Spackle & Sawdust

It’s been a very busy past couple of months. I’ve built a couple more mantels that I still need to post some pics of and in my “day job” we’ve moved offices…which meant a great deal of planning and work on setting up a new server room. I also had the Woodcraft Magazine article matted. Clearly it wouldn’t do to purchase a frame for an article about a woodshop, so I whipped one together in the shop.

The base frame is popular veneered with resawn Cocobolo and trimmed with Panga-Panga. The Cocobolo’s been sitting around the shop, around 20 or so bd ft that was misshipped to me some years ago. I figured this was as good a use as any! The frame itself isn’t terribly intricate, but this was only the second project I actually designed in the shop “on the fly.” It was a great deal of fun and I think it came out rather nice. The finish is a bit rough since I really wanted to deliver it on a specific date and had to rush in the end..but I think it works.

It’s been a bit crazy around here.

Work (at my “real job”) has been hectic and busy …a good thing…, I’ve started back to school to finally finish a software engineering degree ...another good thing…, and now I’ve been contacted by a designer specializing in fireboxes and mantles who’s sending work my way …a very good thing.

The first piece she sent me is called the Staub Mantle. This is a painted piece, more of what I would consider carpentry than fine woodworking, but it was a fun piece to build nonetheless. One of the best parts of this particular job was it gave me an excuse to finally buy an Earlex HV5000 HVLP sprayer (review to come) to paint it. Since it was shipped, I had to crate is up as well…another first for me.

I think it came out pretty well…

Staub Mantle

Crated

I’ve finally had a chance to clean the shop…so I took some time this evening to “photosynth” it. Click the image below for the result and let me know what you think!

What a blast!

Last Friday, Woodcraft Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jim Harrold spent the day visiting my workshop to supervise a photo shoot of the shop for an upcoming issue. With him was Chicago-area photographer Mike Crews, his assistant John, and numerous road boxes filled with some pretty slick photography gear.

Left to right: Mike, photographer; me; Jim Harrold, Woodcraft Magazine, assistant John(?)

A Dust-free Dust Collection System

The process actually began the day before the shoot. Thursday afternoon, Jim stopped by, followed shortly by Mike. After introductions, they surveyed the space. Mike was pleasantly surprised by the lighting situation and they continued to plan for the next day. Though I had spent nearly every spare moment the previous week preparing the shop, I still found myself working late Thursday night, per their request, vacuuming dust off of my dust collection piping! Seriously.

My shop hasn’t been this clean since the day it was completed!

Shooting the drill station

Wide Angle

After a couple “welcome” shots of me standing in the entryway, Mike shot some overviews of the shop. While I’m not completely unaware of modern photography, I’d never before realized just how effective a good wide angle lens could be. My shop is only 14′ x 22′. In the past when I’ve attempted to capture a general “overview” of the space, I’d been frustrated by my inability to get much of the shop “in the shot” from within. Typically, when I think of a “wide angle” lens, highly distorted images come to mind. I think “fish-eye”. Consequently I was seriously amazed at how he could include all of the machines on the North wall in a shot with the camera aimed mainly west/northwest, with no obvious distortion. Brilliant! They then moved on to close shots highlighting some of the specific fixtures Jim plans to highlight in the article.

Outer Space

After lunch, the morning clouds had dissipated and we were enjoying a gorgeous, sunny afternoon. One of the shop’s features I’m most pleased with is its external dust collection closet. By keeping the monster in it’s own heavily-insulated cell, both me and my neighbors are spared the bulk of the noise generated by its 3HP motor and the resulting rush of air. Shots of the way the shop and this system integrate into my modest suburban home were next on our list.

Mike carelessly ignoring the high-voltage warning stickers on the side of the power box on the corner of our lot.

Dressers

From there, it was back indoors. This time, we moved Mike’s gear to the kid’s rooms to shoot some of the pieces I had built for them. Sadly we only had time for two of the three dressers — Annalise’s Butterfly Inlaid Dresser and Nathan’s Cherry and Walnut Dresser. My comment to Mike: these pictures look nicer than the pieces!

I sure do wish I could have shots like this take of everything I build. Sigh.

It’s a Wrap…

By 4PM it was “in the can” so to speak. Mike loaded his gear and Jim packed up for the airport. I had a great time with this. Jim is a very down to earth and incredibly interesting guy with a long list of accomplishments — and the stories that invariably go with them.  Mike’s knowlege and skills were impressive, though what impressed me most of all was the way Jim and Mike worked together as if they were longtime partners, though they’d just met for the first time the day before.

Thanks to Jim, Mike, John and the folks at Woodcraft Magazine for this experience!

UPDATE

I forgot to mention that I was informed that the issue these shots will appear in will be out sometime in October/November timeframe.
See also: http://tenonandspline.com/blog/archives/188

My little shop got a workout this weekend when gal pals Kathy, Cathy and Tracy spent Saturday building new cabinet doors. “The Angels,” as they’re known to workout pals, picked up irons of the domestic variety to apply preglued birch edgebanding to simple plywood doors for a client of Kathy’s. I think Charlie would have approved.

