Saturday, January 20, 2007

Progress on Stools

With all of the varnish on the garage door, I got to spend time in the workshop last night. Work on the foot stools progressed. I finished the dadoes. The stools are hickory and walnut. Stool number 1 has a strip of walnut in the center of the top, stool number 2, seen here, has walnut at the edges of each of the pieces.

I made a jig to cut the dadoes. The jig is two pieces of mdf, one slightly larger than the other. I screwed the two together with the larger piece on the bottom, then using the upper board as a guide trimmed the lower one with a straight bit and collar in the router - thus making the bottom edge match the edge of the bit. I had to finish up with chisels since the two passes with the router didn't come out evenly. I think the reason was that I had the assembly clamped to my workmate and I didn't have anything underneath the workpiece to support it. I'll have to remember that next time.

I did learn an important lesson while making the jig - don't expect the same bit to cut in exactly the same place with the fixed base attached as it does with the plunge base. I learned this the hard way, but was able to solve the problem.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Organization Day

I spent a good portion of today in the workshop. There was, however, very little actual woodworking accomplished. First task of the day was adding to the foam pads on the floor. I've had a few foam pads right by the workbench (the colored ones at the right in the photo), but after my fight with gravity two weeks ago I decided it was time to expand the padding. The padding is easier on the feet and legs than concrete.

In order to put down the pads I had to clean up. Most of that I did yesterday -vacuuming up sawdust, stacking scraps, putting tools away. The interlocking tabs on the new pads are a slightly different size than the ones I already had so the black pads (the new ones) are just butted up against the colored ones. (I really wanted more colored ones but couldn't find them). The pads now extend from the lumber rack (which desperately needs replacing) on one side of the room (behind me in this picture) almost to the raised platform at the other end (most of the wood is on that platform) and under the workbench and from one end of the bench to the wall. I got more today so that I can add them under the scroll saw (you can just see the edge of one leg (red) at the upper right of this picture) and extend them toward the wall where the door is (to the left in this picture).

Once I finished with the floor I turned by attention to my tool storage tower. The tower is based on plans from Lee Valley tools, the purveyor of the metal drawers. The basic design is pretty simple - a plywood box with 10 slots spaced every inch in the sides to recieve the drawers. The tower is three of these boxes joined together with 1x3 strips, 2 per side.

Today's project was to pull out the label maker we got a month or so ago and label the drawers. While I was at it I also added anti slip padding to the bottoms of many of the drawers. Once the labeling was done I pulled out all the drawers, stacking them on the newly installed padded floor.

Once the tower was empty I flipped it over, and removed the casters. When I first built the tower I attached the casters too far from the edges, and the tower has been a bit too unstable. I repositioned the casters at the edges of the base, then replaced the drawers. The tower is still not as stable as I would like but it's better.

I also made a trip out into the wet world (no ice here) to procure supplies for adding shelves to the office, and the additional pads for the floor.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

To-Do List

Projects in progress:
  • foot stools
    • finish dados for shelf on stool #2 - done 1/19/07
    • round over edges on both stools - done 2/10/07
    • fill holes from jig attachment - done (don't remember when)
    • clean up parts - scrape/sand - stool #1 done 2/12/07, #2 done 3/24/07
    • assemble - stool #2 done 2/12/07
    • finish - in progress
  • cd holder
    • cut dados for dividers
    • attach cd racks
    • round over edges
    • assemble
    • finish
  • cd box
    • finish dovetails
  • sanding table
  • screen door
  • mailbox
  • desk organizer for AJW
  • project for D
  • project for N
    • worked on this a little 5/10
    • remake main part
  • wall cabinet
    • clean up rabbets - started 2/10/07, done 3/24/07
    • glue up door frames - 1 done 3/25/07, 2nd done 3/27/07
    • resize door splines - done 3/29/07
    • clean up door parts - done
    • fix panels into doors - done
    • clean-up back - done 3/25/07
    • drill shelf pin holes - done 3/25/07
      • plug miss-cut shelf pin holes - done 3/25/07
      • trim plugs in miss-cut shelf pin holes - done 3/27/07
    • assemble case - done
    • attach doors - done
    • create french cleat for back
    • finish
  • pinhole camera
  • advent calendar for hiker boy
    • case parts milled and cut to size - done
  • box for bathroom
    • cut sides - done 5/3
    • cut bottom - done 5/3
    • dovetail sides - done although I went with a different joint.
    • groove for bottom in sides
    • assemble
  • drill press cabinet
    • cut cabinet parts - done
    • cut dado for divider - done 1/20
    • cut dadoes for drawer slides
    • trim back
    • assemble case
    • cut drawer parts
    • assemble drawers
    • attach bottom braces
    • attach casters
Projects to start:
  • night stands
  • entryway table
Update: I forgot one - in the planning stages.
  • desktop for office
  • new top for workbench
Update 2: We added another one last night.
  • shelves in the office - done a while ago
Update 1/19 - not quite a shop project, but...
  • new lock for door between garage and basement - done 1/22
Completed projects!
  • table for lumberjocks challenge
    • cut and glue up top - done
    • cut and glue up shelf - done
    • cut stretchers - done
    • cut aprons - done
    • cut legs - done, twice
    • cut breadboards - done
    • mortise breadboards - done
    • mortise legs -done
    • cut tenons - done
    • make jigs for cutouts - done
    • cut drawer parts - done
    • dovetail drawer parts - done 5/26
    • cut drawer runners - done
    • cut front brace - done
    • cut drawer bottom - done
    • groove drawer parts for bottom - done 5/27
    • create stop for drawer - done
    • assemble - done 5/29
    • affix drawer front to drawer body - done 5/31
    • finish - done 5/31
  • nightlight for snowflake
    • side cut - done
    • top and bottom cut - done
    • rabbets and dadoes in sides - done
    • light panels cut - done
    • light panels scroll sawed - done
    • bulb holder cut - done
    • finish - done
  • softball bats
    • create blank - done
    • round over blank - done
    • shape - done
    • sand - done
    • burnish - done
    • oil - done
    • polish - done
    • complete ends - done
  • window hangings - done