Today in the shop (Christmas Tree?)

[reible]

Today was not only cutting out turtles but making a Christmas Tree of sorts. I worked out a pattern in sketchup and then used seven 1x4x6' common pine for the parts shown.

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I also managed to cut biscuits in all the pieces. I want to put on a transparent green color before assembly. Clear coat afterwards for protection as it will be outside. A few more pieces to cut to help stabilize it and make a trunk.

As it sits it is about 57" tall and just under 5 feet wide. The trunk will be a foot or so, I think....

If you would like dimensions let me know, it will be a little while as my last upgrade to windows 10 somehow managed to loose all my sketchup settings and I have to get it set up again before I do much else with it.

Ed

[john]

Ed:

Nice Job, even though not quite finished!

I had seen a pattern for something like that in The Winfield Collection cataloque and wondered about trying to do it myself but never attempted it.

Looking forward to seeing your finished project!

John

[Hobbyman2]

looks nice

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This has been a slow projects with me finding limited time to work on it. But progress has been made. I've marked the locations for the biscuits and for the pocket holes and have made those. It looks a whole lot different when in a pile like this:

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The biscuit slots:

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And the pocket holes:

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And what is a project if you can't use the router on it? Boring comes to mind. Anyway this is what I worked on today:

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I set up the router with this bit to do the cuts:

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A fence to run against and I was off:

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So this thread has some educational component the next post will show how I cut the ends so stay tuned.

Ed

[reible]

The end portions of the parts is just 3-1/2" wide and as you can see the router table doesn't have a miter slot. So just how do I make these cuts?

First this is dead simple and amounts to taking a scrap, in this case a piece of plywood that is labeled "B" and using that to move the work piece "A" through the bit. It serves two purposes, one it keeps the work piece square to the fence and second it prevents tear out.

You always do the end grain first just in case there is a bit of tear out because the other cuts will clean it up.

Now the scrap piece does have to be square between the fence portion and the portion that is the backer to the work piece. You also want a decent amount riding against the fence aspect wise.

Here you can see how the cut starts.... well sort of as I was holding the camera with my second hand which of course means this was a staged photo but you get the idea.

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You feed the stock through the cutter like is shown here:

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You then finish the cut and go just into the push block like this:

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And there you have it.

Ed

[reible]

Finally assembly day! The plan was executed and the assembly went as planned. It took a little thinking to get the parts to go together in order and fitted like they should. During assembly I found I for got to make one biscuit cut and by then it was too late to do anything about it so it was not a perfect plan.......

So it is biscuits, pocket holes and lots of glue. It turned out nice and ridged which is what I wanted, very happy with that.

Will give it a ruff sanding then off to become green. The trunk is not made yet so there is that to do as well. Plan is to have it done by Thanksgiving and I think that can happen.

This will give you a better idea as to the size of it:

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Ed

[berry]

Looking good.

[JPG]

A day late and a dollar short, but, since you liked the 'ridges' created by the beveled joints, a center vein groove would have been nice.

Or, did you mean rigid?

Tite bond III I assume?

Very nice indeed(as usual for thee!).



I was not trying to be critical, but I initially truly thought you were referring to the grooves created by the beveled edges.

[reible]

Well the sanding got done today and one coat of stain on the front. I think one coat is enough but it could be a little darker??? I'll let it dry then work on the backside another day.

I still want to clear coat it but the stuff wants 50 degrees and we are luck to see 40 degrees these days. I guess I can turn on the heater and warm up the garage, no problem getting the 50 degrees but now I have to wonder about the smell.... if I leave the door cracked it may effect my ability to get 50 degrees. Well if it isn't one thing then its another.

Of course there is a picture, 'cause it happened.

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Should start on the trunk too. Not at all sure how I want to do that so I've been putting it off. That will have to stop.

Ed

[berry]

Here's my 2¢, the trunk could be the female portion of a bridal joint. The completed portion could slip in, and be held fast with a mechanical fastener.
By the way, it looks great!