Project: Reclaimed Barnwood Desk - Edging and Details

Now that the top was at a reasonable state and the edges were fairly square, it's time to move onto the next step - installing the edging. Because the reclaimed wood was glued on top of a piece of pine, you could see the two different woods, which I didn't want. I wanted to showcase the old/reclaimed barnwood. 

I started by cutting strips to size and gluing up one edge plus some overhang. 

(Above: I cut some thin strips for the edging)

(Above: I started out gluing one piece of edging down)

The reason I glued the first edges with an overhang is so I could flush-trim the overhang to provide an even edge for the rest of the glue-up. 

(Above: Flush-trimmed the excess)

It was slow progress, because I had to wait for glue to dry after gluing down one piece of edging at a time, trimming excess, making sure things fit, trimming more when needed, and so on. 

(Above: You can never have enough clamps)

(Above: Trimming more pieces to fit)

Once that was finished, I then had to trim more 'overhang' - I actually could have made an easier setup for my router, but I was being lazy and doing it the dangerous way.

(Above: One word - unsafe.)

Doing it the dangerous way left me with mediocre results, but I'd be doing more sanding so I was okay with this for now. In the future, I'll do it the right way. 

Once all the edging was on and routed flat, I realized I didn't like how 'thick' the edging looked, so I grabbed a power planer (since my Fathers' power planer was no longer functional) - and thicknessed the edging a bit.

(Above: Reasonable results for a 'budget' tool)

(Above: I made sure I clamped on a chip-out board for the end grain)

Now that I had the edging thicknessed, this was a good opportunity to give it a 1/8"th roundover to break the hard edge. Sure, I could have used one of my many planes, but I needed to practice my router skills, since it's a tool I use very infrequently.

The roundover turned out okay, the bit dug in a bit too much in spots, mostly due to the uneven surface of the wood. (I'm calling the uneven surface a 'feature' now.) 

The edging wood I used was severely cupped, bowed, and even twisted. I mitigated as much of that as I could by cutting the boards to thinner strips, but you can't always get it all. I planed what I could a swell, but I didn't notice that the mating edges were not square. Oops. So that left a small gap between the desk and the edging on the underside of the desk.

Epoxy to the rescue. Aaaaaand since the top of the desk still had some minor imperfections, I filled those with epoxy too. This time I sprung for better epoxy, instead of those tiny $5-8 tubes that have maybe 0.5oz of epoxy in them.

That's all for this round. What I have left on my plate is as follows:

• Finish sanding of the top and bottom
• Apply dutch oil
• Apply stain
• Apply many layers of polyurethane clear coat
• Install bolt inserts
• Build the pipe frame

Stay tuned for more, we're almost done!

Project: Quick Trinket Holder

The greatest source for inspiration when it comes to woodworking projects has been my girlfriend. Recently she had asked me to make her a holder for a handmade glass trinket she bought on a recent trip. She told me it didn't have to be fancy, and basically asked for 'a chunk of wood with a hole in it'.

After toying around with different ideas (including getting an off-cut of birch and just drilling a hole in it) - I came up with a basic idea:

(Above: Not terribly elegant, but it could work)

After showing my girlfriend the general idea, she seemed to like it so I went ahead and started construction. However, I made a few modifications to the original design. (More specifically, I totally redesigned it)

I had a tiny bit of scrap Baltic birch plywood left over, and some 5/8" dowel that I ended up buying and not using for another build. So with that I cut off some of the dowel, trimmed up the plywood, and drilled some holes.

(Above: Can you guess where this is going?)

I drilled through one of the dowels, and partially drilled into the second dowel - which would allow the trinket to slip through one piece of dowel, and be cradled by the lower piece of dowel.

I then countersunk the holes I made in the plywood for the dowels, and the holes I made for the mounting screws. A small application of wood glue to the backs of the dowels, and a couple #6 screws later - the dowels were secure. To make sure everything lined up, I slipped a stirrer through the holes in the dowels.

Some light sanding, and a test fit and the holder looked like it would do the trick.

As a side note - the whole 'laser print / acetone label transfer' thing I've seen on Youtube - did not work for me.

Upon visiting my girlfriends place, she decided where she wanted it to hang, without her cat being able to get at it, but a place she could see it. A couple of wood screws later - here we are!

And in case you were wondering, the trinket in question is a handmade glass stalk of wheat. I left it unfinished - I like the way the raw wood looks.

Thanks for reading!

