Showing posts with label on. Show all posts
Showing posts with label on. Show all posts
Friday, February 21, 2014
Putting A Finish On The Craftsman Desk Repair
Heres where the desk started out.
I put it through a series of repairs and removed all the old, beaten finish down to bare oak.
Getting the finish right was important. A great finish could make the difference between this looking like an average Craftsman style desk you can find in any furniture store. Again I went to the Craftsman Bible, Bob Langs "The Great Book of Shop Drawings For Craftsman Furniture." and he didnt lead me wrong.
I gave the piece a quick finish sanding at 220 grit followed by a wipe down with a tack cloth. Then I wiped on two coats of Dark Walnut Watco Danish Oil and let it cure for two days. I gave it a light scuff buff with some steel wool and hauled the desk out of the shop and into the sun.
I then put on a half dozen coats of amber shellac. I buy the Bullseye brand from the local home center and cut it 2 parts shellac to 1 part denatured alcohol. Working in the sunlight is great because it speeds the already fast drying of the shellac and on a larger piece like this by the time you get to the end of one coat you can grab a quick drink of water and start over at the beginning again.
After the final coat of shellac I let it cure for a day, then a quick buff down with a finer steel wool to take down any dust nibs and even the surface. I followed this with a coat of paste wax and buffed that out by hand.
The results. . . I found them to be fantastic.
With the wax on there was nothing left to do but move the desk up the stairs into my daughters bedroom. The trick was getting her to clean up, pick up, and move things around to open the space. I quickly shot some pictures before the clutter could crash back into place.
From a surprise of a project to start to some interesting repairs and problem solving to pull it together. This was a pretty fun and satisfying project. A good jump out of the gate in my new shop.
Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf
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I put it through a series of repairs and removed all the old, beaten finish down to bare oak.
Getting the finish right was important. A great finish could make the difference between this looking like an average Craftsman style desk you can find in any furniture store. Again I went to the Craftsman Bible, Bob Langs "The Great Book of Shop Drawings For Craftsman Furniture." and he didnt lead me wrong.
I gave the piece a quick finish sanding at 220 grit followed by a wipe down with a tack cloth. Then I wiped on two coats of Dark Walnut Watco Danish Oil and let it cure for two days. I gave it a light scuff buff with some steel wool and hauled the desk out of the shop and into the sun.
I then put on a half dozen coats of amber shellac. I buy the Bullseye brand from the local home center and cut it 2 parts shellac to 1 part denatured alcohol. Working in the sunlight is great because it speeds the already fast drying of the shellac and on a larger piece like this by the time you get to the end of one coat you can grab a quick drink of water and start over at the beginning again.
After the final coat of shellac I let it cure for a day, then a quick buff down with a finer steel wool to take down any dust nibs and even the surface. I followed this with a coat of paste wax and buffed that out by hand.
The results. . . I found them to be fantastic.
With the wax on there was nothing left to do but move the desk up the stairs into my daughters bedroom. The trick was getting her to clean up, pick up, and move things around to open the space. I quickly shot some pictures before the clutter could crash back into place.
From a surprise of a project to start to some interesting repairs and problem solving to pull it together. This was a pretty fun and satisfying project. A good jump out of the gate in my new shop.
Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf
A Diy Guide On Woodworking Jigs
Types of Woodworking Jigs
Dovetail jigs are great for making dovetail joints accurately. These can be purchased relatively inexpensively. Another option is to make your own dovetail jig. You can find templates for making your own jigs on the internet or in most stores that sell wood working supplies. Many of these templates allow you to make up to twelve different size jigs.
You may want to puck up a dovetail bit for your router and a dovetail saw. These are great tools if you intend to make your own jigs. Templates allow you to make variable spaced or fixed dovetails for a variety of projects, including cabinets, drawers and small boxes. Some systems come with bits and templates together in one kit. These save money compared to purchasing the components separately.
Dovetail saws are used to cut not only dovetails, but other fine joints for projects. The blades on these saws are thinker than other saws. This allows for greater accuracy. It’s important to purchase a good quality tool for making tight joints and professional looking projects. Look for about fourteen to seventeen points per inch in a good quality saw.
A dowel jig is used for making quality, consistent dowels. If you are using a thick timber, get a self centering jig for better accuracy. There are a variety of sizes from a quarter to one half inch. Complete kits are available that include the dowel jig with several hundred dowels in a variety of sizes. Glue is sometimes included in these kits.
A kreg jig is great for cabinet making. Perfectly positioned slides are necessary if the movement in the drawer is to be smooth. Using kreg jigs save time because you won’t need to measure and mark the spaces for drawer slides. These make it easier to mount metal drawer slides. They can be used for center, bottom or extension mounted drawers. This is an inexpensive, yet versatile piece of equipment.
