OK ya'll I'm heading up to the shop in a few minutes to begin cutting pieces for the Spanish cedar lining in this project. I'll catch up with this when I get back.  

Looking forward to the picture updates!

Cannot wait....Hurry up!.

?

OK, here we go. I spent a couple hours up in the shop making noise and sawdust and I got the liner pret nigh almost done. Start off by measuring the box inside dimensions carefully. I want to know how big to rough cut the prepared Spanish cedar stock to get it ready to trim to the desired final dimension.


Trim the stock almost to the lines on the bandsaw. These pieces will the bottom and top of the box. I can't measure for the sides until the bottom is installed. Same for the top but that operation depends on getting the bottom of the box completed.

I cut the large piece of stock almost to width on the bandsaw then cut it close to length on the radial saw. After that operation I used a spiral bit in the router table to take the pieces down to final dimension. Those steps have already been covered in detail so there's no need to repeat myself and try your patience.

Here's an important fiddly bit...the top and bottom pieces will swell a bit when exposed to the moist interior of the humidor so you want to cut those pieces about 1/16" undersize so they drop right in and have a little room to move around. The sides of the bottom and top parts of the box will cover the gap and you won't even know the gap is there.

Another great installment

Now we're getting to the part that makes strong men cry and want to run off and hide...mitering the sides of the Spanish cedar liner box-within-the-box. Cutting the bottom and top were no problem at all because there is plenty of room for error since these 1/4" thick sides will hide those narrow little gaps. However, since the miters for the sides are visible to all and sundry there is no, none, zip, nada allowance for uh-oh's when you make these cuts. This is probably the most critical and nerve-wracking part of the entire project. You want these cuts spot on accurate but at the same time you can't make the parts so tight that they fit too snugly and have no room to move when hit with the moisture you're going to lock in the box. You leave them just loose enough that when they get up to 65% they expand just enough to tighten up the fit just a fraction.

The liner should project about 5/16" above the sides of the main box so the lid can come down over it and form a good seal. So you have to have the bottom liner in place before you can measure how wide the sides should be.

So after you determine how wide to cut the stock to make the sides you cut the stock almost to width, then final dimension on the router table.

That's my old Hegner scroll saw I'm using to cut the short stuff. It's a great machine that I bought from the widow of a dead friend years ago to help her clear out his shop. Paid $450 for it then and they were going new for close to $1000.

After the stock is trimmed to width the white knuckle part starts. You cut a miter on one end of the stock then carefully mark how long it needs to be by trying it in the position it will fit. I mark the length with a thin sharp blade to let me know where to register the piece in the radial saw which is set up for the 45 degree miter cuts. It's hard to see exactly where your saw will cut the piece so you eyeball it as closely as you can and then cut it just a red curly oversize, try it for fit then ever so carefully trim til it just fits. I start with the long sides first and cut the front and back before cutting the side pieces. The reason you have to measure each piece where it will reside is that your inside dimensions can vary a bit and you need to make the fit as exact as you can. Like I said before, it's fiddly work.

OK, the first piece fit just fine so I installed the second piece the same way.

The short pieces for the sides are another exercise in persnickety cutting. With the front and back pieces in place there is no room to try the piece and mark it so you have to take those pieces out, fit and cut the piece then put things back together again. 99 times out of a hundred the side will be too snug so you have to make two or three trips back to the saw, taking off just a bare smidge every time until it finally drops into place. Experience helps this process immensely. When I first started working on these boxes I ruined a good amount of wood learning how to do it.

So here we have three sides done and only one more to go. You can see how the sides of liner extend past the sides of the main box pretty well in this shot.

After the fourth side is cut and in place the bottom liner box is complete. Doing the lid is a similar operation but with one important difference...the strips holding the top line in place have to be short enough to allow the lid to close over the bottom liner sides which are projecting above the sides of the main box. You want about 1/16" clearance between the inside liner portion of the box to again allow for a little expansion of parts.

A little more work on the lid pieces will complete the liner so there is no need to show that operation in detail either. The next operation will be to sand the outside of the humidor to final grade, probably 320 grit. That's boring stuff so no need to show it either. Finishing comes next and that part is pretty straightforward too. I'll slip in a few shots of those operations just to say I did it.

Looks great. Your finesse will pay off im sure. You will keep us up to date while seasoning as well i hope. Then all you need to do is pump out a couple hundred more for just in time for Xmas boxes  

This humi is looking fantastic Ken! Really outstanding work and detail!!!

Quotefretburn - 4/8/2012  8:55 AM

Looks great. Your finesse will pay off im sure. You will keep us up to date while seasoning as well i hope. Then all you need to do is pump out a couple hundred more for just in time for Xmas boxes  

good idea! LOL

Question Ken:  How do you calculate the proper swing for the hinge so lips don't bump?  Seems to me to be the trickiest part.

Good question Bruce.  I am also curious about the lid ... specifically about how you do the liner on it, and what bonding agent you use to get it to stay there.

The humidor looks awesome so far. It is going to be a really beautiful piece of work when finished.

QuoteBrlesq - 4/7/2012  9:15 PM

Question Ken:  How do you calculate the proper swing for the hinge so lips don't bump?  Seems to me to be the trickiest part.

I use higher hillbilly mathematics, Bruce. In other words I grab a sanding block and some sandpaper and remove wood from the front edge of the liner until the lid moves over it snugly. I work it over at a pretty good angle and you'd be surprised how little wood you have to remove before the lid clears. The back and sides don't even enter the equation. All I do with them is break the sharp edges gently.

Quotekola - 4/7/2012  9:34 PM

Good question Bruce.  I am also curious about the lid ... specifically about how you do the liner on it, and what bonding agent you use to get it to stay there.

The humidor looks awesome so far. It is going to be a really beautiful piece of work when finished.

Ah, the top liner floats so it can move as it gets moist. I glue strips around the inside edges of the lid to hold the top liner in place. Let me see if I can find a picture to show you what I mean. Be right back....


OK, found what I was looking for. In this pic you can clearly see the strips holding the lid liner in place. The strips are glued to the inside edge of the humidor sides but not to the liner, leaving the large flat piece of wood free to shift as much as it wants when humidity levels change.

Beautiful work Ken.

lookimg good man, nice work.

Loving the craftsmanship displayed.

Great job.

Thanks so much Ken for the step by step in how you are making the humidor.  Its been an honor watching you.

thats some ncie work your doing there. cant wait for the next part of your humi