MWA Banner Rack Beginnings

Last summer, Kari Hultman kindly shared her lumber stockpile with me, and let me take as much as I could fit on my truck (leaving room for the contents of my Sister-in-Laws apartment). Since I brought it home, this lumber has resided in our sun/hot tub/miscellaneous storage room. Unfortunately that room is the only choice to the back door that lets out onto the deck. As the room had to serve duty as a buffet station during our Memorial Day Party, we set about cleaning it out.

The sun/hot tub/miscellaneous storage room lumber pile.

Moving the lumber was, of course, my job. As I broke down the stacks and transferred them one-by-one to the attic I came across a piece with two live edges that looked particularly like a tree to me. I couldn’t initially think of what to do with it, but its form struck me and I set it aside.

This beauty caught my eye.

By the time I was done moving the lumber, it had dawned on me. I knew what I would do. The piece would serve as the left vertical member of the banner rack I have to make for the MWA banner we’ll be displaying at Woodworking in America.I immediately broke out an assortment of sanders and took the rough sawn face and still partially barky edges to a smooth, 80 grit. Then I successfully filled a face crack epoxy. When it came to the multiple cracks in the back face, I first routed out the cracks a little bit to make the epoxy application easier. Unfortunately, the epoxy application didn’t go so well on the back face. I probably mixed it wrong, but whatever the reason, my 5 minuted epoxy was still tacky 2 days later.

A typical crack on the back, routed to allow additional epoxy to fit in.

I allowed it a third day to dry, and when it was still tacky I posed the question to Twitter. What should I do? One of the ideas I liked was to heat it up under a heat lamp in order to accelerate the drying. Unfortunately, within about an hour the heat lamp took hard and tacky to soft and bubbly. Thankfully, removal of the heat and time seem to have restored it to hard and tacky.

Not a formula for dry epoxy.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working on the Banner Rack so far, but since I have to design the rest, buy the lumber for the rest and it was one of may pices of word stacked in the shop preventing me from walking around, I took the piece as was and put it achoice in the attack. It gets warm up there, but not crazy, heat lamp hot. Hopefully when I pull it down in a month or two, it’ll be dry enough to work on.These videos walk you through the process of sanding and epoxying the piece.

I’ll keep everyone posted when I get back to it, and please don’t forget to check out the MWA Banner Rack in person when you visit our booth at both Woodworking in America Conferences.

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Chuck Bender Cuts His Pins Tails At The Same Time

Woodworking in America 2012 Midwest was filled with banter about the awesomeness of Chuck Norris. While it doesnt take much for a bunch of (mostly) guys hanging out for a weekend to start talking about Chuck Norris, the catalyst for the discussion in Covington was clear. There was an even more powerful Chuck in convention center with us: Chuck Bender.

Chuck Bender chatting with our very own, Tom Iovino at WIA

Chuck Bender is the proprietor of the Acanthus Workshop and the host of the No BS Online Woodworking Show. Chuck’s also a regular at Woodworking in America at many other woodworking shows and seminars around the country and especially the northeast (I can’t think of the last time I went to a show and Chuck wasn’t there).At Woodworking in America I was able to attend Chuck’s “How To Cut Fancy Pants Bermuda Dovetails Like A Man” seminar. Apparently, as there was nothing to do in Bermuda except drink, have sex and work wood, amusement for the natives came in the form of decorative patterns cut into their exposed dovetails.

Chuck cuts Dovetails in class

Chuck took us through the basics of cutting dovetails his choice, the choice, and then we moved on to the Bermuda Dovetails. After learning the technique, I’ll say that Bermuda Dovetails are not as hard as they look, but they’re still pretty hard. If the aesthetic peaks your interest, you should probably pick up Chuck’s Dovetail DVDs, as they’ll give you the opportunity to watch over and over as you practice.

A sample set of Chucks Bermuda Dovetails.

I must warn you, before you run out and learn to Dovetail as Chuck Bender does, you must consider the great responsibility that comes with such great power. It has been hard to watch the great Chuck Norris cope with the responsibility his power brings. If you learn to cut your pins and tails first like Chuck Bender does, you’ll become one of the few who are even more powerful than Chuck Norris. Consider that, and tread carefully.

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Sabtu, 12 Maret 2016

Stephens Step Stool Part IV

With the steps and legs joined I turned my attention to the stretchers.

The legs are glued to the steps.

The stretchers are made from the 1" thick stock I milled for the steps and legs during the milling process. I began by ripping two (2) pieces to about 1¼” width.

