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54K views 118 replies 69 participants last post by  John_G 
#1 ·
Introduction

First off let me start by introducing myself. My name is John Gray, i'm currently 33 years old and live in Spencerport New York. I've been married to the love of my life for 7 years now and have 2 beautiful daughters (hence the title of my blog "3 girls and a woodworker"). I guess i've been into wood working for most of my life, i grew up with a dad that spent a lot of time in the workshop building things. He worked primarily with pine (becasue it was cheap) and made some wonderfull things. He was a handi-man and could fix anything one way or another. Growing up i can remember spending time in the shop with him, or even by myself, just playing with tools, learning how to use them…and just banging nails….
After high school i went into building houses. Barley making it thru high school i dind't have alot of options….but i knew my entire life i wanted to be a carpenter, so i gave it a shot. I LOVED building houses, but after a year at it and going thru a NE winter i was starting to "wake-up" and realize that i wasn't going to do this for the rest of my life….. Community College was my only choice, so i went to Finger Lake Community College for Architecture. I wanted to stay in the field or carpentry/building somehow… Fast forward 13 years a few jobs later and i'm currently an architect here in upstate NY.
When my wife and i bought our first house i knew i had to have a shop. My first house was pretty small, my head literally graced the bottoms of the floor joists in the basement as i walked around, and i had to duck under all the ductwork. BUT i began the beginning of my shop. It seemed like every chance i got i was buying tools. At the time my wife worked at Sears and therfore i got really great deals on tools. I was very happy with the "craftsman professional" line of tools. as my tool colection grew so did my need to find projects….. I was in that house for 7 years. I put 16'x16' deck on it and instaleed a 7' slider on the back wall of the house. I re-roofed the entire house with a crew of friends and did endless upgrades to the house. After 7 years and 2 daughters my oldest was about to begin kindergarten and we wanted her in a better school district so it was time to move….
My current house out in Spencerport NY is…..lets called it an empty dirty rough canvas..lol..it has endless possibilities. And this time i got a real shop. 3/4 of a basement that is roughly 20'x20'. I've began building my new shop (pix will come).
So what do i plan to do with this blog….well i've never had a blog, but i'm always taking step by step pictures of every project i do. I LOVE this site and all the other LJ projects on here. I hope to share with all of you my woodworking adventures. I'd love some C&C back…..and i'm always looking for opinions on my work and ways to better it. I hope by sharing all this with you and having all of you respond my quality of work will escalate.
Well i think that's enough rambeling for one day…..next is to start getting some projects posted that i've already built over the years and start posting some current ones as well. I look forward to hearing from all of you…..

A Fellow Lumberjock,
John Gray
 
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#9 ·
Shed Doors

Well i was given the task of creating new shed doors for my daughter cooperitive nursery school. There budget was "zero", lol. SO i made it all out of scraps i had laying around from when i built my deck a few years back. And ofcourse being a fellow LJ i couldn't just make plain old boring doors now could it…..lol…..

Plant Flower Leaf Paint Brick

-This was the original door…..

Wood Workbench Engineering Gas Machine tool

-Here was all my rough stock, a ton of PT lumber laying around in the loft of my garage…..

Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Flooring

-All my stock cut down to size for the rails and stiles

Wood Floor Flooring Automotive tire Composite material

-Next was to route rabbits on all the pieces, the sides were standard the tops like this were extra deep… WHY you may ask….

Wood Rectangle Automotive exterior Tints and shades Hardwood

-In order to cut arches in the top….and still have anough room for a sheet or plywood to sit in that rabbit….

Automotive parking light Automotive tire Wood Fender Hood

-Time to add biscuts to all the corners…...

Wood Gas Engineering Machine Electrical wiring

-Frame all put together….not to shabby lookin….the PT actually wasn't all that bad to work with either. I was a bit nervous routing it and stuff with it being such a soft and wide grained…..

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Natural material

-After putting in the plywood back panel i decided to add a cross member as well….i think i was going for that "barn door" look at this time…

Wood Gas Hardwood Metal Machine

-Then i thought i'd make some letters for the school name to put at the bottom of the doors. The school, Irondequoit Cooperitive Nursery School or ICNS as it's known…..

Wood Gas Rectangle Flooring Composite material

-Sand them up and clean up the cuts….

Vehicle registration plate Automotive tire Motor vehicle Wood Vehicle

-And there we have it ICNS, i believe they were 3/4 sanded plywood, again from scraps i had laying around…..

