Discussion
Benrad said:
loughran said:
Two nice marking gauges for me for Christmas. One a wheel style marking gauge in rosewood and brass, the other an early mortice gauge with an ebony stock. I must get round to making that beautiful tool cabinet I've been promising to make myself... for the last 20 years. 
What a lovely gift, did you pick them and hint heavily or does someone know you really well?
marksx said:
Thank you!
Are the sides just fixed with plugs and screws into the wall?
Did you use the kreg to fix the shelves to the sides?
Sides fixed with plugs and screwed into the wall. It's mostly a frame, so the horizontal lengths are pocket hole joints to the side rails, then the shelf is just think MDF sheet nailed onto the horizontal railsAre the sides just fixed with plugs and screws into the wall?
Did you use the kreg to fix the shelves to the sides?
Pictures this weekend will make it all much clearer
The maple madness continues, following a re-shuffle of furniture, necessitating a taller side table, upon which to rest my cuppa.
I don't need no stinking router..
I'm sure you've also noticed this is the 778 rebate plane with the twin fence guide bars as opposed to the 78 with a single bar set up;)
I wasn't really happy with the resulting rebate it gave, more practice required I think.
We cut mitres the old way round 'ere, badly.
Never mind, the Wolfomatic mitretronic to the rescue!
...a perfect 44.5 degree mitre every time
Mini mortice meet tiny tenon.
A rare bit of creativity from me in attaching, almost invisibly, the lower shelf to the legs. I drilled the
pockets with a flat bottomed forstner bit, screwed in a small gauge trim screw, then filled the pocket
with araldite; quite chuffed with the result.
The finished result, the top infilled with a piece of vegetable tanned, Horween leather to match(ish)
the furniture, the keys(?) on the corners American black walnut cut off the end of my mitre gauge attachment
I think I'll have a piece of glass cut to sit on the top, to try and protect the leather.
Overall happy with it, good from afar but far from good may be a bit to strong but it got me out of
the house over the holidays
I don't need no stinking router..
I'm sure you've also noticed this is the 778 rebate plane with the twin fence guide bars as opposed to the 78 with a single bar set up;)
I wasn't really happy with the resulting rebate it gave, more practice required I think.
We cut mitres the old way round 'ere, badly.
Never mind, the Wolfomatic mitretronic to the rescue!
...a perfect 44.5 degree mitre every time
Mini mortice meet tiny tenon.
A rare bit of creativity from me in attaching, almost invisibly, the lower shelf to the legs. I drilled the
pockets with a flat bottomed forstner bit, screwed in a small gauge trim screw, then filled the pocket
with araldite; quite chuffed with the result.
The finished result, the top infilled with a piece of vegetable tanned, Horween leather to match(ish)
the furniture, the keys(?) on the corners American black walnut cut off the end of my mitre gauge attachment
I think I'll have a piece of glass cut to sit on the top, to try and protect the leather.
Overall happy with it, good from afar but far from good may be a bit to strong but it got me out of
the house over the holidays
Right, I’m going to try some of this woodworking malarkey too, you lot have got some things to answer for 
I’ve done hidden structural stuff before and the odd shelf but nothing you’d describe as joinery. Santa brought me a couple of woodworking books and a dovetail jig for my router (is that cheating?)
My first project is to build some shoe and boot storage at the end of our porch, floor to ceiling and about 1150mm wide, around 40 cubby holes with some pull out drawers (/storage boxes) in the middle for our hats and gloves and things.
I’ve sketched it and worked out roughly what I need using large sheets of 12mm MDF (with the odd bit of 18mm and some oak for the boxes and a horizontal feature in the middle). I’ll paint the visible MDF and make housing joints for the horizontal shelves. I’ll try to anyway!
I’ve seen a comment here to say “waterproof” MDF will be easier to paint, or would I be better off using ply, or would something like pine actually be stable enough?
I’ve done hidden structural stuff before and the odd shelf but nothing you’d describe as joinery. Santa brought me a couple of woodworking books and a dovetail jig for my router (is that cheating?)My first project is to build some shoe and boot storage at the end of our porch, floor to ceiling and about 1150mm wide, around 40 cubby holes with some pull out drawers (/storage boxes) in the middle for our hats and gloves and things.
I’ve sketched it and worked out roughly what I need using large sheets of 12mm MDF (with the odd bit of 18mm and some oak for the boxes and a horizontal feature in the middle). I’ll paint the visible MDF and make housing joints for the horizontal shelves. I’ll try to anyway!
I’ve seen a comment here to say “waterproof” MDF will be easier to paint, or would I be better off using ply, or would something like pine actually be stable enough?
I find the green moisture resistance better to work than the standard stuff. The original MDF (Caber ?) was marvellous, it was heavy with a uniform density and a hard shiny skin.
Todays standard MDF is wooly and soft and sucks up moisture like a sponge, whereas the moisture resistant MDF behaves more like the original.
