Display Case

[BrokenolMarine]

This one could have gone in the Knives section, I guess, since the display case will be for all the knives I have laying here and there around the living room. But, it's woodworking. Miss Tina was walking by the table by the front door where they are all laid out and said, "You need to make a display case for these so no one walks out with one or some kid doesn't get cut." I think she was more worried about the Former, than the Latter. We trust the few friends we have met here in Oklahoma since we have moved here... but we have Service People and Repair Folks come in and out. In the last four years, three or four of those have turned out to be scam artists in their business, so ... not Trustworthy. Sad, isn't it?

I started laying out the design in my head, then sketching a rough on paper for a materials list. Wood alone, in oak, would be nearly $100 at a box store, and that wasn't anything fancy, just oak. Not trim pieces or carved oak, just oak. I went to my woodpile and picked out some rough stuff. These two raw boards should do it.

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I set up the lunchbox planer and hooked up the dust collector and prepared to plane the two pieces to remove the roughness and insure they were the same thickness. Always a good start. By my calculations, the longer of the two would give me enough to make the side frame, and the shorter should provide the face. If not, I have more in the wood pile but I don't want to have to set up the planer again.

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About fifteen passes through the planer, seven or eight on each side, and they are looking good. Not worried about the fall at the edges, they will be trimmed to width.

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The longer board will need one edge dressed to be used as a guiding edge when cutting, whether I use the table saw or the skill saw, that puppy is rough. Take a close look, that's a live edge. I have it clamped and ready for the hand plane.

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A little work with my hand plane and she is ready for the next step. Time on my feet is short, so we are done until tomorrow. It will give me time to figure the dimensions of the cuts, how wide do I want to make the sides of the "Shadowbox" style display case. I am going back and forth on the background. I intended to go with Diamond Tuck, but Miss T is laughing at me. "Yeah Right, Diamond Tuck."

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More later, Watch this space.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have no idea why she seemed to think the knives were piling up...

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Of course, those on the table by the door don't include the five she has. The three I have, or the five or six I have sent out as gifts to Virginia and the two I gave to friends here.

Yup, the case is underway. I'll get 'er done and it will go on the wall behind the table. The picture will be moved to the Fly Tying Room, and the lamp will ... go away.

[rickhem]

Nice looking cases there BOM, That one with the diagonal separation between the flag and your stuff from the Corps is unlike any I've ever seen, and I like that one a lot.
I have a case for some of the more important medals, but apparently my foam backer doesn't hold them all in place, and some keep shifting from gravity.
Some really nice looking knives there too!

[BrokenolMarine]

Nice looking cases there BOM, That one with the diagonal separation between the flag and your stuff from the Corps is unlike any I've ever seen, and I like that one a lot.
I have a case for some of the more important medals, but apparently my foam backer doesn't hold them all in place, and some keep shifting from gravity.
Some really nice looking knives there too!

The one with the Diagonal Divider is my original design for MY flag and medals. I made it from a piece of firewood I was about to split and tossed aside to cure in the shop. About two years later I ran it thru the bandsaw and made that box for my stuff. The wife couldn't believe I had spotted that grain in the piece we split before that one and saved it. You can really see the grain from the sides.

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I have made a couple more in the same design for family members and veterans since. One for my Son in Law in Curly Cherry when he left the Air Force. He went on to earn his Master's and still works for the Air Force, and is now in charge of All Training for the F22 Program, Pilots and Maintenance.

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I also made one for the widow of a WWII Bomber Pilot in Black Walnut. She is a friend of the family that my Daughter and Son in law know very well, they bought their farm in Oklahoma just before the husband passed.

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She sent me a pic of the box after she put the flag and medals in his box, but she wasn't good at picture taking. You see what I mean.

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I made a couple others in different styles, laying out the plans with some input from the Veteran's daughters.
This one in Brazilian Cherry...

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This one for a friend of the wife's who's dad was not only a vet, but a member of a post service Initial Agency... until he died.

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In most cases, the only thing I asked of them was they order any inlays and the engraving plates, and the glass for the viewing area if I already had the wood. If they wanted Special Wood, then I found it and send them the receipt. Curly Cherry and Brazilian Cherry can get Costly....

[rickhem]

Beautiful cases.
Is that lower area a storage space, or just solid for weight?

