Accidental Woodworker

One down and five to go on the bookshelves. If I keep up this rate I will whack out one a day woodworking wise. Applying the shellac will take a couple of days. I can see them piling up in the shop as wait to finish them. And it will be something else to find a hole to stick them in. Of the eventual eleven of them, only 3 have been adopted.

Highland Hardwoods haul

I'll start on Miles desk next week sometime. Until then I'll let the haul hang out and relax. That will give it a chance to acclimate from Highland to my shop.

done

Happy with the shine on the end grain. I had slapped the last coat of shellac on it last night after dinner. 

2nd glamour pic

All of the bookshelves are finished 360. They can be viewed and placed without regard to the back of it being seen.

2nd cherry one

Got this one laid out, chopped and dry fitted before lunch. I couldn't close it up with hand pressure on the shelf. The back slats fitted ok and all four, including the shelf, fit in their respective spots snug.

hmm......

This left side isn't bottoming out even with clamp pressure. After playing with for a while and clamping it with different clamps I got nowhere with closing it up. I was getting frustrated so I left it be to go have fish 'n chips. That gave me while to think about what might be the problem.

came today

These walnut dowels ain't cheap. With S/H, 200 dowels are .36 cents each. You can do the math to get the cost.

better

The wall on the bottom of the dado was a wee bit off 90°.  Straightened that out and got it to close up.  Fingers crossed that I can repeat this when I glue it up.

hmm.......

No round overs this time. Instead I put a small angle on the front. I used the cherry bookshelf I keep by my desk for the pattern.

glued and cooking

Had a senior moment aka, a brain fart. I forgot to do the cutout for the legs/feet. Oh well, I'll have to put on my big boy pants and do it after it comes out of the clamps.

hmm......

Got the walnut for the first walnut bookshelf prepped. The back slats look too thick to my eye. As is they are 3/4" and I planed them down to 5/8". That thickness looked like the winner IMO.

not easy

Doing layout on the walnut was a bit difficult. Lead pencil doesn't show on the walnut and my 71 year old peepers were almost useless. I got it done by using a different square for each layout line. Took me twice as long to do as the cherry and pine ones.

layout done

It was past quitting time when I got the layout done. I'll chop on this in the AM.

hmm......

There is some wane on the left end but that will be removed when I do the angle on it. Decided to nix the round over and do an angle like I did on the cherry one. The defect on the back slat I'm keeping. I will fill that in with epoxy and black pigment. I just have to remember to keep it facing up when I do the glue up.

accidental woodworker

Rolled out of the rack at oh dark 34 and I was headed north to New Hampshire at 0501 I arrived at Highland at 0734. It took a little over 2 1/2 hours which was dead on with the google driving estimate. Traffic going up on 95 was busy and thinned out a little on 495. Not bad for a weekday. 

I went to the McDonald's about a mile from Highland and got a coffee and an egg Mcmuffin to kill the 20 minutes until Highland opened. When they opened I went nutso buying cherry for Miles desk. Added poplar and shorts of walnut to round out the bill. I left Highland $460 lighter.

I got back to the barn at 1130 which was about right for the round trip. I haven't been to Highland since COVID shut things down. Memory muscle kicked in and no problems driving up and back. Other than the exit numbers being changed there wasn't anything to throw me a curve ball. Decided to buy the wood for the desks one at a time, so I'll be making a 2nd trip up north for Leo in march/april?

what $460 looks like

From left to right - 1/2 poplar for the drawers, should be enough for Miles and Leo's desk plus extra. Next is 8/4 cherry for the legs (again for Miles and Leo) with the walnut shorts on top of it. The walnut came from the shorts bin and it cost over $50. I got it to make a walnut bookshelf. The next batter is 5/4 cherry, dressed to 1" thick. This will be used for the desk top. In the clean up slot is 4/4 cherry for the rails and slats. I went overboard on this getting much more than I'll need. Whatever is left over will go to Leo's desk.

breaking down the poplar

I sawed all the poplar into 2 foot lengths for the drawer stock. I was shocked at the BF price for 1/2" poplar. I should have looked at it before I bought it ($62 for six, 6 foot boards).

cherry back slats

I found some left over 1/2" cherry to give up the slats I needed. I sawed them to 7/16" on the tablesaw and planed it smooth.

hmm.......

I kind of like this uneven width between the back slats. It is a few frog hairs less than 1/8". The wider one will go on the bottom and thinner one on the top.

walnut

This is long enough to get two sets of ends from. There is some wane but I can saw it off and still have the width I want for the ends.

reference edge

I planed one rough edge flat and smooth. The opposite face it still rough sawn. I'll have to thickness because as is it is about an inch thick.

hmm......

There was enough walnut to get two bookshelves. When I got it at Highland I thought I would get one from it.

sigh

This chunk of wane puts a damper on this piece of walnut being used as a shelf. I want a shelf that is a minimum of 5" wide. Sawing off the wane would leave a width of roughly 4". I ain't driving back to Highlands to buy another walnut short.

oops

Need two more slats for the 2nd bookshelf. Don't know how I zoned that out.

going nutso again

I have whacked five bookshelves already. I have 6 more waiting for me to build.

why not?

Thinking of using this piece of cherry as the shelf. Cherry and walnut have a good contrast between them. Another option is to go to Koszela lumber which I might do. I really would like these two to be all walnut if possible.

milk paint dyes

This is for another project I have in the queue. I want to make another miniature chest and use these to color the milk paint. I need to get a few more colors, red and yellow being on the top of the list. I couldn't find these on Amazon where I got these 3. I'll search again tonight.

hmm.......

No more Gurney's sawmill pine left excepts for small scraps. This is Lowes pine and I'll have to make another run to buy a couple of more boards. The EWP (eastern white pine) bin at Highlands was empty as in no pine at all.

hmm.......

The top board will give up the sides and the bottom board can be a front, back, or lid. The current project queue is full to bursting. I'll be busy for a while.

accidental woodworker 

 Still haven't finished the 'extra' cherry bookshelf. It might be done tomorrow though. fingers crossed on that. Wandered down a one way street and I played with making two more small cherry bookcases. Spent most of the afternoon shift in the boneyard cleaning up and organizing what is staying, what it going to the dump, and what is going to my sister Kam. I have to have all this sorted out before the wife comes home from North Carolina.

forgotten pic

This was the one thing I said I got done yesterday but forgot to include pics of in the post. Kind of large but it fits in the drill stand cabinet - I am slowly smarting up and putting drill related things in that cabinet.

good fit

I wanted to make the box out of solid wood but I didn't have any thin wood in this width. The lid is a decent fit with a consistent gap 360.

2 1/2"

The OD is 2 1/2" and I was mildly surprised by the quality of it. Not what I expected from China.

unexpected

Came with a replacement center drill bit and the allen wrench.

hmm......

Don't know what the purpose of the spring.

nice fit

I really like this fit - it is just a couple of frog hair worth of clearance. Seriously thought about removing the insert and redoing it. Nixed that because I glued the insert in with hide glue. 

