A Mixed Bag of Wood Works

   Sometimes big projects give place and space to little projects, and even little projects take time.  Many of my little projects are focused on making my life easier in the shop, I have made a variety of shelves, tool cabinets and storage units over the last few years.  
  
   Usually those jobs spend time to save money.  I am prepared to send extra time glueing up cheap lumber  from the bin to make shelves for my shop rather than go out and buy lumber.  Other times those projects are made from lumber that has to be planed because it starts out as off cuts of various sizes, shapes and types.  

   Other times a big project is only a big project because it has taken a long time for me to get around to finishing it.

   Today I finished a project that was begun over a year ago but was always side tracked by something.  In the left of the photo you can see the picture rail has finally been added to the wall, and painted.  All that remains is for us to hang some more pictures.  The rail on the right was put up ages ago, then we decided to live with it for a while to see if we liked it.  A few months ago I got going with my router table and shaped the poplar trim for the rest of the rail, but then had back trouble and the task went uncompleted. Today Eva helped me hold the last two long pieces in place as they were glued and screwed.  The rails are 7 feet long and so for practical purposes a three handed job. Extra hands makes for lighter and easier work. If you are going to get into the D.I.Y. router world as set of bits like this is a pretty safe place to start.  There are cheaper bit sets, but, remember, in tools you get what you pay for.  I do most of my routing and shaping with these few bits.

   I have a couple more photos of little projects, nothing difficult, but little things that can take a person away from big things.

    On the left is a painting we bought in New Zealand a few years ago and on the right a mirror in our laundry/mud room.  I made both of the frames.  The painting's frame is my only experience so far with cherry.  The mirror is elm.  You know the routine, carefully cut the mitred corners then lose your mind gluing the corners together. I used my KREG Klamp Table to help glue the corners, but it means that you have to clamp, glue and wait.  I suggest that waiting for the glue to dry is a good time to become a blogger, 'cause it is not a good time to drink beer. (too much glue = way to much beer!)

   I have also consumed time making jigs lately and working on Eva Necklace case. The jigs get built and painted RED and the case gets little bits and pieces glued in place and then.....you know.  I can image the Necklace case being finished in a couple of weeks, there is has only been 4 years in coming, that's not bad, is it?

Monday in the Wood Shop - Necklace Box II

   I was out and about this morning but right after lunch I headed down to my workshop, I was a man on a mission. Today was a day when I was going to get things done.  At the end of the day I would have something to show for my efforts.  It was going to be a day of wood working glory. 

   Here is photo of what I got done in three hours. 

     What I have is four boards of roasted maple 7/8 think, 5 inches wide and either 12 or 16 inches long.  

   How can that possible take hours.  Well....I confess I am a hobby guy so I did occasionally lift my head and have a sip of coffee.  I did not drift around the shop and waste a bunch of time, honestly, I didn't.

  I did take a short side trip to finish a small project for a school teacher friend of mine.  I made a replacement handle for his Foosball table.  I needed to be drilled, shaped, sanded and painted.  Not a huge project but one that needed doing, and one that took time.

   I began my big project with rough lumber and after the initial layout I had to joint and plane the material.  In the process of using my planner I had to stop work and empty the dust collection system, yes, that directly affects the time it takes to complete a project.  Emptying dust collection is like the time you have to take out to sharpen tools, it is a task directly related to the project upon which you are working.

  To prepare the stock I used:

 a planer, joiner, table saw, mitre saw, hand saw, router table, block plane, sanders, hand sanding, square, making gauge, etc etc.
  
  If the final product is to be premium quality every time you touch tool to wood there must be careful measurement, and also careful machine set up. Both these things take time, not a tonne of time but lots of little bits of time.  This current project is not designed around approximate measurements it is designed to a space and purpose that will be best if everything is especially accurate.

   This project's assembly involves mitred corners.  These mitres are going to be seen, so they have to be right on, close and fudged with glue won't cut it this time.  I have yet to work out a method that will allow me to breeze through mitred corners, they just require time and care and I can't figure out anyway around that.  The real challenge is the gluing and clamping of these corners, that is for tomorrow.
  
  I have sanded and finished with shellac the insides of this project.  It is now smooooooooooth on the inside, shellac and 400  grit sand paper smooth.  This is a bit of over kill, maybe. I think that it is a good idea sometimes to go the whole nine yards, do the job and then over do it just for personal  satisfaction.

   What is driving this project?

   I have a piece of wood, that is going to be featured and it deserves the best supporting cast that I can supply.

   This is an amazing piece of spalted maple that is going to be the front face of this project.  I bought this slab of wood 5 or 6 years ago and have saved it for a WOW project.  This is going to be the WOW project.  

  I suspect that it will take me a while to get this thing done.  I still have a couple of technical challenges to work out and that too will take time, but it is going to be worth it.

   Speaking of a WOW project, that took time and made me a little more crazy.  In December 2011 I assembled a wooden clock kit.  Something that I learned is that my wooden clock does not work in the high humidity of our summer months.  I think that the contact surfaces just swell enough that the gears won`t turn.  The last week has been cool and though rainy our humidity has dropped, in fact it has dropped to were the clock is ticking away happily once again.  I guess that summer is well and truly over, sigh, alas.

  

Necklace Jewellery Box Pt. 2

   Actually Pt.2 is nearly the end.  A few blogs ago I showed the basic project clamped and un-clamped.  I had decided on hinges, but then opted for brass instead of dark iron.

 I felt the brass looked better with the roasted maple and oak.  The roasted maple is very deep brown, almost black, a really nice colour.  I learned also that the roasted Maple was a real pain to work with, sanding it filled the shop with dust that stained the other wood if it got damp.  The fine dust just stuck and stained anything it touched.  I am thinking of trying to make a "stain" from some of the sanding dust and varnish, I'm not sure that the dust actually dissolves or not, it is almost ash texture, from being roasted.  I'll keep you up to date on developments, a really nice brown, with no red in it stain would be nice to have sometimes.

26 hooks, if you are counting

   The back board is plywood, I needed it to be thinner that I was comfortable making the oak.  So you can see that there are two rows of hooks in the back and only one row in the front or door section.  

    You can also see the two big feet upon which the case stands, but I found the oak door was heavy enough that I needed a little tiny baby foot on the door to provide balance when the case is open.  I also see from this photo that there is some dust collected on the bottom corner, fear not, it will get thoroughly rubbed down before being put into service.

    I used Tom's Finish on the case work and will add one quick coat of wax before I send it away.

Necklace Jewellery Box

    I couple of seasons ago I made a prototype of jewellery box to store necklaces.  My wife has dozens of necklaces from all over the place and for a long time the strings of beans etc. lived a tangled life in a shoe box.  Sometimes it took longer to get the accessories sorted out then getting all dressed up. 
  

   The solution was a box that featured a bunch of hooks and room for things to hang.  The version is made from left over poplar and actually nailed together, left unfinished.   This is definitely a prototype.

   After a while, a year?? I have got going on making a quality version of this jewel case.

   This is the fully clamped and drying box that I started with to make the new case.  This example is built from oak, roasted oak and the corners are mitred.  

    Next I cut the box apart I got two equal halves that will be hinged on the left side. I bought the hinges last evening and I need to figure out some nice feet.

    After the feet are designed and attached I will begin the finishing process.