Garage Finished, Mostly

  I am a day behind my time, for the last while I have been able to post a blog Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I missed yesterday's blog I had an attack of " I don't feel like it, my tummy hurts."  You would think that you would out grow such issues buy the time you were 6 or 7 years old, but I haven't.

  I have two things to show in this blog. The platform in finished in the garage.  You can see the small freezer sitting on one end and the nose of the car just under the platform.  This a pretty rough carpentry, mostly 2 by 4 and 2 1/2 screws. I braced the legs with angled pieces of wood and instead of toe nailing I used my KREG jig to attached the pieces. Kreg even has a jig just for this time of work, their KJHD Heavy Duty Pocket hole jig. Using the jig makes for stronger and more consistent joints. Note that when driving pocket hole screws, even 2 1/2 screws a drill driver is better than an impact driver.  It takes lots of practice to know when the screw is set and tight with an impact driver, if you aren't careful you will strip the screw and end up with a weak joint.

          

I still need to make a small step from
the door step to the freezer platform.  A
job for another and warmer time, I think.

  

 

 Elm picture frame finished with tung oil. Elm is an under rated wood in my opinion. It can be difficult to work, but the grain gives it tonnes of personality. If you are making a number of picture frames you my want to consider Picture Frame Pliers.

 cheers, ianw

Friday's Jobs

  Many people are filled with grand plans and noble ideals.  I'm not.  Today my great hope was to not to have to put on socks.  I wanted to spend the day wandering about our house and maybe do some work in the wood shop too. 

   One of today's jobs was finish off Kieran's submarine bank.  Kieran drew a plan for me two weeks ago.

  The submarine has two compartments and one side is glued on while the other side is held on with screws. Kieran wanted to be able to get the money out, I didn't want it to be too easy.

 

  The real job of the day was making a picture frame for a painting by our friend  Rhonda.  I made the frame from elm.  Elm is a wood that has wonderful character, but is stringy and working with it can be a challenge. 

  When I was cutting the rabbets on the back of the frame sections the wood came away in strings and choked the dust collection system on my Jess Em router table. 

  After I got the elm cut to length I used my KREG Klamp table for assembly.

   The picture frame is finished with tung oil and once it is dry, the glass  cut and the painting installed I will post a picture for you to see the result.

  Here is a link to an instructable making a wooden picture frame using biscuits.