Hope Chest Progress

[Michael Anthony]

Started this project about a week ago, its going to be a birthday present for my wife. The overall size will be 24 DX24H X57.5 long so it will fit at the end of the bed, it will have 6" radius corners on the front covered in birdeye veneer and carvings on the two ends and the front.113

[Michael Anthony]

I started the curved sections of the front of the chest yesterday

[Jess Wetherhold]

Seems like you are really moving along with this project. It looks outstanding from what I can see so far. Can't wait to see the progress and the finished piece.

[Michael Anthony]

Yesterday I sanded the curved pieces for the front and glued up the front panel and veneered the inside and out side of the curved corners

[Michael Anthony]

Some more pictures

[Michael Anthony]

Another long day in the shop, made good progress today, no interuptions, here are a few more pictures, I did a dry run of the back side panels and corners, I suppose there are a half dozen ways I could have joined these together but I chose a full spline 1/8x1xfull length I used tempered hardboard, it was from some old cabinets, I think that old masonite has more latteral strength than the stuff you buy today, I sanded them so they fit a little loose, because they are full length they will swell up.

[Michael Anthony]

Well I blew it again I tried to send a group of four pictures and only the one got through, Bob or Jess what am I doing wrong???:D

Mike,
See page 2 for the answers to that. Bob

[Jess Wetherhold]

I am really amazed at how fast you work! Bob may have the correct answer but you could try to post one or two pics, submit it and then go back into it (edit it) and post the rest? I'm sure Bob will come up with something that will work for you.

[Michael Anthony]

Jess Thank you sir, My Dad always said dont work hard or fast work smart, I try to keep 2 or three parts of the project going at all times, I have three more pictures to try to on here but dont hold your breath this computer hates me!!:D

[Michael Anthony]

More pictures of hope chest

[Michael Anthony]

I think this is going to take me longer than making the chest The previous picture is of an end panel and a curve section glued up in the form, this picture shows one done and another in the form tommorrow (please excuse my spelling I am tired and old) I am going to attach the front and back panels

[J-ROD]

Wow. this hope chest sure is turning out mighty nice. I'm working on a coffee table. nothing special but it'll do. I'm using african mahogany and satine. it's alright. I'll try to put a post about it tomorrow.

[Michael Anthony]

Hi J-Rod and welcome to the forum, and thank you for your nice comments, and yes let us see your coffee table. Here is another picture this is of the lid layout

[Bob Feeser]

Well I blew it again I tried to send a group of four pictures and only the one got through, Bob or Jess what am I doing wrong???:D

Michael,
Make sure they are saved in the JPEG format, as in ending in .jpg
Also they can not be larger than 100k in file size. The image resizer has different sizes to choose from. Play around with it. Save it as the largest size, and then take the finished saved file, and right click on it, and choose "Properties". It will tell you what the file size is.
Different cameras save pictures at a different factory default settings. Each resolution setting has it's own corresponding file size. So if your camera is set to the highest resolution, it could be a 5 megabyte picture to start with. At a normal resolution, it may start out a 400kb or 500kb instead. When image resizer goes to work on it, it will reduce it by a certain percentage. If it starts out with a huge file size, even reduced it still may be too large. You should experiment with what I have said above, and you will get a feel for the right mix. Feel free to post your experiments, we love to watch. :eek: Just kidding. Anyhow, post away, we love to hear from you. When I get some room and time away from my advertising chores, I will be getting more involved. All others please chime in.
Bob

[Bob Feeser]

Michael,
I am totally blown away by your projects. First an in depth carving, and now curved sides. I wish you would share your projects with all of us in even more detail. I am sure between all of the visitors, and the flock of new people who would (excuse the pun) come out of the woodwork, to get an idea as to how you do what you do would very much appreciate it. I've seen curved glue ups on NYW but getting the alignment right to fit the way you do is something else altogether. I know from your experience, everything from picking the right wood, to how to prepare it, create jigs, glue it, sand it, on, and on, and on would be fascinating. I would love to create a special forum called, "Ask Michael Anthony" You could do demonstrations, and others could chime in with questions as you go along.
I think it is a special treat having you here.
Bob

Another long day in the shop, made good progress today, no interuptions, here are a few more pictures, I did a dry run of the back side panels and corners, I suppose there are a half dozen ways I could have joined these together but I chose a full spline 1/8x1xfull length I used tempered hardboard, it was from some old cabinets, I think that old masonite has more latteral strength than the stuff you buy today, I sanded them so they fit a little loose, because they are full length they will swell up.