Wood Art Gas Flooring Artist

-Once they were glued and nailed from behind to the doors it was time to get some paint on them. Thought i would recruit some help from the ICNS student (ie my daughter)....

Product Wood Gas Fixture Audio equipment

-Here they are all painted up (and up-side-down).....

Wood Fixture Gas Rectangle Font

And heres the final shot, all hung. I decided to paint the letters a different color as well. It's been a cpl years now and the doors are still doing great, i'm guessing they'll outlive the shed….lol. This was a great project, a little something to leave my mark at a great school…....
 

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#10 ·
Shed Doors

Well i was given the task of creating new shed doors for my daughter cooperitive nursery school. There budget was "zero", lol. SO i made it all out of scraps i had laying around from when i built my deck a few years back. And ofcourse being a fellow LJ i couldn't just make plain old boring doors now could it…..lol…..

Plant Flower Leaf Paint Brick

-This was the original door…..

Wood Workbench Engineering Gas Machine tool

-Here was all my rough stock, a ton of PT lumber laying around in the loft of my garage…..

Wood Table Wood stain Hardwood Flooring

-All my stock cut down to size for the rails and stiles

Wood Floor Flooring Automotive tire Composite material

-Next was to route rabbits on all the pieces, the sides were standard the tops like this were extra deep… WHY you may ask….

Wood Rectangle Automotive exterior Tints and shades Hardwood

-In order to cut arches in the top….and still have anough room for a sheet or plywood to sit in that rabbit….

Automotive parking light Automotive tire Wood Fender Hood

-Time to add biscuts to all the corners…...

Wood Gas Engineering Machine Electrical wiring

-Frame all put together….not to shabby lookin….the PT actually wasn't all that bad to work with either. I was a bit nervous routing it and stuff with it being such a soft and wide grained…..

Wood Floor Wood stain Hardwood Natural material

-After putting in the plywood back panel i decided to add a cross member as well….i think i was going for that "barn door" look at this time…

Wood Gas Hardwood Metal Machine

-Then i thought i'd make some letters for the school name to put at the bottom of the doors. The school, Irondequoit Cooperitive Nursery School or ICNS as it's known…..

Wood Gas Rectangle Flooring Composite material

-Sand them up and clean up the cuts….

Vehicle registration plate Automotive tire Motor vehicle Wood Vehicle

-And there we have it ICNS, i believe they were 3/4 sanded plywood, again from scraps i had laying around…..

Wood Art Gas Flooring Artist

-Once they were glued and nailed from behind to the doors it was time to get some paint on them. Thought i would recruit some help from the ICNS student (ie my daughter)....

Product Wood Gas Fixture Audio equipment

-Here they are all painted up (and up-side-down).....

Wood Fixture Gas Rectangle Font

And heres the final shot, all hung. I decided to paint the letters a different color as well. It's been a cpl years now and the doors are still doing great, i'm guessing they'll outlive the shed….lol. This was a great project, a little something to leave my mark at a great school…....
Nice job! Cute helper! Reminds me of my little helper!
 

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#17 ·
Project Budgets - Is it about your wallet or your location

I've been a LJ now for awhile, and even before i joined i was constantly on the site looking at projects. There were always things that i admired about every project, beginner or advanced.
- quality of work, even the beginner has areas of great skill
- the creativity of the projects, especialy art boxes, simply mazing
- the different species of wood being used

As i get into woodworking more and more and want to experiment with different species i began noticing the cost of some exotics. Then i began to think back…. didn't i see an entire workbench made of this, or a router table, or something large made from an exotic.
I started to wonder if some LJ out there were just independently wealthy. I have a hard time coming up with 100.00 for a project, and i was looking at projects in the 1000.00's and they were bench's for the workshop. Could it be true that in some areas of the US and world that some lumber is not as expensive as others?
I'm very curious (without prying to much) on how my fellow LJ's go about purchasing there lumber, is it online, local mills, yourown backyard. What are you paying for your wood, do you have a budget for projects. Even those making cutting boards, 4 or 5 of them with exotics can put you in the hundreds…..
Just curious, don't mean to pry into personal finances of anyone…...

Keep up the great work everyone, Pine or Padauk it's all wood…. :)
 
#18 ·
I've wondered the same thing. I've got a pretty respectable hobby budget but some of the projects I see here are far beyond. A big veneer project, I can understand; but a lot of these guys are building large pieces with solid exotics. I had great exotic availability in LA, some in TN, and none in WV. I'm now building out of stuff that grows on the hills here. If you figure it out, let me know!
 
