So long 2017

Yeah, turns out even a holiday week is not enough time for me to wrap up a big project. Not having time off of work didn't really help though, so I don't feel too bad. Still, I'm happy with where things are at. If I don't look too closely at the glued up desktop things looked pretty good. But I need something I can set a PC on and work off of without noticing bumps or rough sections, so there's a lot of finishing work to be done here.

I can move it all as one big piece, so that's probably a good sign.

Which is why I picked up the power planer. My in-laws did something very nice for me the other week; on top of a pizza steel for Christmas they also bought me a saw as a "thank you" for helping with the kitchen over the summer. Unfortunately, they bought me a saw I already had, which is how I ended up with a $98 store credit at HD. After some internal debate, I ended up realizing a hand plane would really help if I wanted to try a desktop build, but store credit can't be used online, and they don't have any hand planes in store anymore. So I went with the power option, which was cheaper so I could grab some extra clamps to help with this too. Not my first choice, but it turned out to be a real time saver. Some of those glue joints were WAY off.

Hooray, new tool un-boxing.

Like anything other project, I want things to look as nice as possible, but I also realize I don't know what I'm doing so I'm used to fixing mistakes. The planer was really easy to figure out though, and as much of a pain it was to constantly have to empty the collection bag, it did a good job cleaning up some of the bigger bumps. My block plane was enough to really clean things up, plus get rid of some mistakes I made with the power tool, and after an hour or so the first side was looking good. 

If you squint it looks pretty good.

Quite a collection of shavings.

The other side went pretty much the same way, and after sanding that side too I was feeling pretty good about where I was at. When I flipped things over to sand what I considered the top, I realized some of my gaps probably had to get filled just to make things a little more presentable. So after one more trip to the store, the gaps were filled and I was waiting to sand again. 

Whoops. Thankfully nothing like this to fix in the middle of the block.

The more I filled the more I found to fix.

Wood filler dried, things are looking pretty good at this point. It might not be counter top quality butcher block, but for $30 in materials I'm thinking I've got a nice desk coming together.

I was thinking about how to finish this, and at this point I'm kind of stumped. I've got some natural stain and enough poly left that would probably work, but the idea of spending night after night getting this finished doesn't really appeal to me right now. At least not as much as having a few drinks and saying goodbye to this weird, strange year.

holiday week butcher block

I have one more thing I want to work on this year, specifically before my next session of classes start for grad school. B/c I'm going to need a better place to work late at night than the couch, so why not put together a better desk with some holiday time. Although I'm not sure waiting until this week makes getting it done possible at all...

The first project I ever really worked on was a writing table to replace our crappy ikea desk at the condo, and it's been in our office room since the move. All it is is two reclaimed boards glued together with some table legs holding it up, stained and sealed for a functional surface. I thought about taking it apart and re-doing that joint in the middle, but really I need more room than the table currently offers. When I have a paper due, I like to spread out and have sources all over the place, and I can't do that right now. To help with this, I envisioned a wider table spanning most of that wall, with some bottom shelves to stash stuff on.

Things have come a long way since this table came together (thankfully).

I've been toying with the idea of putting together a big butcher block to have everything on, something I could do myself for as cheaply as possible. I love seeing all the examples of people building legs to hold up a block they've bought for $300 somewhere, but as much as they look cool I'm not dropping that kind of cash right now. As luck would have it, I just happened to have $100 store credit at HD, and about $25 in rebates for Menards, so why not go pick up some materials and a new tool or two to see what I can come up with.

Turns out I could do a lot. For about $30 out of pocket, I picked up

A ryobi power hand planer
2 36" clamps
9 8' 2x4's
2 1/2" 2x4' plywoods

Plenty to get started putting a desktop together. That's about as much of a plan as I needed.

So with some extra time off I got to cutting, gluing, and clamping. The 2x4's got the rounded edges cut off, then split into 2 1.5 inch halves. Those got chopped into random lengths, and then I started laying out how to put them together with the nicest looking grains I could find.

Trimmed

Halved. So much saw dust out.

Hey, this might actually work.

I started on the workbench but had to move to the floor eventually b/c I wanted to build out to around 30" deep. At this point I was getting a little worn down; it was a lot of repetitive tasks to get to where I could start gluing. But this was all one day's work, which made me feel really good about how much progress I was able to make. Time is running pretty short these days, so being able to go from raw materials to this far into the project in one workday was great.

Technically I should have flipped it at this point but I was done

I should probably build some nicer legs for something with this much work, but honestly re-using the old legs is going to be enough of a time saver it will be worth it. The plywood is to build a cabinet with that will serve as legs on one side of the table or maybe even two, but when I have time to put that together is anyone's guess at this point. I have until mid-January before classes start, I think I can get this done.