Next I took two (2) scrap pieces and cut them to be the exact length between the sides, where the sides meet the steps. I fit these pieces between the legs at the base of the stool in order to hold them parallel (they were angled in, so the legs held the spacers under compression without clamps).

With the legs held parallel by the spacers, I used an adjustable square to mark up from the bottom evenly on both legs. I didnt go for a particular measurement. I aimed for about 1/3 of the choice up. The square ensured that the marks on both legs were even with each other. I followed the same process to mark out for the back stretcher, making it about 1½” higher (by eye) than the front stretcher.

The stretcher blanks were laid across the legs, with the bottom edge of the stretchers even with my marks. Then I marked the top of the stretcher on the legs and the inside and outside of the legs on the stretchers. I cut the stretchers to length at the outside edge of the leg marks. Then I used a bevel gauge and laid out a single tail on each end, extending from the inside leg mark to the end of the stretcher. I cut down the side of the tail with my dovetail saw, then I scored the shoulder line with a chisel and cut it with the saw too.

The "pins".

Once the tails were cut, I laid the stretchers back down in place on the legs and marked the pins (it’s really just a single negative tail, but for the sake of clarity, I’ll call it the pins). The sides of the pins were cut with my dovetail saw and I chiseled out down to the base.

Hand cutting dovetails is not an operation I do often, so their fit was gappy. It was nothing a little epoxy wouldn’t fix later.

Not the prettiest, but itll do.

As I had done with the steps and legs, I took the stretchers to the router table and rounded over the edges that I would not be able to reach once the step stool was assembled. Then I glued in the stretchers with NexaBond. Actually, I installed the front stretcher before I remembered I should have rounded it over. This left me more work to do with the rasp and resulted in the back edge not being as evenly rounded as the others. Be sure to round over your unreachable edges before assembly.

For previous Step Stool posts, click here.Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.

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Selasa, 08 Maret 2016

Ghetto WorkCenter Boom Arm Part IV The Tool Holder

As I was finishing up the boom arm for the Ghetto WorkCenter, it dawned on me that I could also hand a tool holder on it.Festool includes tool holders as part of the WorkCenter. They also sell individual ones that fit on their CT vacuums. I have one of the individual ones. Unfortunately, my CT22 is too old to fit it. I have mine set into a block of wood that I clamp to my bench and BenchMark table. My ultimate plan is to use the Festool Tool Holder as a model to make a cabinet to hold all my sanders. For now, it served as a model to make a Tool Holder to fit on my Saw Tray.

This is how it began.

I began with the same piece of ½” baltic birch Ive made the rest of the Ghetto WorkCenter out of. I began by tracing the V shape of the tool holder onto the plywood. I used a forstner bit to make the rounded bottom of the V. Then I cut out the rest on the bandsaw. My bandsaw cuts weren’t exactly straight, so I used my rasp to flatten them out.

The Vs, fresh off the bandsaw.

After smoothing the sides with a rasp.

Once the V’s were rounded over with the router, it was just a matter of attaching the cleat and spacer so I could hang it on the saw tray.

Im loving my Bosch MRC23EVSK. It has great dust collection & visibility to boot.

The cleat on the left hooks the saw tray and the spacer on the right keeps in basically plumb.

Even with the ½” plywood, it’s working great so far.

She holds like a champ.

I’m not sure if I’ll add more accessories to the Ghetto WorkCenter, but for a little bit of plywood and some cheap fasteners, it’s proving to be a great addition to the shop.

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Senin, 29 Februari 2016

There Are Events Afoot

I was hoping to share this on the MWA Podcast this week. Alas, we didnt manage to record an episode (next week and the week after we will). In the mean time, I wanted to be sure to share two (2) great upcoming woodworking events.

Chirs current shop stool.

The first is Chris Wongs Shop Stool Build Off. Chris of Flair Woodworks is building a new shop stool and he has invited everyone to build along with him. You can read more about the build off here, on Chirs site. You can also follow the stool making madness live on twitter on Jaunary 25, 2014. Just follow the hash-tag #SSBO.
Another great event coming up is the Furniture Project, February 21 -23 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. The Furniture Project (formerly the FurnitureExpo) is a great event conceived to introduce custom furniture makers with a buying audience. It shares show space with the New England Home Show.
Each year the Furniture Project chooses a project and invites all furniture makers to make one and enter it for display. Accepted pieces are then shown at the Furniture Project. This year, the project is a Chimney Cabinet. The rules, available here, are minimal and allow for lots of creativity.

Show attendees admire Mortons table.

