littlecope's Blog at LumberJocks.com

Year One...

littlecope — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:50:12 GMT

The little counter thingy tells me it’s been 1 year since I joined Lumberjock’s… What a year it’s been!!
I’ve seen more creativity and talent in that time then in all my previous 50 years combined! What a place this is!! And the people… You are the nicest, kindest, most warm-hearted group assembled on the internet, hands down. You are all like family to me, you truly are… And so, to you, to me, to Martin (who makes this all possible), and to all those wood workers yet unmet, God Bless Us All!! And Work Safe for Heaven’s Sake!! P.S. The Kool-aid is on me… :)

Apartment Projects #3: A Better Entrance

littlecope — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:09:43 GMT

One of the very first things I noticed moving in over ten years ago was that the porch entrance had no screen door!! I arrived here in mid-January, in the dead of Winter, so it wasn’t an immediate issue, but it was on the top of my priority list for that coming spring. There are too many beautiful days, when it’s nice to be able to throw open the windows and doors and let some fresh air in. Of course, I didn’t want to also let in every manner of flying insect, cats, bats, etc. so I considered my options. I could have asked the Landlord for a new one, which would have been greeted with a lot of hemming and hawing, and with the end result of me getting one of those Aluminum jobs that I really can’t stand and that don’t really match the age of the building (1920-ish). Or I could have made “something”. But I didn’t have the wood, or the tools at the time to fabricate a proper door…
What I really wanted was what my Parent’s have on their entrances:
The Red-painted door pictured, is one of the old wooden doors with interchangeable screen and paned glass inserts. What were my hopes of getting one of them…?
Actually, not that bad!! Near where I live, there was a place called Vermont Salvage, a place that bought up bits and pieces of buildings that were being demolished. They’ve since moved across town, because their own place was demolished for a highway-widening project, but what a place it was to browse through!! Around every corner, big and small treasures from the past were to be found! A friend of mine bought a pedestal sink for a bathroom re-model he was doing at his folk’s house, cost him about $50…
Anyway, after measuring the door frame, I took my tape measure there to see if they might have something… What they had was about 40-50 screen doors of varying size and condition, but one of the last ones I looked at was exactly what I was looking for! It even measured right!! I selected it, and rummaged through their hardware and found some hinges to match (they even had the screws taped to them!), and a knob and locking mechanism. Brought it to the front desk, fearing the dent this was going to put in my wallet, but the total cost was only $65!! Whatever people say about me, or what I sometimes think, I guess I was born lucky!! As I said, this place was just down the street, and I was fully prepared to carry it home, but who comes driving by but my Dad, taking his F-2 Pick-up out for a spin!!
What Luck!! He gave me a ride back with it and within an hour, after mortising for and attaching the hinges, I had this:
Not bad, huh? And I didn’t have to shave a whisker off of it to get it to fit!
The screen insert needed a little work, it had been pushed in on the bottom by a small child or dog, so at first I just tacked some thin plywood on the inside to cover that section. When I made the flag cases I bought a 3’ X 4’ piece of lexan and had a large section leftover, so when I got around to replacing the old screen with new, I made a protective barrier for the outside, complete with slots so as not to impede the air circulation.
This will keep inquisitive cats from screwing up the screen and kids from pushing on it…
When I got the thing, I also needed some method for it to be self-closing. I devised a way that uses the same force that wants to keep me in bed in the morning, gravity. Using nothing more than a sash weight, sash pulleys, and a little bit of clothes line that I had kicking around, that simple task was achieved…
It has a dog leash quick-release hook on the end so I can disable it if I’m moving something in or out…
And there you have it. Aren’t the landlords (I’m on my fifth owner in ten+ years!) going to be surprised when I move someday and take MY door with me?! :)

