General Woodworking

I did not have good day today. The oncology nurse had told me this would happen and today it shook hands with me. It wasn't so much that I felt wrung out hard tired, it was the zero lack of anything. No ambition, no desire other than to exist in space, suck in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. It is/was a crappy way to feel IMO. I kind of felt this way yesterday but it ramped up today. Needless to say not a lot of shop time. I went down four times and it was mostly because I was doing the laundry.

2nd trip to the shop

Sanded down the dings and holes I filled with putty yesterday. It took way longer to do then it should have. Eventually I got it done and then vacuumed it, the back and the base. Gave up after that and headed upstairs back to my desk chair.

4th trip

On the 3rd trip I rolled on the 2nd topcoat. I was really surprised by how many holidays that were on the bookcase from the first top coat. The back panel and base had much better coverage. I screwed the base on and it is a wee bit rocky. Something I'll have to address later on. 

The plan is attach the moldings and paint them. They won't be getting a primer coat. At that time I'll eyeball everything else and do any touch ups as necessary.

nope

I lost all interest in getting the moldings done. I will say that I was happy with the fit off the saw. With paint on them they would look flawless but it didn't happen today boys and girls. All I wanted to do here at 1455 was to mold my butt cheeks to my chair. Maybe tomorrow I'll be motivated to finish this bookcase.

accidental woodworker 

 

oops

I forgot to tape this off before I put on the primer. Today I sanded and scraped it to bare wood. I need bare wood so I can glue the bottom edge of the molding to it because that and a couple of pin nails is what will secure it.

slow going

The chisel is for blobs and drips. Two sanding grits - 120 for problem spots and 320 to sand the primer smooth. It took a while to get this done. I have had to slow down doing things a lot so I don't get short of breath. This is virgin territory for me because I've always gone at things balls to wall until done. Maybe slower is a good thing now?

hmm......

I don't need to buy a container from Wally World after all. This milk carton is big enough for this to soak in. Hopefully I'll remember to do that before I kill the lights.

how?

I put on two coats of paint and didn't see this. It is a Miller Dowel that got set a few frog hairs below the surface. As you can see it as visible as a flashing neon sign at night. I'll fill it in with wood putty. That will negate me getting the 2nd top coat on today, maybe. Depends if I trot back down to the shop after dinner and do it.

mini card scraper

I was not expecting rolled up paint on the edges because I had used a roller. They are there at every single 90°. Not as bad as brush leaves but still annoying to me. Scraped them all flattening the 90° on both sides. All three pieces - carcass, back, and base - are fully prepped and ready for the 2nd (and last?) topcoat.

didn't forget

All of the japanning is covered with Simple Green. This will soak until monday and I'll check it then. 

accidental woodworker

 I didn't get much done today. I felt blah and spent the day vegging out at my desk. In the AM I finally dragged myself to the shop and got the primer on the bookcase. That is all I got done today and I knew nothing else is happening after dinner. 

Feeling like this sucks pond scum. Not really sick but not even close to tip top neither. I also had wave after wave of coughing fits. Most of them I felt like heaving up everything I'd eaten for past 7 months. Hopefully it is one of the side effects from the chemo. I only have one more to endure.

from yesterday

Got my 1/8" flat above the top of the molding. I'm using my laptop to write up this blog. So far it is uploading my pics. I think the problem is/was with the interaction between blogger and my Firefox browser. 

#2 from yesterday

There was only one screw from the back of the back rail into the side bearer holding it in place. I added 2 Miller dowels into the back rail from the sides of the base. This should keep it in place - it won't be subjected to any stress once it is placed.

 

#3 from yesterday

I got this after reading a  post about them from Lost Art Press. This is the best glue brush I have used ever. I've had this one for over a year and it is still viable. I bought 12 of them for just in case and I have only shit canned one of them. That was because I didn't clean it after using it. I tried soaking it for several days and nada, had to toss it. (Torrington Brush Works)

#4 from yesterday

Final prep before primer. I ran out of gas and decided to stop here. Primer went on in the AM.

#5 from yesterday

5/8" tenon cutter. I thought I had a container big enough to soak this in a Simple Green bath. I don't so I'll make a run to Wally World and find something cheap. I'll paint this at the same time as I do the adjustable tenon cutter. I haven't forgotten about it, it has just been out of sight and out of mind.

#6 from yesterday - depth stop thing

I thought I would try it and it kind of works. The depth stop on the 5/8" tenon cutter was MIA when I got it. I set the depth stop from the adjustable tenon cutter for 2" and when I measured from the sole of the cutter it was about 2".

#7 from yesterday

It is just a wee bit shy of 2". Not bad for something that was not made for this cutter. 

only pic from today

I used a roller to put the primer on and a brush to get into the corners. Primer on the carcass, the back panel, and the base will be ready for topcoat in the AM. I'll do the moldings after I get the base secured to the carcass.

I uploaded the the last 3 pics from my desktop tower computer. I wasn't sure if it would work but it did. I had to sign into my google account when I signed into the laptop and I had to accept cookies. It appears that is/was the problem. If the browser doesn't accept cookies from google, google won't upload anything. This SNAFU must of happened on the last Firefox update from a few days ago. Fingers crossed this headache is solved.

accidental woodworker 

Learn How to Cut a Dado Joint with an Antique Dado Plane (Both Wooden and Metal Dado Planes!) Affiliate Disclosure: When you purchase through certain links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission, at no cost to you. Learn more.

tedious

This word comes from the Latin word meaning this pisses me off. Setting the depth for the rabbet was annoying and a Royal Pain in the arse. I seemingly seesawed on either side of the correct depth forever. I finally had to quit because I had to go to the VA for my CT scan.

done

Got three coats on it - the last one after dinner last night. I was going to bring to the Frame it Shop tomorrow but I did it today. My wife is going to NC sometime after the 22nd. Fingers crossed that Maria will have it done before then so she can bring it with her. I really don't want to pay to ship it.

still fussing

I finally said NO MAS and ran the rabbet. It was within a frog hair of the back edge of the shelves.

support for the router

Doing the rabbet was easier than I anticipated it being. It was a bit awkward because I had to keep shifting the support. Routing into and away from the shelves was a no brainer. I expected the router to protest and gouge and dig into the back of the shelves but none of the nightmare scenarios I imagined happened.

last one

Squared up the corners and the slight rounded bits around the shelf dadoes.

hmm......

