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Joinery without Router or chisels

Joinery without Router or chisels (post #168156)

Madd0ct0r on Mon, 07/11/2011 - 21:50

New To Woodworking

Yah, I'm living in Vietnam at the moment. I don't want to buy a router and the only chisels I've found so far are supplied as steel slightly irregular blanks. there's only so many hours you can spend with an oil stone before accepting they'll never come good.

(It might be my technique is off - local carpenters seem to use them fine, but I hanker for my german steel in storage)

So. Am building a flip top desk. It's to let me make a mess with my other hobbies, close the lid and have a nice tidy desk again. Keeps everyone happy.

bottom of desk will be plywood while the lid will be wood sheet (lots of little pieces jointed and glued together. It's widely used over here but I don't know the english name).

Rest will be cut from pine planks.

Jointing the legs I think I can do with through cuts and dowels. They're two three leg trestles so I'm not anticipating much heart ache there.

I am worried about the lid. The wood sheet isn't very strong across the grain, and the lid is liable to be subject to bending and possibly torsion if I lift it carelessly. I think as time go on it'll 'creep' out of true too, let alone the seasonal moisture variation. A breadboard would actually help here, but I don't have a router. Any clever ways to mount one you can think of?

'design features' are accpetable ;)

creative tool use (post #168156, reply #1 of 5)

by RalphBarker in reply to Madd0ct0r [original] on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 07:46

I could easily see doing this without a router - if you have hand tools that will accomplish the same task, just more slowly (e.g. a decent back saw and a rabbet plane for the breadboard tenons). Doing without chisels, however, is tough, even if only mediocre in quality. You might, for example, consider making the breadboard itself in two sections, split along the horizontal center. Once the mortices are formed with saw, plane and chisel, glue the sections together.

Hi (post #168156, reply #2 of 5)

by oldusty in reply to Madd0ct0r [original] on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 08:05

Hi MaddOctOr,

You could dowel the bread board ends on , allow for movement by perhaps drilling 2 holes as close to each other to create a mortise , you could use longish screws through slotted holes , if possible cut a slot in each and use a spline you can add a few dowels as well let them intersect the spline .

there will always be some movement on these ends so you could just " let it be"

The spline or dowels are for alignment the screws will hold it together I hope .

Use em all , hope it works out for you , take care .

regards dusty, boxmaker

Sounds like a great (post #168156, reply #3 of 5)

by JiminFla in reply to Madd0ct0r [original] on Tue, 07/12/2011 - 14:05

Sounds like a great opportunity to learn some new techniques from the locals.

Jim

www.jimreedy.com

seasonal moisture in Viet Nam (post #168156, reply #4 of 5)

by BruceS in reply to Madd0ct0r [original] on Fri, 07/15/2011 - 17:35

Seasonal Changes !!!! I almost fell off the chair. Spent a tour there and it was hot or hotter and wet or wetter. It's surprising that lumber and furniture don't try to sprout new roots and grow back into trees.

Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

Bruce S.

Lid Breadboard Ends (post #168156, reply #5 of 5)

by cahudson42 in reply to Madd0ct0r [original] on Sun, 07/24/2011 - 23:29

If its a lift-up lid, how about two simple cross cleats underneath instead of the breadboard ends? Crude, yes. But would not be seen anyway when lid closed?

Handle the cross-grain situation in a usual way, glue maybe only one end or middle, depending on where you want the wood to move. Then screws/elongated holes.

Good Luck!