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So here I was
looking at some small clocks in a gift shop nearby, and this young lady notices me
measuring one wood item and she asked: "What are you going to do, make one?"
"No," I said, " I think I will make 10 or so."
At the end of the conversation she had agreed to be on the website if she
could be my student — she is a craft person but doesn't have woodworking skills.
So meet Beth — new student of "WoodShopDemos-U."
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While the box at the shop was
nice, I wanted to do several things that would add some nice "woodworker"
touches. One such thing, was that I wanted to use locking miter corners. They certainly
help structurally, but will also look nice — if we can do them well. Small pieces of
wood can be a challenge to shape safely.
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Based on the size of clock face in the
store, I ordered 10 clock sets and 20 picture frames to match. My concept was to have a
center clock box with two panels hinged to the sides.
I suggested to Beth that she start to layout the sizes, based on the
clock face sizes.
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She thought I was kidding, at
first, when I said to just start sketching on the workbench top. I have matte white
Formica on all the surfaces just for this reason — so she started sketching.
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As she sketches a possible plan, I cut a
piece of cherry that I have ripped to 1/2" width. We are just trying to get a sense
of proportions at this point.
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Well, we are getting somewhere. Here is
what we are deciding: 1) have 1/2" margin around the clock face; 2) the width of the
case will be 4" then; 3) 5" seems to be a nice, well proportioned height; and 4)
this 4" X 5" box will set on a base that will raise it another 1/2".
So that is our plan. We will set out to make boxes of this proportion.
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By the way, I ordered the 10 clock
pieces and 20 frames from www.clockparts.com, a
site recommended by an "on-line" friend. I was very impressed that they arrived
on time, packed very well in bubble wrap pockets and all the clocks had batteries
installed and were working. What more could I ask for? One clock and two picture frames
cost just under $10 a set in the 10/20 quantity — about $2.50 more in single
quantity.
[ The items I used are: WA810WA 2" Quartz Clock Fitup and WA810PF for
matching picture frame.]
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It is time to cut the slab of cherry
that I have in mind for the box sides. It is about 2 1/2" thick. I have had it on
hand for years, so this is a good time to use it and to try some repetitive resawing on
the SuperStation.
Beth starts by placing the cherry just touching the blade and then moving the
fence so that it just touches the cherry. She locks the fence in this position.
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With the fence touching the cherry slab
and locked, she moves the template for 5/8" spacing. This will give a 1/2" width
board after the 1/8" kerf of the blade.
Then, with some further sanding, the final width of each piece should be
about 7/16" — which will work very well.
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Pardon the grainy close-up, but I
wanted to show you the template. The blue numbers are the marks for the 5/8" spacing
and the red are for the 11/16" spacings. The Incra System provides a series of these
uniform spacing templates in addition to the many dovetail, box joints and specialty
templates.
Beth has lined up the tape so that one of the blue marks (16) is directly
under the cursor. It doesn't matter which blue number is used.
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