Sanding and sealing

2017-10-26

Several hours went into sanding, cleaning, and sealing.

Third Tier Cases Milled

2017-10-22

There are a lot of cuts to break down sheet goods to final form.

Starting the Third Tier

2017-10-20

‘And so it begins…’

Second Tier In Place

2017-10-15

It took quite a while, but the second tier is in place.

Prepping the Second Tier

2017-09-24

After the long slog of finishing, I’m prepping the wall and parts to assemble.

Drilling for shelf pins

2017-07-09

I got all the shelf pins drilled today.

Starting the second tier

2017-07-08

I started on the second tier, beginning with the sheet goods.

Installing the doors

2017-07-01

After much time spent finishing, I installed the doors today.

Finishing Doors - Part 1

2017-06-10

Today I began finishing the unfinished parts of the doors, which started with some final sanding.

Installing bullet catches - Part 1

2017-06-05

Today I drilled holes for the bullet catches, but only after making a precise jig to help.

Finishing up mounting the doors

2017-06-03

Today I mounted the last two pairs of doors. It’s nice to see the entire set in place.

Mounting the second pair of doors

2017-06-01

This evening I mounted a second pair of doors. Less adjusting needed for these, which is nice. Only two more pairs to go…

Mounting the first pair of doors

2017-05-31

Yesterday I started mounting my first pair of doors. The issue here is that I have to get the doors to line up to each other, and even a small variance will show. Last evening I was able to get them …

Mounting the first door (and sanding)

2017-05-29

The last few days I’ve been sanding the faces of my doors. And sanding doors some more. Today I finally finished sanding them all and rounded over the edges as well. I took care to not round …

Sanding Door Edges

2017-05-24

Tonight I sanded all the edges of the doors. It’s nice to be able to clamp a door in the vise. I used a sanding block and sandpaper, sanding by hand. I find it hard to avoid rounding over the …

Hinge mortises

2017-05-15

Tonight I used my hinge routing jig, my trim router, some clamps, and a chisel & mallet to make all the hinge mortises in my doors. Precision is crucial. So I clamp the door in my leg vise and …

Two more doors fitted; two to go

2017-05-11

I fitted doors ‘3’ and ‘4’ tonight. I really appreciate knowing how to use hand tools in a situation like this, since I can shave a tiny bit off an edge to get just the right …

Fitting doors '1' and '2'

2017-05-09

This evening we attended a fantasitic spring Choir concert at the high school to listen to Eleanor and her choirmates sing. Everyone sounded incredible, which is not surprising. The choir swept the …

Fitting doors '7' and '8'

2017-05-07

Before I started working on the doors today, I took some time to clean up the shop; it certainly needed it. I’m getting better at cleaning up as I go over the years, but I still end up with …

Fitting the first door

2017-05-06

I spent quite a bit of time in the shop today. I did some work on my gate repair project, which I’ll document sometime soon. But most of the time was spent learning how to fit inset doors. There …

Preparing to mortise hinges

2017-05-05

I spent some time making a jig to simplify mortising the doors and the frames for the butt hinges I’m using. These hinges are not adjustable, like many of the hinges used today. The downside of …

Squeezing in some doors

2017-05-03

Things have been busy in life, and I’ve been working on repairing one of the gates of our gate and arbor that I made years ago. That project is far enough along I have taken time the last few …

Plan B

2017-04-18

I spent some time in the shop this evening cleaning up. I also cut down my fixture for flattening slabs. Now that the long slab is in place, I need a fixture for a shorter slab and have nowhere to …

Fence repair

2017-04-16

Many years ago, I built a fence around our back yard. It’s held up well, except for a few spots where I built it a bit too close to the ground. In those places, dirt, leaves and whatever built …

Edge Finishing, Part 4

2017-04-07

Tonight I sanded the edges of my door parts and put the second coat of polyurethane on the inside edges of the door frames. Tomorrow I’ll assess whether I need to sand and do a thinned final …

Edge Finishing, Part 3

2017-04-06

Tonight I put the first coat of polyurethane on the inside edges of the door frames. Finishing work is kind of like watching paint try, except serious mistakes can be very hard to fix (or even ruin a …

Edge Finishing, Part 2

2017-04-05

Tonight I put a coat of stain on the inside edges of the door frames. Looks just like yesterday’s picture, doesn’t it? :-) Tomorrow I’ll apply the first coat of polyurethane, and …

Edge Finishing, Part 1

2017-04-04

It took a while to finish applying green tape to the sides of all the stiles and rails. It only took a few minutes to apply a coat of shellac to them once they were ready. Tomorrow I’ll stain …

Truing Frames; Prep for Edges

2017-04-03

Lots of work tonight. Not much to show. I finished truing the frames, which takes a while to get right. I then took some time to soften the edges, so the finish won’t crack and they leave a good …

More Truing of Frames

2017-04-02

It’s been a busy week and weekend. Yesterday was spent spreading ten yars of mulch, so no workshop time. Today was also busy until late afternoon, when I made it into the shop. I’m doing …

Finishing Experiments, Truing Frames, and Chores

2017-03-28

Last evening, I applied tape to the face of my sample and put a coat of polyurethane on the edge. Tonight I was then able to experiment with sealling and staining the face. As far as I can tell, this …

Doing a bit of 'figuring'

2017-03-26

I got into the shop this afternoon and ended up spending quite a few hours. I tackled a couple of things. […] The first order of business was to finish rehabbing the last of the wooden screw …

Leveling the Slab

2017-03-22

I took a bit of time tonight to tweak the level of the slab. It’s quite flat overall, though there is a tiny bit of ‘fade’ toward the front, where it drops a tiny bit. I did a bit of …

It's Been a Long Time To Get Here

2017-03-18

I could write quite a few words describing all the things that had to be done today to make it possible to get the slab into place. Instead, I’ll just thank my good friends Jason, Bob, and Ray …

Finish, sand, repeat.

2017-03-13

First thing this evening I spent considerable time wiping down my “finishing booth” hoping to remove as much dust as possible. What I know about getting a good smooth finish with polyurethane is …

Sand, Seal, Stain... Repeat?

2017-03-06

Last night after I put my second coat of stain on the slab and removed the excess, I got an uneasy feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. It looked like I had some blotching. Blotching occurs when you …

Fitting and Pegging the Breadboard.

2017-02-19

With my breadboard end fitting nicely onto the tongue, I turned my attention to shaping the front (end grain) edge of the breadboard to match the live edge of the slab. I started by marking where the …

Mill the North Edge & Add Bowties.

2017-02-18

I made a template for the north edge quite a while ago, but finally milled the edge. This will be important when putting the slab in place, so it conforms to the shape of the wall (which is not …