Accidental Woodworker

 Last night after thinking about how to square up the bureau in two planes I came up dry. I had assumed that clamping the bearer rails would basically self square it. I was wrong and the bureau was up 1 zip. I did think of something based on carcass build in one of my books. It was basically a home made clamp that applied pressure with a wedge. My idea was to make a couple and then skew them squaring up the carcass. Turns out I didn't need them when the rubber met the road.

my CPAP storage chest

This back edge glue joint bounces around on me. It opens (slightly more than this) and the  next day it will tight and seamless. This lid was glued up with the problem child white PVA glue. I have already glued the other edge joints with Titebond and they are tight and not moving.

the other side end

This started going wonky during the 3 days of high 90's temp. It was seamless before than but not now. I can flex it slightly with two fingers. The area in and around the middle is still tight and seamless to the eye. It is just a matter of time before it fails.

bottom shelf

I am calling this done with one coat of paint. It is on the bottom and not readily visible. Besides it is mostly covered with coffee K cups.

the top

This is just one part of the crappola on the top. I extends from side to side with the majority of the crappy look in the center. Most of the top will be hidden with the coffee maker but half will be visible. I didn't want to do anything more with this but it is throwing a hissy fit.

the last of my spackle

I would take several coats of paint to fill in all the depressions in the top. I filled them with spackle and I'll sand it smooth and flush later. One more coat of paint and as it is, I'll be calling it done.

knew I had one

This drawer unit is where I keep all of my sharpening do-dads and plane irons. I think this was the first one I did this dovetail and housing dado joint. This was done about 8-9 years ago? The other project with this joint I think I gave to one of my sisters.

story stick

I sawed all the notches for the front bearer rails and made a story stick. I ended up making two because the first one I planed short ( I suffer from 'one more swipe-itis'). FYI - I still can't stretch wood as many times as I have had the opportunity to do it.

 

small tails

The tails on my sharpening bench chest look bigger because the dado for them is a 1/8" deep. The rails are both the same thickness - 3/4". The dadoes on this chest of drawers is a frog hair deeper then a 1/4".

one down, two to go

I did  all the tails with a 1" chisel. I checked with a square as I pared them to ensure I they were straight and flat.

ugh

The 3rd one of the 6, and I got a gap. When I checked it initially it was off on the right. I had to pare that wall a wee bit. I'll fill this gap with a shim after I glue it up. Good luck for me because I'll be painting this bureau.

the first two

These came out nice. The middle one is a tad loose but it should swell shut once it is glued.

front face

Clamping the top and bottom with the clamping squares helped on the diagonals. They were off about a 16th. Wish they were dead nuts but for something this  large that is acceptable.

sweet

All the other rails checked square each way I could place the square.

happy with this

Mr 18" Starrett said all the rails were square to the sides past the center of them from both sides.

the plan

In order to maintain my sanity and not have a nervous breakdown the back rails will be installed dry. I'll concentrate on getting the front rails glued in square first and then I'll wash, rinse, and repeat for the back rails. The final rails will be the top and bottom ones going from side to side.

not square

The carcass is still dried clamped. No glue yet on anything. I was trying to get it square on the front, check, and square on the top, failed. The sticks told me I was a good 1/4" off on the diagonals.

 

a 16th off

I massaged the clamps a little. Mostly making sure that they straight across and in line with the rails. This really surprised me because yesterday these diagonals were off a strong 1/4".

what a difference a day makes

I squared up the left end of this board and flushed it on that side. On the opposite side the outside edge is flush with outside edge of the side. I am not going to try and figure out why it was crap yesterday and square today.

using hide glue

I think I could have used Titebond but I didn't want to risk it. Just is case I had to pop a rail off not to mention a longer set up time for me to fuss and fiddle with it. I glued the front rails one at time starting with the middle one keeping the other two clamped.

just the top

I got the top clamped with a straight board to flatten it out and keep it straight for the glue up. I didn't put the same thing on the bottom. I'll deal with any headaches with that after the rails have all cooked.

a 32nd

I had to take the squaring clamps off at the front to do the diagonals. I also checked the rails for square again with the 6" and 18" squares.

bottom

The bottom front should be ok because the sides are clamped holding it square to the rail. I can see a cup in the bottom behind the black square. I couldn't think of way to not disturb the front clamps and get a squaring cleat on it straightening it out.

shop temp

Yesterday was on the cool side and today the temp almost made it up to 90F (32C) again with high humidity. In spite of the spike in the temp the shop temp has only gone up 3 degrees in the past 2 weeks.

glued and cooking

I will let this cook until tomorrow. Then I will do the back rails gluing them with titebond. I also plan on toe nailing all the rails.

I need this

Without this cleat the right side cups a strong 1/8" at its widest. It is a little less on  the left side. I am going to screw a cleat between the rails on both sides to keep the sides flat.

this is it

I'm living with the result of this final coat of paint. I will keep the table in the shop for at least a week to allow the paint to fully cure. I will then apply a couple of coats of shellac and bring it back upstairs.

don't like it

I think the triangular shape would be stronger than a straight line but I am not crazy about the thinness of it nor the size of the screws to hold it. I'm going back with the original straight ones. I ordered some #12 RH black oxide screws from Blacksmith bolt to secure the cleats.

accidental woodworker

 I got the patch frame to Maria today. It took a while to find a mat for it. The first three I picked were no longer available. She didn't have any questions about doing it. Based on what she has done for me and what I've seen in her shop, she will do a good job. It will probably be, I'm guessing, about 3-4 weeks before she does it. I'm in no hurry because I don't know where I could hang something that big anywhere in the house.

one more failure

I wasn't going to do this but based on the failure rate of this glue I thought it would behoove me to at least check it. This popped off with finger pressure. 

one shaving

Both edges appeared to be clean and smooth. It was like they hadn't been glued  at all. I took one wispy shaving off each edge before gluing it back together.

dead nuts

It took a wee bit of fussing but I got the chamfers on both sides dead nuts flush. 

glue bucket

Why did it take me a bazillion years to think this up? I don't know where this bucket came from but it is perfect for keeping the rag for wiping glue up in. It is also big enough that I can easily find it too.

what I used to use

This has been demoted and shitcanned. I don't have water in the shop so I had to go to the kitchen to wet a rag. I switched to getting the rag wet in this peanut butter jar. No more, adios.

felt and looked good

I tried to break the miter with my hands and failed. Maybe I didn't have to mix the glue after all.

nope

It broke on the 3rd rap with the mallet. 

first coat

This is going to take at least 2 coats. I can see the glue joint and the raw wood on either side of it under the paint. I painted the bottom shelf too and it will need two coats also.

first set of dadoes

I went 3 for 6. 3 of the bearer rails are snug and 3 are loose. As in they weren't self supporting.

top and bottom

The top and bottom cross rails are 3" wide and they'll be dovetailed in at the front and the back.

layout

Transferred the front knife lines to the rear with Big Red. My 18" Starrett was short a couple of inches.

did better

4 for 6 with the second set of dadoes. The two loose ones were kind of self supporting so I did better.

rear dadoes

The back dadoes are 9/16" longer than the front ones. They were supposed to be 5/16" but the gauge block I used I placed it in the wrong orientation. No biggie as I'll use 1/2" plywood for the back of the bureau. That will make it stiffer and stronger then 1/4".

happy face

The diagonals were less than a 16th off. I wasn't expecting it to be this good without any clamps.

laying flat

Put it on the deck to eyeball it. The height of this about 29" and I had nagging thoughts that it was too short. I am putting a 5" base on it and I'm liking the height of that picture.

nope

The left diagonal is 33 5/8". The right diagonal is 33 1/4". That is OTL (out to lunch) and too much to ignore. Squaring this up is going to be a fun adventure on the squaring roller coaster from hell.

added fun

Both sides have a cup with the right worse than the left. I clamped them flat thinking it would help but it didn't. The diagonal on the right changed a 16th. I don't have a lot of ideas on how to square the top/bottom. Which one is more important - the front face or the top/bottom?

Yikes!

The bearer rail is dead nuts square on the left and flush with at the corner. The other end is a half inch off. Trying to wrap my head around this and all I was getting was a headache. I answered my question from above - both the front and top/bottom have to be square. 

worked on the bearer rails

I kept the test bearer rail I did the other day. Since this rail is the same I used the test piece to set these up.

just thought of this

I made this boo boo when I made Miles bureau. I assumed the front and back rails were the same length but they aren't. The front rail extends from the outside edges and the back rail sits in dadoes - it is shorter by the depth of one dado. Tomorrow I'll make a set of test rails to make sure I am doing this correctly.

bandsaw set up

I have six of the rails to notch and I am doing them on the bandsaw. It took 6 adjustments before I got the notch dialed in. 

