Posts by Chuck Curtis
I completed the second set of shelves this week and installed them tonight. The shelves are made from red birch (a very light colored wood) and the back is from sapele (much darker red/brown).
The spray finish is getting easier to work with – that is I am getting better at using the spray gun.
Now to move on to the next projects….
I love reading about what I do from the Google Translate version of Susanna’s Blog. My weekend project of making shelves for the boys turns into, “Chuck carved a couple of shelves to the child.” A couple of weeks ago, we went to pick up some cherry lumber because, “Planks are his collection of objects.” I love how Google turns what is no doubt a well written piece of literature into a comedy of words….
Susanna and I decided to have a low key evening, watching episodes of House, M.D. I did get the last coat sprayed on the Ben’s shelves. Okay, I really hope it is the last coat – I know I keep saying that. I think I had the spray gun set to spray too much. The next project I’ll try it on a lower setting.
I had started to draw out the next project. Or rather the next tentative project. I’m never 100% sure of the next project until I actually start it. I am currently planning a desk (library table?) for the study. It will be simple – the low height to support typing won’t allow drawers. I am planning to make it out of red oak and will try to find a way to make the wood dark . Tonight I put the project into SketchUp. Here is the first look at the drawing. Please feel free to comment and critique. I’m not sure the legs fit right (they seem a bit heavy). Click on the pictures for a larger image.
I completed the first of two shelves for the boys. I had destroyed one of the backs with the router when I was cutting the dadoes for the shelves – destroying the last thick piece of birch I had – which delayed the finish of the second shelf.
I searched the barn of lumber and found a few options – from white oak (similar to the birch) to sapele (dark reddish brown). After consulting with the customer (Ben), I decided to go with the sapele for the back. I kept the birch for the shelves (they were milled and sanded), which adds contrast.
On Friday I got the final coat of varnish sprayed on the 1st set of shelves shelves. I’m still learning how to spray, so it took a little more spraying/sanding than I hope in the future. But the spray finish is great – it dries to sand/recoat in 30 minutes, cleanup is a breeze, and it builds up a finish very quickly. The only concern I had was the “cool” color that water based varnishes typically have (compared to the warmer color from a oil based finish). I solved that by using a fist coat of dewaxed shellac. The shellac also solves the problem of raising the grain when using a water finish. I was able to hang the shelves on Friday afternoon (which would never happened if I had used an oil based wiping varnish).
On Saturday I finished the construction of the second back. Sapele is much easier to use than the birch. The birch is hard (difficult to scrape and use hand tools on). The sapele is a dream to work with. This time (with a new router bit), I built the proper jig for routing the dadoes – they turned out much better than on the first set of shelves.
Today I sprayed a final (rather almost final) coat on the second set of shelves. I found a run in the finish, so I may have to sand and recoat the top section again tomorrow. I spent the afternoon with friends driving to New Bedford, MA for a visit to the New England Demolition and Salvage store.
My next project is to finish the exterior storm window for Ben’s bedroom. I have most of the material milled and ordered a router bit to cut the rabbets for the storm windows/screens. I plan on assembling the storm window with pocket hole screws – it will be painted – so it should go together very quickly. Just in time for the really cold weather. After that, I am planning a desk for the study (a simple table out of red oak – I don’t think I’ll put in drawers). I was going to try to draw the desk in SketchUp tonight, but it is getting late and I decided to write instead.
This past weekend we had our first snow fall. We didn’t get too much snow and didn’t loose power – even though most of the north of the state got a pretty good dumping of snow. There are a bunch of people that are still without power. It seemed like it was almost the opposite of hurricane Irene (where the coast got most of the damage)
We took most of the morning Saturday to visit the Crystal Mall and go shopping for Halloween costumes for the boys (and the adults). We had intended to stop by and get pumpkins on the drive home. However we were a bit late – the local orchard was all sold out. What do you expect, waiting until last minute (hopefully I’ll do better with my Christmas shopping). Susanna wound up heading into Ledyard to pick up pumpkins after we had all returned from home.
Later that afternoon we carved the pumpkins. The boys drew faces on each pumpkin, and Susanna and I did our best to carve to the plans – or at least to the intended plans (when Will got upset because he couldn’t get the teeth drawn the way he wanted them).
The boys went to their mother’s house on Sunday morning, and back here on Monday for Halloween. We had decided to head to Taftville to do trick-or-treating – it was a little closer than the other options. They have a parade, which I had forgotten about until we were there. The fire department and police block off the main street, and all the kids walk from one end of the town to fire station on the other side – following a procession of fire trucks and police cars.
Will and Ben hit as many houses as they could until the parade swept them up. We followed the fire trucks in a huge crowd of ghouls, goblins, monsters, and witches. The trail ended at the Taftville firehouse for more candy and ice cream (ok, not sure why they serve ice cream – everyone is cold by that time of night). And we were home with time for the boys to sort and trade (and of course eat)their candy.
Ok, so it is taking me longer than a weekend to build the two. But I haven’t been only working on them (I am of course still doing storm windows and spending time moving my 200 bdft of cherry into the workshop loft (and rearranging the loft).
I am building two identical shelves. One for Ben, and one for Will. Both are made from Birch. I have the pieces milled and cut to size for both shelve and backs. This past weekend I routed the dadoes for the shelves on Ben’s shelves and tonight I finished cutting the back to shape and doing the edge profile on the back. The back is pretty thick, almost a full 2″ thick. The shelves are milled just a bit thicker than 3/4″. I’m copying the design from the Wood Whisperer weekend shelves.