#35 ·
My very first Wood Gloat

Not onlyl is this my very first wood gloat it's also my very first purchse useing cgraigslist…. i know, i know, i'm sure everyone is using it…. I saw an add with a pic for left over pieces of various hardwoods, all for 20.00. Figured what the heck i'll go for it…... well to me…this was a jackpot…..

Wood Metal Automotive design Engineering Hardwood


Wood Terrestrial plant Wheel Plant Gas


Wood Terrestrial plant Wheel Plant Gas


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Art


From first glance it alot of walnut, and cherry. There's a few we don't even know what they are. Also a few possible mahogony (they seem to red to be walnut as well). Time to start planning the projects….. :)
 

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#36 ·
My very first Wood Gloat

Not onlyl is this my very first wood gloat it's also my very first purchse useing cgraigslist…. i know, i know, i'm sure everyone is using it…. I saw an add with a pic for left over pieces of various hardwoods, all for 20.00. Figured what the heck i'll go for it…... well to me…this was a jackpot…..

Wood Metal Automotive design Engineering Hardwood


Wood Terrestrial plant Wheel Plant Gas


Wood Terrestrial plant Wheel Plant Gas


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Art


From first glance it alot of walnut, and cherry. There's a few we don't even know what they are. Also a few possible mahogony (they seem to red to be walnut as well). Time to start planning the projects….. :)
Always nice to have some extra lumber like that in the shop. I love CL - there's always something on there to ponder getting :). Looking back through your blog, I really like the doors you built for your daughter's school. Keep up the good work!
 

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#38 ·
Questions about Walnut and Scrollsawing

I'm about to begin a scrollsaw project with a piece of 3/4" Walnut. My question is when i was sanding down the walnut ahead of time i noticed that it has "pores" or "open grain" or something in it. Is this normal for walnut, or is it something that will get compeltely sanded out if i spend enough time at it?

Thanks Jocks…..

Water Flooring Liquid Wood Beige
 

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#39 ·
Questions about Walnut and Scrollsawing

I'm about to begin a scrollsaw project with a piece of 3/4" Walnut. My question is when i was sanding down the walnut ahead of time i noticed that it has "pores" or "open grain" or something in it. Is this normal for walnut, or is it something that will get compeltely sanded out if i spend enough time at it?

Thanks Jocks…..

Water Flooring Liquid Wood Beige
The open pores are somewhat normal if the grain isn't 100% parallel with the board. I'm in the process of making a shelf with walnut quasi-breadboard ends and ran into the same thing. Unfortunately for mine, the grain pores acted like hangnails..

You could always use pore filler, but I like the look of the open grain. How you chose to finish it might fill in the pores for you.
 

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#54 ·
Planer.... What should i do......????

ok i found on craiglist 2 Ryobi planers;

1: Ryobi 10" planer with homemade rollerbase (85.00) http://rochester.craigslist.org/tls/2374085323.html

2: Ryobi AP12 with new dual edge blade and blade binders, comes with table and dust port for 150.00 http://rochester.craigslist.org/tls/2364710877.html

Is it woth it for me to seriously look into getting one of them….??? A nice DeWalt is just not in my future because of the cost. Does anyone have any experiece with any of these machine….

Please i could use your help/opinion LJ's…...

Thanks Everyone,
John Gray
Spencerport NY
 
#55 ·
Those are both very old models, and the prices aren't spectacular. I'd keep watching… I had been looking for a planer for quite some time but no good deals were coming up. Suddenly, a couple weeks ago, a Delta 13" and two Ridgids popped up within the span of several days, all under $150. I managed to snag one of the Ridgids. Craigslist can be very unpredictable like that.
 
#60 ·
I googled "craftsman 12 1/2 inch planer molder" and found what appears to be that machine. It's an older machine and people have had difficulty finding the proper replacement knives for it. For $200, you should be able to do better than that.

If you can bump up your price a little bit, I'd consider making an offer on this (but don't pay full price!): http://rochester.craigslist.org/tls/2399147338.html Based on the description, it would appear to be a DW734, which is a current model.
 
#64 ·
Father's Day Tool Gloat.....

