General Woodworking

 As I was thinking about my opening paragraph I realized that I hadn't checked the 2nd dowel test joint yet. In fact I can't remember where I put it. I'll have to head down to the shop after dinner and find it. My curiosity is in overdrive wanting to know how it came out. News update and pics upcoming.

figured it out

The plastic ring on the can is what I thought it was - a shipping thing to ensure the lid didn't come off while in transit. It took some calories to pry it off with the slip joint pliers.

they screw together

Here it the pic of them together Frank. From the Container store in the desk stuff aisles. I didn't know that the Container store had just gotten out of bankruptcy. That would explain why the store didn't look as fully stocked as it did the last time I was there.

neat product

I like that these can be stacked together securely. Being able to see what is in each container is a bonus too.

one coat

This stuff is about the same as Clancy's oil IMO with the exception that this has a citrus smell to it. I think I'm going to put on one more coat along with a coat of wax from the same maker. That contains tung oil too. I have plenty of time to apply it and let it cure. The instructions state to wait 2-3 days after applying the last coat before using.

3 new ones

Two of these 3 are going to be pencil boxes. I think these are a better size vice the larger ones I made for the grandsons. The third one is an extra so I decided to make it to the size of the stock - it is too short to be used as a pencil box.

new method

I am going to make these 3 the same way as I did the grandsons boxes but with a new twist. On the previous I measured and used a pencil line to set the 'posts'. On these I used the actual end piece to set the 'post'. Did it this way because neither of the grandson's boxes had the ends flush.

2nd step

I glued and clamped the ends and set them aside to set up. Previously I applied glued and nailed them after setting the posts in place. The idea here was to get the ends set and somewhat secure and then drill and drive the nails home. That took out the potential 'shift' of the ends as I nailed them.

ready to glue the ends

The two smaller boxes are getting a solid pine bottom. The larger one (on the right) is getting a 1/8" plywood bottom. I didn't have any thin pine wide enough for a bottom.

one down, two to go

I could see the benefit of doing this right away. It didn't add that much more to the time line neither.

now I wait

I waited 20 minutes after the 3rd one was glued and clamped before I worked on the first one again. That was a sufficient amount of wait time and I had no problems driving the nails on any of them.

oops

Another thing I wanted to do first was to sand the long sides because they have the nails. I forgot to do that so I sanded it now before drilling and driving the nails. I was a little leery about this but the box survived the ordeal.

 

almost dead nuts

All three of the box diagonals were bit more than a 32nd and less than 16th from agreeing.

largest one

I glued the bottoms on and let them cook for 30 minutes. After that I nailed off the bottom. I flushed the bottoms on two of the boxes with one more to go. I am going to use this one as a pencil box for my shop pencils.

lights out

It was 1505 and decided to wait and do the last box in the AM.

couldn't wait

I went back to the shop just before dinner to find this. I went searching for it and I couldn't find it. I was looking for something in clamps and I didn't use any on this go around. Walked by it twice without noticing it.

Mr Lumpy

That is my name for this and I was anxious to see how this would fare an assault with it.

two whacks

It broke apart and initially I was a bit bummed out by that. But after I looked at the two pieces I was smiling.

the pins held

The dowels pins didn't give up the ship. I am thinking now that maybe I should have put some glue on the faces too. It might have taken a few extra love taps from Mr Lumpy if I had. I'll buy some 1/4" dowel rods and make a boatload of 2" dowel pins so I can glue up the tile tables.

accidental woodworker

 I finally finished the woodworking on the 3 japanese style boxes. No tricky joinery, just butt joints that were nailed and screwed. Surprisingly it still takes a bit of skill and patience to execute these. I went into it with an inflated head and got bit on the arse. I made a parade of me-steaks but fortunately none rendered what I was working on to firewood bin.

I'm still not done with making these. I have made 3 so far and how many more will come is anyone's guess. I'm thinking at least 15-20 to start. I am still somewhat surprised with all the ones I'm seeing on You Tube - they all use simple construction methods. I still haven't seen one that is dovetailed together. Doing one that way is in the top 3 of the next batch to come from my shop.

not the elves

I came back to the shop after dinner and glued on the back cleat on both boxes. I also roughed out the two wedge cleats. Getting all that put together is what was in the batters box this AM.

one needs some help

The top one needs to be trimmed/fitted/shortened and the bottom one has a gap that I had to close up.

I like

Happy with the fit but not the length. In trimming it to fit, that caused the wedge to seat further and further inward. I got lucky with it in that the bottom (by my thumb) ended up almost flush with the face of the side. When I pushed it fully it went in about a 16th too far.

me-steak

I put the screws on the wrong side of the lid. It isn't a deal killer but I wanted them to be on the underside. I used screws because I didn't want to rely solely on the glue keeping the cleats attached.

You can see the wedge cleat is too far inward now so I had to make another one. I took one too many swipes cleaning it up.

ran them proud

I tried to get the cleats glued to lid to length but I gave up on it. Decided instead to run it long and trim it after the glue had set. I trimmed them flush with a low angle blockplane.

sigh...

While fitting the wedge I found out that I had put the fixed one in the wrong orientation. I was able to pop it off and the screws for this one were on the underside. Now they were swapped to the top and match the other box. And I had to make the wedge over again because when I trimmed it to fit, it ended up being too short. 

container store goodies

The store doesn't sell the small plastic boxes anymore. I had to settle for these which came in 3 sizes. I bought two each of the smallest ones. They have twist on/off lids and they twist and lock together. 

new lid

I decided to make a new lid after removing the glued on cleat didn't want to cooperate.

on to the fourth one

Fitting the wedges wasn't the problem. I was having no problems fitting them snug and with no gaps. The headache was once I achieved the fit the wedge would be too short. I was making them initially an inch longer but I was ending up on the short end with them. I made the 4th one 2" longer than necessary.

hmmm.....

That idea worked and the wedge is a wee bit long now. However, I think that is a good idea for the grandsons. I am going to make the wedges for their boxes to extend beyond the sides. That should give them a helping hand with removing them.

this is aggravating

The fit of the last wedge I had to do was the shortest one so far. Good fit between the wedge angles and no gaps but no cigar yet.

not the next one

I think this was the 3rd one I did before it fit and extended past the sides.

save them or toss them?

These are some of the wedges that didn't make it. I tried to come up with a formula or some way to determine the required length but came up dry. What seemed to work was making it 2" longer and then trimming it to the final length.

done (almost)

The big one is done with the sanding and is ready for the finish. The two smaller ones I have to sand the ends. I didn't sand it before I nailed it together so sanding in and around all the nails is going to be a Royal PITA.

duh

This is the finish I want to use and I was stumped. I don't know how to open the can? I tried (what I think are the obvious ways) and nada. I am assuming that under the plastic thing that there is a run of the mill metal can with a lid. The trick is how to remove said plastic lid thing?

my back door

The back door and the door directly behind it were the old porch. The board about 3/4 of the way up from the floor goes from behind the door jamb and continues to the left.

nothing surprises me about this house anymore

The board runs behind the closet door and dead ends on the back wall. I ran into the same headache when I removed the base board too. 

another )(#&%)(*)#@ headache

It looks to me like the ceiling is about 1/2 way down on the top molding on the door. Getting this door replaced has the potential to turn into a class A (*@^%$)P(_+@(%_*@#%_@%(@ cluster ________ - fill in an expletive of your choice. I'll find out tomorrow how this goes and how much more money it will cost me.

accidental woodworker

 This AM was the first day of the current month where the sun was shining at sunrise and it wasn't hidden by gray clouds. It turned out to be a nice spring day where the temp almost got up to 70F (21C). I got in my post lunch stroll and I didn't feel like going to the shop after it. There will be more nice days and I wanted to finish the 3 japanese toolboxes I was making. A new to me woodworker showed up on You Tube and I copied how he made his box. Turned out to be the perfect model to follow for pencil box. 

unintelligible pic

Nothing about this pic was ringing a bell with me. Based on the size of the quick grip clamp it isn't something related to the japanese toolboxes. Maybe it was about the tile tables? Nope, it is the dowel test joint I glued up yesterday.

nope again

The test joint I glued up yesterday didn't last long. It took almost nothing to break the two pieces apart. At this point here I was able to pull it apart with hands. 

nada

I tried to pull out the pins on the left out with pliers and they held fast. The pins let go coming out of the holes on the right like they weren't glued at all. I am not going to chance these dowel pins working on the tile tables.

did better

I didn't go Cro Magnon with the pliers this time. The grooves aren't as deep and pronounced as the ones I did yesterday. I made up 3 pins from the ones I sawed up yesterday on the bandsaw.

new test joint

I used 3 dowel pins (from a 1/4" dowel rod) to mimic the 3 pins on the tile table rails. I also minimized the face grain to face grain contact on two test pieces. I put glue in the holes and brushed on a light coat on the pins. I'll check this one in the AM.

finishing up the first one

This side has the largest gaps on this box. I sanded and planed all the fingers flush at the corners. I filled all the gaps in with wood putty. I am going to use the new tung oil finish I bought on this box and the grandsons' pencil boxes.

