My first commission piece is done!
- Thread starter adowden
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- commission piece
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Nice job Amy, I would also like to hear some details. It is great to see another woman woodworker in the mix. You did a beautiful job and I know the client will be very pleased with it.
J
jeff...
Beautiful work :rolf:
Thanks everyone for the kind words. Here are the details. The customer (my neighbor) had gotten a quote from a woodworker in Wake Forest who had not even started the project two months after they signed the contract. That is when he approached me. He provided me with a picture of a similar piece that he found on the web and all the dimensions of all his electronics equipment. He is going to stack the receiver, satellite box, dvd player, and equalizer in the left section. He wants to try to put the subwoofer in the center section, but just in case it doesn't sound good, I drilled two sets of adjustable shelf holes one centered (as pictured) and one so that the shelf will be just above the subwoofer. Behind the right door is a sliding shelf for his turntable (an old post) and enough room under it for his albums. Behind both doors I have a 3" x 12" hole cutout for venting similar to the entertainment center in the latest Wood Magazine. I tacked up black screening from the back over the vents. The short compartment above the doors is for some small speakers the customer has.
Based on the customer's specifications, I designed a piece to meet them. I used red oak everywhere. I had bought some quartersawn red oak that I thought I could use on the face frame, but the customer wanted everything to look similar. For the side assemblies, I used 3/4" solid oak stub tenons and grooves with 1/2" oak plywood in the center. This way it gives a floating panel appearance, but everything is flush on the inside.
I first made the side assemblies and then constructed the M&T face frame. I used dadoes and rabbets to attach the horizontal case pieces to the side assemblies. I also had rabbets on the top and sides of the face frame and a dado on the bottom to mate with the case. One mistake I made was having to route part off the sides of the face frame and part off the side assemblies to ensure that I didn't get too close to my M&T or my stub tenons. This was more of a pain than just rabbeting the face frame only. I could have avoided this by making my legs a little wider. I used a flush trim bit and a template I made with a fairing stick to make the curved pieces on the bottom of the ff and sides. The doors are 1" M&T.
Mistakes? Where do I start? One day I made this beautiful jig to guide the router straight (based on David Marks's jig), but when I routed a dado in inside of the side, my side was not clamped down tight enough, and oh ****. Luckily I caught it before I exited the solid wood center, so I just traced a patch, match the grain carefully and glue it in. I have learned to tug on my workpiece before I turn the router on. Another time I was routing the edge of the face frame and a big chunk ripped off. I learned the hard way to use a sacrificial backer board. As I progressed through this project, I found myself migrating more and more to my hand plane and scrapers because I felt like they gave me more control. I also messed up drilling holes for one of the touch latches for the door because I didn't check whether it was in the in or out position and it was out when I thought it was in. ooops. :eusa_thin
The glueup for the solid wood top went great. I made it early in the project and it didn't warp at all. I screwed the top on from underneath with holes on the center edges and slots in the front and back (to allow for movement). I drilled holes near the bottom of the dividers for oak grommets so that the customer could run plugs and wires. I also routed a groove toward the back of the middle case piece so the speaker wire could be channeled to the receiver. I doweled on the corbels.
I have gotten my money's worth out of the FWW online subscription. Each time I had to do something like fitting the inset doors, I would print out the article that pertained and do what they said. I have also learned alot from reading all the NCwoodworker posts.
Based on the customer's specifications, I designed a piece to meet them. I used red oak everywhere. I had bought some quartersawn red oak that I thought I could use on the face frame, but the customer wanted everything to look similar. For the side assemblies, I used 3/4" solid oak stub tenons and grooves with 1/2" oak plywood in the center. This way it gives a floating panel appearance, but everything is flush on the inside.
I first made the side assemblies and then constructed the M&T face frame. I used dadoes and rabbets to attach the horizontal case pieces to the side assemblies. I also had rabbets on the top and sides of the face frame and a dado on the bottom to mate with the case. One mistake I made was having to route part off the sides of the face frame and part off the side assemblies to ensure that I didn't get too close to my M&T or my stub tenons. This was more of a pain than just rabbeting the face frame only. I could have avoided this by making my legs a little wider. I used a flush trim bit and a template I made with a fairing stick to make the curved pieces on the bottom of the ff and sides. The doors are 1" M&T.
Mistakes? Where do I start? One day I made this beautiful jig to guide the router straight (based on David Marks's jig), but when I routed a dado in inside of the side, my side was not clamped down tight enough, and oh ****. Luckily I caught it before I exited the solid wood center, so I just traced a patch, match the grain carefully and glue it in. I have learned to tug on my workpiece before I turn the router on. Another time I was routing the edge of the face frame and a big chunk ripped off. I learned the hard way to use a sacrificial backer board. As I progressed through this project, I found myself migrating more and more to my hand plane and scrapers because I felt like they gave me more control. I also messed up drilling holes for one of the touch latches for the door because I didn't check whether it was in the in or out position and it was out when I thought it was in. ooops. :eusa_thin
The glueup for the solid wood top went great. I made it early in the project and it didn't warp at all. I screwed the top on from underneath with holes on the center edges and slots in the front and back (to allow for movement). I drilled holes near the bottom of the dividers for oak grommets so that the customer could run plugs and wires. I also routed a groove toward the back of the middle case piece so the speaker wire could be channeled to the receiver. I doweled on the corbels.
I have gotten my money's worth out of the FWW online subscription. Each time I had to do something like fitting the inset doors, I would print out the article that pertained and do what they said. I have also learned alot from reading all the NCwoodworker posts.
That is gorgeous.
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