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I have a bunch of things I've made over the past few years that I don't have room for anymore. So I decided to gather them up and give them to my sisters, Sue and Kam. Donna won't be  getting anything because it is too expensive to ship boxes to her. Sue and Kam will divvy up the goodies and decided who gets what. 

With that in mind, there are two tea cabinets I made over two years ago that they will get. However, I didn't put backs on them because they are meant to hang on the wall via a french cleat. I made five and 3 of them sit on tables. Even though I explained that they were designed to hang on so the wall becomes the back. Since that ain't working out before these last two go to them I will put a back on them. That is what I dealt with today.

they are looking good

The smaller frame I'm calling done. It needs the back side to be painted to be 100%. The larger frame initially looked good but.....

nope

On the right long leg I could see a few snakes of raised grain. From 6 feet away I couldn't see it but I can up close. Once the satin poly goes on it will pop and be visible from 6 feet.

one more time

I inspected the other 3 legs and they were ok. In raking light I caught another snake on one of the 3 legs. Drat, and double drat.

time to get tough

This is getting old real quick. Sanded it lightly with 220 and then I wet the leg down with a wet rag to raise the grain. After it dried, sanded it with 220 and painted it again. Hopefully for the last time.

tea cabinet

Cabinet as is. I had already taken the door off and flushed it with the bottom of the cabinet last year. Originally all the doors extended past the bottom by a 1/8" because they were designed to hang on a wall. This is something my sister Donna asked me about. I told her to saw a 1/8" off the door bottom.

look see from the back

I couldn't find the site I bought the tea sets from (pot, cup, saucer, tea bag holder). Even my wife couldn't find it so these are going out sans tea sets.

1/4-20 set screws

I got a box of sheet metals screws too. One set screw at ACE was 79 cents and I refuse to pay that price for 24 but I did buy four so I could do one insert. After I got home I ordered 50 of them - two pkgs of 25 ea - from McMaster-Carr. I bought two different types and with S/H and taxes it set me back $36.

needed an insert before staring on the tea cabinets

I got the old insert under the new one. The blade can't retract down enough so it is below the bottom of the insert. 

first headache

It split when I drove the nail home. This is to keep the insert from flipping up. I filled the split with super glue. This won't be a problem and won't effect flushing the insert with the tabletop.

2nd headache

The nail at the front wasn't low enough so it was causing the insert to be tilted. I had to fill in the first nail hole and drill another one just below it. After that it was easy to level and flush the insert with the tabletop. I used the 4 set screws I bought from ACE and tomorrow when the McMaster-Carr order comes in I'll replace them.

put the original back in

Used my 80grit sanding block and leveled and flushed the insert to the tabletop. I'll use this one until new one goes in but I'm going to save it. It might be useful to have one that I can abuse and trash if needed.

white line

This is the problem child frame. I sanded this ever so lightly but it was raised. I could feel it with my finger tips. This can't be plane tracks because they are straight. I have never seen a bowed or S shaped plane track.

wet it down pretty good

Fingers crossed that this will finally end this. You would think that with all the paint coats that they would have built up and buried this by now.

PM session

Just before lunch I got the moldings for the back sawn out. The plan is to put the rabbeted moldings on the back and slip a 1/4" panel in them.

post lunch Lowes run

I like this plywood a lot. Especially so the face veneer on this side. It looks like it is quarter sawn?

tossed into the shitcan

There is no need for the french cleat system anymore. This frees up some space in the top shelf area.

one down, one to go

I think this plywood compliments the pine nicely.

hmm......

Me thinks I didn't think this through all the way. The frame for the plywood is good but I didn't account for the gap at the top.

this will do the trick

This is 1 1/2" high and an inch longer than the top. Haven't decided yet what to do with the top. Leave it square as is or round over the top outside corners or saw an angle on them?

started on number two

Removing the french cleat on this too.

not pretty

This one didn't break off as cleanly as the first one. To my eye it is ugly looking. I think I'll glue a thin piece of pine over it to cover. I'll try to match it to the one at the front.

time to quit

Confused myself and paid the price. One of these is left over from the first one I did. It is not the same dimension as the molding for the 2nd one. I sawed the miter in the wrong direction on two and the other two I sawed short on the length.

before I killed the lights

I made another set of rabbeted moldings for the 2nd cabinet. I should be able to get these on in the AM session tomorrow and get some shellac on them.

accidental woodworker

 After talking it over with my wife yesterday, she canceled the cable TV portion and kept the internet service. A technician has to come to the house and set up. That is supposedly coming this tuesday between 0800-1200. I have no problems with no TV because I rarely watch it now. My favorite/watched shows are on PBS and 99.99% of them are on You Tube. 

My TV/internet bill with Verizon started out at $149 and last month I paid $214. Over the ensuing years TV offerings that I did watch were summarily taken away and absolute garbage channels given as replacements. 3 of them were spanish programming and 'nada' is the only spanish I know. The only channel my wife watched was changed to Hi Def with no replacement so she is fine with the TV being gone. My only headache might come this football season - but I'll wait and see how that shakes out.

hopeful

I did go back to the shop after dinner yesterday but I didn't do anything with the frame. I decided to let it cook until the AM. It looked good then and I lightly sanded it with 220 grit and it appeared to be clear - no raised grain. I painted it again and the initial look was encouraging. However, 3 hours later when I looked at I saw another raised grain snake. I'll be washing, rinsing, and repeating again. At this rate it will be april before I get the frame to Maria.

the experiment frame

Before I sanded this, these round dots weren't visible. They popped out after sanding and there are 4 of them now. Yesterday I only saw 2. The all disappeared after I painted it. Fingers crossed that I'm done with it.

almost all the way

This is the largest Yankee screwdriver I have and it drove the screws 99% of the way down. The small part left I screwed fully down by hand.

I really like how the screw heads look against the whiteness of the maple. These black oxide screws are becoming my favorites. More so then my beloved brass ones.

sigh.....

These covers are R and L handed and I blew it. I wasn't paying attention to that when I routed the chamfer on them. Had to back up here and make another one.

