Monday, June 24, 2019

Poster Hanger

I was recently asked to help out with a project that sounded like a bit of fun. Since it has been a long while since I've posted, I figured it would be an easy way to pass on the build information.

The project, a wood poster/picture hanger meeting the following requirements:

  1. The picture is 42.5 inches wide.
  2. Provide for a 1/2" margin all the way around.
  3. The wood must be light(white) in color with no red.
  4. 90 degree corners all the way around.
  5. Use of magnets to hold the picture in position.
  6. Use of gold color eyelets to secure the hanger wire to a picture rail molding.
  7. Some other stuff that I can't remember.

Beech and Maple
I made a prototype to try and understand the task, while it is pretty straight forward...you never know.

Prototype Poster Hanger
I used three sets of magnet in the upper and lower bar sets. I found the hot glue was not strong enough to hold the magnets in place and I switched to epoxy. It is important to align the magnet sets, otherwise the hanger bars will not align properly. I marked the magnet position on one bar half, place a drop of glue on the mark and brought the bar halves together, transferring the magnet position to the second bar half. Then I drilled the recesses for the magnets.




I had on hand some Maple (for some reason I thought it was Cherry) the was a mix of white and gray.
I ran it through the thickness planer and found the there was enough white to create the face sections of the hanger and the grayish portions would work well for the back sections that are not visible.

After Planing

The board had a bit of a crook at one end so I evened one side out before approaching the table saw.




After squaring up the board I found the there was 5 1/2" inches of useful stock. I decided to make the frame width 1 1/4" (4 x 1.25" = 5" + 3 x 3/32" saw kerf) which would look good for this wide picture, provide enough stiffness, and leave no waste.

5 1/2 on the money!

 I crossed my fingers and started cutting. All said and done, there was about a 1/8" thick piece of board left over. I can live with that.

The hard part is done!
 The color difference is really apparent in this image. I left the part a little long for now, easier to cut them to size than to stretch them out :)



Now, figure out the magnet and eyelet positions, a bit of scraping and we'll be ready for prime time.



June 27, 2019

I was able to drill recesses for the magnets. I staggered the magnet positions so that the hanger halves would sit as flat against each other as possible. After placing dots on the mating sides of the magnets, I spread adhesive in all the recesses and inserted the magnets.

Installing magnets


Placing wax paper between the hanger halves, I clamped them together to allow the magnets to float toward each other and create a flat mating surface...no high or low spots. 24 hours to dry.


Clamp-up

Questions remaining...Instead of eyelets, an idea...drilling and inserting brass tubing. This would provide a hole for the hanging wire to pass. It would be virtually non-visible.

To be continued....

Sunday, August 16, 2015

I Need More Storage or I Need to Thin the Herd

While in the midst of several projects...I found that I have too many old tools that I never use, can't part with, no no place to keep them. I decided to make some make a couple of pine chests that will also serve as small benches.



I based the design on a viking tool chest
http://www.angelfire.com/wy/svenskildbiter/Viking/vikchest.html


And...someone gave to me this plowplane box...unfortunately no plow plane.
I made a lid and it will serve as storage for some other plane. 




I might keep this Stanley Bailey #3 in the box. It was really beat and I picked it up for short dollars. It took a bit of cleaning and tuning. The #3 was made from 1869 to 1984. While it is fairly common and has no value, it is one of the best tools I have used. 




Wednesday, July 15, 2015

I decided to finally make a coffee chest to store my green coffee beans. It needs to hold up to 30 pounds of beans, about 6 months supply and it must odorless.

And it must be visually appealing. Unless you are Oscar Wilde...“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is useless."

I have some pear wood from a tree I cut down long ago. It has no noticeable odor and since it is air dried it planes nicely.


And little scraping and the surface is super smooth!



As I don't have enough pear, I chose this nice piece of mahogany for the legs. Hopefully it will make a good color match.




A boards cut fair and square...I think the color look great!


16 mortises and 16 tenons...that some crazy cuttin' and choppin' ....


I'll do a dry fit and decide on a panel design. I also need to think about the lid...strong enough to use as a seat? Some wood hinges?


July 16, 2015 Update

I was able to, with a bit of trimming here and there, get a good fit of all the joints.




A couple of rough measurements and I cut some maple stock for the four side panels. It took a while to get the book match correct, but I think they came out ok. The color is good match to the pear as well.



And the big picture....



Tuesday, July 14, 2015

A friend ask me if I could make a pair of display cases. They were needed for a birthday gift. I had one nice piece of African Mahogany that I knew would look good.
I drew a full scale model with some paper cutouts to represent the items going in the case. After planing and cutting out the side frames, I mortised for some glass panels.
I decided to use glass for the side panels to let in some additional light. The glass is from Kokomo Opalescent Glass, where they mix art glass by hand.
With the glass fitted up and allowed a bit of float...the frames were glued and clamped.
Continuing on...
Back panels in place...
A final glue up...
An there it is! (the horses are not full scale)

Saturday, July 11, 2015

I "came across" this Linden stump today and decided to recycle. Enough for 4 2"x2" legs and 6 planks. Maybe a lightweight bench to keep in the van?

Friday, July 10, 2015

Tea Cabinet

I made this tea cabinet (H 18.75in. x W 11in. x D 8in.) about a year ago but never, for whatever reason, never put hinges.
H 18.75in. x W 11in. x D 8in I purchased some brass knife hinges which are the best way to hang a cabinet door. Here it goes....
July 14, 2015 I fitted the hinges and the function is ok...I need to adjust the top just a skosh.
And a rear view...
A front view of a tall cabinet I made from Freijo (Laurel Blanco or Jennywood). The door panel is book matched oak. I gave it a hand applied amber shellac finish. Size h x w x d cm.