This end of the shelf ran high and it was a little over a 16th higher than the rabbet. There was a hump that I had to knock down and the spoke shave was the best choice because it got closest to side.

hmm......

The diagonals were off less than a 16th. Encouraging but remember this tidbit.

Houston, something is amiss.....

The top to bottom measurement on the R/L agreed at 41 1/4" but the side to side decided to have a hissy fit. The top was 30 5/8" and the bottom was 30 13/16". Based on the diagonals I expected the rabbets to be the same. 

fixed

I had let the putty set up for 24hrs before I sanded it. I didn't go nutso on this and I'm leaving it as is. It isn't a perfect match with the molding profile but it doesn't have the big gouge neither. After I sanded it I immediately moved it into the boneyard.

back fitted

I only had to make two saw cuts to get the back fitted unlike Miles's where I had to plane it to fit. The fit is gappy, top/bottom and side to side but it covers the rabbet. I will screw the back into the three shelves and nail it along the perimeter.

 Well boys and girls blogger has determined for me that this is it for pics. I can not get any pic to upload. Period. Nada. Not even a giggle or an accusatory finger pointed at me. Tried all the tricks I could think of and six hours later I threw the towel. 

This is not the first time blogger has thrown a monkey wrench into the gears of posting a blog. Not 100% sure that it is blogger (but 99.9999999999999% sure) or the SD card I'm trying to upload from. It loaded the first 6 and then I fought to get the next four uploads. #11 wasn't happening.

I'll save the pics and see if tomorrow is better and the blogger is behaving. I don't think I've posted a pic free post for 10-11 years?

accidental woodworker 

hmm......

Both sides of the bookcase had some dings and bangs that would pop after the top coat was applied. Happy that the iron steamed out every one of them. I'm slowly getting closer to getting the primer coat on.

base glued and cooking

This corner may give me headaches later. I clamped the tails to close gaps and that pulled the corner way out of square. Unclamped it but the squaring jig had some problems. I couldn't square the corner with hand pressure completely but the jig squared it but I had to use four clamps to get it there. 

Sawed the cove moldings over length. I'll set them after the base is attached to the bookcase.

three hours later

Cleaned up and flushed the tails. The corner I had double clamped wasn't square. I was off about 3-4 degrees.  Not a problem as the cove molding is wide enough to cover any gaps.

last bearer

Glued and screwed bearers to the front and sides. I set the bearers down from the top of the base 1/8". That should leave about 1/8" flat above the top of the molding against the bottom shelf of the bookcase.

the back apron of the base

Went back and forth on whether or not to cut out the back. In the end I did it to help the bookcase setting flat and straight. Easier to sit/level on four small bearing points rather then one 32" long.

tapered gap

This is the corner that is off square. If it had been square each side would have had a gap of about a 16th.

prepping for the rabbet

I had planned to do the rabbet today but it ain't happening boys and girls. I spent a couple of hours playing in the boneyard making room for Miles's and Leo's bookcases. The rabbet is on the A list for the first thing in the AM. Maybe, I have a MRI at 1030 at the VA that will cut into AM event list.

sigh

I measured the  back of Leo's bookcase and it will be about 31"x 41". This left over plywood from Miles's bookcase is 32"x 48". I thought this was smaller than that at least on the shortest length. I bought the 4'x8' plywood panel for nothing but it won't go to waste in my shop.

accidental woodworker

 

hmm......

I made this lazy Susan thing when I had my workshop in Westerly. I don't remember using it at anytime after that but I broke it out today. It is perfect for spraying the finish on the pic frame.

so much easier

Being able to spin the frame instead moving the shit can helped with getting a consistent finish applied. One headache with the rattle can was it would sputter intermittently and spit blobs of finish. The artist brush was used to smooth them out.

missed one

There was a tiny blob below the miter's heel on the left. I had made one last eyeball and I caught it. I checked all the toes and the insides corners for build up and found none.

finishing the prep

Filled in all the gaps between the the shelves and the sides. Sanded the tops of the shelves but not the bottom - didn't see the need to expend calories doing them. 

Lowes run

I only had one length of this molding which was not enough for the base. I also had to get a sheet of 1/4" plywood for the bookcase back.

hardwood panel

Lowes didn't have the same plywood I had used on Miles's bookcase. It was this or A/C construction plywood. It will be painted so it doesn't matter what it looks like. It does feel stiffer and stronger then Miles's. It also didn't splinter on one face from being sawn at Lowes which surprised me.

ouch

I have got to get this out of the workshop and into the boneyard. This is going to be a PITA to build up with putty. And it will probably go south just breathing on it.

base tails

Last step of the day was to get the base dovetailed and checked for fit on the base.

off the saw

It doesn't bother me that the dovetails won't be visible. I don't think there is a better way to join two pieces of wood at 90°.

almost

The chamfer on the sides and front is done and the back stop thing has been glued in cooked. The putty work I did in the AM had been sanded smooth and was ready for primer. I will wait until the AM, eyeball it one last time, and then apply the primer.

two coats

I am happy with the two coat coverage. I couldn't see any pencil marks or primer anywhere on the back. After dinner I will give the back a 3rd and final coat and in the AM I'll start on the front face.

accidental woodworker 

I have a few carved works for sale – poor timing on my part, seems like every woodworker in America spent all their money in Iowa this past weekend. Two boxes and a carved panel. I’ll start with the small box.