Jim Ashley, Michael McCoy & Chuck Bender at FurnitureExpo 2012

If youre anywhere near Boston, Id highly recommend attending the Furniture Project and even entering a Chimney Cabinet if you can. Ive attended before and friends such as Morton, Rusty and Rob Bois have displayed there. Its well worth attending.
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.

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A House In The Trees Part XIII

Over the past two (2) weekends Ive been able to get back out to the tree house. Though Ive only been able to get half-days in, I have managed to just about finish the sheathing.

The tree house, as it stood before the last two weekends work.

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This video shows the sheathing of the gable ends, and all the frustration that entailed.

This shorter video shows an easier day of protecting the roof and sheathing the clearstory wall.

The next step will be to install the clearstory windows. The next two (2) weekends are just about spoken for, but hopefully Ill sneak in some window time too.

The sample Kalwall panels Im making the clearstory windows from.

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Minggu, 28 Februari 2016

Racking The Quilts Part IV

With all the shaping finally done for the Quilt Rack, it was time to sand. I used a combination of random orbit sanders and 3M Sandblaster sanding pads. I like the sanding pads because the foam backing keeps the pad rounded and prevents gouging or flattening the curves of the work piece. The sanding began with 80 grit and progressed to 180.

My finish sample board.

After sanding, I began experimenting with finishes. I took a scrap of Flame Yellow Birch which I had milled and sanded along with the quilt rack pieces. I ran blue tape down the middle and applied boiled linseed oil to one half and General Finishes Merlot Dye Stain to the other.
It was somewhere around this point that I was corrected regarding the due date. It turned out I only had one week until my mother-in-law’s birthday party, not two. I immediately abandoned my finish samples and got back to the business of assembling the quilt rack.

The cross members assembled to one leg.

I assembled the rack on my table saw so that I could rest in on a flat surface and ensure that it was square and wouldn’t rock. First I glued the cross members to one leg/foot assembly, then the other. As I was trying to push the second leg/foot assembly on, one of the Dominos gave me a hard time and wouldn’t slide into the cross member enough. Mid glue-up I pulled out a small pull saw and cut then end off the Domino. The leg/foot then fit on properly and I had an assembled quilt rack.

By sheer dumb luck, I was able to assemble the quilt rack
square on the first try with no tweaking.

I clamped the rack with one parallel clamp for each cross member. I had a few extra clamps ready to run diagonally across the quilt rack to counteract and racking, but all four foot points sat perfectly on the table saw with no racking present at all.
With the assembly done, I next moved on to finishing the quilt rack.

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Minggu, 21 Februari 2016

This Just Might Go To My Head

I’m proud to say that I’ve just had my second full length article published in Fine Homebuilding. This article is about the proper choice to flash a chimney with copper flashings in a typical asphalt shingle roof. I also have a Building Skills section in the issue specifically about bending and fabricating the copper. As I mentioned when I posted about the accompanying video, it’s tangentially interesting to woodworkers if they like mixed media pieces and think sheet metal would make a good accent.

Have chimney, will flash.

My first article was on the proper installation of an EPDM flat roof. If you didnt know, I’m a roofing project manager by day.

These two (2) articles have been very rewarding, as have the tips I’ve had published in Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking.

Marking copper is much like marking wood,
but with slightly less precise tools.

I mention all this, not just because I’m excited about it, and certainly not because I think it says anything about me. What I think it does say is that the magazines, in any field, are reachable, open to ideas and looking to support those who practice the respective craft. Try submitting something. You may be surprised by the response.The photos are from finehomebuilding.com

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Sabtu, 20 Februari 2016

Shop Tour M Scott Morton Part IV

We now bring Mortons shop tour series to its conclusion with a video tour, hosted by the man himself.

I apologize for the portrait video format. I rested my phone on my miter saw to take the video, and it didnt occur to me until I was watching what Id recorded that it should have been laid in landscape mode.

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The Ply Wooden Boat Part IV Shes Got To Float

With the keel finished, construction of the boat was done and it was time to waterproof. When Eric made his plywood boat on GardenFork.tv, he used liberal amounts of silicone caulking as waterproofing. As a professional roofer and waterproofer, this made me cringe. Contrary to popular marketing, silicone is not the be-all and end-all of caulking. When compared to commercially available urethane and moisture curing polyether sealants, silicone is crap for most applications. I used the best caulking Ive ever used, M-1, between the plywood panels & the battens. Then I sealed all of the exterior joints and the screw heads with the new M-1 Marine.

A little M-1 sealant here, a little M-1 sealant there . . .