Making Woodworking Jigs Yourself
Making your own woodworking jigs saves money in supplies. Use inexpensive materials and scrap pieces of plywood for making your own jig. Since you use the jigs for one project only, you don’t want to spend much on materials. If you plan to re use your jigs, use a stronger hardwood to make them.
You can find instructions for making your own jigs in woodworking books or magazines. Instructions are also available on the Internet. You can print these out for future reference. Consider getting a good binder to keep your jig making instructions organized in your workshop. Using plastic page covers will protect the instructions from getting dirty, ripped or damaged.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Wood Practical Ideas on How to Build a Shed
Building a gate can be as simple as a few pieces of odd lumber nailed together or an ornate wrought iron beauty. Most people do not have the facilities to work with iron or steel so for this article we will stick strictly with wooden gates. You must first decide where the gate will be located and secondly how large you need the gate to be when completed. With this information in hand we can get started. If your gate is to be a person gate, a three foot wide opening is generally acceptable. If you need to pass a lawn mower or tractor or perhaps even a vehicle through your gate then it has to be much wider. A vehicle gate is usually ten feet wide, mowers and small tractors may need only a four to six foot wide gate.
Gates fall basically into two categories of styles, ornamental and utility. Utility gates are built for access to livestock pens, access to yards or keeping animals out of your garden for instance. Since appearance is not the prime factor, these gates may be constructed of metal pipe, wire fencing, vinyl, wood or other similar materials. Gates used for access to flower gardens, pergolas, decks and other areas where beauty is as important as the gate function itself may be constructed of cedar, pressure treated materials, common pine stained or painted but the possibilities are endless. No matter what the intended use of your gate may be, the assembly is basically the same.
Once the type of gate is chosen and the location is selected, you must decide the finished size of the opening you desire. A person gate at 36" wide is fine for walking but you may want a 40" gate perhaps to make passing a wheelbarrow less of a chore. The wider the gate, the more it will need to be reinforced against sagging or bending.
Start by working on a level surface wider than the finished gate dimensions. A picnic table or saw horses with a sheet of plywood both make an excellent temporary work bench. For this project you will need protective glasses, tape measure, pencil, circular saw or real good hand saw, screws or nails and depending upon the size of the gate perhaps a couple of small turn buckles, screw eyes and some light cable. We will construct a 36" gate but larger gates are basically the same procedure. Start by cutting the two horizontal 36" long pieces that will hold all the vertical slats for the gate. Lay out these two pieces on your work bench with the lower cross bar about four inches up from the bottom of your gate and the other four inches down from the top of your gate. Tack these lightly to keep them from shifting around while you work. Measure from corner to corner of the bars to assure they measure exactly the same distance. If they do, they are square to each other. If not, they are not parallel and an adjustment must be made until the measurements match. Now cut your vertical pieces of lumber. Try to remember that as individual pieces they may seem lightweight but when you add them all together the gate can become quite heavy. I have made gates with a one by three horizontal bars and 1/4" vertical slats that function just fine as a gate to a chicken pen for example. Gates to a garden that needs to keep out deer must be heavier materials.
The vertical slats of your gate may have the top ends cut square, half round, scroll, pointed or any design you wish to make. Starting on one side of the gate, temporarily nail a vertical slat into place keeping the edge of the slat flush with the ends of the horizontal back braces. Now do the same on the opposite side of the gate. With these two slats in place lay out all the remaining slats. Adjust all the slats to create even spacing between them unless you want a closed face gate. A closed face gate will usually require at least one slat to be rip cut for width. Leaving small spaces between the slats allows you a little more leeway. Once all the slats are in final position, double check your corner to corner measurement to assure the gate is square. If it is good, go ahead and nail or screw all your slats into place. Now turn the gate over to work on the backside being careful not to twist or "rack" your gate out of square. For smaller gates, cut a brace that will fit on a diagonal from the end of the top horizontal to the lower opposite end of the lower horizontal. When in place, it will look like a giant letter "Z". Nail or screw the diagonal into place. On a larger wooden gate, you may need to install two screw eyes at opposite corners from high end to low end also on a diagonal and add a small turnbuckle with a cable to provide added support against sagging.
Install your support post for the gate making sure it is of sufficient size to support the gate without bending or leaning. Choose a heavy duty set of hinges and I strongly recommend you use galvanized wood screws to fasten the hinges to both the gate and the post. Keep the gate above the ground to allow it to swing freely. If you live in Northern climes make sure you leave room for snow if the gate is to be used in winter. Double check that the gate swings freely without binding or dragging. Install some type of device such as a barrel bolt to hold the gate in a closed position. Built out of wood scraps my last gate costs only a few dollars for new hinges and a lock bolt and a couple of hours of my time.
