Had to clean up but still have pretty good grain flow.
I cut grooves that were about 1/4 wide by 3/8 deep (missed getting a picture) to hold a floating top.
Then came the more stressful part - cutting the top board to fit the groove. I cut the lip first. Made cuts of the shoulders first before using a jig I made for a prior project (may have been the first urn). Note the little section of green tape I needed to get the jig snug and true.
I fit this in the groove.
Next was adding the bevel - used that same jig. Blade set to a bit over 30 degrees. Had some burning that I started to clean up (hints welcome on how best to do that).
Have to work on the inlay aspect as he wants a maple cross on the lid. My paper "template" has been used to visualize how to cut the lid for best grain and how to orient the board.
I would clean up the burning with one of my smoother planes. Generally such burning is pretty shallow and a few shavings takes it away. The burning is usually end grain, so you want to take super-thin shavings.
Dave - I don't have much in the way of hand planes. I have a shavehook that I started to use to clean the bevel (and yes, was mainly the end grain). I had thought to myself that this was a situation where it would be a benefit to be more hand tool proficient. Your comment confirms that!
My usual approach is an appropriately sized hard sanding block that I can use on an edge or bevel and not have it be to "tippy" and mess up a crisp edge. Playing domino sizes wood blocks work well for most edges. The block will have coarse PSA paper, maybe 80 or 100 grit to get rid of the char as fast and easy as possible. Then (only after the char is 99% gone) I'll move up through the grits (120, 240, maybe 320).
Still learning how to avoid the burn in the first place. First thing to check , "Is the blade clean/sharp?" Then a decision on slow or fast cut. Seems lingering too long in a cross cut can heat up any wood resins and start the burn (cherry is horrible about this). Go too fast and the blade may deflect and leave a rough surface.
The prevention attempt failed. I adjusted my speed (still burned) and then I tried to just take off a small bit (still burned although did get off some of the initial burning). I was using a 40 tooth blade which was clean, and feel it to be sharp. Wondering if maybe I didn't have it set at an optimal height - not sure what that is when making these "tall bevel" cuts.
I'd say having the blade as high as you are comfortable with. This means each tooth is in contact with the wood for the shortest amount of time so less chance of things getting hot (at least in theory!)
Seeing your burns seem to be at opposite corners, could be your fence is not exactly parallel with your blade. If the far side of the blade is closer to the fence than the front side where the cutting occurs, the teeth will be rubbing a bit as the wood passes by and makes contact. On the far side of the blade this contact first occurs at the base of the teeth as they rise up out of the table versus the teeth tips as they plunge down at the front.
I typically use a skewed block plane to clean up endgrain like that to avoid softening the edges. My second choice would be a long-ish hard sanding block like Splint suggested. You want to do everything you can to keep it flat on that bevel to avoid ruining the crisp edges. If the burning went very deep at all and you have to do much sanding, you'll probably need to sand all 4 bevels to keep it symmetric to the eye.
Hmmm...wonder if there is an issue with only clamping on the one side. I did try to hold firmly to the jig, but that could have been lacking (picture with jig when I was cutting the lip that went into the groove
Actually thought I should cut an opening so I could feed thru a clamp, but was too focused on getting the top done. 😬🙄
I didn't get to the sanding today as I was trying to figure out the cross size. Not sure if I'll do an inlay or place on top. This was just some scrap wood to work out dimensions.
HokieKen - I think I like it on top. Plus that would be much less stressful than trying to cut into the top. Will still need to decide whether to cut from one piece, or do a half-lap like I did with this one.
HokieKen- yes, I see what you are saying about the visual interest with the grain. I did that test half-lap with my chisels and was pleasantly surprised that it worked out (not the most proficient, comfortable, or confident with my hand tool abilities!). I need to get my chisels back to my sharpener before trying on the maple that has been selected for the cross.
RyanGi- I think I'll give that a try. Nice aspect is that I can redo the cross as needed without running the chance of ruining the lid. I don't think I have enough walnut from that board to redo the lid so this seems like a good way to go.
Made some progress. Cross laps on small pieces is challenging. Miscut my first cross bar so it was loose. This is ok - may try one more, but overall, I like this. What would be the best way to add a chamfer? Its so small!
Great mod to that fence sled! You could even add a few more holes up/down that same line without compromising the jig.
I would have if my poor little drill press didn't labor so hard for this one opening! Need to add more when I'm more patient as this was a bit high. More options would allow for easier and optimal clamping.
For the chamfer, plenty of options. Personally I'm comfortable with my router table and would use one of my 1/4" 45 degree bits with the 1/8" template bushing on the tip. Raise the bit enough to get just the right amount of taper, then just whiz the cross around the bit. This bit would leave "un-tapered" sections from the bushing where the cross pieces meet. This could actually look nice. With a more conventional bit that has a larger bearing (usually 1/2"), the tapers would be further down the arms.
Second option is the same bit with the bearing and the cross in the two parts (could also use the table fence). The part with the dado "up" would get full passes on each edge, with the bit low enough that the bits taper would not make contact with the dado'd section. The other part I would mark where the intersection is with a pencil, then just taper up to or just short of those lines (remember, parts are run face down 😉). A chisel could then be used to clean up the tapers where the two arms meet forming a nice sharp line at the corners.
You could also just clamp the arms in a vise with the edges up and use a block plane or even some sand paper/block to sand in the angles. Same deal with not crossing the joint marks for the side to side arm.