99% done

I have to wait for the wood putty to set up before I can sand it. I should be able to get the finish on it in the AM.

once it is dry......

This is done. One coat of oil based primer done by me. Color coat to be picked and done by Amanda or Seth. It is looking like I'll have a pile of goodies going south to NC in august.

good tip

I was going to use a shallow (1/8" deep) dado to seat the ends in but I used this instead. This is the method used in the You tube vid I watched this morning twice. I glued these 'posts' in place with super glue and yellow glue.

zooming along

I seldom make things in pairs but I'm doing it for these pencil boxes. This way both Miles and Leo will be getting almost identical boxes. Amanda told me that they like getting matching things be it clothes or toys or......

I got the two fixed cleats glued and nailed in place on both boxes. Both have their respective bottoms glued and clamped too.

I only have two of these boxes under my belt but I can already see an area to improve on. The lid for these two I left snug. I will wait until I have the fixed wedge and lid closure cleats glued and cooked before I plane the lid to fit a bit looser.

On the first two lids, they are both too loose. I was in a rush to get them done and I didn't plane and check - I eyeballed and ripped them on the tablesaw instead.

ready to go

Got the last 3 cleats rough sawn to length. I'm thinking now that maybe I should make this lid loose for the grandsons. Them having to deal with a piston fit might be aggravating and they won't use them? I'll have to think about that overnight.

Container store road trip?

The packages the brass pins came in are garbage. I thought I had a boatload of these plastic boxes but I only found these 3. My wife told me that I had given them to her and she wasn't parting with them. I'll have to make trip to the store tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

The Guildhall Walk in Totnes now has a new red front door.

We re-used the original heavy knocker and brass handle. Also re-used the existing stained glass of St. Mary's church. The door looks out on to the Guildhall Walk and St Mary's beyond (and the window perfectly matches the view).

There has been a lot of footfall this week, as the re-modelling of St. Mary's is happening and pedestrian's shortcut through the church grounds has been blocked. There has been much admiration of the new door.

The Guildhall Walk has some crazy rooflines and is usually a peaceful respite from Totnes High St on market day. 

The door has a new Greenheart step/cill. This ancient piece of very hardy timber was most likely a part of Plymouth Docks a long time ago. It then sat in a local barn for many years, before I came by it recently. It's not going to rot in a hurry. Greenheart cill, bronze red water-based paint from Little Greene.

Then over to tidy up, at Jasmin Cottage, where the lime rendering is now finished. Cracked cement render removal, repair of timber frame, insulation with ionic sheepwool and re-rendering in lime to match existing.

Then over to Torquay to survey another prospective job on this converted windmill.

 Haven't strolled for 3 days in a row. So far this april has been one of the crappiest I can recall. It is either raining, or it is cloudy, and to mix things up it alternates between them. The extended forecast doesn't show any improvement up till the end of the month. Should have a ton of may flowers to look at, maybe. The temps have been lower than normal for this time of the year though. I'm still having the heat come on - I usually shut it off in the first week of april but not this year.

nope

The pkgs of dowel pins (2" and 1 1/2") came in last night and I have sad, sad news. The 2" pins are loose in the holes and when checked, more fall out than those that stay put. I'm a little leery about using these for the table. The 1 1/2" pins were a slightly better fitting.

1/4" dowel rod

Decided to try and make my own dowel pins. I had a 2' long piece of dowel rod and I was able to saw off 16 pins. It wasn't enough but I can get a feel for it it will work or not.

grooved

Used the slip joint pliers to make grooves in a pin. It will take some practice before I get it right - I was a bit too aggressive with the first two.

a touch too snug

I didn't try to seat this dowel. I didn't have a warm and fuzzy that it wouldn't split the rail.

drat, and double triple drat

I checked all 100 of the pins and all 100 were loose. I didn't have one come close to being a friction fit.

measured 15 of them

All of them measured a frog hair over a 1/4" thick. These cost me $5 so I didn't lose too much on them. I recall Dowel Max saying something about looseness of the dowel pins causing problems.

need an angle

I watched Norm do the angle on the butler's tray but he didn't show how he did it. He just says that he determined it to be 27°. After clamping the base I am going on the assumption that the angle goes kitty corner from one outside 90° to the other. The ruler is lined up on that and it doesn't pass through the opposite corner of each leg.

second choice

The first choice was a protractor and I eyeballed the angle. Didn't like that so I set a bevel gauge to it checked it against my bevel angle monkey gauge. I couldn't get the bevel gauge to line up with any angle on it.

this one worked

This gauge confuses me royally. Is it 53° or 127°? Or could it be 37°?. I wrote down all three of them and made a drawing of the legs/base. I'll plug in the angles and use trigonometry to find out which angle is the one I need.

Lowes road trip

Last night I got an email from the 'Canadian Woodworker' on japanese tool boxes. He sent along 3 PDFs of drawings on them. I couldn't satisfy the itch and since I couldn't work on the tile tables I decided to make a couple of said boxes.

I think what I find so attractive about them is firstly their simplicity. There isn't any complicated joinery involved with them. Secondly I like the total lack of hardware. No hinges or clasps needed, everything you need to secure a box is done with wood. Lastly, and what I like a lot, is the lid detail. Making one of these is simpler and quicker to knock out then my beloved sliding lid box.

3rd pile

The Lowes stock will be used to make two pencil boxes for the grandsons. This pile are scraps that have been in the shop for a few years now. I'll make one out of this first to warm up for the pencil boxes.

before I left for Lowes

I couldn't get the dowel pins from bouncing around in the brain bucket. So I glued two of them in some scrap to see how they would glue and cook. I checked it after I got home and they felt solid. I pulled on them with pliers and nada. I can see a teeny gap on the left dowel pin but nothing on the right one. Maybe the glue swelled the pin a 64th to glue it almost 360 in the hole?

completing the test

Decided to glue the two pins together to see how that will shake out. I only put glue in the holes and brushed a thin coat on the pins. I tried to minimize how much glue would get on the faces of the two legs. The two mate only on about a 1/4" shared piece of the faces. I clamped this and set it aside until the AM. I fully intend to beat the snot of out it trying to break it apart then.

ready for primer paint

I checked it over and all the gaps, splintered edges, and other sins were all filled in and sanded smooth and flush. I primed the bottom and set it aside to dry. Tomorrow I'll prime the top and it will call it done. 

not anymore

I am not putting a center stretcher on the tile tables. With the outside long side rails the stretcher is not needed. Besides it doesn't look anything like the pic anymore.

yikes

This is what happens when you get distracted. Forgot about this and after sanding it, I couldn't tell what it was. I branded it again and initialed it. I did not prime this part of the table.

