865 days ago
by Jeff |
15 comments »
This is my interpretation of this cleverly designed bench by Fine Woodworking’s shop manager, John White. There have been a few mentions of this bench on the site and I have been eagerly anticipating having the time to build my version of the bench.
I’ve had the lumber for about a month but had to sacrifice time in the shop to get our condo ready for sale this summer. Those preparations are all behind KT and I now and I can finally work in the shop when I want to. We’ve h...
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654 days ago
by Dorje |
24 comments »
I’ve had the urge to just make something small for some time now…I’ve been working on a bed with what little shop time I have, and haven’t had much time for other stuff. I wanted one of those projects that you could just take the materials at hand and go for it.
Also, something that wouldn’t take forever to build and would give some (relatively) instant gratification.
I had some scrap cedar, fir, poplar, and walnut that’ll be used in this little box/case. ...
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857 days ago
by Jeff |
13 comments »
Hullo, folks. I’ve been sneaking in a little more time on the bench and have an update. In the last entry I mentioned a snaffu with my chamfers. I got those all done in short order on the router table. I even took a chance on the leg I had already assembled. The fit with the lag bolt was of course a little looser when I reassembled the leg but nothing to get uptight about. This was pleasing.I put the legs together and then drilled my holes for the lag bolts in the ends of the stretcher....
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158 days ago
by PurpLev |
11 comments »
so After setting on the last design (see previous post in this series) I went out to disassemble the bowling alley laminated top – the purpose was to remove all the nails, so that I can drill the dog holes, and also laminate it in a double stack to give me a 4” top on the perimeter (5” in from the edges – for clamping purposes, and leg attachments).
This idea turned to be disastrous. The nails are hardened steel, and twisted making the job of pulling them outridicul...
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224 days ago
by gizmodyne |
6 comments »
The Hole in My KitchenFor the past two years we have lived with a hole in the wall of the kitchen where the fridge was. I was going to turn this into a pantry, but we decided to put the fridge back in.
We found a fridge that would accept custom panels. It is 36” wide. and only 24” deep to the doors.We had to cut back one stud in the wall to accommodate the depth and reinforce the floor for the weight, but the hole/nook is ready for the fridge.
DesignI drew up several design...
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754 days ago
by gizmodyne |
13 comments »
100 steps to a great finishI have written about finishing douglas fir before, but I keep getting lots of questions about it so here I go.
Sand to 220. Get in the grooves.
Making the washcoat to prevent blotching .. 90% Mineral Spirits
Washcoat Part 2: 10% Boiled Linseed Oil
Apply Washcoat with cloth.
Inspecting the coat. If there are any sanding marks or glue spots this is the time to get them.
Applying stain with brush.
Clean off.
Get into the grooves with a glue brus...
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846 days ago
by Jeff |
7 comments »
Last week I finished drilling many holes for the sides of the well. These included the holes for the clamping bars as well as the pilot holes and countersinks for the confirmat screws. This took a bit of time because of all the measuring and trial and error positioning to ensure I didn’t make any major mistakes since the FWW plans were subject to interpretation and my sketchup plans (last entry) were a little inaccurate regarding the size of the clamping bars. It paid off though.
For ...
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951 days ago
by gizmodyne |
10 comments »
For the last month or so I have been experimenting with different ways to finish our douglas fir woodwork. It had been stripped and stained. Fir stains very blotchy.
I tried : pre-stain conditioner…. shellac…. gel stain… It all turned out blotchy.
Final solution.
Apply a washcoat of mineral spirits and boiled linseed oil.
Apply gel stain while washcoat is still wet.
Wipe with clean rag
Lots of wood to stain..
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970 days ago
by gizmodyne |
11 comments »
Making Big BoxesToday’s task: Get joining; the cabinets are to be held together with biscuits. Each cabinet has 30 slots. So I needed to get organized to save a lot of marking time and avoid mistakes.
Gettin Jiggy(Alright I used that “joke” twice. Sorry).I started by building a jig to hold the rails along with several storyboards/ spacers to get the biscuits just right. I just mark the spacer and cut directly from that rather than mark each cabinet side. All of the parts ...
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133 days ago
by PurpLev |
13 comments »
After last week’s ongoing progress, it felt a bit slow this week (which it is), but I did have some things I wanted to share, and also was able to finish the base with 3 coats of BLO which is what I’m going to keep on it for conditioning the wood, and protecting it from moisture.
Mistake #1: Drawboring to the wrong side (cringe) 2 legs on each side of the base are connected together using 2 short rails. The top one is using a sliding dovetail, while the lower one uses M&T. ...
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