General Woodworking

slow going.....

Accidental Woodworker -

 Getting the shellac on the cabinet is taking a wee bit longer than I thought it would. That works in my favor because I have nothing lined up to build next. Part of that is due to me not having any stock so if the weather is nice (not raining) this saturday I'll drive out to Gurney's Sawmill and get some 1x12 pine. In the interim I'll keep slugging away on the cabinet. I got the drawers and the shelves done, the cabinet carcass and the doors are bringing up the rear. Maybe by sunday I'll be doing some oohing and aahing.

 the wife wants them

Surprised that my wife asked for them but more so that she even noticed them. It looks like after 20+ years she can recognize piles of stock and what it is for.

 no more twist

The bottom had a wee bit and the top had none. Three coats of shellac and I'll be able to put the artist brushes in it.

 slightly off

I wanted the new box (on the bottom) to be the same size as the one on top. It works as is and fits in the hole reserved for them in the cabinet.

glued and cooking

The corners are mitered and glued with no reinforcements. I will let these cook until tomorrow. I don't have to shellac them because the wife wants to paint 'em.

I didn't want to

Ideally I wanted to leave the doors hinged to the carcass and apply the shellac. I had to fuss and fiddle a bit to get the top and bottom of the doors aligned and I didn't want to have to repeat those dance steps. I had to because I didn't sand the top and bottom end grain on the doors. The doors also had a spot that I wouldn't be able to get any shellac on because of the overhang top/bottom.

 Red Rose 3/8" beading plane

He sent me the invoice for this on tuesday and I got today. I didn't even get a shipping notice. From what he told he isn't going to be making beading planes as often as he did.

 3/8" makes three

I have three beading planes from Red Rose - 1/8", 1/4", and 3/8". I have a 3/16" beader from Caleb James. Caleb's plane is almost identical to the Red Rose ones. The only difference I can pick out is the way the size of the maker stamped on the toe and the boxing. (Caleb's plane is the second one from the top right)

 knobs from Lee Valley

The choices for hardware at Lee Valley have gone down. When I searched for these a lot of my choices were no longer available. Knobs aren't getting cheaper, this haul of ten knobs and it set me back $65. And that was with free shipping.

 two choices

The one I'm holding is 3/4" and the other is a 1". There is a big, visible difference between the two. I decided to use the 3/4" on this cabinet.

 door end grain

120 up to 220. It leaves the end grain smooth and the shellac looks good on it. 

 two coats

It was a little after 1500 and this is where I stopped for the day. I want the shellac to set up until tomorrow before I steel wool it and put on any more coats.

 carcass

I got 5 coats on the outside and one coat on the inside. I'll be stopping at 6 for the outside and 4 on the inside.

 honey do

My wife is getting bored because she doesn't have a dead person client right now. So she is painting anything that isn't running away from her. She couldn't get the screws out of this hinge so I got stuck doing it. Both screws were put in with by butcher. The right screw came out bent and the left one snapped off. These aren't the original hinges neither. They are too light weight for the size and weight of the doors. But my wife is insisting on reusing them.

 screw extractor

Both screws were driven in at an angle. That means I will have to drill the left hole at an angle to get the broken screw out. I saved that fun for the AM.

accidental woodworker

shellac time......

Accidental Woodworker -

 I saw my first robin of the year while walking through the Wally World parking lot. Here in RI, a robin is confirmation that spring is here. I don't remember seeing one this early (especially feb) and I didn't see any more on the rest of the way home. The mercury pushed the temp up 52F (11C) which is above the norm for feb but IMO temp norms are Out To Lunch (OTL). There isn't any rain or snow forecasted going well into next week.

hmm......

I have a margin around the sides and top on both drawers. In spite of that I could feel air coming against me as I pushed the drawers in. The left was hard to pull out from the fully closed position. Not what I wanted with these drawers. They are small and it was a PITA to open and close them.

 solution

I drilled two holes at the back of each drawer opening. That eliminated all the air being pushed out around the drawer. The left drawer also was much easier to open when fully shut. I might drill one more hole in the middle but I can do that after the shellac is done.

in between drying

The brushes in the box on the right are ones that I have used for shellac and paint. I made one to hold the brushes I bought the other day. I will stack the boxes in the cabinet once the glue has cooked.

 3 more

Didn't get to these 3 but I am not done applying the shellac neither. I got 4 coats on the new cabinet today leaving an hour or more between coats. I didn't get any on the dresser. I am not sure if this is going to be painted by Amanda and I don't want to expend the calories applying shellac to it.

accidental woodworker

Another Shaker Two-Step Stool

Woodworking in a Tiny Shop -

Some neighbors in my development are moving into a new unit soon and they're renovating the kitchen (among other things), so they offered me the wood from the old kitchen cabinets.  Seems like lots of places built in the '80s used red oak for the cabinets.  I got the cabinet face frames, as well as the rails and stiles from all the cabinet doors.  And a few drawer fronts.

It's good juju to make something for those who give me free wood, so I'm making them this Shaker two-step stool.  I've made a few of these before, so this project is nothing new for me.

A small selection of the face frame wood

Here's parts for the stool - the wider panels were glued up from smaller sticks

Laying out the dovetails

Dry assembling the first corner

Cute curls from relieved edges that ease the DTs into the pins

Lower step and upper step dry-fitted separately

I dovetailed the steps to their respective sides before gluing up the sides because it's easier to do it this way.  When I was satisfied with the fit, I sawed and planed the angles on the front and back.  Then I moved on to fitting the rails.

Because the front of the lower step is angled back, it's a little more complicated to fit the lower front rail.  The rail has a half-dovetail, and its upper edge has to be planed at an angle to match the baseline of the tail board.  I made sure to make the part proud of the tail board baseline so that I could plane down to it later.

This rail will be recessed into the front edge of the side

The top edge of that rail must have an angle to allow
 the step to sit flush with the side

The front rail for the upper step is much easier - there is no angle to deal with.

Here's the upper front rail in its position

The upper edge of that rail must be in the same plane as the baseline of the pin board

Here's the back rail fitted into it sockets.  This one is much easier to cut and fit.

With those things done, I could finally glue up the sides.  After the glue dried, I cut out the part-circle on the bottom to create feet.

Gluing up one side

Before the overall glue-up, I needed to do some shaping.  The front rails got a curve in their lower edge.  The rear rail got curves on upper and lower edges.

The glue-up went in two stages.  First, the lower step and lower front rail
were done.  Then (shown here) the upper step, upper front rail and back rail were glued.

Out of the clamps and in need of some joint clean-up

It takes some creative clamping to be able to clean up the joints

Here's the upper left corner - very pleased with how it came out

I gave the stool three coats of shellac (two on the underside), sanding between coats.  And here's the finished product.

Glamour shot


Small Dresser 3: Planing

JKM Woodworking -

It’s been a while since last update. Cold weather minimizes working time and also leads to school closures and altered schedules. I have also been working on other areas of the blog like a list of links and a contact form.

pine secondary wood

I purchased some pine from the big box store. The beaded pieces will be used for the back, while the 1/2″ thick pieces will be drawer backs.

The biggest update since last visit is I have purchased a 12 1/2″ planer. So some of my time has been spent practicing and learning. One way to practice was to plane all of the divider pieces. They started out 3/4″ or thicker.

planed divider pieces

I meant to make them 1/2″ but they came out slightly thinner.