Sabrina, Jill and Kelly

This past Christmas, Santa brought me a Shark Guard. I used it to complete Nathan’s crib,  but knew I’d need to get it properly mounted before the next project. So I bought a 6′ length of 1″ square tube steel, a metal cutting blade for the jigsaw, and a bag ‘o 5/16 nuts, washers and bolts. I would have much preferred to weld it together, but since I don’t own the equipment or know anyone who does, that just wasn’t going to happen.

The overarm design is about as simple as they come and there’s really not much to say about its construction that isn’t fairly obvious from the photos. The arm hinges on a bolt through a couple mending plates attached to the fixed part of the bar and is held upright by an eyebolt inserted just behind the hinge point.

Hinge and Arm Lock

The trickiest part was bolting the dang thing to the brick wall on the right side of my table saw. The bricks are fairly brittle and soft and before this project I’d had mixed results using tapcon screws. Thankfully, expansion anchors did the trick.

The hose is held on by simple zip ties.

In position

Up and out of the way

It’s been difficult finding time to complete this project.

When you come home after work to two toddlers, a baby and an exhausted wife, it’s extremely difficult to then suggest you’d like to head out to the shop for a couple hours! “Disappearing” into the shop on weekends can be equally problematic. Nevertheless, we worked out a plan and I finally managed to make the time to get this crib done…and none to soon with Nathan now just over 3 mos. old!

I didn’t take many “in progress” shots — partially due to the time constraints, partially because while the build was “spread out,” there weren’t that many hours or steps,  and partially because being the my third crib, and second project with curved legs, there were fewer unique and interesting shots to take.

Modifications

The crib itself is based on the very popular “Heirloom Crib” plan from Wood. I’ve made a couple modifications to make it better match the dresser. These include broader, thicker end caps with a chamfer matching the dresser’s top, “cloud lifts” on the bottom of the ends, and curved “gumby” legs.

One of the firsts for me with this project was the joinery of the end caps. The purchased plans call for a double cap — the bottom piece is glued and screwed into the ends and the top is then simply glued on top of it. As I wanted this to match the dresser, I needed to do away with the bottom piece — but how to join the cap without using exposed screws? I briefly considered using screws and matching cherry plugs in the holes, but felt this would negatively impact the look. I ultimately decided to use dowels, something for various reasons I’d not done before. I purchased a $10 jig at Menards and cut matching holes for (5) 5/16″ dowels in each cap. This seemed to work quite well and I’m fairly confident will stand up over time.

Finish and Assembly

I sanded all the parts, prior to glue up, to 220. The first coat was a Watco natural Danish Oil. I then topped it with 3 light layers of Waterlox Tung-oil based sealer/finish. During assembly, I had some issues with the threaded inserts and the Cherry. I had no problem with the Maple version of this crib, but clearly these inserts are too coarse for use with Cherry. Even after enlarging the holes, they “mounded” the cherry and splintered the face somewhat as they drove, even with a caul clamped to the face around the hole. I’ll probably fix this with some sanding and new finish in a couple years before putting it in long term storage. For now, the hardware covers this issue and I couldn’t bear delaying the “rollout” any longer!

Installed

And here’s the finished crib in its natural habitat…

Hopefully he’ll sleep soundly in his new crib for at least the next 2 – 3 years!

Or, more accurately a “Shark Guard” by LeeWay Workshop.

Installation

I’ve only had the opportunity to install this today, so I haven’t really had a chance to put it through its paces. However, so far I am impressed. The improvised packaging the unit arrived in was demonstrative of its small shop origins; the actual contents, however, were not. Installation was straightforward using the directions provided on the site. They warned that some owners of my saw (Craftsman 22124) have experienced alignment issues. I encountered this as well — leading to a bit of extra time spent applying, as suggested, small bits of foil HVAC tape to the mounting bracket. A bit of trial and error and I was in business. That is, of course, only after applying the supplied “shark face” decals, natch.

The Shark Guard Installed On My Craftsman 22124

Impressive

Overall, this is a very impressive package. The unit I received is the version 9.4 — with the big 4″ dust port and anti-kickback pawls. It also includes 3 different splitter sizes. Two for use with the guard and one “Shorty Splitter” for cutting stock with the guard removed. Swapping out the splitters is a snap, quite literally, using the spring-loaded plunger. Pull a ring and lift out the current splitter and then just slide in the new one until it “snaps” into place. The snugness of the fit is adjustable via 4 small set screws using the hex key, provided (nice touch).

Anxious to try this out, I attached a 4″ hose to the dust port, locked the guard in place and reached for a scrap of MDF. With the DC running, I experienced 100% visible dust pickup. Awesome!

