Rick's gonna help me out with some plans for my desk.
I'd be honored Michael...wow! Yea, in a heartbeat!! Just let me know what I can do for you. I'd love to....ah..clunk!!(sound of jaw hitting floor)(yipeeeeee!!!) Cool. Fantastic. Man, I thought you were pissed at me, so knock me off my feet why don't ya! Hahahaha! Just say the word Michael. I'm at your disposal.......
HEY GANG!!......did ya hear that? Coooooooooooool.
now where did I my leg weights....damn, I'm floatin off the ground!!Hehehehehehe!
HEY kremit, forget the edges on ply....USE THEM exposed. Makes a nice contemporary detail. I built ALL my furniture out of GradeA Birch ply, by laminating (2) 3/4" oversized pieces togeather, then cut them to size. Fill any voids on the edge and sand smooth. Then route 1/4" champhers along each edge and fill any new voids. Sand the panels and the edges till smooth..then oil the everything with Watco Natural. MAN, you can't believe how nice it comes out. Of course, I'm wierd so what can I say.
I like things like that. In fact, this is how I learned to use ply. Here is a boxbuilding trick for you. Once I learned this trick, I actually started a Woodcraft business, and built HUNDREDS of different kinds of boxs. They sold like hotcakes at the craft fairs and malls. So for you woodworking types, heres how to do it.
I started woodworking by making a few box's out of ..believe it or not....pre stained T-111 resawn exterior ply house siding with grooves 4" on center. Thats because it was FREE. You can use ANY PLYWOOD. This is what I did.
First, I figured the approx height I wanted in a box. Then the width and length. Then I cut a strip of ply, about 4" wide, and long enough to cut the 4 sides from. Then cut off 2 matching pcs from the strip, the length of the box(about 10") plus a 1/4". Then 2 more for the sides, about 6 or 7" long. Then I set up a jig for the miter guide on a table saw and cut one 45 degree miter off ONE end of each of the 4 pieces, just barely cutting an 1/8" from the extra 1/4". Then set the jig with a stop block for cutting a miter off the other end of the long(front and back) pieces exactly the same length. Same with the other 2 for the ends. I mitered them so the resawn face was to be on the OUTSIDE of the box. Now, I found some LONG rubber bands, about 8" in diameter. You can get them at staples. Next, I took a 2' square(any size will do cause its a gluing jig!) piece of 3/4" particle board, and screwed another piece about 2" wide and 24" long, along the edge. See the pics. Then place a framing square up against the edge of the 2" stop strip, so you can square and screw down another strip at the 90 degree side of the gluing jig. Just screw right through it into the face of the particle board jig face, but about 2" away from the end of the other strip....SEE THE PIC.....
OK, now ya got a gluing jig. Clamp it to a work bench. Next lay out all four pieces on the jig, as if they were a box. Take one piece and apply yellow wood glue to one miter and place the piece edge facing UP, right into the inside corner of the jig. Now do the same with the piece that is to be glued to that corner. Apply glue to one end of each of the remaining two pieces, and place them on edge with the others to form the box. SEE THE PIC. Now, place a rubber band on the corner OPPOSITE of the pieces that are in the inside corner of the
jig. Now you can PULL the rubber band toward the jig corner till you can pull it over the opposite corner of the box, and the jig not only squares the box, but holds it in place while you PULL the rubber bands. I used 2 bands per box. Now, lift the box out of the jig, and use a water soaked rag to wipe any excess glue off, especially on the outside corners. Now, place a piece of large paper on a flat surface and sit the box down on edge, and push down on each piece to align the edges flat. VOILA! You now have a box carcass.
Now, cut a top from the same ply as the box, but the bottom from any ole shop grade 1/4" or 1/2" ply. Cut them at the same, but cut them 1/8" larger than the length and width of the box. Now comes some tricky stuff.
In order to glue the top and bottom to the carcass, you need a perfectly flat perimeter edge on both the bottom and top of the carcass. This is how you get it. Use a square, and get the blade on a table saw PERFECTLY square to the table, by raising the blade as far as it will go, and place a small square up to the blade. Adjust the angle untill it is PERFECTLY square and lock it down.(usually at the handle for raising the blade or a stop is adustable under the table saw table) Now lower the blade untill it is about 1/8" higher than the thickness of the plywood.
Now, take the rubber bands off of the box carcass. MAKE SURE the glue is dry. I usually let it sit overnight, but in warm weather, yellow glue will set up in about an hour. Place the box carcass lengthwise along the fence of the table saw, ON ITS FRONT FACE. What you are about to do is TRIM one edge off the box that the top glues to. Adust your fence so you are ONLY trimming 1/16th" off of the edge. Lock the fence, and proceed to push the whole box thru the blade. Now rotate the box to the next side and trim. Again on the next face. Again and now you have one FLUSH edge.
Readjust your fence 1/16" less, turn the carcass around and now cut all four edges of this carcass edge. This is for the bottom to glue to. Now you have a perfectly paralell carcass.
Lay the bottom on a piece of paper on a flat surface, with the NICEST face up. Maybe even PRESAND it, as it will be exposed on the inside of the box. Now apply glue to one of the edges of the carcass, and place it onto the bottom, so about a 1/16" of the bottom is hanging out past the carcass all the way around. Now, apply glue to the edge of the carcass that is facing up, and place the top onto it, same as the bottom, so a 1/16th is hanging over the perimeter of the carcass. OK, now, you can either use rubber bands(4 or 5) to hold the bottom and top tight to the carcass, but I use Jorgensen clamps or even a HEAVY weight. You want the top and bottom glued to the edge of the carcass TIGHT. So you have no gaps exposed. Ha! Now for the FUN STUFF.