I'm not a structural engineer...

But sometimes I wish I was.

Wreath hanging has become an annual challenge around here. This year's plywood wreath is much heavier than last year's, and if that one feel I'm a little worried about how to hang this year's.

So I thought I should make something a little more permanent, screwing a block into the outer wall. I started with a triangle block, and put a 2.5 inch screw through it. I also caulked the edges to seal it. I think that might do it.

So the wreath is up, and even if the lights aren't working right now it looks pretty good. And now I have room to do, or at least start, one last big project for the year. Happy holidays to me.

Lots of wreath progress, with one big issue

Once the frame was cut the wreath has come together pretty quickly, with one major issue I haven't addressed yet.

I hinged the two pieces together, which should give me some flexibility in storing it after the holidays. It kept things together but has also made it a little more difficult to move around, especially if I need to flip it over. Whoops.

I like that it folds, I don't like that I still need to put stuff on the back side.

But things look good; the lights still work, everything was where I left it, and now I just have to figure out how I'm going to attach something capable of hanging it for the rest of the month. You know, the little details.

Return of the wreath

As much as I hate to start another project with the last one still taking up space in the shop, it's time to Christmas decorate so the remaining twin is just going to have to get worked around while I wait for the in-laws to pick it up.

A 60-degree day over the weekend means we've got all our lights all up already, so all I have left on my decorating list is re-doing my wreath and getting it hung on the garage. This year's wreath is getting a much stronger base than last year's, and I hope that means this year's wreath becomes next year's, and the year after that, and so on.

So no drywall. While we were out picking up more lights I picked up an extra 2x4 sheet of 1/2 inch plywood to go with the one I already had on hand, and used them to cut my circle with the same technique I used last time. Unfortunately cutting each one out was as far as I got with all the other things we had going on, but that's enough for now.

I was drilling some guide holes but lost interest pretty quickly. Jig saw did fine w/o them.

A sturdier build means I also have to figure out how to store it, but with some extra hinges sitting around I think I might have that one handled. Once I figure out how to hang it and keep it looking like a wreath I think we're in good shape. The rest is just stapling and time management, something that seems to be in short supply right now.   

Twin beds part III: the finish. Or at least most of it.

Whelp, should have seen that coming. Who would have guessed, starting a new job and going to school meant there wasn't much project time around here for a while. But I managed to get some time this weekend, and I'm still not that much closer to getting anything finished. Turns out having someone else pick out the finish didn't save me any time on these. In fact, the girl picked a color I couldn't really find, so I had to get creative which even added some time.

And it's not like they picked crazy colors either. The boy went with red, and the girl just wanted pink. Plain pink. Apparently not a lot of paint companies have a plain pink furniture paint, but fortunately getting red for the boy meant I could use some white I already had and hopefully make a pink she found acceptable. That sounded a lot more acceptable to ME vs paying three times for pink matte than I paid for red glossy.

And whew! The red we went with is REALLY RED. Like, fire engine red. It works for the boy, since he wants pokemon sheets (ugh) to go with it.

Since I had white in the same paint type already, I hoped I could mix them and get an acceptable pink. What's more, I wanted to make enough that I didn't run out in the middle of the bed and have to try and mix more.

You know what would be good for a project like this? Those old folgers coffee cans that every dad seemed to have in his garage when I was a kid. I don't have any of those, but I do have some empty espresso cans around so that will have to do. It made me feel super-yuppie but gave things a lovely coffee smell.

Time to mad science some pink.

The blog motto: "Hey, that's not terrible."

Thankfully it worked. And something I learned: adding an extra complementary color can tone down the color you've created by mixing two other colors. The first mix was way too hot pink. I dropped a splash of blue in to make it a little more eyeball friendly, it worked great.

That is definitely pink

I've gotten the boy's bed entirely painted and polyed, and I'm trying to find the time to finish the girl's bed by next weekend so they can use them. It sounds like they already have mattresses ready to go, I just need to get them both completely finished before I break them down and take them over.

I also have some initials I was going to put on the headboard, but they might have to wait at this point. I'm writing this as a break from the actual paper I'm writing tonite; it's only an 8-10 pager, but I already cranked out a 5 pager last night and I admit, I'm starting to feel a little stressed about it. The longer one isn't due for a week but based on this week, I'm not going to have a lot of Mon-Fri time to get it done by midnight next Sunday, so here I sit for a while longer.

Twin beds part II; getting things together

Wow, that was easy. I can't believe something like a screen door ended up taking nearly a month to get together but I can have two twin beds together in basically a couple of days. Well, at least they're ready to paint at this point.