1/8" dowels

They ain't a 1/8" diameter, they are a 64th under. An 1/8" drilled hole is too loose and I want these to be snug.

done

Got two dowels in each pad. I was nervous about the thinner back one possibly cracking/splitting but they didn't. I drill the dowels at a slight angle too. 

sneak peek

This will work well for DVD/CDs. I don't have any paperbacks to check how they would seat on the shelf. 

hmm......

This is the left over cherry from the 3 other cherry bookshelves. These are the two boards from resawing one in half. There is one divot on the left one and two big and one small one on the right one. The plan was to thin the boards to 1/2" and hopefully that would remove the divots. The thickest part of either board is wee bit more than 9/16".

gone

Wasn't sure that I could get this to a 1/2" and remove the divot. Got lucky and I have a 1/2" thick cherry board for a shelf. 

wash, rinse, and repeat

The right board was a bit dicey IMO because one divot was deeper than the other two.  The divots on this board planed away smoothly with no headaches.

the problem divot

This is the before pic of the big divot on the right board. The only problem I had planing this to thickness was planing it down to the gauge lines. The left side ate up a lot of calories and time before they disappeared.

about 32nd more

I planed a ton of shavings off this side seemingly without lowering the face. Eventually I got it. The divot disappeared long before this gauge line did.

gone

Extremely happy that I planed the divot away and didn't dip below the 1/2" thickness.

hmm......

Planing to thickness for the ends, one I had to plane 3/16" off and the other a 1/4". The plan is have the ends at 5/8", the shelf 1/2", and the back slats 3/8".

done

This board I was expecting some tear to happen but none did. Got zero tear out using a #6, #7, #5 1/2, and #4. 

my LN 4 1/2

This isn't a plane that I use that much but I needed it today. The second board I planed to thickness for the ends tore out. The grain on it ran almost dead straight end to end except for one little curly Q spot. The 4 1/2 plowed through it without a whimper and dead smooth. I keep a 55° frog in this plane just dealing with wonky grain.

done

I still have to plane the back slats from a 1/2" to  3/8" but I didn't do that today. Playing with the shelves and ends had me sweating by the time I stopped. A little over 2 hours start to finish. As an aside the shop temp is hovering at a comfortable 63F/17C. The temp in shop has risen 4 degrees in the past 3 days.

final prep

Sanded the end grain on the ends up to 220. Almost forgot to do and caught it as I was ready to slap shellac on it.

fanned out

Don't know if I mentioned this before but in case I didn't here goes. When I'm done with my shellac I manually fan the brush out. It holds this shape well until it is time to use it again. I have found that it dissolves in alcohol much quicker than if I didn't do this. 

shellac time

The cherry one is awfully close to be done. The pine one is just starting out. I do the bottom first 4-5 coats before I do the rest of it.

the problem spot

It raking light the end grain looks a bit dull IMO. Since I'm applying shellac to the pine one I'll keep putting shellac on this area until I'm happy with it.

made in Germany

This belonged to my wife's grandmother and she doesn't want it. Typical german engineering because it is built like a tank. The drive belt is all metal - no rubber at all. If anyone wants it let me know - it would be just the sewing machine and accessories. The cabinet has water damage and rot so it is toast. 

nice touch

That is the original oiler for the machine along with the instruction booklet. It is a small instruction booklet, I would have expected something closer to 8" x 11".

nice haul

I saved the hardware for just in case. I might not ever have the need for it but you never know. This do dad thing was for locking down the lid.

hmm.......

Found this in the boneyard - box I started and stopped. I had applied hinges but removed them and plugged the screw holes. Never progressed beyond that. Thinking now of applying the banding on the box bottom and lid bottom and top. I ordered more banding today and I'll leave this on the workbench so I don't forget about it.

boneyard find #2

This is a jewelry box I made a bazillion years ago. It is a pine box with a floating cherry panel in the lid. Because it is mostly pine it really hasn't resonated with me as being worthy of a jewelry box. That changed and I'll be finally finishing this. All it needs is for me to slap a few coats of shellac on it.

the interior

The hinges took me several years to install. I used Brusso hinges and I epoxied the screws in the lid. Because of the thin lid I couldn't use a full length screw. Maybe this would be good enough for one of my young nieces?

accidental woodworker

 Got my truck back today and the driver who picked me up said we are getting an inch of the white stuff tonight. There is snow, freezing rain, and sleet in the forecast for the next week. Thursday is supposed to be partly sunny and it is looking like the only day for a while that I can make the trip north to Highlands Hardwoods is then. hmm......

nope

The pkg says 350 dots and there is no way this pkg has 350 dots but that isn't the problem. The problem is the thickness of the dots which are almost an 1/8" thick each. I'll have to search Amazon and buy something else for attaching the photos.

changed my mind again

I like how the wedge cures the shelf tilt headache but I don't like length of it. The wedge also negates the cutout for the legs. Going back to the drawing board to come up with plan #2.

signature change

These are the initials I have engraved on my bench plane lever caps. Decided to go from cursive initials to print ones.

hmm.....

Rasped a small chamfer on the feet. This shouldn't get dragged around like a chair so the small chamfers should suffice. Fingers crossed on that.

shellac time

Getting 4-5 coats on the feet first. Then I'll do 4-5 on it with it upright.

the oops bookshelf

Chiseled the Miller dowel flush with the back slat. It isn't visible at all looking at the bookshelf in situ.

hmm......

This is better. Not exactly what I prefer but it fixes the oops better than the full length wedge.

gap filling

This shim has the long grain facing up. Made it a wee bit dicey hammering it into the gap and filling it.

gap on the left

I wasn't going to fill this one but I had a lot of shim material left so why not? I went with solid wood because wood putty stands out with shellac applied to it.

one more gap to fill

The bottom of the dado really sticks out with the left side gap filled. 

first step

Sized the bottom of the legs with super glue. After it had dried I super glued the 'pads' to the legs.

almost done

The edges on the ends  and the shelf only have two coats. The rest of the bookshelf has 4 coats. Won't be done today but it should be fini in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

 My wife left for North Carolina on sunday to keep daughter #2 company while her husband is away on a business trip. The bookcase didn't go but the glass door cabinet did. Supposedly the bookcase is going south on the next trip south. Now I have to get it out of the shop and into the boneyard but that may be a headache. My wife is turning it into a reading room. Translation - I can't use the boneyard anymore for projects.

hmm.......

From China and there are three 93 1/2" long bandsaw blades. The current blade on the bandsaw burned the cherry bookshelf badly. I had to expend extra calories to rasp and sand it away.

hmm......

