General Woodworking

 The posting schedule is back on track now that the internet is working again. Didn't get the toolbox done. I spent the day dealing with a few things on the wife's to-do list. The temp turned upwards again and settled out at 96F - 36C. Glad I did all the yard work before the temps got high.

 

why not

I sawed up the first two toolbox lids to make a box to hold the shop steam iron.

chopping waste

Been a while since I've chopped tail waste like this. Made the chopping easy and quicker then doing them individually.

yikes

I was expecting this. The board had shifted when I was knifing the tails onto the pin board. Still, I was expecting this but not this bad. 

it fits now

It is snug but it is going together. Experience came into play with judging just how tight - I had to shave the pins twice.

dry fitting

Took a bit of fussing to get the diagonals but I eventually got them to be dead nuts.

square and ready for glue

Decided to glue on the top and bottom. That will be 1/4" plywood.

good feeling

There is a little bit of wiggle room for the quasi french fitting I have planned. That will come latter - after the top and bottom is on and the lid is sawn off.

glue up is next

I had made the box yesterday and the first thing this AM I glued it up.

hump - lid #3

The center of the hump is centered closer to the shorter board (on the left) than the right one. This is or will be the up face of the lid.

problem?

The saw stalled on me while ripping some pine boards. It tripped the breaker and the saw blade wouldn't turn when I reset it. I assumed one of the capacitors or both, was toast.

it was the belt

The left arbor pulley ( viewed from the motor) had fallen off. This was a v belt but it wasn't anymore. Finding a replacement proved to be a PITA. I found one on a Delta site for $93. Link belt (the red one) ranged from a high of $89 to a low of $40. I found this after I heard the nut securing the left pulley fall off into the sawdust shelf.

almost forgot this

Got some watermelon to keep my strength up while I install some brass mending plates. Made a quick run to ACE after I got back from post lunch strolling.

one down, one to go

I inlaid it in a stopped notch. It won't be visible from the sides at all. Only the top part will visible once it is hanging on a wall.

doing the 2nd one

hmm.....

Me thinks I should put another screw in this hanger.

warm and fuzzy feeling

One screw is in the side and the other in the top. Not only will this be what the shelf hangs from, it ties the two (side and top) together where gravity will be acting.

shutters

I made shutters for the house 17 years ago (?). Making two more sets for the windows on the back of the house. I had taken down all the ones on the other windows in the morning so my wife can paint them.

short shutters

I know these aren't true shutters but this what my wife had approved.

ran short

The larger shutter need pickets that are almost 5 feet long. I only had enough stock to make 2 of the required 6 pickets. I'll have to make another run to Lowes tomorrow at some time.

measurements

I eyeballed these onto the small shutter I made first. The pickets are the same width and the cross bearers placement looked off to my eye based on this. Besides it is at the back of the house where only wife is happy about having them finally.

accidental woodworker

almost two days

We finally got the internet service back on at 0739 this AM. I wasn't home when that happened and my wife told me when I got back to the barn. No apologies from the internet provider nor any reason why there was no service for almost two days. It is back and I am glad that I don't  have to go to Starbucks to type up yesterday's blog post.

oops

Forgot to factor in clamp rosebuds when I glued and cooked this yesterday. 
 

road tested my shop steam iron

I was surprised to see how much of these rosebuds I was able to raise and flatten out. There were five on each face and the two to the right of these are invisible. 

nope

I flattened and flushed the glue joint up nicely except for this corner. About 3 inches of it slope down and away to the outside edge. I won't be able to use it for a lid now. I was resigned to that happening but I still hoped I could use it. 

thunder boomer damage

Unfortunately this is a limb from our next door neighbor. A violent thunderstorm came through a couple of days ago and it caused a ton of dropped limbs throughout my neighborhood. The city is picking up all damage next week if placed curbside. This branch fell on our new fence and wiped out 4 fence pickets. The good news is the neighbor is giving 4 pickets to me.

another Lowes run

Bought a ten foot 1x12 for $36. Cheaper (and 2 more feet) than buying four foot 1x12s. The short board on the right will be lid #3.

knots are history

I only need the lid to be 14 1/4" wide. I'll have plenty of real estate after I rip off the knots on each edge.

feeling good about this glue bottle

Been using this for a week or so and so far no disappoints although I'm waiting for a hiccup or two. The dispenser spout still remains clear and the glue drips down easily and quickly. I'm impressed with how clear it is before each use. It looks the plastic this is made of allows the glue to flow back down with gravity keeping it free and clear. I'm thinking of buying another bottle and try it with hide glue.

needed extra help

I couldn't get the left side of the glue up to lay flat against the bar clamps. The board had a small cup that I had to use an F clamp to pull the board tight to the bar clamp. Because of that hiccup, along with another F clamp pinching the glue joint tight to the bar clamp, I decided to let this cook until the AM.

I'm glad that I like to read because I got a lot of time to do that yesterday. I think next to having the electric go out, being without the internet is even more stressful. My wife wasn't happy because she had some dead people business scheduled that didn't happen. I was able to listen to podcasts with my phone which helped to pass time. What I don't know is if the cell phone plan covers crappola like that.

accidental woodworker

With the carving mostly done on the top rail and muntins, time to get the plough plane out, and cut the grooves into which the panels will fit.

Chopping out the mortices.

Tenon sawing the shoulders.

And a trial fit of the parts so far. I would normally have all the parts carved before assembling, but as I don't know exactly how the bottom rail will look, I want to see how the existing parts look.

I am pleased with it so far.

