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The folks at The Babylon Bee did it again.  When you contemplate the difficulty of consistently creating great satire in this clown-show world, you know these guys are the best.

Jesus’s Parents Realize He’s Divine As He Completes Carpentry Project Without Going Back To Home Depot A Single Time

It’s long overdue, but at long last I have some images of the finished modular tansu cabinets to share. I finished this project up back in February, but that was followed by crating and shipping which was a bit of an ordeal, and I was hesitant to share any images until the cabinets were safe… Read More »Modular Tansu – Final Post

The post Modular Tansu – Final Post appeared first on Big Sand Woodworking.

Over the weekend, a friend and I headed to the Allegheny National Forest, less than a two-hour drive from my home in western Pennsylvania. We hiked up along a small stream, fishing a little along the way. A steady light … Continue reading →

This is Mrs. Ralph. Ralph will be back to doing too much in the shop, even though he's supposed to be resting, later today. Wishing you all happy woodworking.

 

It’s just a hammer. Nothing special, just a 20 ounce Stanley claw hammer made in England and bought by me for £1, which was almost two days pay for me back in March 1965 when I bought it new. The hickory shaft is still the original, the hammer face has never chipped, and the claw...

Source

I completed the little tasks until there was nothing left to do but wrap it up.

I added guides on the sides of the drawers to keep them inline. They are only glued in place. The edges facing the drawers were planed smooth. Later I waxed these surfaces and the mating edges of the drawers.

gluing in guides on the side

The drawer pulls glued in without wedges. My flush cut saw is a cheap one from harbor freight. I rubbed the teeth on a diamond stone to remove the set. It has so many teeth-per-inch that it's slow, but it works.

cutting off drawer pull stub just needs a little scraping

Most of the drawers needed planing on the sides to insert fully. Only one was seriously off on the face. Notice the gap between it and the next drawer up is tight on the left and wide on the right.

uneven gap above drawer

Likely the whole drawer box was twisted but I didn't try to untwist it. I planed the underside on the left to drop it down a little, then I shimmed the underside on the right to raise it a little. It didn't end up perfect but it got better.

glued on shim, before sanding

To finish I sprayed the walnut and butternut with three coats of garnet shellac. After I used that up I switched to blonde shellac and sprayed 2-3 more coats. The blonde shellac also went on the sides and interior of the drawers. After drying half a day I rubbed everything with a brown paper bag, waxed the drawer slides, and screwed on the top and back.

Printer Stand

full view

The stand is 27.5" tall, 27.5" wide, and 20.5" deep. The carved drawer fronts put together make a canvas of 21.5" square.

front view

The carcase and top are walnut, with the side panels being resawn. The drawerfronts are butternut with walnut pulls. Secondary wood is poplar, basswood, and plywood.

side view 1 side view 2 with back

My goals were to have a stand for the printer and for the drawers to be wide enough for stacks of paper. Having a carving continue across multiple drawer fronts was a side goal.

I dusted my printer for this picture wide enough for two stacks of paper carving detail

Other posts in this series:

• Printer Stand 1: Plans & Rough Cuts
• Printer Stand 2: Carcase and Pre-oiling panels
• Printer Stand 3: Drawer Construction & Homemade Pulls
• Printer Stand 4: Carved Fronts & Little Things

 Tomorrow (today as you are reading this) I'm the lead off for getting sliced and diced. I have to be at the hospital at 0630 to check in. I should be home around lunch time - fingers crossed. I go back on monday to get the catheter out. I'll ask again but the I'm sure the doc said I could do my normal routine. For those not in the know a TURP is a transurethral resection of the prostate (resection is a medical term for surgery). It is basically a rake and scrape of an enlarged prostate. Not looking forward to the procedure but I am towards having it over and done with.

glad I'm a pack rat

The tile layouts are set for each of the 7 coasters. I'll put them in these bags until it is time to set them. The coasters don't care which tiles they get, I asked.

the bottom one

That is the one I had to trim to remove an out of square corner. The opposite one was rounded due to me dropping it on the deck. I had to saw an eighth of an inch off.

odd looking but......