Yikes

The dark area on the insert is where I mistakenly threw a wet rag. It swelled up over a 1/8th of an inch. I don't know of anyway to fix a boneheaded boo-boo like this so I'll have to make a new insert.

another big sigh

I meant for the other side to be facing out - it is clear like its sibling on the left. If this bugs me when it comes time to screw it on the leg I'll make a new one. I have enough maple to make at least 5 more of these.

done

I tossed the extra one so it doesn't confuse me which doesn't take much with me.

might as well

I had already scraped off about 14 pounds of the nasty looking congealed sawdust from this worm gear. This one elevates and lowers the blade (height). That is why I couldn't fully lower it beneath the tabletop. I spent a few more calories scraping and sucking up another 14 pounds of sawdust.

the original insert

I can't use these blade stiffeners with this insert. Another thing I don't like about it is the gap is too wide. My insert was a zero clearance insert - nothing but sawdust got sucked down beneath the tabletop.

too wide

I sawed a lot of boards to get thin strips to use as banding. This insert sucked up and destroyed a lot of them which is why I made my own. Another reason why I made my own is my insert also cut down a lot on fuzzy wuzzies on the bottom of the boards I sawed.

overpriced 1/2" MDF

Made a road trip to Lowes to get a quarter sheet of this for $27. The last time I bought it I'm sure it was less than $10. I have made inserts out of 1/2" plywood but I didn't like them. The didn't last long as MDF and they weren't as smooth. Plywood tended to be grabbie when pushing stock over it. 

making 6

Decided to make 6 at once. This way I won't have a odd piece of MDF left over. The length of this is 13 1/2" long and after cutting that off, I was able to get 6 inserts out it.

template routing

Used the tape and super glue trick. Zero problems with any of them.

slip fit

Checked and all of them fit just a few frog hairs from snug.

layout done

Four holes for the leveling screws and one hole for a finger grab. At the top I'll put a clipped 4 penny nail that will act to keep the insert from pivoting up when pressure is on the front of it.

need some screws

Initially these leveling screws would vibrate and change the height of the insert. I would adjust it and it would repeat shortly afterward. The last time I did it I applied super glue to the internal threads to build them up and strengthen them. That worked better than I expected and I'll use the same method on these six. I'll have to make a run to ACE hardware because I don't have any small sheet metal screws.

The plan is too make two inserts and stow the others somewhere that I will not remember where I put them. Maybe I'll figure out a hole to stick them in that I will be able to remember. This insert has served me well for several years so I got longevity out of it.

 accidental woodworker

It's not everyday you are asked, to come and take your pick from a freshly thinned wood, that is almost exclusively cherry. I haven't had any fresh cherry for a fair few years, so to be faced with a cherry woodland on the verge of spring, with piles awaiting selection is a rare treat.

I think I will celebrate, by carving a spoon, for Clare and Nigel, the woodland owners.

Split with the froe, into halves, quarters, billets.

Axe a crank. Sketch an outline. The cherry grain has provided me with a centreline.

Saw down to the line.

Axe to the line. Same with the profile, then out with the knives. Time to catch the last few rays of the sun. Almost Equinox.

And we have a spoon. The first of many, I imagine, given the big pile of cherry logs next to me.

From tree to log to spoon, before the sun went down.

I offered some of the cherry to Mick, but I don't think he wants, to carve a spoon; says it's too much like a religion. That made me smile, I used to do a lot of Buddhist meditation; nowadays carving is my meditation. People do all sorts of things in the name of religion, but I've never heard of anyone doing bad in the name of carving spoons! I do treat my chopping block like an altar, though, I guess.

 Got the wife's crate/box done along with the Kreg loose tenon box. That was done woodworking wise but needed a finish. The platform is done and once the finish is dry I can use it. Started back on the maple kitchen ladder after that.

I called Verizon and I got lucky in that I finally got to talk to a human. A foreigner who obviously didn't speak english as his first language. I managed to navigate the maze of the frog leaps from one robot representative to the next the one before getting to him. A second after he said he would check my account, the connection went dead. I'll try it again tomorrow.

only one glamour shot

Done. The wife liked the pics I sent her which is the most important thing. I put it in her office to collect dust until june.

done

I will leave the lid propped up for a week or so to give the shellac a chance to set and harden. I put all the goodies back in it without it effecting that.

hmm......

The grain under the paint was still raising with each coat. I have already put on 2 and this one is the 3rd.

going bye-bye

I don't see any need for the back of the tread to extend past the leg. I am going to plane the small triangular part off.

close

I planed away a majority of it before I glued it up. 

glued and cooking

Didn't realize it but I made a minor me-steak. I had eyeballed and thought though what the next step would be before and after gluing the treads. Or so I thought. I missed that I should have drilled the holes for the maple grab dowel first.

black oxide, oval head screw

I plan on putting two, 2 inch #12 screws in both ends of the two treads. I don't want to rely solely on the glue bond.

the missed hole

The hole for the maple dowel. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get a drill with the bit on the inside. It wasn't problem - I had plenty of room.

color is not a match

The platform will do what I want it to do. I can't abide by the mismatch color in the pic though. The TV cabinet is poplar stained walnut. The camera shows it orange whereas it is a lighter walnut brown than the platform.

drilling the hole

I drilled the 1 1/8" hole for the dowel from both sides. If I had caught this I would have drilled the holes on the drill press. Now I had to drill them by hand and I am not good at drilling square by hand.

gave myself a B+

I was pleasantly surprised at how well I drilled the holes. There was only a small bit of misalignment in either hole. Coming from both sides does work.

nope

This was as far as I could get the dowel in the hole. It was the same when I tried it in the opposite hole.

made it a wee bit larger

Wrapped 100 grit around a 3/4" dowel and sanded the misalignment marks away. 

dowel end caps

The dowel was easily tapped into the holes after sanding. I left it long because it isn't going in yet. The inside width at the top tread is 13 1/8" and further up where the dowel is, it is a frog hair under 13". The end caps will keep the dowel captive. I'll screw them on so if needed the dowel can removed for repairs, etc, if necessary.

not what I was looking for

I spent over an hour trying to find the 1/8" thick brass for the back leg stops. I searched all the usual holes I stick things in and nada. I didn't know that I had this piece of brass but I don't think it is thick enough to use.