3 PDFs

The middle one is from Toshio Odate and it is the one I wanted. The first one is a small box that is about the size I wanted to make for the Grandsons. The weird looking color is due to my printer being low on one ink and almost zero on the other two.

new detail

I am going to put this 'T' stretcher detail on the bottom of the tile tables. I can't get past the possibility of legs doing stupid wood tricks. It is pine and I did think of getting poplar at Lowes but it is ridiculously overpriced IMO.

using dowel pins

I had an extra T stretcher part left over and I drilled it for pins. I wanted to make sure that the width of the rails (1 1/2") could be drilled with the Dowel Max. 1 1/2" is the minimum width for drilling two equidistant holes with the jig.

first box

This box size was dictated by the stock. I plan on making Toshio's full size box but not now. I don't have any 1x12 pine for that yet.

3 upcoming boxes

The middle and right piles are the grandsons boxes.

Tremont headless brads

The first japanese box I made I used one finger joint that I glued and nailed. Wasn't happy with this it this time because they turned out sloppy and with gaps. I was rushing and I paid the price for it. I wasn't expecting any hiccups with my sawing the vertical walls on the notches.

finger joinery

Glued and nailed the fingers with cut brads from Tremont nails.

sigh

The bottom is 1/4" thick poplar. I would have bet a lung that I had made the width of it a 1/4" wider than the box bottom width. The box is square - the diagonals were dead nuts on. One end of the bottom wasn't square and that is end I anchored and nailed first. I'll plane and sand this flush after it has cooked.

nope

I had eyeballed it this and I thought I was ok. It is too short on the width to use as the lid. I used a piece of 1/2" maple to get a new one.

got confused

I drew a complete blank on how assemble the cleats on the lid. Got the first box I made to bring me back up to speed.

hmmm......

Got the angle on the two correct along with a good fit right off the plane. However, they don't lie square on the lid. Couldn't figure out why initially. I had sawed the angle on two separate pieces of stock. You have to saw out the two on a single piece. Did that and got the fixed wedge to be square to the lid.

nailed it

The two wedges lie up against each other gap free and the outside wedge is square to the lid.

almost done

The lid works and locks down securely. I have to flush the ends of the wedge cleats to call this 100%.

not planned

I was going to veg out and watch the Firestick offerings this PM but I had an itch to scratch. Killed the lights here and headed topside.

accidental woodworker

The case has been together and it's time to work on the drawers. As a reminder here is a pic from the previous post:

Carcase waiting for drawers

First I resawed a wide piece of basswood to provide material for the drawer sides. After planing and jointing the bottom edge I plowed a groove for the drawer bottom. This time I remembered to plow the groove before crosscutting it into smaller pieces. That's less hassle than crosscutting first and then plowing five grooves in five pieces.

making groove in long piece of basswood

Then these pieces are individually planed to fit their spaces, and marked. They are all overly long and will be cut to length later.

planed to fit

Next I fit the drawer fronts. First they have to fit between the legs side-side before adjusting the up-down dimension. I crosscut them on the bandsaw and fine tune the ends with a shooting board. Then the top edge is planed to fit.

too tall fits but tight fits with penny gap

When planing the top of the drawers to fit I tried to keep a penny gap from the top edge of the drawer to the top edge of the rail.

pennies for spacing five drawer fronts fitted

Before joining the sides to the fronts I made drawer pulls. I have two previous projects in my house with similar pulls:

homemade drawer pull, about three inches long

I made them one at a time with a saw, chisel, and plane. Now that I need five I tried to shape a longer stick all at once and then cut them free. I used an old offcut as reference.

old offcut with walnut stock

I figured the underside was the most complicated part so started with that. I plowed a narrow groove and then used a shoulder plane to make a ramp. The outside curves were made with the shoulder plane, although any plane would work. The inside curve on the bottom was made with whatever worked - shoulder plane, chisels, gouges.

1/8" wide groove shoulder plane for angled cut roundover

The drawer pulls needed a tenon to match the mortises in the drawer fronts. I made those mortises with the domino and an 8mm bit.

overlapping domino mortises in drawer front

I made a shallow rabbet (a penny's thickness) on the top edge and then rabbeted the bottom edge until the tenon was 8mm thick.

my wood battens were too flexible drawer pull stock with 8mm tenon

Finally this long strip was marked to cut into five pieces. The ends of the pulls are angled with a 1:6 dovetail marker. After cutting free and cleaning up, the rectangular tenons had their ends filed to fit into the rounded mortises. Four out of five were a tight fit. I think glue alone will hold them as it's a long-grain to long-grain joint. The loose one I will probably wedge.

drawer pulls cut free and in progress rounding ends of tenon fit into mortise front view

For joining the sides to the fronts I anticipated using rabbets and nails. Then I realized that since the drawer sides were 3/4" shorter than the fronts, there would be an exposed rabbet at the top.

drawer front is taller than drawer side

So I am going with dovetails. It's a lot more work. I cut the dovetails with a dozuki and fretsaw out the waste. The laying out and transferring can use some work. Maybe by the time I'm making the last few I'll be more comfortable.

dovetails before cleaning up. basswood is fuzzy.

I have basswood set aside for the drawer backs. They will not be dovetailed as I like the idea of leaving the sides extending past the back. There is about 19" of depth in the case. If I set the back at 16" deep then the sides can extend 2-3" further. And 16" is a good number for cutting plywood. But I'm not making any commitments yet.

potential dimensions with back at 16"

For now I have to dovetail four more drawers.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were antique hunting in Dayton, Ohio, where I ran into this old level in the back of a barn. I figured it was a Stanley Rule and Level Co level, but the amount of brass in the front intrigued me as it wasn’t the usual design I see all the time.

I really don’t restore levels too often, but I decided to ask how much it was as I thought it would be a fun little restoration project. After the lady told me $10.00, I took it home.

Restoring it was pretty straightforward. I applied some citrus based paint stripper on it to remove the old grime, then washed it off with a soapy dish liquid. Then I applied elbow grease to buff out brass with steel wool and liquid brass cleaner. Then, coated the level with a few coats of shellac.

You can see on the side that it’s faintly stamped 11, which I figured makes it a Stanley No 11. Stanley made No 11’s in mahagony and rosewood. When I was cleaning the wood, I got excited thinking the level was made from rosewood, but I’m pretty sure it’s mahagony. The fact that the brass is only the corners and not completely covering the end makes it an older level.

You can see the Stanley Rule & Level Co. so it’s possible it’s before they acquired their plane line.

I’m not sure how to date the level as I am unaware of a type study on Stanley Levels, but if I had to take a guess, I’d say it’s around 1860-90’s in age. And it’s in pretty nice shape for being as old as it is.

Does anyone know how old it is? Drop a comment and let me know.

 I started the tile tables today because why not. I have a boatload of projects in varying stages of being done and all crying out for some attention. I didn't realize I had so many projects in house. I think I will definitely hold off the desks for the grandsons and concentrate on clearing out the backlog first.

 I'll have to go to Highland Hardwoods in New Hampshire  for the desk wood and I'm not looking forward to that. I will have to drive up and back in a ton of traffic. Especially in the AM I'll be fighting the Boston commuter traffic.

filled the errant hole

Unfortunately I still don't know of anyway to completely hide a patch like this. After it is painted it looks good but it will pop on the first seasonal change after it is done. It is low to the floor and it shouldn't be visible.

chamfered the feet

Used the sanding block because it was on the workbench. I was satisfied with how even looking the chamfers came out. I usually do this with a chisel or a blockplane.

nail holes filled

I didn't have any wood putty that doesn't shrink or fall out. I had to make a road trip to Benjamin Moore to get a small tub of it. I also used it on the top in the areas where the plywood edges had splintered and the gaps between the banding and top.

hmm.....

These screws aren't countersunk deep enough to glue a plug over them. As of now I'm going to leave them as is and I will cover them with paint. I don't like filling in large void like this with wood putty. I might revisit this and fill them in with epoxy.

ugh....

