I had the drill right alongside my head and as I drilled, my long hair became entangled in the armature of the drill. I stopped the drill immediately and ran with the drill held tightly to my head through the rain to the house to enlist my husband’s assistance. I assured him I was not hurt; it was no worse than a tight hair permanent done by the students at the nearby School of Cosmetology. I had him remove the drill bit as I held the drill tightly to my head. We then proceeded to the bathroom for the haircut. Because it was so close to my head, the only scissors I had that was small enough was a tiny toenail scissors.

Once the drill was removed, he ran to the shop to get my glasses. Meanwhile, I began pulling the hair from the drill and I could feel the armature unwind, so I decided to plug in the drill and put it in reverse, and wouldn’t-you-know, the hair came right out. I ended up with an unnecessary haircut, but it was free. ;-) (My husband said he would never have risked reversing the drill with my head so tight to it.)

The blessing in all this is that I had forgotten my camera 100 miles away at my sister’s so I won’t have visual memories of this. (And as poor as my memory is, by the time I get the camera back I’ll forget to take a picture of the new hairdo!)

P.S. The valances are mixed media so I don’t know if I should show them in the projects.

We have learned more from this fine group of woodworkers in this one year’s time than we have in several years of reading woodworking magazines and stumbling around in the shop. We are truly amazed at the willingness of such fine craftsmen to take the time to teach us novices.

I joined a year ago because I wanted to enter my bookcase design in the Popular Woodworking magazine contest and their rules said it must be posted as a blog on LumberJocks. Little did I know at that time how beneficial this site would be! I had hoped to post a few projects and write some blogs but could not foresee the events that were soon to occur.

Along with the blessings of this past year have come many trials as well. My sister’s husband finally determined that he would have heart pump surgery to sustain him until he could get a heart transplant. Even though he was finally upgraded to top priority for 30 days near the end of January, he did not get a heart and is again on a lower priority. But PTL he is doing quite well with the heart pump.

Shortly after joining LumberJocks, my husband’s brother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and in mid-November returned from his retirement in Arizona to Wisconsin for cancer treatments. We spent weeks preparing our shop space for his “apartment” so he could have some privacy. As his condition worsened, we had to move him to an apartment nearer the hospital.

Then just days after happily celebrating my mother’s 90th birthday on New Year’s Eve (without my brothers present), my younger brother was diagnosed with glioblastoma – the most aggressive form of brain cancer. My older brother returned from Florida to be with the family when the tumors were removed surgically. My brother has completed his first full round of radiation and chemotherapy simultaneously and will have an MRI in mid-April to see if the tumors have returned.

Because of these complications, very little time has been spent woodworking. It has been hard to get back into the swing of things even though the shop is again available. We recently purchased several used tools (which I hope to eventually review) which were rather abused by the previous owner and need some work before putting to use.

During all of this chaos, I did begin reupholstering a wing chair (which should have been taken to the dump). I have managed to rebuild the broken back and reinforce the legs. I also had to add parts to two legs and carve a new foot on one. Maybe I’ll show it when it is done—“mixed media”. ;-)

We have enjoyed “keeping in touch” with all you LumberJocks by just viewing all the fabulous craftsmanship that is displayed on this site. It should be an inspiration for us to get back into the shop and create sawdust. Right now my husband is creating plenty of sawdust – but with the chainsaw – getting firewood ready for winter 2010-11 . . . and maybe in the process he will find a few trees that aren’t riddled with worm holes that we can saw for lumber again.

Thank you to all you LumberJocks who have been such an encouragement to us when we have posted projects and blogs. We do appreciate your helpful answers to our questions along our woodworking journey.

“Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:5-7 (TEV)

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” James 1:2-3 (NASB)

After thinking on the arch design for a period of time, I decided that I would like to incorporate the fluting and rosettes into the design. I redesigned it on SketchUp and my husband and I decided the design might block too much light.

He suggested that I use a carved onlay (in place of the raised panel) and figure a way to mount it without a backing. I decided to make the bottom arched piece narrower than originally planned to go with the more delicate look. We ended up with this design.

