Low Tech Moulding
To soften the top edges of the stretcher a bead Is run along its length. This could be done with a router but I prefer, where possible, to go low tech and use a steel slotted woodscrew which has been inserted into a piece of beech. The screw's head then becomes a cutting edge, so has its face sharpened on an oil stone.The width of the bead produced by this tool is governed by how far the screw projects from the piece of wood which acts as the fence, but this isn't infinitely variable as the...
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM ROBERTS Xsm
to go with his musician's fjl chair LEFT A musical table to compliment a musical chair different pieces can co-exist well enough together, but to produce two pieces that visually belong to each other is a challenge - and very rewarding when they are successful. The client who commissioned my Musician's Chair, see previous article, asked me if I could design and make her a small desk to go with it, and I readily agreed. As with the chair, design sketches and scale models soon started to...
Main Illustration By Ian Hall
A mule chest is a sophistication of one of furniture's most basic forms the storage box I've been waiting for an opportunity to make one of these for years, and then two of my regular clients, Chris and Mel, made the mistake of telling me that they wanted a sideboard, but had no idea what kind. above Shelf is adjustable, finely calculated to accommodate bottles below and glasses above LEFT Carcass subassemblies side panel is tongue and grooved with a loose-fitted fielded panel frame is mortice...
Illustration By Ian Hall
Unable to purchase hinges of the kind used originally on this type of desk, and without the time to construct them, I decided to use a simple pivot via an 8mm brass or aluminium bar or rod inserted into the hole previously drilled and epoxied into place. Use the router to cut a mating groove on the sides of the door panels again. This procedure unfortunately leaves a very weak point, as I know to my cost, so to counter this a brass plate is inset and screwed into place - again with the help of...
Over Engineered
and most accurate way of drilling dowels, see photo 7. A pillar drill will do, of course, but the morticer has all the adjustments and stops to hand as well as a rugged cast fence. The groove for the 2mm MDF backs has to be cut to the backward slope of the shelves. I used a router with a guide bush which follows an angled MDF template, see photo 8. The front edge of the side is located against a fence - this is doweled on so that it can be flipped over for the other hand - and the jig is lined...
Conventional Dovetails 1
ensures that there will be no gaps at the front, since walls are rarely true either in old or modern houses. Again using the template, the ends of the carcass are prepared, preferably together, and the shoulder-lines for the dovetails marked with a gauge. The doors are now offered up to the ends and the exact outline drawn with a sharp pencil, followed by a 3 or 4mm or in allowance for the overhang of the carcass edges. The steps on the leading edge are best cut with a router against a securely...
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Hambridge Rectangles
The Hambridge Rectangle proportioning system is based upon the Golden Section - the ratio 1.6180339 - developed by the Ancient Greeks, as adapted for modern usage by American mathematician Jay Hambridge. The method requires a square, drawn to scale of the width of the proposed project. Extend the verticals of this square and, taking a compass and using the bottom right corner of the square as the datum, scribe an arc across the top left corner of the square to bisect the extended vertical. From...