When this assembly is dry take the clamps, bands or whatever off, and you have a BOX that you CAN'T OPEN!! AND you have rough square edges. What do you do. I'll tell ya, this is the REAL TRICKY PART. But this part is what makes these boxs UNIQUE
What we want to do next, requires cutting a 45 degree bevel off of each of the 4 edges of both the top and bottom. HOWEVER, this part requires PRECISION. Look at the EDGE of the Top plywood. Normally, T-111 is about 5/8" thick. Imagine this. IF, you set the blade on the saw for cutting a bevel, and adjust your fence so you cut of an
edge GREATER than the thickness of the ply TOP, you will be cutting OFF not only the 1/16th inch overhang, but also a small amount of the CARCASS TOO!! This is how you do it. Sit the box with the TOP, FACE DOWN on the table saw , lengthwise to the blade, and SIGHT down the box and table, and adjust your fence till you can see you are not only cutting off the edge with a bevel, but about an 1/8" of the carcass as well. When you can see this is correct, then lock the fence, and proceed to cut this EDGE off.
VOILA!! Look at it now. Because the lines of the PLYWOOD carcass AND the top are joined, and then BEVELED, you CANT see the JOINT.
Ha! Now flip the box over on its BOTTOM, and cut the edge of the SAME carcass face off . Now you have ONE side, with no overhanging lip of either the top or bottom. Now turn the box around WIDTHWISE, and sight down the box, and adjust your fence till you see the blade MATCH the depth of the bevel of the preceeding cut. This cut will be on the end of the box, cutting off one edge of the top.. Flip it over to the bottom and make the same cut along its edge. You now have ONE BEVEL along the LENGHT and WIDTH of ONE EDGE of both the top and bottom. Now do the same sight, adjust, and cut routine for the other two edges of the top and bottom and WHOPPEEEEE!! You now can see a box with NO GLUE LINES, because the joint is somewhere along the bevel, and with the lines of the layers of plywood, YOU CAN"T SEE IT. PLUS, the lines of the layers, follow around the complete peremeter of the box. COOL, a design without trying!!
But what about .....OPENING IT>>
Hmmmm.....hehehehehehe!! EASY.
Set the blade at 90 degrees to the table(straight up) Now you set the fence on your table saw about an inch or so from the blade, but at least a quarter inch wider than the thickness of the top.....are you starting to get the picture
Lock the fence, now set the blade about an 1/8" higher than the thickness of the ply. Set the box up against the fence with the carcass on the table(parallel to the blade)and the top of the box against the fence. Now, cut the top off!! by pushing the box thru the blade, rotating the box to the next side, and cut, rotate and cut, rotate and.........SLOWLY...come to the end of the end of the box and. carefull .....VOILA!!! YOU NOW HAVE A LID THAT MATCHES THE BOX PERFECTLY.....HAHAHAHAHAHA!! BUT......YOUR NOT DONE YET
ok...I know, whats next? OK remember how you cut the pieces for the carcass? Now your going to cut ANOTHER carcass that will FIT INSIDE the box TIGHTLY. Only this time your going to use either 1/8" or 1/4" PLY OR MASONITE. Simply measure the DEPTH of the inside of the box. Cut a strip JUST WIDE enough to stick out of the box high enough to hold the LID IN PLACE(make sure the depth of the lid will fit over it)Now cut this strip long enough for the 4 pieces, just like the out side carcass. Now, BEVEL one LONG edge on the table saw. This edge will be EXPOSED along the exterior top edge of this inside carcass, so the LID, will slip on easily. Now cut the four end, front and back pieces about a 1/4" LONGER, than the inside length and width of the box. Now, just like the box carcass, miter one end of all 4 pieces.
NOW, place a piece, with the mitered end right at the inside corner of the box, and MARK for the miter at the opposite end. Cut this miter, and use it to mark the OPPOSITE side. Do the same for the other two pieces. MAKE THESE PIECES FIT SO THE MITERS ARE TIGHT. You may even have to tap the pieces into the box with a mallat. VOILA!! YOU NOW HAVE A BOX!!!
Ok, now for the finishing touchs....there are lots of tricks now...HERE IS A FEW, Imagine if you glued a piece of masonite instead of ply on the bottom. And used masonite for the inside carcass. NOW you have a FINISHED interior. Just oil the bottom after cutting off the lid, and oil the interior carcass pieces before you insert them. OR this one. Glue a piece of masonit BETWEEN the box carcass and the top and when you BEVEL the edges, you now have a nice DARK LINE, around the perimeter, BETWEEN edges of exposed ply!!! OR THIS ONE. Simply use a VENEERED PLY, such as Maple, Walnut, or anynumber of other species of veneer. OR, veneer a sheet your self first. Or USE LAMINATES. Or Chemetals!!
Use unusual knobs like old glass drawer pulls for a lid pull. Or machine hinges into the edges. Or any other hundreds of aesthetic little hardware pieces. .......ok, whew!
There you have it. I made hundreds of types of boxes using this technique, and still do. In fact, I have about 30 unfinished boxes out in the shop right now...but I won't tell you about these yet....they have NEW tricks....machining, inlays, custom brass pulls, hidden locks, exotic hardwoods....hehehehehe....too much fun!!
fitZ
