Biscuit Time!

So far, I have only been using a mortise and tenon joint to put together my desk. On Sunday, I learned about and used a new joint called the biscuit joint.

These are biscuits.

In a biscuit joint, you first use a biscuit machine to punch a half cresent shape into a piece of wood. 

This is me using a biscuit machine. 

This is what the half cresent holes look like. I punched these holes into the two pieces I was connecting so that when you put the pieces together, the holes line up and form an oval shaped hole.

To join the two pieces, I spread glue in one 

of the cresent shaped holes and then put 

a biscuit (the first picture) in one 

of the sides of wood. Then I spread glue over the biscuit and 

in the corresponding cresent hole and

push the two pieces together.

The two pieces come together and you have wood joined by biscuits.

Seeing Beneath the Surface

Since the pictures are suddenly working excellently, I thought I would show some from the beginning of my project. This picture was taken the first or second time I worked with Dr. Huminski. It is the planing stage. The darker piece of wood is what every piece looked like when we first picked them out. Right beside the dark piece, you can see wood that is in the process of being planed. The yellow machine in the back of the picture is the planer. We slid the wood through the planer numerous times and the saw inside of the machine slowly smoothed out the wood. The best part of this stage was watching as the rough, splintery wood turned smooth. By taking off the rough outer surface, beautiful patterns in the wood were revealed beneath.

Gluing and Clamping

Last Sunday was a day for gluing and clamping. The carcass or frame of the desk is complete and so now we are moving on to filling in the carcass. These pieces include the side and back boards, stretcher (foot rest), and desk lid and writing surface. Because some pieces need to be wider or longer than the size of our original wood, we have to glue pieces together. To do this, one must cut and plane the sides of the pieces so that they will fit together with no gaps. Then you apply the glue and clamp the pieces together to sit for a few days.

Working With Mistakes

On Sunday, I made my first significant mistake. I was cutting a mortise into a piece of wood and I did not properly center the cut. Dr. Huminski realized the mistake after it had been made. I had two choices. I could either increase the size of the mortise by one inch or I could scrap the piece of wood and start over. This piece of wood had already been fitted in an exact spot and held a second mortise for a different joint. For this reason, I decided that it would be too time consuming and impractical to start over with this piece of wood. Instead, I made the mortise and inch longer to center it. This will mean that the foot rest of the desk must be an inch wider. The only effect this has is not allowing a chair to be pushed under the desk quite so far. I am glad that I was able to work with my mistake and that it did not cause too much harm.

Pictures At Last

Finally, I have successfully loaded a picture. This is inside Dr. Huminski's workshop. The picture was taken in November I believe. Here, you can see part of the carcass of the desk. It is laying on the back two legs. On top are the two front legs with the bottom draw rail between them. The side draw rails can also be seen connecting the back and front legs. A few pieces have been added since this picture was taken and other pieces have also been prepared to attach soon. When I left the workshop on Sunday, Dr. Huminski told me we would begin gluing either next week or the week after. Right now, none of the pieces have been glued together. 

Ready to Get Back to Work

It has been a long time since I worked on my desk and I am ready to get back to work. I finished creating a timeline yesterday and I am now ready to work towards fulfilling it. By the end of January, I hope to finished with the carcass and begin putting in drawers and side and backboards in February and March. The end of March will be spent completing finishing touches as well as sanding and varnishing. I really think that it will be possible and very likely to finish the carcass before January is over. This would give me a pleasant head start on filling in the carcass with draws and boards.

A Rough Timeline

A much needed Christmas break...but missing the feeling of wood in my hands. Dr. Huminski agrees that we are on or slightly ahead of schedule. I have looked at the weekends between now and the end of March. Right now, I am planning to work every weekend except for Martin Luther King weekend. The average work session will last 3 hours, but they could range from 2 to 5 hours. I plan to work for another 35 to 45 hours on the desk. There are also times when I can work with him on Wednesdays if needed. I will be sorry for the Christmas break to end, but can look forward to working more on the desk.