FINISHING FINISHING

The headboard and footboard are DONE. Completely:



I didn't do a very good job matching the grain on the plugs that hide the screws attaching the caps to the headboard and footboard, but maybe it's sort of like the people that leave layout lines penciled on completed dovetails--to highlight the work that went into it:



The final coat of finish is now curing on the sides:



I used something called "Tried and True." It is basically a linseed oil/beeswax mix. It sure is easy to apply. Hopefully it holds up pretty well.

The next pictures I post should be of a done crib in a done baby's room...

-m

HOME STRETCH...

One side glued, one to go. Here is what it will look like (minus a side, and finish):





I still need to add caps on the sides (probably, though it wouldn't matter if I decided not to, I guess). I goofed and routed a 1/8" roundover on top, so I will have to run the side panels through my tablesaw jointer jig to get rid of those, if I decide a cap is necessary. That will also make sure that the cap fits tight with no gaps. We'll see. It's pretty optional, at this point, unless I decide I want it there to reinforce the top rail where the bolt comes in (just a little more thickness surrounding that bolt).

-m

GLUIN'

The first side panel is currently gluing. Those two long skinny pieces you see on either side (right and left) are not part of the crib. I think the technical, woodworky term for them is "cauls." Basically, I am using them to make sure the top and bottom rails end up square. It took a little bit of thinking to figure out how the pipe clamps needed to sit relative to each other & the wood to make it work out:



One more side to glue, then some drilling & cleanup.

-m

HOME STRETCH

OK..I'm closing in on the home stretch on the crib...

I now have the cap on the footboard. If you look closely on either end, you can probably see the plugs sticking up where the countersunk screws are (it is glued along the middle and screwed & glued on the ends). I just need to flush trim those, clean up some glue squeeze out, do a final sanding, and the footboard and headboard will both be done, apart from staining/finishing.

Below is the drawing I created to help me cut parts to the right size for the sides. This is way different from the way the plans want you to make the sides, but I think this will look better, and still be strong. All those years of mechanical drafting come in handy for woodworking design. The vertical slats are mortised into the top and bottom rails. It took awhile to cut all those mortises, since it was required close to 200 holes drilled adjacent to each other, and then I had to clean each one up and size it for the rails using chisels. That is rewarding work, but a little tedious.


This is what the sides will look like. I have to glue them, which will definitely be difficult, since I have to get all those things to line up, and make some fairly large pipe clamps work, within about a 7 minute window before the glue starts setting. So I will save that for tomorrow. But this gives you an idea of how they will look:


Man. I am slow. I have probably spent 50 hours on this project so far. But, part of the time was making jigs I needed. Below is a 90° jig for my drill press. I needed this for the successive holes in the side rail mortises. I was happy because it came out exactly 90°, or at least close enough that my measuring tools couldn't detect that it was off. Once I get a big bandsaw (14"), I can also use this for resawing wider pieces, but it is too big for my current bandsaw.


Another jig I made was a jointer fence for my table saw. Actually, I made two--one that takes off 1/8", and one that takes off 1/16". The way they work is that they attach to the regular rip fence (via square head bolts that go into the slot on the stock fence), and then you slide the unit to where the blade fits in the circular cutout in the melamine. The pieces that fit behind the blade (on the bottom in this picture), are even with the blade, so that the stock gets trimmed exactly 1/16" or 1/8" by passing it by this. It works better on smaller stock that is easier to manage, not as well on large stock. But, all in all, they work surprisingly well. They are not my design--I got them out of a cool book I bought right after I got my table saw. It's not as good as a jointer, but it will get me by until I'm ready to sink $500-700 into a nice jointer. I also have a plan in my head for a jointer sled for my planer. I'll let you know how that works out.



So what remains is to sand a few pieces on the side panels, glue up the side panels, do a final sanding & glue cleanup on everything, drill some bolt holes for fastening it together, and finishing. It's within reach now--in fact, I could get most everything but the finishing done tomorrow, if I focus on it. It will be a relief to have this done. It's been fun, but I am ready to start on a new project. I also have decided that I don't like working under deadlines.

-m

SIDES

OK. So it's been awhile since I've updated you on the crib progress. I haven't made that much progress, because I've been working quite a few hours (50, on average), and we did a little traveling over the holiday, and there have been other miscellaneous distractions, such as the fact that I received 75 shrubs in the mail from the Missouri Dept. of Conservation, and had to get them in the ground. Anyway, here goes...

