Kitchen samples 2

Bookcase "Hall-Tree???"

Please excuse the spots on the camera, it was cold and the camera fogged up when I went inside.


This is a bookcase/hall tree for the entry way of a clients vacation home in the Colorado Mountains. It is built entirely out of knotty Alder (Very popular for mountain cabins) the sides are one panel with two raised panels inside. The front coloms and the return are done with lock miters and the back is a solid beardboard panel. The finish is hand glazed and varnished. It stands 7' tall by 46" wide and 19" deep at the crown.










This picture is looking in through the main entrance. This peace had to be nice since it is the first thing you see when you walk in.













Here is a close up of the base trim, It is applied around the lock miter.














Hooks on a bookcase??? Why not, it's in the hall way....














This is a closeup of the top section of the bookcase. The main box top is attached to the main box. Another box is then built on top of that with a 3" over sized top to accommodate the crown. The top is finished since this piece sits at the bottom of a large staircase and the top is very vi sable as you descend.

Finish Complete with table

Here is the completed project. Here is the completed project.

kitchen bench complete (no finish)

Well, Here is the completed bench. This is too pieces that will be bolted together so it will be easier to move around.





I turned out to be a little trickier than I though it was going to be. The angles on the corner when you throw the pitch of the back of the bench makes it pretty tricky. It takes three cuts to get the proper pitch.



Here is a shot of the beadboard back. I did not like anything I could find commercialy so I made this with a molding head for the tablesaw.

I will post somemore photos when I get the finish complete, It is gong to be country black, antiqued. There is also a table that goes with it, but i have to decide on what I want to do.

Here is a shot of me working on the back panels, got my tunes on and I am ready to go :)

Jeep YJ Bumper w/ swingout tire carrier

I know it is not woodworking but deal with it.

This is a tire carrier for my 94 Jeep YJ. In the past I have not been able to carry a appropriate size spare since the stock rack will not hold 33" tires. So, I built this. It is still in progress since I am going to add a gerry can holder and a above tire rack for gear. I already mounted the high lift jack.

Kitchen corner bench and table

Country Kitchen Bench w/ Table.


Wednesday:

I got a couple of hours in today and was able to cut out the pieces for the Bench ends. Basically I made a template out of 1/2 inch MDF to form the backs, it also worked for the front legs since the bottoms are the same. I lightly nailed the form instead of using double stick tape since the finish is a painted product.





Once the template is attached I roughed out the workpiece on the bandsaw leaving about 1/8" from the template.









From the bandsaw to the router table....
I used a 3/4 x 1 1/2 flush trim bit to clean up the workpiece guiding the bearing on the template.









Once that was done I cut the rest of the stock for the ends.
and now I am ready to start the joinery in the morning. It should be an interesting day since I will have my three nephews staying at the house. We are all going camping tomorrow so they will be excited...



More to follow............



Thursday:


Well, like I said, a waste of another day. I spent a few minuets and cut out the mortises for the sides but that was about all I could do with four boys running around......

I made the mortises on the router table....



More to follow.........

Finished Cabinet

Here is a picture of the completed cabinet. It took me allot of trial and error on the finish for the tin but with some great advice from my friend Jim at Willow Creek Craftsman it came out pretty damn good.


He suggested that I put some base glaze with some black latex mixed in on the tin and then wipe it off to let it fill low spots and highlight the shapes. It made a big difference. The tin does not have as much detail or sharp edges as the old stuff but the match is pretty good....

New Saw, JTAS-XL 10"

Since I have been busy I have not had the opportunity to put any thing on here about my new saw. I got a Jet JTAS-XL 10" cabinet saw with the 56" fence and the sliding panel table. All this for 1200.00 and it is in great shape. It did take awhile to set up and I still need to build a mobile base so I can move it around the Garage. The problem I have is my garage has a huge pitch in it to the center for the drain. I am going to build a beefy base around the table and out to the left for the sliding table. I am going to make some new legs that are easy to adjust for under the fence extension table to the right....

John

Cabinet

So I finished up the construction on the Cabinet. Pine sucks, I think we have established that. Now I need to put the finish on it as well as figure out how to antique the tin panels.....