[Michael Anthony]

Hi Bob: First and formost Thank you very much for your vote of confidence,although I dont think I am teacher material, Idont mind at all sharing what I have learned over the years and years, if someone wants to know how I did a certain set up I will do my best to explain it, I have many more pictures of the hope chest but I thought I was overdoing it already? And if I could just figure out how to run this computer, well I will its just a matter of time.

[Bob Feeser]

When it comes to pictures, the more the merrier. You can post up to 4 pictures per individual post. People love pictures, especially when they show the detail of the workmanship, and how it is done. Answering questions is a lot easier than teaching. Teaching takes a lot of time, figuring out what to say, but if I asked you what kind of glue you use when laminating a curved panel, and how thin is each piece, or what type of substrate boards do you use, or are they all the same as the top layer, you can see managing that would not only be easy, it would be fun.
I understand you want to get familiar with everything first.
Pertaining to the computer. That is easy as well, as long as you remember that at times, frustration is followed by elation. You try to figure out how to do something, and it doesn't work, then you try something else, and it doesn't work, then you finally realize the answer, and knowing that by doing it that way, you must also be able to then do this and that, and sure enough it works that way. And your mind goes into a Wow, you feel elated, then tackle something else, and start the cycle over again.
By the way if you have any questions on computers, please ask me, and I will be glad to help. I am not a know it all, nobody is, but I have been going through my cycles for about 20 years; back into the DOS days, yes I am. So may the force be with you:) , and if you ever feel comfortable enough to start your own forum thread, let me know, you can even moderate that forum yourself, which gives you the ability to edit or delete any posts that appear, so you can keep a clean shop. By the way I noticed your shop is neat clean and organized. I have to do some cleaning of mine. Bob
Hi Bob: First and formost Thank you very much for your vote of confidence,although I dont think I am teacher material, Idont mind at all sharing what I have learned over the years and years, if someone wants to know how I did a certain set up I will do my best to explain it, I have many more pictures of the hope chest but I thought I was overdoing it already? And if I could just figure out how to run this computer, well I will its just a matter of time.

[Michael Anthony]

Hi Bob: Take a look at post #16 of the band saw extension thread, you keep saying hand carved but in truth my carving are from a CNC machine, I definately do not want to misslead anyone, my arthritic hands could never carve something like that in the amount of time that those were carved, they are in hardrock maple and you know how hard that stuff is.

[Michael Anthony]

Had another busy couple of days,glued the back and the front to the sides, rabbetted out the bottom of the cabinet to accept the bottom plate, made the bottom plate and installed aromatic cedar on it right away, will wait till after the finish is on to install it. Because all the carved panels are vertical grain I needed a strong back around the top inner perimeter, made that and installed it, cut plugs for all the screw holes and sanded flush, hand sanded the top edge flush and ready to veneer it tommorrow. here are some more pics, see if I can do 4 this time:D

[Michael Anthony]

I cant believe I did it four at once Yahoo! 133

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[J-ROD]

This chest is coming along very well. I love the smell of that cedar. I just bought a nice piece of cherry and I have a HUGE piece that's about 16ish inches wide so I'll use both of those to make another coffee table. I also have a Claro walnut and Elm flitches that I want to make Nakashima type tables with. I'll try to get those pictures of the table I have now. I just gotta remember to take my digital camera to school with me. I used african mahogany and satinwood(it's like yellow heart) and it looks pretty sweet. but it needs something else on the base. I might install some crown or make a simple cove or Roman Ogee moulding for it.

[J-ROD]

Oh, and what kind of CNC do you use? We have the Techno brand at my school's shop. I'm trying to talk the shop teacher into buying an epilog laser :D so we'll see. If we and the metalshop split the price so we can both use the machine that would be sweet

[Michael Anthony]

Hi J-Rod: I would really like to see a picture of your coffee table it sounds like its a really nice piece, I have two CNC machines One is a do it your self project and the other is a carvewright, the home built unit is finished but I am still learning how to use it it capacity is 5" highX12"WX12"L here are some pictures of the two machines143

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[J-ROD]

Ok ya those carvewright's are pretty sweet for smaller things. are you an engineer or just really good at putting things like that home built CNC together? that one is pretty sweet too

[Michael Anthony]

W151

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154ell its finally done except I probably could put a few more coats of laquer on the top , here are the latest pictures

[J-ROD]

That marquetry on the top is pretty sweet. I want to make some sushi platters out of veneer. Like get 2 contrasting sheets and cut a curve on them and have a curve through the length of the piece also. I've seen it done but I'd like to make it myself. But that chest turned out pretty nice. And those carvings really put it off the charts ;) good job. Now I'll just have to wait 'till I see your next project.