Killed the lights here and headed topside. I'll do some brain bucket echoing to figure out a way to square the carcass up in two planes.

accidental woodworker

 I had my 6 month urology check up today and things are looking good. The doc answered all my questions without being condescending in the least. The good news is that due to my age and the level of my PSA for past 5 years my chances of getting prostate cancer are low. The concern for me now is urinary retention in the bladder. My level is low and the meds I take are working pretty good. I am better off than two of the other vets I chatted with while waiting. Once I get the high level alarm it is surgery time. According to her it is almost an ambulatory type and the only downside is what they remove (from the prostate) can/may grow back. 

I will wait until there is no other avenues of treatment before I consent to surgery. It isn't because of what the surgery is, it is the after effects of the anesthesia. My hip operation was the worse and it took me over a month before it wore off. My hernia surgery wasn't too bad anesthesia wise but I developed a hematoma that took weeks for my body to absorb. I don't know if anything will go south on this surgery but I will delay it as long as possible.

Thunder boomers in the distance with lots of lightning. It is causing the temp to fall (a good thing). It has dropped 6 degrees in the last hour. No rain yet but it is coming according to the radar.

last night

One of the drawer guides on this table fall off during the night and I actually heard it. I assumed it was one of the cats and went back to sleep. I used the white PVA glue on this that failed on other projects.

explains this

The drawer was binding on me and I planed it a little until it worked freely again. I now think that it was the drawer guide that was the problem and not the fit.

in the shop

The other drawer guide fell off on the way down to the shop. I had planned on breaking it free anyways to reglue it.

another glue failure

I noticed last month that this side of the top appeared to be opened for about 4-5 inches in from the end. A couple of weeks ago it closed up due to humidity? This is another glue up that I will bite the bullet on and fix too.

moot point

The top separated when I tapped it with a mallet to break the paint bond. 

while the glue set up

I sawed up the fronts for the drawer boxes. I had to break down one 5 foot 1x12 for the the 6" drawer. 

happy with this

The glue line is pretty flush on the top where it matters. The ends with the chamfers are dead on. My fingers were crossed that I wouldn't have to repaint this.

potential headaches

I used the same glue for the entire build. The mortise and tenons feel solid and didn't let go when I rapped them with the mallet. The drawer joints are all tight with no gaps and zero flexing/movement. You can't fix won't ain't broke. If anything else fails down the road I'll deal with it then.

insurance?

I nailed three 1" brads at the back and at the tails. Brads are lightweight but it is all I had.

Lowes run

Found out that Lowes doesn't sell 4x4 1/4" panels so I bought a full sheet and had it cut in half. This is 5mm multipurpose plywood whatever that means. I really wanted 1/4" blonde wood but they didn't have full sheets. One panel will be used for the bureau back hopefully with something left for at least one drawer bottom. BTW this was $24 and a 2x4 1/4" panel costs $18. Guess what I'll be buying the next time?

small

3 sets of planer blades came today. I opened one of them because I thought I had only gotten 3 blades instead 6 (3 sets of 2). There are two blades in each of the packages. I didn't think that these would be that teeny. Maybe I should buy another set because I don't see these having any longevity even though they are carbide.

I'm impressed

I traced the inside outline of the patch frame on this and did my layout. I was anticipating having a lot of extra room but everything fit nice nice for me. I snapped a couple of pics of it for Maria and I'll bring it to her tomorrow.

drawer guides cooked

The drawer fits looser now than it did before the guides went south on me. I'll take it as I prefer a drawer that opens/closes nice and easy vice a piston fit.

from amazon

I tried to search for a white PVA glue similar to what I got from TFWW but nada. I needed more glue for the bureau build, hence the Titebond. I saw this white PVA on amazon and it is for frames. I'm curious about it because it said it was an arts and craft glue and would glue paper, wood, etc etc etc. 

I had to try it

I couldn't wait until a project required this. I sawed two miters by hand after doing the layout in pencil.

nope

From the gap I guess one miter is shallow and the other is strong. I know that you can free hand saw miters and end up with a 90 degree corner. I saw Paul Sellers do it at the Springfield Woodworking show years ago.

ready to glue it up

I sized the miters first and allowed it to tack up before I applied more glue and clamped it. 

cooking

I will let this cook until tomorrow. I am extremely curious about how strong this glue bond will be. The label clearly states it is a frame glue. I'll have to wait and see what shakes out with it tomorrow.

maybe not

Saw this when I was looking for a set up and full bond time. I didn't find that but this caught my attention because I didn't shake this. The consistency of the glue is like mayonnaise - I would like to see some instructions on how to shake this well before use.

another demerit

There wasn't a cap for this. I snipped the end off and I couldn't leave this exposed to the air. I'll go to Wally World and see if they have a squeeze bottle with a cap.

The only thing I had time to do on the bureau was to XXX the waste portion of the stopped dadoes I thought I would have whacked out today. I'll start on that in AM.

accidental woodworker

 In spite of the weather I managed to make a dent in the bureau. I spent some time researching through my books for some tips but I came up with nothing concrete. I am making Leo's bureau pretty much the same way I made Miles. I didn't set any speed records because it was too _)&^$*)#@(+_)( hot today. The temp in the shop was 73F but it didn't feel as cool as it did yesterday. In spite of the weather and temps I didn't sweat which made working tolerable.

both are done

I don't know where I will keep the jointer plane box. There aren't many empty holes for anything in the shop. The tray has set up and I handled it gingerly until I got the bottom glued on it. After I see this against the drawers this doesn't have another purpose. 

change 1

I kept the R/L of the drawer unit but I stepped it off for 3 drawers. To my eye I think it looks better with the two compartment tray.

change here too

I don't need two of these glue ups. The  way I intend to join the carcass together I don't need a solid top or bottom. I picked the two flattest ones for the sides.

it is been two years +

This was the door between the living room and the kitchen. I put it here after taking it out of the boneyard. I've been meaning to break it up and shitcan it. Might as well do it during a heatwave. It was a little after 0800 when I started and it only took about 30 minutes to dispose of it.

nope

I really thought I would find carcass construction in this but there wasn't anything of substance. There were a lot of options but there wasn't any detailed instruction on them. Miles bureau came out ok and is still together so I'll repeat it for Leo's.

happy face on

There was almost no light under either panel. The joint line was pretty flush and there was some light under the straight edge there were it wasn't. 

squaring one end

I sawed off the line and planed down to it with my Lee Valley bevel up jack. I then squared the other end on the tablesaw.

why not

Decided to do a glue up for some of the drawer parts. This will be the back of the 6" drawer. I used cut offs from sizing the drawer parts - this will save me from using a 5 foot 1x12 board.

all the drawer parts

I just realized that I had a brain fart with these. I am using an applied drawer front to a drawer box. I am going it this way because I am using drawer slides for the drawers. I don't want to do half blinds on a 5/8" rabbeted drawer front. I need a drawer front for the 5 box drawers. That will happen tomorrow.

might as well

This bureau will be painted but paint doesn't hide knots at all. I might be able to use epoxy but I decided to make another 8" drawer front. I can use this one for the front of the drawer box.

6 and 8 inch backs

I got the joint line as flush as I could for practice. The drawer box stock will get planed down to a 1/2" thick so getting it flush didn't matter much.

almost dead nuts

These are the two sides and they were less than a frog hair off flush on the top and bottom. Very happy with how well these two matched. After I clamped them I flushed up the ends with a blockplane.

bearer rail layout

I was being extremely careful with this layout. It is way too easy for me to wander off into left field with this. The problem is ensuring that the layout for the stopped dadoes is mirrored from the left to right sides.

confusing

I finally got it right after double triple checking it a bazillion times. The first attempt I made the first dado wall layout opposite from the other side. Incredibly easy to chop the dado on the wrong side of the layout line. I wanted my reference to be the bottom of the dado but now it is the top.

stickered

These are the rails and the 5 drawer fronts hanging out. These will be kept at their full thickness.

sunday or monday

It is supposed rain (thunderstorms) on saturday, partly cloudy sunday, monday more thunderstorms, and so on. It alternates between rain and cloudy for over a week. So I am clueless as to when I'll be able to plane this stock to a 1/2".

really 1430

I never change the time on this clock because I rarely if ever, look at it to tell time. The temp made it up to three digits (100F 38C) by 1543 and it sucked pond scum. I had to make a run to Wally World after lunch and it was unbearable just briefly walking in the parking lot. I don't think this heat wave is going away anytime soon neither. The temps are forecasted to be in the high 80'sF for the next few weeks.

new patches came in

The Naval Submarine School patch is a duplicate and I'm using this one (the other is half this size). The middle and left patch were the last two I needed for commands I was stationed/attached to. My first 18 years in the Navy I was a FTG (Fire Control Guns) and my last two years I was a FT (Navy changed the rating). At least the range finder wasn't dropped or changed.

