Playing with the toys.

[Patrick Walsh]

I don’t get much time to play with my toys.

Today is a good day, I gotta start finding more time for fun.

One of my two dogs passed suddenly about a month ago now. A few days later I started milling up some material to build a Krenov style box to house her ashes. I don’t know if it’s really a Krenov style box or not but it’s case. I suppose inspired by Krenov as I do love his the subtle calming affect his work often had.

So I’ll be building a box within a box within a box. You will see as the project progresses, it’s a bit hard to explain. The project should take me quite some time to complete as I have limited time and I’ve chosen to incorporate some new joinery techniques that are new to me as to slow me down so I can just enjoy building. I love to build, I love meticulous perfection, rarely am I offered the opportunity to do such work. I’m also not quite sure I’m capable.

Loosing my best friend really put into perspective just how head down in overdrive I live my life. It also reminded me life is passing me by and it’s up to me to make time to do the things that make life rewarding. Is3d to be good at this, like a pro, however as I have gotten older I just kinda work work work. I’m a workaholic and a cabinet maker by trade at this point so often building for the sake of craft and or creating just does not happen as I’m to busy building for a check. When I’m not working it the long list of things that we all have to tend to that needs doing.

I loooooved that dog so much. Slowing down and creating something beautiful in her memory only makes sense. Kinda like a extension of spending more time with her even though she is no longer here in the physical form.

I prepped the stock for the base milling the legs and apron pieces up over nearly a month in large part to assure they stay flat. I wasted a ton of material cutting the rift/QS material off the edges of a couple 8/4 wenge boards I have been hoarding for a while. Wasteful I suppose but I’m cutting no corners for this project.

So the base will be wenge. My intention at this point is to make the top case of ceyleon or satinwood. Not the fake imposters but the real deal. The inspiration for the combo came from a highly figured yellow heart board I had laying around. It’s neon yellow and has ribbon stripe figure like ribbon stripe Africa’s mahingany. I don’t have enough of the yellow heart to make the box of solid wood and I’m not much a fan of veneer so satinwood it is.

Finding satinwood is not easy. I have found a bit from three different vendors. I’m a bit reserved buying the material sight unseen as it s very very expensive and for the most part the vendors are not gonna pick through anlift of lumber for the best boards. I’ll get what I get and that is that. Anyway I have yet to pull the trigger but I gott hurry up and get the material. I just spend hand over fist and at some point I start questioning my spending habbit.

Anyway that’s the exterior box and base plan at least for now. Material could change.

For now I’ll stick to what I have done.

The material milled up for the legs. All perfectly QS/rift. I don’t want to even think how much those four legs cost considering the waste. Well not waste as I’ll use the offcuts for something but it’s all much smaller pieces now and all the good stuff is gone anyway. I don’t really care much for flat sawn lumber.

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First I cut the tenons for the apron pieces. I like the shaper for this kind of work. I leave them oversized based on my slot mortise bits then cut my mortise and adjust my sprindle height flipping my workpiece to get a perfect fit off the machine.

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I then took the apron pieces to the band saw to haunch them. I finished the work by hand with a Japanese saw and chisel. I could have done this on the shaper also but I like playing with my toys at least a little bit so I opted to not.

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Using a straight edge to check that the tenon are all indentical.

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[Patrick Walsh]

With the tenon cut on the apron pieces it was time to mortise the legs.

I transfer my layout information with a marking gauge right off my apron pieces.

I then take a scrap and hit out a mortise on the slot mortiser. I then adjust the spindle up or down to get a perfect fit being I had cut my tennon slightly thick.

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The slot mortiser makes quick work of the eight mortise. Maybe took 30 minutes to cut them all. My mortiser is kinda flimsy so you gotta go real slow and take very small bites.

Once the mortise are done the fun begins cleaning the corners with a chisel. Before I get to the chisel work I go and score lines with my marking gauge so I have something to follow.

I did a great job fitting this work right off the machine so the hand work was minimal.

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[Patrick Walsh]

With the mortise all squared up it was time to test fit and then put the miter on the end of the tenons.

This is where I left off. I’ll probably get back to it tonight and try and finish up fitting the remains three apron pieces.

The base has three lower rails I have to still make and fit. I’ll do that tomorrow and for the most part that should largely finish the base. Well not exactly but more to be revailed later.

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[ken hatch]

Patrick,

Sorry you lost your friend. Sam the Wonder Dog will soon follow and I'm dreading the day. You have inspired me to start building while I can.

ken

[Bill Houghton]

That's going to be a lovely memorial.

[Bruce Page]

It sounds like it will be a beautiful tribute to your best friend. I lost mine unexpectedly on January 1st so I feel your pain. There hasn’t been a day gone by that I haven’t thought about her. I made a simple urn box for her remains. It was cathartic experience.

[Patrick Walsh]

Got legs and aprons m&t together.

Tomorrow the lower rails.

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Perfect pressure fit joints. Kinda dangerous considering how prone to splitting wenge is.

