WOODWORKING PROJECT. PART 4.

A few days ago I cut all the various panels to final dimensions. I then sprayed water on all the parts and left to dry overnight. This has the effect of raising the grain so when  sanded the timber has a very smooth finish which will not raise again when I apply the stain. After sanding I  routed all the  various grooves. 

This included a groove on the back edge of the top, bottom and end pieces to take the back panel while on the top and bottom parts I cut channels at the front edges for the sliding door track. These grooves can be clearly seen below. Also visible is the rounding over of the front edge of the bottom rail, just for decorative purposes.

The photo below shows the five feet together with mounting blocks. Due to the narrowness of the whole unit, it is not possible to have feet at every corner so I am mounting them in a line along the front edge so the unit will sit against the wall to which it will be attached. The mounting blocks are to raise the overall height of the unit so the bottom rail sits above the skirting board to avoid an unsightly gap and to keep the unit level.

 

Today I carried out the basic assembly of the display unit. As can be seen the central dividers sit back from the front edge to allow for the sliding door track.

The next two photos show small pieces of the door track located within the channels which I used to verify the channels were cut to the correct depths.

Having the track set into the top and bottom rails allows for the maximum use of the internal space and also just looks better too.

The photo below shows the feet mounted on the blocks. The blocks will be glued and pinned underneath the bottom rail later. It is easier to work on the unit without the feet as having a single row of feet makes the unit unstable during the finishing process. 

 

The next job will be some final sanding then application of stain and lacquer and fitting of the shelf supports and back panel.

BOOK REVIEW: RIDING WITH NEW YORK CAVALRY.

Two Accounts Of The American Civil War By A Union Army Officer.

Part 1: Three Years In The Federal Cavalry.

Part 2. The Capture, Prison-Pen And Escape.

 I recently found this book on Amazon while trawling for anything of interest. The book was originally published in two volumes in 1865 and 1870. Interestingly part 2 was published first . This was caused by the author wishing to publicise the appalling treatment he and other Federal prisoners received in Confederate prisons. The second volume followed five years later to complete the story of the author's war service.

This reprint combines both volumes and is a very good read. Although, as usual with American writers of this period, it is full of flowery language and wistful descriptions of sunrises and such like, it is still a good record of life and battle in the Civil War. The author joined up in 1861 as a private soldier and was promoted through the ranks until being commissioned shortly before capture in 1864. As a cavalryman he describes his experiences vividly although , as is to be expected, defeats are mentioned only in passing while victories receive a great deal of attention. The author especially writes with great delight of the destruction caused to Southern property and military supplies during cavalry raids he took part in.

However the majority of the book covers imprisonment. The conditions were seriously bad even with allowance for the South's undoubted food shortages by the later stages of the war. The author seems to quite forget about the destruction Union cavalry inflicted on the South and complains bitterly about shortages of virtually everything while a prisoner. Eventually he escaped and spent 28 days on the run before finally arriving back in the Federal lines. Each and every day of that escape is covered in great detail. As the author says repeatedly, his escape was wholly down to the assistance he received from slaves. It seems that with the plantation owners and other white staff away fighting, the remaining slaves just seemed to carry on with their work but without the usual levels of supervision. This enabled them to give a great deal of help to escaping Federal soldiers which they provided very willingly including  sharing food from very meager supplies.

Overall a very good book which teaches a great deal especially about life as a prisoner of the Confederacy as well as some excellent descriptions of cavalry engagements.

UPDATE.

 Due to the amount of time I am spending on my woodworking project I have had little time for modelling this past couple of weeks. Since my last update on 22 August I have only completed 3 more upgrades adding some 447 soldiers to the colours and much of the work was of course done before that update was published.

Work currently in hand includes the final upgrade of mounted troops. These are corporals for the six Horse Artillery Regiments and the mounted squadrons of the three Field Police battalions. The horses are complete and now await the soldiers. 

As can be seen the soldiers have had their slots deepened to allow mounting on the horse after which painting can commence. 

Also in hand is the upgrade to increase the size of gun crews in Heavy Artillery battalions. These are finished apart from the final coat of varnish. The orange heads denote the Heavy Artillery arm of service colour.

WOODWORKING PROJECT. PART 3.

 As mentioned a while ago, I have been waiting for some time for my timber yard to obtain the quarter inch thick white melamine faced MDF sheets needed for the back panel and shelves of my new display unit. I am pleased to report these sheets have now been delivered cut to my specified sizes. 

My workshop is just too small to be able to easily handle 8 by 4 sheets so I get the timber yard to break the sheets down to manageable sizes which I can then cut to final dimensions. Also seen in the photo are the two 16 foot and one 6 foot long planks which will provide the actual frame of the display unit. In the past I have always used factory made sheets of 8 by 2 foot pine and cut the various parts from them. However as previously mentioned these panels are next to impossible to obtain at the present time so I opted to buy regular planks which I can cut/join together to make  the components. It is not a good idea to use very broad planks of solid timber to make anything as they are prone to warping and twisting. The factory made panels I usually use are made of strips of wood only two inches wide. I have found that when I make panels the best size of plank to use is about 4 to 5 inches.