This sat overnight on the front porch step in below freezing weather. Before I try and use them I'll let them warm up for a few hours.

nope

Decided to put this away for now. Ace has 2 1/2" hole saws from $30 to $52 which were too much but I did find and order one on Amazon for $10. I'll have it tomorrow.

might be toast

The burning hole from yesterday may have drawn the temper out of this. I sharpened it and put it away. Two days ago I found a pkg with two of these cutters but I can't find where I put them down. 

look at what I found

I didn't know I had this big ass bit - it is a little more than 2 5/8". That is close enough to the 2 1/2" diameter I need. Before I used it I sharpened it again with my diamond stone paddles. You can see that the machining on this isn't something to write home about.

new insert

This piece of pine is between rift and quarter sawn, perfect for the insert. 

ok....

There is about a 16th clearance all around the guide. A little sloppy IMO but I won't have to worry about it binding in the hole.

insert ready

The bushings fit in a 5/8" hole. The top of them is shouldered and that is acting like a stop for them. 

sigh....

Put the cart before the horse. I missed sawing the insert to length before drilling for the bushings. On to insert #2.

got it

The fit is snug. After I drilled all the holes, planed it for a drop in fit.

lid

I sized the lid to be almost a dead on flush match with the outside of the box. I did this because the plan is to put a rabbet on the underside of the lid to fit in the inside of the box.

Lie Nielsen skew block plane

Ran a knife line 360 and planed down to it until I removed it. Did the end grain ends first and then the long grain sides.

not an oops

The length fits well. It dropped into place with no binding and no slop neither. However, the width doesn't fit. I planed the rabbet shoulders with my 1/2" shoulder plane. The pencil line on the lid is what I thicknessed the lid down to - 3/8" after fitting the lid.

hmm......

I chamfered the edges to soften them. As of now, I don't plan on putting a knob on the lid or making a finger access divot. 

lid is done

Didn't like the chamfered look so I sanded them to a round over. 

not enough

I wanted to use walnut dowels for the contrast with the cherry but it ain't happening today boys and girls. Thought of using birch but went with cherry.

finishing the ends

I had sanded the outside of the ends up to 220 but there were scratches left from the flush cut saw. Scraped them away with a card scraped.

gotta save this

I was going to cut the back slats and the shelf off but nixed it. The shelf would have ended up with a width too narrow but the length would have been ok. Decided to try and salvage it somehow.

hmm.......

Sawed two 7° wedges and put them under the feet. The shelf is tilted  up and back and the sneakers on the legs don't look wonky IMO. It is just a concept and the only hiccup I see is the back sneaker is a little on the thin side. That could be a potential breakage point.

Another headache is the orientation of the grain on the sneakers. The end grain side is against the feet. I had to make two more sets that had the long grain facing up against the feet. Doing that was bit of pain in the arse. None of the do dads I had for setting an angle worked - the 3/4" thick stock wasn't thick enough to lay out the angle.

better

I don't know what this angle is - I laid it out from the left bottom corner with the angle going up to a end point 6 1/2" away. This fix is growing on me and I'm thinking of keeping it.

squaring it off

This almost gave me a headache trying to figure out how to square this end off to saw. I could have sawn the angle to match the front edge but I wanted it squared off.

hmm.......

I think this is the way to go. The sneakers on the bottom look deliberate.

that is an option

As I was getting ready to kill the lights this popped into the brain bucket. Cut/saw the sneakers to match the length of the back and front feet plus a 1/4". Maybe even follow the curve of the cutout into the sneakers. Time to think about it over night.

 accidental woodworker

layout

Took my time and got it right. What I have to watch for is the back slats. I have a bad habit of laying them out on the wrong edge - the layout on the ends are mirror images. It is very easy for me to wander out into La La Land doing it. However, I haven't had chopping out brain fart for quite some time. I have caught my layout me-steaks by double, triple checking myself.

left or right end?????

It is self supporting but I was working on getting the front end of the dado gap free. Noticed that my walls weren't dead on plumb and it was keeping it from being gap free.

bit of a gap

This is the end panel where the dado wall wasn't plumb. It took me a few chisel/trim and checks before it closed up. I was shooting for it to be gap free with hand pressure but that didn't happen. It easily slammed shut with clamp pressure.

helping hand

I try to avoid using these clamps because they are a ROYAL PITA. I have problems with tightening  them fully before running out of screw length. However, for this application they are a perfect fit due to the clamp head staying parallel to the clamp bar. And they closed the gap nicely.

first back slats fitted

Happy with how well this fit. I laid out the notches a wee bit undersized so I would get a snug fit. I was shooting for a seamless fit between the slats and the notches. I didn't want to do shouldered tenons - I like this look more.

the left one

Three of the slats fit snug/tight and this one is kind of snug. It is self supporting but it is looser than its siblings. I think it will be ok and I expect the glue will swell the joint tight.

dry fit

Happy with this and especially so with the fit with no hiccups to rant about.

view from the back

Thinking of leaving the ends as is and making the top parallel to the bottom. Initially I was going to do them like the pine bookshelves but I came to a fork in the road.

hmm.....

I was going to round the two outside corners on the shelf but I changed lanes again. I like the look of the corners clipped more than them being rounded. I was going to round them because I did the tops of the ends like the pine bookshelves. 

glued and cooking

I didn't forget to drill holes first for the Miller dowels. Been running through the brain bucket whether to use cherry or walnut dowels? I had to swap clamps because I couldn't get the Besseys to close the gaps at the front. Used a 24" bar clamp to do the job.

look at what I found

Came across these and I had totally forgotten I had it. 90 degree drilling guide for flat and round stock. 6 bushings, three imperial 1/8", 3/16", and 1/4". Three metric at 3mm, 5mm, and 8mm. It is something I could have used recently. Since I had time on the clock before the quitting bell rang, decided to whack out a box to keep it in.

still kicking my arse

I have had this circle cutting jig for 40 years.  For years it has made me feel like my IQ isn't in double digits. I still haven't figured out how to orient the cutter in the arm. But the biggie is determining the diameter of the circle. There is a scale on the arm and I set it for a 2 1/2" diameter circle and I ended up with one a little over 2 3/4".

first hole

The empty part matches the diameter of the guide spot on but the overall diameter of the hole is a 1/4" too much. On the 2nd attempt, I got a burned out hole. The insult was it was too small. 

hmm......

I drilled this one coming from both sides, and both sides burned equally bad.

heebie jeebies setup

I'll be doing the next hole drilling differently. I will use an oversized board (length wise) with that one. I am also contemplating using a 2 1/2" diameter hole saw. I have a 2 1/4" and a 2 3/4", sigh. But that depends upon the cost. If it is too much I'll expend the calories and figure out how the circle cutter jig works once and for all. If that doesn't happen free flying lessons might be in its future.

accidental woodworker 

 The plan today was to thickness the cherry for the new set of cherry bookshelves/CD/DVD holders. That didn't happen boys and girls because of two hindrances. The first was the snow between me and the stand for the lunchbox planer. It would have probably taken me a bazillion years to shovel a path to the garden shed] to get it.