Chem Link was kind enough to send me some M-1 Marine to try out. Its designed for applications in consistently damp marine environments. It can even be used in underwater applications (post curing). In application, the M-1 marine was just as easy to tool as standard M-1. While I cant describe my boat as consistently damp, the M-1 marine did an excellent job of sealing the joints and screws.

M-1 Marine is very good sealant.

At this point, with the boat constructed and the joints sealed, many would have called it done, put on a decorative coat of paint if desired and set out to sea.Alas, I am the few (not the many) and knowing what I do about waterproofing and having access to the waterproofing products that I do, I had to seal the boat more. Once the M-1 Marine was dry, I then coated the entire outside of the hull with BARR waterproofing, also by Chem Link.

The now empty original tube and new bucket filled with BARR.

BARR is a liquid waterproofing. It comes it what look like giant toothpaste tubes. To apply it, I squeezed the tubes out into a plastic cup and used a cheap, disposable paint brush. First I put a coat of BARR over the joints. Then I covered the entire exterior hull with BARR, right up to the underside of the batten.

The joints coated and beginning on the bow.

Once the boat was coated, I allowed the BARR to dry overnight before dropping it in the lake.

A close up of the stern and keel after being coated with BARR.

The finished boat, ready for the lake.

Coming up in Part V, well take here out on the open lake.

For more about the (Ply)Wooden boat, read these posts.

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Sabtu, 13 Februari 2016

A House In The Trees Part IV

About 7 years ago my Uncle was making my Cousin a tree house. He asked me to build a window for it, and I happily did. It ended up being the last project I completed in my old shop before it became my twin son’s bedroom.While I never had a chance to see my Uncle’s tree house, I understand it was a bit of a disaster. In fact, the reason I never saw it was because it was down (with the trees which supported it) before I next came to visit.Fortunately, the window I made never made it into the ill fated tree house. It spent the last 7 years gathering dust in my Uncle’s garage.Since he still had it, and wasn’t using it, I’ve not got it back. I’ll be putting it up in our tree house (once we actually get to building the “house” portion).Here’s a video I made describing the window.

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Rabu, 03 Februari 2016

The Greenwich Frame Part IV Completion Presentation

Because I was responsible for the entire completed frame, finishing the construction & finishing still meant I had glass, matting & hanging hardware to obtain and install.

The finished frame, ready to be accessorized.

I began with the matting and went to our local Michaels on December 15th. They told me that having them custom cut the matting (as I have alchoices done) would take ten days. Since I had to give the frame as a gift on Christmas Eve I found myself instead buying a piece of matting off the shelf in a similar color. The layout was rather straightforward (I had already figured it out, thinking I was supplying it to Michaels). Trimming the outside of the matting also proved easy, using my 8" shears (every shop should have a giant pair of scissors). What I was really afraid of was cutting out the center of the matting, as I had never before attempted it. Thankfully, it proved easy. I cut the matting using a straight edge clamped over it and a sharp X-acto knife. I started from the corners and worked in, wanting to ensure that I didnt over-cut any of the edges. After a few gentle passes, each side was cut. Three quick reallignments and the matting was cut. I kept the knife plumb in order to make a cut perpendicular to the face of the matting. While I prefer matting that has been cut at a bevel to reveal a narrow white band around the picture, I didnt think I could keep the inside corners clean or the bevel consistent with an X-acto knife. The simple square cut kept it neat.

Apparently, I can cut matting.

For the glass, I did what I alchoices do when I make a frame; I went down to the local hardware store and ordered a piece of 1/8" plate glass, cut to fit.Assembly consisted of washing & installing the plate glass followed by the matting (with the picture taped to the back) and then a simple piece of peg board. I used window glazing points to hold the whole assembly in. I then attached a wire to hang the frame with  using #6 x 3/4" pan head screws.

The back of the completed frame.

The last thing I did was install 4 clear plastic self-adhesive feet to the frame. Ive never done that to a frame before, but I dont like it when the top edge of the frame sticks off the wall due to the hanging hardware. I figured that the clear feet would hold the frame evenly off the wall.

The completed, assembled frame.

Hopefully the feet idea will work, and the whole frame will look good in its new home. I gave the frame to my Dad for Christmas and its now hanging at its new home in Greenwich. I havent been up to see it yet, but Ill certainly let everyone know what it looks like in place.The whole Greenwich Frame Saga:The Greenwich Frame, Part I: DesignThe Greenwich Frame, Part II: Fabrication BeginsThe Greenwich Frame, Part III: Plugging Achoice

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