Started drilling the holes for the tile table with a me-steak. I had put the spacers on the jig and I didn't need them. The spacers are for when I drill the holes on the legs, not the rails. Glued in a dowel, sawed it flush, and drilled it correctly.

hmmm......

The fix looks good and only a teeny bit of the new hole is missing due to it.

change of plans

Decided to add an extra dowel - this should increase the strength of the rail/leg attachment.

did it right

I didn't think this would be a problem and it wasn't. I drilled the extra dowel hole with the dowel jig referenced off the top of the leg. I double triple checked myself before doing any drilling.

minor brain fart

Got the first table dry fitted and that was looking good. Went looking for the center stretcher and couldn't find it. Then it dawned on me that I had used them for the rails on the plant stand. Totally zoned out on saving them for this.

pine

I don't have any more poplar in the shop and I didn't feel like a road trip to Lowes so I'm using pine. I checked the pic of the table that Amanda liked and this one is different. The pic doesn't have any long side rails, just the short ends and the center one. I assumed that it had 4 rails and I'm sticking with this.

sneak peek

I like the floating aspect of the top but the legs look spindly to my eye. They are tall and don't have anything towards the bottom to keep them from moving in or out. I especially don't think not having the two long rails is a good idea for maintaining stability.

not enough

I didn't have enough dowels with only two holes for each rail end let alone a third one. I ordered more from Dowel Max but they aren't coming until the 23rd. They are coming from Canada. I ordered some from Amazon and I should have them today by 1815.

nope

It doesn't matter what my choice of 'wood button' is because it is a moot point. The rails are 2" below the top so this one is a wee short.

thinking out loud

I might possibly use two figure 8 fasteners on each leg. There is sufficient room for them but there are reservations. The first being screwing into end grain and screwing up into a 1/2" thick top.

2nd table

No surprises or hiccups with the dry fit of the 2nd table. No me-steaks drilling any of the 24 holes neither.

2nd table sneak peek

My opinion of the legs hasn't changed. My biggest concern is the legs will bow inward more so than outward. Either way ain't good but my money is riding them going on in.

nickel plated #8 screws

I made my jello decision on how to attach the top to the legs. Two #8 FH screws into the leg diagonally from each other. At least that way the two won't be screwed into the same grain direction.

center brace

Spent some time giving this my very best goofy looks. Trying to determine the best way to do the center brace. The two contenders so far are dowels or in a stopped dado. A simple butt joint secured with screws or maybe Miller Dowels is bringing up the rear.

15/16"

I got 100 two inch dowels coming. The ones I had on hand are 1 1/2". I'll bandsaw off a strong 1/8" before using the 2" ones. Both the legs and the rails have the same depth with the holes.

 

test joint

This is something I haven't tried before - an X brace at the bottom of the tile tables. I sawed/chiseled a flat on the corner of the legs at a 45. The angle on the table will be different because those legs are a rectangle.

the concept

I think this will work. The tricky part will be figuring out the angle. Thinking ahead about chiseling a 45 and doing any angle work on the ends of the X brace legs? I remember Norm making a X brace like this on a butler's table he made. Note to self - check You Tube for the episode.

didn't work

My first attempt was not wide enough. The X brace leg is 1" wide so I thought if I came down on each side a 1/2" it would work but it didn't. It took two trial and error adjustments before the leg lined up with the mortise. BTW that ended up being a few frogs hairs more than 5/8".

Another potential hiccup is how to attach the ends of the legs into the open mortise? Epoxy with a snug fit was the first thought that transited the brain bucket. The second one was screw but that would be an end grain hiccup along with how to plug the countersink. Something to think about. 

accidental woodworker

I got zero time in the shop this AM. Instead it was spent 90% at the VA, 5% driving, and 5% stopping at the grocery store on the way home. I left for the VA at 0650 for a 0900 appointment. I was expecting to have to drive in bumper to bumper traffic on RTE 10 but that didn't happen. Traffic was light both on Park Ave and RTE 10 and I go to the VA at 0709. Totally didn't expect that to happen in my lifetime. 

I met with the Dr and he explained the the operation (a TURP) happening on the 22nd of this month. I'll have a catheter for 3 days but he told I can do my normal routine. After the doc I went to a pre-op/post op appt where they explained what prep I had to do the day before and the day of the surgery. I still wasn't done as I had to stop by blood draw and leave a urine sample and donate some blood before finally exiting the VA.

Got home at 1050 put away the groceries and headed out to Johnny's Chalet to have fish 'n chips for lunch. I think I'm going to have change my lunch choice because 5 hours after eating I still felt stuffed. I'll try a burger next friday and see how I fare 5 hours later with that choice.

ready to unclamp

I was a good boy and left this to cook. It was almost 1300 when I took the clamps off.

teeny bit

I didn't use sticks on this first, instead I checked it for rocking on the tablesaw. There was a slight bit of it.

flushing the top

Had to remove some dried glue blobs first with a chisel. Then I used the blockplane to flush the legs with the rails.

teeny bit still

It took 3 plane and check steps before I was sighting straight over both sticks.

less than a 16th

Both the inside and outside diagonals read the same.

first choice

This is half of a table top that I got from facebook marketplace. I was going to use part of it to make the top for the plant stand.

better choice

I had a 4'x4' piece of 1/2" thick plywood in the boneyard. I have looked at that for over a year thinking it was 1/4". Sawed off a piece 1" wider and longer than the base.

centering the base

The top on the tile tables is 1/2" plywood too so I'll use this one to experiment on attaching the top. 

transferring the legs

Transferred the outside corner location of the legs onto the top.

two choices

These are the first two choices I thought of on how to attach the top to the base. Four #10 x 1 1/2" long FH screws - one each from the top down into the legs. As I was typing this I thought I could also put another screw down into the center of each rail.

screws won

Not a big fan of driving screws into what is end grain. Initially the grip is excellent but in my experience they tend to loosen over the years due to seasonal swings in the wood. Four extra screws in the center of rails would have helped keeping the top on. 

hmmm.......

How could I not remember this? Wood buttons would work and the top is repairable if it needs to come off. The only draw back I can see to wood buttons is the top is only a 1/2" thick. That is, IMO, not a lot of meat for a screw to bite in.

metal ones

Another choice I totally zoned out on having. These would work well too but again the top is only 1/2" thick. I like using sheet metal screws to attach these and I don't think 3/8" is sufficient.

two more

The two at the top I saw on a Wood Whisperer you tube vid. They will allow for more expansion/contraction than the figure 8 ones. I haven't used them yet but I think they aren't necessary for a plywood top. Found these two styles while searching for the metal buttons.

I forgot why

Can't remember what point I wanted to make with this pic. Other than the ugly plywood edge, I am still clueless. Covered the edges with left over banding I had in the boneyard. Nailed it by hand because I didn't feel like getting the compressor out. This worked out just as well. Applied it to 3 sides and than planed and fitted the last one.

last one

 I think I'll prime it and leave that way. Amanda can paint it whatever color she decides on.

$69 on special

I didn't know that Woodsmith had bought Fine Woodworking. I pulled the trigger on this as soon as I saw it. This archive is normally $99. I was going to put it on my shop computer but Microsuck is discontinuing support for Win OS (Win 10?) This USB stick is not Linux compatible and I don't want to install Wine. Something else to ponder, eh?

accidental woodworker

 I started my post lunch strolls again on the 1st of this month. I am still only walking about 1/2 to 2/3 of what I was doing before I stopped. I am not breathless nor winded but I was a wee bit for the first couple of days. Today I finished my walk in under an hour. I am slowly taking less time to do my stroll. On the 1st it took me over an hour and 15 minutes and today it was 57 minutes. I will stick with what I'm walking for now and see how much quicker I can walk it by next thursday. Then I'll add in some more and do that until I'm back to what I was strolling before I did the bounce test with the sidewalk.

can't see the glue joint

The glue joint closed up and I couldn't see/find it. I got lucky in that the grain lines ran parallel to it. Although I couldn't see it, I could feel it on both faces. I was few frog hairs off flush on both faces. I sanded the outside face flush with 80 and 150 grit but I couldn't sand the inside face.

