The SIL approached me to make a frame for a large glass panel that was part of a side light to her front entry. This was removed during a remodel and she wanted to at least have it presentable or otherwise protected from inevitable destruction.
Panel was two pieces, together about 10" wide by over 7' tall.
I knew the only way for it to survive would be to have straight boards.
I had some 6/4 poplar that I cut which fortunately stayed straight. Needed a looooog fence so I clamped on a straight piece of 1-1/2" box steel.
The profile was just a simple angle relief (I had free-will on all the steps)
Next up was some way to hold the panels in the frame. Washers came to mind.
Some fun cutting 45s with outboard support and gluing. Used my surface plate to get it all flush.
Did the opposite corners then when they were dry for a day, I did the full frame.
Needed to go diagonally on my "workbench" to fit, also had to shove the necessities pile somewhere else. Glad I had bought the second surface plate!
With miters glued and dried, next fun thing was cutting for splines, Given the size I was expecting the end-grain glue to fail while I was cutting. Another miracle (whoohooo!) no problems.
Some sanding, adding a cross piece (far end) to join the two panels, and a darkish finish under pre-cat lacquer. This thing is LONG! Washers and screws cross the gap to pinch the panels edge and lock it down.
I'll be glad when it is out of the house because I'm sure it'll get broken If it stays too long.
They the SIL will tell you how great a woodworker you are and all the things you make are so "good" you will say yes again. I know it works on me. This one is really nicely done. Looks great.
She is a world traveler and has several dumpster loads of jewelry that she wants a chest for. I'd do it, but then I'd use up all my weekends for the next year. Maybe when I retire 👍
Nice job meeting the challenges of EXTRA LARGE work. I didn't usually need to figure out how to keep stained glasswork from falling apart, but I have had my share of cabinet jobs that did need to be just so. It can be a royal PIA to keep really large pieces flat, and square as you put them together. My best tip is a worktable, that is dead flat (big honking torsion box deal), and at least 5' x 10', but larger can often be a blessing. Of course it helps if you can keep the darn thing cleared of "necessary" items. There you need a rolling cart you can drag over to the big table. And the biggest of course is you need the room to keep all of that ready to go. Small shops may be a shorter walk, but that is the only plus they bring to big jobs. Miles of empty space come in nicely when doing them, prep, assembly, finishing, all need their own space. If you don't have it, the juggling alone can defeat a lesser Man.
Plausible deniability if anything happened to go horribly wrong.
I actually cut double splines, but did the first, glued, and waited for them to dry before doing the seconds. Wanted those initial structural connections ASAP.
Thanks BB, George, Jim, MrRick! With my wife having dabbled in the glass realm, I've learned it is never flat and never square. This one was a bit beefier than most with a thick copper wire running the perimeter and the edge foil being thick. I left a generous 1/8" gap all the way around (1/4" overlap) so it wasn't too far out, but still a tad wonky. At first I planned on space ball type spacers to keep it centered and then some caulking to keep it all in place. GLad I went with the washers since it is easily removable and since they are sunk in a bit below the borders thickness, they can put a variable amount of pressure on the edging and wedge the panel in place. Next is to see if she can get it home and inside while in one piece. She had it sammiched between two 1x10 flat pine boards with foam when bringing it over, good protection, but this is now about 14" wide so the frame is exposed to scuffing. I'll have to figure out some cardboard edging to protect from that.
