New year, new article

I've got an article in the new issue of Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine. It describes how to make brass knife hinges.

I find this a handy skill to have, because sometimes, the right hinges aren't available to buy. This was the case in my Liquor Cabinet from a few years ago. The door was to be a work surface, and small hinges would not hold up in the long run. Using the same techniques described in the article, I was able to make hinges using 3/16" brass and a 3/16" pin.

http://grainchronicles.blogspot.ca/2013/10/liquor-cabinet.html

that's not me on the cover...

Ça Commence

I've been commissioned to build a wall unit whose primary job is to be a liquor cabinet. Inspiration for the cabinet came from classic Danish wall units and from the room where it will reside. The room is quite large with 12' ceilings. There will be three boxes, and five shelves, with three shelves wrapping around a corner in the room.

To get my head around the corner, I decided to make a scale model of the room, and design the piece on it.

Scale model 1"=1', hearing protection for scale.

The model proved to be a very useful design tool, and a great way to convey the project to the clients.

With the design approved, I went to get some lumber. We decided on Sapele for the exterior of the boxes and the shelves, and maple for the interiors and drawers. The boxes will have sliding doors.

The car groaned a little when they dropped the 4/4, 24"
wide, 16' long piece of Sapele on it. I had
to cut it up before getting it inside.

Careful planing was needed to ensure that I would have enough stock with just the one piece of Sapele, and I think it'll work. The lumber yard had another piece just like this one, but I left it behind.

This is about as organized as I get. It's
proving to have been worth it.

I sawed the veneer at a friends shop, and have been jointing and gluing them together since. The big box is about 70" long, and I'm glad I only had two edge joints to do at that length.

70" edge joints pushed the limits of my
bench. The #6 was hanging off both
ends of the bench to make the cut.

Using my Hamler insert in my #6.
Works well.

perfect

i love it when the grain cooperates. 

ottawhat? podcast

last week i was a guest on a local ottawa podcast. ottawhat?'s format is conversational and relaxed. we mostly talked about woodworking and the ottawa region.
so if you've ever wondered what i sound like, here's your chance.

http://www.ottawhatpodcast.com/2015/06/58-jacques-breau-end-grain-woodworks.html?m=1

canadian quotes

i recently did a Q&A with canadian woodworking and home improvement. it's accompanied by a video slideshow. it was a fun process.

here's the result (slideshow is at the bottom, follow the link): 

https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/video/canadian-woodworking/canadian-quotes-jacques-breau

Tools Tools Tools

i just got a new tool. Always fun.

it's a 10" inca jointer/planer that's replacing a 4" jointer and 12" planer. it takes up about half the space, and gives me much better jointing capacity. it's a nice, clean machine with decidedly swiss features, like the planetary gear drive system.

good times.

On news stands now

My latest cabinet, Dark Horse, is featured on the cover of the February/March issue of Canadian Woodworking and Home Improvement. Inside the magazine, is an article documenting the building of the cabinet.
Writing articles on woodworking is a lot of fun, and something that I hope to do more of in the future.

https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/current-issue

On the Curve, May 4-15 2015

I have been asked by the Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinet Making to lead a two week session on curved joinery this coming May. The class is open to anybody interested in furthering their knowledge of off 90* joinery. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to return to Inside Passage yet again. After having completed the Craftsman program in 2006-2007, and returning as an assistant to Robert many times since, Inside Passage, the place and the people, have nestled themselves into a cozy corner of my heart.

We will be covering dovetails, mortise and tenon joinery, installing glass in a curved frame, and curved frame and panel construction. There will also be time to start working on the development of a project, for those who wish to do so. And, of course, we will push any limits that may come up.

For those who may not know, the Inside Passage School is located on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia in the village of Roberts Creek. The school is situated in the heart of the community a few minutes walk from the Georgia Straight. The setting is ideal, and the shop is well equipped. 

For more information check out the website: http://www.insidepassage.ca/joineryonthecurve

Or call Yvonne at 1-877-943-9663

Woodworks 2014

the ottawa woodworkers association is hosting  a woodworking conference in perth ontario at the college there.

there is also a juried exhibition of furniture that is open to the public for viewing.

i've got three pieces in the woodworks show.

the ottawa citizen ran a piece about the show in last saturday's paper. they used a few photos of my furniture and a bit of an interview. the article also feature brian greene, a fine ottawa furniture maker.

if you're in the area and like furniture, please drop by and check it out.

http://ottawacitizen.com/life/homes/woodworking-conference-a-chance-to-meet-high-end-furniture-creators

http://www.woodworksconference.com

FWW # 242

look at page 30 of the october 2014 issue, and you will find this guy and some furniture.
big thanks to the folks at fine woodworking, especially ben blackmar, and a very big thanks to adam kropinski for lending me his shop for a few days to do the photo shoot. my shop was too small.