The second one was the weather. It was supposed to be partly sunny but the entire day was cloudy. To me there was a threat of rain or snow but the weather seers predicted neither would happen. I wimped out and opted not to plane the cherry today. 

close, but no cigar

Only got 3 coats of shellac on these. My limited attention span took a left turn to concentrate on thicknessing the cherry. The photo dots aren't supposed to be here until tomorrow. I have plenty of time to finish them up.

the extra bookshelf was the lead off

Decided to thickness the cherry by hand. I only had to do a couple of pieces with the 3 sets.

not quite

I used the tablesaw to saw the cherry as deep as I could. There was a 1/2" web that I used hand saws to separate. Started with the Ryoba and switched to a 7pt rip saw.

sigh

The two halves have divots on this end. The right board has another one on the opposite end. I planed and smoothed the two but the divots remained. To plane the divots even would leave them too thin to be shelves.

hmm......

Thought of putting this face down but I nixed that. The shelf tilts up and it could be visible. These two are toast but I can use them for a box or something else.

the fix

This is for the extra bookshelf and this is the new shelf for it. I needed to plane a little more than a 1/8" off to get to finished thickness.

done

Planed the ends a wee bit to thin their thickness too. Got the shelf and ends done (after I saw them to length) and they are ready to go.

looks good

Eyeballing the thickness of the shelf against the thickness of the ends. I made the thickness difference between the them all 1/8". The ends are 7/8", the shelf is 5/8", and the back slats are a 1/2".

the grandson's bookshelves

These two are ready to layout and start chopping dadoes and notches. I will make the extra one first and then attack these two.

sigh

I didn't know that one of the cherry boards still had a rough sawn face. I knifed a line 360 and planed down to it.

finally done

Planing cherry to thickness isn't difficult but not as easy as pine is. It seemingly took me forever to plane down to the knife line. Glad this was the last cherry board to thickness. It took me almost all day to do this. Pleasant way to eat up the hours. 

the extra bookshelf

I like the slight graduations in the stock. I wavered a wee bit with the ends thinking they were too thick. I thought they might be clunky looking because they aren't that tall. Seeing all three together squashed that. 

confirmation

This looks good to my eye. The back slats won't be visible with a fully stocked shelf so they don't matter that much. However, the 1/8" difference between the ends and the shelf is just right IMO.

I ordered new bandsaw blades - that is why I didn't try to resaw the cherry on the bandsaw. The blade on it now is having trouble sawing wet paper. I bought 3 of the cheapest blades I could find on amazon. As long as they last to do the sawing for the 3 bookshelves I'll be a happy camper.

accidental woodworker 

 My wife had a paving contractor come to the house today to give us an estimate on getting the driveway repaved. 30 minutes later we had a contract and he had a check for $2100. That deposit locks in the cost of the base stone and the paving. We are scheduled to have it done in the 3rd week of April. It is a one day service and we can walk on it right away but can't drive on it for 3 days.

checking the cherry

I had flattened/thicknessed all the cherry before but I am starting over with it again. Most of the boards were still twist free, a couple had a wee bit that I dealt with. The only other hiccup were a couple of them had a hump in the middle.

yikes

I was holding the off cut side too but it still decided to be PITA. This board was giving up two shelves.

hmm......

This is too big of chunk to saw off as it would shorten the length of the shelf too much. As is the shelf is 16". If I cut off the boo boo it would about 12" which I think is too short. I glued and clamped it and set it aside to cook. I was pretty happy with how well the it fit when glued.

hmm.......

This board will give up the four ends for two bookshelves. Used the japanese saw - cross cut went smoothly and easy peasy. No break out on the exit cut. On the one above I did the cross cut with a big sash saw.

almost complete

Got the 4 ends and two shelves. Just need the four back slats.

hmm.......

Eyeballing the left over cherry I can see I have enough for one more small bookshelf/CD/DVD holder. In for a penny, might as well be in for a pound, eh?

back slat stock

I could just plane this stock to thickness but IMO that would be a waste. Two boards are 7/8" thick, one board is 1" and the last one is 3/4". If I can resaw the 1" board in half that you give me two 1/2" thick ones, I can get eight back slats from it.

resawing is next

The board is two frog hairs thicker than 1" so if I behave I should get two 1/2" thick boards out of this. I will be happy with stock that ends up 7/16" strong.

sawn in half

I wasn't going to attempt sawing this board in half whole - the length was 32". 

not good

There are some fairly long end checks here to deal with. The longest crack/split ran a little over 3". The checks only appear on this face, the other one is clear and clean.

nope

I tried to resaw it with the Ryoba but it wasn't working in my favor. The back/exit of the saw cut was wandering. I tried to correct for it but couldn't. Resawed them on the tablesaw and saved it. The tablesaw blade sawed right through the wandering handsaw kerf and erased it.

the result

Got two at 3/8" thickness and two at a 1/2". I won't have to run these through the lunchbox planer neither. The thickness is a frog hair under a 1/2". Should be more than stiff enough to hold its shape - the length of them will about 14" - 15".

resawed one more board

Got enough stock here to make eight back slats. I need 6 with two extras for any potential oops.

complete

This will do for making the grandson's bookshelves. I'm leaning towards making the R/L of them smaller than the pine ones. Maybe 14-15" - there isn't much call for reference books anymore because of Google.

the one more

It still is a little surprising to me that it takes very little stock to whack one of these out.

where is it?

I eyeballed this for several minutes and I can not see the glue line on this. Nothing shifted on me when I clamped it up.

the side edge

Couldn't pick it out the edge neither. This edge blowout had two long, thin pieces and it glued back together seamlessly. The board is 3/4" thick and the plan as of now is to plane it down to less then 5/8" and more than 1/2".

not too bad looking

I have some photo dots coming from Amazon. They are basically dots of double sided tape made specifically for securing photos.

almost done

Need to slap 4-6 coats of shellac on the backs. Got two on before I killed the lights for the day. I will come back after dinner and get at least one more. I'll finish up the shellac in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

 Don't have anything in the pipeline, not even a thought. My truck is going in the shop for repairs on monday and tuesday so I'll be without a vehicle. The plan as of this typing is that I'll be motoring up to Highlands Hardwoods in New Hampshire on wednesday or thursday. That is weather dependent too. I am going to make the grandsons their desks one at a time. Hesitant to buy enough cherry for two but on the other hand it will mean another round trip up north. Decisions, decisions.

done

Six coats of shellac before the shine was acceptable to me.

hmm......

Rethinking the bookshelves I just made for the grandsons.  I have enough cherry here to make two bookshelves. The pine might be too much of a contrast against a cherry top. Looking ahead two smaller cherry bookshelves would melt into the cherry desks. I can plane the cherry to thickness with the lunchbox planer on monday. 

hmm......

Found out today the bookcase ain't going to North Carolina this sunday. My wife is only taking this wall cabinet with her. I noticed that one of the shelf pins wasn't seating in the notch. I widened all the notches in both of the shelve boards just in case - expansion/contraction is different in North Carolina.

huge difference

This bottom slat is the one I wanted to add a veneer shim to. No need because it swelled almost shut with the glue.

