Class Night - Snowflake's Nightlight

Picture(s) to come...

So the new session of the adult ed class I frequently take started on Thursday. Luckily the lumber stock there is in good shape (there have been whole semesters when there has been little or no wood) and I was able to find the stock I needed.

The nightlight I'm working on is one I've built before (both of my younger nephews have auntie made nightlights). It's not an original design, but one from Woodsmith magazine. Although I'm not a great fan of cats I really love the cat fishing cutout that was featured in the magazine (and in the picture here). The other feature that I love is that the nightlight is designed to have a total of 4 light panels, and storage for the ones not in use is included.

D's, the first one I made, has the 4 panels which are part of the plan - the cat, a halloween scene, a Christmas tree, and a moon and stars. N's has the cat, the moon, the Christmas tree (I think) and a custom panel with the Yankees logo (his folks are die-hard Yankee fans).

The plan is to give Snowflake the cat, the moon and 2 custom panels. Just in case Snowman or Sunshine happen upon this I'm not going to reveal the details, yet.

Which brings me back to Thursday night. After selecting my stock (walnut), I trimmed it to manageable size on the radial arm saw. Then it was off to the jointer, and planer to create some nice square boards. The insert panels are 1/4" thick and planing a 4/4" board down to that is just, well wrong - way too much waste. So after taming the board it was off to the tablesaw to split it (mostly) in two. Then it was off to the bandsaw to complete the cut. [Before those of you who are woodworkers start ranting - the shop does have a good sized bandsaw, but no fence so the instructor recommended method is to do as much as possible on the tablesaw before completing the cut on the bandsaw.]

Once the board was two boards I headed to the planer to smooth them out. A little work on the miter saw and I had 8 panels ready (two become part of the case, the others are just extras).

With a little work on the tablesaw and mitersaw the night ended with the stock ready for the sides (need to cut multiple rabbets/dadoes before cutting the sides), the top and bottom, and the panels.

Next steps - a little glue up (top and bottom), rabbets and dadoes, assembly and panel cutting.