides on the smooth surface.

     Beth measures the height of the side board — from outside to outside.

  

          Here is where we want to set up for the second cut. Beth has penciled in the two cuts of the miter. She lines up this mark with the edge of the sled — the outfeed side. It is very close to the actual kerf. 

    With both clamps tightened down, she can make the next cut. This cut will be the start cut of piece No. 2. The next cut will be to go back to the 2nd cut of the first piece. It will be turned around and cut to the line.

    Beth just stands the first two boards together — a perfect folded miter corner. You can see how smoothly the grain wraps around the corner. There is no mistaking these corners — they  are continuous grain pieces. She will mark these boards' position on the inside and then go to the next corner.

  
    Beth keeps cutting piece by piece carefully checking it against the drawing. As each piece is cut, she marks the back with the corner and direction information.
  

   Progress seams to be very slow, but on purpose. We both want to make no mistakes so we measure, measure, and double check that measurement before actually making the cut.

   All the steps are done and it is time to make the inside structure for the drawers.

      It is the next day and I replaced those areas where we had used blue masking tape. The blue tape is a quick release tape that is ideal for painters, but it didn't have enough hold for what we wanted. We switched to 2" filament reinforced strapping tape, and it has a very strong hold. The board has been finished both sides so we will have to be careful when we remove the tape. A little rubber cement thinner or naphtha will remove any residue left by the tape.

   It is a great outside wrap, but we are far from done. We need an inside structure to hold the drawers and to keep this outside wrap together.
   That will have to wait. Andrea is expected soon, and she wants to make the drawers.

Main Menu

Previous  Page

Next  Page