29x24

I don't have any plywood large enough to lay out the patches. I got most of the patches on this piece of plywood at 29x24 (the frame is 29x35). I only have 7 more patches to fit into an area 29x11. I plan on getting a 4x4 sheet of 1/4" plywood and I'll use that to layout the patches before I saw it up for drawer bottoms.

accidental woodworker

 Today's temp beat yesterday by 1 degree. At 1530 the temp was 98F (37C) against the predicted temp of 87F (31C). My shop temp when I killed the lights was 73F (23C) and it was a lot more comfortable being there than upstairs. Maybe I should put a chair and a bed in the shop? It would save electricity because I wouldn't need AC in the bedroom. I haven't slept on a cot in a bazillion years but how much worse could it be now?

almost done

The bottom is done and has 5 coats on it. I am not thrilled with the orange tone of the box but I will live with it. I got another coat on it and than skedaddled upstairs. The VNA (visiting nurse assoc) was scheduled to come between 8-10 and she was 5 minutes early.

She changed the dressing on the abscess and showed me a pic of it. It looks good. It is no longer red or tinged red on the margins, and it is almost closed shut. She will be back on monday to change it again. Hopefully that will the last time she has to come.

glue up time

All of the panels, the individual boards, were flat and I didn't see any cup in any of them. They weren't dead nuts but I think I can safely ignore what teeny bit it had.

flat

I planed all the edges first and clamped them with one clamp to check the joint line. I was pretty happy with how well they looked dry.

last one

Of course the last one decided to throw a hissy fit on me. The joint line was being stubborn aligning but I finally got it. When I flipped it over to the back side the clamps popped off. Not once, but they did this magic trick twice. The last hiccup was the middle clamp wasn't laying flat on the boards. I had to pull the board and clamp together to close it up.

wood or shellac?

The glue ups were done so I put another coat of shellac on the box. The finish looks splotchy with white streaks here and there. Going back over them didn't always cover them. The shellac may be drying ok but its coverage is iffy. I'm pretty sure I mixed the gossamer to be a 1.5 cut - maybe that is why it is laying down like it is.

test time

I have a joint in mind for the front cross rails. I used it a few years ago and it came out good. Before I do it on Leo's bureau I want to make a test joint. I sawed off a 2" wide piece from the board and that is the size I intend to use on the cross rails.

first step done

This is the easiest part of this joint. A stopped dado that will be on each side panel. This one is ok but I want the real ones to be a bit snugger.

second step

This one took me some time to do. Initially I made the top lap portion too short. I didn't account for the depth of the dado. It took a couple of dance steps with me creeping up on it before I got it.

will it fit and be gap free

The dovetail is on the smallish size. The base line is only 1/8" in from the ends.

head on

This is going to be painted so any gaps I can fill with putty. However, the better the fit the stronger this will be. The headache IMO in this joint is that the baseline of the pin socket is long grain. I got lucky that it didn't go south on me. I chopped the inside first and with the second chisel whack the waste was gone. I'll have to do the front first because if it blows out on the inside it will be covered and never seen.

wasted?

This will be hidden under paint but from past experience the joint lines will pop eventually. I got a good, snug fitting joint that is stronger than I anticipated it being. 

this has to be good

This is a long grain to long grain glue connection. I plan on toe nailing the rail on the inside but this part is reliant on the glue bond. I will try to do another warm up test joint before I commit to the real thing.

4 times

I knew going into this that going this cut had to be dead on. I had to use a squared off scrap to push the rail through the blade. It was moving when I did the first crosscut without it. No way I would get a good cut just using the lap at the top against the fence. I don't know if I hand sawed the first ones I did or not. I plan on using the bandsaw to do the real cross rails.

small drawers

Amanda wanted some small drawers on the top like Miles has on his bureau. I did some layout to get a eyeball for size etc etc. This one has 4 drawers and that is subject to change. I like an odd number and I also want it balanced with the top trays.

tray idea

I'm thinking one large tray divided into two compartments. Each one with their own lift up lid. This will be on top of the drawers and after this has set I will have a visual of the interplay between the two.

accidental woodworker

 My wife mentioned last night that Leo needed a bureau. The one is currently has is falling apart. So I told her that I knew someone who could make him a  new one. The next project, if you haven't guessed already, is a bureau for him. Amanda wanted something similar to the one I made for Miles. I don't like making the same exact thing for someone else so this one is going to be different. It will have 5 drawers but there will be two small width top drawers and 3 full length ones below. I also have to make sure there are small drawers on top like I did for Miles who loves them. Leo will get small drawers but two trays also. I want each of them to have their own 'special' bureau.

chamfers done

You can't make chamfers like this with a router. Doing them by hand allows you to be creative with the angle.

dull

Both of these need to be honed. I know that because neither of them would plane the chamfers without a lot of tear out. A clear indication that the irons were dull. I finished up the chamfers with the LN std angle blockplane which I hardly use at all anymore. These two low angle blockplanes get the call to duty 99.99% of the time.

I do like shiny

I was surprised by how shiny the bevels were after I cleaned the crud off of them and before I honed them. Honed, stropped, shiny, and ready to go back into the planes.

clean and smooth

This is what a sharp iron is capable of. Zero tear out and ready for shellac - no need to sand it before that.

one coat

Due to the high temps and humidity for today I think that I will only get one coat on. I don't want to risk having the shellac blush on me. The temps were still below 70 in the shop (69F 21C) when I applied this coat. The outside temp made it up 96F (36C) whereas the forecasted temp was 87F (31C). It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow.

oops

I thought I had sanded the box but I did a poor job. A couple of the tails had chipped edges and I filled them in with putty. I sanded all the visible areas that showed putty again. I checked my sanding by wiping down those spots with a damp rag with alcohol.

don't have enough

Ran the boards through the brain bucket and I'm shy on the drawers. This saturday is supposed to have thunder boomers all day so I can't go to Gurney's. I also don't have the plywood for the drawer bottoms or the back.

this is done

I ordered 3 more patches for this shadow box and one was a duplicate. I have to wait for them to come in before I can arrange them and take a pic of it for Maria to use.

carcass stock

I need four panels - 2 sides, a top, and a bottom. I also plan on getting some rails and drawer sides from the off cuts.

one more time

The rag is damp, not soaked with alcohol. If it was it would remove the shellac. It was wet enough to tell me whether or not I needed to sand more.

change of plans

After lunch I scribbled some drawings for the carcass and changed things. One benefit of that is I can get all the parts for the carcass from one board instead of two. The boards are 5 feet and the carcass sides will be 27-28", the bottom 26", and the top about 30".

stickered

I picked the flatest boards for the carcass. If any of these cup I'll replace them. I don't want to deal with planing a cup out of them. I'll use any cupped boards for the drawers because they will be a 1/2" thick.

hmm.....

Did some more mental gymnastics and I think I might have enough stock to make the 10 drawers. The two top drawers I can split that board in half. The other drawers will take up an entire board.

chanced it

After I sanded the box I was going to apply shellac only to the areas I sanded but I did the entire box. I didn't get any blushing which I'll take but I missed another putty spot. This pin and the one above it have some putty in the end grain. I'll have to sand them again.

Tomorrow, barring any stupid wood tricks, I will glue up the panels for the carcass. When I was at Lowes the other day they didn't have any 4x4 1/4" plywood panels on the shelves. I'll have make a road trip to check that out. I don't need it right now but I like having what I need in the shop. Which reminds me I need Amanda to pick out the knobs for the bureau or should I take creative license and make them?

accidental woodworker

 I don't know where this is coming from because this isn't the first time the temps has been in the heat wave range this year. We have had several days in the 90's and almost a week with temps in the 80's. Normal temps for this time of year are the mid 70s. Again, depending on who you watch the temps widely ranged from the middle 80s to the mid 90s. It is a mini heat wave supposedly going from tuesday and ending on friday. I'll wait to be surprised day to day.

not the elves

Went back to the shop after dinner and glued the planer box up. I couldn't get the tails to stay seated so I clamped them.

flushing the tails

One long side tails were slightly proud of the pins and on the other corners were proud. Easy to fix the pins and not so hard to do the tails this time. 

good omen

This scrap of 1/4" plywood was exactly two frog hairs wider the the width of the box. Weighed it with the cans for five before clamping it.

cooking

Sized the lid a 1/4" over on the length and 1/8" on the width. After I hinge the lid I'll flush the ends and the front.

hmm.....

This is odd? This a bag of hardware for the Wen planer and it looks like it belongs to a Whirlpool appliance. Some of the hardware doesn't remotely match what the instructions say it should be. I ordered two sets of planer blades for this - $17 which I thought was reasonable for carbide tipped blades. BTW it was the only option available. I got them because they are no set, double sided, and disposable.

right on top

These were right on top in the hinge bin. I didn't have to take it out and rummage around trying to find them. You can't go wrong with shiny brass anything.

not good

I had already checked and corrected the lid and the box for twist. The lid was rocking on the box. I checked both again and the lid wasn't dead nuts but I didn't think it was out enough to match the level of rocking. I planed the high corners a couple of time until it rocked no more.

laying flat now

It was past my lunch time so the hinges will had to wait until the PM session. I should be done with this before I kill the lights today.

road trip

On friday I locked myself out of the house and the truck. I couldn't get any of the screens to budge and I tried to bust open the front porch door to no avail. What I was able to do was pull the moldings off one of the window panes and open the front porch door that way. Forgot to go sat & sun to Lowes to buy replacement moldings but I didn't today. 