Time will tell just how practical this new device will be, but at this point I completely intend on making this a near permanent fixture on my saw, removed only when the cut demands. The next step will be to build a support arm for the DC hose that will swing away when necessary. My expectation is the Shark Guard will make for both safer and cleaner table saw cuts.

Thanks to Santa and Lee!

A large knot

After some searching, I found a few references to folks filling holes like this using “Pour on” epoxy, of the type you might use to encase small chatchkis in a bar top.

A Slow Leak

On the first pour, I found myself constantly “topping off” the depression. I would fill the knot, level it off and a couple minutes later, most of it had been absorbed into the knot. By the time it cured 24 hours later, there was only a thin layer of epoxy, coating, but not filling the knot hole.

Puzzled, I decided to simply pour again. This time it filled just fine. The next day, while moving the piece, I discovered the cause: the knot hole went clear through the board and the epoxy

Pour on epoxy

was leaking out the bottom! With the first coat effectively plugging the hole, the second coat filled it nicely and easily sanded flush (something I was a bit concerned about). The effect is exactly what I had hoped for.

My Favorite Finish

I spent quite a bit of time sanding this piece — and it still probably wasn’t enough. For the finish, I had purchased a wipe-on, “low sheen” Tung Oil-based finish. The first coat on the drawers resulting in less than spectacular results. Though each row was was made from a single board, a couple adjacent drawers were a noticeably different shade. This prompted a second, more vigorous round of hand sanding (and a few choice words). This time, they took the finish much more consistently. A week later I had built up 5 coats on all parts and was ready to attach the top and call this project “done.”

Amateur

3/4 View of Completed Dresser

I thought I’d put some pics of the new baby’s older siblings on top…in theater we called this “dressing the set”…

Drawer detail

I love my “new” drum sander.

I purchased the used machine for the purpose of sanding shop-cut veneers and inlay woods. However, with a 23-1/2″ capacity, it is capable of so much more. I first cut my teeth with this thing on the side panels. Now it was time to glue up the top — and I was really looking forward to seeing what it could do with the 21″ x 64″ x 1″ thick part.

Joining the top

I started by rough cutting and gluing up two 5/4 boards. Jointing an edge on these long, tall boards was a challenge on my 6-1/8″ Ridgid jointer’s 45″ table. One of the boards had a 1/4″ bow that simply couldn’t be removed on the short table, so I pin nailed it to a sacrificial scrap of 3/8″ plywood and ran it through the table saw.

It’s a “feature”

I had hand-selected three 5/4 cherry boards, nearly 80″ long for the top from Owl Hardwoods. The first one I chose was beautiful and featured numerous streaks/pitch pockets that I just love the look of in cherry furniture. Unfortunately I was unable to find a similarly figured board in the pile. The other two I selected were nice, but didn’t match the beauty of the first…I figured I’d sort it all out in the shop. Well…the time had come and my dilemma was that the beautiful piece was a poor match for either of the others, and the other two, while a better match for each other didn’t match the beauty of the first. After much consternation, and a determination that I simply couldn’t afford to go back to the lot to find its perfect mate,  borrowing a term from software development, I decided that the mismatch should be a feature, not a bug.

I recall reading somewhere (maybe from David Marks?) that in a situation like this you should highlight the flaw…which has me now considering doing a simple inlay along the length of the joint. Perhaps in walnut and echoing the “cloud lift” (double, mirrored) from the front and side bottom apron? Or even something more “organic” (a river runs through it?).

Any opinions on that?

Dead Flat

Once the glue dried, I scraped and then planed the joint relatively flat and prepared to see how well the old Grizzly would handle the large piece. It took a bit of work just to place the machine in the room with >6′ of clearance on either side in my small shop…but in the end, I found the space. Since I was using nearly the full capacity of the sander, I was very nervous that it’d track a bit too far to either side and somehow ruin either the piece or the machine or both. While I did manage to brush up against the duct tape on one pass — resulting in the need to stop and re-secure the paper, I didn’t experience any significant issues. The front roller’s 100 grit paper loaded up enough to require replacement part way through the process, and I did notice some loading that I was unable to completely clean up on the edges, but overall this was an extremely satisfying experience with no burns or noticeable snipe and resulted in an absolutely dead flat top! Awesome!

My only issue was with the dust collection — for smaller pieces like the side panels, the collection was absolutely sufficient. However, with this piece, while there weren’t great clouds of dust or anything like that, I did wind up with a thin film of dust covering all of the shop surfaces. Prior to this, per a fellow LumberJock‘s recommendation, I had replaced the flexible hose that came with the sander with rigid PVC. I’m sure this helped, but it still couldn’t quite keep up.

After sanding, I routed a bevel around the bottom edge with a plunge router.

Winding down the build phase

Finally, I installed some small stop blocks on the dust panels behind the drawer fronts to prevent them from recessing too far into the carcass and some “tip blocks” at the top corners so the drawers won’t dip significantly when fully extended.

Next up: Inlaying the top(?) and then sanding, sanding, sanding and more sanding!