Clancy's oil

I slathered on one coat of Clancy's and this pine drank it like a it was sucking it up with a straw. After 10 minutes I wiped it down and put it in the boneyard to await its trip to North Carolina in august.

stretchers and long rails

Planing this poplar overall wasn't that bad. My last experience with poplar many moons ago wasn't that easy nor where the results good. A few more years of planing paid off - got these thicknessed in less than 1/2 an hour.

all done

On the left are the rails/stretcher and one extra for an oops. On the right are the short rails and one oops. I didn't go nutso getting them all to be +/- one atom of thickness. There wasn't any need for that because nothing will be married to them in any way. All that matters here is that the ends are square and the outside face is flat and straight.

shavings pile

It looks I could glue these together and have enough for 4x8 sheet of OSB plywood.

rails are in batter's box

I sized the rails so that the legs are inset from the outside edges by a 1/2".

cutting to length

I use a rip blade only in the table saw. I do that for two reasons with the first being I mostly make rip cuts on the tablesaw. The second one if the teeth on the blade are flat so it makes a flat bottom when making grooves. The only hiccup with the rip for crosscutting it that it splinters on the exit. As long as I back it up I don't have to deal with that.

checking

The top on the left one is an 1/8" wider/longer than the right one. I sawed the rails for both the same. That little difference is going to amount to diddly squat.

hmm......

Off cuts from the legs. I was able to get four them to be 3 5/8" long. I couldn't bring myself to shitcan them without trying to make something with them.

teeny table?

Thinking that maybe I can make a plant stand out of this. My first thoughts on it was a speaker stand but I no longer have stereo speakers the size of a volkswagen. Plant stand makes better sense.

2nd purpose

I came up with another use for this. I can practice making the dowel joints for the two tables. The first time I used the Dowel Max I got confused and messed up. This way I can work out the kinks.

step one

This is step one - label the rails and legs. The check marks on them are used to ensure the dowel jig is positioned properly on the rails/legs.

marked

I thought I had this licked but I didn't. I got confused, not with the labeling, but with the legs and the rails. I didn't position them correctly on the jig in spite of the labeling.

sigh, and a bigger sigh again.......

I was on the right road doing this until I had a brain fart. I should have aligned the dowel jig's left side with the pencil line. Instead I aligned it with the left edge and drilled a hole there. 

corrected

I'm glad that I used this to practice for the tables. In typing hindsight I should have glued a dowel in the one of the side by side holes first before drilling the 2nd, correct one.

it fits

This corner went together without any hiccups.

last two

I got the remaining 7 done with no brain farts. It was confusing me because the legs aren't square. Before I drilled each set of holes I put the leg where it should be and then put the jig on it. This came back to bite me on the arse and draw blood a little further on down.

dry fit

Happy with this and I don't see any problems giving this away as a plant stand (of course it needs a top of some kind). I'll have to ask Amanda if she wants it. If not I'll give it to my sister Kam because I know she has plants.

hmm.....

The tops of the rails are less than a frog's hair off flush with the legs. I'm impressed with those results. IMO this dowel jig is worth every cent I paid for it. And I got it before the tariff hiccup going on now. Although it was way less than $800 so it wouldn't have been subject to any tariff?

where I drew blood

I got it glued and clamped and I couldn't see why it looked crooked. Then I saw that I had turned two of the legs 90° to the other two. I wasn't paying attention to the orientation of the legs with respect to the rails and other two. I was able to break it apart and reglue it.

broken dowel

This dowel broke when I pulled the rails and legs apart. I sawed it flush and drilled it out again. There wasn't anything I had to do with the dowel jig to line it up.

 

gluing up

Made a third brain fart. Put the back two legs on going up instead of down. I got the legs orientated correctly this time in spite of it being a blurry pic. Thanking my lucky stars that I did this practice run first.

2nd blurry pic

These are two shims that I put in the jig that offset the holes from the edge of the leg. These two are about 3/16" and that is the distance the rail is offset. I didn't want the rails to be be flush with the legs. The jig comes with four of these shims.

quit early

After making a three bone headed me-steaks I cut my losses and quit the shop early today. Getting these clamps to tighten down drove me nutso. They ran out of threads before twicebefore they were applying any clamping force. I find that to be incredibly annoying especially so when you are stressing out over a glue up. I'll let this go until the AM.

accidental woodworker

 I wasn't so sure this AM when I got up that today would turn out as nice as it did. It was dark and cloudy at 0600 along with the temp being 29F (-1.7C). I had my doubts that it would improve. It did weather wise, with lots of sunshine, but the temp wasn't cooperating. Along with a stiff breeze, it was frigid working out in the driveway. The good news is I got the planing done on the cherry and legs for the tables.

one toolbox handle

Got asked to show a pic of the tenon end of the handle. There is a 16th of shoulder on both cheeks - that is enough to act as a stop and hold it against the ends of the toolbox.

glued and cooking

This is the 2nd toolbox and I left it in the vise to cook. I didn't have any problems driving the wedges home - I wasn't sure how well that would go doing that with it in the vise.

first one

This glue up tried my patience to the max. One end was cupped top to bottom and two ends of the long sides were also cupped slightly. It gave me fits trying to clamp the ends and sides flush. I got it done and I learned a few new wood curses to use on the next glue up.

legs done

The temp was only 34F (-1C) when I ran these through the lunchbox planer. It was so cold that I had to wear gloves. I left the legs as thick and as wide as I could rather then planing to 1 1/4" x 2".

cherry was next

I picked 3 boards at random and checked them for twist. I was relieved to sight over the sticks and see straight across on both. Hauled them out to the driveway and planed them to 7/8" thick. The two treads got planed to a 64th over 3/4". On those two boards I had to plane more to clean up one face.

done

Survived the cold but I came close to not doing it. If the past couple weeks of weather weren't so crappy I would have. The wind chilled me to the bone. I felt of twinge in my groin when I lugged the planer out of the house and on to the planer table. I hope that it didn't effect my hernia repair operation because that was where the short burst of pain came from. 

not the best tenon/mortise

There aren't gaps but the mortise wall ends are a bit ragged out. They aren't as clean and crisp but for a toolbox it will do. I am going to make at least one more of these (wider & longer) and I'll use this handle detail on it again.

the better one

This one came out better. Good fit, no gaps, and clean and crisp on all four sides.

holy bat turds Batman, said Robin

Noticed this hiccup after I had nailed off one side. I'm thinking that it had cracked when I clamped it and nailing it broke it off completely.

glued and cooking

I used three nails at each end of the long sides. I didn't use nails on the short ends but I might add a couple of cut nails there tomorrow.  The break was ragged out but clean and I don't think the glue joint will be visible. I'll find out in the AM.

back to the other toolbox

Glued a 1/8" dowel into the handle. That serves two purposes, the first being to keep the handle from spinning. The 2nd is to keep it where it is between the two ends.

Clancy's oil again

This toolbox most likely will end up in the SIL's garage but I couldn't let it go without some finish on it. One coat of Clancy's will do the trick. I doubt that he will even notice it.

it was almost 1500

These are the rails and stretchers for the two tile tables. I got two of them thicknessed before I killed the lights. Based on how quickly these two were to do, I should be able to whack out the others lickety split in the AM.

accidental woodworker

 My new gas service was installed, tested, and done at 1612 today. The gas company had put in new higher pressure gas lines last year and today they ran it to a new meter outside my house. They also did the two houses directly across the street from me but there are three more to go on my street. So it will be a couple of more days before the streets are clear of all the construction vehicles. It has been a bit of a chore to get out of the driveway and onto the street with the truck since thursday. Hopefully that will change and ease up starting tomorrow.

yikes

This cleat shifted a wee bit when I nailed it in place. I need this to be square to the outside because the wedge will bear up against this.