Here is the completed headboard. I use the term "completed" loosely, because I still want to run over it with a hand sanding at 220 grit, and I have to finish it, and maybe put some felt-covered feet on the bottom, but it is pretty much done:

Also, I now have the footboard 90% done. All I need there is to clean up some glue squeeze out, and put a cap on it. I think the cap is already cut, and just needs rounded over and sanded, but I can't remember. Here's what they look like together (footboard is on right):

And, I have the sides well underway. The plans called for this to be 2 pieces of 1/4" plywood laminated together to make a solid panel. Yuck. So I stuck with the general look of the headboard & footboard, but gave it a little arts & crafts "flair." This took a little design, because it had to be as rigid diagonally as the plywood panel. So I wound up designing it with one big "slat" in the middle, and it will have 2 small ones (the size of those in the headboard) on either side. I am pretty sure the 'decorative' cutout in the larger center slat is to allow for wood movement without warping everything. Let's hope it works. Oh, these are 3/8" thick, and are set into a 1" deep mortise in the top and bottom pieces. Hopefully, when it's all glued up, it will be solid. Should be--the shear & pull-apart stresses for mortise & tenon joints is pretty incredible. This is what it will look like from the side, but without the narrower slats on either side of the wide one:

Oh. And remember when I said that the slats for the side were 3/8"? Well, so are the ones in the headboard and footboard. But, since the headboard ones are narrow (1.5" wide), I could resaw them to thickness, from 3/4", using my bandsaw. I couldn't do that with the 7 1/4" wide piece here. Yeah, I could have run it through the table saw one way, then flipped it end for end, run it through again, and cut what was left with a hand saw, but I knew this was not going to be the last time I had to deal with stock that needed to be thicknessed. So, I just went right out and bought the following item:

I say "went right out..." Those of you that know me know that I am not an impulse shopper. I researched table saws for over a year and a half before settling on the one I got. Actually, I had already decided that if I ever got a planer, it would be this one. Wood magazine had recently run a review of planers, and this was the "Best Value" out of 15 or so planers. A $550 DeWalt took the top prize, but for about 2/3 the price, this one was rated almost as good. Anyway, it works well. It pulls stuff through effortlessly, and the board that comes out is glass-smooth. It is my third Ridgid tool (table saw, shop vac). My satisfaction with the other tools definitely made me more comfortable buying this.

I already know which bandsaw and jointer I will get when the time comes. Yeah, I have a bandsaw, but it is tiny (9"), and it has started to hesitate when starting up, so I assume it won't last forever.

Thanks for listening.

-m

HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOU'VE BEEN DOING A LOT OF WOODWORKING:

Well, for starters, you have completely filled a 16 gallon shop vac with sawdust and wood chips:


And for another, you have a nearly complete headboard to show for it (just need the cap):

No, the headboard is not sitting in grass. That is our downstairs shag carpet. Well, one of the 3 patches of downstairs shag carpet.

-m

PROGRESS

OK. Time for my semi-regular update on crib construction...

Here's the frame for the headboard, glued & ready to go. If you look closely, you can see 4 round metal things stuck in the leg on the right. Those are what you use to adjust the height of the mattress. The are strange little threaded inserts with non-continuous threads on the outsides and regular threads on the inside. I think the theory is that the wood expands and fills in between the "threadlets" on the outside so that it stays in place when you're putting in or removing the screws that hold the mattress springs:

Here's the progress clamping the slats and slat retainers:

Here's where it sits, as of 9:19 pm tonight. Should be able to finish the headboard by Tuesday evening. I need to glue in 6 more slat retainers, and then put the cap on the top. Oh yeah. I keep forgetting I need a plug cutter so I can fill the countersunk holes in the cap ends. Oh yeah, I also just remembered it would be handy if I had a real countersink, instead of just putting in a bigger bit. Once those steps are done, the headboard will be DONE, except for finishing. It is finish sanded (220 grit), but obviously haven't stained it or anything. I'm going to use 3 coats of linseed oil and 2-3 coats of beeswax or carnuba wax. Linseed oil just brightens the wood a little--it doesn't stain the wood, really. The footboard is almost the same, except it's shorter, and has a skinnier rail at the top.

I'm pretty satisfied with the spacing. I'll end up having to special cut 2 slat retainers on each side, because I'm off about 1/8". Not too bad, considering there are 13 slats and 28 slat retainers, meaning I only got off 1/8" of an inch total in 82 cuts.

I'm feeling a little better about getting this done, but I'm starting to think about the sides now. The plans call for you to use 1/2" of oak plywood (two sheets of 1/4" plywood, laminated), but the 1/4 plywood I got was MUCH redder than the dimensional stock, so I'm thinking about using rails for the side. Also, I like the look of slats better than the solid panels. I will have to get creative, though, from an engineering standpoint. Those panels are in there to give it diagonal strength from front to back--which I would give up if I did it the same as the headboard and footboard (the slats are NOT glued, they are free so that they have room to expand/contract). The advice I got from the internet forum for the plans (I know...) was to construct the slats and the strip that holds the slats first (and screw and glue the slats in), and then glue the frame together around it. That seems risky, because I could wind up with a slat assembly that is 1/8" too short or long, which would really cause problems. I may default to the method in the plans...I was just hoping to avoid using plywood. As of now, everything is solid oak. Yeah..this thing is gonna be heavy. I'm hoping the result will be something the kid will have for the rest of their lives, and beyond.

By the way, it looks better in real life than in the images. It loses the look of the grain and the whatever-it-is-that-makes-red-oak-look-so-cool that it has in real life. Should stand out better once I put the finish on.

-m