Shaped Wooden Hinges #2: The Cutting

littlecope — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:39:00 GMT

Yesterday the first installment ended with all the holes having been drilled for the two pairs of hinges
It’s all Scroll Saw work from here! I took a few minutes first to police the area though. It had gotten a little out of hand, even for me!!
The work begins with slicing off the waste area which exposes the side drilling.
Next is the beginning of the shaping. Side cuts first. These are a bear to cut!! Scroll Saws are not Chop Saws! They’ll do this sort of cutting, through about 1 1/2” of Oak, but it’s a slow affair…I feed it rather than push it, if that makes any sense, at times releasing all pressure so the blade can realign. Always pushing straight into the teeth, trying to avoid attempting to “curl” around the blade…
There was a fella on here a couple weeks ago who asked for advise about using the Scroll Saw to cut Chess pieces and I never got around to giving him any. But, aside from the good advice he did get, I had wanted to explain that it would be better to cut them in series like I’m doing here with these hinges. The reason I didn’t offer the advice was because I thought it would be easier to see it, rather than have it described…The work piece is larger, and gives more leverage. There’s a lot of force generated on that tiny blade, and trying to cut them individually would be almost impossible!
Anyway, side cuts first, working from the end, right on down…I put the blade in the access hole between the pair and cut out one way, but stop short of cutting all the way through as close as I dare, about 3/16” left. I drilled escape holes at the end of these cuts. Get there, escape, back to the ‘tween hole, and cut down the length of the other side of the hinge. “Escape” again, back to the ‘tween hole, and I back the blade into the cuts already made and cut the inside shape of the hinge “barrel”...
Keep in mind, I haven’t cut “through” anywhere yet. When those cuts were done, I glanced at the bottom… the cuts reminded me of Frog Eyes…
After the side cuts are made, come the top cuts, and a return to normalcy as far as the cutting demands I’m asking of my poor old Scroll Saw… I again cut starting from the end, and working my way down, and cutting the parts almost, but not completely, out…
With all of the clearing cuts made…
It’s a pretty simple matter to go back one last time, starting from the end, and make the parting cuts…
The whole procedure is like drawing, drilling, and carefully cutting, and then saving the piece that falls off, rather than the one you’ve been working on and trying to get right!! But here’s the result, with the scraps arranged like they were and the desired shapes beside them…
You’ll note there’s still a section uncut on the top half of the hinges. I removed that by simply using the corresponding cut-out, which gave me enough size and stability, when mated with the hinge top, to finger clamp and remove with the scroll saw… The 1/4” carriage bolt, and section thereof, help tremendously in the next step which is fitting them together…
This is accomplished by placing the “Strap” end of the bottom half of hinge into the vise and working it with a file until, well, until it works!! It takes a while… But I start rounding the bottom one, and rounding the top one, and trying to fit the bolt through. When I can fit the bolt through, I work at filing the whole rotation of the thing…
In use, it’s only going to turn 90 degrees (Man, I wish I knew how to make diacritical marks on these computers!) but it has to turn the full 180. If it didn’t, the rotating part inside the barrel would butt up against the box, and I’d be in a world of trouble…
As i said it takes a while, but don’t be afraid! File away!! These things are amazingly resilient! Keep an eye on the mating halves though, you don’t want to take off all the wood on one, without an equal amount being taken off of the other. There’s also this, if they don’t wholly mate, you may have to deepen the “throats” of the things…
But, ultimately, the mating was achieved and there came the moment of truth, when I tapped in the 1/4” dowel…
I like to use the wooden mallet for this, there’s just a better “feel” to it. I tried something I had thought of before this time too, I rubbed the end of the dowel on a bar of soap, in hopes that it would slide easier…Frankly, I didn’t notice any difference…It taps in either way just fine…
I did not glue this. There’s no need. Plus, if at some later point I wanted to change the wooden pin to brass rod, I can simply tap these out…
Trim the pin to length…
Some final half-round and flat filing and sanding action and Voila!!
Thanks for joining me on this adventure! This whole side “part” of a project is very time consuming and only you can decide whether it’s worth the effort or whether your time is too valuable to waste on such an endeavor… but the results are impressively strong, somewhat pleasing to the eye, and the cost is virtually nothing… :)

