DeCarlo Woodworks: Large Pine Kid's Crown

Hey, its been a while since my last post. The weather is getting better, its been in the 50's for the past few days. We even had a 70 degree day, wahoo!! Spring is around the corner!

Today we're going to make a large pine kids crown. It measures 12 1/2 deep by 14 1/2 high by 14 1/4 inches wide and weighs about 5 pounds. The balls (crown points) are 2 3/4 in diameter.

First, we cut the five blanks for the face/point pieces... (nothing too fancy so far)...

Here you can see how I marked the curves, so I can make the rough cut on the band saw.

In the next two pictures, the blank is in the jig. This is how I obtained the layout lines.

The top view while in the jig, this view gives you an idea on how all of the blanks end up the same.

I use a french cleat to hang the crown off the back. By using the cleat itself (when setting the table saw fence for the grooves in the sides), I get the correct distance, so that the cleat fits between the back and the wall without gaps.

The blanks are not blanks anymore. Here they are with all the necessary cuts. The angled and beveled sides with the biscuit slots, the groove in the two back sides, and the dowel screw hole in the top (you cannot see those in this picture, but believe me they are there).

I cut the back to size and started a dry fit...

Using a band clamp, I check to make sure all the sides are tightly fit together. Always dry fit before gluing! You don't want any surprises with glue on all the parts. It kind of ruins your whole day... :)

The back is rough cut high, so that I can transfer the angle from the side.(Hey, my thumb looks alot better now!) I mark the side then cut the 45 degree angle on the table saw.

The points, here I screw in the dowel screws in all five. I use vise grips to hold the dowel screw and turn them in as far as they can go without over tightening...to tight and you'll strip them.