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This site will remain up to prevent broken links, but everything here is on the new site as well.

Thanks,

David Griffin

Tuliptree Crafts LLCwww.tuliptreecrafts.com

www.scrollsawblog.com

I was going to cut the shelf boards out, but instead spent most of the day cleaning/re-organizing and just didn’t get around to it.  Oh, and I also spent a good bit of time taking bookmark pictures and adding them to the catalog and to the Tuliptree site.

If you look at the pictures you’ll notice a couple of things.  One, I forgot the slot for the cleat–oops, got to go back and cut it. The other is the slots in the bottom of the middle piece and top of the bottom piece. These additional cross pieces should strengthen the shelves quit a bit, since we no longer have to depend on butt-joints.

Horse Shelf Side

This afternoon I adapted another shelf pattern–this one is a horse-themed shelf.  The goal is to cut it out of cherry tomorrow. Jen wants me to adapt the iris pattern into another shelf.  I’ve got it partly done–the iris middle portion is finished, but I need a lower bracket.  After this one is cut I’m thinking of going back to the deer shelf with some structural improvements such as another connector piece on the lower shelf to keep everything glued together better.

Finished Deer Shelf

As to the Harbor Freight $25 special?  Well, I didn’t have any trouble with it, so what I’m thinking is to put a common length pin in it and have it handy, and use the Porter-Cable for the rest. I wouldn’t have any problem telling someone to get the $25 micropinner from Harbor Freight. It might not be the best, but it did get the job done.

Below is the assembled shelf.  It’s all made from 1/2″ sassafras. The shelves are 18″ x 6″; to get some idea of the actual size, it is sitting on 3 scrap 2×4s.

This next picture shows the cleat and how it’s attached to the wall.  You’re looking from the wall-side of the shelf. The cleat is the trapezoidal piece sticking out from the shelf.  The screw goes through the cleat into the wall, and the shelf slides back on top of the cleat.

To put it on the wall you’ll slide the cleat out and screw it to the wall.  Since it’s just one board, it’s lightweight and should be easy to keep it level while screwing it in. Once the cleat is on the wall, you’ll take the shelf and slide it on top of the cleat from the side.

If you don’t have enough room to slide it off, another option would be to slide the shelf off the cleat just enough to get a screw through the cleat into the wall.  Then slide the shelf the other way and screw the other screw through the cleat. Unfortunately you’ll have the entire weight of the shelf to put up with, but it can be done.

What I’ve done is take Pedro’s (www.finescrollsaw.com)  Deer Corner Shelf pattern and cut it into three pieces. Two shelves will go in between the three pieces, with the top shelf also connected to the cleat. The shelves will be 18″ long–2″ longer than the US standard stud spacing of 16″. The idea is that the wall part of the cleat will be screwed into the wall on the 16″ centers.  The shelf sides will also be on 16″ centers, so they’ll hide the screw holes when the shelf is in place.  With 1/2″ stock, that makes the sides 17″ from side-to-side, and 18″ will give an additional 1/2″ beyond the sides.  This will make errors in cutting length not so obvious–we’ll see if it works!

The sides are cut, and are shown below.  The stock for the cleat is already to be sliced at and angle–it will fit in the slot at the back of the sides. The stock for the shelves is being glued up.  Tomorrow I’ll remove the clamps, plane & cut the boards, slice & cut the cleats, and then the unit should be ready for assembly.  If all goes well, there should be a picture here tomorrow.

Deer Shelf Sides

I was out getting a piece of stained glass for the flower boxes, and was thinking of trying out one of the Garden Boxes with stained glass. It would help protect the fretwork during daily use; however, the holes aren’t that large and the effect of the glass may be diminished. I’d have to go with a clear, single-colour glass, as any opalization would detract from the fretwork.

To do the glass would require some design thought on assembly.  A 1/4″ x 1/4″ piece of cherry with an 1/8″ x 1/8″ rabbet cut out of one corner would hold the glass in place on the sides.  I’m thinking a similar arrangement would work on the lid as well.  The trick would be to make sure that these supports would not interfere with the top’s fretwork, while also making sure the glass and supports fit within the supports on the sides. I haven’t got out the ruler yet to see if this is practical.  If not, I could go with glass only on the sides or on the top.  Another possibility is gluing the glass without the cherry supports, but this won’t look as nice on the inside.