Project: Quickie Screwdriver Rack

Recently I acquired a new set of Wera Kraftform Plus screwdrivers from Lee Valley. Before that I had a mismatched set of screwdrivers that I had cobbled together over the years, and while they did the job, it was time to put them out to pasture.

Now, the Wera screwdrivers actually came with a holder, and it does the job just fine. With two exceptions in my case, one of which is I have 8 Wera drivers, and the holder maxes out at 7, also it doesn't fit into my Tanos Systainer toolbox.

Since I had some 1/4" Baltic Birch project plywood left over from a project that I never started, I decided to make a simple rack to fit the screwdrivers nicely into my Sys-toolbox.

I started out by getting the dimensions of the inside of the toolbox, and the longest length of the longest screwdriver (the #3 Robertson, in this case) - and then I did a layout of the drivers, grouping them together while conserving space.

After the initial design, I transferred the marks with a punch onto the plywood, and got to drilling some holes for the drivers. And then for some reason I broke out my forstner bit set and drilled some more holes. I call them "speed holes" - or just a way to make the rack a tiny bit lighter in the toolbox.

After throwing some wood chips around, I broke out the jigsaw and cut out the panels I'd need. Now, a table saw would technically work for this, but would be horribly unsafe. A bandsaw would be ideal, but I don't have access to one at the moment. So a jigsaw and being very careful would be my way to go.

After drilling all my holes I did a quick dry-fit of the sides and check the holes to make sure the drivers all fit. I had to do some adjusting with a round file in the holes, and with my mini-plane to eke a little bit of wood off the panels to get a perfect (well, near perfect) fit.

Once that was done, it was time for glue. Any excuse to use my Bessey clamps really... it was a bit unwieldy, but in the end it worked.

Now that the glue was dry, it was time to check to make sure it was sturdy, and to check final fit. And this is where I realized something...

Sure, it looked fine. But the problem with this setup is that the handles would wobble around easily, which is irritating, and could cause damage-over-time to the holes. So I came up with an idea to put one more 'brace' about midway in the holder.

Problem with that idea - I didn't have much plywood left. I had a couple narrow strips that wouldn't fit. Then I remembered I own glue, and lots of clamps... don't have the right size panel? Make your own!

With that problem solved, I cut the new panel to size, made some more adjustments with my mini plane, and drilled the corresponding holes for the screwdrivers. Then it was time for another glue-up.

Okay, that totally worked, and the handles no longer wobbled. Design on the fly. Since I had a tiny bit of plywood left, and I was kind of looking for an excuse to keep working on this - I made a couple corner braces to make sure the whole structure was sturdy. I also had to make a corner block to make clamping easier.

At this point, it was getting late in the day - time to call it quits for now. I did a final test fit of the screwdrivers - and checked how it all fit into the toolbox - a bit snug. To finish this project off - I'll drag out my Dad's old belt/disc sander - and give this tool holder a quick little sanding to correct the fit. After that, a little hand-sanding and a coat or two of wipe-on polyurethane.

Of course, now I want to make holders for the rest of the loose hand tools in my toolbox. Maybe another day.

Thanks for reading!

Project: Mud Room Bench

Every so often people ask me if I can make stuff for them. Nine times out of ten I end up turning them down (mostly due to time restraints, or the lack of a workshop). In this case I was asked if I could build a bench for my sisters mud room.

Since I'm a little better outfitted now to do a variety of different joinery methods / finishing / etc, I agreed to do the project. With some conditions... the project would be completed 'as I have time' - and the majority of the supplies would be provided to me beforehand.

Because it's my sister, I can get away with those conditions. Most paying clients would refuse. Anyway, on with the project!

The project started out with a rough idea of what she'd need. And finding out the dimensions I'd be dealing with. The bench would provide storage for shoes and boots, it would be almost 78" wide, 11" deep, and roughly 16" - 18" tall, depending on a few factors.

I sketched up a general design, and sent it off to be approved. My sister seemed to like it, so after doing some math and planning, and making a cut list, I knew what materials I'd need.

(Above: Planning a project beforehand will make your life way easier in the long run)

I persuaded my sister to grab her Honda Element, since the lumber needed for this project would not fit in my car. After a trip to Home Depot, and $60 later, I had 2 planks of 2 x 12 x 16 framing SPF. To get them to fit in my sisters vehicle, I had to have them cut into 8' lengths. I also tried to pick the least knotty/nicest grain/least damaged planks.

Since the dimensions would be 77 3/4", the original length of the boards would have to be trimmed down. This would give me a chance to use my fairly new circular saw and new crosscut blade. After measuring, measuring, and measuring again, I made the cuts with the help of a 12" framing square.

