Saturday, January 28, 2017

WSBO 4, making hooks and glue up.

The shelf I have at home has got some hooks hanging on the dowel. These were some that I made and installed many years after making the shelf as my sloyd exam project.
I wanted to make some hooks for this shelf as well, and they are not hard to make with some very basic hand tools.

The hooks at home are made out of heavy copper wire. Out here I have access to bronze brazing rods that are 3 mm thick (1/8"). They will work just as fine, but they are a little bit harder to bend.

I placed two extension pieces from a regular 1/2" square ratchet/socket set in the vice. The distance between them were probably 1/2" or so.
I start by making the eye of the hook.
When that is done, I fold the hook end around the other extension piece and make sure to fold it a bit longer due to the tendency of the metal to spring back.
Once I had made a bunch of hooks I used some pliers to cut them free of the rod that I made them of.
The places that I cut were rounded using a needle file.

Before the glue up I marked the position of the individual pieces in relation to each other, and I drilled some pilot holes for the screws.
The shelf and the supports are fastened to the back piece by means of glue and screws.

The shelf is temporarily screwed to the supports to keep it in place while the glue dries. Once the glue is dry I will remove the visible screws and replace them with a small wooden peg.

The had a kerf sawn in each end before I mounted it, and a wedge is glued into it.

When I had everything glued up and only needed to screw in the two last screws for temporarily holding the support in position with the shelf, I decided that the support was a little bit out of square. I pressed at it but it didn't move. I very lightly tapped it with my hand, but it still didn't move.
Then I gave it a smart blow of the hand, and the support broke in two...
I guess the dowel was a tight fit.
The broken off piece was recovered and glued back. After cursing a bit I managed to get a couple of clamps on, and finally the last two screws were in place.

Bending a hook.

Seven bronze hooks lined up.

Glued up shelf.

1 comment:

  1. Nice save! I could hear you cursing from here.

    For a minute I thought you pot the hooks on backwards, but then I realized the shelf was upside down.

    It is looking good, you're almost there. A dunk in Plasti-Dip and you'll be done!

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