I wanted eight of the pieces to be a matching length. I picked the shortest one and squared up its ends on a shooting board. I used this one piece to mark all the other pieces. They all required trimming followed by shooting. These eight pieces will be the long dividers going side-to-side. Any front-to-back drawer runners or kickers will be cut to fit later.

trimming dividers to length

As for the dresser sides, they cupped more after I set them indoors to acclimate. I decided to rip them, plane them, and try to glue them back straighter.

ripped to fit through planer

The sides were almost an inch thick and I planed them down to 3/4″. After reading a Stan Covington blog post I tried jointing them on their sides rather than upright in a vise. This method assumes some flat surfaces and a straight plane blade, but less fussy than a vise.

edge jointing on side

This worked well and I was able to reglue the sides much straighter.

Next I clamped the two side pieces together to make sure they were the same dimensions, their edges were straight, and the corners were square.

For the bottom I cut out a small curve. Both side pieces will be cut at once. Later I will add a toekick to the front with a similar curve.

layout curved bottom

I cut out the curve with a coping saw. A few cross cuts are made to allow smaller pieces to fall out and to give pauses to reorient the saw.

cutting out curve

To clean up I use rasps and files. Years ago I bought a pack of rasps and files for about $9, maybe from harbor freight. As I learned which ones I used the most I replaced them with better ones. In the picture, the top most file is a cheapy. I use it like metal sandpaper. The bottom rasp is from Lee Valley. The middle one is my favorite, again from Lee Valley, the Japanese Milled Tooth File. It is aggressive like a rasp but leaves a smoother surface. To smooth these curves I would use an aggressive one first to smooth out the bumps and irregular sawcut, then follow up with the fine file.

cleanup with rasps and files

So that brings us to the present. The sides are square and dimensioned. The crossways dividers are ready. The next step(s) will be to mark and join and install all of the dividers and drawer supports.

how to ruin your day.......

Accidental Woodworker -

 After playing with the new cabinet as much as I could I went on a road trip to Lowes. Before Lowes I stopped at Starbucks to get some ground coffee and that is where I ruined my day. I was backing out and someone else was trying to park. I hit his rear quarter panel on his passenger side. I assumed that since this was private property a cop wouldn't respond but I was wrong. The cop showed up about 40 minutes after the other driver called.

I got a break from the cop because not only didn't I have my current registration, I also didn't have my proof of insurance card. The cop asked me if they were current and he was happy when I said yes (I showed him 4 previous registrations/insurance cards). I've been ticketed twice for not having a proof of insurance card in the truck. It sucks I got into a fender bender but I saved myself a day sitting in traffic court and having to pay a fine.

After getting off the phone with my insurance a sense of dread came over me. I had a fender bender about 6 years ago and a major accident 12 years ago. All I could think of was the insurance company either dropping me, making me to pay for the accident by increasing my premium, or putting me in a pool. I'll have to sweat it out until july when it comes times to renew.

 last night

I couldn't wait until this AM so last night after dinner I went back to shop. I sanded the whole carving and it got 95% of the smudges and bleed over. I painted the leaves that the sanding removed some of them down to bare wood. 

 magnet cups

This went off smoothly. For whatever reason I seem to make the absolute most brain dead me-steaks installing these magnets. Both cups ended up flush with the door stop rail.

 happy face on

I had two choices for securing the magnet cups. First was epoxy and the second one was a screw. I opted for the screw in case of any repair or change down the road.

 3 3/4 for 4

The left door cup is flush with the door. The right one was a frog hair below it. It worked and the door got pulled in by the magnet. I ended up putting a shim under the magnet to flush it with the door.

 hmm.....

I wanted to put a magnet cup here. There wasn't any room for two but there was room for one of them.

 not going to work

There isn't enough real estate for the magnet trick to work here. The rabbet is interfering with 100% attraction with either door.

 yikes

The gap at the bottom is wide enough to throw a dog through it. The top gap is barely the width of a piece of paper. I can't add wood to the bottom so I had to redo the hinges again. I did entertain the thought of putting a cock bead on the bottom and top and in hindsight I should have done that. It would have been a good excuse to buy a cock beading plane from Red Rose Reproductions.

 perfect

I put one at the top and another one at the bottom and I didn't have to make any adjustments. The doors fit between them with a slip fit. I did my tape and super glue with accelerator trick again.

 3rd go around
Practice makes for better results. This time I didn't have any slipping or the door coming off the hinges. Drilled my pilot holes and screwed the doors on.


 

 better looking gap

The gap at the top and bottom is identical or at least it looks to be identical to the eye.

 tight

The face side of the rabbet at the top is rubbing and the rabbet underneath is copying it. I put extra tape on the hinges/door and that moved the doors inboard slightly. I used my bullnose plane to open up the face margin and the rabbet underneath it.

 )(^&*^%@$#&O%)&@

The hinge is hinge bound because there is no countersink on this side of the hinge leaf for the screws. I tired to cut a countersink in it but there isn't that much meat to support a countersink deeper than I should have made it. The screw heads are hitting the 'no mortise' void not allowing the hinge leaf to lay completely flat on the side. It was also not allowing the magnet to pull the door closed.

 7/16" hole

It was easy to see where to drill for the hole - the screw heads left an impression in the wood. Only the left hand hinge had this headache - the right one is fine even though the screw heads are proud.

 worth $4 to $6

This is the last year that the US minted silver quarters. This is also a Philadelphia minted quarter which is rarer than a Denver minted one (according google). Maybe it is a portent that my luck is about to change?

 maybe not

Had a brain fart and cut the back short on the width. I rarely measure for things like this and instead rely on marking it directly. I didn't do that here and I ended up with a back a 1/4" short on the width. So the back did end up being two pieces like I tried to make do with yesterday.

 ready for shellac

I can get the shellac on this and the 15 drawer dresser at the same time. Lee Valley hasn't shipped my knobs yet but that is something I can put on after the finish. 

accidental woodworker

can't hear shxxx......

Accidental Woodworker -

 It has been 7 years since my last hearing test - two years overdue. I didn't get the memo to schedule it every five years. There were a few new tests on this hearing exam that I didn't recall from the previous one. The audiologist says that it was basically the same but with one new test and better technology to diagnose the level of hearing loss.

My wife told me that I can't hear shit (her exact words) and the audiologist seconded it. In four to six weeks I'll have the new ones and the ones I have now will be back ups I'll keep in the shop. Looking forward to being able to listen to the TV without the volume vibrating the windows. The new hearing aids will have 3x the power of the previous ones.

The whole shop day got pissed down the toilet with the audio appointment and subsequent running around after it doing errands. Got back to the barn just before lunch and I didn't get to the shop until almost two. I wasted an hour on the phone canceling a newspaper digital subscription and then trying to reschedule a canceled medical appointment. Nice to be retired and not having a gun to my head to finish things.

 first two colors

Brown for the branches and base color of green for the leaves. I hope that the doors align properly and the branch flows from door to door. There is a slight gap between them so that will be a fudge factor for a small error.

 vein color

The veins don't stand out on the green paint that much. I am going to paint them a lighter color green to accentuate them. It didn't like me laying down over the still wet base green. I'll have to wait for that to dry before I paint the veins.

After the painting is done I'll sand both doors hoping that I can sand off the green and brown smudges. If not I'll leave it as a background aura. I plan on putting 5-6 coats of shellac on the doors and the rest of the cabinet.

I didn't make it Lowes today because I have two tires that aren't holding air. It seems that after 3-4 weeks I have to refill them. This time is has been only about 2 weeks. I have to schedule a oil change so I'll have them check the tires. Most likely it is the bead needs to cleaned.

accidental woodworker

week two......

Accidental Woodworker -

 Last week I walked for about an hour everyday monday through saturday. I would have ambled on sunday but I went to Woodcraft in Walpole instead. Felt good to be able to walk again and without any pain especially with the right foot. Today I walked for almost 2hours. The first hill I walked up at first didn't seem to present any problems but when I got on flat going I was out of breath. I didn't feel that way walking up it but afterwards. Seems I am a wee bit out of shape.

