Shed Wood Idea: the

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Monday, February 24, 2014

THE TALE OF A SINGLE NIGHTSTAND bedside table makeover

I had been relegated to the corner

of my owners yard sale, like a child on a time-out.

No one looked at me, no one would talk to me.

Why should they I only had one drawer knob,

paint was falling off me, my drawers wouldnt even
open. I was beyond chic, I was just shabby.

From my corner view I saw the nice couple drive

in. After looking around they bought a few of my

friends. One at a time the nice man would pay my

owner and then tuck each of them gently in their

car. I then began to pout. There I was hiding in the

corner with all hope running out.

All of a sudden the nice lady looked my way.
Would she fork out the money and pay?

I got so excited!

She crossed the yard and started inspecting me,

she even turned me upside down to see.

Soon I was on my way to a new home.

She didnt think I was an ugly garden gnome!

.......

First, she came at me with a screw driver,

prying at my drawer.

I wasnt gonna give up that easy.

This was gonna be a chore.

Then came a pry bar and a hammer,

I thought this is really gonna hurt.

She got all my drawers open

with a lot of hard work,

So rather then a home for mice

I really started to feel rather nice.

Then I got some new paint,

my drawers were lined,

and I even got a new shine.

My drawers got new jewelry,

Shes not playing no tom foolery!

I live happily ever after
with a nice lady they found
where I now live in her home town.

THE END

This story is being told at:

Thursday, February 13, 2014

60 degrees coffee in the garden

4/27/2011 ... well, ok .... first morning above 55 degrees ... it actually felt like really spring this morning ... kit and i had our coffee in the garden, wandering around .. admiring the green and enjoying the weather and the signs of spring and life in general ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

leo was chasing chipmunks, to no avail

the fish were really hungry ...

kit was tending her waterfall

admired the daffs

and the apple blossoms

the radishes and a couple of the peas are up ...

theres wood to stack yet ...

and the asparagus should be ready by the weekend ....

even a late spring is a good spring ... golf in a half hour ....

the new pool table is finished

12/31/12 we received this onsite photo of the pool table yesterday ... looks like a good spot ..

well, after some serious setbacks along the way, all of them inconvenient, but none of them fatal, we finally wrapped up this pool table earlier in the week. but, due to the hurricane, and the fact that my shipper is based on long island, it is still set up in my shop, waiting to get on its way to chicago. hopefully early next week. click the photos to enlarge them.

it features curly claro walnut rails with figured mother of pearl inlays and black leather pockets, a welded steel frame base, (about 450 pounds of it), with a rainbow finish and low shine lacquer.

it started out as a cad drawing with two different designs. there was some indecision, which offered us a perfect chance to make a scale model to study the two choices.

one design on one side, one on the other.

not one, but the first TWO sets of slates from our supplier in florida arrived broken due to poor packing and poor trucking. in the end we were able to secure a high quality (and more expensive) italian slate set from a supplier in (sort of nearby) albany, a short hour and a half away. setbacks numbers 1 and 2.

we made some jigs on the cnc and sam cut, fit and welded the frame pieces.

Will made the curly claro rails and did the inlay, cushions and felting

here Will drill the rail ends to receive the pocket ears.

we made some support jigs so we could move the sides, with the legs attached, into place to bolt things together.

and then we set it up in the shop to test everything before finishing the base, and covering the blinds and the slate frame edges in 1/8th" steel too. it was at this point that we discovered the long side angle iron, that we thought would be stiff enough, wasnt so we had to seek approval to add the center supports to the long sides. (small) setback #3.

due partly to the jigs we made on the cnc and mostly to sams care and fitting and welding ability, it was level pretty much wherever we looked. lets hope the clients floor is as good as ours.

then it was back to the metal shop for finishing. we ran out of the patina chemical on the last side section and had to wait 5 days for it to ship cross country, hazardous, ground. setback #4.

and, while sam and jim were doing the patina on the last long side assembly, it fell and smashed jims finger to the tune of five stitches when he tried to catch it ... too heavy ... setback#5.

while we were waiting, another part of the commission was to make this custom cue rack, also in steel and claro walnut.

and a jig to locate the hidden screws to hang it.

and now were tapping our foot for hurricane sandy and setback #6. fortunately, our clients have been ENORMOUSLY patient and understanding as we navigated the process. i am most certainly looking forward to seeing some photos of the room once our chicago mechanic does the final onsite set up. it will be in the same room as this 12 claro walnut table we shipped back in july. must be some room .. all for now.

other pool table posts are linked below:
other pool tables we have built
build your own pool table
a custom pool table
felting the rails; rack em up!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The EZ One

Dino at EurekaZone has come out with a new version of the Power Bench that I am finding to be a great tool. I havent been able to use it as much as I would like yet because the projects Im working on havent required its use, but what I have done has lead me to really like it. It is light weight, yet sturdy as a rock. Its features are fantastic, so as I explore the features Im going to produce a series of videos that highlight them.

Oddly enough, the first video is not just about the EZ-One, but about the ease at which you can convert it to be able to make cuts greater than the size of the bench. The bench measures about 48" x 27" with the fence extending about 36" to either side of the center cut line. I needed to cut 7" strips from a full sheet of 3/4" plywood to use in building up a baseboard in the guest bedroom that we are currently remodeling. I could easily cross cut the sheet, but these pieces need to be the full 96" long. The answer was to convert the EZ-One to a Smart Table, join two rails together, add repeaters to the rail, and make the cuts.

