Deluxe Sewing Center

This project, like any of our projects, begins with a visit to our lumber stacks.  We maintain a supply of rough sawn lumber in a variety of species.  These species usually include, Red Oak, White Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Poplar, Silver Maple, and Hickory.  On occasion we'll get the chance to buy something special and that will be added to our offering once it's dry and until it's gone.

If you are interested in our lumber sources, and grades Click Here to open a new page/tab with that information.  Close that page or tab to return here when you're done.

A while before I'm ready to start construction I go to the lumber stack and pull out boards that are well suited to the project coming up.  A detailed discussion of what this entails would be beyond the scope of this little article; it is something learned through experience… we call it “reading the wood”.  When I have what I need I move these boards into the workshop to acclimate.  If short enough, we will stand the boards vertically.  if not they will be loosely stacked on the floor.

Acclimation is just a snazzy word for adjusting to the new environment.  The environment inside my workshop is different from that outside (thank God).  As the wood’s water content and temperature equalize with that inside my workshop it may want to change shape.  This time I allow it to do so.  While this process is on-going, I can chunk the boards up into over-sized pieces from which the parts will be made, but I must allow them to finish acclimating before milling them to finished size.  If it changes shape after we mill it into finished parts, the parts become expensive firewood.

To begin the project we take our parts list and decide what boards will be used to make which parts.  The way the grain runs through a board will affect it's behavior in the future, for even though long 'dead' wood never stops moving.  Once we've laid out the parts, we will cut them to rough size -- slightly over-size so we have some extra for trimming and straightening should it bow a little as the tensions within the wood are released.

Today we spent the day sorting through the 84 board feet of quarter sawn white oak lumber we brought in and deciding which boards were to be used for rails and stiles, which would be best for panels and which to use for large plates like the flip-over top.

I should mention that this piece of furniture is based on a plan from BH&G Wood Magazine. Their plan, however, stipulates that nearly all parts are to be made of edge banded plywood, so we've modified the plan to use our solid hardwood frame & panel construction techniques.  Building it this way takes more time, but results in a more traditional piece of furniture.

Paula says that her cabinet will be used as a divider between two room spaces, and she wants the most dramatic ray-flecking to be used in the panels that would normally be turned to the wall.&nbap; Ray-flecking is that 'streaking' pattern that makes quarter sawn oak unique, and highly sought after for Mission and Art & Crafts styled furniture.

Materials: We brought in what should more than enough lumber to complete this project, 84 B.F.  What we don't use will be credited back to the lumber piles and removed from Paula's bill.
Man Hours: None of the hours we put in today will be billed.

Project Home