Gates fall basically into two categories of styles, ornamental and utility. Utility gates are built for access to livestock pens, access to yards or keeping animals out of your garden for instance. Since appearance is not the prime factor, these gates may be constructed of metal pipe, wire fencing, vinyl, wood or other similar materials. Gates used for access to flower gardens, pergolas, decks and other areas where beauty is as important as the gate function itself may be constructed of cedar, pressure treated materials, common pine stained or painted but the possibilities are endless. No matter what the intended use of your gate may be, the assembly is basically the same.
Once the type of gate is chosen and the location is selected, you must decide the finished size of the opening you desire. A person gate at 36" wide is fine for walking but you may want a 40" gate perhaps to make passing a wheelbarrow less of a chore. The wider the gate, the more it will need to be reinforced against sagging or bending.
Start by working on a level surface wider than the finished gate dimensions. A picnic table or saw horses with a sheet of plywood both make an excellent temporary work bench. For this project you will need protective glasses, tape measure, pencil, circular saw or real good hand saw, screws or nails and depending upon the size of the gate perhaps a couple of small turn buckles, screw eyes and some light cable. We will construct a 36" gate but larger gates are basically the same procedure. Start by cutting the two horizontal 36" long pieces that will hold all the vertical slats for the gate. Lay out these two pieces on your work bench with the lower cross bar about four inches up from the bottom of your gate and the other four inches down from the top of your gate. Tack these lightly to keep them from shifting around while you work. Measure from corner to corner of the bars to assure they measure exactly the same distance. If they do, they are square to each other. If not, they are not parallel and an adjustment must be made until the measurements match. Now cut your vertical pieces of lumber. Try to remember that as individual pieces they may seem lightweight but when you add them all together the gate can become quite heavy. I have made gates with a one by three horizontal bars and 1/4" vertical slats that function just fine as a gate to a chicken pen for example. Gates to a garden that needs to keep out deer must be heavier materials.
The vertical slats of your gate may have the top ends cut square, half round, scroll, pointed or any design you wish to make. Starting on one side of the gate, temporarily nail a vertical slat into place keeping the edge of the slat flush with the ends of the horizontal back braces. Now do the same on the opposite side of the gate. With these two slats in place lay out all the remaining slats. Adjust all the slats to create even spacing between them unless you want a closed face gate. A closed face gate will usually require at least one slat to be rip cut for width. Leaving small spaces between the slats allows you a little more leeway. Once all the slats are in final position, double check your corner to corner measurement to assure the gate is square. If it is good, go ahead and nail or screw all your slats into place. Now turn the gate over to work on the backside being careful not to twist or "rack" your gate out of square. For smaller gates, cut a brace that will fit on a diagonal from the end of the top horizontal to the lower opposite end of the lower horizontal. When in place, it will look like a giant letter "Z". Nail or screw the diagonal into place. On a larger wooden gate, you may need to install two screw eyes at opposite corners from high end to low end also on a diagonal and add a small turnbuckle with a cable to provide added support against sagging.
Install your support post for the gate making sure it is of sufficient size to support the gate without bending or leaning. Choose a heavy duty set of hinges and I strongly recommend you use galvanized wood screws to fasten the hinges to both the gate and the post. Keep the gate above the ground to allow it to swing freely. If you live in Northern climes make sure you leave room for snow if the gate is to be used in winter. Double check that the gate swings freely without binding or dragging. Install some type of device such as a barrel bolt to hold the gate in a closed position. Built out of wood scraps my last gate costs only a few dollars for new hinges and a lock bolt and a couple of hours of my time.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Thursday, January 23, 2014
What Im working on at the moment
This project is in Sylvania, Ohio. The customer had some water damage in the basement of the home. The lower 4 of drywall in the entire basement has been replaced.
The following 2 pictures are of a display area that Im making out of birch plywood. It will eventually be stained after all of the trim work has been completed.
The kitchen in the basement was completely torn out, along with the masonite on the walls. Ive installed new Kraftmaid cabinets. They are a middle of the road cabinet, and very nice to work with. All doors and drawers have self closing hardware - nice!
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The following 2 pictures are of a display area that Im making out of birch plywood. It will eventually be stained after all of the trim work has been completed.
The kitchen in the basement was completely torn out, along with the masonite on the walls. Ive installed new Kraftmaid cabinets. They are a middle of the road cabinet, and very nice to work with. All doors and drawers have self closing hardware - nice!
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