Chinese Gate Bench-Progress 2

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Greg Merritt

As promised or threatened, depending on how you look at it, I have completed the formal proportional drawing for the Chinese Gate Bench.  When I design a project I first establish the controlling distance/dimension.  In this case, the height of the seat is of paramount importance.  I’m sure there is a scientific way of determining the optimum height of a bench.  Nope, that’s not how I worked it out.  I just sat on a bunch of stuff until I found a comfortable height.  About 19-1/2″ seems about right.  I’m average height, 5′-10″, and a 19-1/2″ height puts my feet flat on the ground and is easy to squat down onto.  Any lower and it feels like I’m falling onto it.  Any higher and my feet aren’t flat on the ground.  When this happens it feels like I’m balancing on the seat and start looking for someplace higher to put my feet.  Think about a bar stool, I bet you always, almost instinctively, put your feet on the rung.  Anyway, I decided that about 19-1/2″ was the height to work to. Continue reading →

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Chinese Gate Bench-Progress 1

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Greg Merritt

I’ve been kicking this project around for a while.  I’m not sure why, just other projects kept moving this one down the list.  We actually could use a bench here at the house by the front door and, besides, a bench is a handy thing to have around.  One issue that I wanted to address was the style.  Almost every culture and furniture style has a bench design.  Like I said, they are handy to have around.  Since most of my projects, especially the larger furniture pieces, have and will continue to have, an asian flavor to them, I needed to design a bench that followed suit.

A few months ago I stumbled on Chinese Gate benches.  I knew immediately Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 9-Complete

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Greg Merritt

I woke up Saturday morning and changed my mind.  I was originally going to finish this project with Tried and True oil.  But I decided to go with clear shellac.  The entire mini tansu already had two coats of BLO and that had dried for at least 48hrs.

Once the shop was warm enough to work in, I glued and pegged the rear panel in place.  Once that was done I added the first coat of clear shellac.  I have never used shellac over a base coat of BLO before and I like the difference it makes.  I usually apply shellac Continue reading →

Posted in Finishing, Hillbilly Inlay, Hillbilly Mini Tansu-000 | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 8

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Greg Merritt

Success!!!…depending on your standards.  The small drawer in this little cabinet just about broke me over.  I made three, three, sets of sides and back for this thing.  Every error, no matter how small, is magnified when working at this scale.  I learned early on, when building drawers the frame needs to lay flat and square on its own before glue up.  If not, it’s a battle from that point forward.  So I remade the parts until this little drawer did just that.  Third time was the charm.

Once I had the assembly acceptable, I glued it together and added the bamboo pegs.  Another exercise in frustration in itself.  These pegs needed to be small.  About a 1/16″ or so.  I split these out from the larger pins that I normally use.  Then I added the bottom and clamped the assembly by wrapping it with the Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 7

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Greg Merritt

I present to you, lower right of photo, my latest work.  I call it: Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 6

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Greg Merritt

I’ve made drawers.  Not a lot, but several.  I actually enjoy making them and look forward to that step in the build process.  Up to this point all of my drawers were built with standard stock thicknesses,  3/4″ fronts and 1/2″ sides and rear with 1/4″ bottoms.  The mini tansu however, requires the drawers to be made from thinner stock, 1/2″ fronts, 5/16″ sides and rear with 1/8″ bottoms.  To complicate it even more I am building these drawers in the traditional Japanese method.  The sides are rebated and pegged to the fronts, the rear is joined to the sides with Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 5

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Greg Merritt

Slow and steady best describes my progress thus far.  Which is a good thing, I think.  There is absolutely no reason for me to be in a hurry and the process is much more enjoyable with the slower pace.  I’m not being deliberately slow, just deliberately not in a hurry.  By taking my time I can evaluate what I have done as well as what comes next.

Anyway, today I started by fabricating the sliding door.  Originally I had planned to create the door with Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 4

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Greg Merritt

Wow…I like working in the house.  It’s warm, the bathroom is right down the hall, the kitchen is close and it’s WARM.  I may have to move the workbench into the living room for the rest of the winter.  I’m sure the wife will be OK with it…I’ll let you know.

So I spent the last few evenings having fun with knives and coffee.  I began installing some Hillbilly Inlay to the sides and top of the carcass of the Mini HB Tansu.  Using the pattern sheets I prepared before as inspiration, I began by penciling in a pattern.  I didn’t have an absolute plan, just let it develop on it’s own.  The one thing I was conscious of was the scale.  I wanted the patterns on the carcass to be Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 3

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Greg Merritt

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 Continue reading →

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Hillbilly Mini Tansu-Progress 2

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Greg Merritt

With the temperature in the single digits and the wind chill causing it to dip below zero, it took a few hours of running the space heater to obtain a reasonable bit of warmth in the shop.  I was able to get a couple of hours of work done on Saturday afternoon and then left the space heater to run overnight so I could work most of the day Sunday.

I added the small, inset shelf into stopped dados.  This shelf also delineates an area for a very small drawer.  I then needed to add a rebate around the rear perimeter for installing the back.  This is a thru cut on the sides and was easily done with my Continue reading →

Posted in Design, Hillbilly Mini Tansu-000 | Tagged , | 7 Comments