Email me if you have questions or would like to purchase any of these – PeterFollansbee7@gmail.com

SMALL CARVED BOX
H:6 1/2″ W: 14 1/8″ D: 8 3/4″
$1,000 includes shipping in US.

Many years ago I saw a small box attributed to Thomas Dennis of Ipswich. After recording its features and dimensions, I took to making these little boxes when I had small, leftover bits of riven oak. Later I found published examples of a few more small boxes made in his shop, so it was not a one-off thing. Nor is it in my shop.

Complete with a till inside:

Mine differs from the period examples in a couple of ways. Glued & pegged rabbet joints rather than nailed. Wooden hinges instead of iron ones used on the period boxes. But all handmade, riven red oak for the box, white pine lid and bottom. I carve the ends/sides as well as the front – the period boxes are blank on the ends.

CARVED BOX
H: 9″ W: 23″ D: 13 3/4″
$1,500 plus shipping in US

This one is a more typical sized box for period work. The front pattern is loosely based on an English box I had seen in a photo years ago. The side carvings are lunettes also based on English work. Red oak box, white pine lid & bottom. Like most of my boxes, glued & pegged rabbet joints, wooden cleat & pintle hinges. Bottom nailed on with handmade iron nails. Lidded till inside.

Linseed oil finish. Single-board pine lid has molded edges and gouge-chopped ends. Completed with punched decoration.

Last one for now:

CARVED DEVON/IPSWICH-STYLE PANEL
H:15 3/4″ W: 13″ D: 5/8″
$775 including shipping in US.

I had a wide piece of quartersawn oak that was just stunning. Just over 13″ wide. I couldn’t very well cut it down to be part of a box, but I had no large frame-and-panel work coming up – so I knew one day I’d carve every inch of it. The scale was perfect for one of these Devon/Ipswich style carvings. I mapped it out, carved about 1/3 of it, intending to take it to a class I was teaching to use as a demo piece. Then forgot it when I packed the car. Came home from the class and finished it off.

This panel bears some relationship to the wainscot chair made by Thomas Dennis that’s at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. I combined elements from that piece with other related works to compose a design that is recognizable as belonging to that group, but is not a direct copy of any of it. Here’s 2 details of the panel

and the bottom half

 

oops

It would appear I made a me-steak in the order of operations. I should have routed the rabbet for the back before I glued the shelves in. I can still do it, it will just take a little more time and involve a little chisel work.

leveling the back of the frame.

The goal I had in mind for the frame was to get the primer coat on it. First I had to level and flush the back miters. I couldn't do the front ones because I would have planed into the beads and flattened the top. Instead I sanded and feathered those joint lines by hand.

back frame

Nailed and glued off the top and the sides and then trimmed/fitted the bottom leg. I was close to getting the primer coat on. I had to add some wood putty to a bead that had a chip missing. It was in the corner and it was too visible and had to be built up.

planed the miters

Initially I was going to nail and glue the back frame together off the saw. However, a couple of corners were long and it was easier to plane them then to try and saw off a thin sliver of wood.

flushing the corners

This probably won't be seen once the frame is hanging the wall. But I used a shoulder plane to even the toes of the miters.

prepping the bookcase

Decided to put 3 Miller Dowels into the ends of each shelf. A quick sand with 120 and 150 grit and this side was done. Wash, rinse, and repeated for the other side.

first coat of primer

Did the back first and once it was dry to the touch, flipped it and did the other side.

two hours later

Got primer on the front face and sawed out the front and sides for the base. Getting the base together is on the A list for the AM/PM.

hmm.........

Eyeballing the bookcase thinking of what is next on the hit parade. Before I can apply primer I have to complete all the woodworking first. I got the back stop thing ready to glue on - that is something that has be installed before primer. After that I have to rout a chamfer on the sides and the front. The base doesn't interfere with applying primer and can be done separately. I should be done with this, primer and top coat, before the next weekend.

accidental woodworker 

 

didn't forget

Molded the front edge of the 3 shelves. There is no way that this could be done after the shelves were in place.

hmm.......

I have run into this hiccup before. After eyeballing it I think is should have put the end of the dado behind the back edge of the notch in the shelf. Will I remember this tidbit the next time I do this.?

glued and cooking

I am going to let this cook until the AM. The 'hole' at the notch got a lot smaller. Decided that I'll fill in the smaller 'hole' with wood putty.

picture frame

Got the frame parts out of a scrap leftover from the Leo's bookcase. I will mold a 1/4"bead on the outside and a 3/16" bead on the inside of the frame. I can't do anything else with the bookcase so I'll knock this frame out.

ouch

I have had problems with the 3/16" bead lately. This bead was against the grain but it is real ugly looking. This is the worse tear out I've gotten with beading, with or against the bead.

ta da

The original mat for this had a 3" border which I think was too wide. The drawing has also faded and I can see the outline of the mat. I'm going with a thinner width of about an 1". I am leaning towards a black mat also. The original one was white as was the frame. There wasn't any separation between the frame and the art work.

dry clamp was good

I initially went into panic mood on this because with the dowels installed, one corner was wide open. I rearranged the sides and it came together perfectly. Don't understand why that happened. I only used one dowel at each corner. There wasn't a lot of room to get two dowels at each miter. I may add a spline on the toes later - depends on whether or not I get a warm and fuzzy once this is out of the clamps.

glued and cooking

I'll let this cook until the AM. If I feel the need to have two dowels on each miter I'll make another frame. I have a lot of scraps to use to make more than one more if necessary.

