Monday, August 16, 2010

Panel Games

And off we go again. What? You didn't think I'd suddenly get a job done in a couple of weeks that's taken over three and a half years to get this far, did ya? We like to really savour a project here at Alf Towers...

For the panel gauge enthusiasts (and it seems to be something of a niche interest) I can report I instinctively ending up pulling it, and that fluid design of stock seems to lend itself to all sorts of grips. I like it, but as I thought, the beam is too heavy. But it worked, and that's the main thing.


As hoped, a combination of cutting to width and length eliminated most of the worst areas of screw and dowel holes. Still a few left, but we'll call that "character". If I was loaded and stupid I daresay I'd be paying someone extra to add them to something in MDF.

Talking of three and a half years - it's not quite that from thought to action, but the panel raiser finally had its change to shine. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't brilliant. The fence still needs tweaking; a more comfortable rear grip is rather an urgent necessity; and the reversing grain I encountered suggests that a pair of panel raisers isn't necessarily a luxury.


I also need to work on the nicker it seems, but nothing that can't be cleaned up. And it was something of a buzz to see the profile appearing so uniformly. An element of smug "I done dat" might have crept in...


A bevel on the reverse side (done by eye, and leaving me wondering how a non-plane-user would have done it) and - blessed relief - the panels fit in their designated homes.


A certain amount of scraping and sanding required before I can finish them (Did I mention the grain reversal?) but it's all starting to come together. In fact I'm going to have to stop putting off thinking about how I'm going to hang them. Bugger. I hate hinges...

In other news, a few updates to the website, and rather overdue at that. Please check the homepage for details.

2 comments:

  1. Looking good, Alf, and that plane looks like it's good fun.

    Cheers ;-)

    Paul Chapman

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to see some progress being made.

    My quick and dirty tambour door is still going strong. Can't believe that that's over three years old now.

    ReplyDelete

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