Last Christmas I built some toy airplanes for the little kids. It seems I didn’t post any images of the build here so I’ve posted the photo album below:
Last Christmas I built some “Lego” boxes for the little kids. It’s the first Christmas they’ve been with us and I wanted them to have something that is special…something you can’t just go buy at a store. Below is the album showing the build process.
I came across a cool design for a storage and set up workcenter for my dovetail jig in ShopNotes Magazine. Below is a photo album of the build.
I built a prototype of the cabinet I was thinking of using in my workshop. The design has changed based on the things I learned from this build. Below is a gallery of photos showing the build:
Here’s a modified design of the Arts & Crafts Book Rack. My son, Clinton, isn’t fond of the keyed tenons so I changed the design to have shorter through tenons and chamfered the ends where they protruded through the end of the rack.
Here’s a gallery of photos showing my build of the Arts & Crafts Book Rack with keyed tenon joinery. I’ve posted some of these photos before but this is the complete set of photos.
Since I didn’t start this project before Christmas I (obviously) didn’t get it completed to give as a gift last year. One reason I pushed it off is that it has miter joints and I haven’t successfully made precise miters. Gaps in a miter joint are horrible.
There’s no way to learn without getting into the workshop and doing it so I started the frame. Below are the pictures of what I have completed at this point:
4/4 quarter sawn white oak stock I’m using for this frame.
I cut off a piece just long enough to make the pieces I need.
The 4/4 stock is thickness planed down to 3/4″ thick.
The edges go throughout the jointer to square them up for sawing.
2″ strips are cut front the stock.
The pieces are miter-cut to length and dry fitted.
A 1/16″ deep, 5/8″ wide relief is dadoed into the face of frame.
The frame is dry-fitted again. Small gaps are present in the miters.
I used the dado blade to cut insets in the back of the frame to hold the glass.
Dry-fitted again; gaps still visible.
There are very small gaps in the miters joints. I’ve got a couple of options for repairing them but I’m leaning toward using a table saw miter sled I saw Steve Ramsey on Wood Working for Mere Mortals (click here to see his solution) use.
One overarching lesson I’ve learn while woodworking is to not panic or get frustrated on a project. Calmly think it out and come up with a solution. Rarely have I had to scrap an entire project. People who know me know it’s tough for me to accept less than perfect. It’s sort of a sport for them to find the flaws in my projects because they know I’m having to bite my tongue not to point them out.
Eventually this tiny issue will get solved and the frame will look pretty good. In the process I’ll have new skills for making miters without gaps.
Nostalgic thoughts are those that come to you causing you to suddenly realize “it has been a long time since…” or “it was a long time ago when…”.
Here’s something that caused that for me. Approximately seven years ago I built (2) wooden Tommy Guns; (1) for each twin. I haven’t built any more since then, only those two exist.
The other day they came to kind and I asked, “whatever happened to those Tommy Guns.” The twins, both in college now, still have them. Pretty cool. I hope they keep them to pass on. Maybe I’ll build more for grand kids. Here’s a picture of Coke’s Tommy Gun:
This morning me and Corbin installed the gas lifter arms on his workbench. Now the top shelf door auto-opens and stays in play on its own. Here’s a little video of them working:
Next we’re going to install LED lighting on the the door to light the work surface. Corbin came up with a cool idea concerning switching the lights—install a door jamb switch. That way, whenever the door opens, the lights automatically come on. Cool. I’ll put an override switch to ensure the lighting can be turned off when he door is open.
Tonight we—Cole, Kyle, Corbin and me—mounted the workbench to the wall in the garage. It’s pretty great that the installation went so well. It was a lot less difficult than I expected. Only took about 30 minutes to install it.
All the instructions (from ShopNotes #14) worked perfectly. Maybe it’s suspected, but I don’t think a certain someone knows it’s a Christmas present yet. I hope he really likes it and enjoys it!
Magnetic strips installed.
Open, panoramic view.
With tools inside.
