woodworking ideas and solutions

[cody]

I"m doing up some articles for chad on taking the mystery out of some woodworking projects, the first one I'm tackling is dovetailing for drawer boxes. It seems anytime a person thinks about dovetailing, the picture of a little old guy sitting over a board with a backsaw or a mallet and chisel comes to mind.  That was all well and good 100 years ago but now with the low cost jigs and tools available it's very easy to do and most people that are whacking a bus conversion together probably already have most of the tooling needed. What I'm looking for is what you want me to do in the writeups, I'm thinking that possibly doing up faceframes, maybe how to do up raised panel doors, glue joints, etc, I know that this is old information to many here but some may not have been exposed to sawdust and maybe there are some questions that I might be able to answer, I'm just looking for ideas on what those questions might be.  Keep the questions simple, remember that just because I'm buttugly that doesn't mean I'm smart.

[Len Silva]

Great idea Cody.  I think one thing that applies to us is contouring the cabinets to the bus wall.  Any ideas, tricks or tips would be very valuable.

[Dallas]

making a dutchman, mortising hinges, figuring the amount of lumber needed for a particular job, explaining the differences between hardwood, softwood, laminates, etc.
Is it cheaper to buy larger sizes of wood and resaw it, or is it better to buy dimensional lumber already cut?
Tools: What kind? What Quality? Pro's and Con's of spending a lot of money for a tool to only use a couple of times or buying a cheaper tool that isn't gonna do as good a job.
Fastening systems, You've already mentioned Dovetail joints, what about box joints? Rabbet Joint's, scarf joint's to connect two short pieces of wood to make a long one? Not to mention the sleazy beer joints and sore aching joints.

More questions later. These should keep you busy for a paragraph or two.

Dallas

[PP]

How about some pointers on finishes? Stains, oils, etc. Sand papers, steel wools, when and which? The list of questions is endless LOL It can be very tricky matching differing woods in the same bus, any pointers on this would be appreciated also.
Thanks and good luck, Will & Wife

[jackhartjr]

Cody, you said..."Keep the questions simple, remember that just because I'm buttugly that doesn't mean I'm smart."
One of my friends says it like this..."When are you going to realize that I'm not just a pretty face"!

Ho about one on how to make those really nifty deals where the drawers all slide out at once?
Jack

[cody]

Jack, libby read the thing on making all the drawers slide out at once, she laughed and asked me if you were talking about going around corners too fast lol.

[jackhartjr]

Cody...you tell Libby to laugh all she wants...we were glad to give her the laugh!
I saw someone coach in which the had a wrap-around kitchen.  one end of it was made to where the whole 4 drawers slide out as a unit in order to be able to use all of the space for storage.  In other words it was about three and a half feet deep and you just pulled it toward the other wall as one unit...or you could pull out one drawer at a time.
Jack

[gumpy]

Face frames.
Cabinet box construction.
Cabinet doors.
Attaching cabinets to the wall, floor and ceiling.
Cabinet latches and keeping the doors and drawers closed for travel.

[cody]

I saw one setup that was electric, was cool, just touch the button and hmmmmmmm out came the drawer, touch it again and hmmmmmmmmmm back in it went, I wanted to tear that one apart so bad to see who's setup they had behind it but the guy had spent a lot of money at marathon to get his bus and for some reason he didn't want me to take it apart lol.  I have looked and looked for that hardware lol, I even talked to steve, a friend at marathon and he just laughed and said if he told me all their secrets they'd never get a customer lol.  When I saw your post I thought of that prevo, was really cool.

[grantgoold]

Please set up a series of articles regarding all these topics. I just finished writing an article on comparing the different costs of cabinets. I did not even consider home built as I do not have the tools or skills (yet!).

Can't wait.

Grant

[Dallas]

That might be fun to build!
I think a piece of coarse threaded rod attached to a DC motor with a nut attached to the bottom of the drawer. A switch on the wall attached to a reversing circuit? of some sort, or a reversing relay? so when the button was pushed once it would come out, when pushed again it would retract.
Probably an old Shurflo water pump motor would work, or maybe a starter motor off a lawn tractor engine? Just thinking under the box!

I saw one setup that was electric, was cool, just touch the button and hmmmmmmm out came the drawer, touch it again and hmmmmmmmmmm back in it went, I wanted to tear that one apart so bad to see who's setup they had behind it but the guy had spent a lot of money at marathon to get his bus and for some reason he didn't want me to take it apart lol.  I have looked and looked for that hardware lol, I even talked to steve, a friend at marathon and he just laughed and said if he told me all their secrets they'd never get a customer lol.  When I saw your post I thought of that prevo, was really cool.

[cody]

Grant, what I'm trying to do is take the mystery out of some of the ideas, most of the shows you see on tv, show all those fancy tools and setups that guys drool over but strike fear into the checkbook and I've spent years piling up tools of one sort or another, some that only do one job, others that are more universal, what brought on this idea was from a round table discussion where one guy brought up the idea of why can't I do that with simple tools, the tools most anyone has laying around and make it look good.  So the workshop isn't going to be involved, just the driveway and some sawhorses with planks for a workbench and we're going to do some stuff with common everyday tools, nothing is going to get steam bent, the computerized lathe won't be doing any queen anne leg sets, but we'll do some stuff like raised panel doors, dovetailing, face frames made easy, some jigs that a person can use to get the wall curves from, stuff like that.  The beauty of it is that most of the tools will be what almost all of us have already.  The nice thing about sawdust piling is that most of the steps are pretty simple, a person just does them over and over lol, kinda like apologizing to the wife lol.

[grantgoold]

Can't wait! Can't wait!

I love to watch skilled woodworkers do their thing. I really appreciate their finished products. It would be great to have someone take the concepts of building cabinets for a conversion from concept to finished installation. I can see a whole years worth of articles. I would be willing to "sacrifice" my bus and my wallet  , if some skilled cabinet maker would be willing to slowly teach me the steps, build the cabinets, and work with me on pictures for several BCM articles. Anybody? 

[NewbeeMC9]

......  Ho about one on how to make those really nifty deals where the drawers all slide out at once?
Jack

I have one of those!


It's called a left turn!!!

[PP]

That might be fun to build!
I think a piece of coarse threaded rod attached to a DC motor with a nut attached to the bottom of the drawer. A switch on the wall attached to a reversing circuit? of some sort, or a reversing relay? so when the button was pushed once it would come out, when pushed again it would retract.
Probably an old Shurflo water pump motor would work, or maybe a starter motor off a lawn tractor engine? Just thinking under the box!

I saw one setup that was electric, was cool, just touch the button and hmmmmmmm out came the drawer, touch it again and hmmmmmmmmmm back in it went, I wanted to tear that one apart so bad to see who's setup they had behind it but the guy had spent a lot of money at marathon to get his bus and for some reason he didn't want me to take it apart lol.  I have looked and looked for that hardware lol, I even talked to steve, a friend at marathon and he just laughed and said if he told me all their secrets they'd never get a customer lol.  When I saw your post I thought of that prevo, was really cool.

The hardware for that runs about $800. to 2000. sawbucks. But if you do make your own, what happens if the motor RPMs are too high-could become a super-large wooden projectile LOL FWIW Will