I didnt video making the first cuts because I just forgot, and I didnt show making all the cuts because it is just boring. But I do show a couple of cuts and converting and un-converting the bench to a Smart Table.

Hope you enjoy the video and get a feel for how the EZ-One can be used. As the need to use the EZ-One, Ill be making other videos and passing along to you my experiences using this great tool.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Stanley the Energizer Bunny of Old Just Kept Going

If you were asked to buy stock in a company that developed a product at the end of one century, did the tooling for it, and then ran with that exact set-up, enjoying fair sales with it, until way past the middle of the next century, would you buy it? I probably would seriously consider it.

This is pretty much what Stanley Rule and Level Co. did for about that length of time. They came up with something, they refined it and then they produced it – for damn near forever.

Here are three images of the Stanley No. 97 Marking Gauge lifted from three of the four Stanley No. 34 catalogs that I have found in the public domain so far. One is from the 1914 edition, another from1934 and the third from 1958. Which one is which? They are displayed in order; 1914, 1934, and then the 1958 at the bottom of the stack.

By the way, I just bought one of these on eBay and it doesn’t match any of these illustrations. All three display the Stanley logos; the two earlier ones on the striking face and the ’58 model on its back. Mine, as you will see in the image below, displays a more Gothic scripted logo on the opposite face. What is weird about mine is that it has a Sweetheart logo on the machined screw. Either you can’t believe the illustrations in these catalogs, or mine is either older or newer, and has had the screw replaced.

Prices? The gauge sold for 47¢ in 1914, twenty years later, in 1934, it had jumped to 60¢, and by 1958, it was selling at the whopping huge price of $2.85. If you want to work that out in terms of inflation, from 1914 to 1934, the price increased 26%, or 1.3% per year. From 1934 to 1958, however, the price increased 475%, or almost 20% per year. Progress?

The next two images are from the same catalogs; 1914 and 1934. These are displaying Stanley’s top of the line Slide Mortise Gauges; the No. 77. Advertised as manufactured in Solid Rosewood and Brass, this baby sold for 60¢ in 1914. By 1934, the price had risen to $1.60, and by 1958, it had been dropped from the catalog.

A forth catalog that I have found is from 1898, and shows neither the No. 97 or the No. 77. It is not a complete catalog, though. I have, however, seen both these gauges offered by Stanley in other pre-turn-of-the-century publications. I just cannot show you them here as they are not in the public domain.

Here are three tools that I picked up over the last month; the Stanley No. 97 Marking Gauge, the No. 77 Slide Mortise Gauge and what I consider to be a very pretty awl.

The two gauges were picked up from eBay, but the awl came from toolexchange.com.au. I picked up the gauges because they looked to be in excellent shape, which they are. I was considering a Veritas Wheel Marking Gauge by Lee Valley, but when I saw this 97, I grabbed it instead.

The awl I purchased because it has the most beautiful yellow tone to the wood handle that I have ever seen. I have no idea what kind of wood it is made from, but it reminds me of the term, butternut. I also bought it because I needed it, ya, that’s it, I really needed one.

I got an email from another poster the other day asking me if I “enhanced” my images. I do. As you can see in the image below, I don’t alter the actual product, just the lighting, densities and backgrounds; the window dressing, so-to-speak. Sometimes I get a little carried away, but hey, you cant blame a guy for having a bit of fun.

Peace,

Mitchell

CNC Reproduction Work Technology in the Workplace

10/9/09 We have had our Multicam 1000 CNC router now for about four years. Trevors been running it for almost 3 of them and weve refined our technique for reproducing stuff so that it goes remarkably smoothly. This table came to us recently. It was a Grand Rapids piece, probably from the 20s, not particularly valuable except sentimentally ... The end piece was broken off and missing but we had the broken off molding. So, heres how we get from the first picture to the last picture below ... Holman Studios is doing a little orange shellac and colored lacquer work on just the top and new piece to get it looking good... Click the pictures to enlarge them.

The table as it came to us

The table when it left ...

Close up of the new end that Trevor made .... Below shows how he did it ....

First step, photograph the good end

Get the image full size, (in this case 13.06 x 1.81) in Photoshop and save it as 1 to 1 (1306 pixels x 181 pixels

Import it into your CAD program in a box 13.06 x 1.81 and draw over it ... Save it as the right kind of file for the toolpath program to read

Import it into Enroute and toolpath (have the program tell the router how to cut it, what bit, what order,etc.) it

Make a sample in luan to check it ... In this case ... perfect

Trevor then made a 3 ply replacement sandwich piece (two vertical pieces of veneer on a horizontal grain 1/8" solid wood core ... net 3/16ths " thick

Cut the real thing, stain it, install it and take it to Steve .... Start to finish ??? Hmmm, well see when we do the time clock, but probably less than you might think ... 4/16 total elapsed time for Trevor, 4.27 hours, stained and ready to finish ...

We do all kinds of custom cnc work for our clients and for other furniture makers, both local and nationwide. This week we made the (200?) chair parts below for one friend and Monday we have a couple of big slabs to mill flat for another ... keeps Trevor off the streets....

The finished parts before running them through the planer them to release them

CNC at work ...
There are some links to other blog posts below showing this technology at work. Check them out if you have a minute ...
A video on you tube of the cnc cutting an inlay
Some custom inlays in the Greene & Greene Style
A custom corporate logo inlay
An Art Deco Style Mother of Pearl Inlay