ta-da

What a relief to find it. I was thinking that I had inadvertently swept it up and tossed it in the shit can. Found it when I looked for the machine screws for the back legs to pivot on. I have to figure out a way to round over the edges on the brass. I don't want anyone getting sliced and diced on the edges of it.

raised grain

The previously raised grain on the other legs is gone but I am still getting a wee bit on this one. Looks like I'll be sanding and painting it again.

experiment

Picked out a frame and wet it down to raise the grain. After it had dried I sanded it with 220 and put on a coat of black.

two round dots

Except for these two the rest of the frame wasn't showing any raised grain. They are about the size of flat head screw. Other than that I don't know what caused them. I will try to get back to the shop after dinner and see if I can sand them off. 

accidental woodworker

 On friday last I got the new Verizon FIOS cable TV box. I tried to install it on sunday and it didn't go well. The cable won't work because the WiFi router is incompatible with it. It seems Verizon was supposed to ship a new router with the FIOS box but didn't. The WiFi router is still working but I don't have any TV in the living room. The flip side is I don't watch much TV there anymore so no big deal. However, it would be nice to see what 1080 resolution via HDMI looks like on a 720p TV. I might have to upgrade - the living room TV is probably 10 or more years old. 

I can't fix the hiccup because the cable account is in my wife's name. Verizon will only deal with the named account holder. So I'll have to wait till my wife calls Verizon from North Carolina and gets a new router shipped.

3 coats

Yesterday I got 3 coats on the crate/box and the Kreg loose tenon box on the bottoms. I got two more on in the AM and called the bottoms done.

quickie project

With the old cable box gone I no longer have the time it displayed. Couldn't believe how much I looked at it to get the time of day. Anyways, I needed something to elevate the DVD player and WiFi router up. I have a back stop on the TV stand and I can't stack the two of them because of that. This stand will elevate them enough so the wires coming out of the back of them clear the back stop. 

I came back to the shop after dinner yesterday and got it glued and cooking. Simple build - mitered front corners and I'll rout a rabbet along the top inside edges for a piece of plywood to sit in.

new banding cooked all night

The short side banding on the left is a wee bit high - it isn't down tight to the plywood bottom. I'm leaving it as is because it isn't anywhere near as bad as the replaced long side banding was.

lower left corner

I missed it initially but saw it after I looked a bit more carefully. From a few feet away it is almost invisible. I doubt anyone other than another woodworker will ever notice it.

stained pine

I don't remember where I read about staining pine blotch free. I followed those steps and this is what I got. I have never stained anything (including pine) as evenly as this. Can't remember the blog nor the steps. I do remember using the pre stain conditioner but there were a couple of extra steps. Today I'll just be using the pre stain stuff and hoping for the best.

not the same stain

I also don't remember the stain I used on the fielded panel but the platform has special dark walnut on it. Pretty happy with how it came out but it isn't as even as the pine panel. Those extra steps are necessary.

2nd coat of stain

The plywood top is birch plywood and it looks pretty even too. There is some white trying to say hello but at least it isn't flashing neon bright. Tomorrow I'll slap on a couple of coats of poly.

00 steel wool

Got two coats on it and before the third one I rubbed down this box and the one for the wife. Subsequent to in between coats I'll rub them down with 0000 steel wool.

saved myself a road trip

I have more than enough left in the can to apply to the black frame. I have two coats on the back and one on the front. I will leave the back with two but I think I'll do 3 on the front. According to black paint can, I can apply the poly after 24hrs. So I should be able to get this to Maria by saturday?

3 on

The more I look at this the more I like how well I did the fingers and dovetails. It looked pretty good with 3 coats but I am going to put on 5 - that is what I did on the bottom. I'll wash, rinse, and repeat for the Kreg box.

touch up

One nice thing about using a local paint store is the service. They went into my account and found where I had bought two quarts of this paint. I doubt Lowes or Home Depot could match that. I touched up the wounds and 2 hours later I could pick out only one and that one will definitely need at least one more coat. I'll get that on tomorrow. There is no rush to get this done at all.

new clock

I could easily just look at my computer to see what time it is but I don't. I made this 12 years ago and it will have to do for now. Thinking about making a digital clock (numbers, no clock face) and I'll look on line for a kit. You can see the back stop thing - the DVD player and WiFi have to be 4-5 inches in front of to lay flat.

accidental woodworker

The wife's crate/box got 3 coats of shellac today. Last night she let me know that she didn't need it until june. Oh well, it will be done in the next few days and she'll get the pleasure of finding a hole to stick it in until june. I'm betting on the boneyard hosting it. BTW it was another beautiful warm pre-spring day. The mercury topped out at 71F (22C) here abouts.

rounding the top corners

Used the dozuki to saw most of the waste off. Followed that up with a blockplane and finally the shinto rasp.

corners done

I wasn't going to but I sanded a round over on the top edge. The arris felt too sharp when I tried out the handles. I knocked it back on both the inside and outside edges.

sigh

Sanded this ever so lightly and it now sticks out like a blinking neon light. I didn't notice it when I glued it up because I would have put it on the bottom if possible.

why not?

To make this look like it was deliberate I transferred the location to the opposite side and I sanded in a matching divot. 

almost shellac time

I am going to apply 4-5 coats of shellac on the bottom first. Get that done first and then shellac the rest of it.

a couple more to-dos

There is a large snake like depression on one side that I'm going to attempt to steam out. The canned air is to blow sawdust out of the pin/tail gaps so I can hit them with super glue and pine sawdust. Branded the bottom with my logo and signed it.

see it

There was one small divot and a 5-6 inch snake like one. My wife's iron will spit an impressive amount of steam. Now that I used it I'm going to buy one to have in the shop. The small divot swelled and sanded flush but the snake didn't. I would say that maybe 80% - 85% of steamed flush. I tried 4-5 times to get the remaining part to swell but it wouldn't. What I was able to get will have to do. One of the joys of using soft pine.

one more fix

If I sanded this out it would look like crap IMO. Maybe if it wasn't at the corner it wouldn't look to be bad being feathered out.

dutchman ready

I didn't have many pine scraps to find a color match with. I had cleaned up the shop early in the week and dumped all my scraps then.  Glued this and after it cooked, I sawed and planed it flush.

dark spots at the baseline

The super glue and sawdust filled the gaps nicely. The dark spots will disappear under the shellac.

my nemesis

One more thing to address. I hate gaps and I saw more here than I did yesterday. This one is big and highly visible.

didn't see these yesterday

Or maybe it was what I wanted to see. I decided to apply banding around the bottom inside to hide this.

long sides first

While this was cooking I flipped the box over and put on a couple of coats of shellac.

two boxes to do

I put the Kreg loose tenon jig on the bench too. I might as well get shellac on it at the same time.

hmm....

