The mock up… rebuilding my pride

So I wanted to dust this blog post under the rug because I messed up (to a degree) on some of my table joints.  My execution was darned sloppy and I was a little frustrated because technically speaking it should have worked. I set up my table legs at the drill press with stop blocks and clamps and drilled for the mortises.

A mortise should live within these lines

So far so good

And somehow my set up let the forstner bit travel outside the lines. I’m still trying to figure out if my setup failed, or if my drill press is somehow out of alignment.

The perfectionist in me wanted to reverse time and/or restart from scratch. But alas I just had to deal with it. So I did my best to square them up with chisels

As it stands now I still have quite a bit of fitting left, but the good news is that the shoulders of the rails should cover up any trace of the misshapen mortises! Hooray for that!

I was glad that I’d only tackled the joints for one table and so I can try to better my performance on the next two tables! After I fit the disgraceful batch of joints I’ll address these dovetail joints next.

Since I need a little motivation to get over my goof I decided to roughly assemble the table to see how it will eventually look. oooh I can’t wait! I DO look forward to getting on with it now.

And finally here is the view from sketch up that I originally planned. Looks good so far, but I still have a lot of joints to figure out as I go. Not sure how I want the top to attach or even the drawer!

It’s funny how something that actually won’t end up effecting the finished piece and won’t be seen can really nag at a woodworker. I feel like a soccer player who has built up their performance and then ends up scoring on their own net. Boo.  Thankfully I conclude this blog post with a positive mind. Everyday at work I take pride in making the least amount of mistakes possible. But when I do make minor slip-ups I work my hardest to rectify matters and move on. So I will try to do the same here! I look forward to completing this table and NOT pointing out any of the mistakes future onlookers when they view the finished piece.

The long lost project

I headed back to the shop this weekend as planned and worked on an ongoing project. A project that keeps getting set aside! So much so that I realized the other day that I started this project about a year ago! Wow. I feel terrible! Oh well, life goes on, and this project is back in my life, so there’s hope for it yet!

I found a proper storage place for my workpieces out of harm’s way under my bench. My intent was to keep them from getting dinged, but I also kind of forgot about them- oops!

My shop is currently tucked away under a hefty amount of snow. The layers have some ice mixed in, so I didn’t even bother shoveling a path, I just slid into the shop and climbed out.

My goal for the day was to dive back into the table project. Three in total. Specifically to continue marking out joints. I had drawn up some sketchup plans of the tables, with rough measurements- but still had to calculate where each tenon and mortise would go.

And a dovetail in the example above! I found my toolclad table saw cover came in handy during this stage of my project! I was about to draw out a dovetail and needed the angle to set my sliding t-bevel to and voila!

I also used the grid and scale on the toolclad cover to help me orient my parts and keep them square . I’m a fan of relative measurements as they really help to keep things fool-proof.

By the end of my visit I was successful in marking out at least four joints on each table- many more to go- but honestly I have yet to decide what some of the joints will be! I’ll start with the ones I do know.

Next visit I’ll be working on cutting all of the joints I marked out. I’m excited to see these parts come together! I’ve known them for so long in their flat-packed state that I was beginning to think they were going to remain that way! Piles no more I say- time for these sticks of wood to transform into furniture! Stay tuned for more joinery magic. ‘Til then, happy woodworking.

My first commission … the never ending project ends

Hooray! After many weeks of toil I finally wrapped up my first commission.

It was a surprise to me how much I had underestimated the time it would take me to complete the project. I felt like I was treading in quicksand as each deadline passed. I hate missing deadlines. As much as I was looking forward to getting my first commission I’ve learned a valuable lesson. Don’t bite off more than you can chew! As I found out, two hour sessions in the shop don’t allow for very much momentum and flow. So I’ve resolved that before taking on future commissions I’ll carefully assess how much time I’d need to complete the project, and the complexity or amount of procedures involved and then ensure that the timeline is loose enough that I can still have a life outside of woodworking (which I haven’t had much of these past weeks!). Above all I want to make sure that woodworking doesn’t become a stressful activity that I start to hate!

