Today in my Grrage - Bedroom Furniture Build

mountainbreeze · Post by **mountainbreeze** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 3:12 pm

Earlier this summer I completed a tall dresser for our bedroom with the thought that if it turned out OK I'd make the rest of the pieces. The plans I followed are from Woodsmith Magazine. Well, the tall dresser turned out nice so I decided to continue with the project. Here's a picture of the completed tall dresser:
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Next was the headboard. The plans were for an complete queen bedframe including a footboard but the wife and I didn't think we wanted a footboard so I only made the headboard. Since we have a king bed, I had to modify the plans in the magazine. Here's a picture of it completed but unfinished:
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There are no plans for a low dresser so I designed my own based on the tall dresser. It and two nightstands are underway so I thought I'd share the build process. Here are the basic cases of the low dresser and the two nightstands:
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I'm in the process of adding the side and front trim to the three pieces now. I'll post more pictures at some of the milestone points.

mountainbreeze · Post by **mountainbreeze** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 3:18 pm

Well, not really a milestone but I thought I'd share the bad along with the good.

I was cutting some of the molding pieces from a larger block of wood today and one of them got away from me. Two things I found pretty amazing was that 1) the piece of wood was perfectly horizontal and square to the door at the point of impact and 2) that's a metal door!

Sure am glad I was standing to the side of the workpiece.
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dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 3:50 pm

mountainbreeze wrote:Well, not really a milestone but I thought I'd share the bad along with the good.

I was cutting some of the molding pieces from a larger block of wood today and one of them got away from me. Two things I found pretty amazing was that 1) the piece of wood was perfectly horizontal and square to the door at the point of impact and 2) that's a metal door! Sure am glad I was standing to the side of the workpiece.[ATTACH]22704[/ATTACH]

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Yes, I am sure you are thankful for being out of the line of fire. I am also thankful. Thankful that you are not a statistic of this event.

I am sure that you have thought a lot about this since it happened. Have you developed an opinion as to what caused the kickback. I see you had a feather board installed. That is good but confusing. Normally a kickback like this occurs when either the board rises up off the table top at the far side of the blade or it gets bound between the fence and the blade due to improper fence alignment.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 4:15 pm

HOWS the other side of the door? Are ya going to LEAVE that molding there as a reminder?:eek:

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:39 pm

Which is why nobody stays in my shop/garage with me while I'm operating any equipment. Please share exactly why this occurred so that I can learn from your near miss. I'm new to this hobby and need to be aware of all the things that could go wrong if I'm not careful.

Fred

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:05 pm

Hi, Bill! Super nice looking work! Congratulations!:D

Being an accomplished woodworker, as shown by your work, you've got to have a hint on how that piece got away from you.

Assuming the photo of the saw is the same configuration as when you had your kick back, I can see that a splitter/riving knife would have helped avoid the accident. Also a Shopsmith upper blade guard with anti kickback pawls would have stopped any back throwing.

Do you think you may have pushed down on the feed end thereby raising the wood to the top of the blade?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:28 pm

I be guessing the workpiece was being fed with the narrow(shaped) 'face' against the fence.

The workpiece twisted(narrow top descended into the blade fence space). This caused the blade to catch at the back/bottom and the result is pictured.

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:57 pm

The bedroom furniture is gorgeous! I hope to do half as well on my first real furniture project.

For my own rookie kickback mistake, I was dumb enough to be standing directly in the line of fire, but smart enough to be wearing lab goggles. Dumb enough to crosscut an old broomstick handle (think cheap dowel) with the cutoff piece guided directly against rip fence. And lucky that the cutoff weighed less than an ounce. The SS fired it in a glancing blow against my temple, before I even had time to blink. It made a nice little oozing welt. Several lessons learned, in a big hurry.

The saw guard and riving knife were in place, but of course were useless against that particular mistake.

My old Craftsman table-top saw didn't possess nearly enough kinetic energy to fire a piece that fast. And so I never knew just how dangerous poor technique can be.

mountainbreeze · Post by **mountainbreeze** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 12:56 am

Dusty, I too am glad to have not been a statistic. The wife and I debated as to whether this would have penetrated a body had one been there. We both concluded that it probably would have. BTW, the end of the piece of molding that penetrated the door was cut square. I was not so fortunate earlier this summer when a piece of cherry caught my thumb on the way to the same door. Only 4 stiches were required.

Yes, after recovering from the initial shock of seeing the stick in the door, the first thing I did was to try and determine what went wrong. This was one of three times I made this cut and I'm not sure if I was lucky twice or unlucky once (it was Friday the 13th you know).

The distance from the fence to the blade was only 1/2 inch so I don't think the upper saw guard was an option.

The picture of the end of the molding below shows the orientation of the piece as it was pushed through the blade. The left surface is 3/4" and was next to the blade. The bottom is 1/2" and the right is 7/16". The end of the molding that you see in the picture below was the trailing end. As shown in the other picture, the trailing edge of the cut surface has some burn marks along with the damage the blade inflicted during the kickback. I was pushing the piece past the blade with a wood push stick. The kickback occurred after the waste was cut free and I was pushing the molding past the rear of the blade. My best guess is that I rolled the piece counter clockwise with the push stick as it was exiting the blade area and it got caught in the blade. This was likely facilitated by the push stick against the irregular (top) surface.

The other side of the door is fine. The molding penetrated a little over 1 inch and the door is a 1-3/4" thick metal shell filled with foam insulation. I won't leave the molding there but I will leave the hole for a while as a reminder.

Thanks to all for the kudos on my work. I'll post more as I make progress and hopefully no more mishaps.

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tgamel · Post by **tgamel** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:31 am

First, your pieces look great, second, and most importantly, I am glad you did not get hurt! Keep up the fine work on the furniture.