It's Jan. 1st. so it would appear a suitable time to continue with my rant. Mike, my son, sent a rather frank letter to the editor of F.W.W. No reply as yet. I don't expect too much in the form of substance, but we'll see.
After 30 odd years in Vancouver, Marie and I decided to move to the southern interior of B.C. It's a beautiful place gorgeous in the summer, but cold in the winter. Apparently it's known as the Napa Valley of the north, and now I know why.
We are fortunate to have a 180 degree view of the Okanagan lake and city of Kelowna, gorgeous at night. Lots of vineyards and world class wine.
Something which I consider significant occurred during our move, we needed a new dining room suite, and since I've made 95% of all our furniture, I was prepared to design and make the table and chairs. However since we knew it would take an age, particularly with the chairs, we decided to buy. It turned out to be a fairly expensive venture, and on the surface looked beautiful. Initially I lost a bit of confidence in my abilities, since I wondered how I could possibly compete with this apparent classy piece of art,I was also childishly miffed that Marie could so readily abandon my efforts. To cut a long story short she is now totally exasperated, and sincerely wishes we had been a bit more patient, and I had gone ahead and built the set. The top of the table began to get dull in patches which is a problem we never had before. If you use a cloth to wipe, it leaves faint scores all over the glaze (which is a very dark almost black finish). First she asked me to refinish the top and I agreed, until I looked underneath and found the top was made of particle board and veneered. I also found that the legs are secured to the apron, or rails with steel bolts through a corner bracket, something I would never dream of doing, I would have created a permanent joint at each leg utilising 12 staggered dowels. I should never have made the assumption that because the set was expensive it naturally follows it must be good. My confidence in my own furniture making has just been given a boost. The dining suite that I made almost 30 years ago, now sits proudly in our friend's dining room!!
I am now working on a new bedroom suite. It will be completed 100% utilizing dowels. and I'll explain about that in a later post. Thanks to the people who have viewed this blog and sent me great comments. I truly appreciate the time taken to respond.
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Hi Jim,
ReplyDeleteHow are you planning to join the rails to the head and foot of the bed?
When I made a bed for one of my sons I used pins 1, 3 and 5 of the Dowelmax. 1 and 5 held small alignment dowels, while I used pin 3 to drill a long bolt hole to connect to a cross toggle. The location of pin 3 was also used to correctly position the toggle. (I'm sure I've got the terminology wrong, but hope you get the idea)
Having the alignment dowels makes it easy to position everything when putting the bed together, and being able to perfectly align the long bolt hole and toggle was an added bonus.
Try doing THAT with loose tenons ;)
Hi Ron, Your idea sounds excellent, and I'm assuming, the design was to enable future disassembly of the bed. That also was my concern My rail was a 1" x 12" and I used 9 equidistant dowels,which I glued into the rail only. After that I dry fitted the assembly , clamped it, then used aluminum brackets, on the inside corners to hold it in position . It remained rock solid for about 25 years till we moved. Thanks for your interest,and nice to talk to you.
ReplyDeleteRegards Jim
I feel your pain Jim. I have the same problem with my wife. I built a pair of beautiful Ash nightstands. (before I bought Dowelmax) Took a lot of time and burned me out a bit. But the construction is very strong. Dado & groove, tongue & groove panels, and through dovetails for the drawer fronts.
ReplyDeleteShe wants an entertainment center, and of course for me to finish the bedroom set. (king sized bed, two dressers, desk & mirror) It is going to take me years to do it, because if I work too much on it, it is going to become W-O-R-K. She has also told me she wants a new entertainment center that is more suitable for her new plasma TV. I told her I would do that, but she doesn't want to wait. Wants to buy some Chinese glass & steel thing from Wal*Mart. What a kick in the nuts that is. I told her OK on two conditions: 1) Not from Wal*Mart. Anywhere else is fine.
2) If/when I build a proper one, that steel/glass one gets sold, given away, or thrown away. She agreed.
My wife didn't want to wait for a dining room set either. (and I balked, because of the time required) So we bought an apparently-nice set from the local furniture store. Of course I looked it over, and it uses the same type of industrial construction you mentioned. (with the corner brackets and such) I knew it was veneered from the start, but Kate really liked the pattern.
A couple years later, the joints on the chairs were loosening up. Since the plugs were finished before they were glued in, they are not holding, so I was able to tighten it up again. One plug will not stay in; I threw it out, but my wife saw it and rescued it. Ah well, I can only complain so much until I build something better. This is a hobby after all, right? ;)