Tea Caddy

Since September I've been a member of the Hospitality Committee for my Meeting (Quaker church). We are responsible for refreshments, setup and cleanup. Most weeks this means that one of us is starting the coffee and water for tea, setting up cups, and making sure the First Day School (aka Sunday School) classes get their snacks. March was my month for coffee and one of the things I noticed was that the woven basket that holds tea bags was falling apart.

So I decided to replace it. The resulting tea caddy is pictured below. It's walnut with a plywood bottom. The corners are rabbeted together (a step shaped notch is cut into each side so the ends fit flush with the end of the sides), and the divider is set into a dado (groove) in the ends. And I should mention that all the wood used was scraps from other projects.

The finish is a spray on polyurethane.

The tea caddy

Corner Detail

Divider Detail

Thursday Class

At class tonight I milled this pile of boards, and acquired several significant splinters (ouch!). I can't explain what the boards are going to become because that would ruin the surprise. tee hee.

Almost forgot. I also found out that the school is going to replace the equipment in the wood shop. The table saws will be replaced with SawStop table saws. The secret to the SawStop is a mechanism that detects when conductive material, like skin, comes into contact with the blade and immediately stops the blade and drops it below the table limiting the damage to the operator. There's a cool demonstration video on their web site. These are becoming a standard part of school woodshops partly because insurance companies are demanding it, and because it just makes sense. This is the saw that I'd like to add to my shop and I'm excited about the opportunity to get a chance to test drive it. My instructor wasn't clear on the time frame, so it may be awhile before I get my hands (not literally!) on the saw.

LumberJocks Challenge

As with many things on the internet, when two of the LumberJocks challenged each other in public it snowballed and suddenly this challenge between friends has become a challenge for all the LumberJocks, and anyone who wants to be a LumberJock.

The challenge is to build an interpretation of the Greene & Greene Thorsen side table. The table was featured in a recent issue of Popular Woodworking magazine, so naturally the magazine is now involved as well.

So my dilemma at the moment is whether to jump in. I'd like to, I have a pretty good idea about what I'd do with it.

The problem is time. I need to finish the foot stools, finish the wall cabinet, finish the night light, and a bunch of other things. Not to mention work. And spring is finally here which means it's almost time for some kayaking, and softball season looms large on the horizon.

The finished table has to be posted in my LJ projects by May 31st. Don't know if I can make that deadline....

I need to decide soon, so that I can acquire or find the necessary lumber, start the rough out, etc, etc, etc.

Decisions, decisions...

Class Night - Snowflake's Nightlight

Picture(s) to come...

So the new session of the adult ed class I frequently take started on Thursday. Luckily the lumber stock there is in good shape (there have been whole semesters when there has been little or no wood) and I was able to find the stock I needed.

The nightlight I'm working on is one I've built before (both of my younger nephews have auntie made nightlights). It's not an original design, but one from Woodsmith magazine. Although I'm not a great fan of cats I really love the cat fishing cutout that was featured in the magazine (and in the picture here). The other feature that I love is that the nightlight is designed to have a total of 4 light panels, and storage for the ones not in use is included.

D's, the first one I made, has the 4 panels which are part of the plan - the cat, a halloween scene, a Christmas tree, and a moon and stars. N's has the cat, the moon, the Christmas tree (I think) and a custom panel with the Yankees logo (his folks are die-hard Yankee fans).

The plan is to give Snowflake the cat, the moon and 2 custom panels. Just in case Snowman or Sunshine happen upon this I'm not going to reveal the details, yet.

Which brings me back to Thursday night. After selecting my stock (walnut), I trimmed it to manageable size on the radial arm saw. Then it was off to the jointer, and planer to create some nice square boards. The insert panels are 1/4" thick and planing a 4/4" board down to that is just, well wrong - way too much waste. So after taming the board it was off to the tablesaw to split it (mostly) in two. Then it was off to the bandsaw to complete the cut. [Before those of you who are woodworkers start ranting - the shop does have a good sized bandsaw, but no fence so the instructor recommended method is to do as much as possible on the tablesaw before completing the cut on the bandsaw.]

Once the board was two boards I headed to the planer to smooth them out. A little work on the miter saw and I had 8 panels ready (two become part of the case, the others are just extras).

With a little work on the tablesaw and mitersaw the night ended with the stock ready for the sides (need to cut multiple rabbets/dadoes before cutting the sides), the top and bottom, and the panels.

Next steps - a little glue up (top and bottom), rabbets and dadoes, assembly and panel cutting.

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