We are placed in the outer part of the Trondheim Fjord in a tiny village, so it is very quiet here. We do our own cooking and make sure the maintenance is up to date, so all in all it is not far from normal except that the ship is steady.
This also means that I am able to do some woodworking in the evening once the chores of the day are done. So I should be able to make a decent project this time, and I have long had the idea of trying to make a Pennsylvania spice chest.
They don't require a lot of hardware and the size is appropriate for something that needs to be taken on an air plane as luggage. Furthermore it is basically just a fancy box with a hinged door and a couple of extras.
The least appealing part of this project is that I am going to be needing a lot of thin stock, so that sort of rules out the usual pallet sides. We do have some heavier stock out here that is originally intended to serve as sides for shelves to keep stuff from flying around when the ship is in heavy seas. For some reason we have a lot more of these pieces than we have shelves. So I decided to use some of that extra wood for this project. It is S4S 6 x 1.5" spruce of a fair quality, but the size means that I have to do a lot of resawing.
I plan to make the overall size of the chest itself something like 16" high by 12" wide and 11" deep plus some legs of a kind.
The designs I have looked at range from 1/2" to 3/4" stock for the sides and 1/4" for the dividers between the drawers.
My sides will probably end up 9/16"'ish, and I hope the dividers will end up something like 3/8". But I will just do as usual, and try to get the stock flat and reasonably uniform.
For the sides it will be enough to split the board in two, but for the dividers I will split each board in three.
By the way, the Internet connection made sure it took 1 hour to upload those three pictures!
Stock before resawing.
Resawing setup.
First piece split in two.
Resawing leaves you lots of time to think.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's really a lot like work :)
DeleteIt is not as fast by hand as it is using a band saw, that's for sure.
DeleteA little work never hurt anyone (but why take the risk)..
DeleteWhat is the brand of the ripsaw?
ReplyDeleteThe brand is Luna.
DeleteBut I just bought a new Bahco saw instead, because the Luna was getting a bit dull.
It is technically not a rip saw, but more a universal sawing teeth pattern saw. The new saw was something like 10$, so I figured that it would be worth it considering all the resawing I have to do for this project.
Brgds
Jonas
It looks like it sawed quite well. Nice work! I'm amazed that a combination tooth saw appears to have worked its way through wide material without clogging.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I made resawed sides for a tool till in my box and I think resawing by hand was one of the hardest things I've done. Let's just say the sides are mostly the same thickness in most places ;) Thanks again, love reading your and Brian's blog posts on creative woodworking in small spaces.
ReplyDeleteHi Brian.
ReplyDeleteI think it helps a lot that the material is really dry.
I start sawing from one side, and do it at a little bit of an angle, then after a couple of inches, I flip the board around and go from the other side. I am able to get pretty consistent results that way.
I have experimented with lifting the saw on the back stroke, and it seems to work a bit better that way. I guess that the teeth otherwise pulls back in a bit of sawdust and that sits in the bottom of the kerf when I push forward again.
Brgds
Jonas
Hi Senrabc.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice comment.
Resawing also tends to get more difficult the wider a board you need to process.
A 6" board is a lot worse to do than a 4" etc.
It doesn't matter if the sides are not exactly the same thickness all the way. I can't remember where I read it, but furniture is rarely experienced through a caliper.
The proportions of a piece is so much more important than having the exact same thickness of the parts.
But having stock that is the same thickness usually makes it easier to lay out joinery.
Brgds
Jonas
I basically use the same method for re-sawing, except I cramp the timber so that I can just move myself to the other side and go at it with the other hand, instead of having to keep flipping the stock around.
ReplyDeleteHi Johann
DeleteI really have a hard time using my left hand for sawing. But I suppose that I could do it for resawing with a bit of practice.
The problem out here is that there isn't really any alternatives to where I clamp the stock. That is if I wan to stay inside the workshop.
If I go to the open deck, we have a workbench, but In this part of the world in November, it isn't an attractive option :-)
Brgds
Jonas
I have been re-sawing wit japanese saw, ,but l need proper rip saw (have one but needs sharpening).Also been thinking of a bow saw. Probably file up rip saw. Would have to source bow saw blades.
ReplyDeleteHi Paul
DeleteI have a Japanese rip saw, but I didn't think of bringing it. But I haven't got much experience in ripping wide stock with one of those. But I suppose it can be learned.
I think that a bow saw would be good due to the weight that is on the blade. But a good rip filed panel saw would also be nice.
But hey, I should stop whining. I am getting faster for each piece, and I can use the work out associated with the task.
Brgds
Jonas
I do all my resawing by hand, so I know how you feel. It's not the most plesant part of the build.
ReplyDeleteIrecommend you smuggle a frame saw onto that ship if you plan to do more of that kind of work in the future ;-)
Hi Mikkel
DeleteAt home I do all my resawing with machines. So I am constantly amazed at how much work it really is.
I have thought about the frame saw option earlier, but I try to keep the tool set I bring back and forth fairly compact.
A frame saw could be dismantled, but it would still have some long pieces. But I suppose it couldn't hurt to try.
I tried to get Brian and Alex to taste a "Kajkage", from Vils bageri, but they declined. Instead we got "kanelsnegle" and "basser". "Kanelneglene" was a huge hit.
Brgds
Jonas
If I remember correctly, I said it all looked good and didn't know any of the pastries, and asked you to pick some you thought we would like!
DeleteHmmmm, You might be correct on that one, but that doesn't make for such an interesting story :-)
DeleteBy the way, I would take cinnamon swirls over Kajkager any day myself! So you did get the best tasting pastry.
Cheers
Jonas (Who just baked a blueberry pie two hours ago)
Clearly, they have no clue what is good for them ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have an old bandsaw in my workshop that needs to be restored, before I can use it. But since I like woodworking more than restoring machines, I seem to keep doing all my resawing by hand... Maybe I don't know what is good for me either.
It is a tough decision about restoring old machinery.
DeleteIf you do a lot of resawing, a band saw is a great machine. But if you don't do resawing that often I can see the dilemma.
I have an old Junget Rabb No 3 I bought 10 years ago for 1500 dkk including 10 new blades. That was a super deal.
I don't use the saw that often, but once in a while it is just what it takes to save the day.
So if I was you, I would probably spend half a Saturday and restore the band saw.
Brgds
Jonas (who prefers kanelsnegle too) :-)
Hi Jonas,
ReplyDeletealways amazed about your ways to handle things. To clamp the stock that way for resawing is let's say interesting :-)
With a bit of training resawing Spruce by hand is not as hard as it looks. My point of view.
But it is always a workout :-)
Cheers,
Stefan
Hi Stefan
DeleteIt is not exactly a text book method of clamping the stock :-)
But based on almost 3 years of experience on this boat with woodworking, this works pretty well. I just have to make sure that I stop sawing before hitting the clamp.
I agree that spruce is not so bad to re-saw. Actually the psychological barrier is the hardest to overcome. Just looking at all the stock that needs to be sawed can make me think of finding another project.
Brgds
Jonas