Dave,
If you want to get really, really, really serious about puzzle boxes, go to:
Kagen is my cousin's son. He's been making puzzle boxes since he was in college, and he's won some big awards for his work. Some of his boxes require 100 moves to open.
dh
Dave,
Your memory is far better than mine. Your model is probably far better than mine, too.
dh
Kevin Rodel is one of the premier interpreters of the Arts & Crafts furniture style in the U.S. He also has an Oriental side, and occasionally the two snuggle in his brain to produce an odd love child. Case in point: He did an article for Fine Woodworking magazine last year, explaining how to construct this small table. It's made from oak, and the magazine called it an Arts & Crafts style. But it has a sort of shoji-screen grid between the legs. The legs have a reverse taper reminiscent of some of James Krenov's work, and the top is four hunks of oak, arranged in a pinwheel pattern, with a black ceramic tile in the center space. Since everything is held together with lap joints and splines, the modeling was pretty straightforward. But I'm still not sure about this piece. Is it unique and intriguing or a near-miss? I'd like to know what you think.
Best,
dh
Dave,
If you meant the post about setting insertion points, yes, I did.
If you meant the redesign of FineWoodworking.Com, yes, I did.
If you were indirectly asking what I thought of the redesign, well . . . It's cleaner than the old design, the videos are larger. Woodturning has its own area, at last. But the blogs are a little downplayed from what they used to be. To some extent, Taunton just put lipstick on a pig. The quality of content has been sub-par lately, ditto the frequency with which new content was posted. I really don't care which editors got a walk-on part on "Parks and Recreation."
But maybe you weren't asking for my opinion.
dh
Dave,
I'll tweak the position of the pulls one of these days. And add color to the drawer sides.
But you're right: As huntboards go, this one is extremely simple. It's probably one that even I could build.
Best,
dh
Just finished modeling a small sideboard, based on plans in Fine Woodworking magazine, issue #39. The original was built by Carlyle Lynch, working from measured drawings he did in 1952. He used walnut, with cherry and holly cockbeading. The secondary wood is pine. At just under 4 feet long, this is a nice piece of period furniture that would fit well in a modern house or apartment.
Let me know what you think.
Best,
dh
Dave,
Nice looking piece, but your method for joining the vertical pieces has me puzzled. How about adding another view to show the joinery?
Best,
dh
Dave,
The sleigh bed is a deliberately simplified design that Chris Becksvoort (a master of the Shaker style) made for a client. In the Fine Woodworking article, he explains that it took him only 96 hours to build; if he had tried to do coopered panels on the headboard and footboard, it would have taken 10 times longer.
I knew I could count on you to check out the models. Thanks, as always. The knobs are part of the drawer component so that they move with the rest of the drawer if I ever want to show someone how that works. I'll have to speak to the maid about that box spring. It's so hard to find good help these days.
Best,
dh
All,
Just finished modeling a couple of Shaker pieces, taken from articles in old issues of Fine Woodworking magazine.
The nice thing about Shaker (aside from its amazingly good looks) is its simplicity. Each model took no time at all. Take a look and let me know what you think.
Best,
dh
Am I missing something? Seems to me that modeling a tapered hole and slot for the chisels is infinitely easier in SketchUp than in real life. In real life, I'd probably use a reamer, like the one Dave R. mentioned that Windsor chair makers use. In SU, I'd make a hole for the smallest diameter, then use the Offset Tool to set the largest diameter on the top face of the board. With the Move/Copy Tool, I'd pull the smaller diameter over to the larger one, tapering the hole. Then, for the slot, I'd turn on X-Ray view and hidden geometry. Trace over hidden geometry lines to mark where the tapered slot falls on the hole, then carry those lines through the board and across the faces. A little erasing, and I'm done. Took longer to type these abbreviated instructions than it did to do the modeling.
dh
Dear Stephen,
Great reasons behind an innovative design. Are the images you posted renders in SketchUp or photos of the actual bookcases in the library?
dh
Nice job on both projects. Very clever, innovative designs. Thanks for sharing them.
dh
Don't forget about the Soften/Smooth Edges function in the basic SU Edit menu.
dh
Wonderful detailing on the house. Good to see the framing, too. Thanks for sharing.
dh
Thanks, Beginner. I appreciate your taking the time to fiddle with my model.
dh
I just completed this model to accompany an article in American Woodturner magazine. The top is turned as a disc 22 inches in diameter, then chopped in half to make the demilune shape. The legs have turned tenons that fit into holes in the top, otherwise, they're shaped with a bandsaw, spokeshaves, and a router. The legs are splayed 5 degrees.
Modeling the legs was relatively easy, thanks to Fredo6's loft plug-ins. I drew the edge contours for half the leg shaft, used that to loft the shape, then copied, flipped, and joined the halves. I repeated that procedure for the transition from the shaft up to the tenon. At the end, all I had to do to make the tenon was heal the top and use the push/pull tool to extend the tenon.
The model isn't complete in every detail--it doesn't need to be for the magazine. So, for example, anyone who looks closely will see that the legs fit the top without benefit of holes.
Let me know what you think.
Best,
dh
Nice style, nice tall table. Both look as if they'd be fun to build for real.