Shaped Wooden Hinges #1: The Drilling

littlecope — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:07:35 GMT

People seemed to like the hinges I made for the last box,
so I thought I’d take a few minutes and share how I made them. Like most stories, we begin at the beginning…
with the wood!!
It’s a leftover scrap of Oak from when I made the two flag cases. It has a groove cut in it, and I’m not going to use that section, but for now I’m going to leave it intact, for two reasons: #1) That side is nice and flat and #2) When I drill in through the side of this piece, I’ll be able to stop in that waste section and not have to “bust out” through the bottom…
I start by marking a line on the side, easily done with a piece of 1/4” blue acrylic I have kicking around…
This is the only really critical marking in the whole operation, the hinges, of course, have to be in line. I make four pilot “dimples” with an awl along that line to guide a 1/4” drill…
These will eventually be for the pivot pins.
I then draw the hinges on the side and on the top using my old drafting circle template. These could be made in any shape, I’m going with a simple design. If the circles don’t look entirely concentric it’s okay! I’m cutting them a little large because they need to be hand fit lastly anyway…
I then drill access holes for the scroll saw work later using a drill large enough to accommodate the pinned blades I use. First the sides,
Then the top…
The next step I don’t have a picture for but is pretty straight forward. The top half of the hinges has to be free floating, which means it’s necessary to enlarge it’s hole. The next drill size up I have is a 5/16”. That would be a whole 1/16” of play, too “sloppy”!! So when I visited my folks yesterday, I took the opportunity to use my Dad’s 9/32” drill and drill press to accomplish the task…
Which brings us to the last ten holes, the holes for the 1/8” pins which will attach these hinges to their intended box. These I’ll drill using a slightly under-sized 7/64” drill which, unbelievably, I have!! When I attach these to the box, I’ll glue first, wait for that to set then drill with an 1/8” through the hinge and into the box. Pre-drilling will hopefully cause less stress on these tiny parts.
First I mark them, again, scoring with the Awl to start the drill in the proper location And there you have it, Swiss Cheese!!
I counted 38 different holes, in four different sizes, from two sides of the wood, but I’ll need every one of them!! If all this seems a little hazy, believe me, the smoke will clear in the next installment, “The Cutting”. :)

Apartment Projects #2: An Ugly Situation

littlecope — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:33:25 GMT

Welcome to my prehistoric bathroom! When I first moved in, over ten years ago, this is what I was faced with
I’d wager that even the most experienced remodel Pro never saw an arrangement like that! Ugh-ly!!
Incredibly, it actually works like a charm, so the idea was to disguise it. I don’t like to put holes in the wall of a place I don’t own and ended up making a sort of trestle shelf that slides in between the tub and the wall. This strangely shaped contraption is what I came up with…
Originally made entirely of particle board, the top got swollen from water and needed to be replaced. When somebody threw away a table, I took the opportunity and sliced a piece off the table top and “slapped” it in…
Here’s how it looks today, in place, with an old bandanna covering the outlet pipes
It still isn’t pretty, but it’s very useful, and certainly better than staring at the pipe… :)

Apartment Projects #1: Million Dollar Idea...

littlecope — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:06:33 GMT

How many of us have one of these somewhere in their home?
Yeah, I thought so, almost everyone. Am I the only one, or do other people have a hard time remembering which pull is for which? 50-50 chance and I was forever picking the wrong one!
About 5-6 years ago I was visiting a friend and she had one too, with one pull marked with an ornament. I asked whether the marked one was for the light or the fan and she said she forgot! Well, I said to myself, this is ridiculous! So I gave thought to scrolling out something to define the pulls once and for all…
My first thought was just to cut the words “Light” and “Fan” out of a couple pieces of scrap, but how would that help someone illiterate or who spoke a different language?
Anyway, I went to work that night and as luck would have it there was a bulb out in the basement of the restaurant. I went to get a new one to change it, and there…on the side of the box…was a little cartoon of a light bulb! A light bulb went off in my head and I had the answer, at least for the light pull. I thought about a small propeller type thing for the fan but didn’t think it would wear well with constant yanking…
Ultimately, I came up with these:
I could have tied them to the string, but I was too lazy to try to untie the loop, so I just made a couple of quick fishhooks out of a clothes hanger. Life couldn’t be better now…It’s amazing how good it is when the simplest little nuisance problem is resolved, permanently! And everybody that sees them wants some for their own! You guys and gals that work the fairs and such ought to bang out a bag full of these! They cost next to nothing to make, and I would think people would think nothing of giving you a five or ten spot for them…$$$$ :)

