Power and hand together (12): A Better Skyhook

[Derek Cohen]

The aim is to float the drawer cases above the bases.





There are two stretchers running across the top, and these join the sides with sliding dovetails ...








The sides, and hence the sockets, are angled at approximately 3 degrees, and the mating dovetails need to be angled to match ...











The ends are sawn away ...





... dovetailed ...





... and fitted ...





These stretchers are made lower than the aprons to hide them from sight.





The stretchers require a raised section, and these are finished with curved ends made by a hole saw bit on the drill press ..





... and sanded ...





The completed rests for the drawer cases ...





Later, all will be glued and screwed together.


Checking the effect ...





Regards from Perth


Derek

[Edward Weber]

Well it looks good and I'm glad you got it finished but;
This is where a mock up would have been helpful.
Designing as you're building is not always the way to go. There are limitations to what you can change without forfeiting the original idea and look, without a start from scratch approach.

[Derek Cohen]

Edward, I do not build ad hoc. I work from full scale drawings, which are effectively both a story stick and a way to check what I visualise. While I may make some modifications (and the previous brackets for the top were an example of trying something), I never design as I go. Here are examples of the planning …







Using them…





Regards from Perth

Derek

[Edward Weber]

Derek, this is not aimed directly at you but there are things that can't always be seen with drawings, which is is where a mock up comes into play. Things like how much reveal can or can't be seen, proper height, weight distribution, will this part affect that, and so on.
Not everyone can fulley visualize the entire piece from a drawing, whether it be full size of not.
Your modifications prove that.
I'm just putting out the suggestion for anyone starting to build.
Often things reveal themselves in a mock up that would otherwise go unnoticed on paper.
JMHO, YMMV

[Derek Cohen]

Edward, you have lost me.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Edward Weber]

I don't know what to tell you.
A mock up is more instructive than a drawing, it's that simple.

[Jim Becker]

Everyone works differently, Edward. Given the level of work that Derek produces, I'd say his methods are really good...for him.

[Edward Weber]

Everyone works differently, Edward. Given the level of work that Derek produces, I'd say his methods are really good...for him.

I'm not critiquing his work.
Truing to point out how to avoid extra work by using a mock up, not solely relying on drawings.
I thought I made that clear

[Derek Cohen]

Edward, I am curious about the number of woodworkers who first build mock-ups before setting out on the real build. Do you do this? The only tome I have ever done so is the test/practice a technique, not to work out a design. I generally do that by mapping out the design mentally, and then drawing it up full scale on 1/8” MDF sheets. The MDF is terrific as it is stiff enough to be stood up and, if you squint and stand on one leg, you can imagine it was the real deal.



In this build, getting the splay angle was important. To do this I first research to find what others have done with anything that approximated my design (this is an original design, as is 90% of my work), then drew this up, tweaked it, and settled on 3 degrees. As I mentioned earlier, the MDF can b used as a story stick, but it also (here) enabled the measurements of the aprons, which was critical as they needed to match the drawer case, and the diameter of the legs had to be included.

Just to repeat, the first set of “sky hooks” (the case brackets) were not in my plan, but was initiated by a mockup. I was curious and decided to test it out. I recognised that it was not as good os my original plan, and discarded the idea. I posted it here as it was part if the journey.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Edward Weber]

Just to repeat, the first set of “sky hooks” (the case brackets) were not in my plan, but was initiated by a mockup. I was curious and decided to test it out. I recognised that it was not as good os my original plan, and discarded the idea. I posted it here as it was part if the journey.

Regards from Perth

Derek

This now makes more sense.
I was only pointing out, that to me, the reader of this build along, it appeared that you changed design during the build. Yes I'm referring to what you call sky hooks, I would call them knee braces. It looked like you didn't decide how to connect the two halves until the very end, something I thought would have been already decided. This was my misunderstanding.


It depends on the project if I make a mock up or not. Often a mock up of a particular element like a joint is helpful when determining the best way to cut it. sometimes a repeated element is mocked up to create a template. Sometimes a mock up helps determine work flow, which piece to cut when, what can I cut before I need to change blades or machines, etc.
Other times, like the floating element on your table, I start with "feature", this case being the floating reveal connection and work my way out.
Mock ups are not for everyone but often they present things that are not readily apparent on paper.
The saying "looked good on paper" comes to mind.