Feeling a wee bit better today. No queasiness or nausea to deal with which was nice. The tiredness was kind of still there but I didn't feel like I had to lie down and take a nap constantly. The shortness of breath is picking up and I'm learning how to deal with it. It is annoying but there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

accidental woodworker

 

hmm........

First thing in the AM I checked the squareness of the carcass. I had squared it up yesterday and left it as is overnight to cook. The left side, top/bottom, was square. The right side was a wee bit off. Not much and visually I can't see it.

the top secured

The top was glued down in spite of me having  doubts it would be. I had used hide glue for this and the top was down tight to the sides. I used four Miller dowels on each side.

need to remove this to the line

I didn't notch the sides to fit in the top stopped dadoes, instead I dead ended the sides into the ends of the dado. I purposely left it long so the sides would be tight against the ends. I had thought of sawing it off before I glued and nixed it. Decided it was better to leave it long and then plane it off. It is/was only an 1/8".

checking

I still have to rout a rabbet for the back so this needs to be straight and flat from side to side. 

hmm.......

Got it straight and flat but not square. I had to plane it by going from the right to the left which screwed up me eyeballing square. Corrected that boo boo but around the center was a brown knot where the grain swirled. So that spot is ragged and torn out and I'll have to smooth it out. The router bearing will just follow it and rag out the rabbet.

shelves

I sanded the shelves with 150 grit on both faces. I will apply primer next and 150 should be good enough for that. I had also sanded the inside faces of the carcass before gluing it up.

first one fitted

The left end fit snug but the right end I had to plane and check the fit 4 four times before I could seat the shelf in the dadoes.

hmm.......

I have yet to see a defect like this before. It isn't a pitch pocket and it is unusual looking. Wonder what caused it? Regardless this is on the back edge and will be removed when I saw the shelf to width.

took a while

Got all three fitted and it took a while. Got a good fit and I might help things out by putting Miller Dowels in the ends for just is case. Can't remember if I had done this for Miles's bookcase.

dry fitted

Clamping the bookcase improved the square a little - didn't remove it but it helped. With the shelves clamped I marked the front edge for the notch.

notches

It is only a 1/4" and it will be inset from the front edge of the bookcase about 1/8".

needs a frame

This is the drawing that daughter #2 wants me to make a frame for. She wants it to be the same as the frame I made for the bumblebee orchid pic. Not a problem and I might whack this out before I get back to the bookcase.

Didn't get much done today. I had wanted to get the shelves glued and cooking but it didn't happen. Yesterday I felt queasy for most of the day and so tired I could barely keep my eyelids open. I hit the rack before 2100 and didn't roll out until a little after 0600. 

Felt a little better this AM but only marginally. The queasiness was almost gone but I still felt tired. I was dragging in the shop taking seemingly forever to do things in hours that took minutes. I actually nodded out after lunch too. I haven't taken a nap in the afternoon since I don't know when. 

I'm still coughing and having fits but they are shorter in duration and not as frequent. The chemo cocktail side effect is helping there and I appreciate it. I hope it keeps at it until my last cocktail on the 21st.

accidental woodworker

 

hmm.......

Whacking out the shelves and it wore me out. I got short of breath on all three before I had sawed 1/2 way across. Got it done and marched on smartly.

the top

I barely had to plane a frog hair off on the joint line. I had fussed a wee bit when I glued this up getting the joint line flush.

brown knots

This is the top and I went back and forth on whether or not to put it aside and make a new one. I soaked the knots on both faces and after it had set it all of them felt smooth to the touch. 

prepping the shelves

I planed a reference edge and squared one end. I will saw it to length and width after the carcass is glued and cooked.

stopped dadoes

Router work is in the on deck circle.

ouch

I did a horrible job knifing the dadoes on this side. This is the worse one of the three. The furthermost line to the right is the one I need. It was a comedy of errors doing this. The square wasn't tight to the edge and the blade slipped as I knifed. I would like to say it was the knife wandering off into La La Land but it wasn't. Spoiler alert I dodged the bullet on this.

hmm........

I had soaked the errant knife lines with super glue before I chopped the wall. I took my time on that and went super duper slow and the wall ended up intact end to end. The opposite wall won't be a problem at all.

happy face on

All three shelves are self supporting, even the one with a bazillion knife lines.

feel better about it

The knife lines I soaked with super glue felt smooth. I couldn't feel any ridges or bumps. It was flush feeling from the wall going to the left.

done

All the dadoes are done and to depth. I had two more to do for the top and then I would totally done.

marking the top

Clamped the spacer and got the overhang R/L the same on the top. Made my knife nicks and put the top on the workbench to chop the dadoes..

not quite

The left side slipped down perfectly but the right side is throwing a hissy fit. I tried tightening the clamps and that did nothing. After I took them off the top dropped down onto this side. The dadoes came out clean but the fit is loose. I'll secure the top to the sides with Miller Dowels.

Mr 18" Starrett

The combo square says that the inside of the carcass is square. All four corners said I'm 90. The diagonals were less then a 16th off. I was expecting this to fight because the top wasn't really secured because of their sloppy fit.

ok

I made a story stick for the length of the shelves. Shelves 2&3 agreed but #1 was short by almost an 1/8". I checked the top corners and they were square so I next checked the side for bowing but nada. They I saw that the dado on this side wasn't down to a 1/4" depth.

