If You Squint

[ken hatch]

There is a Cherry bath vanity in that pile of wood. All the pieces are to size, they just need final marking out and the joinery cut. I'll let 'em set for a few days to see if they have any more stupid wood tricks left. I expect I'll start the joinery by the coming weekend.

Here are a couple of the rough notes:



and:

[Bill White]

If you're gonna use a vessel type (sit on) sink, you might want to consider a lower base. Sometimes the vessel can be a bit difficult to use if it is a on a tall base.
I say this 'cause I've been the taller route.
Bill

[ken hatch]

If you're gonna use a vessel type (sit on) sink, you might want to consider a lower base. Sometimes the vessel can be a bit difficult to use if it is a on a tall base.
I say this 'cause I've been the taller route.
Bill

Thanks Bill,

The boss and I have tested at the current planned height....seems to work ok but....if not I have a saw and I know how to use it . All kidding aside, you make a very good point and one we almost overlooked. I've planned a little extra distance between the floor and the lower shelf just for that reason. I believe I can take 25mm to 35mm off without it looking too strange if needed.

ken

[Winton Applegate]

Ken,
I look forward to the future build posts.
Say . . . you must hand saw pretty fast to scorch the wood like that.
What kind of vitamins do you take ? I gotta get me some of those.

[ken hatch]

Spent most of the day marking out the legs. I don't know if you'll fret and fuss over the mark out as much as I do but....for me it is the most stressful time of the build. I guess too many mortices chopped in the wrong place or wrong size to relax. Anyway the legs are marked out and checked at least three times. I've finished chopping the mortices on one leg, only three more to go. It will go quickly, a couple or three hours and the legs will be finished.

No photos today. My camera battery is dead and the charger has disappeared, typical for Casa Chaos. When MsBubba goes on a cleaning frenzy stuff will disappear only to be found a year or two later. Not wanting to wait a couple of years to take photos I ordered a new charger from Amazon, it should be here tomorrow.

Off to work in a couple, I've the late shift....BTW, sleep is over rated.

[ken hatch]

Ken,
I look forward to the future build posts.
Say . . . you must hand saw pretty fast to scorch the wood like that.
What kind of vitamins do you take ? I gotta get me some of those.

I've got to talk to my iron apprentices, they need to clean their saws.

[ken hatch]

It's a good thing MsBubba isn't home, if she were I would swear she was missing with me....As it is I can only blame Sweet Maggie Dog. As I got out of my work monkey suit and was putting my braces away, right on top of the dresser where I had looked at everything on it before going to work, was the camera's battery charger...It has to be a male thing.

Anyway, in between coffee and scratching doggie butt I've started chopping the mortices on the second leg. I'm using a shop made guide on these to start the mortice, once I'm down 15-20mm I remove the guide and finish to full depth. In this case 35mm. I don't always use the guide, but sometimes it's helpful. Is there rhyme or reason for use of the guide....not really, this time I had one made that had the right offset so why not.

I do not expect to make much progress over the next couple of days. I'll get a little done today before work and then tomorrow MsBubba comes home from two weeks in Houston with the new grandkid. Most of the day will be spent erasing the evidence of myself and two big hairy dogs living two weeks with out adult supervision.

ken

[ken hatch]

I'm older than dirt and one of the effects is not being able to sleep all night. The sleep gods let me carve out a couple of early morning hours both Saturday and Sunday to finish chopping the leg mortices, otherwise not much would have been done as MsBubba had other plans for my time.

I was able to finish chopping the leg mortices and have the stretchers marked and ready for the saw. As posted earlier, sometimes I will use a guide, sometimes not. I could be wrong but I think it might be marginally faster to use a guide than not because once the guide is set the chopping can be done mostly on autopilot.

Here is setting up the guide for one of the small mortices:



Chopping:



Small mortice finished:

[Jim Koepke]

I don't know if you'll fret and fuss over the mark out as much as I do but....for me it is the most stressful time of the build.

Often after marking the first piece I get out of the shop for a break. Then when I come back the second piece is marked and compared to the first. When the pieces are marked out they are laid out on the bench in what is a flat "exploded" view to make sure everything is in agreement. Then it is rechecked before any cutting begins.

jtk

[ken hatch]

Thanks Jim,

It's nice to know I'm not the only one....

ken

[Tom Vanzant]

Measure twice (or more), cut once.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thats a nice looking mortise Ken.

I skip the guide personally, Japanese mortise chisels are tapered toward the back so using the guide gets me into more trouble than it gets me out of. I use a visual guide and check my work against my square as I go.

[ken hatch]

Thats a nice looking mortise Ken.

I skip the guide personally, Japanese mortise chisels are tapered toward the back so using the guide gets me into more trouble than it gets me out of. I use a visual guide and check my work against my square as I go.

Thanks Brian,

About 90% of the time I do not use a guide but this time I had one already made that was the correct size, I figured what the heck, might as well. It had been awhile since the last time I used a guide and I was pleasantly surprised that it seemed faster using one when I remembered it being slower. Not a lot of difference but some.

The pig sticker has a slight taper as well and you need to allow for the taper, I've thought about a couple of LN mortice chisels for use with a guide but....I sure do love my pig stickers.

ken

[ken hatch]

My clients canceled at the last minute so my very bad week of 6 days out of 7 changed to a good week of 3 days out of 7 with 4 days off in a row. Because of the change I'm beavering away on the bath vanity along with entertaining two big hairy, smelly dogs, I do love scratching doggie ears and butt.

I'm cutting the joinery, staring with the dovetails on the top front stretcher. A couple of photos, first is of one side and shoulder. Need to clean out the nasty bits but for the most part it is ready to fit: BTW, notice the extra lines, what can I say other than stuff happens, glad I caught it before sawing.



Next is setting up to saw the other shoulder:



Last is marking the pin on the leg:

[ken hatch]

A Bath Vanity update;

My four unscheduled days off were cut to three today. They asked me to come in and run the Sim for a couple of hours so another instructor wouldn't be doubled, hard to refuse. But when you are off stuff happens, when you work, even if only for a couple or three hours stuff doesn't happen.

The major part of the joinery on the vanity is finished, I need to saw the tenons on the lower shelf stretchers and do the mortise and tenons for the shelf slats, make and fit the drawer divider, and make a top and chop the button mortices for attaching the top. If I can find a couple of days to rub together and MsBubba forgets I'm around I'll have this sucker finished.

Here is a photo of setting up to saw a shoulder on one of the stretchers. The Bad Axe Large Tenon saw is a beast but is really nice to use on these wide tenons:



I assembled the base to get an idea of how it looked and to see if everything fits and pulls up snug. One shoulder has something binding that will need taking care of before I drill and mark the joints to be draw bored. Not too bad for the first go.