Wednesday, September 6, 2017

BCM 2017: On a New Track (2)

Before we get to today’s post, I wanted to make a brief note about comments on this blog. All comments are moderated, and normally, when someone posts a comment, I receive an email notification, and from there I can post it, delete it, or mark it as spam. If a comment has the name of the commenter appended, and is not spam (not that one ever receives spam from people using their real name), I post it. If the comment does not have the commenter’s name appended, no matter how wonderful a comment it might be, I delete it. Then, there are spam comments, which are marked as such and flushed down the virtual toilet where they belong.

Recently I noticed some comments from posts 97 and 98 in the ‘Ming-Inspired Cabinet’ series, and for some reason I never received direct notification of these comments, but found that the comments (later?) appeared in the comment management section of my blogs control panel. This I discovered by happenstance weeks afterwards. I’ve no idea why that happened, but as soon as I came across those comments, I posted them.

I almost always respond to comments, even if to only say 'thank you’, however once in a while I publish a comment and then I get distracted with something and the comment, so to speak, slips through the cracks. Indeed, I have come across posts from years back where people had commented and I did not make any reply. When I find that, I will immediately make a reply, however in some cases years have passed and I doubt the person to whom I am replying ever sees that I did make an answer. For circumstance that I am deeply regretful. I know that for some folks, receiving no response after the trouble they took took to post a comment can be a bit of a turn off.

So, please know, that if by any chance you posted a comment at some point in the past, saw that it was posted, and I made no response, it was entirely an accident. It doesn’t mean I am snubbing you or have nothing to say or am not grateful in some way. Sometimes when you are juggling a few things a ball gets dropped, that is all.

And if you made a comment and it was not posted, it is almost certainly because you did not put your name to it. I do not like internet anonymity, and that is why I ask people to say who they are, regardless of whether they have something good to say or otherwise.

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Back to the current wok on the track and sliding doors for the middle room of the Machiya located in the Boston Children’s museum (BCM). Last time, I had re-sawn, jointed and planed stock for the stiles, rails, and shiki-i (sliding track), all a few millimeters over dimension. The next shop session I checked the pieces to see if they were still straight, re-jointed as necessary, and planed the parts to about 0.3mm over finish dimension. Then the parts were super-surfaced to exact size. Then the stiles and rails were dadoed for the panels:



Also, at this stage, lines were marked indicating rail junctions and mortise locations for the panel battens:


The shiki-i, which I chose to make out of Honduran Mahogany, was similarly planed to dimension and then super-surfaced to exact size. Then a coat of water-based stain was applied:


Though the stain is water-based, the cleanly sliced cells of the wood from surfacing mean that the grain is not raised.

A day later, after some careful calibration, I used my groover to cut the dadoes in the track for the doors:


David Pye’s notion of 'workmanship of risk’ was clear to me again, anytime I use the groover - the tool must be perfectly guided as any slight deviation or pressure can result in a spoiled cut in a blink of an eye. Fortunately, all went well, and here I’m wrapping up the second pass:


Later, the piece received more stain, and is still wet in the following photo:


One coat is in fact sufficient, however I find a second coat gives a very slightly more even appearance.

The rails connect to the stiles by way of twin tenons and have a mitered return on the front face. here I’m rough-cutting the tenons:


Result:


A while later all eight rail tenons sets were rough cut:


I’ll pare the shoulders with a guide block next time, and trim the tenons the the required height.

The stiles were then mortised for their battens:


Another round in the shop should see me through the remainder of the joinery work. Stay tuned for more and thanks for visiting the Carpentry Way.

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