Without further ado here are is the wrap up of my first woodworking commission!

I last left off with the seven pullout surfaces completed and delivered. Next I moved on to  building drawers…

I started by re-sawing the stock I was given. I set up my shop made bandsaw fence to account for drift and was pleased with the results. BUT feed rate made all the difference, on the right I fed the stock too quickly and the blade wandered. I then began feeding the stock at a more moderate feed rate and the rest of the re-sawing came out like the example on the left. Luckily the wobbly cut pcs. still planed out all the bandsaw marks.

I then pre-milled the boards and let them sit a few days on stickers before milling them to final dimension.

I was pretty impressed with the cut quality of my planer. There were some that tore out no matter which direction they were fed, but others came out smooth as silk. Sapele has reversing grain all over the place- it sure isn’t predictable!

I had to laminate some boards and then I cut them all down to size for the drawers.

Next I cut the joints at the router table- rebates and grooves.

Here are some of the parts awaiting assembly.

I then assembled all the drawers…

Then I fitted all the drawer bottoms…

And then I sanded them, here are the final drawers.

Four drawers in total.

Next I worked on the remote control caddies:

I started by cutting out my parts.

I then glued the faux frame and panel together.

The clamps at work

 

I then rounded over the top inside edge of the sides, and added a rebate for the bottom at the router table.

I then ganged up each pair with the routered parts facing each other and cut the angle at the bandsaw and smoothed that out at the edge sander …

… which I just bought myself as a birthday gift! Let me count the ways I love thee ridgid edge sander / spindle sander! I’ve already used it so much that I don’t doubt it was an excellent buy.

Next I realised I had read the plans wrong and the faux frame and panel was a bit too short! I hemmed and hawed a bit then decided to add a wood lip on the top edge to lengthen the panel. I edgebanded right over the endgrain on this late addition. It turned out to be a seamless fix that I quite like.

And the final assembly! The sheet stock off cuts in the middle are just spacer blocks.

Here they are completed. You can see here how the edge banding covers the endgrain of the top trim. The center of the panel will recieve moulding and the caddy will be mounted against a panel of the built-in which is why it doesn’t require a back.

And finally I worked on the wine glass racks:

Onwards I went with the wine glass racks. I cut out the parts and edge banded all of the parts first.

Here’s my set up for filing the edge banding flush.

Three sides on 7pieces and all four sides on 7 other pieces. That’s a lot of edge banding.

I drilled mounting holes in the backs.

I used two large push blocks when routing the profiles and that kept me safe and the profile consistent.

I decided to rip the molding off of the board each time so that I could work with a larger more stable board at the router table.

I sanded these moldings a little before moving on to the next step.

I cut all my moldings to size at the mitre saw.

I used tape to clamp the glue-ups, but I’d love to get some mitre spring clamps.

I pre-drilled holes and then screwed on the backs to the bottoms

Which gave me this. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I sanded all the parts just before assembly.

Then I cut spacers and sighted the middle of the molding, then secured each end with one screw.

Which gave me this.

Here they are in all their glory. The racks will be fastened to the insides of the built-in’s cabinet doors, and then wine glasses will be stored in these racks.

I delivered each batch as it was completed and the final batch was just delivered to Tim on Monday. He still has to coat them with finish and have the components installed in the built in. The last batch I was the least proud of- some of my mitres were fugly- but I will now take the time to adjust my miter saw and even build a 45degree shooting board so that I can quickly fine tune miters. A mitre jig for the table saw and a hold down jig for the mitre saw might also materialize. I’ll probably also get some clamps in the near future- I seem to have  awkwardly long/heavy clamps and none suited to smaller and/or finicky glue-ups.

Progress at a snails pace…my first commission!

