Stickleyish Questions

[DeanJackson]

I have a craftsman style house. I'm trying to build a light for the front porch, based on a picture of a great piece from Barnard Woodworking School:

Problem is that I'm power tool centric, and this has two bits where I'm getting it wrong.

Any suggestions on how to cut the top of the lid over the light? Really, really, really long vertical panel bit on a router table, but that's definitely not the way that cut is done. What's the best way? What's the traditional way? :-)

Any suggestions on how to cut the top of the piece that mounts directly to the wall? Draw it out, bandsaw, sand everything massively smooth; any better way, or a traditional way?

Is there a book on traditional techniques for arts & crafts/craftsman styled woodworking?

[Beechwood Chip]

I'd take the lid over the light, carpet tape the bottom to a thick piece of wood (like 2x stock), and rough it out on the bandsaw. Then use a spindle sander to finish it.

[chicks82]

I'd take the lid over the light, carpet tape the bottom to a thick piece of wood (like 2x stock), and rough it out on the bandsaw. Then use a spindle sander to finish it.

^ This is how i would do it.

But if you don't have a band saw you can do it with a router with a couple different setups. You can also do this on your table saw. It about 4 cuts two setups to get the rough shape then sand it the rest.

[Gregory Paolini]

The top looks like it just has a 45 degree transition between the difference in plane/height. I would do all of the milling with the piece upside down. I would begin by scoring the 45 degree marks on the table saw. Then with a large (1") straight cutting bit on the router table, I would remove the material in multiple passes until I reached the scoring mark. I'd use the router rather than a dado blade in a table saw, because the router will give a smoother face, which means less sanding.

What you'll end up with is the desired shape, but faceted rather than smooth. Assuming you're working with Mahogany, which sands really nice, you can wrap up the whole piece with some hand sanding to round/soften the edges.

For shaping the back mounting plate, I would simply make a pattern, band saw proud of the pattern line, and pattern route the final shape, then add the crisp shoulder detail with a sharp chisel. And finish off with some sanding.

As far as books, there are some out there - You would want to find a book on Greene & Greene furniture details, as that's the style of this particular sconce.

Hope this helps!

Gregory

[mikepdarr]

Could you not take one solid block, resaw it down the middle, make your cuts then laminate it back together?

[RenaissanceWW]

I think you could use a dado set to remove the bulk of the waste from the top sides or even a router table with the work face down. Like Gregory said above a table saw or even bandsaw could rough in the angle. Likewise the tsuba shaped mounting plate could be roughed in with a bandsaw or jig saw. However at some point elbow grease will have to come into play. Whether that is with files and rasps or sandpaper to smooth and soften the curves. The Greene and Greene style has no hard lines so to be true to the piece hand work will need to happen.

[RenaissanceWW]

Oh and check out "Poems of Wood and Light" by David Mathias and "Greene and Greene Furniture" by Darrel Peart to learn more about the Greene and Greene style and construction methods. Also check out www.thewoodwhisperer.com. Marc is a big fan of Greene and Greene and he toys with the style a bit.

[HoboMonk]

The Greene and Greene style was heavily inspired by Japanese woodworking designs and techniques.

Here's how I would do it with traditional Japanese handtools:

1. The top piece (lid) could be cut with first a ryoba double-edged saw. First, make a crosscut down to the depth required, then a rip-cut to hog out the bulk. Define and cleanup the top with chisels and planes.

2. The back plate shape, mokko gata (sometimes mistakenly caused a tsuba, which is actually a Japanese sword hand guard that can be of any shape), can be cut with handsaws, chisels and/or rasps.

Here's an example of how I cut the mokko gata (Tree Melon shape) with hand tools. You can further define the shape according to tastes.

http://www.flickr.co...N04/6277586006/

Eventually I'll have this in my new blog when I get time away from client demands.

Hope this helps.

Blessings,

Bro. Tenzin

[Jerry_in_SD]

For some Greene and Greene woodworking techniques, I would recommend a book by Darrell Peart called "Greene & Greene: Design Elements for the Workshop" You can order from Amazon but use Marc's Amazon portal so he get's his due.