Monday, August 24, 2015

2015 Goals Update


Update on the 2015 goals I set earlier in the year.


  • Projects


  • Shop/Garage Upgrades


  • Tool Purchases

    • Continue to build my vintage tool collection, primarily looking for some panel saws, carpenter-squares, marking-gauges, etc.
    • Lie-Nielsen Medium Shoulder Plane
    • Lathe - PURCHASED
    • Clamps (I always need more clamps!)

    Tuesday, August 18, 2015

    New Lathe!

    I was very fortunate to come across a brand-new Rikon 70-100 Mini-Lathe on Craigslist today for an absolute steal!


    Ordered a Nova Midi-Chuck.

    Table/Bar for Behind Couch

    In our basement theater room we have a large sectional couch that sits about 4 feet from the back wall.  My idea was to build a table/bar that would sit behind the couch with stools.   This was a fairly straight-forward project, but the size of the timbers is what made it difficult.  In addition ensuring that the table didn't tip-over considering how heavy the top is (see below to see how I solved this). 

    Two pieces of White Ash, 2" thick x 9" wide x 108" long...these beasts are HEAVY!

    Edge jointed, planed and glued up.  I used my buddy's Domino XL to cut tennons to use to aid the glue up and the strength of the joint.

    All glued up, cut to length and ready for sanding.  

    I decided to not keep the top nice and uniform, but allow the sander to cut some gouges as I was sanding.  I used my Festool Rotex RO90 to do the "carving".

    I went back and forth on the construction of the legs.  I had considered building the legs out of wood, but in the end decided to use 1" black iron pipe to match some of the industrial look of the basement.

    Top sanded, two coats of General Finishes Black Milk Pain, one coat of General Finished Java Gel Stain, and 4 coats of Minwax Wipe-On Satin Poly.
     
    All done! 


    Note how the feet on the table/bar extend under the couch.  The feet are a foot longer than the table top is wide, allowing the feet to extend under the couch, limiting any "tipping" of the bar/table.  This bar/table is "rock-solid".