 I am now at least two parts past where I thought this toolbox would be done. Made a road trip to Lowes this AM and got a new lid fitted in the PM session. It was all good up to that point but then it quickly boarded express going south. I am feeling like I am in a perpetual loop of taking two steps forward and one back. Still no check mark in the done column for at least one more day.

for just in case

I only needed one board but I got a second one for just in case. The clear one was the only board in the 1x8 pile.

wow

This glue up took me a bazillion hours to glue up. I couldn't seem to get the two edge joints  to lay flat along the length, especially the last couple of inches at the ends. I lost count on how many times I seesawed from almost flat to gaps. I managed in the end to get the joint line flat and seamless end to end. I had expected this to take 10 minutes at that most.

locking battens

4 inch wide and it will give up the fixed and sliding battens.

another headache

Another PITA to get done. I planed the bevel on both and initially they were way off. This was another thing I thought I would sail through in seconds. It took me over 30 minutes before the two laid up against each other seamlessly.

fitting the lid

Planed the width until I got a slip fit that was a 16th short. After that I super glued one fixed batten and marked the length of the lid.

sigh

I was getting ready to superglue the other fixed batten when this happened. I dropped the lid on the workbench and this chunk fell off.

no warm and fuzzy

I couldn't get the top or bottom to be flush or even anywhere close to it. I barely had any clamping pressure on the bar clamps - too much and the slanted break off would slide up. This was the best I could do and I don't think it will work. I wonder if I could do a stand up routine about this toolbox. 

accidental woodworker

PS posted late because the internet is still down. I finally found a Starbucks where the WiFi was working. Not too sure if I'll be able to post tomorrow. If I do it will be late again because I'll have to come back here to type it up and post it.

I am, among many things, an opportunist. Two of my daughters, who share a big bedroom with no closet, have been after me to build them a proper wardrobe. I had been putting the project off because it was going to require a lot of both time and material. But when the material suddenly appeared free for the taking, I decided it was time to build the wardrobe.

My university had announced late last year that they would be tearing down an old academic building and building a new one. So before demolition began, I asked permission to salvage some of the hardwood trim and a few other items that were going to come down with the building. I soon realized, however, that many of the old offices had built-in bookshelves, so what began as a quick salvage project became a multi-day effort to remove as many of the old pine shelving boards as I could before time ran out.

I recruited a couple friends and a few family members to help, and between us we were able to carry away about 100 pine boards that were 10″ wide and between 4′ and 5′ long, as well as numerous trim boards and a few whole shelving units. My 2-car garage had (temporarily) become a no-car garage.

Free, salvaged material always comes with interesting challenges. There are the usual the nail-pulling challenges, as well as the working-around-massive-flaws challenges. But I’m used to that. The added challenge here was building a 6-foot-tall structure using only boards that were 4′-5′ long. Now where is that mythical board-stretcher when you really need it?

In truth, woodworkers make long boards out of short boards pretty regularly. There are all manner of scarf joints and other techniques that allow us to do that. In my case, though, I opted to butt shorter boards together and use trim boards to join them together in a big panel while also hiding the butt-joint in the middle. These panels will become the two sides of the wardrobe.

These boards are also edge-joined with tongue-and-groove joints, which will allow for seasonal expansion and contraction in the panel. My Veritas plow plane (with the optional tongue-and-groove kit) got a lot of use in this project.

I also spent a lot of time composing each panel. All these shelving boards are knotty pine, so I sorted through many to find ones with straight-ish grain on the edges and the knots in the middle. It’s no fun trying to plane a tongue or a groove straight through a pine knot.

I had also salvaged several long trim boards, and those became the key to joining up the whole panel. After joining together all the panel boards with tongues and grooves, I clamped and temporarily screwed the trim boards to the face-side of the big panel. The beauty of working with salvaged wood is that it’s already pre-distressed, so a few extra holes will hardly be noticed. They can be filled with putty, or just left open as part of the overall distressed look.

While this project came together mostly via the rough work of driving nails and screws, it also involved some fairly precise work, like cutting material right to a knife line–while cutting around flaws and notches left from the boards’ first life as office shelving.

After all the trim boards were ready, I flipped the whole panel over. (It covered my entire workbench, and then some.) I screwed the panel boards to the trim boards from the back. With careful placement of screws, I think I should be able to force the expansion and contraction toward the tongue-and-groove joints on the inside edges of each board.

I was also able to attach the trim boards so as to create big rabbets on the top, bottom, and back of each panel. These rabbets will allow me to assemble the whole case with just nails, nailing through each rabbet at the four corners of the case. More on that later.

After taking the above picture, I re-thought the placement of a few of the screws and moved them closer to each other. Old pine should be fairly stable dimensionally, so putting in screws 3″-4″ apart shouldn’t cause too much trouble. Putting them farther apart is more risky, as the wood is liable to split when it shrinks in the winter.

Even the screws were salvaged. We must have backed out a couple hundred old drywall screws while removing this wood from the building. And while they’re not as nice as genuine wood screws, they were free! And most of them were perfectly serviceable.

While I built the panels for the case in my basement shop, I decided I did not want to haul the whole thing up two flights of stairs to the second floor. Instead, I brought up the main pieces and put everything together right there in the room. The top and bottom got nailed on just as planned. There’s also a shelf near the bottom that got nailed onto battens.

The back boards also got nailed on. To allow for expansion and contraction, they are just shiplapped, just for variety. I was kind of tired of tongues and grooves at this point. The back boards add a lot of rigidity to the case and also help keep it more or less square. Most modern pieces would have just used plywood for the back, but I had over 100 shelving boards to pick from!