dark horse

just finished a little cabinet of wenge and spruce. the spruce came for a reclaimed piano sound board and was quite lovely. the wenge was hard as rock. it's a post and panel construction. the panel have a concave shape on the staves and form a convex panel.

tools & shops

my little shop is featured on fine woodworking's website as an extra to their "make better use of your space" article in the next issue of tools & shops. 

roughly 97% of my liquor cabinet was built in there.

check it out: 
http://www.finewoodworking.com/workshop/article/spare-room-workshop-space.aspx?id=127491

liquor cabinet

here are some photos of my recently completed liquor cabinet. the open door acts as a drink/drinking surface. you can spy a hidden box in the second photo. it has a tricky lock type mechanism to permit removal.
zebrano and maple. the back panel is made from maple that i got from the same friend in vancouver. pretty stuff. thanks again d.
cabinet is available for purchase here: http://odengallery.com/purchasing-gallery/liquor-cabinet-3500/

coffee table

just finished a coffee table commission last week, delivered it this week.
it was a fun project. 
the top is reclaimed spruce from vancouver. it was from a log boom that got milled up by a friend of mine. check out his blog: http://slowwoodworker.blogspot.ca
the mahogany was left over from a previous project, which is owned by this client's brother. it's nice that their furniture shares a common lineage. just like them.

update for steve m.

i've been in the shop all this week, and most of last. good progress has come of this. yesterday was spent applying a rib over top of the maple/zebrano intersection. this help define the shape, which was not the fairest of curves due to my poor scroll sawing.

there are six ribs in all. a bending form was made for each. the ribs are made up of six plies and add up to 1/4" in thickness. they go from 1/8" to 1/4" in height.

to shape the ribs, i filled a notch in my card scraper and pulled the material through. this worked fairly well, although the shellac that i've been applying keeps raising grain that was compressed from the scraping.

i started by applying the ribs to the door since these would spill over onto the side and bottom of the cabinet. to be certain of my alignment, i dry fit the carcass and placed the door on it's hinges. i was then able to scribe exactly where the edge of the cabinet was in respect to the rib. i scribed a line, and shot the angle. the small pieces were glued with the door in place to ensure alignment. i then kept wrapping the rib around the side and the back.

notch in the scraper

nice shavings. i didn't turn a burr on the scraper, i just use the filled edge

sawing off the little piece

shooting a 45 degree angle with a quick and dirty block

where two ribs meet, the spine, shall we say

angle awaiting it's mate

door and saw

made some progress on the liquor cabinet door today. had to do some work to my scroll saw first. it needed a throat plate and jaws for the chucks. it cuts really nicely.

    

scroll saw from the high school i went to.

arts industriels

new throat plate that i made.

    

some of the veneers put together for the door.

zebra metal

 my bandsaw fell on it's face the other day. it broke the table trunnion in three pieces. i needed to fix this  fast and cheap, so i drilled and taped holes through the parts and applied a generous amount of jb weld to the area. i then inserted a machine screw to bring everything together. it's still holding after a few months.

one of the broken bits in place

the evidence of the screw after some filling 

two of the machine screws sticking out of the trunnion

i've also been getting a bit of work done on the liquor cabinet. it seems like i've been jointing triangles of zebrano together for about a month, but i'm almost there. very much looking forward to mating the zebrano and maple together and veneering the parts.

messy bench

i've been using my block plane to shoot the glue joints...
i've been having problems with the stability of my
wooden jointer plane.

the clamping action of the wedge

up to date

i seem to be getting regular time in the shop lately. it's nice.

my bandsaw motor stopped working the other day, which prompted a bit of a rethink of how my machines were set up. the bandsaw and table saw used to share a stand. they sit on separate stands now, with better casters. this configuration is actually smaller then the 'one stand' option, even with an outfeed table on the table saw. they're made from elm that was reclaimed from a piano. even got a new motor for the bandsaw.

'new' 3/4 hp motor for the bandsaw

i also have 90% of the substrates laid up for a new cabinet. this is going to be a liquor cabinet, wall hung, with maple and zebrano parquetry. this one is posing a few design conundrums, but i'll get to those in due time. lumber core door, and the rest of the part are plywood core.

the front door will drop down, and serve as a work area

side view showing a bit of shape

82" x 150"

my wife and i recently moved to kingston, ontario. nice town, lots of limestone and big trees. oaks and elms and beech. big lake, too.

this means that i have a new shop space. we are renting a place downtown, and i'm lucky enough to have a back porch that i can work out of. 82" x 150". this shop has windows and a outside door. lovely upgrades.

12" bandsaw, 4" jointer, 8" table saw, 13" drill press, 12" planer. tight.

i stored all the big gear at my parents house in new brunswick.

bench area with wall hung tools.

new bandsaw. dion foundry works, from hamilton, ontario.

it's fun to open the window to joint long pieces. 

using the planer makes me feel japanese. 

new man crush

jere osgood.

what lovely furniture.