I decided to reorganize the “office” corner of the workshop. It is too cold to get too much woodworking done, but it is nice to reorganize things.
One of the biggest additions is a computer. Ben and I had picked up a handful of $20 small desktop computes for the boys Minecraft party in March. It is pretty slow, but it works. I set it up and added it to the wireless network. Now I can stream Pandora, write in my blog, and even play Minecraft with the boys. Though the computer can really only handle one thing at a time.
Ben is working on building a shaker shop stool. We watched the videos from 360 Woodworking and he decided that it was a project he could build (with a little help).
A week ago, Ben and I drove up to the J. Gibson McIlvain Lumber outlet in Danielson, CT to pick up a lumber for the project. I have lots of rough lumber here, but it is mostly Cherry and Oak, both of which are a little hard for him to use. Pine is soft enough that he doesn’t have too much trouble working it with hand tools. He picked up a nice clear 12″ wide piece of white pine for the project. Yes, for the same price as lumber at the box store, you get a much nicer piece wood from the lumber yard.
Last week we milled the pieces for the project. The board was flat enough from the lumber yard that we didn’t need to joint it, so it was a quick job on the planer and table saw. Ben even used the table saw (with close supervision) to cut the pieces to length.
This weekend we cut the braces on the table saw, and Ben started hand cutting the dadoes on the legs and top. He did most of the work himself – though he did find the angled cuts a little hard. He chopped out the waste material with a chisel without any assistance, and the fit was pretty good.
Only three dadoes left to cut and he will be able to assemble the bench. Now to source some more pine for the boys to use in the workshop…
The electronics charging station completed. Currently holding three iPads and a couple of phones.
I put the last coat of wiping varnish on the charging station last night. This morning I hung it in mud/laundry room.
I think I should have made it a little bigger, but it works. I think I’ll also add a power strip in the top section and try to hide the wires a little better. But a new power strip will have to wait until another day. I’ll also need to order a couple of shorter (maybe 12″ long) lightning charging cables to keep it a little less cluttered.
This week is a good woodworking week. I finished a quick home project and have a toy box sitting in the workshop waiting for nice weather for delivery to Susanna’s school. Two projects finished and it isn’t even February. Not a bad start to the year!
The plan last night had been to shovel the driveway before letting the boys get on electronics. Well, that isn’t happening. The snow on the driveway is probably 18″-24″ with drifts deeper than that. The snow is still coming down. And the wind keeps shifting the snow drifts, covering what we cleared.
The boys and I (well, mostly I) cleared a path to the garage and to the workshop. There is a patch of yard next to the workshop that the wind has cleared of snow. A patch big enough for the dogs to use as the bathroom. I’m not sure what Tucker would have done if we didn’t clear a path. The snow is over his head.
I turned the heater on in the workshop, though I’m not sure it will be easy to get into the shop after the wind blows snow over the cleared path. It was nice to head inside to a warm house filled with the smells of a good breakfast being cooked.
The weather service is predicting a huge snow storm tonight and tomorrow. Up to 2-feet of snow overnight and maybe more tomorrow morning.
Normally I don’t spent too much effort to prepare for things like storms. We usually have enough on hand to get by. But today I decided to head out of work when the active duty staff in the building were told to go home and had two hours to kill before the boys got home from their half-day of school. So, what the heck, I may as well prepare for the storm.
We already have a couple of bottles of wine and plenty of beer. Susanna did grocery shopping yesterday. So we were good in the food and drink category. That left getting ready for a couple of days without power as well as heat for workshop. What the heck is the point of a snow day if I can’t get into the shop for a little bit? I mean, one can only watch the kids shovel snow for so long.
The generator was filled with fresh gas and moved out of the back corner of the garage. I ran the generator a couple of weeks ago, so I didn’t feel the need to start it today. No point in really being 100% prepared when 90% will do. Anyway, I’d rather sleep tonight with the belief that the generator will start right up rather than know it will start, but is a pain in the ass to get running. I also replaced the flat tire on the generator so it sits level now (and is easier to move around).
I filled the jeep up with gas – even though it will probably be buried beneath the workshop for a couple of weeks and not be driven – at least there is more gas available there if we really lose power for a couple of days. And heck, if we get two days at home, the boys will need a good project like digging the jeep out anyway.
And of course, I topped off the kerosene can for the workshop heater. Now to clean up the house a bit until the boys get home (and make it dirty again).