There is a pattern to it. I went back and forth on removing the middle one and making another sized like the others. Decided against that and this is what Amanda is getting.

too thick

This was a sliding lid for something that I'm repurposing for the shelf for the coaster holder. I am thinning it down to 7/16" thick.

Lee Valley scrub plane

I don't use this much as I prefer the Stanley #6. This one is a better choice for doing small scale stock like this. It is about 3 1/2" wide and 5 3/4" long.

snug fit

I am finally getting a consistent snug fit with this joinery. It has taken me a lot of years to get here. One down and one more to go.

shelf dry fitted

Got a snug fit with the other stopped dado. The next batter is the back stretcher above the shelf.

blind mortise

After I had seen the dry fit I saw that I should have put the stretcher on the outboard side of the line. No hiccups chopping the two blind mortises. I knifed the perimeter, made a knife wall, and chiseled out the area between the outside walls.

self supporting

It is a wee bit snug but that is what I wanted. I find it easier to under size the mortise and then plane the stretcher to fit the mortise.

first one done

Achieved a snug fit with the first one. It was a bit awkward getting it to depth. The router I used left a hump in the middle but it got both ends of the mortise flat and in the same plane. I chiseled the slight hump off and I will rely on the ends for seating the stretcher on.

starting the 2nd one

First step is to define the perimeter with a knife wall. That virtually eliminates me being ham fisted and accidentally making chisel marks on the perimeter.

first dry fit

Happy with the fit and the overall look. The sides are square to the shelf and the stretcher. Both the stretcher and the shelf are the same length and feel/look like they are fully seated in their respective dadoes and mortises.

too much wiggle room

I didn't think I had left this much wiggle room for the coasters. This is too much and I shortened the stretcher and shelf by 3/8".

better look at the gap

My first thought on seeing this was to make another coaster but nixed it. I want to be over and done with this and move on to something else.

better looking gap

The gap now is 3/16" which I am ok with. None of the tiles extend up past the banding so they won't or shouldn't get banged or hit moving in and out of the holder.

rounded the tops

I free hand drew a gentle curve from the front to the back. I also did a small round over on the front corners of the shelf. I was going to leave this natural but instead I'll be painting it. This way everything will be a match for each other.

oops

I forgot to do the cutout for the bottom edge of the holder. Not a horrendous me-steak but it would have been easier to cut it out before I glued it together. I'll have to do it with a coping saw after this has cooked.

accidental woodworker

I’ve got this piece I picked up ages ago from Lazaretes, or however you spell it, back when they were still around. I never found out what species it is, but I’ve got a hunch it might be QLD walnut. I put it next to a piece of QLD walnut I already have to compare, but the sample’s too narrow to really tell. They actually look pretty different anyway. Funny thing, yesterday I was at a medical centre and saw flooring that looked exactly like this piece. Thought about asking the receptionists, but figured they’d have no clue. So, any idea what it might be?

 Rain, rain, and more rain. I couldn't stroll yesterday or today because of the rain. And that sucks because the exercise I get from that definitely helps me out on sunday when I weigh my tonnage. After 3 weeks of zero weight loss this past sunday I dropped 3 pounds. I would like to stay on losing side of things with this. I'm hoping to stroll tomorrow because the weather seers are predicting sunny/cloudy conditions.

nope

Shifted and moved too much to correct. This is one of the two coasters I glued up yesterday. Neither one of them are usable and have been tossed in the 40 gallon circular file holder (aka shitcan).

nail pin box dividers

The size of the pin nails go from 1/2" up to 1 3/16" by eights. 

new bandings

I bought three, 4 foot long pieces of 1/4" poplar. From one piece I got 44 bandings. I double, triple checked myself to ensure that these had enough length to allow for shooting the miters on the jig.

I only got grout at Lowes (and I got the last tub). I looked at the sealer and it was too high in price. I'm into these tile tables for a pretty shiny penny. Wood, paint, mastic, grout, and tiles have set me back about $350.

ready for poly

I sanded both parts with 320 and I used up a lot of calories doing it. I found waterfall drips in places I hadn't seen yesterday. Wiped it off with a rag and then used a tack cloth on it.

coaster work

Gluing them with the band clamp wasn't working out. Instead I glued and pin nailed the bandings on.

