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Fine Hardwood Furniture

by

Andrew Pitts ~ FurnitureMaker

Work in Progress
Display Boxes

Article Completed 21 September 2007


Disclaimer: This discussion chronicles the making of a piece of furniture in my workshop. My intention is to bring the reader virtually into my shop to generally see how I do the work and share in my thought processes. Although I try to point out how the tools work and the applicable safety considerations, this discussion is not intended to be a text on how to work with tools, nor how to execute operations with the tools shown. I am not providing instruction in woodworking methods. Woodworkers attempting to imitate my methods do so at their own risk.
Click on images to enlarge

                    I have a client who has asked me to make several pieces, but this particular commission was for a somewhat unusual purpose. He had acquired some collectibles, including a crucifix and a couple of coins from a shipwreck, and a pair of nose rings - yes, rings that were once used on the body. Not modern mall crawler nose adornments, but authentic tribal nose rings made of a metal that looked a lot like gold. He wanted three display boxes to hang from the wall, housing the treasures.

             We did not want the boxes to overshadow the fine pieces, so my earlier suggestions for somewhat 'artsy' boxes were rejected for a more subdued look. We settled on simple rectangular boxes with fully exposed through dovetails (dovetails that extend through the full thickness of the wood pieces), a back floating in a groove in the sides, and a slot where the glass on the front of the box could be inserted and retained after securing the contents. The contents would rest on an inner pillow of nice fabric, and the choice of wood species was up to me.

            I designed very simple boxes of dimensions about 6" wide x 7" long x 2-1/2" deep, intending them to be made of quarter sawn cherry. I wanted quarter sawn because the sides were only 2-1/2" wide and might not show a flat sawn grain pattern well; quarter sawn cherry tends to have a very straight grain lines. The first step was to secure materials, which meant buying fabric and glass. I don't frequent fabric stores, so the advice from my wife, Kathy was invaluable in directing me to the right shop. On a trip to the big city, I stopped and bought some Navy Blue and some Ivory velvet. The plan would be to glue the velvet to a piece of cardboard wrapped with batting (soft, fuzzy stuff Kathy uses in quilts), just the right size to friction fit inside the box and against the back. The object(s) to be displayed would be attached to this insert with some clear nylon thread. I also stopped at several locations before I found some museum glass. This is kind of like non-glare glass used in picture frames, but is intended for shadow box applications where the non-glare surface cannot be frosted. I also learned just how expensive museum glass is; it's not your average window glass!

             Now it was time to start on the boxes. Planing SidesI selected some very nice quarter sawn cherry boards, and milled them to the correct length and width for the sides. Since the sides were to be only 3/8" thick, I "resawed" the boards on the band saw so I would have book matched parts. Resawing is when I saw a board on edge to make two thinner boards. By using the same board for each box, the grain match was perfect. Then I planed the pieces to the final thickness and smoothed them with the low angle smoothing plane in the photo to the right. For those familiar with conventional hand planes, a low angle plane is different from a conventional hand plane. They are more like block planes used to cut end grain. Conventional hand planes usually have beds set at about a 45 degree angle to the sole, and the iron (blade) is installed bevel down so it does not matter as much what bevel angle is ground, since the iron will attack the wood at the 45degree bed angle. In order to make the cut shaving quickly curl away from the board as the plane is pushed, an "iron cap" of steel is attached to the iron right behind the cutting edge. With the low angle smoothing plane, the iron rests on a bed that is angled only about 12 degrees from the sole. The iron is inserted with the bevel up, and there is no iron cap. The attack angle of the iron is the sum of the 12 degree bed angle and the bevel angle ground on the iron. I chose a blade bevel of 50 degrees which, if you do the math, means the front of the blade attacks the wood like a bulldozer at a 62 degree angle from the horizontal! That causes the shaving to curl up quickly and break, without the need of an iron cap. That prevents the blade form gouging the wood and causing "tear out", where some of the grain actually tears out of the surface and makes a mess. The 50 degree iron is a little tougher to push through the wood than irons of lesser angles (I have 37 degree and 25 degree irons for my planes), but the time I save not having to deal with tear out is well worth the extra effort. With all the parts smoothed, it was time to move on to marking and cutting the dovetails.
Marking sides
             With the sides planed smooth, it was time to mark the dovetails. For pieces like these, the dovetails are cut by hand. Of course, dovetails can be cut by machine, but that method is more appropriate for a run of several identical pieces, such as drawers. And, machine cut dovetails are limited in dimension, and I wanted to cut especially thin pins to give the boxes a more delicate look. So, marking gage in hand I first marked the depth of the tail and pins, which is the same as the thickness of the board, shown at left. Then, using a dovetail square, which is a short piece of angle aluminum with one sideMarking tails milled to the angle of the dovetails, I marked the end of the pins. For this job I cut the pins first, thinking that it would be easier to clean up my saw marks with a chisel on the pins, then transfer the pin shape to the tails. This is an age old argument amongst purists, whether to cut the pins or the tail, first. In my opinion, either can be cut first with equal success, and I do it both ways on various pieces. After cutting the pins with my fine Japanese pull saw (see my description of the Dozuki saw in my Chest of Drawers 2007 No. 3 writeup) and cutting out the waste between pins with a chisel, I Sawing tailsused the pins to mark the tails, as shown at right. Here is an example of why maybe in this case I should have cut the tail, first. Notice that I am having to hold the tail board with my thumb and middle finger, and hold the pin board with my thumb and index finger while I used my marking awl to scribe the shape of the pins on the tail board. Had I cut the tails first, I could have put the pin board vertically in my vice on my bench (which is flush with the bench top) and simply held the tail board down on top of the end of the viced pin board while I scored the marks. Not a big deal, but a consideration. Anyway, with tails marked (are you getting confused, yet?) I cut the tails, shown at left. Again, after cutting the tails with the saw, the waste was removed with a chisel (you can also get a good pictorial of this process in my Chest of Drawers 2007 No. 3 writeup).planing edges

