Almost ready for Halloween
The boys are with us this week and Susanna’s classroom is short an assistant. That means tired nights, and not much workshop time. But it is worth skipping the workshop to spend time with the family.
Friday was pizza/movie night. I made homemade pizza dough. Twice. The boys and I took a quick trip to the store to pick up cheese and left the dough in Tupperware containers on the counter. In the 30 minutes we were gone, Targa got the dough off the counter. Targa and Tucker ate most of the dough. The boys are now much closer to knowing how to curse like a sailor. I mean, it was only thirty minutes. I came home early and let them run outside for an hour or two before the boys came home. And raw pizza dough. What the f**k is wrong with the dogs?
Today was the boys’ second to last soccer game. They lost (again). But they had fun. Ben twisted his ankle during the game (okay, I think that part wasn’t so much fun), so he decided to hang out at home this afternoon.
I took will to pick up a costume for Halloween, and then to the submarine base for a haunted house. It was much scarier than I had expected – I’m pretty glad that Ben skipped it this year. It was nice to have Will for the haunted house – he was brave enough to lead the way. However, after we left the building (and thought the scary stuff was over), an actor came out from another door with a chainsaw and Will ran as fast as he could. We both got a good laugh about it, and stopped and picked up pumpkins on the way home.
We finished the day with friends over and time playing outside. It was a beautiful New England fall day. Brisk, but not too cold, windy and sunny.
Nightstands – Milling the Lumber (part 2)
Today I continued milling lumber for the nightstands. I cut out pieces for the top and aprons. All the pieces were milled down to 1″ thick – when I am ready to use the pieces, I will mill them the rest of the way.
Next I marked out the mortises on the four legs. I double checked the placement. I only have one spare leg if I mess these up. I am using the drill press to remove most of the material for the mortises. The mortises are 1/4″ wide, 1″ deep, and 3 1/2″ long.
I was able to complete half of the large mortises on the legs tonight (for one of the tables). After cutting out the mortises, I will taper the legs on the bandsaw (using a hand plane to smooth the cut).
Also, this is my 300th post on this blog in just under 3 years of writing.
Nightstands – Milling the Lumber (part 1)
Tonight I was able to start milling the lumber for the nightstands. I marked out the rough lumber for the legs and cut them to rough length (about an inch longer than the finished size of the legs). I do the rough cuts with a hand saw on my saw bench. I think it is much easier (and more pleasant) to use the hand saw to cut them to length.
After cutting the boards to length I began the milling process on the legs. The first step to milling the boards is to take a face of the board and make it flat. The boards don’t dry perfectly flat, but these boards are pretty close.
After getting the first face flat, I will turn the boards on the side and get one edge square (90-degrees) to the flat face. Flattening a face and squaring an edge is done on the jointer. If the boards were wider than the jointer, I would have to flatten a face using a hand plane – but I’m not sure I’m ready for that (and luckily I didn’t pull out any lumber for this project that is wider than the jointer (8-inches).
The second step is to mill the boards to thickness. However, the rough boards are almost 3-inches square, and the final dimensions will be under 2-inches thick. I am concerned that the boards may cup slightly when I remove that much lumber. So, tonight I just milled the boards to 2-inches square. I will let the boards sit for a couple of days and then re-flatten and square them before planning them to the final thickness. I use the planer to get the boards to the desired thickness. If these boards were flat (instead of square for the legs), I would then rip them to width on the table saw. I just get these square using the planer.
Tomorrow I will start milling the boards for the top and aprons. It is nice to work with clear, dry lumber. The last couple of outside projects used wet oak and maple which is terrible to mill.
A short escape to the Berkshires
Susanna and I took a short escape to the Berkshires this weekend. We spent last night in Lenox, MA and enjoyed a tour around western Massachusetts today. Here are some pictures from the trip.
The next project
Although the workshop reorganization isn’t totally complete – the workshop is looking pretty good. And since, I don’t want to only spend time cleaning and organizing the shop, I started the next woodworking project today. And yes, part of it is because it is more fun to start projects than finish them. But I plan on trying to keep putting away and sorting out the workshop as I build this project.
I am starting to build two nightstands for the boys (one each to start with). I started with a classic shaker side table plan from Fine Woodworking, and modified the design. The tables will be a little narrower than was in the magazine.
The fist step was to take the plan and make a story stick with the appropriate measurements. That way I don’t have to use a tape measure and risk cutting things to the wrong size. I just have to take the story stick and mark out each part. The story stick was a scrap piece of oak I had in the workshop.
The two tables will be made from red oak. If they turn out nice, I will make another pair out of cherry for our bedroom. After marking out the dimensions, I made an estimate of how much wood I would need and headed out to the barn to pick out wood. I am using a tree that I had cut into boards a couple of years ago. The lumber is beautiful. It is clear and the boards are thick (probably 1 1/4″ thick each for the thin boards) – so it should be no problem getting nice wood for the project. There is enough lumber from that tree to make several more matching pieces of furniture for the boys.