 

With the head and foot boards done, all I had to do next was trim the 1x4's to size for runners, and pick up two more 2x4s to split and attach so I had something to put slats on once they're cut. Like I said, easy.

I glued the split 2x4s on and let them sit overnight before adding some 2" wood screws. I clamped a scrap of the trimmed 2x4 on each end to make sure they were centered and would fit into the joints I had cut out.

I've only cut slats for one frame, I was more itching to get things together.

With those done, I clamped both beds together as a dry fit, and screwed the runners in once I confirmed I had things how I wanted them. Two twin beds took up more space than I was expecting, but it's still workable.

I wanted to prime them both before I put the colors on but like an idiot, I didn't put a drop cloth down before they were together. Getting one down was a bit of a challenge and the extra time it took meant I had to stop after priming instead of getting the furniture paint out. Ooops.

So now we've come to the part of every project where things grind to a halt as I have to finish each bed to the exacting standards of my children. There's going to have to be some disassembly and labeling too, to make it easier to get everything back together at the in-laws' house when they're done. That might make for an interesting next post.

twin beds for gramma & grandpa's house, part I

The wife's parents asked me lately if I had any interest in building beds for the kids to use when they sleep over at their house. Apparently they're not fans of having two little space-heater-sleep-kicking machines in bed with them. Who knew? The only catch is that they are also thinking about moving into our neighborhood, so anything I build needs to be staging-friendly in case they go on the market. No problem, I think I can swing that.

Even better, I had some time off last week already, and even if I don't have any interviews since I accepted a job offer (!), I was more than happy to have a project to get going on. Nothing like finding yet another excuse to avoid schoolwork.

The goal for this project was matching beds with colors picked by the kids, simple and clean but strong enough to hold a twin mattress and a sleeping chunk of child. I wanted to make sure the mattresses were off the ground with some room for air circulation, and the frames need to be light enough that the in-laws could easily move them on their own if they needed to. You can imagine how this quickly started to seem pretty complicated for something so simple.

I started with a quick sketch and went from there. I thought a mix of plywood and construction lumber would keep things light but also paint-able and nicer looking if I put some prep work into it. I also wanted to use the router to try some joinery where the rails met the foot and headboards. It kept things budget friendly and meant I could get more done sooner since I was working with a simple plan with basic materials.

Buying enough materials for two beds ended up being an adventure. I can easily get one 2'x4' plywood into the dodge, but three was a bit much. I somehow ended up fitting 4 8-foot 1x4x and 3 8-foot 2x4s in around them too. Whew! Enough for the basic frames but I needed more 2x4s if I wanted something for slats to sit on later. 

I've got Ryobi stamped all over this project, I should just submit it there.

I had just cleaned up after finishing the door and started making another mess with the table saw. I trimmed off the rounded edges of the 2x4's to clean everything up and man, did they look way better just with straight edges. I was planning on just kregging the plywood to each for head and footboards, but why not get a 1/2 inch router bit and carve a dado for it? That would probably look a lot nicer. And I could buy another bit, always fun.

I also used a router to carve out space to attach the 1x4's for the sides, which was the original plan just with a smaller bit. Going bigger made it a little easier.

My god did I make a huge mess with this.

I did the runner dado on all four legs at once so things were lined up, b/c I doubt I would have been able to keep things straight otherwise. Holy god did I make a mess with these. Carving out 8 leg joints and 8 head/foot board joints meant I had piles of shavings all over the place.

I need better dust collection in the shop.

Hey, that almost looks like a bed.

Thankfully, one quick test fit later and I think we're in good shape. The plywood fits in the dadoes with a little persuasion, and the runner joints are level and balanced enough things stay up just in the dry fit. I know better than to say these will be done before I know it but I love how they've come together so far. 

DIY screen door attempt

The table saw has gotten a ton of work since I won it this summer, but the router has been left pretty much alone. I got it too late to use on the media cabinet, and for whatever reason it's stayed in its bag since then. Well, that's over.

I was thinking about trying to put a screen door together. We don't have one and desperately need it in the fall and spring when temperatures are just right for opening the windows and airing things out. So since I had time off for another interview I figured I might as well see I could get a door started before it gets too cold to use. Plus, it helped me not think about interviews, so that was great. I should have done this sooner though, considering how it's suddenly in the 30's this week.

There are plenty of sites with ideas on this, so after some reading I basically just grabbed some boards, did some measuring, and let it rip. Eventually I realized I needed hardware, and paint, and an actual screen, so things rounded slowly into shape.

This picture was practically a month ago at this point. Unbelievable.

I started with nicer lumber than I usually do, getting three quality cut 1x6's at 8 feet. I cut them to the measurements I had for the front door frame, which of course weren't quite equal on either side. I hoped I could fudge it enough that it would be fine.