Shop Projects #1: A Fair Idea Made Better

littlecope — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:34:12 GMT

I had finagled this set-up to obtain a “taller” fence on the table saw.
While this did work, it left much to be desired, and today I took a few minutes to make a more permanent solution. It couldn’t be simpler…
I quickly gave the same drawer fronts used in the temporary set-up a rough sanding, then marked approximately where I wanted bolts with chalk
I then bored out some shallows for the bolt heads
Then clamped up the two sides in preparation for drilling
All that was left was to put in some spacer blocks, which I screwed in from the back
And there you have it!
It’s on there good and tight, is still able to be moved for width adjustment, and doesn’t interfere with the fence clamp either! Simple! :)

Just for Fun... #5: Strong to the finish

littlecope — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:38:04 GMT

There hasn’t been a lot to report on this lately. We’re talking finishing here and it’s pretty droll stuff.
If you recall we left off here
Now my Dad had a great suggestion regarding the prominent “stripes” on the lid, which are, of course, merely leftover stain in the hollows of the contour. He said, “You ought to paint them. Paint them black. Shiny black..”
And so I did
I actually painted them again the following morning after this. The first coat just didn’t have the “gleam” I was looking for. After that dried, I began applying clear gloss polyurethane.
I’m sure there’s probably about the same number of ways of doing this, as there are people inclined to do it, but I’ve had pretty good luck with spray-on for small applications like this. This part of the story is a little bass ackwards but, if you’ll bear with me, all will become clear…
I began by making an aluminum foil pan and placed the box in the middle on the floor.
Beginning with the bottom side, I spray a light coat from one direction, then the opposite direction, then alternate the two side directions and then between those four…In other words, from the north, then the south, east, and west, and then from SE, NW, NE, and finally from the SW. This, as I say, is a light coat, a kind of soaking-in type of thing. I set the kitchen timer for 20 minutes and when it goes off I repeat the same light coat again…20 timed minutes after that, I do it one last time, only a heavier application. No sanding involved between coats. I checked it one last time before going to bed that night and was satisfied…
Now for the backwards part. The original idea for the paint pan came from actual pans, restaurant sheet pans to be exact. I used to have 4-5 of them but somehow they didn’t make the move with me 11 years ago. When I apply this it stinks up the apartment for days, so I resolved to ask at work, to see whether they’d let me take one of their older beat-up ones home. They did and I did, and I finally got back to my original procedure!
Yeah, Baby!! Cooking with gas now!! The advantage here is that I can do it on the porch and then move the whole procedure anywhere. Here I’ve got it on the gas on gas stove. There’s no heating necessary this time of year, but the pilot inside keeps it just warm enough to help with the drying…
When I first used a “Paint Pan” in this fashion, I made a startling discovery. The lip of the pan stops the over spray almost dead in its tracks! I don’t know where it goes, probably back in my face, but hardly anywhere else…Maybe this is common knowledge, but it wasn’t to me…
Like I said, droll stuff…
Anyway, spent the last few days doing the four sides
I’m slathering it on pretty heavy, as you can see. I did the last side an hour or two ago and should be able to do the top tonight…There’s still a little work to be done inside but this will be a project post next time you see it…
If anybody actually read this, Thanks, and I hope you had as much fun as I did, both in the making and the sharing. If anybody has questions, comments, or criticism, fire away!
As an aside, I’m headed up to our State Capitol Concord for a few days. There’s a rumor that there is a craft shop up there that is selling small wooden boxes for $450 a pop! This I gotta see!!! :)

Just for Fun... #4: Winding down to the finish...