Didn't get much shop time today. Spent a good portion of it running errands and helping my wife with dead people stuff. Just as well as I didn't have anything to make wood dust with.

accidental woodworker

 The day started with me finding it had snowed again overnight. Because of that the driver for the shuttle to West Roxbury was late and we didn't get on the road north until after 0600. In spite of that and the crazy Boston traffic, I was only late for my appointment by 4 minutes.

PET scans are easy but they take time. First I had the zoomies IV'ed into me and that took 46 minutes. Then I got to ride the big donut scan for 16 minutes. They stuck something under my legs and had to keep my arms out stretched straight back. That hurt and I had an incredible urge to cough that I had trouble suppressing, but I did because I didn't want to repeat the donut ride.

My shoulders were aching and my hip was humming arias. The nurse had to help sit up and get off the bed. Other than these minor annoyances the PET went flawlessly. Hopefully I won't have to go back to the W Roxbury VA for another PET scan.

I got back home at 1440 and got the garbage ready for pick up in the AM. After that I headed to the shop because I had 20 minutes before the quitting bell ringing at 1500.

from leave book, take a book at the VA

I had read a couple of articles on this lady code breaker. Since I didn't get picked up to return to the Providence VA until 1250, I started reading it. I got through 80 pages before pickup and I brought it home. Biographical novels are my favorite books to read. I'll be finished with it before the weekend ends.

why not?

The idea at this time was to steel wool the two bookshelves and apply shellac after dinner. 

hmm.......

I got 4 coats on the bottom and the ends. All that is left to do is the interior. I applied another coat on the bottom and ends again. I did that because the bottom didn't look shiny enough to my eye.

quit at 1538

I kept on going boys and girls. I applied the first coat of shellac on the interior. And I will return after dinner and slap another one.

accidental woodworker 

 The bookshelves I made for the grandsons are done. I just have to apply the shellac. It won't be finished today. Tomorrow I have a PET scan at the West Roxbury VA at 0800. I don't think I'll be getting any shop time on wednesday. I'll have to get up at oh dark thirty (0430) to catch the shuttle from the Providence VA to the West Roxbury VA. Don't know zip about when the shuttle returns to Providence?

one down, one to go

Came back to the shop after dinner and got all the Miller dowels installed. A final sanding, knock back the arrises, and this will be ready for shellac.

I like it

I added another dowel on the shelf. When I had glued it up I had to clamp the middle of the shelf to pull the end in tight. Added a dowel in the middle to keep it that way.

surprise

Got two 6mm fine nuts and one 6mm fine wing nut. I wasn't sure that ACE sold metric fine threads and the wing nut totally surprised me.

nope

There isn't sufficient room for the wing nut. If I tighten the big screw down as far as I can, I then can't turn the wing nut. I liked this option because it is toolless.

10mm open end wrench

I have had this wrench for a bazillion years and I have absolutely no idea why. Finally have a use for it - it is the size needed for this nut. This worked and the iron didn't slip/loosen/change when I used it on the back slat mortises. I tossed the wrench in the box with the router.

not my best

Three of the mortises were slightly oversized, it would seem I didn't reach under the back slats enough when I marked them. The back slats weren't snug. One back slat wasn't self supporting on the cheeks but was on the top/bottom. This one will definitely need Miller dowels to keep it together.

hmm.......

The shelf was self supporting - the right one gave in to gravity. The clamp was to ensure that the shelf fully seated in the dado at the front.

the worse one

A piece of oak veneer (the thickest I have) it just a frog hair too thin. The top/bottom of the slat will pick up the end but gravity wins. I'll glue this in when I glue up the bookshelf.

glued and cooking

The center bar clamp on the shelf didn't pull in the ends as much as it did on the first one yesterday. In spite of the loose back slats I didn't have any headaches gluing and clamping this up.

chamfering the feet

I let the bookshelf cook for a couple of hours before I took the clamps off and installed the Miller dowels. I forgot to put the veneer in but the back slat swelled and the gap closed up. Unexpected, but I'll take it and move on smartly.

done

A little premature but they are done and will be ready to go when I make the desks.

pretty good match

The sizes of the parts are all identical. I used the end of the first one to layout it out on the second one. The only thing that isn't the same is the back slats on 2nd bookshelf are a 1/4" closer to the back edge of the ends. On the first bookshelf the front edge of the back slats is aligned with the back edge of the shelf.

The three frames are at the Frame it shop. Based on what I saw in her shop, I'll check on them at the end of the first week in March.

accidental woodworker

 My truck failed the state inspection. I knew that was going to happen because I had long crack in the windshield. What I didn't know were the problems with the control arms and the back brakes plus a few other minor headaches. Total estimate is $1600 but that is dependent upon how bad the rear brakes are. 

shelf dadoes first

The goal was to get this glued and cooking today.

done

Three coats on the back and four on the front. They are ready to go to Maria in the AM.

left one self supporting

I've come a long way since I starting chopping dadoes this way. I had to plane the underside before it fit. Better that than a sloppy, loose fit.

ditto for the right one

I got both of these to seat fully and especially at the front. I had to clamp them to close them tight.

sigh.....

This router works well for getting the slat mortises to the same depth as the dadoes. However, today it would not stay set - the back screw would loosen and the depth of the iron would increase. The solution is to put a nut to help and hold the iron where it is set. The headache is the locking screw is metric. After faffing about I finally figured out it is a 6mm fine thread. I couldn't go to ACE because the truck was in the shop and my wife was off doing her dead people stuff. I'll come back to this in the AM.

it worked

Used my two small routers to get the dadoes and slat mortises to the same depth. The depth ending up being an 1/8" deeper than I wanted them. Not a big deal but it was an annoying hiccup.

side by side

The left one is for the grandson(s) and the right is the request. The biggest difference is the size of the shelf. I am going to try my best to make both of the ones I'm making for the grandsons to be the same.

side view

The end heights are about the same but the width is 2" more on the left one.

hmm......

This shape is growing on me. Most of my previous ones I made the tops on the ends parallel to the bottom.

finally understand this

When I first got this I had a ton of problems setting the angle. Yesterday and today it just fell into place for me. The key for me was to make the lock handle the reference. DUH.

oops

Made a me-steak here. I should have sawn the angle first and then the cutout for the legs.  I was able to 'fix' it. I sawed the angle and sawed the cutout again.

worked

I had to saw the back half of the cutout again. Rasped and sanded it smooth. No need to go nutso here because it isn't visible.

for the Miller Dowels

This worked well on two builds. I'll add this step to future ones going forward.

goal met

Glued and cooking. I might do the Miller dowels after dinner.