Greetings woodworking friends! If I’ve been absent from the blogosphere it hasn’t been on purpose. I’ve been hard at work on my first woodworking commission! I’ve been pushing hard to visit the shop as often as possible. It’s a half hour drive from my home, so it certainly takes some orchestration. I’ve been getting in about 2hrs at the shop before I have to head off to work. As with most woodworking projects I feel I underestimated the time it would take! And working 2hrs at a time is really a stop and start method I don’t recommend. I recall reading that one of the woodworking bloggers can only get in half hour increments in his shop- I couldn’t even imagine! Even 2hrs amounts to a couple of sawdust blinks and it’s over!

The commish (haha remember that show?)

My apprenticeship mentor (“Tim Timberland” as earlier mentioned in my blog- not his real name!) provided me with this- my first woodworking commission. He has been transforming a room over several months into a study that basically IS a built-in. All four walls are covered by a monumental built-in. Now that he’s wrapping up the project he has had an overflow of work and called in for extra hands. All that’s left are small components that complete the built-in: drawers, pullout writing surfaces, and some caddies that will hold remote controls(to be hung next to a couch) and wine glasses(to be hung on the inside of cabinet doors).

Visuals!

Tim provided me with materials, some detailed plans, and even some samples!

The designs are a mix of veneered sheet goods and solid wood.

I kind of lucked out that Tim had pre-cut all of the materials- it made for hassle free transportation of the materials, and more-over my shop is small so I didn’t have to cut down full sized sheet goods.

Here’s a sample of the pullout surfaces- it’s a cut-away. These will be mounted inside the built-in and the fronts will receive drawer fronts.

And the build…

And so it began! I started with a flurry of cutting parts to size at the table saw. Scroll saw pictured here was just a place for my parts to collect.

A lot of edge banding followed.

Pictured here are all the parts needed to make the pullout surfaces. The far right pile is edge banded on three edges.

Next I put together the sub-assembly of the pullouts. With glue…

…and brads.

And more edge banding ensued.

Next it was time to start assembling- slides and the pullout bases.

But first I stopped to sand my parts. I wanted to use my new sander but it seemed a little heavy for veneer and I’m not used to it yet.

First I attached the slides to part of the base.

Then I screwed the slides onto undersides of the pullout surfaces.Shown here with a 1/8 spacer block, and a registration block that helped position the slides.

Here it is once installed.

Next I added the final parts to the base with glue and brads.

My fingers are holding up a 1/8″ spacer block to show how I aligned the parts. The surface is 1/8″ narrower than the base, and is set 1/8″ forward on the base so that the base will not interfere with the pullout closing.

Now to get your bearings on this built-in component, here it is upside-down…

…and here it is right side up. I pulled it out to demonstrate the full extension slides.

And finally here is the stack that I delivered earlier this week.

I have lots of the other parts all cut to dimension and they are awaiting routing and edge-banding, sanding and assembly. For clarity purposes I’ll present each component from start to finish in a post. In reality space and time are a jumble in the shop and any number of the components move forward with each machine set-up and shop visit.

I wish things would go a bit faster, I feel like I’m letting Tim down. But I can only do what I can fit in the time I’m given. So I’ll just keep trucking. The stress aside- it really feels great to get in the shop and build something with purpose and it’s giving me a chance to test out how effective my tool selections have been. I know now that I need to tuneup my jointer soon, but that I really do have most of my bases covered.

Tomorrow I head off to the shop again- wish me luck!

Til next time, happy woodworking!

The toy chest is done!

I’ve had this post waiting for a while- but here it finally is! I finished this project just before my vacation so that I could leave with a clear conscience (so this was delivered roughly 5 weeks ago). I know this toy chest is not ground breaking in any way, and for good reason, I was keeping the design simple so as to complete the project relatively quickly and without spending a dime- the entire thing is made of wood I’d salvaged. I donated my time and skill towards this birthday gift for my nephew.