I broke two clamps on this project, for whatever reason.

Had to call it a day at this point, a good start at least.

I cut the third board into top, bottom, and middle partitions, and put the middle one in with the frame in the door. Looking good so far. I was planning on putting the kreg holes on the inside, and covering the seams on the front before I primed everything. Biscuits might be better for something like this but work with what you've got.

With the door taking shape it was time to give the router a test spin. That was a challenge, but after a few tests on some scrap I gave it a shot on the door. Not the neatest cuts all the way around, but I figured I could hide it with trim later. In any case the screen has somewhere to go now.

Hey, some of this doesn't look terrible. Not all it looks like that though.

I've never been a huge fan of the workbench that the previous owners had in this garage, and this project made me realize I probably have to build my own at some point. It's a weird combo of deep enough I have to strain to grab some stuff, but also too short to work with something like a door. I spent 80% of this job crouched on the floor, and it was not comfortable. At least I could put it up to clean things up with a chisel.

After making a mess with the router, I needed some trim. Instead of buying some I picked up a 2x2 and split it into three 1/2 inch strips, which I then cut to fit around the screen. Not fancy but they fit. I also filled the kreg holes with chunks of a 3/8" dowel I had around so there wouldn't be holes on the inside of the door. It's amazing what you can make on your own instead of buying pre-made with the right materials and tools.

Whew those router marks are a mess!

Primer on and testing the trim. I knew I had something at this point.

With that all done it was time to prime, paint, and seal. Like any other project this was the longest part of the process, since I had to let things dry and air out before painting again. A week's worth of rain didn't help with that either. Most of the posts I found about building a door painted with the screen on, which didn't make any sense to me. If I'm building a door, why not get everything finished without having to protect an installed screen. But now I saw why; I was itching to get the screen and trim on, that was the whole point of building a screen door. Unbelievably, I stuck to my original plan and tried to be patient while I found time to finish. 

We tried to match our front door as closely as possible, but didn't quite get there. It ended up not mattering too much, since we can't really see the front door through the screen anyway, but it gave us a nice color on the door. The wife was happy at least, which means the door can stay. So thumbs up to that. 

I did a full test fit with the trim all the way screwed on, which is good, b/c they needed paint touch ups at some spots. When they were finally dry again I sealed them while they were on the door, then took them back off so I could staple in the screen. My "hurry up and finish" genes were kicking in pretty bad at this point, but I wanted to make sure my janky routering was completely hidden. With things finally good enough I could staple the screen on and put everything back together. Before I did though I put a line of clear drying caulk around the screen, b/c why not. Any worth doing is worth over-doing.  

Well, it's at least identifiable as a door at this point.

With the door finally ready, I could put some self-closing hinges on and a latch, and viola, one screen door, just in time for Halloween. I've yet to have a positive experience hanging a door and this door is no different, but at least it's up and functional. I waited until it was up to install the latch so I could make sure it was lined up and not hitting the other door's hardware.

Very pleasant looking in the sun. Too bad it's so damn cold.

If I'm being honest I'm not crazy about the exposed hinges but I like this option versus putting them on the inside and adding a spring arm to get it to close by itself. But again, I ended up loving how this looked after spending so much time on it, and it really helped me keep my mind off of interviewing. Thank god the kids both had costumes picked out already and I wasn't working on those too. I seemed to have learned my lesson on that one.

Reusing the wire shelves

With the cleats up in the garage, I now had to think of something to do with the wire shelves not being used.

These shelves were left in our condo from the previous owners, and they made our move with us after keeping them as pantry shelves. Honestly I couldn't bring myself to throw them out even if they're not overly useful. We had to cover them in cardboard to use them in our pantry, and they weren't very helpful in the garage. But there's got to be a better use for some of these than the garbage dump, so I figured I'd build a frame to put the shelves on to give the boy some additional closet storage.

The closet isn't too big, but some extra shelving in there would help get some boxes off his floor and out of the way. Hence the left over 1x4s getting split into 1x2s so I could play around with building a frame to set the shelves on to make the most of the space.

Easy frame up to fit the shelves on.

Even though I put them all the way together, this wasn't the sturdiest frame so I ended up just carrying the individual pieces upstairs to assemble in the closet.

Shelves in, no what to do with the middle?

They ended up really helping get the closet a little more organized. Right now, with no real clothes to hang up, this closet became a dumping ground when the boy has to clean his room. Hopefully putting these in there keep him from filling up the bottom of the closet just throwing junk in.

I ended up keeping the middle open to let one of the girl's costume dresses hang. I have enough scrap to glue together another shelf to add on, that might be a small extra project to glue and plane something together. For now, I'm happy with keeping some more stuff out of our garbage pile.