I want to get this frame done and out to Maria before I do any of the Stanley poster frames. I am not impressed with this color (expected a deeper black) but it should look better with the second coat. I am going to cover it after the painting is done with either shellac or a General Finishes oil - I can get that at Koszela Lumber.

big sign followed by another one

I had to take out one of the long side bandings because it wasn't fully seated along its length down to the plywood. There was a big gap on the whole length of it. After I got the short sides done I glued another long side banding and made sure I pushed it down tight to the plywood as I clamped it with the ghost sticks.

that long ago?

I got a comment about using a dovetail miter joint and I had tried it before. Didn't realize it was over ten years ago. 

that's a miter

I don't like the look of this joint at the bottom face side. The half pin has to be bigger than the opposite end one to accommodate the bottom grooves.

too small for 1/4" plywood

In order for this to work with my 1/2" plywood bottom this would have to be at least 3 times as wide as it is now. It will definitely hide the groove but at the expense of throwing the symmetry of the tails and pins off. I had made a box with this joint but it wasn't with others in the samples hole. 

Now that a few years have elapsed I am going to revisit this joint and make another box with it. Maybe my mind will be changed once I see it again in a box. I don't recall this giving me any particular problems making it but I do remember the layout kicked my arse about figuring it out.

accidental woodworker

My newest carving video – “Carving 17th-century Strapwork Patterns” is now available on vimeo-on-demand. “Strapwork” is a name given to designs that include narrow vertical and horizontal bands or “straps” connecting different elements of the design – round “rosettes”, fleur-de-lis, leafy clusters, etc. The particular strapwork patterns presented in this series stem from the Ipswich, Massachusetts shop of Thomas Dennis and from Devon in England, specifically around the city of Exeter. The time period spans the whole 17th century.

Its running time is just over 3 hours, broken into six videos – after discussing the layout and the tools, the videos show how I carved 3 different versions of this pattern. All related, but each distinct. Between the three box fronts, you’ll see a full range of the vocabulary of strapwork patterns.

• Introduction & a look at the gouges used
• Incising the layout
• Background removal & details (those two videos contain the first full pattern, a box front from Thomas Dennis’s shop)
• A second Ipswich/Thomas Dennis box front
• A version of strapwork from Exeter, Devon
• A slideshow about the historic examples and the research (starting in 1892!) concerning this group of furniture, specifically this pattern.

Here’s a bit of a trailer –

The price for the series is $65.00 – the link is here https://vimeo.com/ondemand/follansbeestrapwork

If you are a paid subscriber to my substack blog you can get a 20% discount – there’s a promo code in a post sent to them… the link to that blog is here https://peterfollansbeejoinerswork.substack.com/

 Got to my goal of getting the wife's crate/box glued and cooking. I had my doubts during the AM session but that evaporated before the lunch bell rang. Stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something that I failed at previously. Even though I am making boxes I've been trying new tricks of the trade whenever I can in making them. As my skill improves, so does how I feel comfortable doing something new.

quick check

Got the first set of pins done and I had to check the fit. One of the things I tried that was new for me, was the finger before the tail on the left. The initial fit looks good without any gaps. One down and three more to go.

Yikes

I noticed something was OTL (out to lunch) when I was chopping the other side of the tails. The baseline there was deeper than the other side. I checked it and the baseline on this side was tapered and it was short thankfully. Don't ask me how I managed to brain fart my way into that because I'm clueless.

the pin is ok

I think this was the corner that I knifed the baseline wrong. The pin looks good and there aren't any gaps on either the outside or inside.

no twist

It went together off the saw. All the tails are fully seated but there is some proud between the tails and pins. It didn't effect the square - the diagonals were dead nuts on. The proud is only a few frog hairs and will disappear when I plane it.

something old again

I'm going to try and rout a stopped groove/dado in the long sides. I didn't want the groove/dado to run straight through out the ends. The bottom is 1/2" plywood and that would make for large visibly plugged holes. The last time I did a stopped dado it turned into a through dado. Laid it out so it will fall in between the tail sockets.

the first easy one

I tried to keep this as close to the bottom edge as I could. I didn't want to sacrifice any more depth than I had too. Knifed the outsides edges and removed most of the waste with a chisel. Got it to a 5/16" depth with a router.

first stopped one done

One of the biggest problems I've had doing these is blowing out the little bit on the tail. That part of the groove is fragile, especially so in soft pine. Took my time chiseling this out, taking small bites, and avoiding putting any undue stress on it.

a little short

Did another dry fit to check the alignment of the grooves 360. I didn't make the stopped ones long enough. I had to extend them another 1/8" on both ends so that they aligned with the groove ends on the short sides.

now I'm flush

The groove on the bottom was short of the groove on the vertical one. Other than that minor hiccup the groove runs aligns 360.

doesn't fit

I measured for the width and length and I was long on both of them. Used two sticks to mark the length and then the width.

done

The bottom fits and more importantly all the tails and pins are fully seated/mated. Zero gaps to talk about on the in or out sides.

hmm......

The grooves didn't come clean with crisp walls. The walls on both got wonky and I experienced a lot of tear out. Most of that was due to the chisel being a tight fit. However, with the bottom in it looks good. There is only one spot on the inside where I could see any tear out. The bottom was worse but still not that horrible to look at. The plywood is a good snug fit and that hides/blends 99% of it away.

maybe a shoulda....