The machine I use to make panels is the biscuit joiner. This cuts slots in the edge of timber planks into which are glued biscuits of beech as seen in the plastic box above.

Shown here is a slot full of glue into which the biscuit is inserted. The edge of the plank is then glued together with the exposed part of the biscuit and the next plank laid on top.

Once all the planks are attached together the whole thing is clamped up and left to dry overnight.

The reason for the central clamp being located on the other side is to stop the boards bowing out under the clamping pressure of the outer clamps.

Shown above are the top and bottom panels which I made a few days ago. You can actually see the three planks they are made from on the panel to the rear. The colour variation will disappear during sanding after which they will be cut to final size. The two panels I made today will each be cut in half to form two of the central uprights of the display unit. The other two will be made from the shelves of the redundant bookcase which I need to dismantle shortly. I see no point in wasting perfectly good timber if it can be easily reused.

Just as a reminder of what I am making , below is a photo of an existing display unit above the bookcase that will shortly be removed and re-purposed. The new unit will be located where the bookcase now resides. Each of my three existing display units is about 5.5 feet long, 2.5 feet high, 8 inches deep including decorative overhangs and has 80 shelves which give 40 square feet of shelf which accommodates a complete army of c.20,000.

The next posting will cover cutting panels to size, routing of door track and back panel groves and re-use of the redundant bookcase.

BOOK REVIEW: WAR ESTABLISHMENTS.

Part 1.  Expeditionary Force.  1914.

 

This is a new purchase of a facsimile reprint of the January 1914 original publication. The content is basically over 270 pages of tables showing the officers, men, horses, vehicles, guns and equipment scheduled for every type of unit within a potential expeditionary force. 

As such it is not really a book for reading but rather a perfect reference source for the structural composition of the British army of 1914 as sent to France. So if you want to know, for example, how many shovels and pickaxes an 18 pounder battery carried,  or how many bicycles were in an R.E. field company this is the book for you !!!!!  

A highly recommended book for those interested in this sort of information.

By the way, the answers are 30, 18  and 33 respectively !!!!!!  

UPDATE.

 Something of a continuing surprise to me is that my updates seem to attract more "views" than many of my other posts.  I also notice in reading other peoples blogs that non-modelling/wargaming posts also seem to attract more comments than I might have expected. I admit I too often find these non- modelling/wargaming posts more interesting as they bring the writers to life somehow. I guess we all like to read a bit about other peoples normal day to day lives.

With that in mind I thought I would comment on my rather frequent book reviews. I have always been an avid reader. I inherited my love of books from my mother and grandmother who were also keen readers. I am pleased to say that my two daughters also have that gene and read a lot. Indeed my youngest daughter, during her school days, often had three books on the go at any one time. One downstairs, one in her jacket pocket for daytime use and another on the bedside cabinet.

All of the books I review have been read by me within the previous week or ten days. I "consume" at least one book per week and often two. I estimate I buy at least 25 to 30 books each year. I almost always get Amazon vouchers for books at birthday, Christmas and even Fathers day. My library is close to 800 strong now. I very rarely part with a book once bought and tend to re-read each book every few years.  I have several very old first editions including my oldest book dated 1855.

My range of interests is somewhat limited as you might expect given my lifelong interest in military history. However the major topics represented in my library include; big game hunting and wildlife in general, Victorian engineering and building, history of the US, history of India,  history of Rome and of course military matters such as, the Napoleonic wars, US Civil War, Indian Mutiny and all other wars in the 19th century, First and Second World Wars and Vietnam.  One of my favorite topics is logistics especially during the pre-mechanised era. I have a lot of books on horse drawn logistics and always get very excited when something new comes along. 

I also have quite a few woodworking books as that has been my other hobby since the age of about 12.      I have made much of the furniture in the house as well as all the bookcases and modelling units. Other members of the family also have examples of my efforts.

Sources for books include  Helion and Naval and Military both of which offer many interesting titles. I also check out second hand bookshops on our travels although I often find they can be very overpriced. I admit on several occasions I have got my wife to photograph a book of interest which I have subsequently bought from Amazon a lot cheaper. I find antique shops and centres can have interesting books available and strangely at good prices. I guess they are seen as "extras" to the main items for sale. National Trust secondhand bookshops are another useful source. I have also found The Works stock good books at very reasonable prices although it can be hit and miss as to what is available at any one time. I regularly trawl Amazon especially for new re-published "facsimile" copies of old books. Finally of course book fairs can be good sources especially the local village versions if one can be found.

Space for books is an endless issue. My wife has a considerable number of cookery books which she constantly adds too so we are always short of shelf space. Even with the new free standing double sided bookcase I recently built there are still piles of books scattered around. Another bookcase somewhere will be needed in the near future for sure.

I hope this has been of interest to readers. If anyone has any good ideas for creating extra shelf space for books please let me know.