You can see in the above picture how the case is assembled, with the trim boards creating the rabbets at the corners. The shelf is set on top of battens that will also serve as drawer runners, and there are more drawer runners nailed to the bottom of the case.

Normally I would not use pine for drawer runners, as they will tend to wear out after years of regular use. Hardwood lasts much longer. But these runners are extra-wide, so once they do wear down somewhat, they can be pulled out, flipped around, and reinstalled so the drawers run on full-thickness boards again. And if they wear out yet again, they can always be replaced or reinforced with hardwood runners–but that should be another lifetime from now.

As I was putting the case together, my wife suggested that I put the whole thing on swivel casters, so as to make it easier to move for cleaning behind. That sounded like a good idea to me. So I screwed some spacers to the bottom and installed the casters. I made sure the grain of the spacers was running the same direction as the boards they are screwed to. That way, they will expand and contract at roughly the same rate, and the screws will pose no problems.

But for the cross-grain battens, which I installed to help reinforce the skirt boards, I used nails. The nails will allow for a little more expansion and contraction than will screws.

The doors are very plainly constructed. Each one is made of two boards joined on edge with a tongue and groove joint and reinforced by battens screwed on from the back.

I put cabinet latches at the top and bottom of each door, and now each door will close securely–without the risk of locking anybody inside.

The drawers are very simply constructed. They are joined at the corners with nailed rabbets, and the drawer fronts are screwed on from the inside. While the result is a very thick drawer front, that extra thickness isn’t noticeable in a case of this size. Plus, the drawer front serves as a stop. And I was able to make the drawers just a little bit under-sized because the drawer front takes care of the reveal around each drawer.

Normally, the bottom of a drawer like this would be a piece of 1/4″ or 3/8″ plywood set into a groove. But again, I was using only the wood I had salvaged from the building, and that meant making the bottoms out of 3/4″-thick pine boards. I glued up two boards to make a wide enough panel, then beveled three of the edges to fit into grooves I had plowed in the drawer sides and front.

As it happened, I had some spare cabinet handles on hand, so I didn’t even have to purchase the pulls. The only parts of this wardrobe that I bought were

• Nails
• Hinges
• Catches
• Casters

Everything else was salvaged material I got for free. While this is one if the biggest pieces of furniture I’ve ever made, it is probably also one of the cheapest.

To finish everything off, I added some simple molding to the top of the case. The front of the whole case is very plain and minimalist. Had I had a little more time and been inclined to do more work, I might have set the doors into a proper frame instead of building them as flat panels with nothing around the edges. But they are rigid as constructed, and I felt that the material lent itself to this aesthetic. Plus, these boards all have finish on them which, while distressed in places, is still in fairly good shape. I wanted to leave the original finish on these boards intact, and doing more framing and/or trimming would have meant making a lot of cuts that would have revealed fresh wood, and I would then have had to then match or at least complement the original finish In some way. And I was not about to try to replicate an old, distressed finish on the front of the piece. Sometimes you just have to work within the constraints of your material.

The whole project took me about 4 or 5 full work-days, which were spread out over a couple weeks. I now have significantly fewer than 100 shelving boards in my garage. I can park one of our family vehicles in there again, and the girls finally have a place to hang their dresses. So that’s progress all around.

I did warn them that I was not going to build in a portal to another world in the back of this particular wardrobe. It hasn’t stopped them from checking, however.

That other famous wardrobe, you may remember, had been built from wood grown from an apple seed brought here from that other, magical world. That’s why it opened the way for the four children to enter Narnia.

This wardrobe, however, has been built from wood that came from an even stranger world called Academia. So if on some rainy afternoon the children are playing hide-and-seek and stumble through their wardrobe into a world populated not by fauns and witches and lions but by undergraduates and adjuncts and post-docs, well… who knows what adventures they might have in such a strange land?

This project is loosely based on the "Stickley Magazine Stand" from Christopher Schwarz. There is a similar "I Can Do That" version with the title "Simplified Stickley Bookcase". I don't have any magazines these days, but I think a laptop will sit nicely on the top.

I adjusted the dimensions to maximize the stock I have. I am using butternut. These boards are 10" and 9.5" wide, with the longest being 9 feet long.

wide butternut

There were two large knots which were so loose I decided to cut them out before planing. After planing I crosscut them to make two sides and three shelves.

knots removed before planing

The sides ended up about 40" tall. One side has a small knot that may need to be filled. The other has a section with bug holes which I don't think I will fill.

side pieces with knot and holes

The three shelves ended up 17" long. I am making the three shelves three different thicknesses.

three shelves with three thicknesses

Another change is to taper the sides. I did this to accomodate the narrower 9 1/2" deep shelf on the top and the wider 10" shelf on the bottom. I laid out where the shelves would be and then drew a line to remove some width from the front and back edges. I ripped these on the bandsaw.

top shelf doesn't fit all the way across edges marked to taper now the shelves fit all the way across

I will eventually have to plane those shelf edges flush with the sides.

So far we've got the magazine stand, but not the shamrocks. My plan is to carve shamrocks into the sides. I haven't done any pierced carvings so this will be the first.

drawing with shamrocks

Searching for images brought up a lot of four leaf clovers. I wanted a shamrock with three leaflets. I took a picture from John Davey's website. Although a stone carver, I'm sure I found his site from a woodworking blog.

practice shamrocks traced onto butternut

I made two practice shamrocks. One has the background cut out, leaving the shamrock intact, and the other has the shamrock cut out.

bore holes for coping saw blade cut with coping saw

The next picture was supposed to be an in-progress shot. I created furrows down the middle of the leaflets and then tried to round them over. But it's a better picture of why you should keep your hands clean.

