Bill Wyko
Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2008
- Messages
- 821
This Humidor is made from Waterfall Bubinga, Quilted Maple, Bloodwood, Hard Maple, Gaboon Ebony, Carpathian Elm, Mahogany and of course, Spanish Cedar. All the mitered corners of the base and the lid are Dominoed as well as the Plywood sub straight to the frame of the lid. It'll hold around 50 sticks. Please enjoy and comments are always welcome good or bad.
Here's a more detailed description of the build of the Humidor. The first step is to build the box portion of the piece. First the 4 sides must be individually drum sanded to equal thickness. If the pieces are even slightly off, you'll see it in the box joints later. I also use my drum Sander instead of a planer because figured wood will get checks where the planer will pull out spots in the figure. Now I cut the pieces to length but not to height like the Incra instructions tell you to do. More on that later. Next step is to determine where the center of your sides are. This is critical to the joints benig centered on the corners. Now your 3/8" dado bit must be set to a depth exactly the same as the thickness of your wood. Again, if you do not do this, your box joint won't work. Now you start following the cuts described in the Incra hand book which gives you an A,B,C,D cutting diagram. There are 2 things I do different than the instruction book says. 1- The piece that you use to make your contrasting color stripe as described in the book, is supposed to be cut and glued and then cut to size. What I do is cut the dados and drum sand the whole piece to size. Then cut them into individual pieces and glue them to all the ends. This way every decorative corner is the exact same size once it all goes together. The second thing I do differently is I leave the height of the sides and front long, make all my box joint cuts and do everything that can be done up to final assembly of the box joints. Then I cut to actual height. This helps prevent blow out and chipping when making the outside cuts on the router. In addition, you don't have to do a pull cut on the outside as well. Now the box joints can be glued and squared up.
The next step is to make the bottom. First I cut the 4 pieces to be mitered long and over sized. I now take them to my Festool Planer. The reason I use my Festool planer and not my Grizzly is because it's much easier to manage small pieces on a small planer. Now that the pieces are to dimension I miter them on the table saw with an Incra Miter 1000SE. This is the only miter sled I've found to be that accurate. Next I cut a piece of 1/2" Baltic birch plywood to make the floor of the box. Since the 4 mitered pieces can move slightly due to swelling and the floor won't, I use my Domino and inserted dominos not only in the mitered corners but also in the plywood floor as well. Hopefully this will keep it solid and prevent joints from weakining. Because the pieces are all small I don't believe this will be an issue. I would like to point out that a biscuit would not have worked for this application because it does not have the holding power in the long grain direction and the 4 mitered pieces are too small and once routered to shape they would have protruded through. Once all this has had time to dry, I round over the corners of the box portion and the base. Now I can router the ogee into the base. To attach the base to the box, the Domino is used once again. I mark lines tracing the inside and outside for a reference as to where they will be joined together and also put marks where the Dominos need to go. Of course the next step is easy, set the depth of the Domino correctly for the base and make the cuts, then reset the depth for the box and make the cuts again. At this point you would think glue them together. NO! You will need access to the inside later.