The plan now is add about 30 minutes more to my post lunch strolls for the rest of the week. I will repeat it the week after and then make a choice whether or not to start strolling post breakfast. 

Tomorrow I have an audiology appointment at 0800 which sucks pond scum. That is smack double in school buses and rush hour traffic time. I plan on leaving my house at 0630 and I'll bring a book and read at the coffee shop until my appointment.

 2nd drawer slips

I have to remove the top portion of the slip so it fits under the back bottom.

 notched

The 1/8" plywood drawer bottom will align with the bottom of the back with the notch saddling it.

 yesterday on the left, today on the right

Yesterday I marked the back wrong off the slip and the slips ended up beneath the drawer sides. Today I got it right. The slips are proud of the sides/front and after the glue has set I'll plane it flush.

missed it

This should be a pic of the supplied screws with them sitting proud of the hinge. The screw countersink doesn't match the countersink in the hinge. The screw is too large and the hinge countersink is almost non existent.

another headache

The countersinks in the hinges are on the wrong sides besides being too )(^^%%^*&@$) small.

 old screws

These are from my other no mortise hinges and they fit. I used a hand countersink to enlarge the ones in the hinges and the screw head is now flush or just bit below.

 drats, and double drats

The first hinge and it bit me on the arse. The top pilot hole wasn't centered and when the screw was tightened down it pulled the hinge to right. I thought I could hold the hinge in the correct orientation but I lost that battle. Filled in the hole and drilled it again.

survived

Got all four hinges secured to the sides. The front edge of them is aligned with the inside edge of the sides. Time to screw the 2nd leaves to the doors.

 fingers crossed

Thought of this while walking last week. Tape on the 2nd leaves and tape on the door where the leaves will screwed. Super glue on the leaves and accelerator on the doors.

hmmm.....

It appeared to be working. I could open and close both doors. I didn't go nutso and treated it very gently.

 happy with the fit

Before I screwed the hinge leaves I checked the margins top and bottom. The gap on the doors needs to tweaked a bit and I'll do that after the doors are finished. I taped a couple of pieces of veneer under the right door to set the margin.

 spoke too soon

The left door came off in my hands when I opened it again (3rd time). I thought it wasn't the end of the world because I was going to do the right door first. When I opened the right door it too let go of the hinges. The glue bond was fine, it was the blue tape on the doors that couldn't handle the weight of the doors.

 duct tape

I tried duct tape for the next attempt and it was a dismal failure. The super glue wouldn't stick to the the duct tape. The surface of it is shiny, slick, and super glue doesn't like it.

 shifted on me

I used wide  (1 1/2") blue painters tape for the third attempt and that worked. I put one piece horizontally and 3 pieces vertically and they held. However, I was so focused on the the glue job I missed that I had put the doors on with them butting against the top.

I marked the top with a piece of scrap that was a little less than 1/8" thick. I then planed the tops down to the pencil lines. The gap at the top isn't as wide but I think it'll be ok as is. If not I can also plane a wee bit more off it.

 this close

It is barely 4 frog hairs past the door stop. I really wanted to use this knob. I had a back up plan that I would cut a finger grab on the top edge of the drawers to open/close them.

solution

The knob is now behind the front of the sides and the drawer stop. I drilled a 1/8" deep hole for the knob to sit in.

 done

I like the knobs more than the finger grab. I thought I had some larger ones like this but I don't. I ordered 8 more knobs like this from Lee Valley. Same finish and style but in 3 different sizes. They are coming ?

 1/4" too short

I thought I might have been able to get the back on with two pieces of 1/4" plywood. The second larger piece was a 1/4" too short. And it was the largest piece of 1/4" plywood I had too. I'll be making a road trip to Lowes tomorrow.

the motif

This will be my first carving of leaf/branches thing. I have carved some things before but those were moldings and matching broken carvings. This is the motif and it is ready, set, go. I free hand drew it over the two doors.

 done

Forgot to snap any pics of the actual carving but I got it done. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I only had one glitch (on the left) when I had to carve straight across the grain. The chisel was sharp but it didn't like cutting across the grain. Not much I could about it and I turned the blow out on the cross grain into a bud. FYI an eraser doesn't work on boo boos like this.

 Wally World run

I am thinking of painting the motif but I didn't have any small paint brushes. Got 25 of them at Wally World for $8. I three small acrylic paints for 58 cents each. I was on the fence with painting or leaving it as is and covering it with shellac but I think having it painted against the pine back ground will look better.

I tried a couple of other choices before I went to Wally World. Brown Leather dye was the first failure. I bled through into the surrounding wood of the branch. Second choice was Van Dyke brown paint which wasn't much better than the dye. It might of worked but I don't know how to thin it because it was thick and wouldn't lay down with a paint brush.

 looks ugly

It was too late to paint this now. Besides I have to let what I did already dry before I can use the acrylic paints.

accidental woodworker

road trip......

Accidental Woodworker -

 The local Woodcraft store in RI lost its lease several years ago. The owners of the franchise either didn't want to find another store to lease or they just said No Mas. The closest Woodcraft to me now is in Walpole Ma which is 46 miles one way from my house. I went there today to get some hinges. ACE, Lowes, and Home Depot didn't have any no mortise hinges (I couldn't find any at Lowes/HD). The ones at ACE were too large for my application. It was a nice change of scenery for a sunday for me.

fits

I went with a generous margin on the sides and the top. The drawer will be partially under the shelf and I don't want it to bind on me.

 dry fit but.....

It went together off the saw and it is now something that I expect to happen. The back edge needs to be trimmed some. I purposely it wide until after the drawer was together and I could mark for where the drawer slip would be placed.

 2nd dry fit

I made a slight error in marking the drawer slip making the back about an 1/8" too short. No biggie and it will never be seen and it if is seen, I doubt anyone would question it. Got this one glued and cooking before lunch. After lunch I went on my road trip.

 bought them all

I would have bought more of the far left hinge but the two packages left didn't have any screws (typical for chinese made hinges). The next two to the right are for the current cabinet build and the other 3 will go in the hinge bin.

 the 2nd drawer

Got a good fit and I did better on the half pins this go around. The first drawer was as good fitting as this one.

 gap on the left

Still clueless as to why it is the left side half pin that I have gaps with. I get them on the right too but the ratio for that is 10 to 1 or better.

back trim needed

I sawed off most of the waste and left it a bit proud on both drawers. After they have cooked I will flush them to the sides.

 fits backwards

Because the back top is proud, it wouldn't fit in the drawer going in the correct way.

 glued and cooking

#2 needed some assistance from the clamps. A couple of the tails weren't fully seating. The clamps closed up the gaps. 

I met my goal of getting the drawers glued and cooking today. I will do the slips tomorrow and tackle getting the hinges on the doors. I also have to figure out knobs or something else for opening/closing the two drawers.

accidental woodworker

doors......