After a couple of evenings in the shop, I have the charging station nearly complete. The glue-up is finished and the piece is mostly sanded. I do have to decide if I am going to add a piece on the top to hide where the power strip will go.
I also have to route two groves in the back to allow wires to run up and down the box when it is hung on the wall. Which leads me to the final decision I’ll have to make. How to hang this on the wall… But I don’t have to make that decision today.
I added short wood pegs on the front edge of the bottom shelves to keep tablets from slipping out. The third shelf will hold phones, and the top is for the power strip.
I’ll finish the piece with a coat of shellac topped with a couple of coats of wiping varnish. I should be able to hang it early next week.
I’m not 100% sure on how it looks, but I’ll have to wait to see how it looks hanging on the wall. I tapered the sides, but think maybe a larger taper would look better. And the shelf spacing isn’t perfect. I think the top shelf could be maybe an inch higher. Though maybe I could just clip the top inch off of the sides to make it look right. Thoughts?
Susanna putting a varnish finish on the second toy box for her preschool.
Today was a good workshop day. Normally workshop time is alone time, but sometimes it is nice to have company. While, I did get most of the day alone in the shop, Susanna joined me after she came home from work. I had put the first coat of varnish on the toy box last night, and she sanded and put the second coat on this afternoon (while I glued up the charging station).
I took the morning to get started on the charging station for the new mud/laundry room. Our kitchen counter is a tangled mess most of the time (and all the time when the boys are here), so I’m constructing a simple wall mounted charging station.
The design is pretty basic. It is just a couple of shelves to hold iPads and phones. No hand cut dovetails or drawers. No back. About as simple as you can get.
The first step was to pull out a piece of cherry. The board I pulled out of the loft was about twice as much wood as I needed, but I didn’t feel like digging for a smaller board. Anyway, I have lots and lots of cherry, so no need to stress.
Rough cherry board for today’s project.
I milled (half of) the board into two sides that are 5″ wide and 30″ long. I milled the lumber to a little less than 3/4″ thick – I think it will look nicer just a little lighter than the normal 3/4″. The sides taper from 5″ wide at the bottom to 4″ wide at the top. I milled four shelves at the same time, varying from 4 1/2″ to 3 1/2″ in width and about 12″ long.
I clamped the sides together (back to back) and cut four stopped dadoes for the shelves. The dadoes are 3/8″ wide – I picked it because 1/4″ seemed too small, and 1/2″ seemed to wide and I happened to have a 3/8″ router bit.
I set up the router table to cut the tenons to go into the dadoes. I was wanting to use the table saw, but my dado blades had a carbide tooth fall off (so I’m stuck having to get the blade repaired or order a new dado stack). Anyway, the router table worked fine.
Finally, I cleaned up the tenon cheek with a hand plane and chisels. I cut off the front of the tenon (for the stopped portion of the dado) with a hand saw and glued up the sides and the top and bottom shelf. I’ll add the two middle shelves tomorrow. I can’t do much work in the shop while the varnish dries on the toy boxes.
This is the first real project I’ve made from cherry (I made a bookshelf from cherry veneered plywood but that doesn’t count). I can see why everyone likes cherry – it is an easy wood to work with. My hand tools love cherry. It isn’t as soft as pine, but it is much easier on the tools (and me) than oak.
Charging station glue up. The middle shelves will be fit into the case tomorrow.
Window sashes hung. Now to install the trim when I’m feeling motivated enough to get the compressor in from the cold.
I like to jump between projects. It is an ADHD thing. You wouldn’t understand. Okay, depending on who you are, you might understand. Also depending on who you are, you might not understand but have to live with someone who switches projects (sorry about that Susanna).
At least I live with someone who is (for the most part) pretty supportive and who doesn’t have ADHD. Which means that she is pretty good at nagging encouraging me to finish the projects around the house.
On Sunday, Susanna finished painting the remaining two sashes for the mud room. Tonight, I pulled them out of the basement, cleaned up the parting beads, and installed both sashes. I didn’t work on the trim – it was almost bedtime for the boys when I got the windows in, and didn’t want to keep people up with the compressor and finish nailer.
Once the window trim is installed and move the radiator back, the room will be for the most part finished. I have some projects I would like to do on the room in the near term:
– Install a shelf next to the washer and dryer
– Get a larger area rug for the mud room half
– Make and install a charging stations
– Install a sink and cabinet next to the washer and dryer
– Put a shelf/cabinet over the washer/dryer and sink and cover the dryer vent
– Put in cubbies (maybe not so soon).