Made good progress on the bookcase these past two days and I should be done with the woodworking and slapping paint on it this weekend hopefully.

accidental woodworking

Learn how to install a Wooden Screw, Heavy Duty Workbench Vise on your Woodworking Workbench Summary: What is the best way to install a heavy duty workbench vise? A traditional wooden vise can be installed by carefully laying out and chopping a shallow mortise for the

 The bowling alley project is dead in the water. I thought I had some maple left over from a step ladder I made but I didn't. I had one 5/4 board that was too thin and not long enough. So I pivoted and started on the bookcase for grandson #2. I do have a couple of projects in the queue from daughter #2 but I'm waiting on her to send them my way.

Kreg pocket hole jig box

This is done. I got the last coat of shellac on it (4th) and it has a check mark in the done column. I will leave the lid propped up for a couple of days to let the shellac set and harden.

3 flat boards to start with

The first two I dug out were cupped and not suitable for the sides, top, and bottom. I will try to use one of them for the base. Unfortunately I don't have any clear boards left. All of them are peppered with small brown knots.

prepping

Planing my reference edges and faces first. From them I'll saw them to width and length.

need a dutchman

This is going to be a painted project but paint will not stick to a pitch pocket. I thought it was shallow but I was wrong. BTW this doesn't extend out to the opposite face.

done

I used a 3/8" thick dutchman and it sucked up a 1/4". I didn't knife it carefully enough because I have a gap on the inboard edge I'll have to deal with. This will be at the back of the bookcase too.

the top

1x12 pine is only 11 1/4" wide and I need a board that is 11 3/4". I don't like gluing skinny width boards to wider ones. I glued on a 3" board and I'll saw it to the final width by taking it off the wider board.

filling the gap

I packed the gap with super glue and pine sawdust. I will check it in the AM and give it a second helping if needed.

brown knot work

Brown knots can and will shrink and possibly fall out. I soaked all the knots with super glue and then used the putty knife to push it down into and around all the knots (on both sides). I thought of covering them with dutchmen but nixed it. The superglue and paint should hid them all.

almost

The bottom of the bookcase is dovetailed and the top of the sides are in a housed dado in the top. I am use to four corner dovetails I laid out tails on both ends of this side. I caught it when I checked that the layout triangles on the sides and the bottom agreed.

barely

I had to move the Moxon to the left because the workbench foot was in the way. If this hadn't worked I would have piled some boards on the bench and clamped the Moxon down on them. I have a couple of stools in the shop that I could have stood on to saw the tails and pins.

hmm.......

Not going together off the saw. I made the pins a wee bit too fat. Did the same for the left side too.

rasped them 3 times

I didn't have much to trim and I prefer to use a rasp for taking off a few thin frog hairs. I find the pins keep their angles and squareness better than I can do with a chisel. It took 3 dance steps of rasp and check before the sides mated with the bottom.

spacer

Got the sides seated and squared off the bottom. I sawed this piece of 1/2" plywood to the distance between the two inside faces. I will clamp this to the inside at the top when I knife the sides to the top housing dado.

shelf layout

I am trying to make this a clone of the first bookcase which I think is Miles's. I'm not shooting for an exact match but a visual one. When I made Miles's bookcase I had made a me-steak when I chopped the housing dadoes. Chopped on the wrong side of the knife line changing the spacing. I'm keeping the mistake spacing for Leo's bookcase.

double triple checking

Making sure that the dadoes line up and they do. I have made some bone headed me-steaks laying these out in the past. No such hiccups today but I still have to chop the dadoes starting in the AM.

wow

I had come back to the shop a little after 1200 not intending to stay long. I had looked at the clock and was surprised by how late it was. I got into the flow of things and time just slipped by me. No hiccups with the chemo cocktail I had yesterday. I felt good today and I wasn't coughing much neither. I hope tomorrow will be a good shop day too.

accidental woodworker 

I had my 3rd chemo cocktail today with my final one scheduled for the 22nd. So far I still haven't experienced any of the scary side effects. Fingers crossed that holds true for the last two. One thing I'm looking forward to is today and tomorrow is the chemo has knocked down my coughing (and fits) significantly on the previous two infusions. So far today I've coughed but have yet to have a 5 minute fit of it.

I left before 0800 to have blood work before my appointment. I didn't get back to the barn until a little after 1200. It made for a long day and the delay was with the blood work. The doc didn't get the results until after 1000. I guess I'm lucky with only one more to go. The other patient in my room was going into his 8th month of chemo. Needless to say I didn't get a lot of time in the shop.

nope

I had intended to return to the shop after dinner last night but didn't make it. I was bone weary tired and kept my butt cheeks molded to my desk chair. There isn't anyone holding a gun to my head to get this done.

first glamour pic

This done for all intents and purposes. The top needs one more coat of shellac but you don't know that just from looking at this pic. Got the cup pull install with no hiccups.

cup pull

This oil rubbed bronze is running neck and neck with polished brass. IMO I thought brass wouldn't look good against all the white of this poplar. I got the cup pull from Lee Valley and no screws come with the pull. I used black oxide, oval head #6 screws I got from Blacksmith Bolt and Rivet Supply. The color match between the two of the is perfect.

side glamour pic

My wife likes this because the wood is white but mostly because there isn't any pronounced grain on the legs and slats. The shelves not only have grain they have green streaks in them (which I like). I had to put something in this that I liked too. This is going to North Carolina to live in daughter #2's house.

half lapped shouldered dovetail

I like how this looks. There is just enough color difference to highlight it a wee bit. Even the plug fits and doesn't stand out (at the bottom left corner of the drawer).