Tomorrow I’ll finish sanding the parts, and glue up the shelves. The bottom two shelves are glued (and reinforced from the back with screws). The top shelf is just set into the dado (The screws to hang the shelf go though the dado behind the top shelf. Then a coat of shellac (or maybe two to give the wood a little more color) and finally I’ll attempt to spray a water based pre cat varnish (I picked up Agualente in satin by ML Campbell and will use an Earlex HVLP system – my first attempt to spray a finish on one of my woodworking projects).
Overall the project is turning out pretty nice. Hopefully I won’t completely screw it up with the spray finish… The dadoes fit pretty well. I didn’t have the proper router bit (a top bearing pattern bit) so had to sneak up on the size. The bottom dado was a little loose, but that was fixed by gluing a hand plane shaving into the dado. I ordered the proper router bit for the second shelf.
On Sunday, Susanna and I took a day trip to the city. It was a perfect break. The weather was warm. Too warm for October – almost 80. I dropped the boys off in the morning, and we headed to New Haven to catch a late morning train to New York.
We got there just in time for a late lunch and a nice afternoon walking around – ending the afternoon at Bryant Park. Of course, it is much better to to read about the trip in Susanna’s blog – “Nutrition for my urban soul” (it might be easier to read using Google translate… at least it is for me).
Today I decided to take an easy day. I was planning on picking up some rough cut cherry in western MA, but decided to hang out at home instead (I’ll get it next weekend). It was another perfect day for house projects (Ok, I only took a little break from the projects this weekend). I did some more painting of storm windows, and started working on the next woodworking project. I’m making a pair of shelves for the boys rooms ( the weekend wall shelf found wood whisperer website – but out of birch).
Tonight, Susanna and I headed to Providence to take a swing dancing class. We got there and stood outside with the other students waiting for the instructor to show up for about 30 minutes… then gave up. We decided to have some cheesecake on the statehouse steps in Providence – a nice way to end the evening.
It seems like all I write about is fixing the windows in this house. Maybe one of these days I’ll have something more exciting to write. I’m pretty sure Susanna is getting tired of having to check out each window after I paint the trim and put in a storm window. And to top it off, she gets to read more about it in this blog…
I think we finally committed to a trim color scheme. It is Rookwood Dark Green (Sherwin-Williams) trim with Rookwood Dark Brown accent colors. We are still discussing what color to paint the house (I’m thinking that the house may get painted next summer – so I’ll live with unmatched trim for a while – I think the white is a bit to bright compared to the dark trim). I also found out that Will has a difficult time telling the difference between the green and brown trim colors.
I dug out all the existing storm windows from the basement (and barn) yesterday. I started repairing the one that is in poor shape and painting the rest.
I installed the new storm window hanging hardware from Kilian Hardware. It is much nicer (and a lot more expensive at $20/set). I had been trying to find a better way to latch the storm windows in – and these seem perfect.
I’m guessing this will be the last long warm weekend of the year to work on the house – which is good – I’m almost out of green trim paint and am holding out until the spring to get another gallon.
In addition to a busy day working on the house, we had a crazy kids day here. A little before lunch, the boy next door, Justin, came over to play. Then after lunch, Ben invited his best friend, Anthony, over. A little later, Will’s best friend, Shane, came over. Everyone stayed through dinner (homemade pizza) and a movie (“Matilda”). Justin and Anthony went home, and Shane stayed over for a sleepover (Will’s first and Shane’s first at another house).
So, here we are at 9pm, with Will and Ben asleep, and Shane down here talking to Susanna. It is never easy to sleep in a new place.
I’ve started the outside window work that I want to complete this fall… storm windows. The goal is to replace as many of the crappy storm windows as possible. I set up the scaffolding below one of the windows in Ben’s room and took off the storm window. I am taking the time to paint the trim when the storm window is out.
When I removed the storm window, I found the exterior stop cracked. I pulled out the bottom half of the stop, and milled a replacement (which I installed this week). Note to self: it would be much easier to install the stop with a nail gun next time. It was a real pain to hold the stop next to the window and nail it in on the same time…. a nail gun would have solved that problem. It doesn’t help that the scaffolding is a little short for working on that window as well (yes, I’ll get pins to stack the scaffolding before the next window).
Susanna and I decided to paint the trim green around the windows. It looks much better – I’ll take pictures the next day it isn’t raining. We are thinking about painting the storm windows brown.
This past weekend I dug out one of the old original (wooden) storm windows to replace one of the broken aluminum storm windows in the living room. I removed the glass and primed and painted half of the storm window. Next to paint the rest and hang the window. I ordered more glazing compound and a new style of window hanger (they look much better than the ones I had been using). I also ordered some weatherstripping to put between the storm window and the stop.
This weekend I’ll get the brown paint for the storm windows, and hopefully get some of the storm windows installed and more of the trim around the windows painted. Thursday I’ll swing by the glass store to get replacement panes for the original storm windows and see my options for removable panes for the storm windows on the second floor… Let’s see how much I get done before the weather gets cold.
This afternoon we decided to take a bike ride and explore one of the local rail-trails – the Airline State Park Trail. I had to dig out Susanna’s bike, fill up the bike tires, and find everyone’s helmets. We packed the four bikes into the back of the mini-van, and headed out to find the trail.
We had a great ride – enjoying the cooler weather. I’m not quite sure how far we rode – the bike computer’s battery is dead. But it is sometimes nice to just ride and not worry about how far you have gone. Tomorrow I’ll get back to work on the house – get the scaffolding set up to work on Ben’s window and pull out a couple of the lower storm windows…. getting ready to replace storm windows before the winter.