Wash your hands!

For the example with the shamrock cut out, I tried to slice or chamfer the edges. This went a lot quicker. But the sharp points are fragile. Between sawing and slicing, some of the points broke off.

This type was quicker. practice shamrocks

So now I have to decide which type of carving I like the best, and then do it for real on the sides of the magazine stand.

There will be some supports added under the shelves, and curves cut here and there.

I had been thinking I would make dados for all of the shelves and supports. But now I don't know if that's necessary. The "I Can Do That" project uses pocket screws without dados. I will use diamond head nails.

 Still not done. Well I was done but then I made a U turn. One more day before I will be able to say it is done. Maybe, it depends upon whether or not I have to make another U turn.

fitting the lid

Wasted an hour or so trying to figure out why the lid didn't fit. The measurements of the lid still agreed with the the plan. I felt dumber than a box of pointy rocks but I conceded defeat. I cut the lid down an inch before it fit.

bottom battens

Got the battens on with screws only. This way when the snot is beat out of them they can be easily replaced.

too tight

Needed to shave a wee bit off this end so it would slip under the top batten.

hmm.....

I didn't like the gap between these battens. I want this to be seamless or at the least have a consistent minimum of a gap. I did that by positioning the lid in situ and then laying the lid batten up against the top batten. Bob's your uncle.

which way

In the plans this diagonal goes kitty corner from the outside edge of one lid batten to the other. Or I could tuck that inward so it goes kitty corner from the outside edge of the lid to the other outside edge. I'm leaning in the direction of the latter.

lid batten

Glued the batten on and I let it cook while I strolled after lunch.

helpers

These I glued in temporarily with super glue. These will provide support for this end of the lid. 

the U turn

Decided that I don't like this lid and its closure detail. I decided to go with double sliding bevel battens. Of course that means I'll have to make a new lid. I'll set this one aside and use it for something else. Road trip to Lowes coming in the AM upcoming.

practice

This was another thing about this lid that was bugging me. With it closed there was a 1" gap between the lid and the outside battens. It was also not square - used the Record 073 till I got a consistent, even gap.

not dead nuts

I planed both ends of the batten from the outside to the middle until I got it kind of square. It took a bit of fussing but I was satisfied with what I saw. The overall gap is consistent (it dips in/out around the middle) and with the sliding batten to come it should tighten up. 

accidental woodworker 

 Well, boys and girls, what I thought would happen and what actually happened are again two different things. I got awfully close but I didn't cross the finish line. I thought I would finish the toolbox today but....

new battens

I only had to make 3 new battens. The bottom ones have knots in them (won't be visible) and the top battens are all clear pine.

flushing the glue joint

Ran into a wee bit of tear out. Pine can be a royal PITA to plane sometimes but it is probably the same with other woods. Most of my work is done in pine. Along with flushing the center glue joint I also had to deal with a slight hump. 

sigh......

These two nails caused splits. I clamped and glued the end one but its sibling said, 'nay, nay moose breath'.

first handle

Planed a 45 first and then planed on flat on the toe a strong 1/8" wide. Then I rounded that over with the LN 102 and sanded it smooth.

end battens

I glued and clamped the handles on first and let them set up for 20 minutes. After that I removed the clamps and put 3 screws in each handle. The end battens were glued on and clamped. I let them cook for 30 minutes before nailing them off.

snug fit

I like that the lid is a snug fit. The fit is directly off the saw. I planed a 16th gap after I got back from my post lunch stroll.

frustrating

Planing this end square was proving to be like shoveling sand against the incoming tide. I would get it square registering against one long edge but when I checked it from the opposite long edge it would be OTL (out to lunch). 

I measured the width at a bazillion points and all of them were less than 32nd off. The diagonals however, were off by almost a 1/4". I felt better about chasing my tail on this because the length was almost 4 inches too long.

gave up

This is the 5th run at squaring the ends. The wildly off square readings were smaller but still not square from both sides. The diagonals were a 16th off. I gave up finally when the idea light bulb in the brain bucket went dark. I tried to address the hiccup with everything I could think of and nothing really worked.

a strong 32nd

The square reads dead on at the bottom edge and it wanders off a wee bit at the opposite end.

dead this way

There was a slight hollow around the center but the two ends were tight with no light showing. The other end was about the same so I stopped chasing my tail and decided to live with it.

sigh.....

I thought using Big Red would make things better and easier. It didn't make any difference. The battens didn't read square from either side. The readings were exactly the same when I checked them with the Starrett combo square.

done

Glamour pic #1. I still think that this would look better if it was foot or more longer R/L.

Glamour pic #2

I am giving this to my sister. She has a lot of small bric-a-brac that she can display on it.

not quite done

I need to add some kind of a mending plate so the shelf can be hung. I thought I had some brass ones but nada. I have some plain steel ones but I want what will show to be brass.

massive tear out

This long side was proud and the flushed length of it looks like a mud country road after a rain storm. I tried planing it with 4 planes coming from every possible direction and I got tear out no matter what.

cleaning and squaring the end grain

Planed it first and before I shellac it I'll sand it with my sanding sticks.

wee bit proud

I planed this flush by eye from this point to the other end.

