Armoire Progress

[Jim Becker]

I also see what looks like one of Lee Valley's radiant heaters mounted near the ceiling...I saw them in the catalog and they seem to be a much better way to heat the garage shop I have economically. Is that what you have? If not, who makes the one you have and how much were they?

They are the Marvin heaters and did come from Lee Valley, although other places sell them. I have three of them in the shop plus a portable. Other than on the coldest days in the dead of winter, these radient units work well to provide a comfortable work environment. The more open arrangement of the shop I now have helps, too. On those coldest days, I use a kero heater to warm things up, but "turn it off" outside once the air is "less chilly"...I don't want the fumes in the shop.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Thanks Jim! I think I will get a couple to solve the winter problem....hmmm XMAS list info!!

[Alan Turner]

Jim
Looks good. I have done a bit of dying myself, but have never achieved that much color in a single pass. For a piece that size, I might have cranked up the sprayer for the dye. I assume you spray, but am not sure. Did you raise the grain first? What color did you go with. I have never put a finish other than paint on poplar, so have no experience. I assume the darker portions are where the grain was greenish?
Alan

[Jim Becker]

Alan, the color is a "brew" of several water-based dye colors to get the effect I wanted. I considered spraying it on...which I would have done if it was alcohol-based dyes...but went with what I've used in the past. I would reconsider that in the future for such a large project, however. The darker areas are where the dye is still wet. The greenish heart wood is largely irrelivant as the green goes away with exposure to O2 and UV. Most of the wood had already browned out with the exception of the resawn door panels.

[Michael Stafford]

I really like the rich color achieved with the dye. Will you have to do any sanding before you finish with the shellac? Or will it be necessary to sand a little after the first shellac coats? Can't wait to see the finished product...

[Alan Turner]

I discussed that appraoch -- the "brew" -- with Jeff Jewitt one time, and he said that it is sometimes better to go with multiple coats, each of a different color. He says that the layering gives a different effect than pre mixing.
Just a thought.


Alan

[Jim Becker]

I really like the rich color achieved with the dye. Will you have to do any sanding before you finish with the shellac? Or will it be necessary to sand a little after the first shellac coats?

I am going to take Steve Mickley's advice and not sand until after the shellac is applied and cured. The fibers will come off at that point and there will be less of a chance of destroying the color.

[Guy Boulianne]

Good job Jim, is'nt it nice to listen to good music while machining some joints ???

I did not read ALL of the thread but many of you seem to believe they could not cut dovetails by hand.... About 5 years back, in an introduction class to woodworking we have made a small box, hand cut dovetails on all 4 corners, on the 10 participants I would say that 7 or 8 succeeded to cut nice and tight dovetails on that box, not perfect but nice enough to show on a decorative item. Sure we had 30 hours (5 days @ 6 hours per day, one saturday every two weeks) to learn and experiment the use of hand tools on scrap (plane, chisels, saw), the sharpening of plane iron and chisels and to actually build the box. So Yes it does take patience, the teacher told us that prepping the wood and cutting the dovetails for a drawer should not take more than half a day to be in business and that it is hard to go way under than that (at least for him).

I can assure that most of you would succeed to cut a first set good enough to do the job and even to show on the front of a nice piece; maybe some others would have to "discard" the first set... but would work their way on the second one. BTW there is small tricks like forcing some fish glue into the "not perfectly closing" joint and then sanding to force the wood dust to merge into that glue that can do a long way to "mask" the defaults; rigth now I am looking at another piece that used that trick, it is decorating my desk at the office, looking at it at 6" and focussing on the defects I can these but looking at the box from 2', it's looking just nice and that's the way it's meant to be.

Let's just try it yourself !!!

Guy Bou

[Bruce Page]

Jim, the dye job really turned out nice, I'm going to have to give that a try one of these days.

I like your work-light on the MM - I need to get one of those!

[Keith Starosta]

Jim, I can't wait to see it in person on Friday. Maybe it'll be ready to move inside by then. I'll use some of my brute strength to help you!

Keith

[Jim Becker]

Jim, I can't wait to see it in person on Friday. Maybe it'll be ready to move inside by then.

I don't think so...finishing work takes time...multiple steps. But you never know!

[Jim Becker]

The past few weekends I've been working on "finishing the finishing" on this armoire project...and it's been a little frustrating. I had a severe moisture problem (my fault for not getting certain air system components installed...) and some kind of contamination on the doors. Both problems affected the quality of the wb acrylic I was topcoating with and I had to sand it back a little and switch to Sherwin Williams Fast Dry varnish to move this project along. So it's a little shinier than I would prefer and not as smooth, but at least the color is "quite awesome" and exactly what I was shooting for. I can't wait to see it in our guest room!

Remaining work is to get the mirror mounted in the right door and test hang both doors. At that point, I can move the piece into the house to its new home, install the back, drawers and doors and move on to the next project(s). There have been many lessons learned on this one...hopefully I'll remember all of them "next time"!!

Pics for today:

1) Final fitting of the drawers required installing a strip in the back to an exact thickness so it will stop the doors exactly even with the front of the piece. Simplicity at its best...and a great way to use the low-angle block plane at the bench.

2) Casework with the drawers slid in, the hanging bar installed and the T&G back temporarily installed. The back will be removed to make it easier to transport the big piece into the house and up the stairs. It slips into a groove you can see in the first picture at the bottom and there is a removable cross piece that screws flush into the top of the back to hold the boards in once they are ganged together. I will likely shoot a couple of brads where the back rests in the rebates along the sides to secure it between the top and bottom yet allow for wood movement.

[John Miliunas]

Very rich looking, Jim! I'm glad you were able to recover from the slight finishing mishap, but if you don't tell anyone, I'll bet they never know! Man, that thing is BIG! Gee, I'd sure love to help you haul that in the house but, of course, I live too far away! (Whew!)

[Kelly C. Hanna]

To look, you'd never know there was ever a problem. Beautiful!!

[Jerry Olexa]

Jim, your outstanding work continues! Looking very good! Reviewing back on your thread of the total project on page 5 you showed a portion dyed and another portion dyed and topped w garnet shellac. I'm surprised at the big change in depth and tone (darker) when you added the garnet. I love the warm look the garnet adds but in my recent project, I had some deepening but not as attractive or dramatic as yours. I used 2lb cut Hock garnet mixed fresh purchased @ Woodcraft. I'm curious what brand flakes you used ,what lb cut and did you pad or brush? Your project , as always, reflects your craftmanship and attention to detail.