Rommy plan

weve got a good project coming up ... two recycled chestnut cabinets and a new mantle, built around an existing stone fireplace ... the clients were interested in having a large flat screen tv pull out from the cabinet on the right ... a 46", larger, in fact, than would fit in a traditional head on installation. my friend, and, coincidentally, the audio/visual man on the job, kem verner, told me it was no problem to do this as the tv could go back into the cabinet on an angle ... hmmm.. why not? ..
the clients were serious, so i picked up one of the sanus tv brackets we typically use .. i first tried putting the wall for the tv bracket on an angle, thinking that would give me the most flexibility, but, in the end ...
kem suggested mounting the bracket on a vertical partition 90 degrees to the face of the cabinet and as close to the front as possible ... click the photos to enlarge them ..
in the end, this location gave us the most extension and smoothest in/out operation for the tv and the clients ( and i too) were able to see it would work ...
the vertical mdf on the left represents the retractable door in the closed position.
this photo shows the tv in the all the way out location ... you can see in the photo below that the door, when its retracted, will be behind the face of the stone and the tv will be out past it ... a slick solution ...

So this is where I was at when I called it quits today...


It wasnt actually the most productive day I have had in a while. Throughout the afternoon I kept making one mistake after another. While checking the calendar to answer a question for my wife I realized that it was Friday the 13th. Not wanting to continue to tempt the fates, I packed it in, took a couple of pictures and called it a day.

All I got for about 4-hours of work was a mounted Veritas Low-Angle Jack Plane with uncentred mounts...damn, and this...


The mount for the Stanley 71 with all its accompaniments will give you an idea of where Im headed with this. Im trying to produce something that flows together, which is why the accessory display is moulded to the mounts and the bottom mount for the 71 is also the top mount for the No.8. While Ill do the moulding trick to all the tools that have accessories, I wont do the combined mounts that often. I think that if it is done once too often, it will start to resemble a crazy maze.

I kept the sides of the 71s mounts square as I dont have a clue yet which plane Im going to mount beside it. I know the 271 has to fit in here somewhere, but Im just not sure where yet. By keeping the ends square and keeping the horizontal-grained bottom layer shorter than the top, it will be an easy process to tie into them to continue on. If I dont want a continuation of the mounts, I can just reshape whats there to whatever I find pleasing.

And speaking of shapes, as you can see, there are no fancy edges or carving on any of these, even though 80% of the work on each has been done with chisels. I thought the hard look of the tools would be accentuated and would add more to the display if they were placed up against soft curves, so the only shaping Im doing on the mounts is giving all their edges a soft round-over. So far, it isnt really working for me, but I think once the walnut has a few coats of satin varnish on it, darkening it, the shape contrast might pop a little more and the tonal contrast will be less, at least I hope so.

Next up is the No.10½. I have been looking forward to getting at this one for a week or so, ever since I came up with a design for a horizontal locking mount for it. It should be an interesting build and a hell of a buzz if it works.

Ill catch you up on how I make out with it in a few days.

For my Jewish readers on this, the start of Yom Kippur, I wish you an easy fast.

Peace,

Mitchell

The Full Tool Kit



This is the tool kit I actually used when building this project.





Left Side:

• rip saw, crosscut saw, hack saw



Center (back to front):

• #7 jointer plane, #4 smoother plane

• #62 low angle jack plane, #5 1/4 jack plane, side bead moulding plane, dropped quarter round moulding plane

• #271 router plane, shoulder plane, rabbet plane, #18 block plane

• Hand drill, awl, nail set, mallet

• square, combination square, 3/4" chisel, bit and brace

• file, round file, nippers

• marking gauge, marking knife, flush cut saw, hammer, screw drivers

• dowel plate, pencil (And yes, Dixon Ticonderoga 1388 #2 HB - one of the vintage, good ones from before they sold out!), hammer, folding rule



While working on this project, I wasnt trying to limit myself tool wise in any way. If there were multiple tool options, I tended to use the one that was either easiest or produced the best results. Of course, there are many, many different paths to the same destination. It would be possible to build this project with much less in the way of tools.



With that in mind, I though I would do something similar to my tool kit post on the Shaker Cupboard project. So, heres my take on the most basic set of tools that would create the same final result (different techniques would be required - such as forming the rabbets with a chisel rather than rabbet plane).



The Minimum Tool Kit



This is the minimum tool kit that could be used to build the project.





Back to Front:

• rip saw, cross cut saw, #5 jack plane, #4 smoother plane

• flush cut saw, 3/4" chisel, hand drill, block plane, side bead moulding plane, dropped quarter round moulding plane

• screw drivers, brace and bit, square, marking gauge, knife

• pencil, nail set, hammer, folding rule



I assumed that you would be able to find appropriate hinges and could forgo the tools I used to make my own.



As you can see, you dont need a shop full of tools to make a project. That said, I like having tool options and specialized tools that make some tasks easier, or allow for superior results.



So, will I make a second medicine cabinet using only the smaller tool kit? Well, my son cant reach the Tums anymore, and I have about a billion other projects waiting for my very limited time, so "Nah!"



Not anytime soon anyway...