If I make another one of these it will have adjustable shelves. That is the only thing I would change. This fixed shelf looks ok but I like the ability to change the shelf spacing based on what you want to put on it. The reverse of that happens with this arrangement.

hmm........

This is the large half pin after sawing off some of the height. I don't like skinny half pins because I don't think that they are strong enough but this size is over kill. It is almost the size of the tail.

got around to it

I leave this chisel on the workbench and use it for the odd things that I don't want to use my #1 set of chisels. Its only draw back is this chisel will not hold an edge for long and the bevel edge chips just looking at it. But right off the stones it works flawlessly.

hmm......

The hinge holes don't line up. I had left the hinges on when I applied the shellac and that wasn't the correct thing to do. I couldn't get the holes/hinges aligned in any orientation of the lid. The big me-steak was the right hinge went south on the express.

ouch

The right hinge warped, bent, cupped, and bowed all at once. I guess I abused it too much clamping it in the vise to drill the pilot holes. I shitcanned the both of them and I'll be using two new ones.

next project?

I've had these bowling pins for 6-7 years. I had started to make it once and abandoned it. Thinking of making it for the grandsons. Not sure if they will use it though. Miles is into anything trains and Leo is a baseball nut. But this will take a couple of shop days to do and give me a chance to think of what next to make.

makes me sad to look at

I really like the look of these marking gauges. It has been years since I used any of them. I had stopped using them because the head/fence couldn't be secured. I went nutso using them before I realized the head was slipping and moving as I marked with them. I tried all three again hoping the summer had swelled them but no joy there. 

All three slipped and moved just like the three bears. The baby one moved too easily. The mama bear one moved with a little pressure. Papa bear almost worked but I couldn't mark a line all around the end of a board. You can't use a marking gauge that won't hold its head when set.

nope

I had put a U bent piece of metal under the screw to help it bite down on the arm and stay stationary way back when. It didn't work then when I first tried it and today it didn't disappoint me again. I cranked down on the screw and marked the end of a board. No dice, as the line didn't line up on two faces. Did it again and I could see the fence moving slightly as I marked around the board. BTW this was the mama bear marking gauge. Still pretty looking but useless as marking gauges IMO.

accidental woodworker

cooked

I resisted the urge to come back and play with this after filling the supper pie hole. When I sawed off some excess the half pin it left was a wide half pin. Due to that I wanted the box to cook overnight in the clamps to strengthen those corners.

sigh

Made another boo boo, brain fart me-steak. Sawed the groove wrong again. Didn't I just do this a couple of days ago? I'm not going to fill this.

sigh, again, and again

I made this boo boo when setting the fence on the tablesaw. I'll fill this one in because it is on the outside face. At least I caught it before I got to the other end.

the lid

Got lucky that I found two scraps of New Zealand pine to make the lid. It isn't my preferred way as I like one board lids but this is a shop box. A two board lid will keep out the dust just as good as a single board lid.

two options

The bottom is overkill and too large for this lid. The top one is doable.

nope

This hinge isn't swaged (not a deal killer) but this does kill it. There is no countersink for the screws. The screws when tightened down would be proud of the hinge leaves. That means the hinge will not fully close even with a generous mortise for the hinge.

right one is the winner

I wanted to use the left one but the screws in the box and the lid would have been too close to the edges. BTW these are both 90° stop hinges which makes them borderline acceptable.

needed some work

The hinge is sized for a #3 screw but all my #3 screws are flat heads and this needs a round head. Drilled it out for a #4 RH.

pilot holes

Used a numbered drill for the pilot hole. My smallest fractional bit was too small. This is about all I use this eggbeater for. It excels at it and the only annoyance is the chuck needs help to open and close.

box prep

Planed the four sides leveling and flushing the pins/tails. Filled in a couple of gaps and once it has set I'll sand it.

hmm......

I had to reset this hinge. The barrel was below the top of the box. The hinge on the opposite side has its barrel sitting less then a frog hair above the top. As is the lid would have protested when opened/closed.

it works

Used a scrap to check the swing the of the hinges. I used tape and the truncated lid swung freely. Both hinge barrels are inline now.

3 hours later

Sizing the lid. I barely had enough overhang R/L but squeaked by. I ended up with the R/L with a couple of frog hairs overhanging with the front of the lid being flush with the front face.

done

Whacked out a quick finger grabbie thing. I had thought of putting a catch but nixed it. No need for it IMO. This is ok for giving a place to open the lid with thumb or finger.

last step

Used the sanding sticks to smooth the end grain ends. Next batter was slapping some shellac on it.

3 coats

I steel wooled between each coat. I'll do that for each coat I put on from here. I also ran my fingers across the top to make sure it was still flat and smooth. 2 more coats and this should be getting a check mark in the done column.

accidental woodworker 

finish done

I can't see a color difference between the blonde shellac and the super blonde underneath it. I'm happy with the build and the shine. I'll check it in the AM for drips, runs, and holidays.

shelf bottoms

I put two coats of the blonde shellac on the bottom. The build was iffy after one and the shine wasn't there. With two coats the build and shine is now good enough for the bottoms.

Kreg jig box

Can't do anything else on the honey can you so I'll be whacking out the box for the pocket hole jig.

hmm......

I must have dropped this because one corner was dinged and below its mate (more than the half pin). I sawed off 1/8" to remove it and square this end again. I had plenty of room because I had about 3/8" of wiggle room to play with.

it was lunchtime

The tails were done and I got the pins sawn. In the PM session I chopped them and fitted the box together. I have been thinking lately about sawing out the waste on the tails and pins with a coping saw. I am seeing this step on You Tube more and more. 

oops

 The box is too big. I am ok on the length and depth but the height is way OTL (out to lunch). I thought I had sawn the box to width already. I thought wrong boys and girls.

hmm......