Lowes run

the ends

As I did with the first grandson's bookshelf, I didn't thickness the ends to 9/16". Instead I labeled the reference face as the inside. The opposite face I just flattened. I didn't attempt to make it parallel to the reference at all. I think it looks good having the ends as the anchors being a wee bit thicker than the other parts. 

left side laid out

If I didn't have to deal with the truck issues today, I might have gotten the dadoes/mortises chopped today. I don't anticipate any hiccups betting it glued and cooking in the AM.

accidental woodworker

 The little guy on my right shoulder says the Pats will win. It is 1644, Feb 8, 2026. I don't know how good the Seahawks are. I only saw a partial game of theirs. The Superbowl has come a long, long way. I still remember Superbowl I 59 years ago. I was only 12 at the time and I wasn't a sports nut. Fast forward to now I'm still not a sports nut and if I can't watch the game I'll survive.

2nd bookshelf

I guess making these again isn't like riding a bike after a bazillion years. I remembered some things and brain farted royally on others. Got both ends of the shelf to be self supporting. At least the woodworking didn't go south on me. 

Lost the rest of the pics for this blog post. The camera SD card has been acting up for a couple of weeks, mostly giving random card errors. Tonight after the first pic I got another card read error when I tired to post the 2nd pic. Couldn't clear it and I got the same error in my two laptops and the shop computer. 

So I went back to the shop after dinner and snapped a couple of more pics to finish the blog post for the AM. I tossed the SD card in the shitcan while I was there. I've been using this one for a couple of years and SD card have a cycle life limit.

2nd bookshelf

Got 3 coats of shellac on the bottom and I should be done with it in the AM.

One thing I did on this one was once the dadoes and mortises were done, I drilled holes for the Miller dowels. No more placement/layout headaches. Got everyone of them right on with no me-steaks.

one of two more

Decided to make two more bookshelves, one each for the grandson's desks. Initially I had enough scraps to make them. I used my last Gurney's sawmill 1x12 for the ends and the slats. I am making these a little bigger than the 2nd replacement one so it will hold school books.

two of two

Got the ends and the back slats. I'll come back to this one after I get the first one glued and cooking.

toast, extremely burnt toast

These were the shelves for the two bigger bookshelves. However, when I was thicknessing the 2nd shelf, I couldn't remove the twist. I see sawed back and forth with it. I would remove some but not quite enough. Plane it a little more and check for twist and see that it was worse than before. It finally got to a point where I was chasing my tail in circles. 

The right one (the 2nd shelf)was cupped and twisted. This board was case hardened I think because I had a difficult time cross cutting it to length. I went back and checked the first one and it had cupped, not as bad as the 2nd one, but enough for it to be unusable.

I had one board I had thicknessed  a month ago to 9/16" that I used to make one shelf. I'll have to make a run to Lowes to buy a 1x12 to get another shelf.

getting there

I had forgotten about these two frames. Glad I noticed them because I still can get them done before tuesday. Monday the Frame it shop is closed but it opens on tuesday. I'll bring them and the brown one then.

Got lucky with the Super Bowl. My digital antenna picked up NBC which is broadcasting it. This was the second time I watched broadcast TV with the digital antenna. I quit cable TV over a year ago and I haven't missed it. Now I watch You Tube and Amazon Prime Video.

accidental woodworker

out of the clamps

Everything looked ok - joints were tight and it felt solid. It was laying dead nuts flat on the workbench too. 

layout for the Miller dowels

Two in each end of the shelf and decided to put two in each end of the back slats.

spider sense was tingling

Something wasn't as it was with all the other bookshelves I had made. The alarm bells starting waking up when I saw that the back slats weren't parallel to the back edge of the ends. Not being parallel made it a wee bit more difficult to layout for the Miller dowels.

not bad

Why can't I saw an angle like this when I try 45s? Thought of this to use as a gauge stick to layout the Miller dowels.

yikes

At least this dowel boo boo came out on the bottom. I went 11 for 12 and the mishap was because I picked the wrong pencil line.

hmmmmmm........

This is definitely ain't what I had done with the other bookshelves. The top slat is too forward and not parallel to the back edge. 

toast

I rounded the two front corners and I did them too much. A portion of the round got buried in the dado not to mention there is a )&^@%*_Q_)#@^*_Q)*% gap.

not right

Instead of the shelf titling backwards, front to back, it tilts down, back to front. That means whatever is put on the shelf ain't staying there. Now it has gone from toast to burnt toast and charcoal.

confirmation

The CDs are staying in place but they look odd. It is only 7° but it is easily seen. I can't give this to anyone because of my bone headed, brain fart me-steak.

nope

Tried to salvage this by sawing the bottom legs. That idea fizzled and died because the legs aren't long enough. Thought of adding pads to them and that would have worked but I nixed it. The top slat being inset too much ruins any attempt to salvage it. I will saw off the slats and the shelf and reuse them for another bookshelf.

2nd bookshelf

These bookshelves don't require a lot of stock. Got all that I needed from the scrap pile. It is a wash, rinse, and repeat of what I did yesterday.

layout

Did it right this time. The shelf and back slats form a right angle (at the back and the front). The tilt of the shelf comes from the 7° angle on the bottom. On the first one I had laid out the shelf at a 7° from the front edge and also had sawn the bottom at a parallel 7°. If I had left bottom square to the front/back, it would have worked.

ready to be chopped

Made and caught a potential me-steak on the left end. I initially laid out the slat mortises on the front edge rather then the back edge.

maybe

Didn't get any paint on these today. I stayed in the shop until 1540 and I might get these painted after dinner.

It had snowed on friday overnight and it snowed 3 times today. The driveway and walk got shoveled twice but nothing after the 3 dump. I'll deal with it in the AM. The shoveling outings cut into my shop time and I wasn't able to complete the 2nd bookshelf. Should be able to wrap that up in the AM.

accidental woodworker 

 Today I finally did some woodworking. It was a blessed relief after playing with paint and shellac for seemingly a bazillion years. It was a request project of something I went nutso making several years ago. I still have 7 of them in my house that I use. It was like riding a bike after a bazillion hiatus, I didn't forget how to do it.

done

The brown frame finally got a check mark in the done column. I noticed this poster on a few You Tube vids I saw over the past few weeks. I will bring this one to Maria tomorrow and the black frames next week.

sigh

Two coats of black and it needs one more on the interior. Three coats on the green and it needs at least one more. 

all three

The white vertical lines are the bare plywood peeking through and shaking hands with me. The sides still don't have complete coverage. I expected the plywood to cover better than pine but both have dismal coverage.

raking light

No shellac today. I did one last eyeballing and I saw some white in raking light on the arris of the bevels. Only this frame needed some paint but I'll wait and apply shellac to both in the AM.

the request

I had brought two of these to my niece's house when my sister came up for a visit. She asked if I would make another one for her. This one is perfect for CDs/DVDs or even paperback books.

the measurements

These measurements are not carved in stone. I'll gather up stock from the pile and the size of them will have the final say. 

need four pieces

3/4" stock is too thick for this CD/DVD/bookshelf so I'll thickness the stock down 9/16". First step is to untwist, straighten, and flatten one face and square one edge to it.

done

Got a reference face and reference edge. Two of the boards had humps and no twist. The other two were relatively flat but with some twist.

knife lines

I don't have much to remove - not quite an 1/8". I like to darken the knife lines so I can gauge my progress.

done

Two ends, one shelf, two back slats and one extra for an oops. Took me a little over 30 minutes to plane the five of them to 9/16" (~14mm).

hmm.......