Record 073

It took some patience but I got the cleat square to the outside long sides.

sigh

Minor brain fart - I planed the angle on the wedge going the wrong way. Unfortunately it wasn't wide enough to correct the angle so I had to make a new one.

fitting the wedge

I didn't lay out an angle on the fixed or movable wedge. Instead I did it by eye and counting how many strokes with the plane I took. I had to sweeten this end a wee bit.

good fit

This end of the wedge had about a 16th of a gap that I had to plane and check several times before it closed up.

done

This one is done and the itch didn't go away. This was made out of scraps I had and I want to make more of these. I didn't think anything would take my attention span away from sliding lid boxes but this has.

nope

I swept up the shop and dropped the shop shitcan into the driveway shitcan. I also swept up and tossed the wedge for this box. I played with this one (the original) and I planed the angle in the correct direction and it did work. But, the wedge was too short. I had to try and make it work.

found it

I dug through the driveway shitcan and I found it on the first dive. Sometimes you get lucky. I'm going to give this to my son-in-law and I fully intend to make at least two more for me (bigger ones).

two more tool boxes

My wife told me that the SIL needed tote style toolboxes. I am still giving the japanese one to him along with these two. They aren't overly large in any dimension but the sizes were driven by the scrap I had on hand.

Clancy's oil

Initially I wasn't going to put a finish on this at all. Then I thought maybe 2-3 coats of shellac. In the end I went with Clancy's oil. One coat is all this is getting and having seen the before pic, I'm liking the after one a lot more.

clipped the ends

Decided on rabbeted joinery that I will glue and nail with rose head nails.

1/4" groove

Several years ago I had an iron made for this plane for 1/4" plywood. I ran a test groove in some scrap and one piece of plywood I had was a snug fit. I was going to do the groove on the tablesaw but the blade height gave me fits when I made the rabbets with it.

lined up

The fence slipped on me and I saw it before I ran the groove. I reset the fence using the first groove I planed. The vertical one is what I planed next and it lined up perfectly.

good muscle memory

When I first started out using this plane my grooves were iffy. Sometimes they were square and sometimes they weren't. I hope I'm not jinxing myself now, but I now am consistently plowing square grooves.

long groove

These are the grooves that I usually planed out of square. The exit end being slightly worse than the entrance end.

measuring stick

The ID on the tool box was dead nuts square. I ticked off the length and width on the stick and add 2x the depth of the groove to get my final dimensions.

first one done

I marked the two dimensions a 16th shorter then the measuring stick said and it fit dead on. I was expecting to have to trim it to get it to fit especially on the width.

this sucks pond scum

I don't know what is causing the tablesaw blade to rise up. I tightened it as much as I could but it still did this on 2 of the rabbets.

2nd toolbox

Both toolboxes are the same width. The 2nd one is 2 1/4" longer.

stick handle

This one is getting a stick handle and the other is getting a 1" dowel. I wanted to put a dowel on both but I only had enough to do one. This one is a stopped through mortise.

first mortise

Drilled out most of the waste on the drill press and than chopped it coming at it from both sides.

snug fit

I made the width of the mortise a 1/8" less than the thickness of the handle. I planed the cheeks of the tenon with my skewed block plane. The height of the mortise was a 16th less than the handle height.

first mortise tenon dry fitted

I was happy with this fit and if I make more of these I'll go with stick handles and stopped through mortises.

not quite on the 2nd one

I missed squaring the bottom right corner on the mortise. The tenon pushed it out partly. I glued and clamped the blowout back in place. After 20 minutes I unclamped it and cleaned/squared up the corner with a chisel.

oops

Forgot to snap a pic of the two dry fitted. I will get these two glued and cooking in the AM.

one short

Because of the grain orientation of the ends I couldn't put a wedge at the top and bottom of the tenon. That could have possibly split the ends. Instead I am going to wedge it on an angle. The will exert the force in line against the direction of the grain.

quitting time

It has been a long time since I've worked in the shop this late. The gas techs just left and I killed the lights here.

happy face on

Yesterday I got what I thought was the correct OTG thing for the Firestick but I was wrong. The Firestick requires a micro USB C and I had ordered a USB C. The silver one is the wrong one. The black one is a Firestick OTG - that is what I plugged into the Amazon search bar this time around. 

I found instructions and You Tube vids on how to install the WiFi keyboard and I'll probably get around to that tomorrow or the next day or....

accidental woodworker

 It actually goes back to the end of March with the current weather. Today it rained off and on all day long. Tomorrow is forecasted to be partly sunny with wind and wednesday is looking good enough to do some lunch box planing in the driveway. Like just about everything else I'll cool my heels and wait and see what shakes out. In the interim I have plenty to do to keep me busy in the shop.

hmm.....

What do you do when the swamp floods and the gators get loose? You look at a stash of wood and decide to start a new project. Lee Valley put out a You Tube video email this morning on making a japanese tool box. I have seen them before but they didn't interest me then. But this video changed that and I had to scratch the itch and make one now.

breaking down the stock

Used my bow saw for this round. 20 years ago I used this for all my crosscut and ripping needs and then set it aside. What I'm finding out with all the various and different saws I've been using is it doesn't matter. Sawing is an acquired skill that isn't dependent upon the type of saw. And it was quicker using the bow saw than my favorite western crosscut saw.

there isn't much stock required

From L to R, cleats, sides, and bottom. Didn't realize it here that I was short on what I needed.

kept going from here

Initially I was just going to plane a reference edge and face. But it  only took me about 15 minutes to get this done and I decided to keep going. This board had been in the shop for a few months so it should be acclimated by now.

tiny bit of twist

Took me about 20 minutes to plane each of these flat, straight, and twist free.

light came on here

This is where it dawned on me that I didn't have a lid or a bottom and the short ends. 

the bottom

I went back and forth on how I would get the bottom to thickness. The board was a 1/16th less than 3/4" thick and the target for the bottom was 3/8". Finally settled in to planing it to 3/8" thickness.

the lid

The pine I used for this box is dead clear and has the straightest grain I have ever seen in pine boards, and it isn't quarter sawn neither. I also got the lid cleats and the ends from this board.

humph.....

My workbench was rocking like it was twisted. I have been using this bench for over 30 years and I have never experienced this headache before. I had moved the bench a couple of days ago and tried to reposition so it wouldn't rock but I couldn't.

Made a quick pit stop and bandsawed out a couple of wedges. One of them worked on the left front leg but wasn't anywhere near thick enough for the right leg. Made a thicker 3rd and that one worked. No more rocking and no more benchtop wiggling while I was planing the stock.

frog hair more than 1/4"

When I checked the bottom after thicknessing it I saw that I have planed a taper in it. Flattening it again brought the thickness down to a 1/4". I would have rather it to be the original 3/8" but 1/4" will still be adequate.

ready for joinery

I worked past the ringing of the lunch time bell so I could finish them. After lunch I made a road trip to ACE to get some small ring shank nails for attaching the bottom. The selection wasn't that large and I settled for a small package of over priced copper ring shank boat nails.

new WiFi keyboard

My wife has one of these but she lost the USB receiver for it so it is useless. I found out how to install a USB Wifi or BT keyboard on the Firestick. I also had to order a USB C OTG that hasn't arrived yet. It is annoying and a ROYAL PITA typing in Firestick. I have been thinking of installing Alexa because Firestick will accept voice commands. I'll be trying the kybd route first.

not much to it

I did a quick search for japanese toolboxes and I didn't see any done with dovetails. Everyone I saw was done with finger jointery or nailed together with butt/rabbet joints.

gang sawing

I put the finger notch on the long sides and sawed that with the two together in the moxon.

used the gents saw

I scored the square line for the gents saw to track in. I find that to help a lot with sawing square across the edge.

removing the waste

I was going to use a coping saw to remove the waste but switched to using the bandsaw. I think Paul Sellers would approve of me using either method. I wasn't going to chop it out because I don't get good results with this type of chisel work.

some gaps

I made a mistake when I sawed out the waste. I sawed it almost dead on the marking gauge line. When I chopped on that I didn't do that good. There wasn't enough meat for the chisel and I didn't chop in a straight line. On a couple of them the chisel moved backwards away from the waste area into the good meat. Not horrible gaps but gaps nonetheless.

