Painting "Block" Holder

My wife has recently gotten into watercolor painting, and the paper she uses comes in a thing called a block.  There are times when she would like to have the block not flat on the table, but at an angle.  So necessity being the mother of invention, I made a block holder with adjustable angle.  It turns out that the "adjustable" part was a bit tougher than I thought it might be.

The completed project

I had some spare spruce/pine/fir from the potting bench project, so I used that.  The block is 9" x 12" and I'm making this thing 12" x 14".  I had remembered a book holder project that Matt Estlea did on YouTube and I thought I'd make something similar.

The two frames are half-lapped together.  The top one will get a horizontal member that holds the adjustable "kickstand" and the bottom frame gets a third front-to-back stile that has notches cut in it to receive the lower end of the kickstand.

Front frame partially done

Half-lap joints

The kickstand cross-piece has to swivel to allow different height positions.  So I experimented on some scrap with an integral round 3/8" tenon on one piece going into a 1/2" deep, 3/8" diameter hole in another.  This seemed about right, so I went with it.

Prototyping a swiveling part

Here's the real thing - parts connected with a bridle joint
and round integral tenons shaped with saw, rasp and file

The piece in my hand in the above photo is actually hollow.  I made it by plowing a 1" wide, 5/16" deep groove in a 6" x 1 1/2" x 1/2" piece, then gluing on a cover.  This hollowed-out piece houses a 5/16" thick inner piece that slides in and out to adjust the angle of the project.  I had experimented with a sliding dovetail mechanism for the kickstand, but wasn't happy with it.

Before gluing up the two frames, I mortised the bottom pieces for hinges.  It was much easier doing this when the parts were more manageable.

Hinges ready

The lower frame was straightforward - two rails and three stiles half-lapped together.  But I did add notches to the center stile to accept the kickstand.

The lower frame ready for glue-up

Gluing up - you can see the notches in the center stile

Some further touches included gluing on a 1/2" x 1/2" piece as a ledge to support the watercolor "block", drilling some holes in the inner kickstand piece, and making a small pin to keep that inner piece from retracting into the outer piece.

Here's the ledge that will support the watercolor "block"

The pin (made from a bamboo chopstick) and prototype hole

The pin in place showing how it prevents the inner piece from retracting

And here it is all together showing the range of angles it can be set to.  With four notches and three holes in the inner member of the kickstand, there's a lot of adjustability.

Maximum setting is 45 deg

Minimum setting (other than sitting flat) is about 15 deg

And of course, when not in use, it can fold flat for storage

I gave this project three coats of shellac, followed by a coat of wax.  I also added little vinyl feet on the the bottom frame so that it won't slide on the work table.

The tough thing about this project was trying to figure out where in the top frame to put the pivoting kickstand, and how long to make the kickstand parts.  To do this, I hinged together the two frames while they were dry-fit, the top frame with the pivoting arm not yet in place.  I clamped a 45 deg triangle between the frames to set the maximum angle and sort of looked where it might be best to place the pivoting arm.  I was really just guessing here, but it seems to have worked out.

One last thing.  The extending part of the kickstand has a chamfer top and bottom to create a point at its end.  Because that point enters the notches in the bottom frame at different angles, I cut those notches at different angles.  They're not perfect, and I didn't try to make them so, but they hold the kickstand nicely.

You can see the point in this photo

That's it.  For a simple little project, it sure had me thinking a lot.

Another Tea Box

Lately I've been working on some old tools that I've found at garage or estate sales.  I found myself in need of building something - anything!  So I though I'd make another tea box, similar to one I made a couple years ago.

This one is made from red alder, which can be a really beautiful wood.  Some boards that I've seen have white streaks, and I'm not a fan of that, but the wood for this project was very nice.  The back and left side even have some figure to them.

The sides have a 3/16" deep rabbet that will hide grooves at top and bottom

First corner dovetailed and fitted

All four corners dovetailed

After leveling the top and bottom rims, 3/16" x 3/16" grooves are run

The top and bottom are identical.  All four edges get a 3/8" deep x 3/16" wide groove.  I was unable to do the end grain edges with the plough plane, so I used a saw and chisels.  Something was not quite right with the plough.  I suspect the iron and wedge were not properly fitted - the iron was not forced against the steel skate and that resulted in poor performance.  I need to look into this some more later.  After the grooves were cut, the inside face was cut down about 3/16" on all edges.

Fitting the bottom into the grooves in the main box

The short divider is housed in 1/8" deep dadoes.
The long divider is half-lapped with the short one and its length
is fitted to the assembled box interior length.

I didn't show it, but the box sides are curved using an approximate 10 3/4" radius.  This makes the top and bottom edges of each piece about 3/16" to 1/4" thinner than the middle.

Here's a test fit without the lid

I pre-finished the inside surfaces of the box with 4-5 coats of
shellac followed by 0000 steel wool buffing and then wax

The box is glued up without the long divider installed

After the glue dried and the joints cleaned up,
the lid is cut from the bottom

I used old plastic cards as spacers to fill the kerfs when clamping in the vise

Then clean up the saw cuts on bottom and top, and correct any twist

Adding hinges

I mortised in a small piece of wood for a handle

Outside was finished like the inside: 4-5 coats of shellac, then wax

The completed box

I added green felt to the bottom

The box is intended to hold tea bag packets - four compartments for four types of tea.  This one took a while - I went kind of slow on it.  But it felt good to make something again.

Small Chest of Drawers

OK, so way back in July, I started on this project.  Then knee problems made it more complicated to get in the shop.  Over the second half of last year, I gradually got most of it finished.  And finally 6 months later it's complete.

The wood is reclaimed red alder.  The main carcass is about 5" x 8".  The sides, top and bottom were 3/8" thick, the dividers 1/4".  Drawer parts were 1/4" or slightly less thick.  Here's the build in pictures and captions, with a little prose thrown in as needed.

The four sides arranged

First corner tails cut ...

... and assembled with the tailboard

Dadoes for drawer dividers laid out.  You can see on this board
some screw holes - the price of using reclaimed wood.  All screw holes
were on the inside, back or bottom, so will remain unseen.

Grooves to house the back are done

Carcass dry-assembled

Using the mini router plane to level the dadoes

The main carcass dry-fitted with dividers

The drawer sides were made from poplar, with a 1/8" ply bottom.  Each drawer had a single dovetail at each corner, and the bottom was glued on to the underside.  Later, a red alder front was glued to the drawer box and a handle was added.

A drawer box coming together

Two drawers with bottoms being glued on (one in the end vise, one
in the back corner of the bench using weights as a clamp), another drawer's
parts being sized and made ready for dovetailing

Drawer dovetailed

Three fitted

Experiments with handles.  I'm going to write a separate post
about making these.

Now for the feet: making a template

On a 1/2" x 1/2" blank, cutting close to the line ...

... and finishing with flat chisel, incannel gouge and file

After mitering the ends, gluing two together to create a foot

Gluing on a foot.  Note the air-release holes in the back.
Without those, when you close one drawer, others get pushed open.

Four feet in place

The piece is finished with shellac, followed by a coat of wax.  The following pics don't show it well, but it got a nice luster and reflects light nicely.

The finished product

Another view

This is going to my 2 1/2 YO granddaughter.  She might not appreciate it just yet, but hopefully later she'll have some jewelry or other treasures to put in it.