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Thread: I get paid to play with tools now. First job- arched mahogany doors x 56

  1. #16
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    Thanks to all for the kind words. They are much appreciated.


    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Jenness View Post
    Nice work.

    What species of mahogany are you working with that is so ornery?
    This is South American wood that looks to me like Sapele. It is to us like poplar is to you guys- readily available and relatively cheap compared to shopping in from the US. It has very tricky grain and a lot of tension, but after it settles down it’s solid stuff.

    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    Malcolm, I am so pleased to hear how well you are responding to therapy. Do you have room for another patient? My wife will happily pay my airfare

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

    p.s. the OT looks very cool.
    It is a mix of physical therapy lifting and pushing heavy wood, and mental therapy enjoying seeing a beam opened up and seeing the grain for the first time. There is also aromatherapy- smelling sweet mahogany. :-)

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Gibney View Post
    That's very nice work. Doors are so tricky, they pull on the hinges and the gaps can be unpredictable.

    How did you account for this?

    And congratulations on your new life.
    I accounted through prayer and holding my mouth just right. :-) Seriously, though, with mahogany it is a challenge. A close look and you will see that the arch is insert into the shorter stile about 3/4” as opposed to gluing flush to the stile, ie it rests in a little ledge for strength. It was a pain to make that stopped cut, which I did on the table saw and finished on the bandsaw, but it was a critical element to help keep it all right. Not seen is there are tenons in all the joints in addition to the rail and stile profiles. The grain in the arch is also critical. Boards were chosen carefully for the arches. I mounted the top hinge to land right at the start of the arch, as high as possible, which was 50 5/16” up from bottom. By the way, architects are evil and design things in 16ths making me use a lot of fractional math. (Only kidding, architects, but I sure wish at least one thing on these doors was a whole number!)

  2. #17
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    Looks like you're having a great time Malcolm, that's what retirement is for, and you're learning at the same time, it doesn't get any better than that.

    Thanks for the posting, the work looks great.

    I also have my retirement job although I don't retire for another 18 months, long enough to complete the project I'm on now............Regards, Rod.

  3. #18
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    I wanna hear more about that bandsaw and the other types of tools
    you get to use.

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zac wingert View Post
    I wanna hear more about that bandsaw and the other types of tools
    you get to use.
    That thing is a beast. It has massive solid iron wheels that have so much inertia that they spin for 5 minutes after you turn it off. The blade is 234” long. There is also a 12” table saw with a 10’ sliding table. It makes it easy to joint a board or cut a sheet of ply. Yon punch in the width and the fence automatically moves to that dimension. The problem is that there is no manual override, and it seems to be a bit buggy. I prefer to just set the fence myself.

  5. #20
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    Hi Malcolm,

    Congrats on the early retirement and great work on the doors. I laughed out loud when I first read your post, imagining that bandsaw in your shop. And nothing else! Keep up the good "work"!

    Best,
    Chris
    "You can observe a lot just by watching."
    --Yogi Berra

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Malcolm Schweizer View Post
    That thing is a beast. It has massive solid iron wheels that have so much inertia that they spin for 5 minutes after you turn it off. The blade is 234” long. There is also a 12” table saw with a 10’ sliding table. It makes it easy to joint a board or cut a sheet of ply. Yon punch in the width and the fence automatically moves to that dimension. The problem is that there is no manual override, and it seems to be a bit buggy. I prefer to just set the fence myself.
    Maybe they sell it at Home Depot. I’ll put on the HD credit card I got 10% off coupon. Haha

  7. #22
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    I thought cutting the stiles to the arch would be difficult, but a simple jig with one deck screw as a pivot point made it simple on this beast of a bandsaw. I was a bit worried because if the arch moved any at all during glue-up then the curve would be off when making this cut. So far I’ve made 22 of the 28 doors and only one had about 1/32” ledge after the cut which I simply planed off with a block plane. The rest were a perfect arch.
    11078A6B-9DD1-4DAB-824C-12264767EF82.jpg

  8. #23
    Malcolm, there are two ways of securing those circle heads. The other is just accurately planed butt joints with two
    splines. For thick doors I prefer the latter.

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Malcolm, there are two ways of securing those circle heads. The other is just accurately planed butt joints with two
    splines. For thick doors I prefer the latter.
    These are cope and stick with an added mortise and tenon- like a domino. I was just worried about whether or not the arches would remain true after glue up. I glued them and then cut the stiles off with the jig, aligning the arches to the jig for the cut.

  10. #25
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    Been out of town and just catching up. Big congrats Malcolm. That’s what retirement should be all about...doing stuff you love to do. Getting paid is a bonus. Your work on the arched doors is something to be really proud of. Be careful, with work that good, you may end up very busy in your retirement. And you’re a lucky man to have the opportunity to sail in such beautiful water. Enjoy!

  11. #26
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    Here is a jig I made to cut the curved trim for the screen doors. Since the arch does not meet at 90 degrees at the top, it has to be cut at 48 at top and 45 at bottom. The jig springs the trim a little bit at the bottom so that one pass on the table saw will make it 45 at bottom and 48 at top. I won’t lie- I was proud of this solution. There had to be a left and right jig since the 48 miter is on opposing sides on left versus right. Nothing is easy with arched doors.
    8430E6B4-454C-49CD-BDE6-5EF65D0D7786.jpg

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