[BrokenolMarine]

In that design, they can place keepsakes in the space. She put her Dad's Glasses, his pocket knife and a few other small items in the space before I put the back in place. In another box I built, the woman wanted a piece of the original wood, bark on, placed in the space so when you slide the back panel off to add medals, or adjust the flag you could show the doubters the case was actually built from the tree out of HER yard. MY box has the same, a piece of bark from the original log. You pull the brass " cabinet feet" out of the top, remove four small screws and the top lifts off. Now the back panel pulls up out of the dovetails so you can easily access the interior in that design. I tell each recipient that I do not recommend doing this often. The removal of the feet can distort those carefully drilled sockets. The small screws can snap off when you put them back, or when you are removing them. Or you can simply strip the heads on the tiny phillips heads. (Some folks are a little heavy handed with tools) Tapping the small brass box feet back into place and miss, you ding the top of your display case... it IS real wood.

[BrokenolMarine]

All of the above has happened....

[BrokenolMarine]

Out in the shop this morning... and got the table saw set up. Another pucker factor morning. Cutting long rip cuts is always fun. If the board should bind, it can shoot back and ... Owie. I take all the precautions I can. I support the back end, I use a feather board, and a push stick that keeps both lateral and downward pressure. The Pawl that came with this old table was defective and caused more issues than it solved. I bought a high dollar, super duper overhead vacuum one, with cool pawls... didn't work. Out that money. So... I take my time and focus on the cut.

The set up... Dust collection in place, and the support as noted above.

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Ready for the first pass, note the first cut is a narrow rip, to remove the defective edge.

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Success, and preparing for the second and third passes.

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Now they are all done. The good stuff on the left are the 2-1/2 inch box sides. The trimmed bad edge and the excess on the right. That leftover piece might be good for something in the future. The other piece might have sections wide enough to cut plugs out of to fill screw holes... I might cut it into sections, save/toss. If I don't end up needing plugs I'll toss them all.

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The 2-1/2 inch pieces will be cut into two 48" pieces and two 16" pieces, the leftovers will be saved for braces and "As Needed."

[Vaquero]

Well, if miss T thinks that's a lot of knives, well, she'd probably have a heart attack if she saw my buddies collection up in Wis.
Some pretty cool lookin blades in there. Very nice.

RP

[BrokenolMarine]

Well, if miss T thinks that's a lot of knives, well, she'd probably have a heart attack if she saw my buddies collection up in Wis.
Some pretty cool lookin blades in there. Very nice.

RP

Those are just the ones I've Made... those aren't my Collection. The collection is in the safe, and tucked in boxes in the closet. She was just pointing on the knives I made laying on the table.

I have four or five swords, a couple lances, some weird machetes, and a LOT of knives I've collected over the years.
Including a civil war bayonet that is one of less than 750 made for the Spencer Rifle. (Spencer Saber Rifle Bayonet.) Of course, being a marine, a couple K-bars, one I used, several engraved, some on plaques.

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A intricate inlaid Philippine machete with mother of pearl and ivory in the sheath, that was a gift. Some type of ceremonial piece.

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Of course my engraved NCO Sword from the Corps...
A copy of the Braveheart Sword, (Also a Gift for helping a couple I knew)
and a copy of the Calvary Sabre used in the old west.

An African lance/spear about 8' long stands diagonally in the corner of my office, since it's too tall to stand upright.
(A gift from one of the veteran's in our kayak fishing program, his wife told him to get it out of the house when his kid started walking... ) Same guy that gave me the ceremonial machete.

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I have the Cold Steel and Benchmades of course, and the Bucks and Kershaws...
The Old Henry and Stag and Bone... The Autos and the EMTs... some I keep forgetting about.

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This last one was a gift from a protégé after making him a custom Humidor.

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Too many knives, not enough room to display them all.
So, I'll display the ones I've made myself.

I may decide to take some pictures off the wall in the den and make a tall narrow display case for the rest of them and get them out of the safe, except for the swords.

Let's see how this first case turns out. I'm hoping it turns out pretty good... if not, it occupied my time for a week or so.

[Vaquero]

Very nice, Marine.

RP

[BrokenolMarine]

Okay... back out after lunch and a few episodes of House. I love that doc, he is as Grumpy as I am.