Always wear a mask and use extraction where possible when cutting MDF. It's filth.
Without seeing the detail of you design it's tricky to say what would be the best material to use but I would consider birch ply, maybe 15 or 18mm. Perhaps if you're painting, the edges wouldn't need lipping or edging and if you were to use a clear finish instead of the paint the edges of birch ply can look very handsome. Singlecoil on here is well versed in high quality plywood, maybe he can offer a bit of advise on thicknesses and qualities.
Todays standard MDF is wooly and soft and sucks up moisture like a sponge, whereas the moisture resistant MDF behaves more like the original.
Always wear a mask and use extraction where possible when cutting MDF. It's filth.
Without seeing the detail of you design it's tricky to say what would be the best material to use but I would consider birch ply, maybe 15 or 18mm. Perhaps if you're painting, the edges wouldn't need lipping or edging and if you were to use a clear finish instead of the paint the edges of birch ply can look very handsome. Singlecoil on here is well versed in high quality plywood, maybe he can offer a bit of advise on thicknesses and qualities.
I used a single initial coat of specific MDF primer on a couple of large advent calendars I did this year out of 6mm regular cheap Wickes MDF. Worked a treat giving me a nice stable surface to paint and given the amount of material I suspect you will use, it may well be cheaper than buying a specialist MDF. I used a small gloss roller to avoid brush marks.
Also had no problem with the cut edges, but required a light sand after as it sharpened them up a little bit.
Also had no problem with the cut edges, but required a light sand after as it sharpened them up a little bit.
marksx said:
Seefive - what was the primer you used?
I tried making my own from oil based primer thinned down with white spirit. Didn't work. After two coats the routed edges of my cupboard doors still roughed up when I put the top coat on.
I can't answer for Seefive but I've always used a specialist Zinnser primer in these circumstances with absolutely no problem.I tried making my own from oil based primer thinned down with white spirit. Didn't work. After two coats the routed edges of my cupboard doors still roughed up when I put the top coat on.
psi310398 said:
marksx said:
Seefive - what was the primer you used?
I tried making my own from oil based primer thinned down with white spirit. Didn't work. After two coats the routed edges of my cupboard doors still roughed up when I put the top coat on.
I can't answer for Seefive but I've always used a specialist Zinnser primer in these circumstances with absolutely no problem.I tried making my own from oil based primer thinned down with white spirit. Didn't work. After two coats the routed edges of my cupboard doors still roughed up when I put the top coat on.
marksx said:
I have some zinsser 123. Would that work?
It has for me in the past. Occasionally I've had to rub down the sawn edges a bit after the primer has dried but that might have been because I was using s
tty MDF offcuts left behind in not ideal conditions by my builder. Might it be worth a little experiment if you have some Zinnser primer and an offcut of the MDF you intend using?Mr.Grooler said:
Many thanks guys, I wasn’t aware of the nicer ply option however I still think we’ll want it mostly painted so MDF looks a fair bit cheaper (and might mean I can cover any bodges better!). I’ll have a look at MDF primers.
Just remember ..... if your going to paint the MDF and especially so if your going to seal it with some kind of a clear lacquer..... then under no circumstances use MDF from a builders merchants...... all MDFs are not the same quality and builders quality is plain awful .... look for manufacturers like Medite which is a top notch brand and worth the extra expense. Also use a high build MDF primer especially for the edges.
I use water based paints and have found that individual fibres in the faces of plain MDF tend to swell on contact with such paint giving an undesirable 'textured' look. A good solution to that if you want to take advantage of the benefits of water based paint is to use a wood-veneered mdf. The edges will paint ok if you put enough layers of paint on, and the grain of the wood veneer will show through the paint on the faces, giving an attractive look.
Alternatively birch plywood (15mm will be quite sufficient and be lighter and stronger than 18mm MDF) can be painted with water based paint without any problems, although the laminations will be visible through the paint on the edges, something that I have never had a customer complain of or even comment on in many years of doing it that way.
Birch ply also takes screws better than MDF and doesn't produce so much unpleasant dust when being cut, but watch out for splinters on the edges, exposed edges should be rounded over with sandpaper to obviate this risk.
Alternatively birch plywood (15mm will be quite sufficient and be lighter and stronger than 18mm MDF) can be painted with water based paint without any problems, although the laminations will be visible through the paint on the edges, something that I have never had a customer complain of or even comment on in many years of doing it that way.
Birch ply also takes screws better than MDF and doesn't produce so much unpleasant dust when being cut, but watch out for splinters on the edges, exposed edges should be rounded over with sandpaper to obviate this risk.
singlecoil said:
Last time I bought it (as part of a larger order) it was £48 a sheet including VAT.
If you don't paint it you have to do something about the exposed edges if there are any.
OK, still sounds a bit expensive to me. I've covered the edges in a hard wood frame whenever I've used it.If you don't paint it you have to do something about the exposed edges if there are any.
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