Glue Up Ugh

Tonight I glued up the table and ran into some issues. I had already glued up bottom piece, so it was ready to go. It was going to be a more complex glue up than I was used to, and I made the mistake of not doing a dry fit. I don't know why - I was lured into the assumption that since there were few pieces it wouldn't be difficult. It turned out that the middle riser piece had dadoes that were slightly skewed - not in the same plane. Either that or the two shelf pieces were not perfectly flat.

I had to wrestle to get the two shelf halves into the dadoes. I didn't think they were going to go in. The only saving grace was using plastic resin glue which has the longest open time of any adhesive, thus I had a lot of time to fiddle around with it. Eventually I was able to get both pieces half way in and get it come with a clamp.

Looks-wise, it's OK, but it's very tippy and there's going to be a lot of cleanup with sanding going on, and potentially a new leg to keep it from tipping over.

Glued up the base - no problems...

Table glued up

Side view

On top of the bad luck, got the recipe mixed up for the resin glue, so now there's a lot of waste.... Ugh!

Work continues on the CT.

For the bottom legs, I needed to make the mortises, so I used a 5/8" forstner bit.

A bit of work with the chisel(s) gets the round holes square.

The tenons for the legs & bottom rail were cut at the bandsaw. (Didn't use a handsaw, kind of wimped out I guess...)

Tonight it was time to create the 2 mortises for the top. The router only wandered a couple of minute times, but nothing that the middle piece won't cover up.

Almost ready to go, just need to square the ends and make sure everything fits.

Work has been progressing slowly but surely on the coffee table. I was running into a problem with my planer – my dust collection could not keep up with my new machine (previously referred to as the beast). Having been an engineer in a past life, I should be able to check out the SCFM rating on the fan and see what the rating requirement is on the planer, but I’m way too lazy to do that. I take off the suction nozzle and put my hand over it to feel if it’s sucking a little or a lot, and it didn’t have much ‘ooomph’. It was definitely not “golf ball through a garden hose” type of suction. Well, this weekend I took off the exhaust “fines” bag and presto, that was it. I guess the bag is completely clogged. The only problem is that I didn’t have a replacement. After doing some online searching, I couldn’t find an off-the-shelf bag, so I turned to Lumberjocks, but didn’t get a decent response. So I went all old-school on it and slapped an old pillow case on there so that dust wouldn’t spray out everywhere. Seems to do the trick…. Even with the new and improved suction, I was still having problems with the planer backing up, so it’s not really a ‘solved’ problem but it’s much better….

After planing up the material I needed to put a groove (well, technically a dado) into the support piece. This was the first time that I used my “used” dado set. It worked pretty well – I have no complaints other than I don’t have a zero clearance throat plate for my table saw for the dado, so it was just sitting in this big hole in the saw. Felt a little unsafe, but even if I had the insert I think it would still feel unsafe as a dado represents a LOT of cutting potential. I will need to get some zero clearance material for the next time I do that.

For the runner on the bottom, I needed to make a short tenon. I did that, for the first time might I add, using only a hand saw. No setups on the tablesaw or going to the bandsaw. It was quick & easy so I think I’m going to be doing that more often in the future.

The last piece I was able to start on was the crucial middle piece that’s going to hold the 2 top pieces together. It needed to look like a cross, with 2 tenons sticking out on either side. I spent a while at the router table coming up with this, but it eventually came out roughly how I want it. Now I have to apply a shoulder plane to it to clean it up a bit.

The last steps are to create the M&T’s for the legs and do some final tweaking before glue-up.

I love working with walnut, but I hate the fact that I can’t compost the shavings… ;o(

SOOOOOOOOO Tasty!!!!

Sometimes a blog about a certain topic can't ALWAYS be on point. Occasionally, one has to go outside the box and discuss other pleasures in life. Added to that, every woodworker needs some level of sustenance to give them fuel for those tough sessions hand planing or chiseling. That's why it was with huge anticipation that I awaited the arrival of, essentially, the greatest food source in the entire world (bar homentashen, but that's another story). Today I received a package of that nectar of the gods. You see, the NW US has almost everything one could possibly desire and is superior to all other parts of the country, yet it does lack a bit in the treats department. Below is the pictoral tale of this gift from above...

The package arrives, so heavy and yet so light at the same time - how do they do that?!?!

Gently opening the package, somehow refraining from ripping it open (wouldn't want to damage the contents...)

