Hello All,
HELP, PLEASE!
Leave it to me to leave it to the last minute, but I had to get a new keyhole router bit.
The attached photo shows the back of the heart I’ve made for my wife, the front of which is finished and inscribed beautifully. But, as you can see, it’s not symmetrical, nor are the sides perfectly smooth. How do I locate the keyhole cut with the router so that the heart will hang straight and level?
Remember, there are only hours left, and my wife’s happiness may hang in your hands.
Thanks in advance,
Mitch
“I’m always humbled by how much I DON’T know…”
Replies
I'm not really a woodworker, but since you are desperate: I would hot glue a stick to the back of the heart that sticks out a ways and put a finger under each end of the stick and bring fingers together while holding heart a very slight distance off of work bench (and maybe some cusioning material in case heart falls). When fingers meet, the heart should be balanced. Mark the point where fingers meet. I would probably put in a screw into the stick at that point and see how well it balances there. If it is fine, route the keyhole. If not, make adjustment with screw until it balances, then route. Then remove the stick.
That's the quickest thing I can think of and is easily reversable up to the point of routing the keyhole.
Heart looks good! Good luck!
Danno,
That's pretty inventive for such a quick response. Thanks. Your thought also provoked another: why not hot glue a stick that will fit into my pegboard perpendicular to the heart, and hang it on the pegboard. If it's balanced, great, if not, I adjust. Sound reasonable?Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
Glad you got some good responses and hope you and your wife have a happy Valentine's Day!
Thanks, Danno. Happy Day for you too, I hope.
Cheers,Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
hello mvac
I am sure that if you drill hole in top centre about 1'' down , the friction of the bottom point against the wall will hold the heart in correct place .I should start planning for easter now!.
regards teabag. ps you could rough cut test piece first.
Another method might be to put double stick tape on the back and use a picture hook.Move the picture hook around until it hangs straight on a piece of wire.Mark the spot with an awl, remove the tape, and route.
Now that's genius - and no hot glue to wait to cool. Thank you!Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
To everyone who responded so quickly - You guys are great! Thanks.
I went with Brent's double-sided tape idea, using carpet tape, and it worked like a charm.
Problem Solved!
Thanks again to everyone,Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
How bout a nail through a piece of scrap. Push the nail into your aproximate center point and lightly hold the heart against the nail & scrap and stand it up. If the point of the heart doesn't aim straight down repeat at another location until it does.
If you build it - he will come.
I remembered something about finding the centre of gravity that I learnt at school - a google search later.
Trace the heart on to a piece of cardboard and cut out. Then follow these instructions (from a school site):
Experiment: finding the centre of gravity of an irregular lamina
* Hang freely from a support point near its edge.
* The lamina is in stable equilibrium.
* The centre of gravity is vertically below the point of support.
* Use a plumbline to trace this vertical and mark its line on the lamina.
* Repeat twice more from two other support points.
* The point of intersection of the three lines is the centre of gravity of the lamina.
Then place the keyhole directly above the centre of gravity away from the point at the base of the heart. The higher the better I suspect.
Good luck.
Tim
Soon-to-be furniture maker
Port Townsend, WA
Tim,
I knew there was a definitive method, and thanks for letting me know about it, for this is certainly not the last time I'll need this. Unfortunately, I have plenty of plumb chalk - and no plumb line. Now that I think of it, I could easily make one. But for the moment I'm going to try the picture hanger/double-sided tape/wire approach and see what happens, due to time constraints and convenience. I'll let you know how it turns out.Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
Go to a frame shop and ask for some "Wall Buddies" - screw them to the back and hang it on the 2 special hooks and nails that come with it. You'll be able to set it level even if the 2 nails aren't and it will never tilt. The best picture hanging system - I'm not connected to this company, I just hang a lot of pictures.
go here - http://www.govart.com/hardware_product_list.html
Keyhole router slots are a poor way to hang a picture.
Cut the slot from left to right, place over the nail and when hanging correctly give the top a sharp tap to put a dent in the slot. Remove from the wall and ,if you wish, make the dent slightly bigger so its easy to find.
mvac, Ace Hardware store's have little sawtooth brackets that simply get tacked on with a hammer.
Center the bracket about 1" below the top and mark out the the two spurs. Drill two 1/16" holes and tap the cleat in (The sawteeth should be facing downward)
There are 5 teeth; If, after being hung on the center groove, the plaque favors one side or the other, move over to the next notch.
You have 5 options Steinmetz
Steinmetz,
Thanks for the "sawtooth" picture hanger suggestion. I actually have a number of them. The difference between that, or any hanger that protrudes fro the back, and a keyhole is that the keyhole allows the piece to hang flush to the wall while the protruding hangers cause it to be angled lightly downward with a clearance of anywhere from 1/16" to 3/16" between the wall and the piece.
