CAD Work

*In future posts I will go more in depth on each part adding technical drawings of each with dimensions.

With my idea fresh in mind, I immediately got to work using a CAD software called Autodesk Inventor. I've used it for five years now through all of the Project Lead the Way classes along with 8th grade technology. It's incredibly useful for a project like this as I would be able to match parts of the desk together which I may not be too sure if they would fit together as one may hope.

For example, the material I will be working with will have a three dimensional volume. If I were to create something even as simple as two slabs of wood coming together at a right angle, I would have to take into account the thicknesses of the wood to make sure the ends line up and create a smooth connection, instead of looking like the two pieces belong elsewhere.

I started off with making the desk top, giving it slight curtains and slots for the legs.

With the desk top created, I made the back legs with a two slits for support. 

The leg has been tapered at -2.5 degrees to give it a more appealing look. The top slit is the mortise for the two side supports, although I'm not sure if the side containing the drawers will be the same as the other yet. 

In preparation for the drawers, I created the ideal back panel which would support the drawers and complete the back support of the frame of the desk. 

So far these are the three parts I have completed in inventor, and I'm hoping in a week or so to have the entire set completed with a full and correct dimension of every part. 

Initial Designing

I feel as though I've finally done enough research on the topic of desks and woodworking in general to initiate my design process. I want to get down the idea I've had for a while now in my head on to paper. I started with a rough sketch with a few major dimensions from the front side, thinking it would be a good way to portray my idea without getting too complicated yet.

As most desks sit at a comfortable 30"-32" above ground level, I went for 31" with a possible 1" piece of wood slapped on top. I feel as though tapering the legs may be a possibility, but if it comes down to it they aren't a necessity but rather something visually appealing and don't need to be included in the final design. Another idea I had was to create a mount for a monitor, as it seems to always get in the way on my desk.

The heights of the beams are exaggerated, and the top shelf area outlined by dots to help represent the positioning of the beams. 

Weekly Reflection

The past week was quite different than the other parts of my project. Instead of hands on work and research, I spent most of my time doing other work that had been assigned by Ms. Lord than my actual project. Sifting through the large stack that was a past student's project took time, especially since a good deal of the hand writing was illegible. 

When I wasn't working on the assigned portion from Ms. Lord, I was redoing my more successful joint, the mortise and tenon, along with looking into possible woods I could use for my final build. I found that the m&t will be perfect for me, either the through joint or just a deep cut. I've also decided that the end result will most likely be made out of pine, as it is an inexpensive yet beautiful light softwood. Hopefully I can scavenge some, but I'm going to apply for a grant from the WISE program for a bit of financial aid just in case. 

Past WISE Projects

On Monday 3/17 Ms. Lord assigned to us a past student's WISE project. She attempted to pair us with similar projects to our own, and since I'm building a desk I was given the project of a poker table. At first I thought it would be really cool to see a student design and construct a poker table, as I have no idea what one looks like and I couldn't fathom him constructing it. However, it turned out he used a past design he found on a poker website. I'm not very impressed by this project overall, especially how lacking in detail most of his journal entries are, and all of the drawings he made looked as if he made them last minute before class started. 

Looking over this project made me realize how much I don't want to be like this. More than anything it motivated me to get to work even more than normally, as I wouldn't want WISE students to look back on my project as a failure and an example for what not to do. 

Recreating the Mortise and Tenon

A few days ago I dabbled in the art of joint making temporarily with my poor attempts at the mortise and tenon along with the dovetail. The original m&t I created had a shallow mortise. Since Ms. Lynn thought it would be a good idea to continue my practice with this joint as I felt it was far superior in strength and a good deal easier to create, I decided to go about it in a slightly different way.

My attempts at another m&t gave fantastic results which I'm ecstatic about. The process was incredibly quick compared to the last time, perhaps an hour or less.

Instead of a fairly shallow cut for the mortise, I made the tenon able to go entirely through the chunk of pine. Creating a hole instead of a slit was faster as I didn't have to even out the bottom, I just punched through the wood with a chisel. 

I sped up the process with the tenon as well. Last time I took off a very small amount of wood from both sides. This time I changed things around and chiseled off wood from only one side. I was able to get rid of what I didn't need in half the time, and less cuts on my hand as I didn't have to be as precise. 

