Walnut Steamer - Assessing the Situation

Our pile of walnut still has lots of snow on top of it this morning, but we will get up into the mid 50 degrees today and it’s raining this morning, so this will go away quickly.  Then I can get the bricks and tin sheets that protect the lumber off and pull the boards needed to make Shelly’s tray table set.  In the mean time I will work on completing the walnut trunk for David. For more on this snow storm of ours see White Christmas at The Simple Life Prattle.

Earlier this year I made 4 steamer trunks in various woods for an interior designer in Chicago.  While I was cutting out the parts for those, I cut out parts for another two trunks.  One was a standard oak trunk with walnut trim that has since been completed and is for sale.  The other was a walnut trunk which has been mostly completed.  The lid is done except for some sanding.

The base is mostly complete, just lacking the banding.  The sides and ends of the removable tray are made (photo above) and need only the final shaping.  The one part I need to make yet is the wide panel for the floor of the tray.

So I select some lumber from what is left inside the shop, cut it to rough length, joint one face and one edge and use the surface planer (shown here) to surface the other wide face and bring the boards to the 7/16” thickness I need.

Using a fine toothed blade in the table saw I rip the final edge straight and parallel to the other edge.  Then I lay the boards out on the saw and flip-flop them around until I find the arrangement I like best.  That done, I mark them with a large ‘V’ to be sure I get them back in the same arrangement and take them into the assembly room to be glued and clamped.  I’ll let these sit in the clamps overnight to be sure the glue sets up hard before I do any more machining on them.

I'll be taking the day off tomorrow to pull down the custom woodworking area of our web site.

Thanks for looking in, I’ll see you next time, and Happy New Year!

Production List:

2 Walnut Tray Tables with Stand for Jacklyn & Mark - In Transit

Walnut Steamer Trunk for David B. – In Progress

Kitchen organizer - Marie B.- Awaiting Details

Utility Trailer Make-Over for David B. - In Progress but Stalled

4 Tray Tables, All Walnut (custom size) with stand for Shelly

3-Tier Bottle Stopper Rack, all red Oak for Donna

4-Tier Bottle Stopper Rack Cherry & Maple for David K.

3-Tier Bottle Stopper Rack (Standard) for Dan G.

Computer Desk for Laptop for Marie B.

Printer Cabinet for Marie B.