There is over 2" of dead space which is too much. About 1/2" of the dead space will be eaten by the bottom but it still leaves too much.

better

I dry fitted the box and flushed the bottom with the #4. Then I sawed off about an inch leaving a little less then an inch of dead space. This is acceptable and I'm going with the height as is.

divider

The router is small but it works but it has its annoying quirks. Both the height adjuster and the lock loosen with use. The divider separates the screws from the pocket hole jig doo dads.

everything fits

I was going to saw the top off but I changed lanes on that. Instead I will hinge an applied top. I glued the box and divider and set it aside to cook until the AM.

yikes

Before I killed the lights I ran my fingers over the top and I thought I was dragging them across a washboard. I tried initially using 120 grit  to smooth things but that did diddly squat. It gummed up from the shellac and I had to drop down to 80 grit before the top felt smooth. I sanded it back up to 180. I'll get shellac on it starting in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

Slow shop day. Nothing exciting happening and I spent most of the day molding my butt cheeks to my desk chair watching You Tube. The honey can you is essentially done. I need to slap a few coats of shellac on the carcass, install the top, the shelves, and the cup pull for the drawer. I had ordered that from Lee Valley and it is coming sometime on Monday. I'll put off the glamour pics until then.

came at lunch time

It looks like any other blonde shellac I have bought. Smells the same and the flakes don't look any different. I was kind of expecting something from the bottom of the barrel full of bug parts and tree debris. And it weighed a little more than 1.1 pounds. Mixed up a batch to have it ready to go for tomorrow.

hmm........

This shellac whizzed up into the finest powder I have seen. The batch from two days ago was powdery but it was coarser then this batch. Based on the finest of it I expected it to dissolve immediately. 

dissolved rapidly

I mixed up a 2 pound cut - 6ozs of flakes and 3 cups of alcohol plus a wee bit more to fill it to the top. Initially the flakes dissolved easily with a little bit of clumping. The clumping went away with extra stirring and clumped a wee bit more when I stopped and checked it again 15 minutes later. 

The batch I mixed two days ago dissolved immediately and stayed that way. An hour after first mixing it there were no more clumps and it looked ready to slap on the project.

no difference

This batch wasn't as thin as the two day old batch (which was 99.9% gone). After waiting 2 hours I put a coat on the shelves, top, and drawer front. I couldn't feel or see any difference in its application then I did with the previous batch. It dried to the touch within five minutes and I think I'm calling it done. I think this coat is the 4th one and that is adequate for the undersides.

almost done

The slats have 6(?) coats on them I think. Three spray coats and 3-4 brushed coats. I used up the previous batch getting the last of it on the carcass. I like the build and shine so far but I am going to slap on at least one more coat of the 2lb cut shellac. (that depends on how it looks on the undersides) I am going to wait until the AM to do that. It will give the previous shellac time to set up.

accidental woodworker 

first one

Last night after dinner I went back to the shop and put on the first coat of shellac on the shelves, the top, and the drawer. Doing the tops of them first followed by the bottoms. I hate this part of a project. I don't enjoy applying finish and certainly not the wait time between applications. Not to mention I can't do much of anything else while I do these dance steps.

got 3rd coat on

This one pound coat isn't building and it is going to take more than 3-4 coats before it shines like I like it.

hmm......

I hadn't forgot this box for the Kreg pocket hole jig. I got the layout for the tails done but I don't have any room to get the Moxon vise on the workbench.

in the workshop

The humidity is/was high today. I didn't want to bring it up to the driveway and chance having the shellac blush on me. 

first coat

The vertical slats look darker than the legs and rails. It was a little awkward applying the shellac to the interior - there wasn't a lot of room to spray.

PM session

Got 5 coats on the shelves, the top, and the drawer front. I got four coats on the interior of the drawer and I'll put four on the bottom of the drawer.

hmm........

Got two spray coats and I rubbed them down with 4-0 steel wool. Applied the 3rd coat and I didn't have a warm and fuzzy with how much spray shellac I had left.

its dead Jim

The can went dry spraying the on the 4th coat. I only got one side of one of the vertical slats before it gave up.

hmm........

Used about 2/3 of the batch I mixed up yesterday. I hadn't expected to use so much of it just on the shelves and the top. I still have the bottoms of them get shellac on. I got a pound on order but it won't be here until next week. FYI - the cost of 1 pound of dewaxed  super blonde, with S/H, was $87. That is about $20 or so more than my last order. 

I had bought it from shellac dot net and the price of the same shellac on 4 other sites were all within a few dollars of the shellac dot net price. I then checked on Amazon and dewaxed  super blonde was the same price. However I found blonde shellac, 1.1 lbs, for $30. I don't know if it is dewaxed or not but I'll have it tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I will have enough of the current batch to finish this project.

accidental woodworker

I started blogging here 16 years ago today. Now I have decided to bring the Literary Workshop blog to a close. This is the 400th post on the blog, and I expect it to be the last one.

When I started the Literary Workshop Blog back in August 2010, I was just a couple years out of graduate school and had only a couple kids. A whole lot has changed since then.

When I started the blog, I didn’t set out to build an audience or promote a business or anything like that. Here’s how it happened: I used to post regularly on a woodworking forum called WoodNet, but the posts on that forum lasted only a year before being deleted. As an avid hand-tool woodworker, I enjoyed showing off my projects and trading woodworking advice with other traditional woodworkers. So I started this blog as an archive of the longer posts and projects I had put on that forum. Eventually the blog took on a life of its own. Internet forums declined in popularity, and I continued to learn about hand tools, make furniture, and discover traditional woodworking techniques. I’m a compulsive writer, so describing these things came easily to me. Part of the fun of starting a new project has often been planning the blog post(s) and photos that would feature it.