2nd to last step

I attached the battens on with two drops of super glue. This way I can fit the lid so it won't fall into the toolbox.

sigh

Doesn't fit - it appears to be an inch too long.

???????

Other than the width, all the toolbox/lid measurements agree with those in the plans within a 16th. Stared at this until I got blurry eyed and then I shut the lights off. I'll come back to this hiccup in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

 This is a simple project but if you don't pay attention to the numbers, it will bite you on the arse. I got bit early on. I survived though and I'm hoping to be done with the toolbox tomorrow. What strikes me as odd is this is a toolbox for transporting tools, not for stowing them. I'm still trying to wrap the brain bucket around that concept. How do you separate the two?

sigh.....

There is a bald spot by my finger that I missed. It only shows up in raking light. I put on one more coat and I'll check it in raking light in the AM.

lid and bottom

It only took a few to flush the glue joint lines in both. I fuss a bit to ensure them being flush at least on one face as best I can helps a lot when it comes time to plane them flush.

Lowes run

Made an early road trip to Lowes to get two 1x12x48 pine boards. I couldn't wait for saturday being this close to finishing this. Two sides and two ends ready for the next step.

practice run

The ends will be inset from the ends 3/4" - the same as the scrap I have clamped on the end. Clamped it because I didn't want to deal with any holes from nails or screws.

roughing sawing the bottom

I planed the opposite square and I sawed it to a rough length a 1/8" longer than the plan dimension.

hmm......

It self squared when I gently tapped the ends up tight against the clamped scraps. However, each end at the top wasn't flush with the sides. I had to tap the ends from the bottom to flush them with the top of the sides. It was looking like it would be a wee bit awkward to nail off the ends. 

extra clamps

Happy with this set up. The ends are flush and tight top to bottom. I had just enough room to get a nail home at the four top corners.

practice run

Cut up some scraps so could I nail it together with cut nails. I predrilled each one before nailing it off. No splits on any of them. I was concerned especially with the two end ones.

drats, and double drats

Not one but two splits. Kitty corner from this one is #2.

glued and clamped

I got a good feeling about clamping these because the clamps easily closed the splits up. 

yikes

I thought I had sawn the bottom a 1/8 inch longer than the carcass. The bottom is barely a 16th strong and I still have to clean up this sawn end grain.

oops

This is why I don't like making things from a plan. The bottom is 14" wide and the plan says the bottom should 13 1/2" wide. Didn't know here exactly what the hiccup was, that came later.

hmm.....

The numbers don't lie. Still clueless as to where I screwed up.

the fix

I don't like gluing thin boards up with wider ones. The other option was to saw the bottom in two on the glue line and glue it back together with one wider board. That got nixed because I didn't have a wider board.

the lid

The plan states for the fit to be a 16th less than the inside width. This is a few frog hairs over a 16th. 

new bottom

The board I used on the glue up is thicker than the other two. I flushed it with what will be facing the inside of the toolbox.

mine on the left, Toshio's on the right

I thought the one I made first was big. I like Toshio's better especially the height.

gluing up the lid

I don't like the gap with the lid so I'm going to glue on a thin piece to build up the width.

missed it

I thought I had sawn this off and I had. The piece I'm gluing on is the offcut from this board and it has a defect like this on its right edge.

lid cooking

I feel better about this glue up. I would rather have it too wide and plane it to fit.

handle is ok

Only one of the battens is long enough to use. All the others are too short being 14" long. This is where I found the mind fart that led to my hiccup. The ends are 14" long rather than the plan's 12". I'll be making new battens.

thinking

I thought of removing one side as they are only nailed on but nixed it. Clueless as to how I missed not sawing the ends to the plan's dimension. I hope I can get the longer needed battens from the off cuts from yesterday.

accidental woodworker

Been very busy of late, but managed to find time at the weekend, to do some carving of chest parts. The top rail roughed out in chalk, inspiration and sketch ideas.

Starting to line out with v-gouge and details.

Grounded with panels.

Then on to muntins. Scratchstock moulding.

Muntin carved and grounded.

I was having a clearout and found this carving the other day. By co-incidence Peter Follansbee posted a box for sale with this motif  a day later. I must have carved this when Peter was here in the UK, because it has his cross stamp on it, and that was the only time I ever had chance to use Peter's stamp. TBH it's a bit rough, and I have no memory whatsoever, of carving it.

I couldn't wait until saturday so I made a road trip to Lowes and bought some pine today. I got enough to make the bottom and the lid since those two were glue ups. I'll wait until saturday when hopefully I get a load of 1x12s from Gurney's.

$84

I got three 1x8x48 and three 1x12x48 pine boards. I'm making this toolbox as close as I can adhering to his measurements.

breaking down the boards

The length of the top and bottom are both over 30". I had planned on sawing the boards in half to make the top and bottom each from one board. That got flushed real quick and it took two boards to make the top and bottom.

top and bottom

One good thing about using two boards each was being able to saw away the knots and defects. It didn't make any difference for the bottom but both it and the top are clear and free of knots.

off cuts

There is more than enough off cuts to get all the battens needed for the toolbox.

glued and cooking

This will be the top - an inch longer in the length and 2" in the width than final dimensions.

the bottom

Sawed the bottom to the same overage as the top.

ready for glue

Aligning the grain and color I did for practice. It is the bottom and won't be readily visible.

hmm......

