A Few Scraps

The last couple of weeks I've been working on two boxes made entirely of scrape wood collected from a cabinet makers garbage bin. Both use the same techniques such as mitered corners reinforced with veneer keys, floating panels, rare earth magnet lids and finished with a coat of tung oil.

I worked on the two during morning hours before starting on my larger projects. I didn't have anyone in mind while working these, just that I wanted to create something from my vast scrap wood collection to be appreciated that otherwise was destined for the fire pit.

Basement Bar Makeover! Pt.2

Continuing my previous post basement bar makeover with some results.

I wanted to tile the top for ease of cleaning and color, I ordered a select set of tiles.
Doubling up 3\4” plywood for the top and offsetting the edges to account for the angled Oak arm rest. I created a L-shape connecting to the wall into a air vent bump out.
Primarily white laminate particle board, It was accented with solid wood and veneered with Red Oak. I kept the Oak front. Painting it the color of the walls so the grain shows through giving it a rap around look.

On both side faces I glued on Oak plywood and edged it with Oak moldings. Depending on space I added rectangle frames for decoration. The top was tiled with 1/4” spacing for grouting. I took a tile to a local shop were I had a hole drilled for the sinks faucet. First time worked out with no breakage. The trickiest and most expensive part was with the angled miters on the molded arm rests. With small and basic tools I surly managed to make high tolerance cuts with minimal gap fillings.

With the left over cuts from the Oak plywood and trim I used it to box in the mini fridge. Doors are just 3/4” MDF with simple and clean hardware. I finished the Oak with two parts of stain. Liberal amount of Ebony stain applied then wiped off to set into grain, then lightly sanded then a mission style brown was wiped on and let sit. After all stain applied and dried I then sealed with two coats of semi-gloss varathane.

I am very proud of this project. It was one of my first independent jobs that dealt with array of challenges with both construction and keeping a client happy and excited every step of the way.

I would love to get in the business of building bars and fine indoor woodworks. I greatly prefer bench work in my own shop but there is a great joy to be found in on site carpentry, all of which are of great interest to me.

Rich

Basement Bar Makeover! Pt.1

A Couple years ago I was building a basement for a new home owner. Most standard stuff such as steel stud walls, electrical, plumbing, drywall, pot lights, trim work and painting, simple but with quality in mind.

There was an ugly old school partial board bar existing in the basement that the owners wanted nothing to do with and asked me to tare out. The owners had an idea about buying a table or a new bar to be put in the same spot.

After inspecting the bar I knew I could restore and bring it within the taste of the homeowners with less cost then buying something new.

My idea's for the bar was to drop the top, increase the tops surface area, match the color with the walls and other accents to match the surroundings. Shelves, doors and a nook for a mini fridge was to be added and I wanted to uses the molded oak bar arm rests you often see.

After presenting my ideas the owners they were excited and gave me full creative control on the project.

Part 2 of Basement Bar Makeover will be posted soon.

Cuba, Cigars, Memories inside a humidor. Some words up in Smoke.

Its been just over a year now since I traveled to Santiago De Cuba. I remember it was a fantastic trip taken with six incredible friends, by the end of the week the echo of the “Group of Seven” could be heard lightly in the whispers of locals and the ocean breeze.

We soaked up as much of the culture we could in the little time we had. Walking around amongst all the locales taking in the sounds and smells of this majestic city.

More often awe stuck then not by all the historical buildings, vintage cars, cobble stone roads, colorful lively markets, mountain scape's that once helped hide Fidel Castro and Che Guevara's guerrilla army, large water passages and old ports. Truly magnificent.

We tasted with much delight the fresh locally grow foods, organic coffee's, highly acclaimed sugar cane rums while enjoying exceptionally fine cigars of many variety's like Montecristo, Bolivar, Cohiba or some mini Quintero's to name a few.

Even tho a year has passed I can still enjoy some pleasures of Cuba. With 7 people filled to the limits in the airport you better believe we're still enjoying ourselves.