3 done, 4 to go

This is going quicker than I thought it would. 7 is an odd number for a coaster set but I am not buying anymore tiles to make an even numbered set.

woodworking done

This what the seven will look like. One of these I had to trim a wee bit off  the base because one corner wasn't square. I can only pick it out if I put between two other coasters. I will be adding making a holder for these - can't give them to Amanda loose like this.

Next step with these is to apply a primer coat and then the topcoat. Which will be the same as the tile tables. Setting the tiles on these should be a lot easier along with grouting them. Hopefully Lowes will have another tub of 'warm gray' grout back in stock in case I need it.

used it

Christened this yesterday and it worked. I thought there might have been a hiccup with extending the line from one face to the other - would the break for the hinge leave a gap? Well boys and girls it didn't. Each part of the saddle gizmo allows you to run the line right to the edge. That was pleasant surprise and it may turn the tide for me liking this new toy.

double drats

 The plan was to apply poly to this as the last thing I did today in the shop. That didn't happen boys and girls. All the waterfall drips were smooth and flat to the touch but I could still see them in raking light. Poly doesn't cover up sins like this with subsequent coats. So instead of applying poly I used the card scraper to remove all the waterfall drips on both parts.

pin nailer box

Flushed the bottom and the tops of the dividers with 80 grit and the LN 102.

OCD already kicked in

I started getting the heebie jeebies about filling in the empty slots with pin nails. I've had this pin nailer for over ten years and the nails too. I thought I had at least one more size but as usual I came up empty searching for it. If I remember I'll stop in to Horrible Freight and buy some pin nails when I'm in that neighborhood.

no brush work

I was careful brushing the poly on but I'm getting old and slipping. Instead of brushing the poly on I'm going to use a balled up rag. I used a shop towel to see how well it would work. Way back in the dim mists of time when I used poly exclusively I used a foam pad and T-shirt rags to apply it. The only downside to T-shirt application is you have to apply 4-5 times as much as brushing it on. But it was exactly as I remember it being.

no more haze

Another thing that slipped in the queue to be done today. I should be able to finish grouting both of them tomorrow. Fingers crossed with that happening.

Ending with a rant about belts. I have a 35" waist according to the jeans I wear. However, a size 36 belt, IMO, is too small. I bought one at Wally World and it fits but only on the very last hole in the belt. Bought a 38" belt made by the same mfg that made the 36" one. I thought I would catch a hole at least a couple away from the end one but it too only fit on me in the very last hole.

 I am of the opinion that a belt caught on the last hole in it looks like crap not to mention there isn't a lot of wiggle room if your weights balloons in the wrong direction. I'm in and out of Wally World at least once a week and the next time I'm in there I'll try on a 40 and 42 inch belt and see how they shake out. Rant over.

accidental woodworker

 I got two pairs of cargo shorts from Carhartt on sunday. Size 35 and I was excited about trying them on. I could barely get the top ends to meet let alone button it. I checked my jeans and all 3 of them (which fit) say they are 35 waist with a 29" inseam. Based on how the jeans fit and how the Carhartt shorts fit, I would have to buy a size 38 Carhartt? I didn't want to risk buying them and have them be too big or fit tight.

On the flip side the return of them went off without a whimper of trouble. I snapped a pic of the QR code on my phone and brought the shorts to the nearest Whole Foods store. The guy scanned it and said have a nice day. Quick, easy, no wait, no fuss, and I was in and out a few minutes.