So what has changed in the last 16 years?

First, today’s media ecosystem is different. When I began the Literary Workshop Blog, most of the high-quality information on hand tools was still on forums and blogs, as well as in a few select magazines and books. If you wanted to work wood with hand tools, the information wasn’t going to find you. You had to read up on it. Now in 2026, the online space is flooded with short-form how-to videos, and once social media algorithms figure out that you’re interested in hand-tool woodworking, it will keep delivering that content to you automatically. The sheer amount of video content available is overwhelming. And a surprising amount really is fairly high in quality. That means there’s less demand for written content than their used to be. But I’m a writer, and I’m just not interested in creating video content. And even if you’re more of a reader than a video watcher (like I am), you can get very high quality content on hand tool woodworking from several good sources, like Lost Art Press and Mortise & Tenon Magazine.

I also maintain this blog at the pleasure of the WordPress platform, which I don’t control. Tomorrow the owners could decide to delete everything I’ve written over the past 16 years. If I were going to keep writing seriously about woodworking, I would want to publish it in a more stable, permanent form: a book. But I’ve written books, and I know what kind of time and expertise such a project takes. There are much better woodworkers than I am writing books right now, and I’m very grateful for them. I have neither the time nor the desire to compete with them for a publisher’s attention.

I’m also concerned about the rise of AI large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, which have taken advantage of all the free information on the internet and are able to synthesize it for users, often without regard to the credibility of the content, let alone the identity of the people (like me) who labored to produce that content. I am not interested in providing even more free content to feed those AI beasts.

But more importantly, my free time has become more limited of late. Writing about a project takes a significant amount of time, and the more time I devote to the writing, the less time I have for the woodworking itself. That’s one reason why I’ve gone from posting a couple times a month (at my peak) to posting just a few times a year.

If you’ve never tried to write up a project for a magazine article or a blog post (or done a video shoot of it), it’s hard to imagine how much extra time it takes to do the content creation on top of the actual woodworking. I estimate that writing a high-quality series of blog posts about a project can add a good 50% to the total time the project takes. If the project is really involved, doing the content creation can easily double the time. So if it was a 12-hour project, but I want to document each step and write up a series build-along posts, it’s now an 18-hour project, at least.

These days, I don’t have a lot of time for woodworking itself. Most of my kids are teenagers, and I’m always running them to practice or rehearsal, or attending a game or a show they’re in. And my oldest now has kids of her own, so my wife and I are having fun doing the grandparent thing. I’m also in a leadership position in my local church, which is an honor but also a big time-commitment. And my current job doesn’t allow me to step away from work during school breaks like my previous job did. All in all, it’s a good phase of life! But I have fewer stretches of uninterrupted time in which I can get a project done. Woodworking is still important to me, so if I’m going to spend any time woodworking at all, I can’t also be committed to writing about it.

Besides, I feel like I’ve said pretty much everything I wanted to say about woodworking and related topics over the years. The really important things I’ve learned and shared here can be summed up pretty easily:

• Make things you need. You get started by figuring out what you need, learning some skills, and trying to make it work with the tools and materials you have most readily available.
• Read widely. You can learn things about your craft from the most unlikely of authors.
• Sharpen your tools. Sharp fixes everything.
• Simplicity is a virtue. You can do so much with a small kit of essential tools.
• Use what you have. Most jobs don’t require new tools. You may already have something that will get the job done.
• Keep your eye out for good material. There is a lot of good stuff out there if you know what you’re looking for.
• Be picky about what you keep. There’s a lot of junk that’s not worth taking home or holding on to.
• Quality matters. Spend the money to get the good tool, and spend the time to make the joint fit just right.
• Specialize. There are so many sub-fields in woodworking, and nobody can learn them all. Pick just a few and get really good at them. Skills in one sub-field will transfer over to another.
• Build relationships, not just projects. It’s good to bring people into your process and to share what you have with others.
• Selling your work will change everything about your craft. You may or may not like the changes.
• Learn by imitation and experimentation. Find excellent models to imitate.

I do want to say thank-you to you, my readers, especially those of you who have taken the time to post encouraging comments on posts, or to ask follow-up questions. The writing comes easier when I know there will be at least a few people reading. And if you find yourself wanting to read more of my writing, you can always go back to the very beginning of this blog and start reading from there! A lot of the pictures are now gone from my earlier posts, but many of the really important photos remain.

If you run across a post you like, but you find broken links and/or missing photos, please post a comment letting me know. If I have time (and if the photos still exist), I’ll try to update the post with the missing material. And if you want to interact with me about woodworking, I am willing to reply to new comments on old posts, at least for the time being.

Eventually, though, I will close down users’ ability to comment on posts and turn this blog into a true time-capsule. I have no idea how long it will remain accessible to other people. I suppose it could still be floating in a digital archive a century from now. Maybe in a couple hundred years some historian or anthropologist will stumble upon one of my posts and discover something really interesting about the Hand-Tool Woodworking Revival of the early twenty-first century. Or maybe some distant descendant of mine will get interested in genealogy and discover more about his or her ancestors than anybody really needed to know. Or maybe a freak solar flare will obliterate this whole blog before the end of the year. There’s no telling how long anybody’s writing is really going to last.

Even though I won’t be writing new blog posts anymore, I’m not really going away. I’ll still be right here, doing the things that I’ve always written about: reading books, building furniture with hand tools, making spoons and spatulas, and spending quality time with my wife and kids.

Farewell!

Stephen J. Schuler

Springfield, Ohio