Accidental Woodworker -

 We finally had a sunny day. The past week plus has been filled with gray overcast cloudy days usually with rain. The temp wasn't that warm (39F/4C) but it was nice walking weather. Tomorrow and monday is supposed to be sunny too but the temps are only going to be in the high 30s to low 40s F (4-6C). I'll take the days as they come.

 happy face on

The bottom of the doors are laying on the stop and they ain't rocking or moving at all. I tried this last night before I hit the rack. I couldn't wait until the AM to check it out.

 proud

The doors aren't flush but the amount of proud is pretty even top to bottom. I planed the rabbets a wee bit deeper to flush the doors.

 gap is too small

You would have thought I would ever say that a gap is too small? I want a gap here so the doors will swing open/close freely.  The top and bottom overhang may play stupid wood tricks and curl downward into the door's swing zone.

 door stop

With the rabbet in both doors, they both fully share the 3/4" width of it.

bottom fit

There will be gap at the bottom of the doors too but the bottom doesn't have a door stop rail to hide it like the top does. The first step was to plane the bottom edges of the doors parallel to the bottom of the carcass.

 good enough for now

The gap is slightly larger at the top than the bottom. I am holding off on the final gap until after the hinges are installed. That way I will have a better idea of the door swing and how much clearance I need.

 not my first choice

Going with no mortise hinges due to the thickness of the doors (5/8"). The screws going into the door will have to be shortened as they are too long as is.

 pencil line

The tops of doors aren't straight across with each other (left was higher). The pencil line is parallel to the underside of the top and that is what I planed the two doors down to.

 don't like these hinges

The biggest headache I have with these hinges (especially ones from China) are the screws supplied with them.The countersink in hinges is usually too small or non existent. Impossible for the hinges to close fully. I experimented and practiced screwing the hinges together. I want to work any bugs out in scrap before I commit to the doors.

The first one I did a slight mortise for the hinge and it didn't work. I made it a frog hair shy of the thickness of the hinge but it was still hinge bound. On to experiment #2.

 gap

This gap is acceptable because it won't be seen as you face the cabinet and use it. It isn't that big and the two hinges make it consistent top to bottom.

The hinge barrel isn't making full contact along its length with the edge. One screw didn't go in dead nuts even and plumb. That kicked one corner of the hinge barrel off the edge. This would also cause headaches with opening/closing the doors.

 Stanley hinge gizmo

This sits in the countersink and you hit it with a hammer. Supposedly the gizmo self centers in the countersink. Hitting it sends a rod into the hinge hole and a punched hole for the screw. It didn't work for me. One hole was centered but the other one was offset and in the wrong direction.

 left hole

Definitely not even remotely centered. A screw in this would skew this half of the hinge. I think the problem with the Stanley gizmo is that it is a wee bit too big for this countersink.

 blurry pic

Let me decipher it for you. The left side of the hinge is kicked up a 32nd or more. That makes this hinge toast IMO.

 3rd attempt

Still missing the target. The short leaf part of the hinge is slightly off and there is a misalignment between the two wooden parts. It is slight but it is enough to show up and make the doors look like crap.

 4th try

I double, triple checked to make sure that my pre drilled hole was centered and  that I screwed in the screw as plumb as I possibly could do it.

 hinge leaf is wonky

The two hinge pairs aren't the same but they are close. This set of two has both hinges with a bend in them. Which is another headache with these no mortise hinges or these ones. The metal isn't that stiff and I have seen tightening the screw dish the hinge leaves. I flattened this set out on the anvil and then decided that I didn't mix and match these hinges. 

 hinge choice #3

I am not a fan of laying hinges on the outside edges and having the entire hinge exposed. These are ok-ish and would work but I nixed them. They are stopped hinges and I want to be able to fully open the doors on this cabinet.

 hinge choice #4

I wouldn't be averse to using Soss hinges on this cabinet but the doors are too thin. The only drill bit I have to install these is a brad point bit and the center point and spurs would punch through to the other side. I have 8mm Soss hinges but they aren't strong enough to handle the size of the doors.

red neck clamping

It worked so don't laugh at me. I needed to plane a rabbet on the sides for the half blind dovetails for the drawers.

 went the wrong way

I confused myself on this wanting to minimize the amount of end grain showing. I should have made the two tails wider. Instead I made the pin socket bigger. I'll finish up the drawers in the AM. I killed the lights here.

accidental woodworker

where's winter.........

Accidental Woodworker -

 Today is ground hog day. I haven't checked in with Punxsutawney Phil yet to see what the next 6 weeks are going to be like. I can't imagine it being any worse than what the proceeding 5-6 weeks have been. On my walks I have seen trees and shrubs already starting to bud. Not complaining but winters sure haven't been what I remember as a kid. I can still recall snow and frozen ponds after thanksgiving.

 ready to unclamp

I bought a roll of garbage bags for this box and I can't find them. I can remember sledding as a 8 year old but not where I put garbage bags less than 24 hours previously.

#2 ready to shed clamps

No surprises taking the clamps off of the cabinet. I thought I might have had a hiccup with the fixed shelf. I only got a clamp on the front edge and nothing on the back. There is a gap there but I can't see if there is one at the front.

on a clean bench

One habit I have gotten into is putting away tools on the bench before I kill the lights. I have lost a few small tools in the past and I don't want to repeat of any of that. If the bench had been dirty and covered with shavings, I would have put away all the toys first.

fingers crossed with the doors

doesn't look promising

The left looks to be straight but the right one appears to have some run out at the far end.

 nope

The doors aren't even and flush across the faces. The proud runs from flush at the bottom to almost an 1/8" inch at the top. After snapping this pic I realized that the left one was laying on the hamper's hinges.

 lots of real estate

I made the bottom a little wider than necessary. I did it so after the doors are opened one could put spice jars there while searching.

looks are deceiving

The doors look good vertically but they aren't. Both of them are rocking. I was expecting one to ok and one toast but not both.

top door stop rail

I am not gluing this in place. I may have to take it out to install magnets for the holding the door(s) closed.

 big arse gap

Both doors are rocking with the left door being the worse one.

right door

It lays flat on the top edge of the side. I have it aligned with it and it looks to be square/parallel to the top and bottom. 

not twisted

I put my 3 foot winding sticks across the top and bottom of the cabinet. I don't see any twist in the carcass. Wanted to check and make sure the cabinet wasn't shaking hands with the doors.

 garbage box

The bottom was twist free but the top wasn't. Two runs around the top with a plane removed the high corners.

 shelf pins

I have had made a lot of pine bookcases end up with ugly shelf pin holes. Soft pine doesn't support the plain pin and it will eventually elongate the hole. I like the shelf pin cups and I glued them into the holes with fish glue.

 hmm.....

I didn't think this all the way through. I wanted the shelves to be inset from the front edge by a 1/2". That puts the shelf pin way too close to the front edge of the shelf. Moving the shelf pin inboard isn't an option so I made two new shelves.

 small notch

I like to notch the underside of the shelves for the pins. It keeps the shelf in place and keeps it from moving when things are taken or placed on it.

 problem

There is nothing at the bottom of the cabinet to act as a stop for the doors. In fact the right hand door has barely any rocking at all. It was falling down here at the bottom when I was checking it. I am going to try and make the doors work as is. I have had to deal with worse situations than this.

 door switch

The rabbet plane fence moved on me during the first run down this door.  This was the right door and was underneath door. I am planing a rabbet on both edges so you can't see past them into the cabinet when the doors are closed. So the right door will now be the left one and the left one promoted to the right.

 right door is proud

I was ready to give up these doors. Trying to fit two wonky doors can have you sitting in a corner crying real fast. On the bright side the 1/2 notch came out spot on. The doors are flush to the outside edges and there is a 32nd of a gap where the doors meet.

another twist test

I laid the level at 4 spots going from the top to the bottom. The level read the same at all four spots. That told me that the frame isn't twisted because if it was the level would not have read the same.

 needs to be built out

Another thing I didn't think all the way through. I should have made the bottom shelf flush with the front edge - that would have been a continuous door stop like at the top.

 sawing out a door stop

I didn't want the door stop to be a square piece of scrap. I wanted something with curves and this is want I came up with.

 I like it

Can't use this one because it is too thick. It a 1/4" too thick and I didn't think of this before I sawed it out. 

 used the second half

The offcut from it was spot on for the thickness. To my eye this looks a 100% better than a square piece of stock.

too short

I feel like I'm writing a three bears story. First it was too fat and now it isn't tall enough.