The next step is the lid. This is where it gets a little more fun. Like the bottom I do the same process but before I glue it all together I get to play with the vacuum press. First I cut the Maple veneer slightly larger than the plywood center. Then I cut a square out of the middle of the Maple to accommodate the Carpathian Elm Burl center.Using blue masking tape I tape the 2 together to prevent them from overlaping. Now I apply my veneer glue only to the plywood and tape my veneer to hold it in place. Into the vacuum bag it goes for a few hours. Now for the hard part. I go mow the lawn, replace a few sprinkler heads that I hit with the mower, have a little lunch and tap my fingers as I stare at the vacuum bag and the clock ;D once I remove this I now a scraper to remove any excess glue and use a trimmer bit in what I wish was a Festool router to trim off the excess veneer. The rest of the lid assembly is done the same as the bottom with the Domino. The next setp is to make the Gaboon ebony stripe that separates the Bubinga from the maple. First I cut the Ebony down in the band saw to about 1/4"x1/8" then I take it down to about 1/16th of an inch in the drum sander. Now using a guide rail on my trimmer router, I cut a dado that splits the Bubinga and the Maple. Then using a sharp chisel I square the corners. Now I cut strips of the Ebony slightly long and take them to my bench top sander. I set the miter up on the disc and carefully tak the ebony doen to a 45* angle and trim to length at the same time. Next the Ebony is glued in place. Once the glue is dry, I use a hand scraper to take the Ebony down flush. The same process is done to do the next inlay as well. The only difference is that there must me great care taken to miter the corners so they have a continuous pattern in the decorative inlay as it changes direction. Now the corners of the Bubing can be rounded and the lid can be routered to final shape. Now everything is sanded with my Festool ETS125 sander to a 320 grit finish.
Now for the hinges. First the Bubinga must be drum sanded down to 3/8ths of an inch. Next the end grain of both sides are to be routed to a 3/8ths Inch 1/2 round. Next both sides have offsetting box joint cut into them slightly more than 3/8" deep. Now the piece is layed flat and the excess is routed out from under one side, leaving a small piece down the middle to add support. Now the pieces are cut to size. Next you take these pieces to the Incra hinge crafter and drill the holes for the brass pin. Now the hinges can be dadoed into the lid and the box. No assebbly just yet though. Now that all the major pieces are built, I use my ETS125 sander to sand everything inside and out to a 320 grit finish. Next I glue the hinges and the lid together and let them dry.
Before the bottom can be glued in place I make the Spanish Cedar insides. First the 4 walls are made by drum sanding the 4 pieces to prople thickness and mitering the corners to 45 degrees. I leave the pieces a little tall so I can router them to size with a 45 degree angle as well. Once this is done I make a piece of Cedar for the lid. Now for the reason for leaving the bottom off. I can now router a 45 degree bevel all around the Cedar for the lid wich will mate to the pieces inside the box. I take it down a little at a time in order to insure a perfect fit when the lid is closed. This will insure that the humidity stays contained for the Cigars. Next is a floor which has 1/2 rounds dadoed into the bottom to hold the cigars apart as they stack up. Now all the Cedar can be moistend with a damp towel. I do this to raise the grain and to start the swelling in the wood. Now I sand all the Cedar and install it into the box. This will allow it to swell and tighten up in place. NOW the bottom can be attached with the dominos that were cut earlier. Time to clamp and wait. Once dry, scrape any glue off and touch up with 320 grit sand paper.
On to finish. I start with multiple coats of Tung Oil. Many people will say that's taking the easy way out. I disagree. It takes a tremendous amount of patience. I apply a liberal amount of oil and let it set for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then using those great yellow rags from Costco, I rub the finish out to remove the excess oil. Now I wait 24 hours and rub it out with 0000 steel wool. I do this procedure 4 to 8 times. (in this case 8 or more, I losrt count). This is the best way to get a beautiful finish. Now that the oil is done I use Minwax Paste wax and apply 8 coats. I apply a coat, wait 10 minutes and remove it with 0000 steel wool. Then I apply another coat and remove it immediately. I did this 4 times to complete the finish.
After the Humidor was completed the purchaser decided he wanted a musical note on it. I rembered David Marks making a Musical not on a CD case a while back, so followed along the same lines. I must have drawn about 100 musical notes before I decided on this one. What a PITA. I then spray tacked the papet pattern to the Ebony and cut it out with the Band Saw. I now used small files and sand paper to take it to the final shape. Now I drilled a 1/8th" hole into the box and the musical note and glued it all together.
I know this may be difficult for many to understand with out pictures. I do hope you all gain something from this though. Sometimes I understand myself perfectly when no one else does ???. My employees tell me that all the time. ;D If anyone needs me to elaborate on anything,(including judges) feel free to ask. Thanks for taking the time with my long read.