Sawed all the miters by hand on a pencil layout. This molding was all one piece whereas the previous moldings are finger jointed pieces of crap. This molding profile was a good match and was only slightly proud of the old stuff. I will sand and blend it out before I paint it.

two of three

The miters have gaps but I'll fill and sand with putty before the paint hides all evidence of any sins. There is one more molding on the bottom that was camera shy. 

This took almost two hours and that included the round trip to Lowes and getting an Iced Coffee. I made a bazillion trips from here to the shop cutting and fitting the moldings. Pissed me off that I didn't have any scraps long enough to use as a story pole for the long vertical molding. It was almost 42" long and the longest scrap I had was 41". I made way too many trips up/down pissing into the wind with this one. But on a brighter note I did get a lot of exercise trotting my fat arse up and down the stairs.

came out ok

I got one screw in each hinge leaf to check the fit and the swing. The swing was ok but the fit wasn't. The hinge gains on the box were spot on but the ones on the lid were over sized.

back

I am definitely getting better and I am getting consistent results. The hinges weren't hinge bound which is something that has bit me on the arse the last few times I hinged something. 

teeny gap

Not sure where this is coming from or what is causing it. It doesn't feel funny or awkward opening or closing it so I'm leaving it as is. This is a shop box and I don't see the need to do full anal and indulge my OCD with it.

see it on the left?

I marked the lid gains with my marking knife and I thought I was careful in how I knifed them. I still need to up my game with hinges and I do see improvement but not quite 100% yet.

done

I planed the ends and the front flush to the box. I checked that the planer and all the accessories do fit in the box. I will put 3-5 coats of gossamer shellac on the box. Might as well use it up before it decides to go south on me.

#10 chain stay

Wasn't going to put a lid stay in and changed my mind. I still have fresh memories of lids falling back and ripping the hinges out. I checked and it didn't interfere with the putting the planer in or taking it out of the box.

one more thing

I put a thumb catch thing on because I flushed the lid. I could open it up without any headaches but this defines it and it adds some visual interest to the front. I'll plane a chamfer - 3/8" in on the top and 3/16" down on the edges - tomorrow. I killed the lights here.

accidental woodworker

 The right wrist felt better today. I had no problems pouring coffee and no pain in the pinkie neither. However, my left wrist wanted some attention. There was an annoying low level pain in it. Not enough for me to want to rip your face off but just enough to piss me off. I was able to work through it today but I'll have to wait and see what it does tomorrow. It seems the arthritis is making the rounds on my joints shaking hands and saying hello. The doc told me it would get worse as I age. So much for the golden years.

the back of the frame

To the left is blonde shellac and to the right is flat black paint. Decided to put a coat of shellac on the back. The front looked good IMO and I'm sticking with two coats on it.

hmmm.......

It isn't working this time. Usually I can give this pile a goofy look or two and see a project. This AM is it just looking like a pile of scrap pine.

gift from my sister Kam

This is a Wen hand jointer that my sister bought but never used. I thought I would use it to rough face joint boards before smoothing them with handplanes. Since I hate cardboard boxes making a wooden has been on the to do list for quite a while. I needed to make something so I'll knock out a box for this today.

using the Moxon

I don't use my Moxon that often. That is mostly because it takes time to get it out and set it up. Most of my dovetailing usually involves a single set whereas this would shine when doing a boatload of them. I used it today because the tail boards didn't fit nicely in the face vise.

another reason why

 This vise is tippy and will fall forward in a heartbeat. Makes it awkward to get it situated between the dogs on the wagon vise. I should have put the back jaw so it was attached to the edge of the bearer rather than being on top it. That would have put the bottoms of the two jaws in the same plane and it wouldn't have been tippy.

tail boards

Tails sawn and chopped before lunch.

off the saw

Box went together without me having to trim anything. On the flip side these aren't the best dovetails I've done lately. Of the 8 half pins, 5 of them have gaps and one was wide enough to throw a dog through. I'll have to shim them after it is glued and set up.

always a good feeling

I based the box dimensions off the ID of the cardboard box. I added a 1/4" to the height, depth, and length for wiggle room. Width and depth is spot on and I could have made the height shorter but I can live with this.

the lid

Before I killed the light I glued up stock for the lid. I had thought of capturing the lid in grooves and then sawing it out but opted for the quicker way.

next project

I was going to make a new bench for the back door as the next project. That bench would be placed over the lunchbox planer and free up room by the back door. The new bench would only be about 2-3 inches higher and 3-4 inches wider. The width is a potential choke point in this narrow landing. It is looking like I'll be hauling it back down to the boneyard to stow it.

accidental woodworker

It was in 1977 that carpal tunnel first said hello to me. Back then I got wrist sleeve thing and was told to not bend my wrist. After a few weeks it passed but it was scary. I couldn't hold a coffee cup in my right hand and I had almost no grip or sensation when holding something. Over the years it has said hello now and then with the symptoms lasting a couple of days at most. Rest and minimizing movement of the right wrist has worked so far.

Friday night Mr Carpal Tunnel said hello when I was eating an apple. As I tried to cut it with a knife I got a pain from the base of my baby finger through the outside right of my wrist. It hurt to push the knife and I didn't have a good sense of how much force I was exerting. This morning I couldn't pore coffee into my mug from the carafe. I had to use my left hand to do it. 

The pain continued within the area of the baby finger and the wrist which was different. Before this my thumb would hurt as would my wrist on the thumb side. As long as I wasn't doing anything I had no pain but when I used the right hand he would immediately say hello. Not much happened in the shop and as of 1843 I don't have any pain. Typing the blog didn't seem to elicit any response from the right wrist. However, it did show up drinking coffee but it wasn't as bad as it was in the AM. I'll give it another day to calm down.

why not?

I sawed another miter slot on the jig. I did the 45 and the vertical cut strictly by eye. No knife or pencil lines to guide me. Surprisingly enough my wrist didn't raise a whimper doing this. The vertical cut I would say is as close to dead nuts as possible. I didn't bother trying to saw 45s but I might give it try tomorrow if I remember it.

45

I did eyeball the 45 to the right when I sawed this and it came out pretty good. I was really happy with 90° vertical saw cut. I have been itching to try a dovetailed box sawing out the tails/pins without any layout. Another thing added to the to do list.

this caused a few twinges

A few of the brush strokes hurt a wee bit but I got the whole of the back covered. I'll let this set up and I'll inspect the face to see if any drips from the back made it out to the front.

drawer was sticking

A shim on the half pin was proud causing the drawer to stick and bind. I shaved it off and then rubbed down all the wear surfaces with beeswax. I did it to all the drawers in the two portable chest of drawers I made a couple of months ago.

accidental woodworker

 Everything went well for me with my appt today. The doc said it was healing nicely and that it was almost closed up. No need for it to be packed again and I got a waterproof bandage. That means I can jump into the rain locker. I must smell like a over stuffed garbage truck that has been sitting in the sun for hours. 

The visiting nurse will come sometime next week to change the bandage. There is no way I can do it by myself - I tried and failed miserably. The doc wants me to keep a bandage on it for 2 weeks so I should get 2 or maybe 3 visits.

What felt good is I didn't feel anything when the doc played with it. He irrigated with saline along with poking and prodding it and removing some clots. Nada. On tuesday it hurt every time the doc did looked at it. That is a good sign it is healing finally.

looks good

This has two coats of shellac on it. One coat from store bought and one from what I mixed yesterday. I think I'm going to leave this as is. I didn't care for the flat look of the black but I also don't want this to be overly shiny.

done

3 coats of gossamer and one coat of blonde. I didn't see or feel any hiccups with the gossamer shellac. Before I put on the blonde I had rubbed them all down with 2-0 steel wool. The steel wool cut the shellac with out gumming up or dragging. I am still surprised that shellac this old was/is still good to use.

back

There are a lot of holidays on the back. I know that they won't be seen but I will know they are there. I won't be getting it to Maria on saturday because I'm painting it tomorrow. After that I will have to lay out the patches and figure out some way to get that layout to Maria. I want the patches to go from Recruit Training command at the top left (1974) to my last command, USS Hunley (1991), at the bottom right.

It was hot and humid today. There were thunder boomers forecasted for the afternoon but I think they passed to the north of me. I didn't get much done because of that but now that I can shower and sweat  freely things should pick up in the shop again.

accidental woodworker

 Getting warm in my part of the universe. The mercury pushed the thermometer up to 83F (28C) which duplicated yesterday's temp. The temps are forecasted to remain in the middle 80s F until well into next week. I'm hoping that tomorrow I will get a bandaid/dressing that will allow to take a shower. I have been going super slow for me trying to not sweat. Infecting the abscess is not something I want to experience. I'll find out tomorrow whether it will need to be packed again or not. 

for the LN carcass saw

I didn't see or feel any difference sawing the miters with the carcass saw as compared to the LV gents saw. I had the same problems sawing the miters with both the saws. 