I drilled out the handles before I glued the crate/box up. Thinking now that I shoulda did the round over on the top outside corners too. It shouldn't be too difficult to do the round overs after it has cooked.

handle holes are off

When I drilled one of the handle holes I didn't clear the chips from getting between the wood and the fence on the drill press. The near hole has a flat, horizontal bottom whereas the far one dips below the horizontal. Of the two I like the far one better and I used a rasp on the near to match its sibling.

the baseline hiccup corner

The gap on the tail is from me correcting for the tapered baseline. Still I'm happy with the overall look. Especially so with the fingers. This was the first time I done fingers like this and all of them came perfect - as in a snug fit and no gaps.

happy with this

Both fingers look perfect to me. My sawing to a line continues to improve.

opposite side

After 13 years I am calling myself a pretty good beginner dovetailer. I think after a few more years of doing the finger detail I will be able to add that too.

I should be able to get some shellac on this tomorrow. The tails and pins fitted snug and seated so there was no need for clamps
 

came today

The 1/4-24 die and starting tap came today. I thought I had ordered just the die but now I have and extra tap. I'll have to check my Stanley plane break down chart and see if there are any other oddball taps/dies and I need to get.

accidental woodworker

I didn't get as far with the new project as I thought I would but that is ok. I don't know when my wife will need it but I'll be done with it before next friday rolls around? I had one stupid wood trick I had to deal with that slowed down the time line. Got my fingers and toes crossed that I won't have anymore to deal with.

first change

Decided not to glue up the end boards to make them higher than the sides. I couldn't concede having a glue joint visible. Instead I'm going to decrease the height of the sides and leave the ends at 11".

drilling the handle holes

Didn't know whether or not to do this now or after the dovetailing. Since I thought of it here I went ahead and knocked it out.

roughed out

The holes still need to be sanded/rasped smooth and the inside/outside edges rounded. That can be done after the dovetails are checked off. One end has some knots that I couldn't avoid. 3 sides are clear and the knots are small too so not so unsightly.

first time I think

Wasn't too sure how sawing both sides at once would go. Up to now I have only sawn sides that were up to 5/8" thick - this 1 1/2". Spoiler alert - no hiccups, no problems. You still have to saw square and then down at an angle regardless of the thickness.

hot knife through butter

Well not quite that easy, but it wasn't difficult neither. I had plenty of stroke with this 12" saw. Never felt any binding doing any of the tail saw cuts.

stupid wood trick hiccup

The center of both of the ends is also the center of the tree that these boards came from. I had already planed both of the boards twice but the right hand board decided to throw a hissy fit. Initially the center had a hump and after planing that off it kind of spread out on either side of the center. There appears to be a lot of tension in these two that planing released. 

Put these two aside and made a road trip to Lowes to get another pine board for the ends and plywood for the bottom.

prices went up

The 4 foot long 1x12 cost more the 1/2" plywood panel (2'x2'). There is a large enough clear section on the 1x12 to get the two ends from. Using 1/2" plywood for the bottom to beef up and strengthen the crate/box. I wanted to use 3/8" plywood but Lowes didn't have anything but CDX plywood in that thickness.

The plan for the plywood is to use stopped dadoes to house it so I don't have to use plugs in the tails/pins. That is subject to change if an oops pops up doing said stopped dadoes.

just as well

Noticed a crack in the original end boards - this one I split with zero effort with just my hands.

ditto for the 2nd one

No visible cracks on the #2 but it also split with one sharp rap from my fist. 

quitting time

If I didn't have to make the Lowes run I would have gotten the box dry fitted and possibly glued and cooking. The tails are done and the pins are sawn out. Should get this dry fitted and glued in the AM.

accidental woodworker

 

next project

This is crate/box/holder thing I made 10/2010 and it is used to hold the paper recycling. My wife asked me yesterday if I could make one for her but square - ish and taller. She wants to for some dead people meeting thing she is going to. Doesn't matter to me because it means I have something to do after the frames are done and before I get back to kitchen ladder/stool.

two down, one more to go

Nailing and gluing the rabbeted back frame on the last 3 poster frames. The width of these 3 is roughly a strong 8th short on the width and +/- a 16th on the long length. There isn't enough of a difference to catch eyeballing them.

hmm......

I sanded the last 3 frames - no planing at all. This pine is weird to plane. It planes smooth then tear outs, goes back to smooth then to a little bit of tearing out and all within the first 3 inches. Sanded the front and back with 120 grit and it looks and feels ok. I will sand the front and the outside edges with 180 & 220 before I paint them.

last one

Needed some help both miters on this end had gaps. Snapped the pic before I got the other clamp cross wise on.

what a mess

I am getting better at not pack ratting everything single scrap of wood I produce. However, this is mostly plywood and I have been saving those scraps. I had a bazillion piles of it vertically placed all over the shop. Stopped working on the frames and attended to this. Placed the shit can by the bandsaw and cut this pile into little pieces. I saved only the large ones.

didn't fit

The original metal insert broke again. I had fixed it several years ago with epoxy but it failed. I had bought 10 of these Carter inserts then and they don't fit. The insert was a few frog hairs too wide. I sanded it with 120 grit and got it to fit. That alone surprised me to no end.

Got the diameter to fit the hole but it was slightly proud of the table. Tried sanding with 120 grit on the workbench but I wasn't making any progress doing that. I put it in the table and got it 99.99% flush. It is less than half a frog hair proud but it I cut up a ton of plywood without any hiccups. I'll revisit it and spend the calories to get it dead nuts flush later. 

13 of them

Wow, even I'm impressed with how many I made. I didn't make the seven poster frames all with different joinery. In fact, all 13 were done with bridal joints. I liked the different joinery idea and I intend to try it again in the future.

weak suction

Which means the filter is jammed packed with dust. Couldn't remember how to remove the filter so I could shake it out. I thought it was threaded but it isn't. I had to You Tube it - the white thing is a nipple that you pull the filter off and push it back on. Who knew, not me?