I went to Wally World after the return adventure and I was disappointed at the offerings in the shorts department. Again, nothing in size 35 and no odd sizes above 36. I tried one size 36 and they were snug. A 2nd size 36 was loose - they wouldn't stay up on their own. Contemplated trying on more but I was getting pissed and frustrated. I think I'm going to buy some regular jeans and find a tailor to make them into shorts. That will take some doing because the tailor I have used in the past retired. 

sigh

Not only aren't the tiles square, they also vary in size and thickness. The row above the perimeter was the last one I did. It really doesn't blink like a neon light because the margins vary in width and none of them run straight and true. 

some curve slightly

I checked each tile individually to make sure they were stuck fast. None of them budged a frog hair and all felt secure. At least that worked out for me as I was concerned due to the first batch of mastic I used.

putting the ladder together

Putting the cover blocks on along with all the screws. I have some work to touch up on the edges. I saw a lot of waterfall drips on both parts of it. 

done

The last pieces of hardware are the bolts and nuts for marrying the two of them together. They will go in/on after I'm done with the touch up poly work to come.

ran out

Got the 2nd table 99.9% grouted. I think I got most of the bubble holes on the first table done too but I'll have to eyeball it seriously in the AM. I didn't have enough grout to finish either table so I'll be making a road trip to Lowes tomorrow.

The haze on the table is after the first run with the sponge. It took me well over an hour before the table appeared to clear and haze free. I checked it again just before dinner and looked clear.

left over tiles

I don't think I'll use these tiles for anything else so I decided to make some coasters. I had enough to make 7 coasters with 2 tiles left over from that.

enough for 4 coasters

Found some leftover poplar from banding the two tables and sawed out banding for the coasters. I will make them the same way I did the tables.

good fit

I didn't allow enough length when I roughed out the bandings. The coaster pad is 3 1/2" square. I shot two of them on the 45 jig and they ended too small. This is the fit of the bandings as they came off the saw.

)@&)%)@Q*%Q_@_ gaps

The first one looked good and this one ain't. It will be painted but this gap would still be visible through it. I have to go Lowes tomorrow so I'll add a couple pieces of 1/4" thick poplar to make new bandings.

last thing for today

Decided to make a box to hold my pin nails. I dropped the 5/8" ones and I no longer have strips of them but a pile of little ones. I should have done this a bazillion years ago. After this one is done I'll be making another for my 18gauge brad nailer.

The box is simple stupid in construction. Rabbeted joinery with 1/8" plywood dividers. I will glue a piece of 1/8" plywood on the bottom but no lid.

5 slots

The dividers are in there dry, no glue. They are helping to keep the box square as it cooks. I am planning to do a cutout on them to help with getting the nail strips out of the box. I'll do that in the AM.

an hour later

The grout is still leaving a haze on the tiles. I sponged this again and I was still dragging a wee bit of grout. I had to wait for the grout to set up more before the sponge stopped dragging grout out of the margins.

hmm......

All the perimeter tiles had some grout build up against the banding. No problems scraping that junction clean with a chisel. The tiles being glass made for an easy clean up of the grout on it. The grout didn't seem to want to stick this side of the tiles.

cleaned up

I will be scraping each tile individually. I tried a few of the interior tiles and they all brightened up after scraping them with the chisel.

accidental woodworker

It's like this, truth is: it's looking out while everything
happens; being in a place of your own,
between your ears; and any person
you face will get the full encounter
of your self.

William Stafford, Tuned in Late One Night, from A Glass Face in the Rain, 1982

I was very fortunate to attend the August 1980 Christopher Parkening master class at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana. At the time I was studying classical with Bob Backes, who had studied with Mr. Parkening, Mr. Backes encouraged me to audition for the master class. He arranged a recording session for me, we made a tape, sent to Mr. Parkening and I accepted. I had just graduated high school. My parents drove me out for the class in their 1963 Plymouth Station Wagon, what a hoot that was! My mother took the photo, at least she didn't cut off any heads in this photo. 

I have long been a fan of Dorian Bracht’s Youtube page, following as he makes mind blowing joinery exercises.  Now his book is out and sitting on my pile of stuff to read, having arrived during our recent eon of travel or I would have taken it along to read.  The time will come when I can spend time at the bench and reproduce his work.  Unfortunately that time is not yet here.

