The Shop > Wood & Stuff

How not to make a Japanese style toolbox

<< < (4/13) > >>

vtsteam:
Some suggestions:

1. Use clamps to pre-assemble and check for fit and square before adding fasteners.
2. Always drill for fasteners while clamped (for both nails and screws). Nails hold better if pre drilled, believe it or not.
3. Fasten while clamped, and check for square frequently if nailing. Use a light hammer for this type of work.
4. When sawing with Japanese saws, the angle should be quite low, just barely clearing your hand over the material. You are essentially marking with the saw ahead of the main cutting portion, and the saw will follow that line. Holding it near vertical can cause the saw to wander. They cut on the pull stroke, so relieve pressure on the forward stroke. Apply very little pressure on the pull stroke -- let the saw do the cutting. Position yourself so that you can see and so are able to prevent a bevel cut -- low and behind the stroke -- like your camera angle which illustrates the problem.

Hope this helps. Keep up the good work. Don't become discouraged!

vtsteam:
In this photo, I wouldn't have started like this with the saw at a 45 degree angle. For a couple of reasons. You are cutting two sides at once. They will fight each other (judder).



Try to cut a single side at a time.  So I would start with the overlapping sides, rather than the end. When they were cut, I would come back to the ends. Keep the saw at a low angle when making long cuts.

RossJarvis:
Thanks for the advice VTSTEAM, :thumbup:  I Wish you were a mind reader  :med: and told me before I started!

As you'll find out I am still low on the learning curve here with these saws, and have followed a suggestion to keep the saw at a very low angle for rip cutting, which works, but is a lot slower.

If there is a next time I'll definitely do it differently :Doh:

vtsteam:

--- Quote from: RossJarvis on October 04, 2013, 10:35:48 AM ---have followed a suggestion to keep the saw at a very low angle for rip cutting, which works, but is a lot slower.

--- End quote ---

Actually, it isn't a lot slower, it just seems slower because the length of cut is longer so the sawblade descends at a slower rate, but it is removing a good amount of material with each stroke since more teeth are cutting at a time. Also the coarsness of the rip side of the blade should be matched to the material for best speed.

Incidentally, fast growth hard pine like what you are using is a difficult material, with wide bands of alternating hard and soft grain. You are doing very well for starting out, and for having given yourself a real challenge.

Try out some practice cuts on scrap and see how close you can get to true and square rips. When you get the feel and rhythm down you'll find that Japanese saws are amazingly effective and accurate in your hands.

The real point is that the more you do it, the more you will acquire the "feel" -- that's why practice on scrap is extremely useful. But taking on a big project can get discouraging when things don't work out as they seemed to when pictured in your imagination. Don't quit. Concentrate on cutting a perfect line, not on making a toolbox, and you will find your enjoyment again.

RossJarvis:
Ah lookee another instalment,

I measured how much of the top of the box had been Mullered, 3/8” and marked a line around to cut/plane to;



I’d been thinking over suggestions on how to do this and decided as it was quite a lot of wood that I’d need to remove at the corners, so I thunked that I’d cut them with the saw, as I wasn’t quite so crap at that.  Then I put some battens on to act as a guide;



Then I started cutting, the first corner I angled the saw down and cut, reasonably smoothly (VTSteam, this was all before your advice so apologies for continued idiocy);



….and the next corner I cut up, trying to vary the angle, but generally using a low angle (30ish degrees);  this went juddery or smoothly depending, I think I started realising why, it seems to be due to the thinness of the wood;



I noticed afterward, that even with the guide, I still wasn’t getting a straight/square cut (Possibly due to cutting through the two angles of wood);





There’s a lot more to using these saws than I’d thought!!

One side was fine;



but the corresponding end was still a bit on the p**s.  Luckily, the guide battens meant the cut went into the bit I didn’t want this time.   This was when rain occurred, so I came in to drink my tea on the sofa instead of the garden chair (need to get some Hob-nobs).  I then tried some thinking, which started to induce a head-ache.


Hennyway, the rain, rain went away (to Spain?) and I wandered back outside and put everything back out and trimmed the waste from the corners;





….jammed the end against a carefully positioned nail;



…and planed the wobbly bits off;



….surprisingly enough the results were pretty square and straight;





…apart from one little bit where I’d still managed to undercut;



Next job was to start ripping the top end-cappy wotsits, following sage advice, I laid the saw down;



…to the angle above and lower, this resolved a lot of vibration issues.  Hey Ho Nonny, a fairly straight cut;



I then discovered that the box was perfect to lay a plane upside-down in to trim the bits of wood straight and square;



…and made an excellent receptacle for the shavings;



…and before long one end wotsit bashed home;



…then another;



..and then a check to see if the saw fits;



…woopsie, another cock-up on the measuring front.  I’d forgotten to allow for the end recess when miscalculating the size.  However with a bit of bendification;



VOILA!

Nextly I ripped the edge off another bit of board, cut it to length and worked out how to hold it upright to plane the edge to size;



…and howzat, it fits;



A bit more ripping (note the nail wedged in to stop the wood binding on the blade which it was doing verily much);



and a couple of batten doo-dahs to hold the lid up;



..and hey ho, most of the major structure done;





…..a little bit of tartification on the corners to relive the arris’s



….and that’s the end of a good days work. 

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page