Besides dumping a shit can full of plywood scraps I also cleaned up the shop a wee bit. I didn't go nutso and I did clean off the workbench finally. It has been crowded with crappola for a couple of weeks and now it is down to bare wood again.

last thing done today

I went to Lowes and bought two 1x12x72 pine boards. They were the clearest ones in the pile - I looked at and fondled every single board in the rack. I haven't decided on a size for this yet but I do know the ID will be wide enough for a standard size file folder. The two short width boards are for the ends which will be 3-4 inches higher than the sides. My wife wants the same handle detail for this box.

stickered overnight

I was hoping to get the sides glued up but it didn't happen. By the time I got the stock broke down it was 1455 and almost quitting time. I'll do the glue up in the AM if the wood doesn't do any stupid wood tricks.

accidental woodworker

I interrupted grandpa mode for a bit and engaged my friend of almost 35 years, Brian Wilson, for a freewheeling conversation on social/political the status quo.  If pungent conversation about forbidden topics intrigues you, you can find it over at the Substack “Brian Wilson Writes.”  I’ve been told that it is unseemly to discuss politics, religion, and economics.  Hit the trifecta here.

Enjoy.  Or not.  You have been warned.

 A door in Accoya.

Wedged tenons. Pinned with brass. Fixing the drip, with brass flatheads and my turnscrew. Holding temporarily with the Jorgensens.

Hunted and gathered this new old anvil today. It was a lively beast and took some subduing, but with Mick on the seesaw, we roped it in! 

So, forging ahead with the forging. Bang bang bang.

I have this offcut of sapele I've been carrying around for a long time. It is about 8" wide and 22" long. I resawed it by hand before I had a bandsaw. Since then I've been carrying the pieces around.

took a long time

I decided to make small sliding lid boxes. The purpose was to practice carving butternut. I thought I was just going to knock out a quick project—that was two months ago.

thickness planed

Construction is much the same as my previous box made out of sycamore. I thought that box was too tall, so I ripped these sapele pieces to make two shallower boxes rather than one deep one.

sawing rabbets after plowing grooves

Grooves are made before crosscutting. The long ends have rabbets to hold the short ends. One of the short ends has it's top cut off for the sliding lid. Rip and cross cuts were made on the bandsaw with a coarse blade. The rabbets were made with a japanese saw and shoulder plane. Sawing with the blade parallel to the bench isn't the easiest but it's a short cut and allows not readjusting the holdfasts.

The bottoms are cherry plywood. I cut two pieces too narrow before I stopped measuring and just held the plywood up to the short ends to make marks.

mark, don't measure

I glued up the boxes with the bottom in place and later added bamboo skewers as nails. I would have liked to make sapele nails but they did not split straight.

bamboo skewer nails with hide glue butternut tops may not be wide enough

The widest piece of butternut I have is barely wide enough to work. I may have to glue some more on the edges. I should have checked that sooner. This 4/4 piece was resawn and planed to just under 3/8" thickness.

daffodils, tulips, irises

I found three potential carvings in Paul Hasluck's "Manual of Traditional Wood Carving". This is the type of book that is so old it's available for free. I got it from the library and took pictures. I stretched the dimensions to fit and printed them out. I transfer the image by putting graphite paper underneath and tracing the outline with a ball point pen.

the shiny black side goes down it's quick when it works

The boards are oversized which allows the holdfasts to be placed out of the way. I position it at the corner of the bench so I can approach from different angles.

I've heard different terminology for the stages of carving. I will borrow from Chris Pye as I just watched some of his beginner tutorials. He lists them as:

• Lining In
• Lowering
• Leveling
• Setting In
• Modeling
• Details

Lining in is done with a v-tool, outside the lines. I think most of my carvings are not deep enough so I went over the lines at least twice. Lowering is done with a #7 gouge against the grain up to the v-tool lines.

v tool outside the lines lowering leaves ridges

For me the leveling and setting in steps blend together. I mostly set in by slicing along the lines with a chisel, but sometimes use a gouge that matches the curve. Leveling is done with chisels or a #3 gouge up to the new set-in lines. I got some new old carving tools from an old tool fool, including my first bent gouges and a carving knife. They should help in tight spaces.

The left side is set in and leveled, the right side is not. We're in a tight spot!

Now I've got the daffodils to the modeling step and have yet to start the irises.

two box lids in progress

Here’s a couple of updates from the workshop for you.

Whilst Amanda and I were having a bit of a sort out, we discovered an inlay that I had made back in the 70s. What a shame that I had completed the phoenix bass……………..anyway as I decided to swap the strings for flat-wounds, I took the tuners off and inlaid the head! Not quite a Phoenix rising, but pretty none the less!

 Another beautiful pre spring day again. There is a saying about march here about that if it comes in like a lamb and goes out like lion. It is almost the 1/2 way point for the month and it is supposed to turn to rain and cloudy for the next few days. We'll have to wait and see if the lion shows up.

rabbeted back frame

I've settled into this method for doing the back frame. I lay it out in pencil and then go around gluing and nailing each side into place. With that method it was hit or miss (mostly miss) with the last leg fitting nice with no gaps. 

With this new method I glue and nail one long side first and then repeat for the two short sides. I then measure and saw the last long leg a few frog hairs long. I then sneak up on the fit by planing a few strokes and checking the fit. I don't know why it took me 5 frames before I eased into doing this way.

nailed it

The top and bottom margin is about a 1/4" more than the long sides. That is to account for the logo and lettering.

close

The ID of these four poster frames are within +/- 5 frog hairs of each other. The OD dimensions are +/- a 16th. Four down, and 3 more to make.

last three

I got one frame from the last 1x4 I bought at Lowes. The other two came from a 1x5 pine board I got from Koszela lumber. I have two more of them left.

hmm......

The Lowes frame wood came out almost perfect. I checked the slot mortise using the tenon leg by putting it against the mortise. It stuck past the tenon about a 16th. With the Koszela wood I had a 8th inch of the mortise proud of the tenon. I was careful and I checked the stock and the saw blade after each cut I made.

dry fit

The tenon is good, snug, self supporting fit. The tenon is proud and the slot mortise is flush. I don't know what I am doing wrong - racked my brain thinking of hiccups I did and missed.

one down, two to go

The fit appears to be mirroring the other 4 frames. I couldn't see any glaring gaps between the them.

last two

Overall I'm happy with how well these last 3 match the previous 4. More importantly I don't think I'll be able to see/pick out any size differences in the frames. 

