Ben's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Why Chris Schwarz is so skinny.

Ben — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:22:33 GMT

I’m currently building a work bench and I’m trying to use as many hand tools in the building process as possible. I’ve been planing the legs for the past couple days, and after each leg I feel like I need to down a bottle of water, and I have. My muscles are sore and I’m out of breath. Now I’m 24 years old and in pretty good shape, but this is a hard task. I still have the top to plane as well. So to get to the point of the title. We all know “The Schwarz” is skinny and that he has a penchant for hand tools, especially planes and their use. I believe this is why he is so skinny. I must admit, however, I feel a great sense of accomplishment and pride in being able to plane a piece of wood flat and square. Plus, I’m not using electricity lowering my carbon footprint. This is surely a great experience, I suggest you try it.

kitchen Cabinets #3: Bought the Plywood

Ben — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:37:03 GMT

I finally went out and spent the money on the plywood for the lower cabinet carcasses. I got five sheets of red oak ply from my local hard woods supply store. The last time I had made some cabinets I had just finished watching Norm’s kitchen remodel on “The New Yankee Workshop.” On that show, he use prefinished ply to make the carcases. I did the same thing and it was fantastic. I didn’t have to work to get into the corners or the recesses of the cabinets to finish them. So I now have to get to work finishing five sheets of oak ply during the end of fall when its starting to get pretty cold. It might take me a while to finish them, but it is worth it to save me the trouble of getting into the corners especially since finishing a piece is the part I don’t look forward to in any project.

kitchen Cabinets #2: Dust Bunnies

Ben — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:14:22 GMT

When i first designed these cabinets I really wanted to have them look like peices of furniture as opposed to cabinets. The posts go a long way in achieving that look, but I figured taking out the kickplates would really seal the deal. I had thought about the dust bunny conundrum. I figured if dusting underneath the cabinets became too much for my wife and I, I could always add kickplates later without any trouble. I’ve designed my kitchen like my workshop since I do most of the cooking so all of my tools will be at the ready when I need them. Since we redid our kitchen and floors we had to take out the brick covered drywall behind the old cabinets they had to come out. So we have been living without a kitchen sink for about 3 months now. We take all of our dishes to the basement mud sink. I’ll deal with the pain of putting upper cabinets in after base cabinets. I was also thinking of making concrete countertops myself for the cabinets. I want a solid surface, but I don’t want to spend all of the money for granite. If anyone has any suggestions please tell me.

kitchen Cabinets #1: Design

Ben — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:03:10 GMT

My wife and I are finally setting about finishing up our kitchen. We haven’t had a kitcen sink for about 3 months because we haven’t had any cabinets. You can’t blame this on me, however, because she wanted her office before her kitchen so I had to make the office desk first. The first step was to design the lower cabinets. I wanted to have a unique set of cabinets, but still have some traditional elements. The cabinets have posts at all the corners and any major transitions. This will give them more of a furniture look. Also, since we tiled the floor all the way to the wall the cabinets are going to be completely open at the bottom without a kickplate. This will further enhance the furniture effect. I made the design in Google Sketch up. I’ve gotten quite handy with that program and highly suggest it to anyone who wishes to see their work before they build it without having to use mock ups. The cabinets will be oak and walnut. There are no drawer fronts or cabinet doors present yet. The open end is going to be shelves.

Enjoy