Got the layout done for the shelf and back slats. All the angles  are 7 degrees. This is something I screwed up royally more times than I care to recall. Usually I would saw the bottom angle in the wrong direction. Another favorite screw up was laying out the mortises for slats either on the wrong side of the layout line or laying out the mortise too high or reversing it with it mate on the other end piece. No layout me-steaks today but that was because I double, triple checked my self a bazillion times before committing to knifing the notches and mortises.

hmm......

Thought out loud to myself and had a good conversation and decided to wait on this one. I sawed the angle correctly and before I saw the cutout for the legs, I want to make sure that I don't cut into the notches for the shelf.

shelf dadoes done

Got these whacked out just before the lunch bell rang. 

mortises done

These can be difficult to do because they are only 1 1/4" long. I don't have any routers that will do a flat bottom from top to bottom (or bottom to top). There is a web in the middle that I have to use a chisel to flatten and check with a sliding square. BTW if I made the back slats 1 1/2" I do have a router that would make a flat bottom easy peasy.

dry fit

Two of the back slat mortises are loose and one is sloppy. The other pieces are snug and they are holding it together.

it is square

The depth of the mortises and the shelf dadoes are the same. The length of the back slats and the shelf are the same too. That is what helps to get and keep the whole thing square.

ends are square too

Initially the ends weren't square. I clamped the shelf and that pulled the ends tight and seated the shelf in the dadoes - then it was square.

glued and cooking

The plan is to let this cook until the AM before taking the clamps off. 

Miller Dowels

The plan is use two dowels in each end of the shelf and one dowel (maybe two) in the ends of the back slats. That should help and keep everything together and tight. I have had two of these bookshelves come apart between the ends and the shelf. Fixed those with Miller Dowels and no headaches since.

1/8" Baltic Birch plywood

Got this from Amazon for $53 and change for 12 pieces. 12" wide and 24" long and I know I paid more than this the last time I ordered some. Says it is from Woodpeckers but I'm not sure if it is the same one that makes the Red Aluminum stuff.

came today too

I bought 3 of these pigments, black, blue, and green. Two came today and one is coming tomorrow. All 3 are from the same place so I don't understand why the broken shipment?

pulled the trigger

There were two things I always had on my person when I was in the Navy. The first was my ID card and the second was a Buck 3 bladed pocket knife. Still have an ID but the Buck is taking a dirt nap over 25 years ago. 

My wife had given me a gift certificate from Lee Valley and I got this knife. Bigger (longer) than my Buck and it is probably illegal to carry this on my person. I'll keep it in the shop and use it there. I'm really interested in seeing how well this keeps an edge.

accidental woodworker 

 Another boring day in the shop mopping the finishes for the frames. I think I'm done with the big frame, thankfully. The two black frames will probably be done on saturday. So that means it will be next week at the earliest before I get them to the Frame it Shop. Fingers crossed on that happening.

ready for shellac?

I got the last coat of black paint on both this AM. Since then I eyeballed them every half hour or so. No dust nibs to raise my blood pressure and no holidays neither. I'll let them rest and I'll put on shellac starting in the AM. 

yes it if finally done

I didn't feel that way in the AM. After I had applied what I thought was the final coat of shellac, I saw a big waterfall drip on the left long side in raking light. I had to scrape it with a mini card scraper. Initially I had sanded it and slapped some shellac on it. That did absolutely nothing to hide/cover the drip. Scraping it did and much thanks to shellac as a finish. The shellac I applied after that melted and blended in seamlessly.

hmm.......

I painted these four at 0800 and at 1500 the green ones were still a wee bit tacky. The black one dried to touch in about 15 minutes. The green frames have two coats on them and they definitely need at least one more. I expected this being a dark colored paint, that two coats would do it. I was wrong boys and girls.

I found 4 places in Rhode Island to buy hardwoods. Only one had 4/4 cherry (no 8/4) in stock. The other three only had 8/4 slabs. That would have worked for the legs but too thick for the rest of the needed stock. It is looking like I won't be able to avoid driving up to New Hampshire. Highlands has 5/4 and 8/4 cherry in stock. 

accidental woodworker 

 I have two projects in the shop, one done and the other almost done. Both of them combined are being a Royal PITA. The two of them are hogging about 40% of the available shop space. It is impossible to walk around the shop where they are. I also have to be super duper careful moving stock around so I don't hit either one.

The bookcase is the one that is finished and it won't be leaving until my wife brings it to North Carolina. I would put it in the boneyard but my wife is rearranging things there so it sits in the shop for now. 

The frame for the wood poster is the one I want to be done with. At least with that one I can bring it upstairs and leave it in the living room. After this frame was glued up it has been difficult (&@%Q(_%&#@Q^%*)_+)_ to ignore. It is tippy and it would fall off whatever I had it laying on. It will be a huge relief to have it out of the shop ASAP.

hmm......

I didn't happen boys and girls. I thought I was going to be putting a check mark in the done column with these two. There were a ton of dust nibs on both sides of both of the frames.  My workbench is under the living room and walking there showers the frames with dust etc etc. Another Royal PITA. 

Sanding the frames with 320 initially didn't work that well. I had to use a mini card scraper first to remove the nibs and flatten them. I also went a wee bit postal scraping a few more drips in the corners I missed previously. And there were a few more paint build ups along the edges from the last application of paint. After the scraping I sanded the frames, front and back, with 320 grit. That evened and smoothed out the finish.

prepping

I had 5 colors to pick from for painting these shadow box frames. I chose green because it was high gloss enamel. The other choices were either satin or semi gloss. I'm leaving the backs natural with shellac. The rest of the frame will all be painted green.

3 green and one black

The frames on the right are green and the bottom left one is black. Same thing with the back natural and rest black. Not sure what or if I'll use this because it is an odd size that doesn't match standard small photos.

3 down, 1or 2 more

I got 3 on the back and that is done. The front has 3 coats and I'll put on at least one more. I'll check on it in the AM and decide then whether or not it will need another coat.