Used a persuader and made a mess of a finger.

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Kinda together, at least for today. I’m happy enough with my progress. Would had liked to get lower stretchers done but I only had a few hours today so.

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[Patrick Walsh]

This is the lumber that inspired the project.

I’ll use the bubinga for one of the interior boxes along with ebony for both accents and part of one of the interior boxes. I’m not sure about the exterior box that will sit atop the base. I’m still thinking highly figured satinwood. If so it will not have the calming effect of most of Krenovs pieces. My sense is it will be pretty electric. May go with cvgayc If I’m not feeling the satinwood.

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[Brian Holcombe]

Nice work, Patrick. The cabinet is coming out well, and those joints are good and tight!

[Patrick Walsh]

Thanks Brian,

Long long way to go yet. This is barely even a skeleton. I really hope I can finish the base before I have to go back to work Monday. Gotta make tome to spend time with my other pup to so we will see.

Nice work, Patrick. The cabinet is coming out well, and those joints are good and tight!

[Al Launier]

I suspect you may have taken these pictures with your cell phone and the reason they are 90° off is because you held the camera 90° in the wrong orientation. Try holding 90° in the opposite direction, i.e. horizontally instead of vertically with the volume button facing down.down

[Patrick Walsh]

Hmm,

Let’s see if I held my phone the right way this time. I normally do think about that but who knows maybe I spaced out.

Edit. Uploaded and my pictures are all on their sides again. Back to the drawing board lol

Mocking up the sub stretchers. Yes most would do this in say poplar and build a scaled model or work off a drawing, “I am” a loose one lol. I like to have a general idea of what I’m building then adjust accordingly as I build. I do this with everything, gardening, drawing, I used to oil paint and make pottery and employ the same nonesense. Some would say it’s poor form and you’ll just make a mess this way. It’s really the only way I enjoy building so.

I barely have the time to build the piece once never mind twice. Long term this could hold me back design wise. For now it’s what I do.

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I probably won’t get this work done today. Hopefully tomorrow I can get another full day in the shop and get this thing in clamps before days end.

I kinda doubt it but you never know. I’d like to use a smoother to put a final finish on the pieces before assembly. We will see, I’m not really that good so they may just get a sand god forbid. I would hate to ruin a component at this point with tear out. I’ll get one of my Kanna setup and see what I can come up with on some scraps then decide from there.

[Brian Holcombe]

I do the same Patrick, typically. I generally only make a sacrifice when I'm doing a 'production run' of multiples, then I'll work in a test unit. Otherwise I dislike making everything twice.

[Patrick Walsh]

$$$ has a way of making most of us do things we otherwise would have no interest in.

Hopefully the compromise is minimal and moral and one that allows for a good night sleep.

Cabinetry is my compromise. It affords me the luxury to do stuff like this a few times a year along with collect all the nonsense I seem to accumulate.

I do the same Patrick, typically. I generally only make a sacrifice when I'm doing a 'production run' of multiples, then I'll work in a test unit. Otherwise I dislike making everything twice.

[Patrick Walsh]

This is as close as I get to a scaled model.

Normally after I draw something I continually make revisions pretty much all the way through the build.

Case in point I opted out of the through tenons. First because I thought it made the piece to busy and I was looking for something at least mildly graceful. The dog “Brooklyn” that passed and I’m making this for was as mentioned a girl. She was a apbt and very lean, she had long thin legs, a long mussel eyes that told a story and coat smooth as satin. There was not a darn masculine thing about her and my opinion is there shouldn’t be about this piece either. If there is it should be minimal.

I chose wenge as she was brindle and the lumber from afar looks quite a bit like her coat. The satinwood is with the intention that the box proper be light, bright and almost like a glowing orb or beacon but in a subtle way. The glowing beacon pays homage to the brightness of her personality and inate disposition to make the best of everything even when it was hard for her.

Yeah I know I’m crazy. I loved that dog, I still do, she was my once in a lifetime dog.

Anyway the through tenons were to masculine and distracted from viewing the piece as a whole. Well at least I hope that ends up being the case, we will see? I wanted to use them as I like them but they did nit suit my vison for the emotional impact the finished piece should have. We will see if I’m not only a good enough craftsman to build this thing coupled with the ability to identify and vision that can have a emotion impact and thus resonate with viewers. Im a skeptic but I gotta at least try.

So far I like the choice of wenge. I maybe should have added some radius and splay to the legs if graceful was my intention. Doing so would had been a complete departure from the bellow drawings so fir now I’ll stick to the plan at least loosely.

The interior box will be box in a box kinda on a tray. The interior box will split in the middle with a hinge and out will slide avdrawer from each side. This is where the ashes for each of my two dogs will go. The box is a rip-off off some famous Japanese national treasure. I forget his name. Feels like a ripoff but I guess we all gather inspiration somewhere.

The two drawers will house their collar, leash and a picture of each.

The right drawing differs slightly from the left. The right is also a view through the doors of what will be inside.

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