 Drilled pilot holes in the fingers for the rose head nails that I am using. I test nailed a ton of scrap together before I committed to the real thing. It took several different sizes of pilot holes before I was able to fully seat a nail without it splitting.

took two drill bits

If I used just the small bit, the nail would split the top board. If I used just the larger bit, the nail was loose. It seated but I could pull the two boards apart with my hands. What worked for me was to drill the top board with the large bit and the bottom board with the thinner one. I got no splits at all doing it this way.

flushing the fingers

I intended for the fingers to be proud. I was going to chamfer the stick out part but I changed my mind. I like the look of them being flush. That looks cleaner and simpler IMO.

bottom nailed on

No glue, just nails all around the perimeter. The You Tuber didn't glue his bottom on neither.

another change

The bottom did have a 1/8" overhang but I flushed it. One long side was slightly tapered so I planed it flush.

stopped here

I'm pretty sure that I could have finished this but I was a wee bit fuzzy on how the lid locks in place. I also realized here that I was short one cleat. I need one on the left that holds up the lid so it can go underneath the cleat on the top left. I know that I need that cleat in place so I can determine the final length of the lid (along with the width of it). 

Blogger still is acting wonky on me. It is freezing now at least once every time I type a blog post. That has come down from it freezing 3-5 times or more. Once is still annoying but better than multiple times. I haven't find anyone online having this problem so far. I'm fairly certain that once this headache goes away another one will take its place.

accidental woodworker

Doug Gordy was introduced to woodturning by his father, Vernon, a master woodturner. Doug recalls going with his father to Highland Hardware (now Highland Woodworking) for the first time in 1985, when he was a teenager. It was a much anticipated and frequent destination as he grew up. When Doug moved away from Savannah, whenever they were visiting family in the Atlanta area, a trip to Highland Woodworking was mandatory. Vernon introduced his grandson, Parker, to woodworking when he was about 5 years old. Parker, a recent GA Tech graduate, has recently started woodturning. His dad, Doug, said Parker has to go to Highland and buy his own Oneway lathe now.

Doug & his wife, Sherri, raised their family in Savannah GA, where Doug had a successful career working for Gulfstream Aerospace. He loved the beautiful woodworking details in the planes and the exacting perfection of what they built. His way of unwinding after a day at work was to work on his lathe for 2 or 3 hours. He says you have to be completely focused to do woodturning, it made him put aside any stress from work & relax. Doug learned from his father & further developed his skills by taking classes and watching master turners. If he saw something new, he took it as a personal challenge to learn to how to do it. Next on his list is turning a lampshade. A bit of a renaissance man, his interests also extend to carpentry, welding, building cars (and planes, of course), and making his own tools.

Doug turns pieces on commission, & now that he has retired & relocated to Milledgeville GA, he looks forward to having more time to devote to his art. Now 86, his father customized a lathe so he can continue to turn in their newly completed shop. Doug enjoys turning large pieces, letting the wood dictate the design. He is happy to work with domestic wood, and will go out with his chainsaw after a storm & help clear a fallen or damaged tree in exchange for some wood. He feels he is giving the tree a second life when he creates something with the wood he harvests. Sherri handles all the finishing, with Danish Oil or Teak Oil and various stains.

Doug is partial to Sorby Tools. He jokes he now has more tools than Highland Woodworking, and with the exception of the tools he has made, almost all of them came from Highland. Doug says the knowledgeable people at Highland, who have helped his father, then him & now his son over the years are an incredible resource. If there was something he wanted & on the rare occurrence that Highland didn’t have it, they would help him search for it & facilitate the acquisition. They love what they do & their customer service reflects that passion for woodworking.

So, the front three panels are taking shape. 

The two outside need more detail, but I'm not sure what yet. I'm going to move on to making the front rails and stiles, decide on the pattern for them and come back to the front panels. It seems fitting that organic designs are coming together, well, organically.

The nearest/right one still needs grounding.

On to the top rail.

An old familiar way of working, with well used tools. I don't get to work this way all the time, so a day on this is joyous.

This board was twisted and I am surprised it planed up ok.

Setting the marking gauge with my Rabone rule for the thickness.

All change tomorrow, hanging a front door.

 I didn't spend much time in the shop today. One thing on my mind was the two desks for the grandsons. The bases will be pine but I don't think that is a good choice for a desk top - it is way too soft. So before I start into nutso mode I'll check with Amanda and see what she wants/expects. I'm thinking a formica top over a plywood substrate and something adult sized so they can grow into them. 

now it is done

The right side has a bit of missing banding - other than that the outside is good. I like the simplicity of this box a lot. The inlaid banding and what I covered the plywood edges with match up pretty good.

inside peek

The veneer I used on the covering the inside proved to be a PITA. It was tissue thin and didn't like being cut, sawn, or sanded. Both the top and bottom lost a couple of silvers around the perimeter.

Stanley poster frames

Sanded the 7 frames up to 220 just on the upside face. On the back I ran the 120 grit sanding block on it once.

oil based primer

I should have bought this when I got the paint for the tile tables. Using oil based because it is better than a latex primer. Fingers crossed that I won't have to put on 3 topcoats to cover it.

waited a day

I flattened these two a couple of days ago and I waited until today to check them. Both them, according to the sticks, are still flat, straight, and twist free.

test time

I ran a knife line 360 and I'm going to thickness this. The weather isn't forecasted to be clear and sunny until wednesday. So I'll thickness this one and check it for a couple of days to see if it does any stupid wood tricks.

3/4" thick

I checked all the rails/stretchers to find the thinnest one and that happened to be 13/16" thick. I was happy to find that out because 3/4" is what I wanted the rails/stretchers to be.

hmm.....

This is an extra and I sawed it to final width (2"). The Dowel jig minimum for drilling two centered holes is 1 1/2". Got me to thinking about how to center two holes on a 2" wide board with it. 

One thing that became apparent was there was no way I could use both screw clamps to hold the board. Turned out that it was held securely with only one. The instructions clearly state that they are to be tightened only finger tight.

nope

The first go around I drilled the left and middle hole. I drilled two holes on the mating piece and the fit was good. However, I wasn't fond of the empty space between the center hole and the right side edge. I put the jig back on and added the right one. It is not symmetrical/centered with the other two.

 The corresponding 3 holes I drilled on the mating piece didn't line up. The first two did but I missed something with lining up the 3rd holes between the two pieces.

WINDRTI

When In Doubt Read The Instructions. However, comma, backslash, there was nothing in the instructions that addressed this dilemma. After eyeballing it I came up with an idea to try out.

step one

The idea was to drill two holes centered but also the same distance away from the edge. Started by drilling hole #1 on the right.

followed by repeating it on the left

this surprised me

I wasn't expecting one screw clamp to securely hold the board but it did. I thought drilling would cause the board to shift and move but it didn't. And it did it with just being tightened with finger pressure.

hmmm.....

The mating piece is the leg stock that I will have to drill the mating holes on. I used a scrap of 1 1/4" square stock to drill into. The holes in the rail look good and it should keep it from rolling on the top or bottom

ain't going to work

The bushings in the jig aren't lined up with the holes in the rail. 

had to confirm it

I could see that they were not going to line up but I checked it anyways. I had a false hope that maybe I could force it if it was only a few frogs off. FYI, it was more than a few.

back to square one

Sawed off the ends of the test piece and drilled two new holes. I then marked the width of the rail onto to the test leg. 

drilling the first hole

This side and the opposite one are the reference faces for this jig. I didn't use them when I drilled the third hole. Because of that I couldn't line the 3rd one up. On the leg I lined up the left side reference face with the top of the leg.

drilling the 2nd hole

I lined the right side reference face with the pencil line on the leg. This is the width of the rail. Drilled the 2nd hole.

dead on

It worked perfectly. There was zero misalignment between the holes on the two.

look Ma, no gaps

I'm using the dowels because chopping mortises for the tenons would be a bit awkward due to the dimensions of the leg. One mortise would be would be less than an inch long and it would run into the other one. Don't have that headache with the dowels.