Time to start getting seriously puckered. So, first, I set up the chop saw to cut the ripped pieces to length. With the chop saw, I use an adapter on the shop vac for dust collection and let em rip. I needed two pieces at 48" and two at 16".

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I made my cuts, careful to keep everything square and tight to the fences. The leftovers can be used later on other projects, or for knife scales.

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I pushed the chop saw aside and moved to the other side of the shop and set up the table saw for cutting the dados. First to remove the single blade on the saw, and then prepare the dado blade and stack the spacers. The notes on the box say to stack two in the center for the half inch I want.

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We got 'er in place and stacked and I check with the caliper, we are good to go.

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There are a large number of ways to set up depth of cuts, and I have used them all. There is a depth of cut gauge that tilts as you raise the blade hanging on the peg board on the wall. These set up gauges are awesome and came out a few years ago. They are fast and easy to use.

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Here we set up to make the pass. If you look at the leading edge of the board you'll see a chalk mark. I put one on each board after looking at the two faces. It goes on the face I want OUT, and after deciding on where I want the dado on the face that's down. If you are going to make multiple passes, and you should if the cut is deeper than 1/8th or a 1/4"; you'll either make this mark or learn by mistakenly making your later pass on the wrong edge that you should have. NOT that "I" have ever done that and learned from MY mistakes.

My final depth of cut will be 1/2", but I made two passes to get there. 1/4" and 1/2". This was a rather soft wood. If it had been any of the very hard woods, I would have made four passes. Also note the push block with the handle and stabilizing brace. Even though the blade doesn't come thru the wood, I use the push block. If there should be kickback, the block of wood could disappear in an instant, and there would be a very sharp set of multiple blades spinning below my hand. with a dado cut you need to push over the blade with downward pressure for a proper dado. NO Chances here.

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I made my passes, and we are golden. Next up, cutting the angles and test fitting the box frame. Done for the day. Once the box frame is done, I'll trim down the back panel and fit it inside. I was planning diamond tuck, but now I might consider... Consider... tooled leather background. THAT would be awesome, but would make this a much longer project.

[BrokenolMarine]

What do you think? Tooled leather background from a hacker? Reaching too high? I could tool a quilted background, that's within my grasp. I could attempt some Ivy or Oak Leaves and Acorns....

[Hatchdog]

What do you think? Tooled leather background from a hacker? Reaching too high? I could tool a quilted background, that's within my grasp. I could attempt some Ivy or Oak Leaves and Acorns....

I can’t offer any advice as I’m too exhausted just from reading the work you have done so far.

[BrokenolMarine]

Sunday Morning Work....

(First, thanks Hatch, It's a lot of work, but I take my time and limit my work to 60 to 90 minutes at a time, mostly.)
Sometimes I get caught up and don't realize how long I have been in the shop, then I pay later.

This morning, I got back at it and started by going over the dados with my little shoulder plane to insure they were neat and clean. I wanted to do that BEFORE I cut the 45 degree angles that will form the box. A couple passes down each side was all that was needed, the Stacked Dado Blades do a fine job. They are ten years old, but I am very careful with them and they will last another ten years as long as I do my part.

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I set up the Chop Saw and cut the 45s, careful to cut right at the ends, sometimes erring on the outside, and having to move IN for a second cut. You can always bite a little MORE off but can't add more back. After each pair was done, I matched the backs together to check the length. Slow but sure paid off, and they were all the proper length. They are ready to be test fitted.

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The only way to really test fit these things is a pressure fit, this calls for one of several methods. You can get out the long bar clamps and fuss with those, but I have found on frames, the perfect things are the Band Clamps. Thin as these are, two will work.

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These looked good, and I put a pair of 123 blocks in the opposing corners to check them for square, and BOOM, good to go. THEY aren't glued, this is a test fit. Another view below gives you a good look at the band clamps and how they work. I love these things. I used them when building a huge toy box for my granddaughter as well. If you build a small box, you can use rubber bands in the same way.

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While these were banded, I measured the inside of the dados so that I can cut the back panel to fit. That is the next step, after coffee and a break. Once that is fitted, it will be time to decide on the Leather carved panel, or one of the various cloth backgrounds.

[BrokenolMarine]

One last session this evening, before running errands along with the wife. I got back out and marked and prepped the back panel for cutting to fit the frame. Careful measuring resulted in a panel that needed to be trimmed to 47-5/8 x 15-5/8. I laid out the lines, marked them carefully, then measured them again.