I made the keystones for the arch in much the same way that I made the corner decorations for my bookcase. There was just one catch. Since the bottom portion was angled, it raised it off the router table sufficiently that my router bits were not long enough to reach it. Since I didn’t wish to buy either longer router bits or a collet extension, I decided to cut a smaller piece and route the design. I then cut it off and glued it to the larger piece.

These pieces made the two keystones.

The rosettes and keystones were connected to the fluted pieces using biscuits. I also added a pockethole screw at the top edge of the keystone (behind the crown molding) to reinforce it. (Since the fluted pieces were only ½” thick, there wasn’t sufficient area to use pocketholes without the possibility of breaking through the front if I didn’t get it positioned perfectly. . . and perfect I am NOT!)

Here’s how I attached the onlays. I made a jig with a dado inside to screw around the onlay and drilled four holes on the drill press.

I then unscrewed the jig and cut off the bottom lip, lined it up with the fluted piece, clamped it in place, and hand-drilled through the same holes. (My mind told me this would work, but I double-checked on a scrap first to make certain the holes lined up correctly.)

I used 1/8” dowels inserted first into the onlay and then into the framework.

Last, I biscuit-joined the arches to the fluted pieces. The arches were the hardest part for me to do, even with the excellent instruction from Les Hastings who makes it all look so easy. I ended up ripping out grain on the routed edge, breaking pieces, and gluing on replacement parts. But in the end, it turned out satisfactorily (for my low standards. It would probably help if I used better quality lumber but I’ve gotten accustomed to filling worms holes :~) ! )

I glued the stock crown molding to the arch before installing it. When we lifted it into the window opening above the rangehood and went to tilt it upright, we realized that it was not a possibility. We struggled trying to get it back out of the opening, but we couldn’t get it out. We were frustrated; it was after bedtime, so I said I’d sleep on it and figure out what I wanted to do in the morning. (I envisioned having to remove the entire rangehood, along with some of the conduit and wiring.)

While my husband was at Bible study the next morning, I un-installed the little cubbies on either side of the rangehood, removed the front screws holding the shelf in place, and swiveled the shelf down sufficiently to get the window arch vertical. (Since I had made and installed the contraption, at least I could still remember how to get it back apart!) PTL!

The photo below shows the rangehood area and trim with cubbies.

This is a close-up photo of one cubby with its door open.

Here’s the window arch over the range—finally in place!

Installing the second arch over the sink was much easier since there were no obstacles with which to contend.

Thanks for taking a look.

As it seems with every project, there are always set-backs. I was nearly finished except for the bottom doors when I ran out of stain. The paint store that custom-mixed the stain is 35 miles away so I decided to experiment with dye.

Well, not on the bookcase, but on my hair. Do you like the results? When I finally got the stain and finished the doors, I had only three hinges for the bottom doors. The top doors were made with an additional ¼” added to make the doors 1” thick which sets into the face frame by ¼”. (This was done for added strength for the leaded glass I plan to make.) I had purchased the six top hinges, but there were only three bottom hinges (without the extra ¼” offset) at our local liquidator for 29 cents each or 4 for a $1.00. They have a few stores here in Wisconsin so I asked if they would check another store to see if they could match the hinge I was missing. My husband thought I was totally nuts for even asking but, PTL, they came through for me with the 29-cent hinge!

Here’s the final result, minus the leaded glass I hope to eventually make for the top doors.

The last photo is taken looking toward the kitchen island which I finished at the beginning of this year. (Maybe some day I’ll write a blog and show pictures of it, too.)

It has been three years of remodeling our kitchen, dining, and den . . . and it is actually nearing completion.

Thanks for taking a look!

I also cut a dado into the main carcass and inserted a “lip” into it as well.

We want to be able to remove this bookcase without demolishing it if it is ever necessary in the future so I needed to make the main bookcase portion removable. To be able to install it, there needed to be a slight gap between the crown and the bookcase. My initial design showed a ¾” half-round molding. I decided it would not allow sufficient room for attaching it so I redesigned a slightly larger molding.

Here’s the SketchUp model of the molding.