(Above: No table saw? Just get your wood up on some 2x4 blocks and you're golden)

As it stands, I haven't made much progress beyond this. I marked out the cuts I'd need to make on the longer planks (I need to cut a number of 16" sections) - but until the weather plays nice, I can't do the work, since all of my cutting has to be done outdoors.

Hopefully once the barnwood desk project is done, I'll be able to focus on this build more. I'm excited to get some practice with router-dadoes, dowel joinery, and the other technical elements that this build will put me through.

Stay tuned!

Project: Reclaimed Barnwood Desk - Update

It's been a while since the last post about this project. Since I'm a hobbyist, without proper shop space, and very little spare time - working on projects can be a challenge. Plus I have a tendency to jump from one project to another, getting a little bit of each done here and there.

I also picked up a couple of commissions along the way too. Those make me nervous. (Mostly because I figure expectations are really high)

The desk is going well. I'm in the final phase of the build. I applied the last coat of polyurethane clear coat to it (4 coats total, light sanding in between each) - and I picked up some parts for the legs as well, which I'm excited about.

Here are a few sneak peeks at what's been going on:

(Above: Minwax Satin Polyurethane is the finish of choice for this project)

(Above: After the 4th and final coat - it's sealed up nicely)

(Above: "Black Steel" plumbing fittings - went with 1/2" which seems sturdy)

I will hopefully have more time this weekend to get the legs worked on - at least mounting the flange plates, and find out the sizes of the pipes I still need to have cut.

Stay tuned!

Project: Reclaimed Barnwood Desk - Pre-Finishing Work

When we left off last, the desk was still in fairly rough shape and needed a lot more work to get it to a state where it was almost ready to put the finishing touches on.

To get to that state, I had to start with planing. A lot of it. The glue squeeze out left a lot of dried glue beads, and because none of the strips of wood were at a uniform thickness, the whole top needed to be planed down.

(Above: Taking off the roughness with a block plane)

(Above: Marking out the high spots/high edges)

(Above: Making good progress)

(Above: You make a lot of waste fairly quick when planing)

Now that the desktop was reasonably flat (not perfectly square, but at least flat) - I could attack it with a belt sander to try to even it out some more. I hit it with a fairly aggressive belt (50 grit if I recall correctly) - and it got the top fairly level.

(Above: This old Makita belt sander is a beast.)

Once the belt sanding was finished, I took to the random orbit palm sander, and 80 grit to start - to remove the scratching from the belt sander. Then up to 100 grit, followed with 120 grit, and lastly 150 grit. Sure, I could have skipped some of the grits in between, but it was a nice day out and I had lots of time to spend on sanding. Plus it was relaxing.

(Above: Pretty nice result - but not finish-quality yet.)

The strips/boards had a fair amount of imperfections in them from the start. Nail holes, decayed knots, some cracks, the works. But all those imperfections lend a sort of charm. But if this is to be a desktop then those would need to be fixed somehow. Nothing worse than writing on paper and your pen finds a knothole and you have a nice big hole in your paper as a result.

My solution? Epoxy.

Epoxy makes for a great way to fill holes (or at least, from what I've seen in the sites I've read up on). And I had a tube of Gorilla Epoxy on hand and some blue painters tape, so why not, right?

Well I learned that not all epoxy is created equal. This epoxy was very soft. 5 minutes to dry, no way. 24 hours to set/cure? More like a week. There is also a critical step missing in most of the write-ups about using epoxy - if you are going to use tape around the fill-spot -- how long before you take the tape off? Or do you leave the tape on until the epoxy cures/hardens? Then how do you get it off?

(Above: Prepare your fill-holes and your epoxy *before* you start)

(Above: The painters tape allows you to be a bit sloppy.)

Well, I left the tape on for the entirety of the curing. And when I went to pull it off, it ripped. So I took a hobby knife and cut into the epoxy. That worked. Then I took a small hand plane and carefully flush-trimmed the epoxy flat.

(Above: That's one filled knot hole. Just need to trim the excess.)

And here is the desk top as it currently stands... It still maintains a fairly 'rustic' charm to it, but I'm far from done.

The next steps in this build will be: adding the edging around the outside of the desk, flush trimming the edging, another visit with the sanders to get the desk nice and smooth and ready for finish, running my 1/4 radius round-over router bit around the topside edges, a bit of hand-sanding to smooth that round-over, and then lastly some finish!

Stay tuned for more, and thanks for reading!