This toolbox doesn't have a locking batten. I just noticed this and I might be changing it - I like the locking batten detail.

added two

Got all the battens sawed to width and 1 1/2" longer than length. I am adding two battens to go on the bottom. I don't like having the entire bottom sitting directly on whatever the toolbox will be set upon.

not happening

It didn't ring any bells with me on the diagonal batten not having any measurements in the drawing. Only the width of it was given - the length of this is to be determined in situ.

not sure

I got the two battens set at what the top length is. This should be several inches longer than needed. I have another board that I can get a diagonal batten from if needed.

cleaned up

I didn't go nutso trying to get pairs of battens to be exactly the same width. They aren't married together so there is no need to do it.

hmm.....

I have two boards left over - one 1x8 and one 1x12. Not enough to get the sides and ends from. The sides are over 8" wide and the 1x8 is only 7 1/4" wide. So the best I can get is two ends or one side and an end from the 1x12.

I might make another road trip to Lowes to buy what I need to finish this. I doubt I can wait until saturday to finish this.

I got two more coats on the shelf unit but it needs at least one more and probably two. I'll get the 5th one on after dinner tonight. Tomorrow I'll know if I need to lay down more shellac.

accidental woodworker 

 The temp topped out today at 94F - 34C where the rest of the week probably will be the 90'sF again. The important thing is this saturday is still forecasted to be cloudy in the AM and sunny in the PM. What I find odd is there is a 2% chance of rain in AM and a 12% in the PM. I think that it should be the opposite of what the seers are predicting.

On a bright note, I am now under 200 pounds. On today's weigh in the scale said I now weighed 199.8. I haven't been under 200 since may 12th of this year when I loaded the scale to 196.4. When  I further searched my weight loss log I noticed that I've bounced up and down around 200 pounds for 16 months. I doubt that I will get back down to 185 but that is my goal. I don't plan on changing my diet and I've come to terms with what my weight plateaus out at. 

finishing sucks pond scum

The underside is done and I'm now applying shellac to the show surfaces. Two coats so far and a 3rd coming after dinner. After that 2-4 more. It'll be a few more days I put a check mark in the done column.

accidental woodworker 

It was cloudy this AM and the radar was clear for my part of the universe. All this in spite me waking up late (at least for me). I didn't get up until almost 0700 which is an hour later than usual. The initial look see at the radar was encouraging but it quickly went south. There was a solid blanket of rain clouds starting just over the Massachusetts line all the way out past Gurney's saw mill. No going there today by next saturday is forecasted to be partly sunny.

good choice

Three coats of shellac on the drawer front and (IMO) I think it looks good. A better choice than the walnut or cherry picks. I got one coat on the bottom surfaces of carcass and shelves.

close up pic

Got 3 on the front, sides, back, and bottom. I'm calling those parts done except for the drawer front. I will put 3-4 more on just that. I am also applying shellac to the interior of the drawer, 3 coats and that will get a check mark in the done column.

first coat

The shellac I'm using is a clear, dewaxed shellac I got from shellac shack dot com. This shellac imparts a tiny bit of lemon/orange color. I had wanted to get some super blonde but it wasn't in stock at my last order.

not super blonde

This is going to be my next batch of shellac. This is supposedly one step below super blonde. Looking forward to seeing how clear this one lays down.

2 of 3 done

I am applying only 3 coats on the undersides. The rest of it will get 4-6 coats depending on how the finish lays down. I have a couple of more days of slapping shellac on it this before it is done. I plan on returning to the shop after dinner to finish up the bottom work.

accidental woodworker

Here we have the results of my latest challenge; the loveseat is in the room! It’s been over a month of work to meet this challenge but well worth it. The entrance to this room is such that it wasn’t possible to get a piece of furniture like this into it. This piece is about 50″ long and a total of 34″ tall and 30″ deep. One aspect of this challenge was to use barrel connectors and threaded brass inserts so that the piece could be assembled in the room. I covered that process in my first blog. Six pieces in all; 2 leg and armrest, 2 stretchers, the seat, and the back. A common question is always how much money and how much time! For the 8/4 Birch (30 bf), hardware, and seat webbing I spent about $375.00. The foam and material came to roughly $400.00 which includes the work done by a local shop since Diane’s sewing machine couldn’t handle the thickness of the material.

The Birch was resawn so I have quite a bit of it left over which yielded 3/8″ and 1/2″ material which will probably be used for future drawers or boxes. The side pieces and armrests were selected for their grain and coloration. The finish is Osmo 3043 which I apply with Mirka Mirlon abrasive pads. A glass like finish was achieved with two coats using the 1500 and 2500 grit pads. This is the fourth blog on this piece so if you’d like to see more about it check those out as well. This slide show illustrates the process, as always; if you have a question or comment feel free to reach out to me, thanks — John

Things are looking up. I checked the weather forecast for tomorrow and it now says cloudy all day. There is a 1 in 4 chance of rain predicted for the hours between 0700 and 0900. Those are acceptable odds IMO. I'll be looking at the rain radar when I roll out of the rack in the AM. Cross your fingers and toes with me, the more there are the more the odds improve in my favor.

end grain

I should have oriented the end grain to go from side to side rather than front to back. With it side to side it would have aligned with the sides and top/bottom of the carcass. Regardless, I sanded what I had with my sanding sticks, smooth  and soft as a baby's butt. 

glued and cooking

I'm impressed so far with this new glue bottle. Definitely like the ease it takes to dispense glue but what I like even more is the dispenser tip. So far it hasn't clogged and there has been zero dried glue blobs at the tip. It hasn't been that long but so far I'm impressed with how the tip drains clear. I'll wait for a couple of months more before I make up my mind on it.