 ????

Noticed this while making this door stop. If I make it taller it will hide this hiccup. It looks like a clamp divot?

 better

The new one in place and the second one I made to the right.

 drawer stock

The front is a 1/2" thick and the sides and backs are 3/8". The thin rectangular pieces are the drawer slips. I made an extra set of them because I am thinking of  two different slips. Haven't decided on which one yet.

 first idea

Is to make these slips like the ones on the 15 drawer dresser. Idea #2 is to make the bottom panel flush with the slip.

it will be done today

I have 2 coats on it now and I'll put on two more before I hit the rack. I don't have to find where I hid my garbage bags because the wife bought some.

 ready for shellac

I am tempted to mix up some more gossamer shellac so all the drawers look the same color on the interiors. But when the drawers are closed I don't think to do it. Film and updates on the 11o'clock news.

accidental woodworker

new cabinet day three.......

Accidental Woodworker -

 Things are moving along well with the new cabinet. I was going to use it as a spice cabinet but now I'm not so sure about that. I think spice cabinets should be open so spices can be seen and readily accessed. This could be a spice cabinet but I think it would be used for bulk storage of them. Spices that you don't need frequently so they can be behind doors unseen. In the end whoever gets this will decide on it will be used for.

 hmm.....

Need to remove some of this so I can slide in the drawer separator.

 gone

I sanded the dent I steamed yesterday and sanded (180 grit) all the roughness away. I can't see where the dent was now. I found another one on the other side that I'll try steaming it out too.

 gap

With the back of the shelf flush with the rabbet, there is a small gap at the rounded over front edge.

 glued on another piece

I added a second 1/8" thick piece of pine. I thought of sawing off the first one and gluing on one thicker piece. Nixed that because I had the second piece already (left over from the first one) and this fix is at the back of the shelf. I won't be readily seen so I am doing it this way.

awesome

I don't sand much as I usually rely on planed surfaces. However, I do use a sander and this cordless sander is the cat's meow IMO. The model and manufacturer doesn't matter to me. It is the convenience of onboard dust collection and it being cordless that raises it to the nth level of awesomeness. I wish the Bosch cordless sander hadn't gone south on me. I got the Dewalt because it is made by Stanley who lives one state over from me.

survived

Looks complicated with all the clamps going in every which way but it wasn't that bad. Nothing went airborne and I didn't utter one expletive. I glued up the entire cabinet. I was going to dry fit the bottom shelf and separator but decided against that. My reasoning was it would help with gluing the cabinet up square.

 3 coats

Just need for the shellac to dry and I can put them in the dresser.

 almost 50 years old

This is a brick of wax that I got from the first sub I served on in 1977 (USS Cavalla SSN684). This brick was used in the ship's sonar dome somewhere (got it from the yard rats). Used it to wax the bottom of all of the drawers except the last two. I'll do them tomorrow.

 

 left or right door

Got the reference face flat, straight, and twist free. Before I did its other face I did the opposite door. I needed to do it before I could pick a thickness for the two of them.

 ditto

Reference face done on the other door and I was able to get a 5/8" thickness for both doors. I stickered both doors until tomorrow. I think one door is going to be ok but its sibling may be toast. It was already starting to develop a bow in it. I'll find out tomorrow what I got to work with.

 need a new box

I made a garbage bag dispenser last year but it went south on me. The bags wouldn't continually feed out through the slot in the box. I tried making a new lid and a few other things but none of them worked. This box will hold one roll of garbage bags and will not have a lid or a slot for the bags to feed through.

Sawed some scrap pieces of pine left over from the cabinet build. I used the Ryobi saw to remove the thin web still attached.

 21 minutes 45 seconds

That is how long it took me to do this according to YouTube. I chopped the tails and sawed the shoulders on the pins in this time. I was listening to a female comedian and this was how long her set was. I can remember 14 years ago where it took me 8 hours or more to dovetail a box.

 less than an hour

Box is dry fitted and went together off the saw in about 54 minutes.

 glued and cooking

Still got it cooking in less than an hour. I have always thought of dovetails as the epitome of woodworking. Now it is just the best woodworking joint for corners but I still think highly of it. It has taken me a while to get this level of ease with doing it but it makes me smile when I look back over the journey to get here.

 until tomorrow

I was tempted to take the clamps off it. The cabinet had been in them for several hours but I resisted the urge. I can be patient about some things in spite of what my wife thinks.

accidental woodworker

new cabinet day two.......

Accidental Woodworker -

Third day in a row I've gone for a post lunch stroll. It has only been about 2-3 miles but I have survived them. No pain in my right heel and I am a wee bit out of shape. Today I pushed it and added another mile and I felt it. I wasn't panting and out of breath but I was feeling it. In spite of that it felt good to be able to take a walk. It is still mindless wandering at times but I don't expect that to change. However, I have solved a multitude of problems plaguing the world. Just need to get someone to pick up on them.

 drill guide

There is a six inch dead space at the top and bottom. The largest spice jar my wife has is shy of 6".

 made a second one

The two rows are spaced 1" and 2" from the left edge. I was going to use the 2" off set but it was too far into the cabinet side. I did all four rows 1" in from the edge.


 

 )(^)(*&%&#%__^&%$@@&^%$*^&^$#%%^

I used the block to set the depth of the hole. The block and drill conspired against me I blew out three holes. This is the outside where there shouldn't be any through holes. The block being pressed against the chuck loosened it somehow and the drill bit slipped out away from the chuck causing it to blow through the side. 

It didn't feel right after the first one but I ignored it because I had the block controlling the depth. After the third one I knew something wasn't right.

dutchman

I could make a new side but I didn't want to if I could avoid it. I fussed and fumed about trying to find a piece of pine to match this as best I could.

 done

I slightly skewed the dutchman to run parallel with the grain of the side.

 promising

The fit is going to be snug and I didn't see any gaps. I thought I would because the marking knife wandered off a little into the good wood.

 can you see it?

I was happy as a clam at low tide. I snapped this pic about 18-24" from the dutchman.

 about 10" away
I can see it here along with a teeny weeny gap.

 round overs

Decided to put a small round over on the shelves. My first choice was a chamfer but I lose less real estate with a round over.

door stop rail

 This rail will be the top stop for the doors. Rounded over the bottom front edge to soften it a bit.

 oops

It seems I rounded over the wrong edge on the first shelf. Instead of it being at the top front edge, I put it on the top back edge. I rounded over the correct edge and I was going to leave this as is. There would have been a small gap at the back of the shelf and shouldn't be that visible.

sometimes you get real lucky

That small piece of brass is the stop for holding the iron in this router. I just happened to look down and see it on the deck. I could have made a new one easily but if I don't have to.....

 bottom shelf

I sawed a piece off the back edge - just enough to remove the round over. I glued on a scrap of pine equal to the thickness of it.

 delay

This is delaying gluing the cabinet carcass up. I'll let this cook until tomorrow.

 can you pick it out?

Hint - it is the left one that has the dutchman. I blew this up to the max in the computer I couldn't find it. Fingers crossed that the shellac doesn't pop it.

 wife wasn't home

I thought I had bought an iron but as usual I had no idea where I had hid it. This iron was confusing to figure out so I (think) put on the highest heat setting. 

 worth a try

I didn't have much hope that this would work. This dent is probably older then 4-5 days and I thought it wouldn't budge. I wet the dent and that raised it some which surprised me a lot. I put this wet kitchen towel over it and ironed until the kitchen towel dried some.

it is gone

Totally surprised by this. I was not expecting this iron/wet rag trick to bear fruit. The area is rough but that is due to the water raising the grain. I couldn't feel the dent anymore and the flashlight said this whole area is flat now. There weren't any shadows (showing the dent) when I moved the flashlight 360.