Remaking the m&t was one of the best things I could have done. It reassured me that this is the right connection to use for my entire project, all I must worry about is the wood splitting as I insert the tenon. 

Types of Wood

A big problem when making furniture is the type of wood to use. There are hundreds of possibilities, and a handful which can be deemed as the "best".

Pine, oak, cherry, maple. Pine and maple are lighter woods, while cherry and oak are dark.


Pine                                             Maple

  
Oak                                     Cherry

These are my ideal woods to use, though cherry and oak can be quite pricey so the other two would be my best options. All have about the same strength and weight, yet the two more expensive woods are far more beautiful. Although, since I may have the possibility of getting free scrap wood, I honestly will take about any consistent wood without too many blemishes. 

Barnsong

The two students working on the "barnsong" project (the documentary maker and the builder) seem to have bitten off more than they could chew, more the builder than anything. Creating an entire barn from scratch with wood he created from chopping down trees takes so much time by itself, let alone adding on the task of setting it up in a fashion that won't collapse into a giant splintery mess. Another issue I had with the builders project is that the entire thing seemed to be his dad's project, not his, and he basically just tagged along and did as his father told him. Barnsong did make me feel overwhelmed though, as if my project just isn't good enough to be added into the legacy of the WISE program. The documentary maker had the more interesting project if anything, for it's a wild idea to follow another student without having any idea how that may turn out, for all they know the barn builder could turn out to be lazy and both projects would fail.

The Dovetail

After finishing creating the Mortise and Tenon joint yesterday, I began to work on the much more complicated Dovetail joint. I started by by cutting slits into one piece of the wood that opened up into a larger width.

The slot for the dovetail was quite challenging to create, as getting the cuts to go in slanted instead of straight was hard to maintain a nice vertical cut with. Next, I traced the outline of the new cut onto the end of the other block of wood. The end of this wood had to be turned into a peg that would nicely fit perpendicular to the original block. 

The result turned out to be so-so. The peg fit into the original cutout, but not very well. I could barely hold up one piece without the other slipping out. 

After my experience with these two joints and realizing I cannot create a butt joint, I came to the conclusion that the Mortise and Tenon connection will be the most sturdy and reliable joint for me. 

Practice with Joints

Since just looking at how to make one of my top three connections would be pointless without practicing the techniques, I began to work on the Mortise and Tenon joint along with the Dovetail joint. I scavenged wood from a recently fallen pine tree and found some old cruddy wood that would be perfect for this job. I got my trusty handsaw and chisel and got to work.

I started with the Mortise and Tenon, as I predicted it would be the more simple of the two connections.

An example of Mortise and Tenon:

 

I began by tracing the width of the chisel along the end of the hardwood beam. About half an inch was trimmed off to create a much skinnier link.

There is about a .75'' width to the peg.
Next I traced an outline of the peg onto a solid piece of pine. With a chisel and the piece of hardwood I cut out a 1'' deep slit.

The two pieces fit together very well, and formed a very solid connection which easily held itself together when I picked it up.

Overall, this was an amazing learning experience as I understood how sturdy these connections really are. Tomorrow I plan on finishing the Dovetail joint, so far it's been troublesome and very hard to precisely cut.

Detailed Calander

Currently there are 85 days remaining until the project deadline (June 6, 2014).

Calender

This is a detailed outline of how I have planned out what I will do and when.

Connection Possibilities

In woodworking, there is a massive variety of possible ways to make pieces fit together nicely.

My top three

• The Mortise and Tenon

           
Pros:                                                          Cons:
Easy to make                                              None so far
Very durable
Great for 90 degree joints

• The Dovetail

              
Pros:                                                         Cons:
Extremely strong                                        Hard to construct
                                                                 If made with any errors, completely useless

• Butt Joint

                  

Pros:                                                        Cons:

Easy to make                                            Weak compared to the other two joints

Great for small loads                                 

Making Connections

Initially I thought connecting parts of furniture together was a simple task, just hammer in some nails or glue the pieces together. However, after learning that wood shrinks, there is a massive problem with the usage of a solid connector.

Here is an example of wood having shrunk due to the wood becoming more dry over time. A large crack has formed in this table top.

Since wood can never be completely dry, it will shrink for the entirety of it’s life. If nails are to be used to connect supports to legs, the wood of the legs will become longer over time, and the support beams will shrink so the screws will need to be replaced.