Yea, my dad always did small woodworking stuff while i was growing up. Never really showed any interest in it, said i never would. Got my own house started puttering around with it now i love it. Now i need a new house, because i never thought i would need a big shop.
I finally get to get the vast majority of my stuff (tools, etc) out of storage next week, and even though I'm currently renting a place, I'll be using said tools to build a proper shop/shed in the back yard... there's already a 12'x14' pad, so it'd just be some simple framing and some spray foam for a rough bench, light, power, heat, etc., so I can rebuild engines/transmissions, weld, etc. The roofers that just did my place left me enough sheathing, tar paper, and shingles to roof the thing, so it should be pretty inexpensive to do... probably all in for under $1k. Cheaper than renting a separate shop, just takes some time. I'm also really tempted to buy one of those "big steel boxes" and build it out as a shop, that way I could take it with me when I leave in a couple of years, and it'd be a little more secure while it's here. Mmmm... Christmas time daydreaming...
Steel buildings are nice, the only downside is they tend to sweat and drip condensation down on whatever you have inside, my buddy has one and we fixed it by insulating it with cheap sheets of foam.
Yeah, if I did that, I'd spray foam the whole interior. A friend of mine bought some acreage on a lake in Northern BC and did a steel container as a "quick cabin". He spray foamed the whole interior and put a little wood stove in it and it sleeps 4 comfortably. Haven't been to it yet, but he says it fucking rocks and is crazy hard to break into if you don't have some serious tools.
The 300 lbs computer desk/bench progresses. This was right before mortising the pieces-parts. (It was just a rough alignment to scribe the mortising lines, so the top plane didn't need to be flush, in case you were wondering). As it sits right now, it's 3.25" thick, 12' long, and just under 4' deep. That'll be trimmed down once it's all glued up. The initial stock was from 2"x12" pine, not 2x4 as some people thought. Basically, with 2x12 I just have to process/joint one edge, and then can rely on a nice straight table saw cut, which is 1/3 the work of doing it with 2x4s. Biggest issue I had was the 4"-6" near the ends of the boards when jointing them, as the 12' pieces are a bitch to try and keep level on the jointer. I'm guessing I'll lose 8-12" from each end after glue-up to get rid of the "ugly" parts. I was hoping for 9' finished length, but might get 10'. What may not be all that noticeable is that I've put 4 strips of cedar in there in order to provide accents, which will really show up once it's been finished. (The Danish Oil makes the cedar way, way darker than the pine). Once that was done, they were moved in-house in order to acclimatize before glue-up. And seeing as I don't have a shop, the living room became the shop. (Also making some custom melamine shelving, which are the white piece-parts in the pic) Glue-up should be done in the next couple of days, followed by routing of the edges, sanding, and then a nice deep finish with some Danish Oil (I fucking LOVE Danish Oil). Where it's sitting on the sawhorses in the pic is basically where the bench/desk will be going, right along the one wall of the living/dining room, and will have my many computer systems and monitors on it, along with some custom strip lighting and built-in power distribution, and other things. I've got a couple of 4x4 cedar posts that will be planed/sanded/edged for legs until I get my welder out of storage, at which time it'll be a metal leg assembly something similar to this: Best therapy around.
Picked up a really nice Porter Cable dovetail jig for a steal today. Got it home, made up some test pieces, and then proceeded to route the fuck out of the aluminum template because I forgot to put the collar on the router. At least it's only one half of the very first key so it's not like the whole thing is scrap, but fuck if I don't hate that feeling of fucking things up that fast on something new. In other news, a brand new dovetail bit chews through aluminum like a hot damn.
Well, finally got the table top done... after a long stretch of shitty weather, the last week or so has been quite nice... nice enough for me to finish the top off. Got it all glued up, the edges routed, and the whole things sanded. Looks pretty good for under $100 worth of materials, if I do say so myself. Then I applied the Danish Oil I'd originally tested. Damn... it came out way, way darker than I thought it would, and way darker than it did when I tested it out. Shit. As much as I like that colour, it's not what I was hoping for in this case... the cedar accent strips are totally lost, and it's too far from what I was hoping for. It also really highlighted the incredibly shitty initial sanding job I did, and showed a ton of scars as a result. So, might as well sand it all off. Fuck. Sanding Danish Oil is a real pain in the ass. It's oily, so the sawdust is oily and clogs sandpaper almost immediately. At the start, I had to clean the sanding pads every minute or two, until I got most of the top surface off. At least it made it pretty easy to see where the shitty sanding was, so made it easier to sand it where it needed it. I opted to leave the dark stain along the outside edges, and like how that worked out. I also opted to use an unstained Danish Oil as the final finish on the top, and it came out closer to what I was hoping it would look like. Here's a pic of it sanded and with the first two coats of "natural" Danish Oil. It looks a bit darker in real life, so the pics don't really do it justice... but I do like how the initial dark stain layer kind of accentuated a lot of the grain. All in all, it's a computer slab/desk, so it's meant to be a rough surface anyway, so it'll do just fine. Now all that's left is to apply a few more coats of the Danish Oil, and do up the legs. I've got 4x4 cedar posts that I'll route a 1/2" round-over on the edges, sand down, and apply the dark Danish Oil finish to, then pocket screw them to the base with some Domino alignment pegs (unglued) to help ensure they're square and positioned where they're supposed to be. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be done.
