Over the weekend, the boys and I decided to move the futon from the downstairs library to the upstairs guest room. Well, I decided, and the boys helped. Well, I decided.

When I disassembled the futon frame, I noticed that the sides were a bit loose. The tenons had broken free of the glue joints in the mortises. A quick and easy repair in the workshop. Over the weekend, I disassembled one of the ends and re-glued all the mortises.

Monday, I took the one that had been re-glued, and set it down by the workshop door. Across from the remaining piece that needed to be repaired. I then noticed that the workshop door had been blown shut by the breeze. I walked over and propped open the workshop door and back to the pieces. I wasn’t paying attention, and grabbed the piece that I had just glued up (not the one still needing repair). I took it over to the workbench and had knocked it mostly apart before I noticed that it wasn’t the right piece. I now have two pieces to reassemble. Plus fix the cosmetic damage from breaking apart a properly glued joint.

Sometimes ADHD will bite you. I don’t have any pictures of the project, nor will I share the language I used when I realized what I had done. But it is a good story, and maybe in a couple of days I’ll even find it funny.

I have been working on a kitchen island for quite a while now. I finished it the week before the wedding. It replaces a table in the kitchen – and it is nice to have a proper-height work surface in the kitchen. It is also narrower than the old table, which fits the size of the kitchen better.

The base is made from white oak, with pegged mortise and tenon joints. The top is made from hickory.

I’m pretty pleased with the project. The top is maybe 2-inches narrower than I think would look the best. Another project may be to make a new top, or add a strip of cherry or sapele in the middle to widen the top.

The joinery isn’t perfect, but it is better than some of the work I’ve done in the past.  I think a shelf on the bottom would look nice (and be useful), but I forgot to build in a shelf when I constructed the base.

It is nice to finish another project.

I decided to do a quick project in the workshop with the boys today (and Will’s friend who was over for the afternoon). I had worked with Will yesterday to mill some (what I think is) maple to make trivets. And today, after I figured how easy they were to make, I pulled a scrap piece of walnut out of the wood pile for an additional three trivets.

I get the idea from one of the many woodworking books I have. The plans called for stopped groves made on a router table. I had a 1/2″ straight bit for the router and I tried to make one following the plans yesterday. The router bit is terrible, and it left the wood in terrible shape (so that one will go to the fire pit).

That of course made me head inside and look for a better router bit online. For $70 I could get a nice solid carbide spiral bit. But then I would have to wait to finish the project. And I would have to spend $70 on a bit to make a handful of simple trivets. Which would change the cost per trivet from nearly free (scrap lumber) to something more than nearly free. Though a nice spiral bit would be good to have in the shop… but I sat on my hands and didn’t get the bit.

I thought about it for a while, and realized, that if I changed the design, that I could easily cut 1/2-inch dadoes using the table saw (they would be through dadoes vice stopped). It took longer to switch blades than to cut all the trivets. The boys and I then sanded them. A 3/8″ piece of wood with adhesive sandpaper clamped in the face vice made quick work of cleaning up the inside of the dadoes. After sanding, the trivets were finished with butcher block finish (wax/oil mixture), and are all set for use.  We made a total of six trivets in all. I think the entire project took less than 2 hours (including the first screw-up with the router bit).  Susanna even used one with dinner tonight.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the project. Next time, I will have to be careful measuring the spacing between the dadoes – on a couple it is obvious that the spacing isn’t even. But for very little effort, and a chance to get the boys in the workshop – it was perfect. Maybe we will make some more sometime – anyone want to buy trivets?

Not a bad quick project for a Saturday afternoon. Of course I had to spend some more time in the shop making wood guns for the boys. Luckily, a couple of months ago I milled up a dozen boards that are the perfect thickness/width for making play swords/guns.

I almost didn’t make it to the workshop tonight. Although it is Tuesday night, it feels like a Monday night. Maybe that is because Susanna and I went out to dinner with some friends last night. Maybe it is because Susanna is feeling sick tonight and went to bed early. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. But back to the workshop – I get distracted and if I’m not careful I won’t finish writing about the topic I had intended to write about when I started.

I finally found the energy to head out to the workshop after I had suggested that Susanna put on “Sex and the City” which I didn’t want to watch. Nothing like a bad TV show to motivate one to find something better to do.

I cut the last tenons on the kitchen island tonight and dry fit the base. It is turning out okay. Not perfect. I can see where the joints aren’t as tight as I would like them to be, but I need to finish this project and move on. I also could have done a better job picking out a couple of the pieces of wood for the project. I have enough lumber sitting around, I shouldn’t ever compromise and use a less than perfect piece for a visible part of a project.

I have already glued up one side of the base. Now I have to drill the holes for the drawbore pins.Drilling out the white oak was overheating the “cheap”” drill bits I have and not leaving a clean hole. So, I am waiting for a new 1/4″ drill bit from Lee Valley.  I ordered a carbide tipped brad point drill bit.  The bit is not cheap for drill bits (it is nearly $20 for a single bit), but reviews said that they are well worth the price.

Next furniture project will have to be out of something more forgiving than white oak. How about cherry?

I was finally able to get time in the workshop today. I have been a bit sidetracked with renovations to Will’s room over the past two weeks. One thing that has helped is trying to do two hours of work a day on the room. On the week nights, that gets progress done on the room. On the weekend, that allows me to find time to do other things without feeling guilty.

I was able to complete my two hours on the room by lunch today and take some time in the afternoon to head out to the shop. The weather has been crazy – it is mid-January and 50 degrees out.

I am making progress on the kitchen island. I have all the mortises done, and half of the tenons cut.  Today I decided to build a planing stop. One of the frustrations with the workbench I have is holding the work while I hand plane. In the past I have put a board across the bench and clamped it on. That works fine if I am planing only in the direction of the grain. If I try to plane cross-grain, I need to fully clamp the work in the bench.  It is a pain in the butt to always clamp and unclamp the work.

That leads me to the planning stop/bench hook I built today. I’m not sure if it is traditional, and time will tell how well it works.  I took a 48-inch long 1×12 piece of pine and attached a board to the front (so it will register on the front of the workbench).  I then took some thin stock (or rather made thin stock – about 1/2-inch thick) and attached it to the back and left side of the top of the board.

So far it seems to be working as planned. It makes cleaning up the long pieces of wood for the kitchen island much easier.  It also gives me a nice board to chisel on and not worry about chopping up the top of the workbench.  I suppose if I need to work on any pieces longer than about 44-inches I’ll need to build a new stop.