Of course the lumber was on the bottom of the stack in the garage. I had to unstack the pile, pull the lumber I needed out, and then re-stack the pile. I think Tucker was the only one that enjoyed that part of the project – I uncovered a mouse nest which is endless fun for a beagle to dig through.
After getting the lumber out I started marking out the boards. The next step is to cut the boards to rough size. This will allow me to easily mill the boards (it sucks to try to mill a 10-foot long board), and I can plan out the nicest looking pieces for the most visible parts.
A couple of things that will be a challenge for this project:
- Each table will have a drawer. I haven’t built drawers before, and will plan on hand dovetailing the drawers.
- I will attempt to resaw the sides of the drawers (they only need to be 1/2-inch thick). If I can’t do the cut on the bandsaw, I will try to resaw by hand. It is a waste to use the planer to take a 5/4 board down to 1/2-inch thick.
- The legs will be tapered. I haven’t figured out how I will taper them yet. The magazine shows a jig for the tablesaw. I’m thinking I will either taper them on the jointer or use the bandsaw (followed by a hand plane).
Workshop Progress
Today wa a chore day. The boys had friends over and, for the most part, spent the day playing rather than fighting. I spent time organizing the garage as well as the wood pile under the workshop. The chilly morning encouraged me to install all but two of the storm windows.
After morning chores, I spent time picking up and organizing the workshop. I have most of the bigger power tools where I want them (or at least where I think I want them). I have as much of the floor put down as I have lumber for right now. Now it is time to clean up and find a home for everything. It helps me keep somewhat organized if everything has a place. Not that I always put things back in their places. Actually, it is a challenge to keep any space organized. But having a home for everything helps.
I added a small “desk” in the corner. I’m not sure I’ll use it too often, but I like the look. It is just a deep shelf at desk height, nothing complicated. But it will give me a place to plan projects. At least in theory. I’m sure I’ll mostly plan projects sitting on the couch in the living room. I’ll also now have a place to put the chair when it isn’t in use.
I am nice and tired tonight. So are the boys. And the dogs. Back to work tomorrow. At least it is a short work week.
A Pokémon start to the day
Maybe they got their fighting out of their systems yesterday. Probably not. But at least the boys are starting the day off by playing. It gives me time to do chores.
Sunday morning bike ride (and other nonsense)
While the weekend may be almost over for Susanna, the boys and I have one more day off. The boys even had a half day of school on Friday, so it is an even longer weekend. Although, Will and Ben spent most of Friday afternoon fighting, so it wasn’t really much of a gain in that department. I, at least, got to enjoy an extra afternoon off of work spending quality time with both of them. Mediating the fights. Maybe they are just trying to emulate our elected officials in Washington. Okay, the fights weren’t that bad.
The boys had soccer Saturday morning. They lost. Again. But only 3 to 1. They had friends over in the afternoon, and only spend about half of it fighting with each other (hey, still doing better than Congress). I even took all four of them (Will, Ben plus two friends) on a short bicycle ride around the corner to a local cemetery. I was very thankful that none of them crashed (or was hit by a car). So, overall, it was a successful bike ride (i.e. no one killed, and not all of my hair is gray – yet).
By this morning, I think they had tired of fighting with each other (mostly). After breakfast, Susanna, the boys and I all bicycled up to Norwich. The boys got a snack (second breakfast) from Dunkin Donuts in downtown Norwich, and we returned home by late morning. Again, a successful bike ride (for the same reasons mentioned above).
In the afternoon we headed to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire (again in Norwich – but this time we drove). We enjoyed the shows and the boys did a little shopping in time for Halloween. I was surprised that the boys sat through three of the shows. I was even more surprised that Susanna made it through the “Cirque du Sewer” show – a rat carnival. Of course Susanna and I sat near enough to the back that she didn’t have to get a good look at the rats.
We rounded out the day with a game of “Settlers of Catan,”, which I finally won. Hopefully the boys will sleep in tomorrow morning. But who am I kidding. They are up at 6am on the weekends, but need someone to kick them out of bed in time to catch an 8am school bus during the week. I’m sure it is some sort of karma for my own childhood.
Glasses
I had to pick Will and Ben at school a few minutes early today so we could make Ben’s annual physical exam. In order to pick up the boys, I had to check in with the main office and sign them out there. As I was waiting for them both to come down, a teacher I hadn’t’ met before was in the office. She introduced herself as Will’s teacher.
While talking, she mentioned that she wanted to meet Ben. She said that she had heard that Ben looked a lot like Will, but wore glasses. I said, “Oh, Will wears glasses as well.” Will promptly walked into the office without glasses on. He had left them at home this morning. Of course, a few minutes later, Ben arrived wearing his glasses.
That was today’s hint that Will isn’t wearing his glasses at school as often as he should be. Or just chalk it up as another one of those ADHD moments (though this one was Will’s moment).