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I got the panel clamped to the sawhorses, and the saw set up for a clean cut... and made the cuts. Then test fitted the panel into the frame. Test Fitted, nothing so far will be glued or permanent. Too much still to do, we are FAR from done. It FITS.

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I unboxed the magnets. I ordered two pair, I'll need just three to span the case. The forth? I'll likely mount it on the knifemaking bench to hold tools. It will be put to use. The magnets will be mounted OVER The background, be it cloth or leather. Seems that centered works fine.

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I'm liking leather, but can't settle on the design for Tooling it. Miss Tina looked at the two pieces of cloth I had as options in my "linings" stash for boxes. A medium gray and a nice RED. She wasn't impressed, but said the gray would "work." She is going to Hobby Lobby tomorrow, and said she will look for a deep burgundy. I'll tag along, if I go with the Cloth I'll need a bit of rubber screen gasket and perhaps some very thin dowel or metal rod for installation of the cloth, plus a couple cans of adhesive spray.


*** NOTE: The back panel will NOT show from the front OR the sides or I would have used a much more presentable wood. The face will be covered by leather or cloth. The sides are set UP inside the frame. NOT visible.

[BrokenolMarine]

So you can agonize over a decision, and beat yourself up over it. Cloth or leather, leather or cloth. Then you just have to commit. A huge cut of leather like that?

Then you just commit. 46-1/2 by 14-1/2? Huge cut... but:

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Now I have to lay out a carving pattern and TAKE MY Time carving... because leather don't come cheap.

[BrokenolMarine]

Carving something that size will take Days, or even a week depending on the coverage I decide on....
But the challenge will pay off if I take my time and do really good work.

I can do corner work, with borders and fill in the background with a quilt pattern.

The oak leaf and acorn pattern could be adapted for the corners.

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This basketweave might work in the background, but it would take DAYS....

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The brown colored patterns at the bottom of this pic is the Quilted Pattern, and can be adapted with larger squares to fill open spaces... I like it...

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This serpentine pattern can run around the borders where the corner pattern isn't present.

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So much to choose from...

[BrokenolMarine]

Okay... the plan is, I'll put the serpentine border around the edges, then the wide basketweave (Quilted) pattern in the middle to fill. I "Might" do a single corner carved. I have to check the wood supply for some quarter round molding that will go around the inside of the box to insure the leather stays flat and hides the small gap around the edges. If not, a trip to home depot. I'll need a couple 8' pieces. Oak, or pine, I'll want a light color finish when I'm done to keep the interior bright. NOT going to rush this part. Will pick up a 4' piano hinge and screws while I'm there.

Tomorrow's work is out... trip to OKC to the VA hospital for an appointment, that kills the day. Two hours up, two hours back and I always go up at zero dark thirty to avoid the morning rush hour traffic... it's terrible on I40 and I 35.

[BrokenolMarine]

A trip to home depot on Tuesday yielded the quarter round molding and the piano hinges I wanted, but Yesterday was a waste. Got up at 320am and left at 4am and drove to OKC for the VA, didn't get home until after 4pm. Long day. This morning messed with installing the VOIP on the phones. Done.

Now, I got out into the shop and set up to cut and install the quarter round shoe molding in the case frame. I removed the leather and cut and test fitted the molding. I didn't want to scratch and scar the leather with the in and out of the molding pieces, I wanted them to fit tightly. They do.

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Once I was sure of the fit, I inserted the leather and reinstalled the molding, for another test fit. Looked good. I marked the edge of the molding on the leather. This defined the tooling window. I will lay out the tooling inside that window. A serpentine border and quilted pattern with my small logo in the lower right hand corner. I was going to tool the floral pattern in the upper left, but Miss T said no one will notice with the KNIVES in the case. (Compliment? Or Smart Azz remark? )

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I disassembled the case and marked all the pieces to insure it went back together the same way it came apart. EVERY piece is coded. I can sand the sides and the quarter round and prep them for staining and the glue up, AFTER the necessary holes are drilled.

I took my break for the back, still aching from the drive and hours in the chair at OKC, but was back out later to lay out the patterns on the leather. No pics, they won't show until I cut them in with the swivel knife. You'll see them then, and I can start tooling. That will be fun, and aggravate my arthritis.... but should be beautiful when done.

Watch this space...