Vanity taking shape

Now that the raised panels for the vanity side are done I did start making the frame that will receive them. I first cut the four legs to length and planed them square to 1^1/2 x 1^1/2.

Two of the 4 legs.

The side panels are set in a groove made in each leg. To make this groove I used my small Record #43 plough plane.

Making the grooves.

However, as it can be seen in the picture above, the groove is stopped at a point in the leg. To be able to use the plane I had to make the groove end using a chisel first so the plane can work for the remaining waste.

The end of the groove is first made with a chisel.

After having made the matching tenons and grooves in the top and bottom rails I was able to do a dry fit of each side of the vanity.

The two sides of the vanity.

I then tackled the rails for the front frame and matching mortises in the legs and was able to dry fit the base vanity assembly.

Base assembly dry fit.

I did the same for the bottom rails and did another dry fit with the doors inserted.

Another dry fit with doors inserted.

The next thing to take care of are the two shelves. These two will be made with separate boards assembled with tenons in rails mortises.

The two shelves will be made with separate boards.

The middle (darker) board is birch, like the raised panels while the other ones are pine.
I am not sure yet what will be the finish for this vanity. My initial idea was to stain the pine dark and keep the birch natural. Now I start thinking that I like the contrast of clear pine and natural birch. I will think about it over night to get some inspiration :)

Big slab planing and a drama (sort of).

Long time since my last post. We just came out from 3 weeks of vacation (at home of course) that we spent doing some long due home renovations.
Still I took the opportunity of the nice weather coming back to start planing some big slabs of white pine to prepare them for the bench I want to build. It is a joy to plane outside under a shining sun!

Start planing the slabs.

This was also the opportunity to play with the latest tool I got, a Millers Falls #88 jointer plane fence. I got it in perfect shape, it just needed a bit of cleaning and was ready to be back to work.

I mount it on my Stanley #7 and used it for the first time. At first it was a bit strange to use but when I got used to it I found it nice. With this, it is easy to follow a long straight edge.

Trying my Millers Falls #88 jointer fence.

After a while, and a bunch of shavings, it was time to clean up the deck a bit.

Time for a good sweep to collect the shavings.

And then came the drama... My Stanley #7 was resting peacefully on the slab when I heard a big "bang"... the plane felt down on the deck. The result was immediate:

Resulting effect of a fall.

I was lucky enough that my deck was made in wood so the shock was not too hard on the plane sole and the only damage was a broken tote and a slightly bent threaded rod.

It was easy to get the rod back straight. For the tote I used epoxy to glue it back in one piece.

Tote glued back in one piece.

After slight sanding and a coat of finish, it will be almost as new.

Anyway, lesson learned: When the job is done, put the plane back to its shelf!

Making laminated raised panels

After making the doors for my bathroom vanity I need to make side panels of the same type that is to say that these panels will have a pine frame enclosing a birch raised panel.
Considering the size of these side panels I needed to make the birch panels by jointing two 6" wide boards. I cut the boards to length, adding 1" for the tongues, and planed the edges with a jointer plane.
After a quick dry fit I started gluing the panels.

Jointing boards.

At the end I got two 11"x16^5/8".

Jointed panel.

In order to make the raised center I needed first to cut the tongue all around the panel and then to plane the raised bevel. I started by marking the boards.

Board front face marked...

...and same for the back face.

On the front face, the first mark is the tongue, the second is the end of the raising bevel. On the back only the tongue is marked.

Using my favorite rabbet plane, my Record 778, I started planing the tongue cross grain.

Starting the tongue cross grain on the back.

Then went with the grain to get it done all around. The tongue is 1/4" deep and 1/2" wide.

One face done.

When the back face is done I did the same to the front face.

Both faces done.

The remaining step was to plane the 1" wide bevel from the tongue to the marked line.
To plane the bevel, this time I used a Millers Falls #8 to remove the bulk and finished with my shoulder plane.
I ended with my two side raised panels.

Rough planed side raised panels.

Next I will start finishing these panels and will work on the frame.