I put on a first coat of finish, then scuff sanded with 320grit sandpaper once it had cured.

Then I followed with a second coat of finish. The finish is still wet on the top of the toy chest lid here. I have it propped open with a finishing pyramid so that the finish will not glue the lid shut!

After finishing the outside of the chest I added the hinges and a chain to limit the travel of the lid.

And finally here is the toy chest in it’s new home…

Now this toy chest is happily in it’s new home.

Where my nephew can enjoy it. As I mentioned in an earlier post I need to add a soft close piston because my nephew loves the chest so much that he opens and closes it repeatedly and sometimes on his fingers. Time to child proof. You’ll notice that in this photo my sister turned the chest around so that the hinges face him and he can’t open it!

Stay tuned for a post on my favourite woodworking books!

Time flies when you’re… marking out joints

I had some time in the shop a few days ago. I was a bit disappointed that I only got four joints marked out. One table down, two still left to go! I guess this may have gone faster if my sketchup drawing was a little more detailed- either way I probably would have spent the same amount of time figuring out which joints to use and how large to make them. I guestimated lengths of stretchers when I milled my parts, so I have enough room to cut my tenons . Aside from tenons I’ll also be using dowels for some of the joints.

I don’t seem to have a very organized way of marking down dimensions… there must be some short-circuit in my brain. But it works for me.

I of course needed to confer with my sidekick a lot to figure out joint locations… I was dealing with 64ths.

I laid out my tenons…

And my mortises– for one table. Harumph, oh well, it should go faster the next time around.

These joints made me long for this tape measure. Finding the center without calculating is really a time saver. I know there are simple jigs for this purpose, but the ones I’ve heard of use pencils to mark the center, and I find that too thick of a line to be very accurate.

I may have just gotten a lot busier. I seem to have three possible commissions, two woodworking related, and one will be a painting. So priorities will be made, and unfortunately these tables might go back into the pile of neglect from whence they came.  In any case I’ll be sure to post on them again when I get to them- and in the mean time I’ll post about the new projects- as soon as they properly materialize.

Getting going again…and catching up!

It apparently took me two weeks to recover from vacation. I was so tired going back to work and wow I didn’t realize how many responsibilities were awaiting me here at home. Now I’ve finally caught up on the backlog of items that needed immediate attention…

When I got back from vacation this was also waiting for me…

There was a shirt too, but that’s not for the shop. As it happens I have to go back to the shop and grab one of these products to glue a ceramic towel rack in my bathroom at home that is coming away from the tile in the shower.

Shop work

I finished the toy chest I had been working on before my vacation, but I haven’t posted about it yet. I’m waiting on a picture of it in its new home. My sister and nephew love it though. Apparently it will need a slight modification to incorporate a soft close piston because my nephew is 14months old and loves to open and close it on his fingers. So one last alteration and that chest is done! As I’ve mentioned before this is the last project I’m doing as a gift for a long while because I’ve been unable to work on my own projects since February!

So it was that this weekend I was able to return to working on some reclaimed wood tables I’d started during the winter…

I’ve had this stack of project parts squished on one end of the bench for months! I often needed to roughly nudge the pile this way and that to get at an organizer behind it that has odds and ends of hardware in it. I’m sure there are a few dings to show from my abuse.

It took a little bit of time to re-familiarize myself with the project plans I had drawn up and I had to sort out the parts which had gotten a little mixed up.

When I’d left off I had laminated my table tops, flattened them with a router, and I had cut all of my parts to width. I then started doing test crosscuts only to find my table saw wasn’t aligned. Over the past months I’ve finally resolved this issue

So actually the break in progress on these tables gave me the time to work out the kinks in my table saw setup and now I was ready to cut my parts to length finally! The one thing I was dreading was checking on the table tops to see if they had cupped with the changes of humidity over the spring and summer… turns out it wasn’t too bad, I’ll re-flatten the tops later.

