Heath's Woodworking Projects

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:49 pm

fredsheldon wrote:Can't wait to see how you are going to do the dimples. Looks like you have an assembly line going. I did the same when making 40 pen and letter opener sets for gifts this year. That's a total of 120 blocks to be drilled, glued and turned.

For the dimples/pips, I made a short length of 1/4" dowell from oak, put that in the drill chuck, sanded a slightly roundover on the end, then "drill" with it. The friction create the dimple and the heat will blackened it.

Here's one I did by eye on a test piece. I'll come up with a jig or stop blocks or something to get the pips consistent.

bcone1381 · Post by **bcone1381** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:44 pm

I can see the smoke in the photo.

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 12:57 am

I can't wait to see the jig you come up with to be able to make all the various hole combinations uniformly...I'm pretty naive when it comes to stuff like that and have always wondered how folks do it. I'd love to make a cribbage board some day but have no clue how I'd drill all those holes in nice straight, uniform lines...

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:34 am

Getting the placement right doesn't concern me as much as the size/depth of each pip. That is controlled by the pressure from the dowel and the length of time of contact. Since the dowel wears down as well, setting the depth stop doesn't work.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:36 am

Perhaps a short piece of drill rod or a cut off bolt with a rounded end would do the trick.

joedw00 · Post by **joedw00** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:32 am

That is a smart way of making dimples. I would not have thought of that.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:57 am

I fear I'm falling behind schedule. I had planned on being off work after Monday (through Jan 2), but ended up working Tuesday and Wednesday. I put in almost 40 hours at work over 3 days. Then yesterday I had to spend most of the day at the mall. Today, I had to spend until now at my kids school with their Christmas parties.

I did work on the dominoes last night until about 3am. I sorted them out into 3 sets of 30 (2 extra for each set in case of goofs). I got 2 complete sets sanded. I had experimented with using the router to put a 1/8" radius on the corners, but didn't like the results. It was too much. I was happier with the hand sanded corners. Just knocking the edge down a little. My hand was cramping pretty bad after hand sanding 60 dominoes, and I'm not looking forward to the other 30.

I still need to make all the pips, cut the center dividing kerf (with the bandsaw), and apply the finish (spray polyurethane). I had planned on filling the kerf with some tiny strips of mahogany, but I don't think I'll have time for that. And I still need to make the boxes for them.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:39 am

All the dominoes are done. I'll start applying finish and making the boxes tomorrow. Maybe I will get these done in time.

The "jig" for setting the pips was just the fence, a stop block, and a pattern domino to help me align it all. Set it all for a particular pip location, burn the pips with the oak dowel in the drill chuck (I did experiment with a bolt, but the metal acted as a heat sink and the tip didn't get hot enough to burn the dimple), then reset for the next pip location.

To make the dividing line, I used the bandsaw. I buried the blade in a sacrificial fence to control depth of cut, and used a stop block to set the location.

This procedure worked amazingly well. Very consistent results. I did find that I had to turn on the SS, push the domino into the blade, turn off the SS, then remove the domino. If I tried out pull the dominoes back with the blade still running, I got a wavy looking line.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:48 am

Here are all the dominoes, ready for some polyurethane.

Now, I have questions about the spray polyurethane. In the past when I've used it, I was able to hang my project so I could get to all areas and it could dry hanging without having to move it. Can't do that this time. The can says it dries in 24 hours, and to apply any additional coats within 2 hours or after 72 hours. I can't wait 72 hours.

How long do I need to wait before I can handle them to turn them over so I can spray the other side?

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:24 am

Deft spray lacquer dries quickly. You can get it at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

Very nice job on those dominoes, Heath.