John

completed cutting board

Here is the completed project. I thought I would take a pretty picture and then go cut some beef, "It's what's for dinner"

John

Completed the case

Not much to look at, remember this is not my design, it is being built for a client. For what it is I guess I am pleased, it is square and the joints look good. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will make the doors and the top. This piece is to match some old furniture the client has in their bedroom. The tin in the old one is from a roof. They provided me with a close match, now I just need to make it look antiqued. I figure a base of blue paint followed by white before the blue is completely dry, wipe it all down and see what it looks like.

This project reminds me how much I hate working in Pine..... None the less one more project 100 things learned....

John...

A slow day ends in "ZEN"

After a long day of clamping up panels, ONE AT A TIME. I finished all but one (it is still drying) . You see I am breaking yet another cardinal rule and using my saw as my glue up table, ja gotta do what ja gotta do..... I was a little confused on a few steps so I had to turn to my trusty partner for some advice. As you see he was deep in thought for a good while before he said "Dude, you had my balls cut off!" and went back to sleep.

It was back to the slow process of glue up feeling even worse after receiving such deep in site.

So this really slow and mundane day suddenly took a turn for the better when I had to flush trim the faces on the panels. I reach for my 6 dollar garage sale Stanley block plane to get the job done. This is not a vintage plane but your regular old ace hardware model. I have not been to crazy about this planes performance in the past but always chalked it up to it being an el cheapo (four years of Spanish pays off) hand plane. About a week ago I spent an hour tuning the plane on my new JET slow speed sharpener, I trued the base, flattened the back of the knife, took it down to 27 degrees and made it shine like a mirror, then I put it away. Tonight, when I ran it over my project it hit me........ "ZEN" or at least for a woodworking geek like myself. For the first time I was making perfect passes end to end shaving perfect little Peyos or for you non east coasters, curly thingies... So with just a little effort a 6 dollar POS is now converted into a portable ZEN machine........ Ahhhhh

Gunny came in to check out my pile of shavings that I was so impressed with and said "Cool but, you cut off my balls!!!" and went back to sleep.

...John

Toy Cabinet for Joey

Here is the last project that I completed at the request of my wife Jackie. She came home with nine baskets and requested a cabinet to house all of my son Joey's toys. This is what I came up with. It was a good learning project since I made several mistakes that I will not make again.

1. I made the templates for the base out of MDF using various design jigs, this worked except for the fact I should have made one side only and mirrored it so they were perfectly symmetrical. (pointed out by dear old dad)

2. I did not leave a large enough reveal on the side rails to do the detailed trim I would have liked to have seen on the sides. Although, this worked out well since I made some neat tapered trim that I like.

3. last thing is the finish, I used a combo Polyshade from Minwax, I know, I know, if you are skipping a step it can't be good. Basically once you put that first coat on you can no longer balance it out the way you can with a normal stain. To top it all off, I had it in my garage and the door was accidentally opened and it loaded it with crap. All in all, the finish is not horrible and I am happy with the stain / basket match but I would have liked it to have been better. I figure since it is in my 2 year olds room it will need a new finish in a few years anyhow, I will deal with it then.

This was the first project that I did with my new jointer, a Grizzly 8" spiral head G0593 (now on sale for 100.00 less than I paid :( ). I really enjoyed using this tool, I had a ton of Oak in really poor shape that I milled up for this project, very satisfying tool...... (Tim Allen grunt).

I also decided to put a half blind Dovetail in the base, I used a Jet Jig and they came out perfect. I think I will try to do them by hand next time.

I am starting a piece of furniture in the morning for a client (yes and actual paying client) It is a cabinet that will house a safe on the bottom, stuff in the middle and a TV on top. They provided me with a cabinet door off of their old stuff so we shall see if we can get a close match, antique ceiling tin and all.

John

Wrapping up some cutting boards

Cutting Boards:

I just put the final coat of varnish on these cutting boards today (unfinished in picture). I will post a better picture when I pull them out in a few days.

I plagiarized this project from Marc over at the Wood Whisperer site. http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/

Check it out, Great site!!!!!

I made one extra to try out using different finishing techniques, mainly finishing without sandpaper. I used a hand plane and a card scraper. I was pleased with the results, I wound up with the equivalent of a 180 finish but I did hit it with 220 before finishing. One of the challenges I had was putting a proper burr on the scraper. I think I have figured it out, I made a jig to hold the card in place so that I can put pressure on the edge to get a proper burr. I have not mastered this but I am getting better.

This is the first post so I promise things will get better as we go along.

John