 Got the second tile table done. However, I thought I had forgotten to fix the bubble holes in the first table but I was wrong. Today was mastic and setting the tiles. Tomorrow I'll grout table #2 and then I can fix the bubble holes. That is all I got done today in the shop. I am thinking of sealing the grout lines because Amanda told me that she plans to use these for placing drinks on.

maybe next time

Got a comment on using a set up like this to tile the table standing. Unfortunately for me I didn't have any boards long enough. Or I should say I did but I didn't want to saw the board I had in half and nail/screw in to the workbench. Instead I parked my cheeks on the same stool I used for doing table #1.

ready to set tiles

I'm doing the 2nd table the same way I did the first one. I set all the perimeter tiles first and then filled in between them. I swung in the opposite direction with water in the mastic this time - I didn't put enough. This time around the mastic was stiff and not as easy to butter on the backs of the tiles.

tiles at the ready

I noticed that there were a lot of wonky tiles here. I missed that when I dry set them. I tossed 5 tiles when I removed the interior ones to these two boards. I put a few extra tiles out so I could replace any more as needed as I set them. 

lunch time

I stopped here because it was time to fill the pie hole. Since I was buttering the backs it won't effect laying the rest of them. Just as well because the mastic was starting to set up.

done

I was paying more attention to the grout lines this time. The margins on these tiles are more 'uniform' than table #1. I split any differences between the tiles and the margins fudging them and taking into account the neighboring tiles too.

I put in a couple of hours more doing battle with the ivy removal. I have about a 2 foot area left but it looked to be bare of ivy runners. I'll find out for sure when I get back to it. That will probably be a couple of days because rain is forecasted to start late tonight and continue into all day tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

Sometimes life gives you an opportunity you didn’t know existed.

My friend Tim called me last summer saying that he cuts the grass for our old Junior High Shop Teacher, Mr Morganroth, and he had some old tools he wanted to sell. Mr Morganroth was our shop teacher in the seventh grade. In class, we would make swordfish and ducks out of a piece of walnut, then attach painted metal for the fins and the wings. The class was the basics of woodworking, where we learned the simple steps of using a rasp, grades of sandpaper, and cutting things out on the band saw. These simple steps got me hooked on woodworking, and I started to slowly build a shop in my parents’ basement when I was in high school.

Mr Morganroth said he was moving to Tennessee in a few months and wanted to get rid of some old tools he had been collecting asking if I would be interested in them. I told Tim I was but wanted to know what he had beforehand, so he sent me a few picks from his phone.

Tim sent me the photos, and I took a close look at them and I said I was interested, but I don’t want all of them since a lot were just common tools. Unfortunately, Morganroth wanted to sell them all at once, so I just let it go and forgot about it.

Then, a few weeks ago, Tim called me again and said Morganroth really wanted to get rid of them, so I contacted him directly and asked to send me better picks of what he has. Morganroth said he wanted to sell everything but the cooper’s tools as they were his grandfather’s.

Understanding that, we went back and forth for a few days, and I gave him an offer for the tools he wanted to sell (I really had my eye on the slick at the time). He responded that he would think about my offer. 

Then last week he got back with me and said he’ll include the cooper’s tools as well and he’ll also throw in some woodworking books he had. I made him an offer higher than the first one I gave him, and he agreed to the price.

Friday, I went over to his house and picked up the tools. He had them hanging in his house for 30 years. He said his kids have no interest in them as neither of them work with wood, so he was glad they were going to a good home.

I brought them home and clipped them off the barn wood they were attached to to take a better look at them. The tools on the bench are the tools that his grandfather used when coopering. I plan on keeping them together as a set. I’m even considering making a tool chest for them.

It’s an incredible honor to buy old tools from the man who got me started in woodworking over 40 years ago.

When I first learned about this I was totally blown away. This tip I picked up from the workshopcompanion. I love this guy he is just a wealth of knowledge. He said by placing pure camphor blocks in a drawer or tool box will prevent your tools from rusting. Camphor fumes will fill a drawer, cabinet, or toolbox, then condense on the surfaces of the tools, coating them with a film just a few molecules thick. And because this film is an oil, it repels moisture and keeps your tools from rusting. Now would this work if you placed shavings of camphor or built an tool chest from camphor I don’t know, but it is worth investigating.