I did want to say one more thing, this project couldn't be done with a biscuit joyner or a dowel tool. Another example of a Domino being able to do a joint that others can't. Once again, the Domino prevails ;D
Here's a more detailed description of the build of the Humidor. The first step is to build the box portion of the piece. First the 4 sides must be individually drum sanded to equal thickness. If the pieces are even slightly off, you'll see it in the box joints later. I also use my drum Sander instead of a planer because figured wood will get checks where the planer will pull out spots in the figure. Now I cut the pieces to length but not to height like the Incra instructions tell you to do. More on that later. Next step is to determine where the center of your sides are. This is critical to the joints benig centered on the corners. Now your 3/8" dado bit must be set to a depth exactly the same as the thickness of your wood. Again, if you do not do this, your box joint won't work. Now you start following the cuts described in the Incra hand book which gives you an A,B,C,D cutting diagram. There are 2 things I do different than the instruction book says. 1- The piece that you use to make your contrasting color stripe as described in the book, is supposed to be cut and glued and then cut to size. What I do is cut the dados and drum sand the whole piece to size. Then cut them into individual pieces and glue them to all the ends. This way every decorative corner is the exact same size once it all goes together. The second thing I do differently is I leave the height of the sides and front long, make all my box joint cuts and do everything that can be done up to final assembly of the box joints. Then I cut to actual height. This helps prevent blow out and chipping when making the outside cuts on the router. In addition, you don't have to do a pull cut on the outside as well. Now the box joints can be glued and squared up.
The next step is to make the bottom. First I cut the 4 pieces to be mitered long and over sized. I now take them to my Festool Planer. The reason I use my Festool planer and not my Grizzly is because it's much easier to manage small pieces on a small planer. Now that the pieces are to dimension I miter them on the table saw with an Incra Miter 1000SE. This is the only miter sled I've found to be that accurate. Next I cut a piece of 1/2" Baltic birch plywood to make the floor of the box. Since the 4 mitered pieces can move slightly due to swelling and the floor won't, I use my Domino and inserted dominos not only in the mitered corners but also in the plywood floor as well. Hopefully this will keep it solid and prevent joints from weakining. Because the pieces are all small I don't believe this will be an issue. I would like to point out that a biscuit would not have worked for this application because it does not have the holding power in the long grain direction and the 4 mitered pieces are too small and once routered to shape they would have protruded through. Once all this has had time to dry, I round over the corners of the box portion and the base. Now I can router the ogee into the base. To attach the base to the box, the Domino is used once again. I mark lines tracing the inside and outside for a reference as to where they will be joined together and also put marks where the Dominos need to go. Of course the next step is easy, set the depth of the Domino correctly for the base and make the cuts, then reset the depth for the box and make the cuts again. At this point you would think glue them together. NO! You will need access to the inside later.
The next step is the lid. This is where it gets a little more fun. Like the bottom I do the same process but before I glue it all together I get to play with the vacuum press. First I cut the Maple veneer slightly larger than the plywood center. Then I cut a square out of the middle of the Maple to accommodate the Carpathian Elm Burl center.Using blue masking tape I tape the 2 together to prevent them from overlaping. Now I apply my veneer glue only to the plywood and tape my veneer to hold it in place. Into the vacuum bag it goes for a few hours. Now for the hard part. I go mow the lawn, replace a few sprinkler heads that I hit with the mower, have a little lunch and tap my fingers as I stare at the vacuum bag and the clock ;D once I remove this I now a scraper to remove any excess glue and use a trimmer bit in what I wish was a Festool router to trim off the excess veneer. The rest of the lid assembly is done the same as the bottom with the Domino. The next setp is to make the Gaboon ebony stripe that separates the Bubinga from the maple. First I cut the Ebony down in the band saw to about 1/4"x1/8" then I take it down to about 1/16th of an inch in the drum sander. Now using a guide rail on my trimmer router, I cut a dado that splits the Bubinga and the Maple. Then using a sharp chisel I square the corners. Now I cut strips of the Ebony slightly long and take them to my bench top sander. I set the miter up on the disc and carefully tak the ebony doen to a 45* angle and trim to length at the same time. Next the Ebony is glued in place. Once the glue is dry, I use a hand scraper to take the Ebony down flush. The same process is done to do the next inlay as well. The only difference is that there must me great care taken to miter the corners so they have a continuous pattern in the decorative inlay as it changes direction. Now the corners of the Bubing can be rounded and the lid can be routered to final shape. Now everything is sanded with my Festool ETS125 sander to a 320 grit finish.