I got 3 coats of shellac on the last big drawer. The last two smaller drawers got one coat and I'll finish them tomorrow. I will then sand the 'dent' side and start applying shellac to it.

accidental woodworker

Robert Towell - Inventor of the Infill Panel Plane

Tools For Working Wood -

Robert Towell - Inventor of the Infill Panel Plane 1

Inventors often don't know what they're doing until they have done it. And that's why there's usually a flurry of innovation in the beginning when people figure stuff out - and then the design settles down.
I have written previously about Robert Towell (1790-1871), who is considered the first professional metal plane maker. He worked in London c. 1810-1863. Many of his planes were made for other brands, but there are a fair number of planes stamped with his logo. His first metal planes were miter planes and were much like everyone else's miter planes. Then Towell started making rebate planes. I don't know if he was the inventor of that design, but sometime probably in the 1830s - 1840s, Towell realized that most people were using their miter planes like regular bench planes. Ergonomically miter planes sucked, as there was just no place to properly grab a miter plane and put power behind it. Towell made some of the first metal panel planes, including the one in these photos. The actual shape of his panel plane wasn't new - it existed in wood for over a century previously - but making it out of metal was an innovation. However, and this goes back to the point I made at the start of this blog post, being a pioneer meant that Towell had no idea what he was doing, and his early panel planes were built like miter planes.
The flipping of the iron to a bevel down position raises the bed angle of the plane and thereby leaves space for a nice handle right behind the iron. Towell still used a tapered iron and a fitted wedge like all bench planes had because the lever cap wouldn't be invented for another decade or so. But that makes sense.

On a miter plane, the super fine mouth is made by filing a tongue-and-groove joint on edges of the sole and fitting them together. With a bevel down panel plane, the mouths are very wide, so later makers just made their soles out of a single piece and cut a big opening for the blade in the sole. Towell, not knowing any better at this time, made his sole exactly like a miter plane and tongue-and-grooved the sides together.
One the bottom you can see the tongue-and-groove joint in a miter plane. On the top is the same joint on the panel planeOne the bottom you can see the tongue-and-groove joint in a miter plane. On the top is the same joint on the panel plane

The back of a miter plane is made by bending an iron strip to form a rounded back and sides. The wooden infill in the back is mostly just a bed for the blade and isn't part of the structure. Towell's panel plane is made the same way, and the sides are a single piece bent around the back. Later panel planes had separate side pieces and open back, and the sides were dovetailed to the sole and also screwed into the infill on the side. With an open back, the tail of the plane is a lot lighter and can even thin down and taper like later panel planes do.
The back of the Towell plane with its bent around back compared to a similar size Norris panel plane C. 1910The back of the Towell plane with its bent around back compared to a similar size Norris panel plane C. 1910, with its later separate side construction and open back
Robert Towell - Inventor of the Infill Panel Plane 4

The wooden infill under the blade of a miter plane tapers at the low angle until it meets the similar angle of the sole mouth. In Towell's bevel-down panel plane, the iron doesn't come in contact with the sole at all and the blade rests entirely on the wooden frog. What is interesting about Towells' wooden infill is that it, unlike later infill bench planes, is glued up of three pieces. The bottom piece is cut at a low angle, which suggests it might have belonged to a miter plane or that this plane was originally going to be a large, long miter. Then a second piece, which brings the blade angle to forty-five degrees, and then finally a thin 3/32" sliver glued to the bed, which brings the iron forward and closes up the mouth. Some people have suggested that Towell used multiple pieces of rosewood in order to use save money. Maybe, but I am not persuaded. To me this looks like the work of an innovative planemaker iterating his way to a mature panel plane design.

Robert Towell - Inventor of the Infill Panel Plane 5

Unfortunately we don't have any way of dating this plane or any other of Towell's panel planes. A few have survived and construction and design details vary between them.

Towell was a successful metal planemaker - that is, he had a long career making with super quality high end planes with innovative features. But as a businessman, sadly Towell struggled. He outlived his wife and all his children, including the son who worked with him, and spent the last years of his life in the workhouse.

Click here for more information about Towell and his planes.

I can hear again.......

Accidental Woodworker -

 Today I had an ENT appointment at the VA. I had to fight my way there through rush hour traffic. It is insane to me that there is only one way to get into Providence from the south other than Rte 95. But I digress, got to the VA and the parking garage was packed full. There wasn't one spot open other than the empty handicapped ones. I had to use the valet service which isn't onerous but I like parking my own truck and leaving on my own when I am ready to go.

It took the doc over a half an hour to clean out my left ear. He showed me what he had dug out and told me that he had sucked out a lot of it too. My right ear had one of hearing aid ear buds stuck in it. The left ear is a bit sore and will be for a few days but I can hear out of it again. I have an audiology appointment next week to get a new set of hearing aids. It has been 5 years since my last hearing test/new hearing aids appt and I'm curious to see how much of my hearing has been flushed down the toilet since then.

 before the VA

I started this before I left. I was limited in what I could do in the shop because the wife was still sleeping. She stays up longer than I do and usually sleeps past 0800 so I can't make any noise in the shop. I stayed up last night longer than she because I had to watch a follow up 'The Paris Murders' episode. There was no way I was going to wait until tomorrow to find out how it came out. Didn't get the blog posted till after 0630.

 protection

I am not sure if Maria has anything to protect this painting so I came up with this. I glued scrap pine to it to stiffen it so it doesn't fold up on to itself. I'll bring it to her tomorrow and hopefully it won't take as long as the last two did.

 it worked

There have been a few of these stopped housing dadoes I've done where one or both sides had gaps in them. At first I thought it was because the stock had a slight cup and I addressed that. It didn't cure everyone though. I was still getting gaps, usually on the inside face.

different marking method

I used to knife the back and knife a square line with the combo square. Paul Sellers on the dresser he made did it a different way that addressed my gaps. He marked it at the back and the front and used a rule to connect the two dots. This joint is gap free even though the side has a slight cup in it.

My two dots didn't line up when I checked it with the combo square. The dot at the front edge was buried under the square's blade. I did all four of the dadoes this way and all came out gap free. Only one of the four had both dots square to each other.

didn't forget

Probably didn't forget this because I was thinking of it going to and from the VA. Two of the four I could plane straight through but the other two I had to make a stopped rabbet. Took 3 test runs setting the plane before I was happy with it.

stopped rabbet

This is what I thought of and it worked well. The shoulder of the rabbet is square and relatively clean. It is the back and will never be seen. All I was concerned with was getting the rabbet straight and square end to end.

 second part

I used my marking knife to separate the waste out of the rabbet. The grain was fairly straight and it didn't take a lot of effort to remove it. 

 done

Used my small bullnose/shoulder plane to clean up the stopped rabbets. Not all of the waste broke off cleanly.

didn't get it

The shoulder plane wouldn't plane all the way to the end. I cleaned this spot with chisel.

 centered
I went back and forth on asymmetrical or centered and centered won the coin toss. I had to do the layout for it with the cabinet together. The shelf is longer than the ID of the cabinet.
 sneak peek

99% of the woodworking is done. I still have to make the drawers and the doors. But I think the carcass is ready to glue up. I'll probably get that done tomorrow.

 doors

I'm rethinking the double doors. I kind of like the look without them. On the other hand I don't like the open shelves getting covered with dust. And if I don't do double doors I don't have anything to carve my motif on.

 needs some work

Both doors are twisted and the left one is cupped. I really don't want the doors to be thinner than 3/4". I would be ok with 5/8" but I don't believe the cupped one will play nice with me. I used the last of the pine I got from Gurney's Sawmill to build this. Tomorrow I'll plane the twist out of these and I'll go from there based on the outcome.

accidental woodworker

Books for Sale!