Camphor is a crystallized oil made from naturally occurring chemicals found in laurel trees, or from turpentine. It slowly evaporates from its compressed block, and then condenses on metal surfaces, insulating them from moisture. You need about one to two ounces of camphor per toolbox or cabinet space, and you can expect the tablet to last six months to a year in a temperate climate. Works great, but only if you get real camphor – either the natural stuff made from laurel or the “synthetic” camphor made from turpentine. Avoid naphthalene (which is what they make most mothballs from these days). The camphor we recommend here is probably the synthetic stuff, which is why it’s so inexpensive. Also remember that camphor is flammable — the flash point for camphor vapor is 150 degrees F. Don’t use it around anything extremely hot or that would throw sparks. It’s toxic if taken internally, so keep pets, children, and visitors from eating it.

Amazon sells these blocks and the link to the correct blocks are here: Amazon Australia the link provided is amazon for Australia. Here is the American Amazon this one is an affiliate link, not mine but someone elses. Yes, they are both expensive but each blocks lasts 6 months. There are 16 blocks in a box and if you used 4 blocks a year then you will get 4 years of rust free tools and that pretty awesome in my books.

 A warm front moved in on friday and that is supposedly going to give us cloudy skies all next week. This morning it looked like that would be true. However, after an hour or so the sun starting peeking out and eventually burned off the cloud cover. The mercury got pushed up to 80F (27C) which made for a super nice day. I wanted to walk for hours on my post lunch stroll but didn't. Instead after getting back to the barn I helped my wife out with some yard work. And I did battle with the ivy again.

first look see

I liked what I saw this AM with the table. The grout lines were full with no separation anywhere. There tiles were cloudy but expected.

bubble holes

One of a couple of spots where I got some bubble holes. I got less than I expected but it is an easy fix. When I grout Amanda's table I'll hit all the bubble holes then. I might have to do the same after grouting Amanda's table too.

done

I wiped the grout haze from the table with a sponge and dried it with a towel. Ten minutes later the haze was gone and there is a check mark in the done column.

base pic

I like the floating aspect of the table top and I don't regret the bottom stretchers. I still think it would have been wonky and unsteady without them. The legs extended down past the top stretchers too long not to do stupid wood tricks. The bottom stretchers stiffen the legs and solidify what is a small table.

On the flip side I did like the look of the original top stretchers sans my bottom ones. However, there were only two rails - the short sides with a center stretcher connecting them forming an 'H'. I think the legs would have curled in and out if left that way.

hmm......

I forgot to apply poly to these covers for the dowel rod. It will be easy to get some on them after I'm done with the front and back assemblies.

came early

Last I checked on this the delivery date was monday the 5th. I will set the tiles for this table tomorrow.

sigh

 This also came today and it is something I didn't order. It is also the 2nd time something has come from Blue Spruce that I didn't click the 'buy it' button. I had gone to the site to look at this saddle square and I had clicked on the options for it. I didn't add to the cart nor did I click buy it now. The other time this happened I ended up with a small mallet. What I think is happening is PayPal is automatically buying it for me somehow(?) because that is what paid for both. I'll have to stop looking at new stuff from Blue Spruce when I get an email from them.

 I'm going to keep it but I'm not a fan of this style of saddle square. It is handy for laying lines on two adjacent surfaces that aren't square to each other. I like a solid, one piece, 90° saddle square. I'll found a home for it and see if I'll use it.

hmm......

I popped off these two test tiles I did a couple of days ago. Both came off easily and almost no mastic was left behind on the wood. Got good coverage on the backs of the tiles though. I think it was because the wood wasn't sealed and that is why it didn't stick. I don't think I'll have this problem with the tables. The plywood is rated for tile layment and it was sealed with a primer coat of paint.

clear of ivy

The area in front of the old garage I am declaring ivy free. I've been dumping urine on the ivy in this area for a couple of weeks and I could see the ivy dying and withering away to nothing. I'll have to keep an eye on it because the ivy comes under the fence back into my kingdom.

kind of clear

Last year I cleared all the ivy from the old garage pad to the end of the fence. There are a lot of dried out and dead ivy vines laying about but the root system on them is extensive and some still have life in them. I have about 10-12 feet to dig and uproot before this battle is over. I worked on it for 2 hours in the PM today. I'll try to work a couple of hours a day on it until it is done.

accidental woodworker

When dovetailing the sides the only thing I did different this time was to stack them.

sides stacked to chisel all at once

This saved some time as I didn't have to reposition the holdfasts so often.