I can go to my humidor thats maintained to a constant 70% humidity and take that trip again.
With all our cigars coming back to a colder dry climate we had to act quick and do some serious research. You'll find hundreds of sites giving bits of information. I happened to come across a exceptional website that literally tells you everything you need to know about humidors and storing cigars.

To who appreciates knowledge and a quality cigar here you are - http://www.humidor-guide.com/

Thank you for reading, enjoy from here.

Cheers to the Group of Seven.
Rich

Woodworker's Safety Week 2009

Hi Everyone.

I would like to contribute something myself for this years woodworker's safety week.

I find myself using mostly hand tools when preparing lumber, joinery or finishing wood to its sheen surface. Hand tools are not without their own dangers, usually happening when your not paying attention. Playing chicken with your hand and chisel or not prepared to how your hand saw reacts when starting a cut. These happen in a instant and for the most part can be avoided. Keeping your tools really sharp help with attentiveness and control.

When starting out and introduced to woodworking machines either through educational classes or working along side a knowledgeable craftsman, your in a experienced atmosphere where you can gain first hand understanding of the uses and dangers of each machine before ever having to use them. In the beginning you will always have a sort of hesitation but its the confidence and forethought to achieve quality and safe results.

It is this understanding which is important when approaching any high Rpm machine. Some people may not have a experienced to introduce these machines. If that is the case it's a good idea to read the Manual, Magazine article's, Blogs, ask local craftsman questions and approach anything and everything with respect.

Another form of injury that can happen in a woodworker's shop doesn't happen in a instant but over the course of time. This is either bad habits straining certain muscles, ligaments or continuously putting yourself in endangerment. On bad habit I see very often is people using the palm of their hand as a pseudo hammer, this is a Horrible idea! your hands are allowing you to woodwork and your bashing hard points against sensitive muscles and tendons, Stop it now.

A very apparent danger in the shop is dust control. Its important to have good air flow in your work space in conjunction with shop-vacuum on machines and and air filter near your work station. A dust mask should be close by and if the woods have higher levels of toxicity your skin should be protected and extra measures if washing your clothing with your family's.
If your working in smaller spaces with your wood collection near by its a good practice to clean out deep pockets of dust since they have been known to ignite the oils in the dust if heated anyway.

I feel I have only touched on a little of what I am in constant reminder of. If any of this information helps anyone or people agree to what I am saying then this awareness week has been of great worth.

Rich

Woodworking Websites Pt. 2

http://thecraftsmanspath.com/

Mark Mazzo is a self taught woodworker with a solid well rounded skills. He is a positive and confident craftsman who is well spoken. His website is often updated for the return visitor with enough good material to keep people satisfied.

He overviews and discuses his time working in the shop with some important notes concerning machines, new discoveries, mathematical applications such as Phi and the Golden mean, Fibonacci Series and keeps an active thought for geometric shapes, balance and symmetry.

He has a section called Project Series where he takes you through entire projects from design to finish. Projects are Sculpted rocking chair, Modern Shaker table, Dreadnought Guitar and Queen Ann side table. All are very well presented.

There is a variety of links to Mark Mazzo's supporting websites, articles, reviews and blogs that are worth checking out.

Woodworking Websites Pt. 1

Over the next couple of days, I'd like to gradually share to all my readers some great woodworking websites. Each of these sites which I have reviewed have proven to be quite exceptional in terms of quality of material, and well written language. On top of that, they are frequently updated. All have a great deal of valuable information for anyone with the enthusiasm and patients to learn.

The first website I have is mind is Geoff Malthouse's website. Geoff who retired at the age of 60 currently provides distance learning tutorials at the Institute of Wood Science. He has a wonderful website that has a good, clean lay-out. There are very few sites that have as much useful information such as this one. If you have the time, you should check out this comprehensive woodworking education site; it does not just contain practical information but very important theoretical knowledge.