The Woodshop Shed

4H Project 2025

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(from WoodNet.net)


Gotta brag on my son and his last 4H project ever. He's a 10-year 4H'er and this year he got Grand Champion and State Fair Entry. Really happy I got to spend some time out in the shop helping him build this. Great memories and I don't spend as much time as I used to building things these days so it was bonus to spend time with my son AND get to engage in some WW-ing. This was based on Norm Abrams' Secretary Desk project, and it's double bonus that my son has become as big a Norm fan as I am. The only reason we changed anything is to make a few of the operations a little more approachable for my son, and Norm used pine. We used walnut because his grandpa milled this up from a tree he cut down at someone's house. Who doesn't love free walnut from Grandpa, right?

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Woodworking on a grand scale

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Got a once-in-a-lifetime experience yesterday. We are in the market for a new front door (42X80) for our moderately up-scale 35-YO house. After reviewing the existing one and our wishes (mostly LOML's), we got a quote for around $18K for a custom Signature door with leaded-glass inserts This, of course, almost made me throw up, but spouse pursued further and found out the Signature Door Company is in Altoona, PA - about 3 hours from us. She called and made an appointment with "Denny" since both of us were interested in what went into such a price. So we made the trek yesterday.

We show up and found out "Denny" was the President of the company, who spent time discussing our wishes and then took us on a near-three-hour tour of the whole shebang, discussing raw material,big processes,little details, and finished productsforunitshis 47 employees were currently making. Holy Cow! Never had I ever seen such massive machines, like an oil bladder veneer press, a sequential6-belt sanding operation and CNC machine with about 30 turret-mounted bits being auto-selected. A lotof the big stuff is computer-controlled but hand-operated and there were lots of typical glue-and-clamp operations. Every single product is custom-made-they don't use anything mass-produced and don't have an inventory of any product. Their preferredwood is Sapele but they can use just about anything else, and they prefer to use laminations with weather-resistant products on the exterior. There were monster racks of most commonly used species.

Anotherimpressive part was the cut glass operation - intricate designs for bevelsand curlicues going into leaded-glassinserts.

Essentially, we got the "Cook's tour" even more detailed than their videos and, as it turns out, a door like we want would be more in the $10K range. Still a lot but I am almost willing to spring for it just to support the idea that quality stuff CAN be and IS made here in the USA. Interestingly, the very first question on their quote sheet is "Does this need to be hurricane-proof"? I asked Denny what sort of investment is involved and he said "A lot", then showed a quote for a new machine they were considering with a price tag of $350,000.

If you want to spend an hour or two with Denny (who was the National Sales Manager at the time)going through the whole shebang, here is the link:

https://signaturedoor.com/media-center/

Click on the selections labeled PCN Tours. And the About Us section on their home page gives the interesting history of the company.

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Clear Vue dust collectors out of business@

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Just found out (maybe old news) that Clear Vue is out of business.
I guess the owners are retiring.
Phone Number that I had is already reassigned and the website is gone except for a page saying they are retiring and that they would sell the business.

I just bought a cyclone about 3 years ago.
I hope I don't need anything that I can not get elsewhere!!

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Tightbond cold press veneer glue.

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I usually use UniBond 800 glue when gluing shop cut veneer or laminations.
I ran a little short on this project so I picked up some Tightbond CPV glue.
I have never used it before.
I did a couple of door panels this morning and put in my vacuum press.
The directions said they should be pressed45 min to 2 hours depending on conditions.

Two hours later I release the vacuum and as I was taking them out I notice that the squeeze out glue was still wet.
I put them back in the press.

Was the glue still wet due to being in a plastic bag?
Is the veneer bonded even though the ends are wet? I wouldn't think so.

Anyone had this problem?

The bottle also stated that the press pressure should be 100-150 PSI!!
That surely is a misprint.
My vacuum pump will generate up to 25 or so inches of mercury.
At 20", it is equivalent to about 10 PSI.
100 PSI is over 14,000 pounds per square foot!!

What seemed like a simple solution might turn out to be a bad decision!


TIA

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