irishhandyman's Blog at LumberJocks.com http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/irishhandyman/blog Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:25:13 GMT My first attempt at restoring. http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/irishhandyman/blog/5111 After spilling coffee on this I desided it was time to attempt to refinish this piece of furniture.
It was brought to this house in a covered wagon around 1920. It’s a shame it can’t talk because
it has seen a lot of history.

Now I cant take credit for all the stains that has befallen it. I have to admit I had my fair share
of mishaps, but not all. I’ll leave that for other family members.

I could tell from what little of the grain that was able to be seen, that it was oak. The drawers were
due for a rework. The bottom was falling out of one and the other drawer was flimsy. The LOML
uses it in the kitchen for cookbook and utensil overflow. I think grandma would approve.
After I dug out the sanders and began to liberate the the wood from the years and years of varnish
and oil that had been applied, the wood was in good shape. Very few dents, scratches and what you
would expect for a piece so old and moved from room to room in our house.
My first thought was I would never be able to break it down without destroying it. After sanding for a
while I could see with a little patience and careful work I could take it completely apart. Luck of the Irish
comes in so handy sometimes. ;-)

Thank goodness for clamps that can be used as spreaders. They were the ticket for this.
Notice the little wheels, they are wooden.

Now on to what was under all the years of crud and stains.

After sanding the sides of the top I found the top was made of 4 seperate pieces, no big surprise.
What did surprise me was that instead of being straight edged and glued up, the pieces were T-G.
Small T-G I might add. I didn’t know they made T-G that small. I tried to get pictures, but I dont have
micro on my camera.

Well after a few hours and several pieces of sandpaper and a quick assembly I just had to know what it all looked like so far. I used up all my patience supply on taking it all apart. LOL

Ok now lets speed up time a bit. I started out at about 7 a.m. and had it all broke down. sanded, cleaned
off and all dust removed. Its about 5 p.m. and I have one coat of wipe on poly on everything except the
drawer fronts.



Now for tomorrow challenge, redo the drawer sides, end, and bottom. I would love to replace
the drawer sides with oak, but poplar will have to do since I have it on hand. More to come.
Not to bad for one days work. Now to catch up on not eating lunch or even taking a tea break.

]]> Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:25:13 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/irishhandyman/blog/5111 irishhandyman A humble start http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/irishhandyman/blog/4548 Well the day started with a request from my much better half for a book shelf for our bedroom. She said there was no hurry and just something to put the National Geographics in. Or as my son used to call them National Pornographics.

I was thinking about what wood I had laying around and it come to mind I had some 8’’ and wider hickory and some White Oak. I set down and after about 15 mins. I had a plan of attack. Just a 5’ tall, 22’’ wide and 8’’ deep. No back, just a 5 shelf unit. The lumber was already planed to 13/16’’ and straight egded on one edge. All clear and pretty straight grain. I go to the basement which is my lumber storage for now, I pulled some Oak out and checked to see if it was still straight and true, to my surprise it was.

I pulled out 3 pieces of lumber and took it to my Huge 9X12 storage shed/work shop. After unlocking the shop I looked over to the pick up and noticed it was time to go to the dump. Thinking back she did say she wassnt in a hurry for that book shelf so I came back in, got the keys and off I went.

I bet the guys at the dump got a real kick out of watching this 5’3’’ 135 lb guy push a 30 year old tube type organ off the side of a pick up truck. Up and over it went and as soon as it hig the ground there was this explosion of wood, tubes, wires and things I have no ideas what they were.

Now back to the project at hand. After cutting the end pieces to approx length came the tricky part, Dados.
Since Makita no longer makes the dado blade that fits my new saw I cant cut a dado wider than 1/4’’. The plan I had made called for 3/4’’.

Well after doing one side and having to create a jig to do the bottom shelf dado and only having 24’’ of extension on the right of my blade I am wore out. I will take some pictures tomorrow. I think I can get the Micro lens to work good. May need it for the shop photos. Other than the fact it takes 3 passes to do one dado I am pleased so far. Now to bed I go to dream of building a set of kitchen cabinets in my new 24X24
wood shop with new tools.

]]> Sun, 04 May 2008 03:05:20 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/irishhandyman/blog/4548 irishhandyman