Thought I'd try a build along, though an abbreviated one, as I've not done that before and have been taking at least a few progress photos. One of our neighbors was a concert violinist before becoming a doctor (talk about an over achiever!) and asked if I'd make him a display case for two of his prized violins. After some back and forth, he really wanted a Krenov style display case. Overall height will be 72", with a 40" tall base and top cabinet at 32". The base will be made of sapele, some of which was sourced from Kluttz and some from our own Mike Davis who had a great largely rift sawn piece for the legs. I was concerned about stability based on design, so did a full mockup out of pine and was pleasantly surprised.
I started by milling 2x2 legs that could then be shaped on the bandsaw.
Because they will curve outward in 2 directions the blue tape helps hold one of the trimmed sides while the other is cut on the bandsaw. Once the are cut, I mark them at the top so I know which is which - you can see it in the pic below (I've messed up the curve before so this avoids that) and then go about final shaping with a combination of handplanes, spokeshave and sandpaper.
At that point, it's time to make the stretchers and get ready for assembly. As you can see from the following, I decided to cheat and use the domino rather than traditional mortise and tenon as I had initially planned (I'm running short on time).
What you can't tell from the picture is that I flipped two legs so that the dominos on 2 legs are to the outside and 2 to the inside - that obviously won't work and after a lot of unkind thoughts (and even a few choice words), I decided on a solution that wouldn't mean starting over on 2 legs.
With a solution in mind, decided to do the glue up and see how it came together.
It looks pretty good so far, though I did have to fix a small length mismatch of about 1/16" so it didn't want to wobble. While you have to look closely, the joinery mistake can be seen in the back left leg facing to the right. The solution . . . corner pieces will be inserted as a "design element" to cover them.
Next up is to route a cove in the top of the base all the way around and then cut some grooves for insets that can be connected to the base and extend inward just enough to allow attachment of the case. After that, it's going to get a finish and on to the cabinet.
For the cabinet, I'm using some very nice tiger maple purchased from one of our sponsors - GPS. I highly recommend GPS as they were very friendly, helpful and incredibly fair in their pricing. And the quality of the maple is really something. The cabinet lumber has been jointed, planed and glued up to oversize, and I hope to be working on that for the next week or so and will post more pics as I go (though probably closer to when the cabinet is together.
More to follow . . .
I started by milling 2x2 legs that could then be shaped on the bandsaw.
Because they will curve outward in 2 directions the blue tape helps hold one of the trimmed sides while the other is cut on the bandsaw. Once the are cut, I mark them at the top so I know which is which - you can see it in the pic below (I've messed up the curve before so this avoids that) and then go about final shaping with a combination of handplanes, spokeshave and sandpaper.
At that point, it's time to make the stretchers and get ready for assembly. As you can see from the following, I decided to cheat and use the domino rather than traditional mortise and tenon as I had initially planned (I'm running short on time).
What you can't tell from the picture is that I flipped two legs so that the dominos on 2 legs are to the outside and 2 to the inside - that obviously won't work and after a lot of unkind thoughts (and even a few choice words), I decided on a solution that wouldn't mean starting over on 2 legs.
With a solution in mind, decided to do the glue up and see how it came together.
It looks pretty good so far, though I did have to fix a small length mismatch of about 1/16" so it didn't want to wobble. While you have to look closely, the joinery mistake can be seen in the back left leg facing to the right. The solution . . . corner pieces will be inserted as a "design element" to cover them.
Next up is to route a cove in the top of the base all the way around and then cut some grooves for insets that can be connected to the base and extend inward just enough to allow attachment of the case. After that, it's going to get a finish and on to the cabinet.
For the cabinet, I'm using some very nice tiger maple purchased from one of our sponsors - GPS. I highly recommend GPS as they were very friendly, helpful and incredibly fair in their pricing. And the quality of the maple is really something. The cabinet lumber has been jointed, planed and glued up to oversize, and I hope to be working on that for the next week or so and will post more pics as I go (though probably closer to when the cabinet is together.
More to follow . . .
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