littlecope — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:26:21 GMT

When we left this last, the box proper was all but done.
It’s time for the mundane, but important, little details. I’m sure the observant amongst you have noticed all the “bust outs” from when I used the table saw to mill slots for the top and bottom panels. You were probably LOL@ me! The next step addresses them.
I have a plethora of small, cut-out, leftover fingers
and begin by splitting them into approximate size with my little mini-froe; an old knife style paint chipper.
Then it’s a simple matter of sanding them, in much the same way as we used to create points on popsicle sticks when we were kids, until they fit.
Before you start ROTFL, consider this: this is exactly how it was done for centuries, before the invention of the router, or indeed electricity. The old-timers with their plow planes didn’t worry about “running out” the ends, because this was a planned step in the process anyway. This can be seen frequently in older house windows. Older window frames that rattle sometimes are caused by these tiny chinking blocks having fallen out, through the slamming of the window or simple shrinkage.
In any event, I apply the smallest dab of glue on these to increase my odds of them staying in place! After I’ve done a couple sides
I saw and file them flush, and go on to finish the last two sides…
Which leads to the last strictly building part of all this fun I’ve been having! I want to make some inserts to insure that the lid sits positively on the box, without sliding off. I don’t have anything thin and wide enough, other than ply, so I’m going to mill a lower riser and top it off. I still have a few scraps left of a nice thick slab of pine given to me by my Brother, and I’ll begin by drilling a mess of shallow holes along the cut line.
The reason for this becomes apparent after it’s sawn
This will give a scalloped effect to the topmost one.
I install these by simply measuring to length
and cutting
This is not fine joinery!!! But I do want them to interlock and the technique is the same. I first mark the depths, using the pieces themselves
Then I scribble where I want to cut
And Voila! Interlocking Inserts!
This was the bottom riser set and I repeat the process with the “fancy” scalloped edged ones that I had prepared until, Presto!!
A little bit of clean up and final sanding and this is ready for the “finishing department”, which is located on the floor behind me… :)

Just for Fun... #3: Hey, there's a box here!

littlecope — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:53:29 GMT

These so called quick, knock off little jobs always seem to end up taking longer than expected! But Life and responsibilities call and can’t be ignored…and it’s all good, because the FUN is prolonged!!
When we left this last, I had just marked the strips of Mahogany for the bottom panel.
One night this week I took an hour and went ahead and cut them out and fitted them in the same manner as the top.
I also marked and cut the top corners (sorry about the blurriness but this is a flashback sequence from the other night LOL)
I spent a little time matching up the contours and they’ll need a little more work, but it’s time to make this baby! I delineated the top last night, both with and without using a quarter, with equal success. The curve was just-right to rest the fingers of my pencil hand against.
As you can see, the whole “curve” following idea is being continued in the part, top from bottom. I then took it apart once more, for the last time, and cut the sides of the box with the thinnest scroll saw blade I have. Then reassembled the top, clamped it up, and drilled holes for the dowel pins.
Of course to do that, I had to set my “depth stop” again.
As an aside to Dick & Barb Cain, who asked about this method, I was thinking of you guys this week and took some snapshots to let you know where I’m coming from. My Dad’s Drill Press
which he purchased in 1966, and is the one he taught me how to use, has exactly the arrangement you described
Knurled knobs, even a floating washer in between. The one I have, that my Dad bought me for Christmas in 1993
looks like a toy in comparison. My Dad was miffed about it because he spent considerably more $$$ and got considerably less machine. Granted it was “60’s money compared to “90’s, but still…
In any event, here’s the arrangement on the “new & improved” model
So I seldom use it, needing two wrenches, and three hands to adjust it isn’t worth the time…
Anyway, holes drilled, pegs tapped in, I trim the excess
and after cleaning the corners, a box is born!!
There is still quite a bit more fun to be had finishing this project, and incorporating another great idea that my Dad had (which will be revealed later), but it’s customary for me to take this moment to erase any “witness” marks and to date and initial this latest member of the “family”. :-)