And after some heavy concentration over dimensions I had all my parts cut to size! Next session I’ll start on joinery!

This is the base of the longest table roughly in place( it will be narrower when the joints are cut).

Here is the medium length table…

And here is the smallest table’s base.

I hope to get back to work on these during the week, before work one or two days this week. I’m revved up now and looking forward to making more progress!

Tools tools tools…

As ever I’ve been thinking of which tool I need most next, and the decision landed on a random orbital sander. I’ve been using an orbital sander that I bought for $12 which has done the trick but we all know that orbital sanders tend to leave pig tail patterns, and sand much less aggressively.  So I have been circling around the idea of getting a random orbital sander, but I’ve been avoiding it for a long while simply because I always dread using one. The vibration fatigue on my joints at each of the workplaces I’ve experienced is a big turn off. And these are professional grade sanders I’m talking about, while using anti-vibration gloves. Then I remembered an article I had read on a Bosch sander that has a vibration dampening mechanism built in.

I gave the internet a good search looking for comparable vibration dampening sanders and came up empty. The performance on this unit rated as comparable to festool in the findings that I read from FWW.

The thought of less vibration made it much easier to contemplate hours of sanding. I wasn’t worried about the weight of this sander as I generally like to sand my work while it’s laid flat. When I do otherwise, working against gravity, and the random orbital action, it takes a toll on my wrists. I also decided that the more compact sanders that I use at work made to fit in one hand make it much harder to control, so the extra grip on the front appeals to me. It’s of course variable speed, which will come in handy when  I don’t want to cut quite so aggressively. I’ve heard that the canister collects dust as efficiently as a vacuum hose (which I find hard to believe! But at work I’m constantly fighting with hoses so I might try the canister in action before ruling it out).
The other contenders were festool and mirka sanders. Festool was about the same price so I could have gone that way, and mirka was a fair bit more. I ruled out mirka simply because the sanders at work are very similar and I want to get away from that model. Festool from what I’ve heard is incredibly addictive once you buy one machine… so I found several reasons not to buy festool, but I’m sure it’s a comparable sander- but seemed to lack the anit-vibration mechanism.
So I made up my mind and a Bosch sander will be shipped to me sometime in the coming weeks- super excited!

Unexpected item of interest…

I just changed out my MANY years-old ink jet printer(ten years?!). I had been refilling the cartridges manually with a syringe for years to save on ink costs. This amounted to sputters of yellow where colour or even where grey(!) should be and inconsistent prints. Over the years the printer got harder and harder  to use which made me only print when I absolutely HAD to. So it got to the point where I dreaded having to either carve out time in my day to print or go to a professional printer to make prints/copies-super inconvenient either way you cut it.

Recently I caught wind that monochrome laser printers cost (on average) less in ink/toner for the same amount of prints than my stupid-head inkjet printer. And I was convinced ANYTHING would be faster than my old printer. So I made the switch!

It’s quite an imposing piece to add to a home office, but it sure has eliminated a lot of wasted time at the printer.

Since this printer is a decade newer I also have the benefit of wireless printing- THAT alone was worth $100. I didn’t realise until I got this that I’d been waiting to print many PDFs  that I’d downloaded from all of my favourite online sources for woodworking!

User manuals, instructional articles, ebooks, shop furniture, and project plans… I never look at them when they’re just a file on the computer- so I printed them all out. Now they’re no only going to see the light of day but the light of my shop.

I even delighted in double sided printing to save on paper and space in my binder

While fixing my table saw alignment I used some articles to guide me and I accidentally spilled some water on the pages instantly smearing he ink, making the article illegible- that’s no longer a problem! Laser ink is waterproof and perfect for shop abuse.

I know I’m probably way behind the curve here and none of this is news to you all, but I just thought I’d share how this addition unexpectedly had a positive effect for my shop.