OOOOOOOHHHHHH YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

OMG!!!! Food of the Godz!!!!

The wait is over - Chocolate junior time BABY!!!!

Planer Sled

I noticed that the board I planed yesterday wasn't exactly 'flat' even though I hand planed one side. It still had some rockin' and rollin' going on. I thought today about making a planer sled, which I've read about online. Some of them seemed incredibly complicated, like the one from FWW. I didn't want to spend an entire weekend making a jig (even if it would prove to be useful). I found another one that looked more my speed. With that, I spent a few minutes cutting up a piece of MDF and screwed a cleat on the end.

After locating the points at which the board 'bowed' up I put shims under these locations. A couple of passes later, voila, a flat board on one side. Now I just have to put the other board on it to get it flat as well.

Coffee, Tea.... or, uh, another Coffee Table

Of late, the main activity in the 'flop has been getting the place known as a pigsty more organized, and (gasp!), somewhat cleaner. The end of a project was a perfect time for such activity, however boring. It was just getting too cluttered and busy.

In any event, it's time to start the new coffee table. It will replace the monstrosity known as the faux mission style that sits in the tv room.

Today began the stock prep, and I attempted to plane one side flat. It worked on one of the pieces, but the other one had some wild grain and I was running out of gas. I've been thinking about making a planer sled so that will be the next order of business next week...

Raw Stock

Cut in deux (odd that they're from the same piece)

One part planed

Blimey Guvnah!

Ello luv! Top 'o tha day to yeh!

I'm feeling ever so British since I purchased a bunch of English walnut this past weekend. It was an interesting trip - I went because the seller decided to have a fire sale and post the 1" stuff for $1 per bdft; the down side was that most of that material was very narrow and not all that great looking. Apparently it was limb wood, which I later found out on Lumberjocks was nothing to be worried about.

I did purchase one piece of 3" - originally priced at $475, purchased for $68....

Well, anyhow, tally-ho!

Mucho Mas Maple

Today I drove down to Willamina and picked up about 250 bdft of local maple. At only $0.75 per bdft, how could I resist? Optimally it will make some nice furniture, but worst case scenario is that it will serve as drawer sides and bottoms, dust frames, etc. It's so much better to work with Oregon maple than, say, pine or plywood- less sap, not too soft, not too hard, easy to compost, recycle or burn the cutoffs & shavings - just a great all around wood.

Also some spalty stuff, which doesn't hurt either...

Hall Table Done

Well, I guess it's done. It's upstairs, so that means it must be. It's hard to get excited about it when I see so many flaws, but I have to remind myself that it's a functional piece that will now dutifully hold the mail and other assorted junk in the hallway.

Almost Done with the Hall Table

Well, the project is in the winding down phase, as in; the first coat of finish has gone on.

I didn't write about the drawer construction because it was kind of painful. All was well up until I had to cut the front half-blind dovetails... It was a lot more work than I had anticipated and I didn't feel quite up to the challenge. I didn't leave nearly enough space on the ends and several times the thin walled front piece broke off, only to be glued back on. It was very frustrating to say the least.... However, in the end they finally 'joined' up and the result could have been a lot worse (I suppose).

After that was the matter of fitting the drawers, as the opening on the left was not square. Eventually this meant literally cutting of part of the side with the bandsaw. So overall it was feeling like quite the hack job.

I had created a 'stop' on the back so that the drawers wouldn't fall out when they were pulled, but of course I didn't take into account the fact that when I created the drawer openings the stop was right in back. Ugh!!!! What more could go wrong with these things???

Finally, they somehow fit and the linseed oil went on... Now it's onto the shellac....

Drawers (pre finish)

First coat....

Drawers with finish...

Time to Make the Drawers...

It's time to make the drawers for the hall table. I was a bit surprised that the drawers were going to be so small, but I guess I should've been able to tell that. The fronts (Yew) will be half blind dovetails hand cut, while the back (maple) will be through doves made with a jig. (The backs are maple as well.)

First, the raw stock cut to size. (Is that some free quilted figure on the left side? Niiiiceeee...)

Marking out the fronts and getting the jig ready to make the back joints...

The backs are done. Now it's time to layout the front, with the help of marking tools. I want to have skinny pins, but I remembered that my smallest chisel is 1/4". (Oh, when the hell am I going to get those LN chisels???)

