I plan to build a cradle and join the sides with the head and foot by box joints. I have difficulties to plan how to make them, could someone please direct me to where I can find theinformation.
I am a new participant in the forum and to fine woodworking in general so I also have to learn the ropes of communication here.
Thanks.
Replies
Need a little more info, Just rectangular w/straight up-down sides, or flaired out like a hopper ?
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Bruce S.
Hello Bruce and thank you for the response, it's my first one in FWW. The cradle has both sides as well as the head and the foot leaning out upwardly at an angle of 105 (90+15) degrees.
The head is higher than the foot, the sides are higher at the head than at the foot, the bottom is a (horizontal) rectangular. I have hard time conceptualizing the joints at the meeting of any two sides as they meet in coumpound angles.
I have ordered a plan from the New Yankee Workshop of a cradle that has similar box joints buy it will take time to arrive and I must resolve it real soon.
All the best and thanks for your help.
Regards, Micha
Micha,
If you're not already very comfortable with making box joints, this is a really daunting place to start. May I suggest that you reconsider a bit - how about making the head and foot straight, and only the sides slope outwards?
What tools to you have to make the joints? If you are really intent on doing it the way you describe, you will need several jigs to cut them. I could dovetail the whole thing by hand before I even had those jigs made.
DR
Thank you ring.
I am not comfortable at all with these joints and daunted is the word here. I am committed to build the cradle. Your suggestion to consider making the head and foot straight, and only the sides slope outwards is a good fallback solution, I am reasonable comfortable with it and I thank you. I iwill use table saw and router and I continue to search for the solution to the original design before going for the fallback for which the design changes will be relatively simple.
Thanks again and regards
Micha
A couple thoughts:This would be prettier and surprisingly easier to simply dovetail by hand. Just cut the lumber, scribe for thickness and then cut either side of the joint. The angled nature of the joints would be meaningless. In one plane or another they are all 90 degrees. I made a stool like this a little while back. Its really not as hard as it seems. Almost harder to saw the wood, than do the joinery.You say you are committed to this project- I'd like to offer a different perspective. Parents don't necessarily want heirloom baby stuff. I would never disrespect a grandparent, or anyone's gift, and maybe because of the love and care that goes into something homemade, I'd feel I could never get rid of it. Windsor high chairs and cradles have limited use. Many young parents (like myself) have limited space for such things. What do you do with it when johhny is 3 or 4? I don't know your situation but my advice to grandfathers is to use caution before embarking on an heirloom baby item. Something that can continue to be of use- a toy box that can be later used as a blanket chest for example may be a better gift. Or a book shelf. My family has a tradition of a new father making foot stools for children- helpful for a mother when she's nursing, inverted, its a car you can drag a baby around on a rug in, later its something to stand on for tooth brushing, still later a place to sit to learn to tie your shoes etc. I recall sitting on mine as I struggled through my first brake job on my first car (78 Honda Civic). Of course grandparents in my family get to do pretty much whatever they want. I don't mean to be disrespectful. Its just really nice to be able to hose off the plastic high chair somebody just vomitted on. Kids generally ruin stuff. I bought that high chair for $25 brand new and I'll have no problem leaving it by the curb (and soon). Its not something I want to keep in my house forever.Adam
Excellent perspective. Save the heirloom stuff for things that will be truly useful for the heirs.
Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves. ~Italian Proverb
As a grandpa who has made two cradles, they have use after the baby gets too big. They both are used a decoration the the child's room, holding dolls at the present time. Both were used for a 2nd baby, too. I did ask the parents-to-be first because as was mentioned, sometimes they just don't have room, and who wants to get rid of a cradle made by Grandpa :)
John L
Great. You got the idea there. I'm just way too sentimental to leave something like that at the curb or even let it leave the family. The problem is that kind of stuff can take over your life.
The problem is not isolated to baby stuff either. I really like Wm&Mary, but my kids may not. What will they do with it? Similarly, I don't like my Mothers' depression era victorian furniture. My Dad used to say (before I began any projects) "think of the disposal factor". He was right. (He also said "everything's a hammer except a screwdriver and that's a chisel!")
But its funny because his very simple furniture- a mahogany trestle table, simple mahogany bookcases, his drafting table, all live on and find good use. It may be their utilitarian nature or lack of strong design elements that have allowed them to continue functioning through changing times.
Worth our consideration, in my opinion.
Adam
If you are daunted by box joints, then consider your skill/comfortability level with given joints and go with that. You could certainly make an extrmenly nice, and probably well-loved cradle using biscuits. What matters most (as a cradle) is the love that it is made with and (as a woodworker) that you learn and grow. Maybe with the skills you gain with this one, the next can be box joints, or dovetails. Also don't forget that when building something like a cradle, you are by definition on a strict timeframe. Don't get in over your head and end up giving nothing because you couldn't finish on time.
Haha I know exactly what you mean. I just finished a project and had to switch joinery (from half-blind DT and sliding DT to pocket screws) to make a date. No fun to give an IOU for a 70th birthday.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
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