Tansu

[Chris Padilla]

Incra rails galore adorn my TS, BS, and J/P!!

[Dewey Torres]

Chris,
Lots of courage to post your mistakes. Overall project seems to be taking form nicely.

Oh ya...and yes, that was a LOT of biscuits. At least it won't come apart though.

[Alan DuBoff]

Incra rails galore adorn my TS, BS, and J/P!!

That's nice stuff, I've pondered over it and the Kreg, but just use my stock Jet 18 fence.

To keep a board 10', a planer sled would seem to work well, certainly in your planer...that would be sweeeeeeeeet! I thought you were running a conveyor to your neighbor's house...I won't show you how I use my porta-potty planer... It would make your battleship look like an aircraft carrier! That is quite an amazing set, I must say...with the vacuum...that is a ways from your old router table setup...

I keep looking for an excuse to build on of those sleds...

[Chris Padilla]

Alan,

The planer sled would work fine but the problem with it is the bed is the one that adjusts...the cutterhead stays the same height. I need to rig up a faster way to adjust the support table legs were I to be dumb enough to try this again!

[Alan DuBoff]

The planer sled would work fine but the problem with it is the bed is the one that adjusts...the cutterhead stays the same height.

<sound of palm slapping forehead>

Forgot about that...

But why couldn't you still use a sled? A sled just provides a solid base for an uneven bottom, it is the top that gets flattened. Seems like it would still work fine.

[Chris Padilla]

I kind of assumed that you brought up the sled in order to allow one to more easily surface long boards (like the 10' variety...of which if I was thinking properly, I should have never bothered trying to do for my project). The sled might assist in that situation but the sled would need support as well because I assume it would be rather long...longer than the board being surfaced....

However, recall that this is a J/P...I have the jointer for facing boards...always step 1 in milling rough stock, right?

[Alan DuBoff]

I kind of assumed that you brought up the sled in order to allow one to more easily surface long boards (like the 10' variety...of which if I was thinking properly, I should have never bothered trying to do for my project).

I was just thinking that a sled would be a good way to do a 10' board, wasn't thinking you shouldn't have bothered with your project...

The sled might assist in that situation but the sled would need support as well because I assume it would be rather long...longer than the board being surfaced....

Yes, the sled would need to be close to the length, at least.

However, recall that this is a J/P...I have the jointer for facing boards...always step 1 in milling rough stock, right?

Yeah, if I had your jointer I probably wouldn't mind that. I don't like to face on my jointer.

Still, trying to plane a 10' board flat could go on a long time with the wrong piece of wood. 2 x 5' is much easier for me, but I'm just saying if I wanted to keep it in one piece. Storage of the sled is one issue...if I ever need to do a 10' board, a sled will most likely be my choice as my little jointer wouldn't cut such a piece anyway...

[Chris Padilla]

I was just thinking that a sled would be a good way to do a 10' board, wasn't thinking you shouldn't have bothered with your project...

I know. I meant that I shouldn't have bothered wrestling around a 10' board. I should have cut it down right from the get go and life would have been a lot easier.

[Alan DuBoff]

I know. I meant that I shouldn't have bothered wrestling around a 10' board. I should have cut it down right from the get go and life would have been a lot easier.

I wouldn't really say that either. We all do what we need to do for getting a project done, and you have a solution to face plane a 10' board. That is one nice piece of walnut, I can see keeping it together.

I'll be honest, I have cut down some stock in the past and sorry I did after as I have decided to change my use of it. I have some walnut coincidentally that is 8/4 and I cut the 8' boards in half, so I have 4 sections that are about 4'. Since I changed my mind on the project I had got them for, so wish they were 8' again. Life is such...

I wasn't trying to criticize your choice, but suspect you mis-interpreted it.

Honestly, your project looks great, please don't take my comments as being disparaging, they certainly weren't meant to be.

If anything, I am always impressed to see how engineers attack a problem, I have my own way of doing things also, and have much more shop that I need for what I do. Engineers are kinda unique in the way we approach things, your shop reminds me of that which would be put together from an engineer, it is quite a setup. I would love to have your setup at my place, although I have so many machines crammed in my garage, I'm not sure how I would even get anything more into it.

On another topic, the other day I was thinking about the butcher paper rolls we had bought a few years back. I'm about half way through my roll. How about you? That stuff has been great, I tell 'ya, for glue-ups it's a life saver...even my kids have used it for some of their school projects. I still have a good amount left, about half per my estimate.

[Chris Padilla]

The 10' plank of walnut had a knot/split at about the 4' mark and had I'd been thinking more clearly about my needs, I think I could have saved some wood by cutting at the knot/split from the get-go. Live and learn!

I saw no criticism in your posts...I was just, I think, clearing up some things.

Shoot, I want a 3-car garage and I think life would be so much nicer but oh well. Old Kanna has a 4-car and is still running out of room so maybe the size is just never big enough because we always find a way to overstuff and then moan and groan.

LOL! The butcher paper! Uh, mine is still, uh, drying, yeah, drying, and it just might be ready to use now....

[Alan DuBoff]

Old Kanna has a 4-car and is still running out of room so maybe the size is just never big enough because we always find a way to overstuff and then moan and groan.

Kanna's got a 4 car garage???? I'm ill...

I guess I would fill it up, but I'm trying to trim a bit and re-organize some. Everyone has a bigger garage than me... (woe is me )

I have an old Crescent 8" Jointer from about 1920, which is really cool...but just taking up space. Would be a great project for someone, it's one of the earliest jointers with a safety head. That was a big breakthrough from the square head. I was talking to a guy today that has an old Parks metal/wood bandsaw, which might be cool. Not as nice as a Yates-American snowflake, but would be nice to be able to cut metal also, and fit in the garage easier. I might be able to work a trade out with him, he stopped by to look at the jointer.

I have most of my machines on mobile bases, how about you?

I could use some Tansus to organize my garage!

[Dewey Torres]

Chris,
Not sure if you noticed this issue of Woodcraft magazine has a TANSU on the cover. Good article. Just got it yesterday.

[Chris Padilla]

I'll have to keep a lookout for that in the mail, Dewey. Cool stuff.

I got a few more things done on the bottom shelf of the Tansu. I got the veneer applied to the top. Here I show the tape up before pressing.

After pressing the top veneer, I wanted to add some filler chunks on either end. I've decided to change the connection for the front/showy support. I initially showed a mitered connection but that is going to change because it looked like a real pain since it wasn't a 45 degree cut.

Instead, I'm going to extend the veneer down to cover the ends up.

The small support panel with the walnut edging and curious groove/dado in it will aid in this. I plan to only glue the veneer to the upper, larger section. The MDF below the groove is only there to support the veneer while the upper section is pressed/glued. I will then cut away the superfluous panel to end up with a panel with rather fragile looking veneer hanging off of it! This veneer will be glued to the bottom panel once it gets installed. I surely hope this works!!

[Chris Padilla]

I also managed to get the feet installed...at least temporarily.

I picked these up from Lee Valley and I think they will work out very, very well for this project. My goal is to hide the feet and make the tansu just float a hair above the floor.

In order to adjust the legs, a hole was needed. This allows me to very easily adjust the height from above. Since baskets will live in this tansu, I hardly think the holes will be notice very much on the other side.

I think it is looking pretty good thus far! The LOML is happy with it so that means life is good!

[Chris Padilla]

Progressing!

Copious use of my Domino and I have the lower section nicely dry-fitted. One real cool thing about the Domino is the ability to have a solid dry fitting that doesn't easily come apart due to how snug the dominos fit in their mortises.

These baskets really go well with the walnut!