Adventures in DIY

[jamesabrown]

I have a circular saw, a hand saw, and several screwdrivers.

[geonuc]

I have a circular saw, a hand saw, and several screwdrivers.

Making half-lap joints will be difficult if that's all you have to work with. Obviously, you can make them with a handsaw but it would be very tedious and would require a lot of practice to achieve decent joints.

[PetersCreek]

I have a circular saw, a hand saw, and several screwdrivers.

Yeah, that's a tough one. At a minimum, it's doable with a good, sharp crosscut saw, a sharper chisel, and a dull mallet...but it will take practice and I'd really like to have (or make) a marking gauge to strike some of the layout lines. On top of that, if you're doing more than a joint or two, you'll need a means of putting a good edge back on the chisel.

Not to be discouraging but have you considered a plan that doesn't require half-laps?

[profloater]

Making half-lap joints will be difficult if that's all you have to work with. Obviously, you can make them with a handsaw but it would be very tedious and would require a lot of practice to achieve decent joints.

You can do a good job with a tenon saw, ( has a stiffener along the back) and a chisel, that’s how we did it befor power saws.

[PetersCreek]

You can do a good job with a tenon saw, ( has a stiffener along the back) and a chisel, that’s how we did it befor power saws.

Agreed. But upon reading "handsaw" I imagined a hardware store variety crosscut saw. They'll get you by for construction grade half-laps but they'd be an exercise in frustration for anything finer. Not entirely un-doable...but very challenging. I have rip and crosscut carcass saws as well as a dovetail saw, and I'd like to round out the selection with a pair of of tenon saws.

[billslugg]

A much smoother cut can be made by evening the tooth tips on each side. Set the saw on its side and run a fine stone down it lightly to even up the tips of each tooth. Flip it and do the other side as well.

[PetersCreek]

After some planing and sanding this morning, I got the first application of Danish oil on the frame:



I’ll likely put another down tomorrow, follow that with some shellac sealer, then spray lacquer.

[geonuc]

Very, very nice. A matter of preference of course, but I might be satisfied with just the oil.

[Torsten]

Yes, very nice, and I love the contrast between those species.

[PetersCreek]

Thank you both for the kind words.

A matter of preference of course, but I might be satisfied with just the oil.

If I were using my regular wiping varnish (Waterloo) I would be satisfied, too. I’ve got my process dialed in and I know what to expect in the end. This is my first time using Watco Danish oil. It’s the “cherry” formula and I thought I’d give it a go. I plan to give it at least one more coat, maybe two. If it looks promising at that point, I may continue the schedule with it, ending with paste wax.

[PetersCreek]

Yes, very nice, and I love the contrast between those species.

I do, too. I had originally planned to use walnut inlay in the sapele frame and had gone as far as actually completing the inlay as a part of the milling process. But I greatly misjudged how dark the sapele would get with finish. A test with mineral spirits revealed the walnut provided virtually no contrast and in some spots was actually lighter.

The solution was to assemble the frame with the inlay on the backside and use maple for the miter splines. If only I’d had some ebony. I need to experiment more with using colored epoxy for inlay.