I planned a carving across all of the drawer fronts. This is not something I've seen a lot of, so I wonder if there's a good reason for that. I settled on some flowers, which is the reason I've been practicing carving flowers into butternut lately.

First I clamped all five fronts to make one large canvas. I made thin spacers to account for the gap between drawers. I didn't want to clamp pennies in between the boards as I thought Honest Abe would leave an impression.

thin butternut strips to account for space between fronts

I printed some clipart, resized it, and laid it out on the drawer fronts. The flowers I faithfully traced, the rest I was more relaxed about.

drawer fronts clamped together with flower clip art my graphite paper worked so poorly I threw it all away

Then I went through the steps of carving. Lining in and lowering the background is relatively fast and satisfying. But the leveling the background and setting in took multiple sessions over more than a week. By contrast the modeling step I completed in one day.

lining in with v tool lowering with #7 gouge leveling and setting in modeled, wet with alcohol

After this I unclamped the boards and applied refined linseed oil. Normally for a flat surface I would use a cotton rag, but that doesn't play well with my carvings. Neither does foam. So I used a large paint brush normally used for household painting.

I just apply the oil to wet the piece and deepen the color and contrast. I wipe off the excess after a few minutes. I later oiled the walnut carcase as well.

With the carving done I thought I could knock out all the rest quickly. Put the drawers together, attach a back and top--how hard could it be? Then I had to accept reality. Each of those tasks has many little details to keep track of. And there's only so much time, so many clamps, and so much free space to stack all the parts.

For the top I made a crude chamfer on the underside. There was a defect on one edge that I thought would disappear with chamfering. But the geometry in my head didn't agree with the geometry in reality.

I thought that defect would disappear. It didn't.

The top will be attached with tabletop fasteners. The slots are made with the domino, with some wider to allow movement.

5mm slots centered 13mm from top edge

The back I made from scrap plywood that was the right thickness and almost the right size. A fancy solid wood back will have to wait for another project. I wanted it colored dark to be less noticeable, so used india ink.

applying india ink to old plywood back fitted with holes for screws

Now the fitting of the drawers has slowed me down. I've been fitting the drawer backs and gluing the boxes together one at a time. Then I usually have to plane the sides to get them to slide all the way in.

x marks where to plane

Since I know the fronts fit the opening (and they have been oiled) I try to only plane the basswood. I use a piece of plywood overhanging the bench to drape the drawer over while planing.

Setup for planing drawer sides. It helps to not have the bottom in.

Once they can be inserted all the way I mark the back end of the sides to cut off the excess.

The drawers have side-to-side play inside the carcase. I will have to add strips to all of the existing guides to keep them in line.

too much play side-to-side

So compared to carving it feels like the home stretch. But it's still a lot of small little things to do one at a time. I still haven't got to the point of seeing if all the drawer fronts and their carvings line up well.

Next up on the loom is creating kerfs on the front and back pieces for the yarn to go through. While thinking about it a groove on the front and back faces just where the kerfs end will prevent the yarn from slipping out. So grooving time it is.

Ouch. That one hurt.

(From the June 2025 issue of Popular Woodworking. In all seriousness, this was a great article by Logan Wittmer on building a Craftsman desk.)