Norse Woodsmith -

Books for sale on Ebay:  I'm going though my book library and paring it down.  The subject matter will vary, as my interests and studies have over the last 30 years - some are from my architectural studies, others deal with woodworking, gardening, or are either practical, whimsical, or reference books I have that I wish to part with.  If you have any interest, please bid!  This all goes to help pay for web site hosting (and gaining back some space!),  More to come next week, to include back issues of some woodworking magazines.

A couple of these are high end classic books, worth well more than what I'm asking.

Thanks for looking!

 

MARQUETRY & INLAY HANDBOOK By Zachary Taylor

MARQUETRY & INLAY HANDBOOK By Zachary Taylor

 

The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director - 9780486216010, Chippendale, paperback

The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director - 9780486216010, Chippendale, paperback

 Gardening by Philip Edinger and Scott Atkinson (2003,...

Trellises and Arbors : Gardening by Philip Edinger and Scott Atkinson (2003,...

 

Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide by George Hepplewhite (2012, Trade...

Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide by George Hepplewhite (2012, Trade...

 

 The Notebooks of Alexander G Weygers - GOOD

Sculpture, Form and Philosophy: The Notebooks of Alexander G Weygers - GOOD

 

2005 Means Building Construction Cost Data Estimating

2005 Means Building Construction Cost Data Estimating

 

 ILLUSTRATED BY By Raphael Brandon

THE OPEN TIMBER ROOFS OF THE MIDDLE AGES: ILLUSTRATED BY By Raphael Brandon

 

 Problems of Induction by Lynch, Kevin; Hack, Gary; Third Edition

Site Planning: Problems of Induction by Lynch, Kevin; Hack, Gary; Third Edition

 

The Architects studio Companion by Edward Allen & Joseph Iano - 1989

The Architects studio Companion by Edward Allen & Joseph Iano - 1989

 

 An Introduction

Site Reconnaissance and Engineering : An Introduction

 

1921 The Disston Saw, Tool, & File Book by Raymond Deneen

1921 The Disston Saw, Tool, & File Pamphlet by Raymond Deneen

 

 46 Full-Size Patterns with Complete Instructions

Glass Etching: 46 Full-Size Patterns with Complete Instructions

 

Thomas Sheraton's Classical Revival Furniture Designs

Thomas Sheraton's Classical Revival Furniture Designs

 

 

Marquetry by Pierre Ramond (2003, Hardcover)

Marquetry by Pierre Ramond (2003, Hardcover)

 

Practical Veneering by Charles Harold Hayward (Hardcover) 1951

Practical Veneering by Charles Harold Hayward (Hardcover) 1951

 

Chilton's Repair Manual for 1983-96 Ford Thunderbird & Cougar, US & Canada #8268

Chilton's Repair Manual for 1983-96 Ford Thunderbird & Cougar, US & Canada #8268

I woulda lost......

Accidental Woodworker -

 Well boys and girls if I had bet I would now be minus a lung. I didn't get the drawers done today. I hit a speed bump just before lunch when I ran out of shellac. I mixed up another batch and the drawers will resume tomorrow. I just have the last 2 2/3 to do. One drawer has one coat and the other two are still bare wood.

dead in the water

I knew I didn't have enough to finish. I thought of adding more Everclear to what was left but nixed it. All that would have done is dilute it. I should be able to use what I mixed up today, tomorrow.

might as well

I would rather be making something rather then doing maintenance. I am going to make a cabinet for spices. Wisdom of the Hands posted a (spice) cabinet today and that grabbed my short attention span. I am going to start my version of it today. I started by breaking down the stock for it.

giving up the ship

I spent hours searching for a 20v Dewalt 3/8" chuck drill driver. Nada. All I found was a 12v model that I was tempted to buy. I also searched for a 3/8" chuck that I could swap out from a 1/2" chuck. Didn't get any joy with that neither. Instead I put the 12v 3/8" chuck Bosch drill in the middle slot.

something new

This cabinet will have two doors. I haven't tried to make a two door cabinet with solid wood doors before. Wisdom of the Hands cabinet had some carved details that I'm also going to try. I plan to keep the carving very simple (my first attempt) and it will be a vine and leaf motif.

 sized by eye

All the stock is here sans the back. The bottom shelf will be in dadoes and the other two will be adjustable. The sides will connect to the top and bottom in stopped dadoes.

 fitting the last one

I got a tight fit on all four dadoes. I had to plane some off the inside faces to get the sides to fit.

 too wide

The cabinet is 24 1/2" high, 6 1/8" deep and 18 1/4" wide. I sawed the doors each at 10" wide. I purposely made them too wide because I wasn't sure if this would be the final size. Now that the dadoes are done that is a moot point now.

 more dadoes to chop

I am going to put a drawer under the first shelf. I will also need to do the rabbet in the back of the sides/top before I glue it up. This is something that I usually forget to do and have to do it after the fact. Easier to do it now then after it is glued together.

why not

Decided on two drawers rather than one. Can't decide if they should be identical or asymmetrical. I'm leaning towards asymmetrical which would eliminate me obsessing about getting two drawer openings dead even.

accidental woodworker

not happening.......

Accidental Woodworker -

One thing I thought I would do a lot of being retired was watching TV. Now that I didn't have get up at oh dark thirty anymore, I could stay up and watch shows I had passed on. Over the past few months I doubt that I have watched 3-4 hours a week of anything. I mostly watching YouTube for just about everything now. Especially so too that I've found foreign crime dramas to binge on.

I watch football games but with no sound. I usually watch something on YouTube and just glance at the TV to catch up on the score. Other than watching Nova or Secrets of the Dead the boob tube isn't getting much love. I haven't watched any TV after going to bed for months. I'm thinking of getting two monitors or one big one for the desktop computer.

Got a good tip on refurb computers from my friend Pat. Wally World, who knew? They had 25 pages of laptops, desktops, and all in one computers at dirt cheap prices. The all in ones that I saw had good specs and better prices than Amazon.

I figured out my shop all in one computer is booting up into Recovery Mode. I think it is similar to Safe Mode in Windows. The problem I'm having is the command line instructions I'm finding on the www aren't working in my computer. The other headache I have is I don't know the name of my hard drive. If I can't figure it out I'll buy a Wally World refurb and keep this one for parts.

 frame is done

Got some Howard's feed 'n wax on it and brought up to the living room. I'll let it hang out here until tuesday when I'll bring it to the Frame it Shop.

 current blurry looking Keurig station

There isn't any counter space in the kitchen for this so this is its home. I will be replacing it with the small table I finished last week.

 3 more done

This is going much quicker than I thought it would. I was estimating a week to get them all done. I'm willing to bet a lung that I'll done with all 15 of them tomorrow.

hmm.....

There is an apparent color difference between the two. The top drawer is done with gossamer shellac and the bottom one with lemon. Both cans appeared to look the same - a dark brown liquid. Only the top 3 drawers are this flavor whereas the remaining drawers will all be lemon shellac.

 two left

I got the first coat on the 4th set and the goal was to get 3 coats on before I hit the rack. Spoiler alert - it didn't happen.

 done

These 3 are drying here so the bench is free to start the next 3. After a couple of hours I'll stick them in their drawer openings.

 done

It wasn't that bad getting this flat and wobble free. There are two rugs right where the table was going (my wife loves rugs and I hate them). I only had to shim up one leg. This one has more space not only for the Keurig but for cups etc etc.

accidental woodworker

No interest.......