This is all I got down today. With limited space to maneuver and waiting for shellac and paint to dry I couldn't get much done. I'm still on the fence about driving to New Hampshire too. I've been searching on line for closer Hardwood sellers without any success. It sucks pond scum that Highlands isn't open on saturday anymore. 

accidental woodworker

 Temps here about have been in the single digits overnight and barely getting above 20F/-7C during the day. Today it hit 37F/3C and the snow mountains actually melted a wee bit. My happiness will be that what we have piled up along the driveway will melt before I get whacked with another storm.

almost

There were a few holidays on the brown frame that I had to touch up. The black frame has two coats on the back and one on the front. I will have to wait a couple of days for the paint to cure out before I put any shellac on them. The goal is to get the 3 frames to Maria on saturday.

toast

This is the second 5x7 shadow box and it is toast. It is twisted too much to plane it flat. The first one was twisted too but not as bad and I was able to flatten it. I had to make another frame.

nope

This was the 3rd panel I made for the frame and it was also the 3rd frame that was twisted. I thought I could keep it flat while I glued it but nixed it. I didn't want to chance it going wonky on me.

last one

The 3 previous failures were all 1/8" birch plywood. All of the plywood panels were visibly twisted. The frame wasn't strong enough to straighten it. The final panel is crappy 1/8" plywood from china. It was flat and the dry fit laid flat on the tablesaw. Glad it worked because I ran out of both the birch and chinese plywood. 

I'm dreading buying more 1/8" plywood. The price had jumped a lot the last time I bought some. With the way prices are spiraling upward, I'm sure the plywood will be higher too.

hmm.....

Couldn't get this setup to work. The clamps would not clamp on the flat of the red 45. I tried 3 different clamps and nada. I wanted to use these because I could see if the clamps twisted the frame with pressure applied. Onto plan #2.

Plan #2 was the band clamp. I eyeballed it all over a bazillion times making sure it was seated down fully on the metal corners. I thought maybe the band clamp caused the twist in the previous 3. Maybe, but 2 were definitely due the plywood being twisted.

splines

I noticed when I tried to twist the frame flat, one of the miters broke apart. Wasn't expecting that at all. I put two splines in each miter on the first frame.

3 hours later

Normally I would have waited until tomorrow but I had to check it out. The frame is laying flat on the tablesaw. There was zero rocking on any of the corners.

splines

I used red oak veneer for the splines. I'll be painting both of the 5x7 frames. I didn't do any lay out for the splines - I just eyeballed them. 

came today

I like reading history like this. The book on the right was published in 1984 and the second one in 1992. I did a cursory page check and both books are different. Both are still about New Jersey toolmakers and not just woodworking tools. I especially like reading the ads. It is like reading a foreign language even though it is my native english. 

accidental woodworker

 Today flew by and before I knew it I was killing the lights in the shop at 1458. I didn't get any major t hings done but I did whack a bunch of little things. I like that time went by so quick I didn't notice. As usual I let my limited attention span drive me down all the side streets today. Thinking my next project will be a desk for Miles. Not looking forward to driving to New Hampshire on a week day. Boston traffic is a PITA and terrifying at the same time. Oh well stercus acidit. 

done

Got the disastrous milk paint frame repainted. Got two coats on the back and front. Tomorrow I will slap 3 coats of shellac on it. Then it will be off to the Frame It Shop. 

sigh....

Shouda, woulda, coulda, but didn't. If I had looked at this frame earlier I could have fixed all the boo boos. I was ready to put shellac on this frame but I found too many hiccups to ignore. Most of it were drips and paint build up on the edges. Scraped the drips, etc and then sanded the frame with 100 grit and repainted it.

hmm.......

Thought of using a sawthooth hanger but nixed it. I would have had to use epoxy to fix it and I didn't have any.  Decided to use screws instead.

it fits

Vertical space of any kind is super tight in the shop. This fits here and there is another space above the thermometer for a sibling. I'll start looking for a couple more of these.

done

I have no idea what you would call these two. Refrigerator magnet art? I bought these somewhere in Maine 10-12 years ago.

this will work

I was going to use a sawtooth hanger when I thought of this instead. I glued the short piece at the top to the back and screwed it to the long bottom piece.

almost ready

I had to file all four screws to shorten them. The two at the top just needed a wee bit and the two in the long bottom piece needed about a 1/8" filed off.

surprise

The screws were solid brass. I was expecting them to be brass plated - that is what I find is prevalent now. Solid brass files easier than the brass plated crap.

hmm......

Happy with how this turned out. Thinking that maybe I should attach a strap or something similar to limit how far the back leg would open. The hinge I used is a stopped hinge that opens to 95°. It is steady as is and when I thumped the bench with a hammer, it stayed in place. I can revisit it if need be so for now it is sans a strap.

two new shadow box frames

Got confused again and plowed the groove before shooting the miters. I should have done the other frames with a groove for the back. 

I like

Dry fit to check the margins and they were spot on. I showed these to my wife and she asked if I was going to mat them. I hadn't considered that at all but I did muse about it for a few. I'll ask Maria about that when I bring the other frames to her. 

glued and cooking

Debating whether or not to paint these two or leave them natural with a shellac finish. Maybe I'll paint one and shellac the other.

Lie Nielsen vise screw

The leg screw was been adopted. I threw in the handle because I don't have any need for it. I don't have anything to fill in the void - I used up all I had shipping out the planes. Bubble wrap at Wally World is $16 and the S/H is going to high enough without adding that to the mix. I'll have to check around the house and see if I can scrounge up some more packing material.

quickie

Whacked a simple shelf before the quitting bell. Made it all with scraps I dug out of the shop shitcan. 

close by now

This is the Stanley depth stop do dad for  auger bits which are right above this. Thinking now that it is done that maybe I should have made it longer R/L?

accidental woodworker

 The storm that threatened my spot in the universe never happened. In the early AM it was cloudy and gray but the sun came out and shined all day long. The snow never came any where near me. The storm went south and than east out to sea. Daughter #2 who lives in North Carolina did get a lot of snow. The grandkids loved it and spent the day sledding. 

back done

Yesterday before I killed the lights I had got one coat of black on the back. This AM I got the 2nd coat on and called it done.

hmm....

Waited until this AM to put on the second coat. The shop temp is steady at 55F/13C so I decided to let the first coat set up overnight. 

hmm.... again

I like the frame/photo on the left. The margins on it are pretty even. The right one is good top/bottom but too wide R/L. I have enough of this small stock to make the right one over. I don't like the uneven margins. These are shadow box frames and the margins, IMO, need to be even all around.

Donna said yes

I made this in May of 2011 after seeing a pic of it. This was my version. I put the boxes I shellaced yesterday in it. I also have a cherry one similar to this - the top drawers are reversed on it. I'm keeping that one for me - hopefully I'll find a hole to hang it over. Donna will be taking this with her when she comes up this way in july.

read the back

This is epoxy but it is a finishing cover like what is used in making epoxy tables. Not sure what the adhesive grip is with it. This was what I was going to use on the next shadow box frame.

checking for square

I eyeballed the margins - the bottom margin is wider than the top. I used marine grade 5 minute epoxy to adhere them to the back. I set it on the radiator in the kitchen to keep it warm while it cures. 

The backs on them are magnetic. I cleaned them with Simple Green, scruffed with 100 grit to give the epoxy a tooth to stick too. Fingers crossed on that and I'll find out in the AM.

accidental woodworker