That post is like a roller coaster of emotions- but thankfully it ends well. Looks great! I think the dark stain cut back ended up working really well for you. A professional stockmaker I know who does a lot of work with maple has a technique where he first sprays on a layer of shellac after sanding but follows with a coat of black dye- after sanding, the subtle remnants help to bring out the grain like your table. I am making my next custom rifle stock out of some Australian walnut (same thin shell species as English/French) and the client wants it dyed to an old English style reddish color with traditional alkanet root. Not particularly excited about that staining part but it'll be a learning experience for sure.
Luckily I have enough stock that even if I totally fuck it up I can just route the top 1/4" off flat and start again. As it is, it started around 4" thick, and is now slightly over 3" thick.
Finally got it done and inside. A bit of the dark stain from the bottom bled through a couple of the glue lines to the top overnight during the freeze/thaw of the wood, but all in all I'm quite happy with how it turned out. It's rustic, and structural, and I finally have a computer desk with enough room. The 2 PA speakers and sub are under the desk beside the legs, and that thing on the far left is a sound/dust proof rolling enclosed server rack for computer gear, etc. It has 8 super quiet fans on the back and a bunch of filtration to keep the air flowing and the dust out. All I need now is a plug for a pocket screw hole I misplaced (that white thing on the front right leg is the pocket screw hole). Now I get to finish unpacking all my shit.
Just got this chunky little thing off Ebay and am excited about it. An old-but-good Stanley no. 59 dowel jig. I have to get some drill bushings for it, but I still got a good deal on the tool and it should last me for life unlike most of what Stanley puts out now. They don't make 'em like they used to.
One of my next projects for the new place is a combo entertainment centre, guitar storage, with integrated PA/mixer audio gear. The plan is to hang the TV on the wall while building up the unit around it, thereby keeping some weight off the unit and making the TV more firmly mounted. Started pricing out some VESA mounts, and found a few cheap ones online that would be a couple weeks shipping, and everything local was easily over $100. Way, way too complicated for what I need, really, so I opted to do up a quick French cleat with some spare pieces parts I had laying around. I don't need articulation, I don't need fancy metal, hell... it doesn't have to look good because ideally it wouldn't be seen at all. So here's how I made my $5 VESA wall mount. It might not be fancy woodworking or anything, but I like the idea of making something very useful out of scraps you have lying around. Grabbed a piece of cedar I had, figured out the rough length between the mounting holes on the back of the TV, cut it to length, and cut it lengthwise at a 45° angle for the cleat itself. Mounted the bottom half to the wall with a level: Luckily all my outside walls are basically 2.5x6 tongue-in-groove studs, so it is really easy to drill and screw without fucking around trying to find studs. Very, very solid connections, to say the least. Those are 3" wood screws that took some serious work with the impact drill to get in there. It ain't going nowhere. I then took some measurements from the VESA mount holes on the back of the TV, cut out a cheap-ass 3/4" plywood mounting plate, drilled it, and then glued and screwed the other half of the cleat to it. Here you can see the basic concept of how the French cleat works, in case you aren't familiar with them. They're usually used to mount cabinets, but really can be used to mount anything to the wall... I've used them for pictures in the past, rather than picture cables and hooks, is guaranteed to be level and not require adjustment. The only really tricky part is getting the 4 mounting holes in the TV mounting plate... I opted to use a tape measure and square rather than make a template or anything, and it turned out bang-on. For that matter, I did the same for the entire mounting plate... just winged it, roughed out an outline with a pencil, and hand-cut it with a jigsaw. It won't be seen, so it can be as ugly as it wants to be. Just sanded down the edges a bit to knock down some splinters, and it was good to go. Just made sure that it left open space for ventilation and inputs on the back of the TV. The VESA mount specifies an M6 bolt, and the only really tricky thing was ensuring that the bolt was long enough without being too long. I opted to get a bolt I thought would be longer, and a box of washers to act as spacers. It required 10 washers per bolt when all was said and done, but it worked out great, all for under $5 in hardware. Here it is hanging on the wall, without TV. And here it is mounted to the back of the TV. And on the wall. It's just hanging there on the cleat, no other attachment. Easy to take down if need be, and angle can be adjusted minimally by putting spacer blocks under the cleat. I've also put up a small, temporarily shelf with angle brackets under it for the media player, video games, etc, until the entertainment unit is ready. I now feel like I've earned my beer while I watch the F1 race.
I need to cut a couple 2x8x6 white pine boards. They need to be 4 in. on each end, full width in the middle, in an arch like this: I probably will cut it with my jig saw. What's the best way to draw that arc? I was thinking of clamping a 1/2 PVC pipe on each end, and tracing my pencil mark against that. Didn't know if there was a trick.
You could also get some paper (or tape together a bunch of paper to get the length you need), fold it in half, draw half the curve you want freehand so that it looks good to you, cut that out, unfold paper. At least that way it's symmetrical.
As a PE he should have access to a large plotter and drafting software. Take a minute to draw it up in Cad and plot it, to be traced on the wood.