The last two came out looser than I like. And that was after making 4 test tenons before committing to the real deal. I was able to pinch the slot mortise on the tenon with my fingers and make it self supporting. 

finally came

I bought a 1/4-24 starting and bottoming tap along with a 1/4-24 die. After a week of '... order delayed, new arrival is....' two of the items came. The die is supposed to come anytime between the 13th and 18th. The seller added two frog washers as a gift. Finding these size washers was something I never found a source for.

extra frame?

I'm not sure what this frame is for. I don't think it is a poster frame so it must be an extra. I bandsawed a boatload of stock to make four back rabbet frames.

last one cooking

I didn't realize it was almost 1500 here. I got into a groove making these last 3 and lost track of time. These will cook until tomorrow. I just have to plane them flush, add the back rabbet frame, and rout a chamfer on the top inside and outside edges.

loose frames

Used my larger quick grips to clamp the bridal joints. I don't anticipate any problems with these two once the clamps come off.

accidental woodworker

It will soon be 12 years and almost 2,000 blog posts since donsbarn.com made its debut.  In chatting with Webmeister Tim yesterday he informed me that the original platform had not been updated since the beginning and was beginning to show its age.  In fact, the basic platform Jason built for me is no longer supported, but is still working!  Well done, Jason.  Nevertheless the site is occasionally having the burps, hiccups and sneezes that geezers often get, requiring periodic troubleshooting by Tim to get things back to running more-or-less smoothly.

All that to say that Tim will be constructing a new web site platform and that transition to “live” will occur some time next month.  With luck the site will remain visually unchanged.  The new site will be, well, new, and with greatly expanded capabilities I hope to begin exploiting.  At the same time, I will be reworking some of the foundational documents, maybe giving more of the donsbarn.com back story.

If it all goes well the redesign and migration should go smoothly once underway.

Stay tuned.

 I took monday off from trying to sign into the new VA log in and tried it today. It started off good with me visiting the Post Office. The clerk knew about the authentication procedure and I didn't have to make an appointment. Good news there so I went home and tried logging in again.

At first things were going along swimmingly. Signed in with no hiccups and got right into the new authentication procedures. I had very high hopes because I got a lot further today than I have previously. That all came crashing down when they said my cell phone couldn't be verified. WTF?

I signed into login.gov with my cell phone number and it sent an access code to it that allowed me to start authenticating myself to you. Now my cell phone number isn't in your records? The biggest thing that bugs me about this is that there is no human or AI human I can call and talk to. So I'll try it again tomorrow. At least I didn't piss away a bazillion hours this time chasing my tail.

hmmm....

I spent the entire shop time I had playing with the frames. Made a dent in them and I started with the 3 poster frames that are toast. Laid out 45° angles trying to maximize how much of the frame I could salvage. I didn't like the options I had with either of them.

from the 3 frames

The pieces aren't as long as I was hoping for. The shortest ones aren't sufficient for a 5x7 pic. Looking like this will gather dust in the boneyard scrap pile.

what I wanted

The margin between the pics and the frame is maybe a wee bit too much now but I'll take it. I don't like the thin margins on the paper mat.

rabbet frame done

This frame is almost ready for paint. I just have to do a little finish sanding and it is a go.

squaring the corners

There is name for this that comes from masonry work but for the life of me I can't recall it. The word had come to me while I was doing it but it went back to the black hole.

paint choices

When I was at Koszela Lumber I bought the black. She carries a good assortment of general finishes - paint and poly. I can't make up my mind for the multiple pic frame. I would like it to be two toned but I would need clean, crisp lines between the colors. I can't think of a way to do it on this frame. I would like the main color to be blue and the stripe between the chamfers, black.

my crocus flowers

There are 8 blooms and there are 3 more that budded but haven't bloomed. It is a shame that these will gone until next year in only a few days.

poster frame

This is one of four and I trimmed the proud cheeks first. Followed that up by flushing and smoothing the four outside edges.

ready for paint

I sanded these 4 with 120 grit after planing them. These all will be painted black. I have to make 3 more frames to bring my total of poster frames back up to 7. I have seven posters so I need 7 frames.

needed some help

The back frame miters were open slightly. It would never be seen unless you took it down and looked at them. However, Maria will see them and I want them look good.

last one

Got 3 of them done and I'll do this one in the AM. Glad the paint is latex so I can knock them out quickly.

the extra frames

The top frame needs the back rabbet frame to be done. I am leaning in the direction of painting 3 of these blue and 2 black. That is subject to change when I actually start slapping paint on them.

accidental woodworker

 The temp today topped out at 67F (19C) here at my corner of the universe. It was a beautiful day with blue skies, wispy clouds, and a light warm breeze. Spring officially shakes hands on the 20th so hopefully today is what is to come.

On the flip side of the coin, I only have seen 3 crocus flowers by the back door. I usually see them flower in feb but I saw none this year. The current 3 is about 6-7 shy of the usual number of blooms. Maybe it is because the temps at night are still forecasted to be hovering around the freezing mark. But today was the 2nd time this year that I went out without a coat. 

the next day

This was the last one glued up and it is the first one to be unclamped. I was a good boy and left them all alone to cook until this AM.

I'll take it

 

All the frames I glued up yesterday were all flat. I checked each for rocking on the tablesaw and none did.

within a 16th

I don't understand this because the diagonals are telling me I'm square but the square says I'm not. The long ID dimension is 12 11/16" and the top short leg is 9 3/4" while the bottom short leg is 10".

hmm......