L and R

Off the LN carcass miter box the miters looked good dry laid. But they were off 90 about the same as the LV gent saw miters.

headed for the boneyard

Decided to not saw any miter or other angles in this 'angle' boxes. My past experiences with them is that they don't last more than a month or two. This pile should be good for a year.

last one to try

Laid out a 45 in pencil and sawed it out. I have a book called the art of mitering and it was written in the middle 1800s. The author lays out the angle with a compass and hand saws it. Any corrections need for the miter he states should be done with a pocket knife. All I had after reading it were a lot of questions and no forth coming answers.

hmmm.....

This is interesting. I didn't use a knife wall but sawed on the pencil lines and this miter is better than what I am getting off the boxes. It isn't dead on 90 but its error is less than the miter box output.

need some shellac

I didn't want to buy another can of shellac from ACE so I mixed up a quart of blonde dewaxed. I found a can of gossamer shellac that I mixed back in oct of 1023 that I checked out to see if it was any good or not.

coffee grinder

I use this to whiz up and pulverize the shellac flakes into a powder. Shellac powder mixes and dissolves quicker than doing it as flakes.

it is good

As far as I can tell this shellac is ready to use. This is 8 months old and I wasn't expecting it to be viable. The stir stick dried to the touch in about 10 minutes and a drop on a glass pane hardened in about 40 minutes. Those are the two acid tests I use for 'is it good or toast' and it passed both.

one coat

These are the screw boxes and they will get at least 3 coats of the gossamer shellac. The first box was dry when I checked it after applying shellac to the last one. I let them set up for a couple of hours before I rubbed them down with 2-0 steel wool before putting on the 2nd coat.

stir, stir, and stir some more

While I was in the shop I would open the can and stir it every couple of minutes. So far there wasn't any clumping and I was hoping to be able to use in the PM session.

they are different

The amount of shellac flakes for the pound cuts is different between the two. I bought blonde dewaxed from the Shellac Shack but the used the top one for mixing my batch (shellac.net).

clumping

I closed the can and let it sit for about 2 hours and it clumped up on me. I thought all the shellac had dissolved but I was wrong. I stirred it until the blob on the stick disappeared. I brought it upstairs with me when I killed the lights so I could continue to agitate it.

wasn't going to, but.....

I had scraps left over from yesterday so I made two more miter boxes. I wasn't going to practice anymore but my OCD over ruled me. It is bugging me to no end that I can't get two 45's off a miter box.

only one miter

Since I mostly use only the right miter I only sawed a right miter on this one.

brain fart time

This maddening to me. I'm sawing perfectly down on the knife line to about 1/2 way and than I do a mind meld with a rock. From this I would guess that I'm tilting the saw off plumb to the right due to me sighting on the knife line. I don't keep my focus on the knife from top to bottom. As I saw I move my focus from the left side to the right side. 

2nd miter

This is better and an improvement over the first one but still off. The kerf is kicked out slightly at the bottom.

ran out

I lost the other side of the last miter I sawed. On a bright note, the offcut when flipped and put against the other one was almost dead nuts. I sawed four more miters in a row.

not too shabby

These 3 came out the best so far. I couldn't see any evidence of the knife wall so it would appear that I split it when I sawed the miters.

did not pass go again

The miter is not 90° but pretty darn good. The gap is way less than any of the others I did. The miters were about the same for the last 3 I checked.

parallel line

There was a teeny bit of light under the blade and the penciled line looks to be parallel to the saw cut.

looks good but.....

There is about a 64th of a gap at the toe of the square. That doesn't offer any consolation because 4 corners done with this miter box wouldn't lay up square and 360°.

hmm....

The fence flexed when I sawed my miters. It wasn't a huge amount but I saw it move backwards ever so slightly. Maybe I should drive a couple of screws into the fence from underneath?

one coat of shellac

I had a wee bit of the ACE shellac left in the can. I'm pretty sure that I can get one more coat before the low level alarm goes off. By then the blonde I mixed up should be ready -  this will get at least 3 coats and probably 4-6.

2nd coat

This isn't as orange as I thought if was going to be. These are shop boxes so 3 coats should suffice. 

accidental woodworker

 I don't know how but the MMS messaging app (or whatever it is called) worked. For whatever reason it didn't show in my email right away yesterday but it was there this morning. I sent it again twice and it showed up right away in my email this time. Maybe google mail needed some time to warm up to it. Supposedly MMS is for mixed emails of photos/text. I have been using SMS and that was working until I tried to download the abscess pic from my cell phone to my personal email to than download to my computer so I could post in my blog.

aggravating

I made this yesterday in about 3 nanoseconds and it is not that accurate. Not that it stops the sun from shining in the AM but I would like to do better. I usually only use the right hand 45 and of the two it was worse than the left 45.

off the miter box

Initially this looks good. The joint line is consistent and gap free. However, the inside and outside aren't 90°. 

now they are 90°

This is the way I do angles. Rough cut on the miter box and sweeten the angle on a shooting jig. What I would like is the ability to go directly off the miter box to a 90° joint. I saw Paul Sellers do it at a woodworking show in Springfield Mass about 12-13 years ago. My sawing skills still are not up to matching him.

made 7 more

The only way I know how to improve is to practice, practice, and do some more practice. I was thinking of using a couple of these for angles other than 45 but I'll hold off on that for now. This is all scrap pine that I had hanging around the shop.

simple and effective

I have learned quite a few things from Paul Sellers. Making a poor mans miter box and how to shave with the corner of chisel are the top two IMO.

it is dry to the touch

4 hours after painting it, it is dry to the touch. I didn't see any holidays but I'll check it thoroughly in the AM. After that I will apply 2-3 coats of shellac and bring it to Maria.

sawing at 90

On the one I made yesterday I saw that my vertical cut (on the right) was a frog hair off of 90 and the 45 cut was two frog hairs over 45. The left side 45 was good but the vertical cut was off slightly. Using the 90 square helped but I did see that as my cut progressed it was moving ever so slightly to the right of the knife line.

it looks ok

I did better on the top 45 and the vertical cut looked the same. Getting up close and personal I saw that the kerf was off the knife line starting around the 1/2 way point.

off

It looks good but Mr Starrett says otherwise. I sawed both miters on the right side of the box.

worse on the inside

There is no way in my part of the universe that 4 corners would be square.

dead on

One miter is dead on and I couldn't see any light. The other one had the light and the heel was high. I checked the miter face for square and one was off a little and the other was off twice as much. I planed the faces square and the corner was still out of square. It was better but there was still a gap.

after a little fussing

I didn't shoot the miters on a shooting jig instead I planed the faces free hand. What I don't understand is why one saw cut was 99% ok and the 2nd one was 90%. The saw kerf was still fairly tight out so I must be sawing off 90 somehow.

face is slanted

I studied the resulting saw cut of the miter and the saw kerf on the miter box. There is almost no slop in the kerf but I can tilt the saw slightly left or right. What I think I'm doing is starting at 90 and as I go downward the saw tilts away from the cut line to the right. 

I'm square

I did these miters both from the left side. They didn't come out square but they were better than the right side ones. A couple of swipes and I was dead on 90.

tried a wider one

One thing I did with the stock I used above was to plane a reference edge and saw the two of them parallel on the tablesaw. I thought I would see a marked improvement with the 90 but I only saw a little. The two scraps for this corner are from the same board and the angle on the right one is less than 45 and the left one is more than 45. I was expecting this to come out better than the smaller stock I used above.

The faces were square but the 45's were off. I saw lots of light under the blade of the combo square on both of them. I planed the miters and checked them with the combo square until they read good. The resulting corner was still off 90.

I'm wondering out loud if I'm pissing into a head wind. I rough cut the miters and shoot them dead. So it shouldn't matter what the rough cut is. However, comma, backslash, exclamation point, I want it to be 90 off the miter box I made. My sawing has improved but I still need to get over this hump. 

One practice miter box done. I sawed the fence off of the one I made yesterday and I will saw new R/L miters on it tomorrow. I have yet to find anything in my library that addresses this issue. For the most part it is saw your miters and glue them. The how, tips, and the why is missing.

I used my LV crosscut gents saw so far and tomorrow I'll change that and use a different saw. I don't like flip flopping like this with saws but I will see if a different saw improves or continues in the same vein as the gents saw.

If you are squeamish now is the time to look away. The following pic is the abscess.

as of 11 june

According to the docs this looks good. He showed me a pic he had taken before he cut and drained this again. The vertical cut is his and the horizontal (smaller) is from the first cut and drain. My next checkup is friday at 1330.
 

accidental woodworker

 The surgical clinic called my wife this AM and gave her an appt for me at 1300. Good things ain't following me on this abscess. I got to the VA at 1220 and I saw the same doc who had cut the abscess and drained it again. He saw me close to 1400. Him and another resident were on call at the surgical clinic and the ER. He got called to the ER so getting to me was a wee bit late. Have I mentioned that I am not a good waiter? They are still packing it with iodine gauze and it is still tender and )(&*U_)(&@!)@%#&*_Q_Q*)%% it still hurts when he did that.

