I have built the Huntboard project from Fine Woodworking and am ready to glue it up. The instructions were a little vague and wanted to get some clarity. Specifically, the instructions mentioned gluing the spline to the front apron, but it did not say if the spline is also glued to the bottom board. It also did not say whether the bottom board should be glued to the sides and back. I realize that some of the pieces should not be glued to allow for movement, but I was uncertain with regard to the bottom board.
Regards,
Jeff
Replies
Hi Jeff, Sorry not to respond more quickly. I'll look into this and get back to you.
Gina
FineWoodworking.com
Hi Jeff,
I forwarded your question to Garrett; His reply is below. Thanks for participating in the forums.
Tom McKenna
Senior Editor
"The lower front rail is in fact glued to the bottom board. Since it has to be able to expand or contract, neither the sides nor back are glued.
The spline is glued into the rail or bottom board first, just to keep it in place during the glueup, and one less surface to deal with during that glueup.
One way to then glue the carcase is to first glue the back together. Then the side rails to the front legs. The bottom board should be in place but dry, to keep everything in alignment. If you are feeling cocky you could also glue it now. Best is to put the rear leg assembly back on, but do not glue the rear of the side rails. You want to be able to partially disassemble the carcase and do the complete assembly in stages.
Pull the back rail assembly off, glue in the bottom board with a couple of light clamps front to back. After it has set, glue on the rear rail assembly to the sides.
If you are so inclined, you can reverse all of this and glue from back to front. Just think about doing the glueup in stages, with at most a couple of important joints at a time."
Garrett
Edited 5/9/2008 8:35 am ET by Tom
Hi Jeff. I too am building this huntboard. It has been a fun and challenging project, lot's of "firsts" for me. I am struggling with the finish on the top right now. I used shellac and tung oil for the case, but wanted a more durable finish on the top. I am using General Finishes wipe on varnish mixture, and it seems to be working. Post some pics if you get a chance. I used lacewood for the panels, and made them single panels rather than double. I also inlaid some lacewood veneers in the groove below the beads on the drawers and sides. I wimped out on doing the leg banding. Maybe Garrett would come and inlay the little fans on the corners for me.
Rich
Very nice. I am currently working on inlay on the apron. I created a pattern after a bell flower design I saw on an antique sideboard. It is quite challenging, so it may be a few weeks before I can put the case back together again to take some photos. I used mahogany on mine.
Rich,
I know its been a while, but I finally completed my work on the huntboard project. As I mentioned before, I enhanced it with inlay. Consequently, it took quite a bit longer to complete. But I think it was worth it. I have included photos of my completed project.Regards,
Jeff
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing. -Gina
Wow! and Wow again Jeff. The string inlay really kicks off the legs, and I love the apron curve and inlay. Looks like you have the perfect place for it to sit too. Nice job. I finally finished mine and got it into the house before I sanded through the top...
Rich
Rich,
Outstanding! It looks great. How did you cut the bevel on the top? When I saw that in the plan, I could not figure out how to do it safely.Jeff
I undercut the top edges the old fashion way, with a hand plane. Believe me, I put a log of thought in how I might at least get the bulk of the edge off with a router, but I too was worried about messing up the top, so I went with the hand plane.Did you make your own scrapper for the leg inlay? That really turned out nice. I have never done any inlay or marquetry, but would like to try it. Maybe I will make a small box or something like that to practice on. The inlay on your piece separates it from us amatuers!Rich
Rich,
I experimented with a homemade scraper for the leg inlay, but found it to be too tedious. I took a chance and used a straight router bit 1/16" and routing only 3/32" deep. I learned during practice that as long as I made one continuous pass, I could make a good recess for the inlay. I did use a scraper for the horizontal lines.For the apron, I pieced together several stencils to create the vine with branches, as well as the center pattern. I put the pattern on paper, then used a piece of carbon paper to trace the pattern onto the apron. I folded the pattern over to make a symetric pattern on both sides of the center pattern. Then I used carving tools to carve each the entire pattern out of the apron. The individual pieces of the pattern was too small to use any sort of template. I also traced the pattern onto a thinly cut piece of maple (approximately 3/32" thick) to use for the inlay. Then I used a scroll saw to cut the indivdual pieces just slightly larger than the pattern. Finally, the most tedious part was to whittle the pieces with an xacto knife to fit the carved pattern in the apron. The pieces were beveled on the edges. When I glued the pieces in, I clamped a board over the pieces to compress the maple pieces into the apron.At least that is what I did. There may be better ways, so if there is an expert out there, I would love to hear of a better way.Regards,
Jeff
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