Now for the hinges. First the Bubinga must be drum sanded down to 3/8ths of an inch. Next the end grain of both sides are to be routed to a 3/8ths Inch 1/2 round. Next both sides have offsetting box joint cut into them slightly more than 3/8" deep. Now the piece is layed flat and the excess is routed out from under one side, leaving a small piece down the middle to add support. Now the pieces are cut to size. Next you take these pieces to the Incra hinge crafter and drill the holes for the brass pin. Now the hinges can be dadoed into the lid and the box. No assebbly just yet though. Now that all the major pieces are built, I use my ETS125 sander to sand everything inside and out to a 320 grit finish. Next I glue the hinges and the lid together and let them dry.
Before the bottom can be glued in place I make the Spanish Cedar insides. First the 4 walls are made by drum sanding the 4 pieces to prople thickness and mitering the corners to 45 degrees. I leave the pieces a little tall so I can router them to size with a 45 degree angle as well. Once this is done I make a piece of Cedar for the lid. Now for the reason for leaving the bottom off. I can now router a 45 degree bevel all around the Cedar for the lid wich will mate to the pieces inside the box. I take it down a little at a time in order to insure a perfect fit when the lid is closed. This will insure that the humidity stays contained for the Cigars. Next is a floor which has 1/2 rounds dadoed into the bottom to hold the cigars apart as they stack up. Now all the Cedar can be moistend with a damp towel. I do this to raise the grain and to start the swelling in the wood. Now I sand all the Cedar and install it into the box. This will allow it to swell and tighten up in place. NOW the bottom can be attached with the dominos that were cut earlier. Time to clamp and wait. Once dry, scrape any glue off and touch up with 320 grit sand paper.
On to finish. I start with multiple coats of Tung Oil. Many people will say that's taking the easy way out. I disagree. It takes a tremendous amount of patience. I apply a liberal amount of oil and let it set for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then using those great yellow rags from Costco, I rub the finish out to remove the excess oil. Now I wait 24 hours and rub it out with 0000 steel wool. I do this procedure 4 to 8 times. (in this case 8 or more, I losrt count). This is the best way to get a beautiful finish. Now that the oil is done I use Minwax Paste wax and apply 8 coats. I apply a coat, wait 10 minutes and remove it with 0000 steel wool. Then I apply another coat and remove it immediately. I did this 4 times to complete the finish.
After the Humidor was completed the purchaser decided he wanted a musical note on it. I rembered David Marks making a Musical not on a CD case a while back, so followed along the same lines. I must have drawn about 100 musical notes before I decided on this one. What a PITA. I then spray tacked the papet pattern to the Ebony and cut it out with the Band Saw. I now used small files and sand paper to take it to the final shape. Now I drilled a 1/8th" hole into the box and the musical note and glued it all together.
I know this may be difficult for many to understand with out pictures. I do hope you all gain something from this though. Sometimes I understand myself perfectly when no one else does ???. My employees tell me that all the time. ;D If anyone needs me to elaborate on anything,(including judges) feel free to ask. Thanks for taking the time with my long read.
I did want to say one more thing, this project couldn't be done with a biscuit joyner or a dowel tool. Another example of a Domino being able to do a joint that others can't. Once again, the Domino prevails ;D
That makes me want to start smoking. It really looks great.