 Finally I have one table done. I got it grouted and I just have to wait for it to set. Fingers crossed that I won't see holes or gaps between the grout and the tiles. It has been years since I've tiled and grouted. I think I may have made the grout a wee bit too wet which could lead to it to shrinking and pulling away from the tiles. I'll be smiling or crying in the AM.

self supporting

I sanded the outside face of the keepers but not enough yet. The lid is a nice fit and self supporting. I know from experience that the shellac build up from a couple of coats will render the lid too big to fit on the bottom.

smiley face on

The tiles are set and unmoving. This was my first attempt using/setting small glass tiles. My tiles aren't that random overall. In fact there are several patterns evident scattered about. Oh well, initially it looked random but after the tile setting was done I saw it wasn't as random as I thought. I won't have to fret about this with Amanda's table. I checked the delivery date for those tiles and they are due monday the 5th.

need some 1/8" dowel pins

Decided to fill in the old screw holes in the box with mahogany pins. I did this sizing of this mahogany starting at 3/16" working on down to 1/8". I tried to push the wood through the holes by hand over using a hammer to drive them through.

violin plane

It is small but it also isn't a toy. It excels knocking the square corners off on this thin mahogany. Hit the corners and then pushed it through the doweling jig as much and as far as I could by hand. Pushing it through the doweling jig leaves a 'shoulder' that I used to tell me where to start/stop planing.

more violin plane work

One tap with the hammer and the 'dowel' broke. I won't need them but I have 3 extra 'dowel blanks' to use. I have more than enough with the broken one for what I need.

looks odd

I got the holes plugged with the mahogany and it looks a bit odd to my eye. I thought the holes were slanted in the same direction R/L from the ends. 

split it in half

I would have wasted over half of this grout if I had mixed it in its container. I roughly halved it and I should have enough left to do Amanda's table too.

adding more holes

I didn't like the look of the 4 holes as is and decided to add 8 more. This will now look deliberately done and a planned design element. Or not, depends on if you are a 1/2 full or 1/2 empty type of guy.

ready for clean up

Got the heebie jeebies when I added water to the grout powder. Initially the water wasn't being absorbed by the grout - it was like trying to mix oil and water. However, after mixing it seemingly forever it started being absorbed and the mixture turned into a creamy peanut butter like texture. I let that sit for 5-10 minutes and floated it on the tiles.

It went on a little watery so I may have added a bit too much water. The only awkward spots to float were the four corners. It took extra care and dance steps to float the grout fully into the margins there. I had to fight leaving bubble holes in the grout as I floated it. I went back and hit them individually. Time to wait now for about 30 minutes before I cleaned the tiles with the sponge.

first sponge run

IMO I was pulling too much grout out of the margins on certain areas - there were about 5-6 tiles higher then their neighbors. I did manage in spite of that to get the tiles reasonably clean and there wasn't a lot of haze on the tiles 5 minutes later. Did another sponge run to remove that. I let it set up for another 15 minutes and did the sponge dance steps again.

ready for shellac

In between sponging the tiles I sanded the keepers on the box. Got a loose fit and lost the self supporting bit.

holes done

Not exactly an eye catching design but it is one I have to live with now. I may repeat this pattern on the front with 4 holes each on the sides.

ring box

I might as well finish this box at the same time. I'll have to search for another ring holder. The first one I got was total garbage and I could have gotten more value  flushing that $$$ down the toilet. I sanded these keepers a little bit and stopped. I think I'll keep the lid and bottom together when I shellac it - I won't apply any finish on the inside of the box at all.

looks hazy

One thing about this I'm happy with is there wasn't any mastic on the tiles to speak of. A couple of them had some specks but they all came off cleanly. Did a 3rd sponge run and I didn't see much if any haze on the tiles which told me the grout was setting up.

thick grout line

All the grout lines vary from thick to thin. I thought I had eyeballed the tile margins tighter then this. Something to be more on my toes about when I do Amanda's table.

one more at least

I think I have close to 3 coats on this. The edges may be behind on that total but the rest of the ladder has 3. I'm going to put at least one more coat on this in the AM. 

I have been searching for dungaree shorts jeans. It is ridiculous the prices I'm seeing for them but the most annoying aspect are the sizes. Almost nobody offers odd sizes. Everyone was only selling even size shorts and I need a size 35. 

Most sell only even size but I found two who offered my size 35 for a ransom price. However, I am not paying $69 to $79 for shorts. It is looking like it is cheaper to buy full length jeans and have them tailored into shorts. Stayed tuned to this channel for updates.

accidental woodworker