Got these for fathers day yesterday, i've heard people say that there not "real" marples but honestly i don't know what "real" ones are….. Can't wait to make the scarry sharp and put them to work…..
Sleeve Font Gadget Material property Rectangle


Fluid Gas Solution Audio equipment Laboratory equipment
nice kids!
 

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#71 ·
Jointer Problems, HELP PLZZZ

Hello everyone, i'm really hoping someone can shed some light on this problem for me. I have an older craftsman Jointer/Planer that is in great working condition, however it has one major problem. Even though the infeed and outfeed tables are parallel when i push a board through it raises up off the outfeed table. Hopefully the pictures below will help…...

Wood Gas Font Bumper Automotive tire


Grille Automotive exterior Bumper Vehicle door Vehicle


Wood Bumper Automotive exterior Gas Hardwood


To me the table look very parallel weather the depth is set to 1/8" or zero. Now time to put a board through…..

Wood Automotive exterior Floor Flooring Bumper


Wood Table Wood stain Automotive exterior Hardwood


Wood Table Rectangle Wood stain Gas


So as you can see it begins to raise up more and more the further i push it through the jointer. I have to keep that back end held down really well or it'll teeder and no long cut. I have no clue what i'm doing wrong here, i'm really hoping that it's just a user error. The tables are flat and parallel in my opinion.

I really look forward to any responces you all might have,
Thank you

John G.
 

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#72 ·
Jointer Problems, HELP PLZZZ

Hello everyone, i'm really hoping someone can shed some light on this problem for me. I have an older craftsman Jointer/Planer that is in great working condition, however it has one major problem. Even though the infeed and outfeed tables are parallel when i push a board through it raises up off the outfeed table. Hopefully the pictures below will help…...

Wood Gas Font Bumper Automotive tire


Grille Automotive exterior Bumper Vehicle door Vehicle


Wood Bumper Automotive exterior Gas Hardwood


To me the table look very parallel weather the depth is set to 1/8" or zero. Now time to put a board through…..

Wood Automotive exterior Floor Flooring Bumper


Wood Table Wood stain Automotive exterior Hardwood


Wood Table Rectangle Wood stain Gas


So as you can see it begins to raise up more and more the further i push it through the jointer. I have to keep that back end held down really well or it'll teeder and no long cut. I have no clue what i'm doing wrong here, i'm really hoping that it's just a user error. The tables are flat and parallel in my opinion.

I really look forward to any responces you all might have,
Thank you

John G.
Does the outfield table line up with the cutter head? It looks in the picture that the cutter might be a little low
 

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#95 ·
Which should i buy

Ok so i've narrowed my 2 planer choices down to these, which one would you purchase…
Gas Machine Machine tool Rectangle Electric blue

Makita 2012NB 12-Inch Planer with Interna-Lok Automated Head Clamp

OR

Wheel Automotive lighting Vehicle Automotive tire Tire

DEWALT DW735 13-Inch Three Knife Two Speed Thickness Planer
DeWalt DW735; if the price isn't an issue. It always get high rating in the tools reviews. Frankly speaking, I do not own one because DeWalt is not available in my country - so I bought Jet JWP-12.
 

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#101 ·
Jet JPW15-HO

OK everyone, i'm thinking of going after a used 15" Jet planer. There asking 250.00 for it. I'm currently waiting for pix from the owner. Does anyone have or know anything about this planer, any information would be greatly appreciated…...

Thanks LJ's…...
 
#107 ·
Garage Sale Wood Gloat

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Plywood Lumber


After seeing an ad on craigslist for a garage sale that was going to have some rough cut lumber i figured i'd buzz over and check it out. Turned out for whatever reason the gentleman was getting out of woodworking and looking to sell a bunch of lunber he's had drying in his garage for years. As i look around i saw maple, cherry, and Peruvian Walnut. Playing a little niave i asked what i was worth and how much he wanted to sell. He said all of it. I passed on any of the scrap pine 2x lumber and took averything else. Not know exacts i got….

8 - 8'+ x 5-8" wide x 4/4 thick Cherry. Some of it's in rough shape but thass ok.
4 - large 8/4 hard maple and 2-4/4 hard maple lengths and widths vary (see pic)
and 2 wide pieces about 5' long of peruvian Walnut.

Everything for 50.00

As you can see from the pic my bottom shelf at the floor is scraps and all oak, then next shelf up is all my garage sale purchase, then next up is all QSWO (going to be endtable soon) and then top shelf that you can barely see is all cut off's of walnut and cherry.