I didn't get any time in the shop today in either the AM or PM session. I go back to the VA on friday to have the dressing changed so I have two days to spend in the shop. I have to be careful to not sweat because I still can't take a shower.

flat black paint

I got no joy at Wally World trying to buy spray paint. I pressed the "associate help" button and nada. I looked all around for an "associate" and saw none so I left. Painted the back of the frame with flat black paint. After I did this I went upstairs to catch up on my puzzles. I had 5 crosswords and 2 sudokus that were blank. The 2 sudokus have been kicking my arse for a week. I have been either hitting a blank wall or I have duplicate numbers. Spoiler alert I solved all of them except for two blanks on a crossword.

dry

The back side was dry so I flipped it and painted the topside. The top will need at a minimum 2 coats but one on the back should be sufficient. I'm hoping that I get this to Maria by saturday.

I tried to upload a pic of the abscess but it won't go. It took almost an hour to find instructions on the correct way to turn on MMS messaging. The first couple instructions, the steps didn't relate to my phone at all. I finally found instructions that worked and I got it turned on but the pic didn't make it to my email. After that I gave up trying.

This has got to be one the shortest blog posts I've done since when????

accidental woodworker

 Cooling my heels waiting for something to happen is not in my top 13 bazillion things I like to do. I hated it when I was in navy and some pin head officer would make me wait to see him. That is what happened today at my 3rd day in a row at the VA ER. I felt like I was waiting for the cable guy to show up. I was told multiple times on saturday that the surgical clinic would call me on monday to schedule an appt. It is almost 1600 and still no call. This sucks pond scum because one, I don't want the packing in the abscess to dry out making it a painful PITA to remove. Secondly I couldn't get anything done in the shop. I would go do something and then spend time waiting for the call. Oh well, stercus accidit.

box #4 hinged

I don't have any shellac so the boxes are staying as is for now.

staying put

I started to sort these screws up and gave up. Most of them are #4 & #5 screws. In a half an hour I did maybe 35 screws. Another thing I'll be leaving as is.

number stamp

I stamped the screw size and highlighted it with a fine black sharpie.

old white glue experiment

The left one hasn't changed much but the right one has opened on the end about 4 inches. Moot point as TFWW doesn't sell white or yellow glue.

shouldn't have done this today

I had to make 4 new bead moldings for the outside of the frame. These were too short and I thought I was generous making them an inch longer. What I forgot to add was this 2nd frame is 5/8" longer on the long sides than the first one.

as good as I can

There are still a few spots with glue that I couldn't dissolve or reach with a coat hanger. Today is looking like one of those days where things are being left as is.

made 4 more bead moldings

The bead moldings that were too short for the outside are going to be used on the inside.

ugh

Maybe a bone head me-steak. I sawed the miters in the wrong direction and I couldn't resaw them and have it fit. This went airborne after I broke into 3 pieces. I found two and one is still MIA. Oh, by the way I had to make 4 more bead moldings.

dry fit

I left the quirk on the bead molding to give a shadow line on both sides of the frame. I got a good fit (dry) both on the inside and outside. The inside was the easier of the two to do.

gaps

I was able to clamp this corner and close the gap. The miter toes were proud and I planed them flushed after it had set up.

I hate gaps

This is going to be painted and I can fill the gaps in with putty. This corner got closed with clamps and I planed the toes flush.

why I made new moldings

Try as I might I couldn't get the four moldings to be the same. I had 3 of the 8 corners misaligned. I used a small carving gouge to knock the proud one down.

3/4" back frame

There is glass, matting, mounting board, and the patches that will need a deep rabbet for them. The rabbet is 3/4" deep and 7/8" wide. I made it wide to help stiffen the sides and to keep them flat.

almost done

I glued and screwed the back frame to the main frame. I filled in the nail holes (used a pin nailer on the moldings) and I have to wait for it to dry. A final sanding and I can paint it. I am still thinking of using a rattle can flat black followed by several coats of shellac.

I have projects in mind and I'm not dragging my feet on them. I am giving the haul from Gurney's Sawmill a couple of weeks to acclimate to shop. I'm thinking a new stool by the back door will be the first one out of the gate.

accidental woodworker

 At oh dark 15 I walked into the ER at the VA again for the 2nd day in a row. When I woke up the dressing the doc had put on yesterday was on the bed and another part of it was on the kitchen floor. I tried to fix but I couldn't see it using two mirrors. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. The nurse changed the dressing and I didn't even have to sign anything. I am supposed to have an appt with the Surgical Clinic on monday but that is after they call to tell me when to come in. Fingers crossed I'll be able to jump into the rain locker.

missed it

When I glued up the boards for the lid I did it based on grain and color. I wanted them to look as much like one board as possible. The headache with that is the grain runs in the opposite direction on each board. So I had to plane one board of the glue up, flip it 180, and plane the other board. Doable but somewhat of a PITA. 

first box hinged

I wanted to put a thumb catch but it would be dead center on of one of the dividers. I didn't have no hiccups opening the lid from the ends so I'll leave it as is for now. I am not putting a magnet or a hasp to secure the lid. 

hinge bound

At first I thought the lid had cupped but it wasn't so boys and girls. I didn't want to piddle and diddle with the screws so I planed the tops of the ends slightly hollow.

better but not perfect

I planed a few shavings off the left side of the front and that made the margin across the front more even.

this was the charm

The lid was still a wee bit hinge bound so I took the lid off again for one more fix. I planed the underside of the hinge side of the lid. I took four swipes with a rabbeting blockplane and that allowed the lid to lay flatter. 

did better

Lids 2&3 had no problems with being hinge bound. I put a piece of paper between the lid and the box before I installed the hinges.

hmmm........

I started filling up the boxes and quickly realized that I had more compartments than screws to fill them. I thought of combining this box to hold #4 and #5 screws. I used a sharpie to highlight the compartments for #4 screws. I stopped and reversed myself when I found more #5 screws. I went back to one box for each size screw. I don't have any RH #5 screws that I can fill up some of the empty  holes.

4th box stock

I am making a change for the 4th box. Instead of having 18 compartments like the other 3, #4 will only have four. I will put #1, #2, and #3 screws in them. The 4th hole will be for mystery crappola.

it fits

Doing the grooves for the dividers wasn't as difficult as I imagined it being. It was a little awkward doing the layout but the chiseling went off without a hiccup.

not quite symmetrical

The short cross divider I had to redo because the first time I cut to length before I chiseled the grooves. The short sides of the compartments are dead on but the long is off 1/8". I forgot to offset the groove a 16th. You can't see it and there is nothing going in here that is married to a specific length and width of the dividers.

ugly looking blow out

Both long sides blew out on me when I chiseled the groove. That was in spite of me knifing the layout lines deep too. I had to make the groove on this side deeper to compensate for the blowout. 

ran out of gas

I rounded up the screws I had squirreled away all over the shop. I have all my #1 thru #6 screws in these 4 boxes. The Roy Underhill cabinet will be for screws #8 and up.

I didn't sleep well last night due to the dressing the doc put on me. The abscess is still tender and nurse this AM told me it was looking good and on its way to healing. After lunch I nodded out at my desk and dozed off for over an hour. When I finally went back to the shop I didn't feel like doing anything so I killed the lights. If I get ambitious I'll mosey on back after dinner and put on the 4th and final lid.

accidental woodworker

 I thought things were looking good when I got to the ER about 0800. It was after the shift change and there only two people waiting and I was one of them. The doc told me pus was still coming out of the abscess. But the good news didn't stop there, she said the cut had to be made bigger and deeper. A doc from the surgical clinic came and confirmed what the ER doc had said. Things went down hill on a run away train after that. 

I thought my hip operation was painful but today I not only pegged the pain pointer, I bent and broke it. One bad thing about abscesses is that numbing meds don't work that well. If they do work it takes a lot more time than normal. Somehow I survived and doc showed the pile of pus and other crappola he dug out of my body. I have follow up with the surgical clinic on monday.

I will probably end back up at the ER later tonight. The bandage that doc put on is leaking and my tee shirt is sticking to it. The wife is in NC so I can't ask her to put a fresh one on. The packing is also starting to ramp up the pain. Iodine gauze shoved in a fresh wound hole burns. The doc assured me that mondays' appt won't be a pained filled festival. I'll hold back judgement on that until then.

the collapsed box

I am not concerned with this collapsing again on me. I not only glued the dividers in, I also glued the bottom on. The tails/pins are all tight and didn't flex one iota when I pushed on them.

smoothing the lids

I didn't go nutso on either lid. I didn't check for twist with the sticks but instead just eyeballed them.

leaving it

This one spot is lower than the rest of the board. This will be the underside of the lid and can stay as is.

didn't make it

I was trying to get the next two lids glued up before I went to the ER but I ran out of time. All four of them will have glued up lids.

