Woodwork Projects 2008

This was the first woodwork project that I completed last year. This made the other 2 projects a lot easier to do. As well as all the other woodworking projects we have planned. I wanted to add an end vice, I haven't done that yet though.

This was the second project of the year, an armoire for Ella's room. It's all made out of pine, we didn't want to spend too much on wood. I was still a lot more than an Ikea one would have cost though, which makes you wonder where Ikea gets it's wood. It's finished with danish oil.

It has shelves on on side and hangers on the other side.

The third project was the table that I made for my mom. It's made of Western Red Cedar, all 2x6's. I finished it with Sikkens Cetol 123.

Here it is on her patio. I'm sure it'll see some use this summer.

The forth project is the outdoor couch. I haven't finished it, it's ready to assemble though. It's too big to assemble in the basement and bring outside. I have to wait until the summer, so I can finish it outside. A friend of ours is going to make the cusions for us. It all Western Red Cedar as well, and we're going to finish it with Sikkens Cetol 123. It's going to be nice to relax on, on our deck next summer (between bouts of stucco removal I'm sure).

Armoire Finished

I finished putting it back together upstairs last week. It took about 10 minutes to take apart, 10 minutes to bring upstairs, and 10 minutes to put it back together.



I putted the shelves together upstairs. They're just rails screwed to the sides, the the rest is brad nailed together. Today I did the rod for the other side. It's an old rod that I cut down, it must have belonged to one of the bedrooms at one time. I didn't bother sanding the rod down, it's got a couple coat of paint on it. I didn't have a 1 1/4" drill bit, so I used a 1" drill bit, and then cut it larger with the jigsaw. It's not perfect, but it's not too bad. Deb is going to paint a macintosh rose on the doors, then we're going to do a few coats of shellac.



There was a gap between the floors from the hallway to the bathroom. We were tired of everything falling in to the gap. I looked through my scrap wood, and found a piece that was almost the right length, it's maybe a 1/4" too short. We're going to have to do a new one anyways, when we tile the floor anyways. I did a 20 degree bevel with the tablesaw, the sanded it all down, and countersunk the screws. I'll do a couple of coats of waterlox, once the kids are in bed. I've been working 6 day weeks for the past 5 weeks, so we haven't been doing as much around the house. Next will be finishing the powder room downstairs.

Armoire, ready to disassemble

Well it's time to disassemble it, and bring it upstairs. I just hope it goes back together again. I did 2 coats of stain, I need to do the inside of the doors, and finish doing the inside too. I guess it's technically an oil finish, not just a stain, it's called Watco Danish Oil. The colour is medium walnut, it's hard to tell from the photos what colour it is, especially with the fluorescent light. I'll do that upstairs, then shellac it too. I still have to do the shelves inside, and the rod to hang clothes on. I don't really have enough room to work in my shop, so I'm going to finish it upstairs. I had a little bit of problem putting the knobs on, the screws were too long, so I had to cut them. I need a small vice for doing this kind of thing that should be easy. The knobs are from Lee Valley, and suit the Stickley style of the cabinet, they're a mission style. I'll take more photos once it's done and in place.

Armoire progress

I've got the armoire I'm making mostly put together, I've been working on it a lot the last 2 weeks. I've managed to remedy most of the mistakes I've made. A lot of the problems come from the fact that the plans call for non standard sized lumber, and I made mistakes trying to alter the plans. It would have been easier to buy bigger lumber and cut it down to size, it would have been a lot more expensive though. A lot of the lumber was cupped, I'd be a lot more careful choosing lumber next time. I guess it's difficult to get good pine these days. The pine beetle infestation probably doesn't help the selection of trees. It has to come apart to make it up the stairs, so the pieces are attached using screws. I used the pocket hole jig for a lot of the connections, and to make the back. I probably could have just used a piece of plywood for the back. I followed the plans though. I'm going to brad nail the back on, it's easy enough to pull the nails out, if we need to move it again. It seems a lot bigger than I imagined, it takes up almost all of my small workshop. I have to tip it on it's back, so I can do the hinges for the doors, the hinges seem a little small, now that I've got them home, I'll change them if they don't survive. I tested the stain we're using on a scrap piece of lumber, we're going to cover that with a couple coats of shellac.

Armoire vs. Stairwell

I'm building an armoire for Ella from the Stickley furniture book I got for Christmas. I just finished the top, so we figure we'd try getting the top up the stairs, you know, to see it the thing would fit. No dice. The top is 50"x22.5. It looks like I'm going to have to make it like flat pack furniture, so it can be dismantled. I bought a Kreg pocket screw jig, so hopefully I can just put it together with that. I don't know how many times it could be taken apart though, since I'm using pine, and it's soft. I think as long as I don't torque the screws down too hard, it should be okay. It is more complicated though, It's not so bad making the panels, I just hope if works. I think I'll assemble it first in the basement, then take it apart and put it back together. I've heard pocket screws make strong connections, this will be the test.