One frame failed already and is sitting in the kindling pile for now. I had my fingers crossed that rest won't disappoint me.

new frame

This came from the bowed/cupped board and it measures width wise, 1 3/8". This will be for the multiple pic frame.

story pole

Marked the short and long dimensions of the paper mat to transfer to the new frame for it.

sawn to rough length

I added 2 7/8" to the story pole to get the final length on the short and long frame legs.

double triple checking myself

After each saw cut I checked the height of the blade against the stock to make sure the blade wasn't creeping upwards.

tenons were next

Checking the tenon length against the width of the leg with the slot mortise.

too snug

The test cut tenon wouldn't fully seat in the slot mortise. I think if I tried to do it with a mallet, one of the cheeks would have split off.

wasn't expecting this

The test tenon fit in all four of the slot mortises. The first tenon in the real stock fit in the first slot mortise I checked but it is too tight for the 2nd one. I had to rasp a couple tenons to fit their respective slot mortises.

didn't forget

I remembered to glue the frame together with grain running continuously 360 in the same direction. I had to plane both the inside and outside edges on all of them to do that. 

height of the tenons

I knifed it before I sawed them on the tablesaw. I checked the knife line of each one against the height of the saw blade before cutting them.

dead nuts square

The dozuki is a good tenon cut off saw. Its kerf fits in the knife line like a hand into a well fitting glove.

rasps I used

The one on the left is a japanese rasp that I consider to be fine. The maker says one face is coarse and the other fine. I disagree with that and I think one face is fine and the other finer. The right rasp is a machine stitched one and it is coarse. It will hog a lot of material off in a hurry. I had to be careful with this one and try to rasp at a skew to prevent spelching.

nope

The frame ID is what I measured it for and I don't like it. I what a larger margin on the sides, top, and bottom.

measurements of the ID

I made another frame and I wrote the ID down for reference. I have to add at a minimum 3" for the frame plus the margin I want for the mat.

Stopped here because I had to go to Koszela Lumber. Amanda asked me to make a small table for her. She set me a pic of something that she liked and dropped shipped tiles to me. She wants the top of it to be tiled and painted.

using poplar

No sense (IMO) to use a good hardwood for this and especially so because it will be painted. Didn't want to use pine due its softness so I picked poplar. Poplar is an easy wood to work and it takes paint well.

story pole

On this frame go around I added 5" more to the overall length of each of the legs. That should leave an inch for a margin 360.

wash, rinse, and repeat

The previous frame came out ok so I'm checking this one the same way.

a frog hair proud

The tenons came out looser than I wanted but they should be fine - clamping them will close them up. I thought I would have had a tight or not fitting tenon too. I left the entire pencil line so it should have been that.

three of the seven are toast

All 7 frames measured 12 11/16" on the long sides and 3 are OTL (out to lunch). The top is 9 3/4" and the bottom is 10". That is enough that I can see it is out of square.

what to do, what to do.....

The easy thing to do is give it my best goofy look, nod knowingly, and give them flying lessons. Or, I could saw off the bridal joints and make 3 smaller frames. However, I have a lot of time and calories invested in these so I'm going to try and salvage them as is.

it is still going to be painted

This actually might work. I planed a long wedge and the inside of the frame top and bottom now is 9 3/4". Along with the measurements being the same, it is 90° in the four corners.

another big hmm.....

The wedge on the inside makes the ID square but the outside edge of the frame isn't square. It is out about a 1/4" top to bottom. It is looking like I would be pissing into a head wind here. I think the sane thing to do is to make 3 smaller frames.

2nd idea

Instead of the wedge, an 'L' molding worked too. I put a 1/4" spacer at the bottom between the inside of the molding and the frame. Kind of liked that idea but this is where I saw the outside of the frame wasn't square. It measures under 5/8" at the bottom between the 'L' molding and the outside edge and almost 3/4" at the top. I'll be going with plan #3.

accidental woodworker

My recent blog post on chairs was my attempt to bridge a gap or two in the age-long passage of chair making. Just how did we end up with faults through mass-making the builds in a certain unintentional obsolescence by the original designer? Whether you buy a vintage Michael Thonet from the late 1800s or...

Source

This week has been a real rollercoaster, stressful and an eye opener. First, my wife had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance. We had no clue what was wrong, just that she suddenly went into shock. While she was there, I had to get the house ready for Cyclone Alfred. Sandbags was sold out everywhere and taking any from the beach was a no go. So I grabbed bags of potters mix instead, turns out it was way cheaper than sand and did the job just fine.

The supermarket shelves were wiped clean but I figured as long as I had power we would be alright. Well, that did not last. Hundreds of thousands of homes lost power and even now a lot of people are still without it. Before the storm I bought a little gas stove, only problem was I did not grab a gas canister. The guy who sold it to me said I would have no trouble finding one. Yeah right, they were completely sold out.

Luckily, my old BBQ which I had not touched in a year still had a full gas bottle and the burners worked fine. So my son and I ended up cooking all our meals outside. On top of that, I managed to score a fresh load of ice from a gas station, pretty much the only place that had any. I packed the fridge with it to keep the meat cold. Honestly, I think we got pretty lucky all things considered.

Losing power completely changed things for me. It was tough, frustrating and honestly just plain boring. First off, I waited way too long to buy candles. The ones I had were more for setting a mood in a spa than actually lighting up a room. My phone’s light helped for a bit, but the battery drained fast and charging it in the car took forever, not to mention I did not want to sit there for hours just to get a few more percent.

Then there was my woodworking gear, my workbench, scroll saw and lathe, all shoved to the side so I could park my wife’s car. And with no power, I could not use my computer. No lights meant we were practically sitting in the dark and on top of that the humidity was brutal.

At some point I just sat there thinking, how did people 150 years ago live like this? Then it hit me, we have completely forgotten how to live. Our lives revolve around screens, writing blogs, making YouTube videos, chasing likes and subscriptions just to feel like we are not wasting our time. Back then people worked their farms, had supper, visited friends, read books. They lived real active lives. Meanwhile we are glued to social media, scrolling through nonsense, fake AI generated animal videos, endless political drama and injustice we cannot do anything about. No wonder we feel helpless and looney.

Losing power was a real wake up call. It got me thinking, what kind of life do I actually want? I have got another 20 or 30 years ahead of me, so how do I want to spend them? I cannot even remember the last time I had a proper conversation with my son. But during the outage, we talked non stop, spent every moment together. We even went out in the storm just to escape the house. Yeah, it was risky, but we actually lived. And now the power is back, everyone is back in their own little world, and here I am staring at a screen while time just keeps ticking away.