PM session

I got back from the ER around noon and I went to the shop about 2 hours later. I was still shaking and wee bit shell shocked from the procedure in the ER. That is why I'm blaming that for me forgetting to bandsaw this to a 1/2" before gluing it up. I'll have to thin it after it has set up.

screw box #4

It took almost no time for me to whack out the last screw box. It is less than 2 frog hairs off the others in size.

another scapegoat

Totally missed making the grooves for the dividers before I glued the box together.

needed some clamp help

It needed the long clamps to pull the half pins tight. I clamped the tails to even the pressure and keep it square.

lid hasps

Thinking of using these to secure the lid on at least 3 boxes. These are still available and I've seen them in ACE hardware. I've had these for years so I'm sure the price now is a bazillion times what I paid for them then.

first lid

I initially wanted an overhang on the ends and a flush fit on the front. I am sticking with the flush on the front but I am nixing the overhang on the ends. I will make all four sides of the lid flush with the box.

brain fart

I cut the lid out on the wrong side of the pencil line. I glued it back on and let it cook. Decided that this was enough play time for today.

not liking this

I think this is too big for the boxes. I'm now leaning in the direction of magnets to secure the lids.

came today

I took a saw filing class with Matt a few years ago. Just leafing through the book brought back the memories of it. I think learning to file your own saws is a must know and have to have skill. I conquered hand cut dovetails and filing saws is next in the queue.

accidental woodworker

 I spent a sizeable chunk of my PM session cooling my heels. The company that made my CPAP machine were making a 6 month checkup, albeit it was over 7 months. According to the tech they do an annual checkup after the first one at 6 months. She didn't ask me any questions about using it and just sucked a bunch of data off the machine.

I got a hold of Tools for Working Wood and I didn't get good news boys and girls. The rep told me that the BT&C white glue is on hiatus without a hint of when it might be available again. There is glue on the TFWW website but no white or yellow glues. I don't know if they sold Titebond or any other yellow glue brand. I'm on the email list and hopefully I'll get another gallon before the cold weather.

not coming clean

There are a couple of stubborn accumulations of glue that don't want to go away. I have had this soaking in vinegar for going on 4 days now. Most of it is concentrated at the bottom and top of the pouring sprout. I can't reach any of those areas with a piece of wood but I just thought of using a metal coat hanger. Why didn't think of that 3 days ago?

patch frame

This is ready to unclamp and I didn't see or feel anything amiss. The one concern I had was twisting the frame due to heavy clamps at the corners. Out of the clamps the frame lay flat on the two 1x12 boards - no rocking.

dividers going in next

I made a error in that I tried to clean/smooth the boxes before I glued the bottom and dividers on/in. The two of them would have stiffened the box making planing them a snap.

patches frame

A piece of the clamp pad didn't want to leave Mr Patch Frame. I didn't even think that this would be a potential glue headache. The stray piece got popped off with a chisel and then smoothed/flushed with a blockplane. All evidence of it was history.

the size differences

The frame in front was about the same size as the larger back on (3/4" shorter on the long legs). After seeing how large this one is I'm having second thoughts about it. Thinking now maybe I should go with two frames for the patches? The obvious question even to a blind man is where would hang something so big?

didn't survive

I planed and smoothed one long side and it collapsed on the second long side. This is proof the bottom and dividers could have stopped this. It was for the better because in spite of clamping it one dovetail still had a gap in the pin socket. I glued it up again, clamped in four directions and set it aside to cook.

the collapsed box

I glued the long dividers into the short ends of the box. It felt a lot stronger after doing that. I glued the bottom on after this had set up for a couple of hours.

solid wood lids

I am not a fan of glued up lids but I don't have any scraps wide enough. These boards were left over from a frame I screwed up last month. I resawed them to a 1/2" thick. Tomorrow I'll smooth the rough sawn faces.

parallel

These are the off cuts from the four boards I thinned down to a 1/2". The bandsaw didn't set any speed records and I did stall it a few times. The motor on this saw is a 1/2HP and I have a replacement 3/4HP ready to replace it. As soon as I get a round to it.

other edge

Just from eyeballing the two edges I can see the cut was parallel top to bottom. I couldn't detect even the teeniest hint of a taper. 

small stop hinges

I'm using these hinges and the #4 screws I bought don't fit. I drilled them out with a bit a 64th over the hinge hole size.

I need one more screw box which will bring the total up to 4. I am going to put all the #2, #3, #4, and #5 screws in them. I'll keep screw sizes #6 and up in the Roy Underhill cabinet.

the collapsed box

I left it clamped up for 4 hours and nothing moved or came undone when I took the clamps. I immediately glued the bottom on and set it aside to cook.

two more to go

I can only get one lid out of each glue up. I have two scraps that are 25" long and I can get two lids out that. I will glue two more tomorrow.

got lucky

Mixed in the 3/4" scraps was this one piece of 1/2". It is long enough to get the two long sides from it. Unfortunately it isn't wide enough to get the short ends.

got lucky again

As I was reaching to kill the lights I saw these two on the tablesaw. Checked them against the two boxes and they are longer than the short ends. I have all I need to whack out screw box #4.

accidental woodworker

 At 0525 I left for the VA to get the abscess checked. It didn't go as well as I thought it would. The abscess filled up with pus again and it )@#&%Q^(&*@&%Q)(*% hurt when the doc expressed it (squeezed the pus out). I have to go back on saturday and relive these dance steps. According the nurse I spoke with she told the weekends can get to be zooey. So it looks like it won't matter what time I go to have it checked. At least I won't have to worry about dealing with traffic.

fixed

I came back after dinner and glued the left side on. I let it cook overnight.

not twisted

The frame is laying flat on the bench. No corners are up or down.

almost dead on

The diagonals were off about a 32nd. I think this frame is a wee bit to big for what I need for the grandkids pics. I'll have to look it over and see how much dead space I am left with.

they behaved

I didn't have a warm and fuzzy about this stock not pulling any stupid wood tricks out of its sleeves. I was ready to do battle and make a new frame but I didn't have to.

flying lessons

This frame gave me fits and I came oh so close numerous times getting it airborne. I couldn't get the two corners square and have the diagonals agree. It took a lot fussing, cursing, and scratching my butt so hard it bled. Finally figured it out - clamp the corners first with the black 90° squares and then tighten the bar clamp. Once I got that the diagonals were dead nuts on.

glued and cooking

I glued this up the same way I did the frame above. Did the bottom first and let that set up for a few hours and then glued the last side. I will let this cook until tomorrow. I did on the table leaving the saw and workbench free for other things.

two turtle paintings

Both of these were painted by my wife's mother twin sister. I picked up the smaller right one today from Maria. Don't know where to hang them because my wife doesn't like sea turtles and there isn't an over abundance of wall space neither.

I did talk to Maria about the navy patches and I'm good to go. We discussed the matting and the 3 I picked out are all no longer available. I'm Navy so I want a green background for the patches. I'm not done with the frame until next week maybe and Maria said she would look around for something similar.

finally

These screws took the scenic route from Oregon to Rhode Island. Went from Oregon to Texas to Chicago where the tracking said it was in the system awaiting ????? I now have round head screws for my 95° stop hinges.

upcoming project

I have piles of screws all over the shop. I forgot what I bought these for - maybe for the chrome hinges I got? I want to consolidate all the scattered piles hidden here and there and everywhere into one central location.

stock for 3 boxes

Came up with the brilliant plan to make 3 boxes - one each for #4, #5, and #6 screws. I resawed left over stock down to a 1/2" thick for the boxes.

ready for off the saw

The boxes are all the same size and I went with a single tail at the corners. It took me pretty close to 2 hours to go from resawn stock to dry fitted boxes.

somebody wasn't paying attention

I always label the bottoms and use it as my reference. 3 (or 1) sides on the is box got reversed somehow. I don't know where I missed this but it still went together off the saw.

major brain fart

After dry assembling the boxes I took them apart again. I sawed two  grooves in each of the short ends of the boxes. What I didn't do was label the boxes before I did that. Having made the boxes identical I thought it wouldn't be headache to put them back together. Well boys and girls it was a Royal PITA. The final box didn't go together with what was there. I had to shave one tail and two pin sockets before it did.