Of course, it's a taste thing, but I spent so much time selecting great stock, shaping, sanding, finishing (have I said that Zinsser's Bullseye French Polish is not a quick application already?) and engraving that the sawtooth solution seems cheap compared to the effort that's gone into everything else.
Btw, I mentioned earlier that Brent's solution - affixing double-sided tape to the back, sticking an upside-down picture hanger on it, and suspending it from a wire worked very well. I actually got it on the first try, but if I hadn't, the adjustment(s) would have been quick and easy. Once I found the right balance point, I marked the back with a scrath awl, and routed the keyhole. Hangs perfectly. But again, I appreciate your economical and convenient suggestion.
Regards,
Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
Edited 2/13/2005 11:31 pm ET by mvac
Mitch, I sensed from your first post,
that you were 'In a bind', so I rushed you
a quick fix. I hope your sweetheart
likes your 'Labor of Love.From the back, as you show in the attachment,
it looks like walnut
I'm sure most of us Knotheads would
enjoy seeing the frontas well. ED from CT.
Ed,
Believe me, I really appreciated your suggestion. I use sawtooth hangers a lot for just the reason you mentioned. I was just looking for a different look here.
As you requested, I humbly submit my end product, warts and all, which thankfully my wife loved anyway. You'll notice that the "14" looks squidgy, and that's because in my addled mind I originally inscribed "2-4-05." Duh.
You mentioned in your last post that from the back it looked like Walnut. I must tell you, because I have a lot of "found wood" that contains a lot of exotics, I have tried everything to definitively identify the various species in my my stockpile. First I looked at my existing books. Then I bought World Books In Color; finally bought Bruce Hoadley's book, and when a handpiece wasn't enough, went out and bought a decent light microscope, boiled the damn samples 'til they were soft enough to slice for slides, made transverse, radial and tangential slides, and in half the cases still couldn't whittle it down to less than 3-4 possiblilities.
From what I can see with a hand lens, feel in terms of density and texture, and read from descriptions in the various sources I own, this looks like an exotic wood, and my best guess (don't laugh) is Cocobolo, which supposedly has strikingly contrasted sapwood, is high in density, and can be brittle, like this piece.
I'd appreciate your best guess, looking at the front with French Polish and paste wax. I don't recall seeing that kind of variegation in Walnut, but I've been wrong many times before, and I'm quite certain I could be now as well. Some of the other species that rang out were Blackbean, Courboril/Locust, Indian Laurel, Marblewood, and even Macassar Ebony, which apparently is different from Ebony.
Let me know, and thanks again for your help and advice. Regards,Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
Hey Mitch,
It looks great! I don't think you're far off saying cocobolo,but ,it reminds me of some bocote I worked with a couple of months ago.I don't think it's walnut either, it has to much of a yellowish and orangeish tint to it.It's going to be interesting to see what others come up with.
Take care,
Brent
Mitch, very nice job Melissa must vwry proud of youI juat KNEW you'd finish your masterpiece in time.From what I glean from your latest post is you have extensive knoledge of wood (Also a fondness for exotics. Jon Arno would be proud of you as well. Right in front of me is a piece of Cocobolo that I bought back in the 60's
It's the last of a bunch I bought from a surplus store selling (WW1)1917-1918 It was a blank band cut to be used as an officer's brush handle.
Evidently, The war didn,t require many more of these,so, they sold for 15 cents each.I've cut some up and made wooden beads for my two daughters and some I gave to a friend who turns pens and the like. It is deep chocolate brown (Deeper than American black walnut, but twice as dense and heavier too.
Your photo reminds me of butternut, as my son has a home (Boston area) which was built 110 yrs ago His staircase and foyer are all butternut
and is a joy to behold. ED from Ct.
Mitch,
Ready for a far-out guess on the type of wood? I find a very close resemblence to Oysterwood -- see the attached image. I would insist it's walnut -- claro, maybe -- except for the grey area; although the grey area could be some spalting, I suppose.
Also whenever I'm hanging anything, I use a three- or four-point system. Two points on the item to hang and either one or two points on the wall. My favored way is two points on both; i.e., four total points so the item is infinitely variable in angle and stays put when you're done.
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Bill,
A bold, courageous guess - but I think it's more likely highly figured walnut with some spalting than Oysterwood, based on your sample picture. The Oysterwood has light-colored figure throughout, so it's not sapwood, which I've assumed all along the light-colored portion of my piece must be.
But thanks a lot for taking a shot.
Cheers,Mitch
"I'm always humbled by how much I DON'T know..."
Mitch,
got your email.
Hey Mitch,
I'm with Paul, it could be walnut, but based on color alone it's tough to tell. It looks like there might be some spalting which would complicate identification based on color alone.
One thing you can do to narrow it down, would be to calculate the density, and test the moisture content. Once you know the specific gravity, you will have it narrowed to a half dozen species, or less.
Tom
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