             Now that all the dovetails were cut, I had to true up the top and bottom edges of the assembled box prior to routing a groove for the bottom and the glass front. The photo at right shows the dry assembled box clamped in the bench vice and I am gingerly shaving the edges true with a hand plane. It is not possible to cut hand dovetails and have the sides line up precisely (that is, with zero change in elevation as your finger traces the top of one edge to theRouting grooves top of an adjoining edge, so this step is necessary. With the edges true, I then used a 1/8 inch wide cutter in my router table to cut a pair of grooves on the insides of the boxes. The photo at left shows this process. Note that the dovetails had not been glued, yet, so I had to be careful that they did not come apart during this operation, lest the bit take a loose piece of wood and turn it into a missile -- or worse. After running the boxes around the router table, I took the sides apart and used a 1/8" chisel to square the ends of the grooves. Things went well, and I was able to fit my precut bottoms, made from maple into the boxes. Now, before gluing up the sides, I finished the insides with my shellac polish, which is a very thin shellac and alcohol mix that I wipe on with a soft cloth, let dry, sand to P600 grit, and repeat up to six or seven times. The inside finish was especially important here, since these were showcase boxes and the insides would be on display. With all the insides finished, I was then able to glue up the dovetails with the bottoms in place.
Block planing
             With the dovetails glued up, I could smooth the ends of the pins and tails. When cutting dovetails, the depth of the joints is always cut a little more than the thickness of the boards so that the ends of the pins and tails will be a bit proud of the surface. Then they are planed off flush with the sides. Smooth planingIf not done this way, the ends of the pins and tails could be recessed from the surface of the sides, meaning the sides would have to be planed down some for get a smooth surface. The ends of the pins and tails are end grain, meaning that planing them will not be along the grain, but across the grain, kind of like cutting a bundle of soda straws with a razor blade. This kind of cut requires a special low angle plane called a block plane, which doesn't do such a good job of planing with the grain, but excels at cutting end grain. The block plane is quite small, as can be seen in the photo to the right. You can also see how the bottom fit into the groove in the sides. With the pins and tails flush, I could then do the final smooth planing of the sides, getting ready for the final finish. The photo to the left shows the smooth plane in action.

             Now I had to cut a groove in which to insert the glass. The idea was that the glass would be inserted after the contents were installed and would be secured withFitting Slot some type of closure. I had made custom fitted removable plugs in my Jewel Chests, so it seemed like I could adapt that idea for these boxes. Using the router table, I cut a 1/4" groove along one side, half way through the thickness of the side right over where the glass groove was located. The idea was for the new groove to open up into the glass groove so that a piece of glass could be inserted through it. The 1/4" groove extended almost the full length of the side, but stopped just a little short so that an elongated plug could be made to fit into it, as seen in the photo to the right. I drilled tiny holes in the ends of the plug so it could be secured with small 1/2" long brass screws. Now when the contents had to be attended to, the screws could be removed, the plug removed, the glass removed ... you get the picture. These fine details are what makes a custom fine furnishing!
Aging cherry
             I could now contact my client to choose the best fabric for the artifacts and construct the pillows on which they would be attached. In the meantime, I finished the outsides of the boxes with my shellac polish, applying six or seven coats or so. I also took advantage of the sunshine to age the cherry and darken it. Cherry is very light sensitive, and it darkens with exposure. I like the darker look better than the light, don't you?

             I made hangers to screw and glue to the backs using a strip of cherry. Now, you can buy stamped steel hangers like I made - they look like saw teeth so you can hang them over a nail in the wall - but this is art, so I made nice wooden hangers! Much better. The pillows were straighforward to make. ICases Completed cut an undersized cardboard form around which I wrapped batting (soft fuzzy material that Kathy uses in quilts), then did the same with the correct color of velvet and glued velvet on the backs of the pillows, as well (to hide the name of the beer carton I used as the form). Maroon velvet was used for the crucifix, navy blue for the nose rings, and ivory for the coins. Those coins were basically black when I received them, but a good soaking in several baths of baking soda and salt removed most of the tarnish to reveal silver "pieces of eight". The story behind these is interesting, in itself. It turns out that the designs in the coins were stamped cast, and then the edges of the coins were clipped until the correct weight was attained. I did not clean the crucifix nor the nose rings. The story behind the nose rings is perhaps the most interesting of all. It turns out that my client was doing some archaeological work when his pick axe found a buried skeleton. Breaking away the clay revealed a skull with nose rings in place. Okay ... I'll just stick to woodworking, thank you. Getting back to the project, I used clear nylon thread to attach the crucifix and nose rings to the pillows (did you ever use that stuff? It's invisible!), and double sided tape to attach the coins. Then I installed the museum glass, which as luck would have it was a little too large for two of the boxes. My tolerances on these small boxes were tight, and anyone who has cut glass knows that getting it within 1/16" of target dimensions is pretty good - I needed to be closer than that, so my error was in the safe direction. A little lapping of the edges with my diamond sharpening plates brought them to the correct size so they slipped into their slots.  And that's it!