18 holes

 Each box will have 18 compartments and I'm hoping that I can get all my Flat Head, Oval Head, and Round Head screws in each box. I like the size of the boxes and I don't want to make a bigger one with more compartments. I'll have to bide my time and see what shakes out.

short cross dividers

Each compartment is roughly 1 1/2" square. I will have to use tweezers to get the screws out this. There is no way my fat fingers will fit and grab a screw.

one more half lap

Five of these short ones got tossed. They were OTL (out to lunch) and didn't align on the right slot or the left slot when I flipped it. I made 5 new ones and 3 of the five on both boxes were tight and had to be hammered home.

needed clamping

One tail on both ends wouldn't fully seat in the pin socket. I'll do the short dividers for this one tomorrow.

stayed late

It was close to 1530 but I wanted to get the dividers done on these two boxes. I got the half lap on the short ones done and I needed to do a half lap on the long dividers. My tablesaw blade kerf is 1/8" and I used 1/8" plywood which made for a snug fit.

wee bit off

The bottom 3 compartments are a wee bit bigger than its 15 siblings. The other box came out with all of them the same. I used that to lay out this one but I had an error with the pencil somehow, somewhere. The fit is tight on both of the boxes so I don't think I need to glue them in. If need be I can wick super glue and that should suffice.

I got an email from Tools for Working Wood concerning the glue. It came a day after the email saying they had refunded my money. Anyways he wrote that the glue clumping was a sure sign that it was bad. I went on the website to buy another gallon but I couldn't find it. I'll call them today and see what the story is on that.

accidental woodworker

 The mercury pushed up past 90F(32C) today and it was kinda muggy. Not jul/aug humid but what will it be like then? The nurse told me to take it easy for the next couple of days and don't strain myself. I complied with that and I took it slow and easy all day or at least what I would consider slow and easy. Tomorrow at oh dark thirty I'm going to the ER for my checkup and removing the packing. The nurse told me that this was an excellent time to come and do that. Fingers crossed I'll be home before the rush hour traffic kicks off.

they behaved

Still straight, flat, and not cupped or bowed. Something which I think is a given for a frame.

square holder thing

I tried to remove the 6" square and I almost ripped the holder off the drawer. Annoying to reach for it and not being able to extract it. Why didn't I think of putting it on the drawer face at an angle yesterday? Laid it out and planed down to the lines.

plenty of clearance

The extraction headache is fixed but I noticed a new one. The mortises for the squares are just a tad to tight. There is wiggle room but I could use more. That would make pulling them out and putting them back so much easier. It is on the to do list for shop crappola.

first dry clamp

I tried to square up the frame without clamps and I just see sawed on that. The clamps pulled bridle joints up tight and snug. I was happy with this so I glued it up.

almost lost it

This glue up didn't go smoothly. It was too big for the workbench and I had to get two boards for the long clamps to sit on. I used c clamps at the corners to apply pressure on the bridle joints. I could have skipped this step as the joinery was snug and self supporting. 

needed another board

The left over from yesterday wasn't enough to get all the bead moldings and the back frame from.

back frame and bead moldings

I am going to try something different with this frame. I wanted to do it on the last frame but I only remembered after the frame was done. Hopefully I won't forget it with this one. Still have to saw out the individual bead moldings.

right ones

At first I thought I had made a me-steak and bought the wrong charging cables. I got 3 and 6 foot long ones. Turns out that this is the correct configuration for charging my phone.

opening up

I glued this edge joint with the white glue. This was the problem I was having with it. A couple of days after glue up the joint would open up. This was a tight joint when I glued it up. From here it would get steadily worse. It didn't always start opening up at the ends. I had a couple that started in middle.

opposite end

It doesn't look like it is that bad but I can slightly flex one board past the other. This joint will be toast in couple of days. My wife told that the toy box chest lid hasn't changed. She is of the opinion that it is about the same as when she left home. The other two samples are still tight along the lengths of their respective glue joints.

3 hours later

Took it out of the clamps and started to plane the four corners flush.

plenty big enough

I am happy with the layout and the amount of empty space around each patch. I got it set up so that it goes from the top left and reads like a book down to the bottom right (kinda) of my Navy career. I might change the bottom row but for now I'm liking what I see.

extras

These two were on the side of the saw till and I put them back there. I removed the Navy 1983 patch from the frame. For the life of me I can't figure out what that patch is for. I stuck it with these two to live with.

the glue in question

I dug this out of the shitcan not to gloat about it. I didn't say anything about the glue before because I don't who I got this from is at fault. I had emailed Tools for Working Wood and they gave me refund $47.13. No explanation or follow up email. I would have liked to know if this was just a bad batch or something else. I am going to order another gallon of it and see what shakes out. I really like this glue a lot.

checking out the beads

These are going to add some visual character to the frame. I am thinking of buying some rosettes from Etsy. I made the frame 1 3/4" wide because I saw rosettes for sale that were slightly smaller than the frame width.

back frame

These has a slight cup to them. I am not sure that the frame is strong enough to flatten that out and keep the frame from doing stupid wood tricks. I also saw that I had made them too wide at 1 5/16".

UGH!!!

It ain't square boys and girls and it isn't off just a wee bit. There is over 5/8" difference in the diagonals. I assumed incorrectly that the bridle joints would self square the frame as I tightened the clamps on it. I was wrong and this is toast.

repurposing

Blurry pic of me cutting the frame apart at the corners. I have an idea for another frame for the grandkids pics. I'll be losing about 4-5 inches off the original frame on each side.

new set of bridle joints

I will glue this frame up again using these clamping squares. The plan was to glue two corners first and let them cook for a few and then glue the remaining side one.

first step worked

Got the corners square and the bridle joints clamped. After dinner I'll come back and glue on the last side.

before I killed the lights

I didn't like the look of the clamp bearing down on just the tenon. I fitted the last side on to alleviate that choke point. This side is on dry - no glue yet.

might as well

The diagonals were dead on. Having this not square would drive me batty looking at the patches in it. 

18" combo square

Confirmed the diagonals with Mr Starrett. Both corners (in each direction) read square. After I glue on the last side I will let this cook until tomorrow. Then I can repeat it for the 2nd frame.

accidental woodworker

 I spent over 6 hours in the ER today but it wasn't for the ticker this time. I had a infected cyst on my back (again) and in the past 3 days it has grown (golf ball plus size), got a deep red, and it said hello every time my body moved or my eyes blinked. I had to go through my PCP to say, yep that is an infected cyst, before I got sent to the ER. The PCP told me that he wasn't allowed to do the procedure the ER did.

The ER doc said it was huge and way bigger than she expected it to be. This one got packed with iodine gauze that gets removed (hopefully) on thursday. I had an infected cyst on the top of my right butt cheek a couple of years back and it hurt as much as this one and looked twice as red/ugly, but it didn't get any packing. I feel better and I'm looking forward to it not having it wake up me tonight to chew the fat.

calling it done

I don't know how many coats I got on it but it looks consistent with the level of the build and the sheen. 

next project?

I made this frame and it turned out too short on one of the legs. Thinking of repurposing it for something new. I had to find where I hid what I what I want to put in the frame first.

back together

Happy with the lid and especially the flush fitting of the chamfers on the ends. It surprises how little that is off that jumps out and grabs my attention so quickly.

inside

I know the inside only got 3 coats but it doesn't need anymore than that. I'll be leaving the lid up for a couple of days to allow the shellac to fully harden.

too small (found them)

This is what I thought of using the frame for but it turned out to be too small. I could split the patches into two groups - commands I was assigned to, ones temporarily attached to, and miscellaneous. Decided that I want all the patches to be in one frame so I'll make a bigger one.

kind of rift sawn

I went through the boards and picked this one. It was still flat and it didn't have any heart wood.

reference edge

For boards over 3 feet long I like to use the #8 to straighten them out. The #7 gets the lion share of establishing reference edges.

new frame

This will have bridle joints and I'll cover them with bead moldings on the inside and outside edges. I might also (gasp) spray paint it rattle can black. Just because with spray paint there won't be any brush strokes to deal with.

practice bridle joint

This was slightly off and still a wee bit wonky after correcting it. I screwed up by not squaring the end before doing the joint. Shoulders were tapered a couple of frog hairs and one was a few frog hairs off the opposite side one.

snug fit

The mortise and tenon portion came out well. Got a self supporting, snug fit between the two.

nope

I was hoping that I could use the left over bead moldings on the patch frame but they are short for the long and short sides. The left over from sawing the frame sides will be used to make the bead moldings and the back frame.

stickered

Nothing moved when I sawed these out so I don't believe there are any stresses in the board. I'll know for sure in the AM when I eyeball these again.

useless?

I thought I could use these on my car charger for my phone but I can't. The USB A is needed but the USB C is the wrong configuration. I need a C style for iPhones. I ordered some correct 3 and 6 footers from Amazon along with a new cigarette charger.

I brought the new gold frame to Maria today and she liked the frame a lot. After looking at her samples she didn't have anything that even remotely looked like what I had made. I have to go back and see her to get her advice on the upcoming patch frame. How deep should the rabbit be? Can you mount the patches? Do they need a special adhesive? Tips on spacing? etc etc etc

Needless to say I didn't get a lot done in the shop today. I won't be walking tomorrow because of the antibiotics (2) the doc gave me. One of them I have to avoid being in full sun. If I do have to go out she told me to stick to the shade and wear a hat. First I've heard of this type of symptom of use for a medication.

accidental woodwork