I made a small sample to see if it would tie the two parts together with enough room to attach it.

These are the steps I used to make the molding. After cutting a piece about 3¼” x 48” long to route the two pieces required: (1) Route the ”tambours” on my horizontal router set-up.

(2) Use a ¼” core box bit to route on either side of each ”tambour.”

(3) Split the two moldings on the table saw and trim them to width.

To make the corner decorations on the crown, I started with a 1¼” x 1¼” x 8” piece of oak and followed these steps: (1) Taper the last half inch on either end at 45 degrees.

(2) Set the 1/8” beading bit ½” high and remove the pilot. (3) Set the stop, cut and rotate four times; then swap ends and repeat. (4) Set 1/8” core box bit 5/16” high. (5) Repeat step #3. (6) Set 1/8” beading bit 3/16” high. (7) Repeat step #3.

Now, I need to get a photo developed of the close-up of the completed lighting section so you can see how it turned out. That’ll be my next blog.

Thanks for taking a look.

The next three pictures show the ductwork and the steps from paneling to painted drywall. The horizontal ducts were covered in oak with rails and stiles cut to enclose lighting panels to match the kitchen woodwork and lighting (not shown, around the corner to the left).

Next I began working on the crown to enclose the furnace air return. Because I didn’t wish to attempt using my husband’s spray rig for finishing the crown and I doubted that I could successfully finish it with the onlay glued in place, I decided to trace the onlay onto parchment covered with masking tape, cut it out, then peel and stick the masking tape to the oak crown.

After staining and varnishing the crown and onlay, I removed the tape, then glued and clamped the onlay in place, using boards cushioned with packaging wrap to keep from damaging the onlay. (I drilled a tiny little hole in an inconspicuous place on each end and pinned the onlay in place, leaving the pins proud so I could pull them out when the glue dried.)

The onlay was slightly warped so I was concerned about getting it to lie flat.

I added a 3¼” standard stock crown molding to finish it off at the ceiling.

I have no idea what kind of wood the onlay is, but it was within my budget so if anyone asks why I didn’t use oak, I can just say that I was going for contrast!

Next I built the carcass with raised panels on each side. I attached the front to the sides using splined miters. The face frame was assembled using pocket-hole screws. (I didn’t remember to take photos at this step.)

[All this uploading takes forever with dial-up, but I’ll try to continue this blog in the near future.]

The close-up of the crown shows the area for built-in lighting which is simply a 36” fluorescent striplight with a drop-in panel to hide it. This crown is 18” deep by 12” high. The crown molding at the top is standard stock approximately 3¼”. The lower crown molding is also standard stock approximately 2¼”. The front of the crown is decorated with a carved onlay.

The two corner pieces at the bottom of the crown are simply 1-3/8” x 2¼” with a series of beaded roundover and cove cuts with the router.

The top doors could be plain glass or a single pane of textured glass. (I’m planning to make leaded glass panels to insert into the doors, so for strength I might build the top doors from thicker oak with a rabbeted inset so they protrude the same ¾” as the lower raised panel oak doors.)

The proportions used on the bookcase were chosen to complement the kitchen island/bookcase which I recently completed (I hope to eventually blog it); to allow for repeating similar glasswork as the dining cabinets in the same room; and to fill the available space below the ductwork.

The bookcase is 38” wide by 12” deep by 72” high. (The 12” depth was chosen so the approximately 10½” interior depth is sufficient for a 3-ring binder but not so deep as to lose smaller books in the back.)

The seam between the crown and bookcase is concealed with ¾” half-round molding. (I’m using this molding on mine to allow for about ¼” gap between crown and bookcase so that I can slide the bookcase under the crown which is attached to ductwork enclosure and wall.)

The face frame is joined with pocket holes, then joined to the sides with splined miters. One shelf in the lower cabinet is adjustable, as are two shelves in the top portion. The doors and side panels are routed using rail/stile and raised panel bits.

This is a view of the finished bookcase which will be stained a medium oak color to match my cabinets.

“SketchUp file”: http://www.box.net/shared/5nis13jnog