Cabinet build

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Christopher! Absolutely, as much as I have enjoyed this project I'm ready to see it start to wrap up. None too soon however with a few more things to go and least of all...drawers.

[John Kananis]

This is coming along nicely - I'm enjoying it.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks John!

[Derek Cohen]

Brian I am far from being disappointed. That is a beautiful piece of work and you have to make all of the discissions. Things I say are only suggestions. I was a long way into woodworking before I saw a Soss hinge and was totally intimidated until installing a couple. On another note I did see some drawer pulls made by cutting a more or less square mortise in the center of the drawer and then installing a rocker type affair on some type of hinge pin from the back. You push on the top and the bottom pops out enough to form a pull. It looked like a great idea but I could not investigate because it was a do not touch. Not intuitive at all because it looked like decor rather than a pull being made the same type of wood. Flush ring pulls would work but that isn't campaign furniture your working on. I can see your problem. I'd be willing to lay odds that you will figure it out. Again great work.
Jim

Firstly, Brian, looking very good, and increasingly interesting as you progress. The leather and the hinges and the pulls are all that I identify with. I put aside my build for a few weeks to get on with a couple of other matters, and now I am rejuvinated by your recent posts to get back to it.

James, my eyes were transfixed by your mention of drawer pulls that did not look like pulls. I thought that I had found a solution then discarded it as not reliable enough. Can you say more and, as well, point me towards an illustration?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[James Pallas]

Brian and Derek Brian first I apologize for high jacking your thread a bit. Derek I saw the pull on a box in a gallery in Sante Fe, NM years ago. Could not touch the work or get behind it. The pull was a rocker type that you pushed on the top and the bottom protruded enough to get two or three fingers under the edge to pull out the drawer. The box also had a top latch that worked somewhat the same. You pushed on the bottom and it unlatched the lid which sprung up on wooden leaf springs on each side giving space to lift the lid. I built that but did not try the pull. All of it was somewhat disguised by chip carving. The pull was just a block that was beveled top and bottom with some sort of axle from the back. It was all flush to the front surface. I remembered because it is a great idea. I gave the box I made to a friend in NM so don't have an example. Hope this helps.
Jim

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you Derek!

James, please proceed, I am certainly interested for future projects.

[Brian Holcombe]

I had originally intended to use that burled veneer panel as a divider, framing it with dovetailed battens, however it ended up being too thick and I had to scrap the idea.

I altered my plan for battens alone and proceeded, a minor disappointment, but they'll be available for a future project (another cigar humidor perhaps ).

Sorry, minimal detail shots since I was working through the planning along with the project. I cut away a rabbet under each of the framing members to make room for the thickness of leather underneath. The frame is ultimately attached by brass screws so that a future restorer may be able to replace the leather without much grief.



Cutting dovetail half laps



Those are both complete now, more or less, and I'm onto hanging the doors



One door is up.



The stainless screws will be replaced by brass soon. I was a little disappointed that I had resorted to screws, but I think they look quite fine.

The doors await brass hangers for the necklaces. My dad is working on this aspect of the build.

[James Pallas]

Looking good Brian. Your build is a little like Gypsy Rose Lee, unveiled a little at a time. It's all fun however.
Jim

[Brian Holcombe]

Hah! Now that's a great description

[Brian Holcombe]

I want to show, by contrast to the previous installment, what I do to keep after my Japanese chisels. The two stones shown here are an Shinden suita and a Nakayama Asagi. The Nakayama is just slightly finer, but both of these are incredibly fine stones. The Shinden leaves a better Kasumi finish.



I build a slurry for most of the sharpening that I do and do regularly maintenance by hand, no guide. These chisels I'm sharpening have been used for the entire day, there is wear but not enough to drop to anything lower than a finish stone, in fact I could get another full day out of them without issue.

See the mirror finish on the Hagane



Here is the back, this back shows alot of flat area, but this maker (kikuhiromaru) does that on smaller chisels.



Here is a Koyamaichi paring chisel that I also have used all day


The difference between soft and hard steel are still showing nice contrast, but both are mirror finished.



Here is the stone, it's super flat and smoooooooth.



and with some slurry



The Nakayama just loves plain carbon, doesnt matter how hard. The shinden loves Tasai chisels, they're matched perfectly

Here's a large Kiku, just for reference. These chisels are 1980~ vintage white steel #1 and incredibly hard.



Tasai

[Christopher Charles]

Hello Brian,

Thanks for sharing these details. A couple of questions--what do you see as the advantage of the natural stones over something like shapton ceramics?

And, unrelated, I was wondering about your method for squaring the ends of boards. I don't recall seeing in any of your posts, though I could have easily missed.

Keep the pics coming

[David B. Morris]

LOVELY work, Brian. Makes me long to start working in walnut again. I like how you "embraced the sapwood' in your drawer fronts (those are drawer fronts, right?). Also, very nice proportioning of same in case.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks you both!

Christopher, I like them for a few reasons; they are truly splash and go, they stay flatter longer, they can cut aggressively or minimally depending on how you work the slurry and they leave a nice kasumi finish (I like the traditional appearance), but the most important feature in my opinion is how the steel feels on the stone. What I mean is that I'm not fighting the slurry, but working with it, something I haven't experienced on synthetic finishers.

Generally I square boards with a shooting board, and square panels by clamping them to the bench (slightly raised) and planing with the jointer on it's side. I'll take some detail photos next time I do either.

David, I appreciate the kind words and thanks for noticing my efforts with the sapwood. I do enjoy working with walnut, and it is addictive!

[Christopher Charles]

Thanks Brian, I've recently moved up from nortons to shaptons, primarily for the spritz and go advantage, but the feel not as tactile. Looking forward to the photos, appreciate it. Also have been watching the walnut and have been getting inspired as well. I have an embarrassingly large pile of air dried walnut awaiting transformation, but alas, other commitments have interfered with my starting any new projects. Soon!

C

[Brian Holcombe]

I would put some time on them before you try anything else. I find I don't really dislike any of my stones, but I require some time to get used to their personality. Some are more convenient than others for attributes like I mentioned about the naturals. If you use mostly western blades you might also consider an oil stone for finishing. On the plane blade that David included with the Try plane he had set it up on a washita stone, it cut beautifully. When it came time for resharpening I touched it up on my Nakayama stone and I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two, both having given excellent results.

Different steels also react differently to different stones, for instance the Tasai chisels, which are a heavily alloyed work a lot better on the Shinden than the Nakayama. When it comes to something like A2 I don't use the naturals, I just use the procedure shown previously, no sense in working A2 to 30k on natural stones, it doesn't benefit from it much at all in my experience.

Looking forward to seeing what you build! A stack of walnut is too much for me to resist!