gone

I wanted the knot to be in the veneer so bad I could taste it. I tried to trim the edge above it but I got nowhere with that. It kept splintering and I tried cutting it with a saw, a razor blade, and my marking knife. All 3 sucked pond scum at cutting it clean. I did get a clean saw cut when I cut the knot out.

glued and cooking

Glued the veneer on with a caul but it was short on the width. The spring clamps got the top 1/2" or so.

creative clamping

Had to take the quick grips from the front and put them on the rear to make room for the spring clamps. That is why the big quick grip clamps are in the face vice. 

trimming the veneer

I was surprised that I was able to trim the veneer with this veneer saw. This veneer was thicker then most of my other veneers I have. I had glued the veneer on flush at the bottom so I only had to saw a bit off the ends and the top.

pretty good fit

The sides fit but it is stopping at the top front. I planed that and it fit but it was snug at the front sides. Planed that and got a nice sliding in/out fit.

the winner

This is the winner from the choice between 4 brass knobs. You can't go wrong with shiny brass against a dark wood.

hmm......

This is just enough to stand out against all the pine. But I think I should have beveled or chamfered at least the top edge of the drawer enclosure.

last step

Gluing on the back of the drawer enclosure was the last woodworking step. Just needs a finish to get a check mark in the done column.

insurance

The rabbet for the plywood is shallow and only on the top and sides. I decided to add a few brads to help things along.

oops

Got one coat of shellac on the drawer when I noticed this. I forgot to plug the holes on either side. Looks like one more woodworking step to go.

accidental woodworker

 The weather broke overnight and it felt cold today. The temp at 0700 was 71F - 22C with a breeze blowing. It was the breeze that made it feel cold after 4 days of temps in the 90'sF. Cloudy tomorrow but saturday is still forecasted to be a rainy day. Hope that I don't have to wait 11 weeks again before there is another sunny saturday.

hmm.....

It seems that I didn't think the rabbet for the back all the way through. I'm not making a new drawer enclosure so I'll fill this in.

drawer parts roughed out

Initially I was going to use half blind but changed my mind and used through dovetails. Went with through dovetails because I'm veneering the front of the drawer and the tails won't be seen.

dry fit

Back is in rabbets and I am using drawer slips. I grooved the inside of the front for the plywood bottom to come.

dry fit

 Notched the dry slips and checked the dry fit. Glued them in and set it aside to cook.

drawer enclosure

Got the plywood back dry fitted. I'm leaving it off for now. I need the back to remain open so I can get clamps on it when I glue it in place.

3 choices

Walnut at the top left, mystery veneer top right, and big piece of cherry veneer on the bottom. Decided to go with the mystery veneer for the drawer front. I like the sapwood and grain pattern it has. The walnut and the cherry is a bit on the bland side compared to it.

drawer is done

For its size it is a decent size drawer for whatever? It more for looks than for function.

it fits

I got lucky with this. I was expecting it to be much tighter and not fitting at all.

catching here

The right side of the drawer clears but the left side is catching. Must be due to the twist I planed off the bottom. It will disappear once I plane the top edge of the drawer.

hmm......

Drawer enclosure clamped where it will live and the drawer stopped here. Happy with the fit and it won't take much to get a loose, slip fit.

accidental woodworker 

 The high temps of late were supposed to top out today at 71F-22C. But Mother Nature didn't get the memo because the mercury stopped rising at 100F-38C. Tomorrow is forecasted for a high of 71F again but only if the memo gets read.

yikes

This was the temp when I got back to barn after having breakfast. I didn't know then that the high was supposed to be only 71F.

fingers crossed

I was happy that after the clamps had come off that both shelves were still square to the sides.

happy times

This was the shelf I was most concerned about because I used this square to hold it that way when I clamped it. The bottom shelf I had doubts about too because I have used the big black squares before and what I used them didn't turn out square.

hmm......

How do I position the support leg? This was the first option with it centered under the shelf.

2nd option

Support leg flush with the back. Of the two I like the 1st one.

new toys

This glue bottle came up on the sawmill site. Lately it has been flooded with top 5 lists of everything. A few days ago it had a top 5 of glue bottles. What caught my attention was this bottle dispenser supposedly won't clog shut with dried glue.

interesting tip

I bought this kit along with the other glue bottle. I was expecting the bottle in it to be the same as the other one but it wasn't. However, the tips seemed to modeled the same as the none clogging tip.

this tip sucks pond scum

I've been using this style for a bazillion years. For years it has clogged shut with 3 different glue layers. Dried, hard glue at the tip, semi cured glue beneath that, and then a plug of liquid glue.

cautious optimism

I had used this 3 times already and 3 times the tip drained back down into the bottle. No glue stuck in the conical tip at all. The bottle is squishy soft too which makes it incredibly easy to squeeze it to dispense glue.

found it

Three Miller dowels in the top and bottom of the support leg. It didn't need anything more than this because it won't be subjected to any stress.

dead nuts

This is a huge improvement over my last attempt at this. 

for the drawer

Decided to go with a drawer. I need a top and two sides thinned down to 5/8".

caught it

I happened to catch the support leg had a gap, it must of happened when I flipped it to pound the Miller dowels in on the opposite side.

the sides

Initially I thought of thinning this to 1/2-7/16 inches but I chose 5/8". The drawer will be 1/2" stock. I plan on using the overpriced 1/2" poplar I bought at Lowes for that.

house for the drawer

Gluing the sides on one at a time. I let this one cook while I went on my post lunch stroll.