Accidental Woodworker -

 I'm pulling the Bosch drills from being offered for sale. I didn't get even one nibble of interest which surprised me. I thought they would be snapped up in a heartbeat. I guess 12v cordless tools have become passe now that you get supercharged tools at 60v. The downside is I'm going to keep them. Hopefully they will still be working when Miles and Leo are old enough to use them. Until then my wife can use them which has happened occasionally.

 I'll be hanging this back up

I also used these yesterday to hang the new Dewalt drill station. I am still learning and getting used to the Dewalt drills. They are more powerful than the Bosch drills and will take some time to get used to. 

 almost done

I have 3 coats of shellac over the black paint. 2-4 more and I'll call it done. After that I'll rub it down with Howard's bees 'n wax to get the check mark. I'll bring it to be matted and glassed next week.

 two coats of lemon shellac

I decided to do the drawers 3 at a time on the workbench. I don't have another project in the batters box so it doesn't matter. I think I should be able to get 2 sets of 3 drawers done in a day. After the drawers are done I can slap shellac on the carcass.

 3 coats

I got a little bit of bleed out on the drawer fronts. They will get clear shellac so I'll have to remove those spots first. I am hoping that 3 coats on everything behind the drawer front will be sufficient. Paul Sellers says that 3 coats is good enough for a shop project.

 done

I got 5 coats of shellac over the black paint. I was expecting there to be a little more depth separation between the gray, white, and black but there isn't. The frame still looks good IMO. Tomorrow I'll do the wax on, wax off routine.

 shop warmed up nicely

The shop had dipped down to 57F (14C) last week but the temps have been unseasonably warm for the past few days. This is a good shop temp to get the shellac work done (and glue ups).

 how?

I got a divot in the side of the dresser but how did it happen? It has been vertical since I finished it, it hasn't fallen over, and I don't remember bumping into it with anything. This will pop out under a clear shellac finish. I'll try to steam it out but I have only tried to do this once before without good results.

 came today

I've been waiting for this one to arrive. LAP said they got the first shipment in a couple of weeks ago. I am going to make a chair but my first one is going to be a welsh stick one ala Chris S.

 like they never left

I am having troubles trying to find a 3/8" chuck Dewalt cordless drill - bare bones. I really don't want another charger and a battery. I might have to bite the bullet and buy one though because so far I've only been able to find a 12V one.

 Bosch charger

I put one Bosch charger here and the other one on the refrigerator. So far there hasn't been infighting between the two of them.

accidental woodworker

drill station done......

Accidental Woodworker -

 I got four items checked off the to do list. Black paint on the pic frame - check. Drill station done and in use - check. Swept the deck and straightened out the lumber rack - check. Final check was hanging the pics on the cabinet doors. Clueless as to what is next on the hit parade.

 charger home

I am putting the 15 minute charger on the right side and the 1 hour charger on the left. Both of the chargers state the on center distance between the screw holes on the back. Made hanging them both very easy.

 black feather painted on

I like the 3 colors of this frame. My wife saw it but I don't think she knows what it is. More than likely it didn't even register in her brain bucket, she isn't that observant.

 pine banding

The bottom piece I put on end to end and cut out the pieces between the holders. I didn't do any pine banding on the internal part of the holders.

its new home

This drill station was way too big to live where the Bosch drill station was. Even if I removed the shelf there wouldn't be any room for the drill to hang down. I thought the drills might have been too low to grab but they aren't. I don't have to bend that much to take one out or put it back.

 not a problem

The drill station only sticks out pass the rail less than a couple of inches. I walked by it for most of the day without running into it or even brushing it.

this is a problem

The drill station at the bottom is toeing into the tablesaw leg ass'y. It isn't hanging plumb but it doesn't look that bad.

 worse here

It is really floppy feeling taking a drill out and putting it back. Eventually it would probably crack and break the hanging rail that is screwed to the tablesaw leg ass'y.

stiffener

I screwed a pine board to the tablesaw leg ass'y and screwed from the back of it into the back of the drill station. Stiffened it immediately and removed all movement.

 pics hung

I had to make an ACE run because I had no picture hangers. The frames stayed in place as I opened and closed the doors. The right one moved laterally but I didn't think it was going to jump off the door. I don't go in this cabinet much so it should be ok.

warm and fuzzy feeling

I made a couple of holders to pinch the bottom of the pic frames. The frames are essentially secured solidly in place now. Should be good to go for the foreseeable future.

accidental woodworker

binge day.......

Accidental Woodworker -

 I didn't get much shop time today in either the AM or PM sessions. I can see how binge watching can be so addictive. The current series I'm watching is riveting with each episode kind of ending on a cliff hanger. The next episode doesn't continue picking up on the last episode. Instead they do it with small flashbacks but they don't spend the entire episode fleshing it out. They give just enough information to let you what happened. I spent most of the day and into the night watching them. So far this is the best crime drama series I have ever seen, USA or foreign produced.

 came early

This was supposed to come between 0700-1100. I signed on at 0650 and it said it was already on my front porch step. I got 3.0AH batteries because the 3.0AH I got for my Bosch drills was a huge step up in performance and run time.

 hmm......

Not so sure that this frame is a good fit for this pic. I like it but I doubt my wife will. She prefers gold/silver toned frames in metal. I got two coats of shellac over the white paint sealing that. I didn't get around to the black paint. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to that.

 done

Since I used the clear shellac on the frame I put a third coat on the cat food boxes. I called them done and brought them to the kitchen and filled them up.

 can you see it?

I was going to Lowes when I stopped and checked my plywood stash. I found this piece of 3/4" and a 4x4 one in 1/2" oak plywood. I picked the 3/4" plywood to make the new Dewalt drill station.

 sizing the drill station

I need space to hang the drills and two other shelves. One for the extra batteries and the other one for the sander. I wanted to put drawers in it too but nixed it. I didn't have enough plywood to do that.

 basic layout

Plywood for the sides, the bottom shelf, and the hanger. Solid pine for the other two shelves.

 can you hand chop in plywood?

This is the second time I tried this. My first attempt many moons ago didn't go so well and I ended up with the plies blowing out and I didn't get a consistent depth with the dadoes. I did the bottom rabbet on the tablesaw.

 you can

Happy with how this came out. I got a clean, consistent depth to the dado with no blowouts anywhere on the length of it. It came out deeper than I was shooting for though.

 great fit

This plywood is very light for being 3/4" thick. And the top level veneer chipped and broke up pretty bad on the saw line on the tablesaw. I didn't have that headache with the hand sawing. In spite of that I got a good snug fit that is self supporting.

 1/4 hex driver tryout

This drill is nothing like the Bosch 1/4 hex driver it replaced. This one is much quicker and has more torque. This drill zipped the screws in like I was drilling in wet cardboard. This is a shop project so I'm leaving the screw heads as is.

 sneak peek

Drills on the bottom, batteries on the 2nd shelf, and the sander on the top shelf. I am thinking of putting the fast charger (15min) on the left outside shelf. Not sure where or what I'll do with the normal (1hr) charger.

For the eagle eyed viewers there are 3 spaces for drills on the bottom but I have only 2 drills. For now it is only two. I am thinking of buying a 3rd one - a 3/8" chuck drill. If I do I will have a home for it.

 wee bit short on the width

The middle shelf was about 3/8" shy of the width so I glued a scrap piece of pine to build it out. I will also cover all the plywood edges with thin pine strips. That will have to be another 'I'll do it tomorrow'.

 potential home

The Bosch drill station lived here and I would like to put the Dewalt station here too. I already know I'll have to move the thermometer and the clock further over to the left. I might have to remove the shelf beneath the clock too. That will depend upon how much room there is once I screw the new drill station in place.

accidental woodworker

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