Well not that's my racks full i guess i should get to builing with it all…
 

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#108 ·
Garage Sale Wood Gloat

Wood Hardwood Wood stain Plywood Lumber


After seeing an ad on craigslist for a garage sale that was going to have some rough cut lumber i figured i'd buzz over and check it out. Turned out for whatever reason the gentleman was getting out of woodworking and looking to sell a bunch of lunber he's had drying in his garage for years. As i look around i saw maple, cherry, and Peruvian Walnut. Playing a little niave i asked what i was worth and how much he wanted to sell. He said all of it. I passed on any of the scrap pine 2x lumber and took averything else. Not know exacts i got….

8 - 8'+ x 5-8" wide x 4/4 thick Cherry. Some of it's in rough shape but thass ok.
4 - large 8/4 hard maple and 2-4/4 hard maple lengths and widths vary (see pic)
and 2 wide pieces about 5' long of peruvian Walnut.

Everything for 50.00

As you can see from the pic my bottom shelf at the floor is scraps and all oak, then next shelf up is all my garage sale purchase, then next up is all QSWO (going to be endtable soon) and then top shelf that you can barely see is all cut off's of walnut and cherry.

Well not that's my racks full i guess i should get to builing with it all…
You got a heck of a deal!
 

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#110 ·
Larger Projects vs. Smaller Projects

So as the years have gone by and i've done more and more projects in the shop, honing my skills, and slowly getting better i decided to try a double endtable project. Well as it's turning out it's become time not so much skill that i lack. I feel like i can go down into the shop, and on a small project get a lot done in an hour or so. However on this larger project it's really come to a screeching hault as i feel unless i have in excess of a few hours it's really not worth getting into working on. I feel like i possibly bit off mroe than i can chew. With work, family, kids and such my time is so limited, and when i do get in the shop i like to see progress, which is really hard to see on something large. I don't know if i should try to just buckle down and finish them, or set it aside for when my schedule has longer bouts of time allowed in the shop. really such difficult decisions…. :)
 
#111 ·
That's definitely tough. I usually find 2 hours each evening after the kid goes to sleep to get in the shop. I try to plan out manageable chunks that I can tackle.

One night I might spend the evening doing all of my layout and marking as much as I can. Another I might rough cut everything to size and sort. Another cutting all of the mortises/tenons/grooves for panels.

I find that if I can block out pieces I can see more progress than if I try to just get as much as possible done in one sitting. In my head I know I am making the same progress, but for some reason I feel like I can see appreciable progress.

I also try to find ways to bring my project upstairs. So I might do layout at the dining room table, or sketching, planning my cut lists and then I can do double duty and spend time with the fam as well.

Just my .02
 
#114 ·
Picnic Table Dilemma

So the Mrs has asked me to build a picnic table now. I did some searching online and founf this one and she agreed that it's perfect.

http://www.woodcraft.com/PRODUCT/2083086/34000/FUNINTHESUN-PICNIC-TABLE-WOODWORKING-PLAN.ASPX?refcode=10INGOPB&gclid=CJCtlaXxorgCFciY4AodFw8A4g

So like most young woodworkers when it comes to choosing the wood to use it goes right olong with how much money to spend. The plans call for approx 100lin ft of 1-1/2" x 8" material. So initially we thought Cedar, then white oak,if i got rough 8/4 and planed it all down out price tag for this was well over 500.00 bucks. This was way out of the park for waht we wanted to spend so we started throwing around ideas of other lumber. Using pressure treated or even stock 2x pine and sealing it. i know everyone is probably cringing at the thought of non treat pine outside year round. What are everyone's thoughts on this. I know we'd all like to use some perfect hardwood for every project but sometimes the wallet just doesn't support it. What if i did yo ustandard 2×8's and planed them down nice and then sealed every piece with a deck sealer. What if i got pressure treated, could i even plne that luimber so it was flat and square? I wish i had an endless supply of lumber, lol…. don't we all.

Thanks everyone
John G.
 
#115 ·
Pressure treated would be just fine on an outdoor picnic table project. You could even use decking material for the seating area to save a few bucks. Typically it comes in at 5/4.

Ive used untreated pine for a few Adirondack chairs as well. They've held up in the New England climate going on 4 years now with an outdoor cedar stain on them. They've even fooled a few people.

Take a look in your area and see if there's any cypress to be had. Its very much like cedar in its rot resistant properties.

Just make sure to use stainless hardware or itll all rust on ya.
 
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