Work, weather and family obligations have kept me out of the shop all week.  I finally caught a break today and managed a few hours in the shop.

Nothing ground breaking was accomplished though.  Since the glue-up of the carcass was complete, I did the final cleanup.  I like to wipe the end grain of the exposed pins with camellia oil before starting to plane them.  The oil swells the fibers and results in a much cleaner and easier cut.  Very little, if any, of the oil remains after the planing and I have yet to have any issues with finishing.  With the cleanup completed I turned my attention the the full bead detail that surrounds the perimeter of the carcass face.

The bead detail was planned from the beginning to lighten the look of the carcass and to bring the outer face perimeter into proportion with the rest of the visible elements.  The bead was created mostly with a simple flathead screw installed in a block of wood.  The cross grain and end grain sections were completed with a knife and chisel.  The beading tool only creates the inner portion of the bead.  To complete the bead I rounded over the outer edge with my #4 smoothing plane.  A little sandpaper work and the bead was completed.

If you have been following my blog and the last Hillbilly Tansu then you know that I used a wood burning tool to add a highlight  to the bead on the drawers.  That turned out pretty good but was difficult to control.  I did a little digging and found a different tip that should be easier to control.

So I fired up the wood burner with the new tip installed and went to work with much better results.

I think the bead accomplished my goal of lightening the look and bringing the face perimeter into proportion.

Before bead

After bead

I’ll spend the next few days adding some Hillbilly Inlay to the top and sides of the carcass.  Thankfully I can do this in the house.

Greg Merritt…Part 4