Back in the Shop

I’ve been on a little bit of a hiatus these last few weeks…a story for another blog post, but work has continued on the Mere Mortals candle holders.

Every time I use it, I like my Freud flat grind, rip blade more and more.  I’ve used it for cutting corner slots for splines and keys, flat bottom grooves and these slots in the candle holder parts.

 

I continued using the same technique of stop blocks and the sliding sled on the table saw and finished up all of the slot cuts for a whole squadron of candle holders.

Next up was to cut the notches that will hold the Sapelle platforms for the tea light candles.  I want the platforms to sit a little high on the base so I used one of the Sapelle pieces to set the height of the blade to half its thickness.

 

I then used one of the base pieces to set the width between the stop blocks that will be used to cut the notches on the sliding sled.  I positioned my centering ruler on one of the blade’s teeth and then marked one of the base pieces at an inch from the center on both sides.  This will give me the points needed to set the stop blocks and will yield the two inch wide slots I need to hold the Sapelle platforms.

With the blocks in position its easy work to cut the slots.

 

I had to repeat the set-up process a couple more times to accommodate the positioning of the notches on the outsides of the longer base pieces and on the shorter cross-pieces.

With all of the sizing and joinery cuts complete, you can now see how each candle holder will go together.

 

Of course we can’t have our candles sliding off the platforms.  This one and a half inch Forstner bit is just the tool for the job.

Here we have all five candle holders dry assembled.  Three of them will be joined permanently while the remaining two will be break-down versions.

 

It’s been a pretty tough month so it was nice to get back into the shop and put my hands and mind to work together again.  There is just something very cleansing and renewing about time in the shop…hopefully I’ll be able to get back into a more consistent groove and stay there.

Pete