Summer Projects

This has been a very busy summer, but I did complete a few small projects...

Railing to protect my grill from blowing off my patio...it get's a little windy at my house!

Grill table built from redwood.  The construction was fairly simple as I used the Domino to cut the mortises for all the joinery.  I was able to build this table in an evening.

I glued patio stones to the wood using construction adhesive as the top of the grill table, this sucker is HEAVY and not going anywhere in the wind!

Small planter built out of leftover fencing material.

Rebuilt the top of my outfeed table using two layers of 3/4" mdf and a layer of 1/4" chalk-board that is replaceable.

Small frame made out of walnut with maple splines in the corners.

Lathe Tool Holder

Built a simple lathe tool holder today out of 3/4" plywood.

Coffee Table - Part 2

Coffee table is completed and "delivered".  The original stain was not dark enough, so I ended up painting the table-top with General Finishes Black Milk Paint, followed up with a layer of brown gel-stain, and then topped off with a few coats of wiped on polyurethane.  The legs came from ModernLegs.com, and were very simple to install.  While this was an incredibly easy project, the results were perfect.

Jet Planer

I was fortunate to have a friend come across an incredible deal on a used 3hp 16" Jet Planer that is 10 years old, and appears to have not been used in many years.  There was a lot of surface rust, a few parts missing, and everything was out of calibration.  I spent over 10 hours cleaning the rust and attempting to get everything calibrated.  I was able to purchase a replacement dust hood, new knives, some bolts and I am just waiting on delivery of the knife gauge tool so that I can get the new knives installed.  I expect that there will be some additional adjustments necessary, but all in, I spent around $350...not too shabby for a $1,600 machine!

Medicine Cabinet

This cabinet was built with the "scraps" from the bookshelf build.  The size of the scraps somewhat dictated the size of the cabinet, primarily the left-over piece of 1/4" Walnut plywood for the back-panel was only 16" wide.  The cabinet construction is similar to the bookshelves using the Festool Domino.  

Coffee Table - Part 1

Started working on the first piece of furniture for our basement home theater, a new coffee table.  I plan on building an end-table, and hall-table to match.  I decided to build all the pieces out of Ash since these pieces will be stained very dark, and the Ash from my local supplier is very inexpensive.  These projects will be incredibly simple, consisting of a solid 1 1/4" thick top and hairpin legs from ModernLegs.com.  The legs should be here in the next few weeks, but for now I can focus on getting the top glued up and finished.  

I decided to use 8mm Dominos to help in alignment.  The finished panel required very little flattening as the joints aligned perfectly.

All glued up.

First coat of finish.  The finish is an espresso colored polyurethane and stain blend, and after the first coat I am not that happy.  I wanted something much darker, but still allows the grain to show.  I haven't decided if I am going to attempt a second coat, or sand off this coat and start with a standard stain.

2015 To-do List

Here is a quick list of some of my woodworking goals for 2015:

• Projects
• Heirloom Tool-Tote
• Medicine Cabinet
• Media-Room Furniture
• Coffee Table
• End Table
• Liquor Cabinet
• Hand-carved spoons
• Entry-closet Shelving
• Shop/Garage Upgrades
• Upgrade lighting in garage/shop
• Solid wood, edge-grain top for out-feed table
• Finish/Paint drywall in garage
• Paint garage floor
• 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
• Clamps (I always need more clamps!)