Happy that I sorted this out. I've been thinking about it for a few days now.

my back up

If I couldn't figure this out I was doing to use these imperial dowel points. I also have a set of metric ones - why, I don't know but I had to have them.

ready to go

Ran my knife lines and darkened them with pencil. Thinking now that maybe I shouldn't have done this. If any of these have stupid wood tricks yet to spring on me, I'll have to do new knife lines.

Killed the lights here and headed out to get a coffee with the wife. Maybe I should get some ground coffee before the tariffs put it out of reach. Giving up coffee would be a ship to far for me to abandon. I wonder how the restaurant I have breakfast at every monday will deal with it?

accidental woodworker

Last weekend, my wife and I were antiquing in Dayton, Ohio, when we stopped in an antique store in Tipp City. I went into the back of the store when I saw this thing sitting on the shelf. I immediately knew exactly what it was as I owned one of these tools many years ago. It’s a No 40 Langdon Millers Falls Portable Mitre Box.

When I was a kid, I went to an Ohio Tool Collector Association meet-up and saw one of these miter boxes on a silent auction table. I thought it was cool as it was something I had never seen before. I put a silent auction bid of $20.00 and hoped for the best. Sure enough, I won the auction! The guy selling it wasn’t too happy about the price it received as he said that’s what he paid for it.

The tool is simple in its concept. There’s a fence that you clamp to a board and disc that you turn and set your angle with positive stops. You can even adjust the accuracy of the angle by adjusting the two screws on either side of the positive stop.

I wanted to try it out, so I grabbed a piece of scrap wood and clamped the miter gauge to it, then swung the fence to 45 degrees.

Since it’s made to be portable, the craftsman would just use a panel saw and cut the board while on the job site. The miter box is small enough that it would easily fit in a toolbox.

After I took a cut, I was surprised how accurate it was. That’s a pretty good 45 for trim carpentry work on a house.

Millers Falls made a compound angle version of this tool called the No 41, but I have never seen one in the wild.

I paid $15 for this miter box, which is cheaper than what I paid for the first one 35 years ago. People don’t know what these things are, so if you find one in the wild, chances are you’ll pick it up for a good price. I sold my first one years ago when I was unemployed and needed money. I really didn’t want to sell it back then as I thought I would never find another. Maybe the antique tool gods like me. 

 Got what the next two projects are going to be. Amanda thought of using the old back door as a desktop. I nixed that and said I would make Miles and Leo both a desk. Of course other than being a desk, I'll have to make the two of them different. Can't have them getting identical desks. The thoughts about making them have been transiting my brain bucket since I got the word on them this AM. Still working on massaging the blob of ideas into something coherent.

detour

This is the self in a cabinet I made last year(?). I didn't make any pockets for the shelf pins then so I'm doing it now.

where the shelf calls home

This is not the first time this has happened. What is that you ask? Well, when I take anything off the shelf it comes forward a little and a pin falls out, and the shelf comes crashing down. Annoying but it finally pissed me off enough to now end it this AM.

The pockets sit down and around the pins so when it is pulled forward slightly, no pins fall out and it stays in place. I double, triple, checked it 4 times to confirm that.

flush

I should have made the banding a wee bit wider. It is only a frog hair proud of the tile. Not a lot of meat left for clean up.

first one done

I glued and nailed the banding to the substrate. I clamped the miters to fully close them up. I let this cook a few hours before I removed the clamps.

2nd table substrate

I got a good fit on the miters on both of these. The clamps are more for insurance to provide a good bond on the miters.

ready for paint

I got a good fit on the miters on both of these. The left one is 1/8" wider and longer than the right one. Sawed the plywood board in half on the wrong side of the pencil line.

not going to be easy

I can already feel my OCD trying to downshift, and punch the accelerator to the floor. Both of these will use 140 of these irregular tiles to fill in the field. Along with the irregular tiles I will have to contend with irregular spacing between the tiles for grout.

This is the 2nd table that I'm making. My initial thoughts on it were to use black tiles around the perimeter and mix up the other colored tiles to fill between the black ones. I laid out one long and short side to eyeball that and I'm wavering now. I'll wait until I get the whole lot of tiles before I decide on what to do.

calling it done

I like this box but not the me-steaks I made on it. I learned a few things and I should do better (hopefully) the next time I try inlaid banding.

nope, not done

I saw a drip and tried to feather it out with 4-0 steel wool. I managed to do that and also to break off a piece of banding. I super glued that back down and put on another coat of shellac. Fingers crossed that tomorrow it will be done. I consider this to be below a 2nd but now maybe a bit too fancy to use as a shop box.

 accidental woodworker

 Since monday construction crews have been working on my street installing new gas lines. Today they finished up doing my house and the one directly across the street from me. There are 6 more to go so they'll be back on monday to finish it up. After they are done with my street (3 blocks long) another crew will be installing new gas meters and new gas lines on the inside of the house. It wasn't that bad other than the street being crowded and little noisy at times, no heartaches.

hmm.....

This confirms I'm brain dead. The 4 at the top didn't rock at all when I checked the reference face on the tablesaw. The lone one did rock a teeny bit but when I checked it with the sticks they said it was flat and straight.

no rocking

On this one board, it didn't rock on the rough planed face neither. All four of the top ones checked flat and twist free with the sticks. I did say I would toss this if any these showed any twist but I changed my mind. The amount of twist in one board was minimal. Maybe the boards are finally done doing stupid wood tricks? I'm going to move forward on that thought.

finally some good news

The two long ones on the right checked flat and straight with the sticks. I was a little surprised by that because I was expecting to sight over the sticks and see a pretzel. I sawed these two up because I needed two stretchers and one short rail.

ta da, happy times are here

I checked 9 boards and 6 were flat and straight. 3 had a little bit of twist, a ton less than what I saw on the first two rounds of planing. It took only a few wispy shavings to remove it. I now have a positive feeling about this stock. 

It will be a few more days before I get to use the lunchbox planer. I will only use it to surface the leg stock. All the rails and stretchers I will plane to thickness by hand - they are too short IMO to run through the planer.

done

The two short boards on the far right are the ones I planed a wee bit of twist out. I purposely set these apart from the others so I can check them again tomorrow.

ditto

The 3 top left stretcher/rails are the ones I planed twist off again. Separated these too for the same reason.

I saw this finish being used on a You Tube vid and I was impressed with how it looked. The big one is a blended tung oil finish and the smaller one is a wax topcoat. I will try it on a future project. The You Tuber used it on walnut but mine will most likely be pine.

hmm.....

It would appear that I dodged another bullet today. These sticks are destined for banding the table tops of the tiled tables. All of them look straight with no discernible twist, cup or bowing. 

prepping the screws

Sanding 10 of the screws that I am painting the heads on. None of the screw heads were ding or burr free. Sanded starting with 100 grit and ending with 220.

first of 3

I will put two coats on now. I'm sure that I'll need a 3rd one after driving them home on the kitchen ladder.

one down, one to go

I thought I would get at least one of these assembled today but it didn't happen boys and girls. The plan is to glue and nail 3 legs on and than plane and check the last leg until it fits.

done

I managed to get both sets rough sawn and fitted before 1500 rolled around. I am still taking my time working because my wrist doesn't ache anymore but I am having occasional drop-sees when I pick up things. It wasn't too bad doing these two.

love this color

The keepers are from a table top - it was solid mahogany. I love the chocolate brown color that develops in it after I apply shellac. I keep an eye on Facebook Market place for tables. I have gotten 3 since that one but the last 3 were all veneered. I used up the last bits of that table for the keepers and the top and bottom bandings.

accidental woodworker