First Post!

This is my first post in my new blog. 
My name is Donald and I am an amateur woodworker.  I started this site to share my hobby with you and to document my learning process.  I want this to be a place where you can come and see my thought process about how I made something and then hopefully add your two cents in.  Im not going to be able to make a project every week but I will make as many projects as I can as often as I can.

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Wall Mounted Ships Clocks

Wow its been nearly two months since my last blog post! Will anyone still be reading this?

While I have been back home from my yacht delivery for a few weeks, I have been busy building a new wooden garden fence and spending my time with Bible study. Finally, the other day the lure of the tools enticed me back to my wood working room to build something. Nothing complicated, just something quick and dirty to get me started again.

A simple bevel edged board to wall mount my beloved ships clock & barometer. These little treasures of mine have been with me on all my sailings, including three single handed Atlantic crossings, so they mean a lot to me. It will be nice to still enjoy them now Im a land lubber.

Anychoice, Im back - I havent forgotten the blog and there will be more small projects to come, I promise.

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Were all Tusken Raiders

My Festool Random Orbit Sanders

I like to sand. I know that goes contrary to popular opinion, but I find sanding relaxing.The reason I like sanding is that I’ve stocked myself up with an arsenal of sanding paraphernalia that usually make it easy. My normal routine is to use a Festool random orbit sander connected to my CT22 dust extractor via my vacuum boom arm. The result is that sanding is usually a relaxing process. It could be a little monotonous, but listening to an entertaining podcast or book takes care of that. If you don’t have a decent vacuum and boom arm to connect to your sander, you really should. The less dust, the greater the sanding enjoyment.

This weekend I’ve had to leave my fancy set up behind and sand by hand. I’m making some wands (more on them in a future post), and there’s not a flat surface on them.The result has been lots and lots of hand sanding. I’ve used 3M Sandblaster sanding pads for the wands, and while I’ve been happy with the results, I’ve been hating the process. I now remember why so many of us hate sanding.How do you deal with sanding?

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Door Hinges on the Bastard Wall Cabinet

The Bastard Cabinet: Now with Hinges!

It’s been far too long since I’ve worked (or blogged about) the Bastard Wall Cabinet. To be honest, nothings been done on the cabinet since my last post about it on March 22, 2011. That is, nothing until today. Keeping my head down and finishing my work homework on Saturday afternoon meant that I was actually able to steal a whole hour in the shop on Sunday.

I’m up to fabricating and installing the cabinet doors. As they will be relatively dimensioned, just like every other cabinet component, I decided to install the hinges first so that I can exactly mark the size of the doors.

I’m using Rockler Partial Wrap Slotted Piano Hinges. Though the brass platting breaks my usual chrome and brushed nickle aesthetic, these hinges are wonderful for doors made of sheet goods. The partial wrap means that on the door I’ll be screwing into both face and end grain so there’s no worry about screw holding power as there would be if I was only attaching to the end grain.

The hinges clamped in place, ready for marking.

I began by laying the hinges against the cabinet sides where they will be installed and marking them (I marked them on blue tape to make the pencil line easier to see). I used a try square to mark perpendicular to the hinge barrel. Then I took the hinges over to my bench, clamped them down and went to work with a fresh hack saw blade. That sized them right. A few quick passes with a file and the cut ends were nice and smooth.

Using relative dimensioning to position the hinges.

To install the hinges I began by fitting a scrap of ¾” baltic birch plywood (my door material) into the hing and setting it so that the scrap was flush with the end of the side panel as the final door should be. I then slid a temporary fence against the inside edge of the hinge and clamped the fence on. Once I removed the scrap door spacer, opened and clamped the hinge against the temporary fence, I was ready to install. I used a centering bit to pre-drill and then used an extra long bit in my screw gun to prevent the body of the screw gun from hitting the fence. I set the torque nice and low and each screw went in without a fuss.

In testing, the hinges seem to be working fine. Next I’ll re-mount the plane shelf (I forgot to account for door & hinge clearance when installing it) and then it’s on to doors. Hopefully this cabinet will be up on the wall soon.

Have you stolen and shop time lately?

Other Bastard Wall Cabinet PostsWinter Wall Cabinet WonderlandThe Bastard Wall Cabinet (for tools!)Trudging Towards Tool StorageCutting the Cabinet Carcass (in relative terms)A Home For My PlanesContinued Wall Cabinet AssemblyWhats a Bastard Wall Cabinet without Shelves?

Boxing in the Bastard Tool Cabinet

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