This

popped up

I was glad when I clamped the leg support that I was able to pull 99% of the gap out. I'll trim this dowel head tomorrow.

done

I have been putting off making new sanding sticks for a bazillion years. Checked it off the list today - 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, and 220. I got lucky and I was able to reuse all the sticks except one. The sandpaper refused to come off that one.

opposite side

I used two sides so that one side of the drawer wasn't sliding in/out on the side of the carcass. This also makes it much easier to secure on the bottom, inside corner.

Miller dowels again

Only used 3 dowels again to keep with the number I used on everything else.

twist

There was a bit of twist that I planed off with one run with a blockplane.

hmm.....

This was the second choice. The first was above the larger shelf at the top right. In the back of my mind I'm thinking of putting a 2" square drawer there? I like this placement but I think it is too high. I what more of a height separation between the drawer and the larger shelf.

better

I like this asymmetrical layout. The other drawer is nixed. I think that would make this look crowded.

Tomorrow I'll make the drawer and the woodworking on this will be done. I will be using shellac as the finish, 5-7 coats.

accidental woodworker 

 The temp when I got up this AM was already high at 84F-29C. It was 98F-37C when I left for my post lunch stroll. It was 102F-39C when I got back. Warmer today but it felt hotter yesterday. I shortened my stroll today due to the temp. I also took a water bottle with me and I drank it all too. The high for today topped out at 104F-40C. The temps the past few days aren't a normal for june here abouts.

hmm......

It would seem that securing the two shelves is going to be a bit of a PITA. Clamping it wasn't the problem, it was clamping it square that was proving it to be tricky. It took 15 minutes of fussing and adjusting the clamps before I got it square. 

The sides had set up without any hiccups and both the back and front diagonals were dead nuts on.

the small shelf

I anticipated this being the worse of the two but it was easy. I got it square on the first dry fit lickety split. Wasn't too sure once glue went on that I could duplicate the ease of the dry run. 

hmm.....

I saw this shelf on a blog post and I made my version of it in cherry. The drawer is poplar with walnut veneer front. I want to do a similar drawer on the new project. I am also thinking of maybe putting a 'box' with a lid in place of the drawer.

big Miller dowels

I went with the big ones vice the mini dowels. I used 3 at each corner, top and bottom.

cooking

I got all the dowels in and I flushed them. After that I put the clamps back on again until the glue on the dowels had set. I let it cook until after I got back from my stroll.

survived

This went surprisingly well. Nothing anywhere as close to the nightmare I imagined this would be. I only glued the end of the shelf in the stopped dadoes. Tomorrow I'll do the support legs. The plan for them is to secure them with Miller mini dowels. The only hiccup is the room underneath the small shelf. I checked the fit with the drill and the bit and it was too tight of a fit. I can get my 90 ° chuck to fit but I'll have to find it because it is MIA.

accidental woodworker 

 Decided to make a prototype of the new project. I'll save the cherry for something else because the prototype will be bigger than any of the cherry boards I have. It will be a fly by the seat of my pants design. I have an overall idea of what I envision it will look like but that is subject to change as I build it. It was a lot of fun to have that freedom to do it.

Lowes haul but.....

The cost of short lumber like this from Lowes is getting to be ridiculous. Two, four foot pine 1x10's and three four foot, 1/2" x 6"poplar boards. The poplar was more expensive than  pine. Total cost to walk out the door was $88.

hmm.....

The initial layout I thought of. The bottom right is wider/longer than the one at the top left.

top/bottom and sides......

I like this layout and I was thinking ahead as to how to secure the two shelf units? The first step was to secure the sides in stopped dadoes.

sigh

3 of the stopped dadoes came out self supporting. One is on the loose side because I made the dado too wide. One dado was too tight and I was able to chisel it a few frog hairs wider - came out self supporting. The other one I chiseled it a frog hair too wide, not self supporting.

I plan on using Miller dowels to secure the sides in the dadoes besides glue. I like that option better then using screws.

fuzzy pic

The sides were set and I decided to use stop dadoes for the two shelves. They will be in the sides and I was still working on how to secure the support legs. I had already discarded a few different ways to do them at this point.

another change

When I started this, this shelf was the same width as the side was. I changed that by ripping almost 2" off the width of the shelf. I did that to kind of be similar to the offset of the sides on the top/bottom. I repeated the same for the top left shelf.

another change

I was thinking of using a small width support for the left shelf. I liked the look but I changed my mind on that. I didn't like that it sucked up some real estate on the bottom shelf.

The shelf on the right I made the support leg shorter than the width of the shelf - initially it was the same. The 2nd change I made was to inset it in from the left edge. I was going to put it flush but I didn't like the look of the end grain showing. With it inset I don't mind the end grain being visible now.

I like this

The inset matches the inset on the bottom and top. The end grain doesn't look bad this way because there isn't any long grain flush with it. I think I settled on a way to secure the support legs. I will use a stopped dado on the shelf and a mating one on the top and bottom. A couple of Miller dowels and Bob is your uncle.

Today was a another scorcher with the temp reaching a high of 97F (36C). When I left for my post lunch stroll it was 93F (34C) and I hesitated for a few. I almost didn't go but I did. I walked at a slow pace paying attention to how I was feeling and I got a Del's lemonade on the return walk back to the barn. I changed my route for today because of the heat focusing on ensuring there were places I could duck into with AC going just in case.

Seeing another benefit of the TURP - I can do the whole route I walk without having to pee. I can go about 2-3 hours before I feel the need to go. That makes the strolling more comfortable because I don't need to plan the route for a pit stop. 

accidental woodworker