Ready to cut..... this weekend.

The Knife

Take a $200 Japanese knife and hack a chicken carcase. Put nicks in knife.

Grind knife on bench grinder, remove nicks.

Hone knife up to an 8000 grit waterstone.

Voila, new knife!

(And all in the name of an excuse to regrind the broken 3/4" chisel and hone the new LN plane blade!)

Before




After...

More Hall Table

Gluing up the cabinet part....

Putting the main piece together....

Another minor catastrophe - I had to cut the tenons down for the wedges to work, but in a fit of stupidity I cut the tenon too short; ugh.

Top after cutting the tenons off and sanding them down (looks like I need to sand some more...)

Hall Table Hiccups

A few steps forward and a major screwup on the hall table - I was able to taper the legs and create the slots for the wedges on the tenons. The I had the simple task of rounding over the legs on one side. Tragedy struck as the guide bearing on the roundover bit decided to fly off, thereby completely gouging the leg. The only piece of luck was that it happened at the bottom of the leg, which meant I was able to sand most of it out.

And ah yes, sanding - too much of it. Why doesn't wood just sand itself?

3 hand saws used to make the slots

Plane from a Planer

With the introduction of the new planer into the 'Flop, it didn't make much sense to keep the old Dewalt, plus the space was badly needed. So I listed it on Craigslist and it sold several days later - to a very nice guy I might add. Normally, the cash would have made it right to the bank. However, there was a little detour along the way. Wouldn't you know it, just 2 days later fate intervened and someone listed a Lie-Nielsen 4-1/2 bench plane, my object of lust for several months. And it was $75 off of list price. Now, considering that it's well known that Lie-Nielsen's often go for more than retail on eBay, this was just too much to pass up. I fired off an email and headed down to Wilsonville on Saturday to pick it up.

Much like purchasing the shoulder plane from them last December, there is absolutely no regret on purchasing a LN. It's just such a well made tool.... I already put a couple hours into trying to flatten my Stanley #4 and I'm nowhere near flat, and the LN is dead flat across a straight edge. Now all I need to do is sharpen the blade (which was pretty dull) and it will be a major tool in the toolbox.

All the Guys Love a Sale!

As an avid estate sale seeker, I was really excited to check out this woodworkers estate sale this weekend. Normally, estate sales are all about the fine china and collectible toys, and sometimes they'll mention "tons of tools in the basement", which piques my interest. Well, this one was 100% woodshop stuff. Naturally, I headed out as soon as it opened. I bought about $40 worth of old tools - I found an old Diston backsaw for $6, some Mikra 5" sanding paper for $5 a box, and a couple old chisels.

There was a cool looking bench for sale, but at $325 it was out of my price range. Also a nice planer - a 15" Jet for $900. Both too rich for my blood, but I placed paper bids offering a lesser amount in case they didn't sell. Well, I got the call later that I was eligible to purchase both, the bench for $200 and the planer for $500. What a deal!

.

I roped my very good friend Milos into heading over there today not quite knowing what to expect. There were a couple of guys waiting outside, which had me a little nervous thinking that I'd have to bid on it again or something, but they were all there for other items they had won. It took about 5 of us to get the planer on the pickup. We also fit the bench on there as well. And soon we piled more on - Milos picked up a very nice miter saw (hand powered) for $20, and a central shop vac for $100 (originally marked at $300). I'm glad that I didn't drag him out there for nothing...

.

Now, getting the 500 pound planer in the basement with just the 2 of us was going to be a different story. We had many, many doubts, but we were able to gently tip the planer off the truck, and then somehow get it downstairs on a dolly - by ourselves even though I wanted to go and hire someone to help. Milos saved the day!!! I definitely owe that guy pizza and beer. (That's all that's expected for guys to help each other move things, right???)

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The new equipment is downstairs. Unfortunately, I need a new type of 220V electrical plug for the planer in order for it to work (although I tried it out at the place we bought it). Hopefully it will be given its first test run in the 'Flop next weekend.

First, the hand tools.

Next, my new bench

Finally, the new planer - what a beast!

Sugi's In Da Hizzie

I received the call on Saturday that the cedar was milled. I drove out to pick it up, and it was a heck of a lot easier to get it into my truck this time around.

I brought it home and put it out back to air dry, 'stickering' it. Apparently, softwoods only take a few months to dry out, and not years, so I should be able to start using it next Spring. Nice!