In The Shop Notes

Friday, July 28

Day 9 - Sewing Center

Sorry for the delay in getting this update posted. On Tuesday a truck load of lumber came in, and it was hot that afternoon, so we just pulled it off the truck and piled it in the driveway. That evening when it cooled down, I sorted it out and stacked it properly, but by then I was by myself, and I over did it and paid for it dearly on Wednesday. By Thursday I was ambulatory again and was working short shifts in the shop to get the filler panels and the surger shelf made up. I'll trim and install these next week. Friday was my day to spend as shopkeeper in Treasures, so I got to sit at the desk most of the day doing the weekly books and enjoying the air conditioning -- like a mini vacation. I did have a good number of customers in and sold a few things as well as accomplishing the bookkeeping and some web site updates, so it was a good day. By Monday, I ought to be back in shape to work a full day again, so I will be back in the shop and at it full force. See you then!

Doug

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Tuesday, July 25

Day 8 - Sewing Center

This will be a short entry for a fairly lengthy day. Most of the day was spent sanding, but not just sanding -- hand sanding. Just about my least favorite thing to do -- but it has to be done, and done right.

After the sanding was done I assembled the sub-assemblies we've been following along on, with glue this time, then assembled the 4 side pieces and the back into the basic carcass of the sewing cabinet. Using just screws, no glue. Still have more to do on them before they can go in permanently.

The full story is here:

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 08.php

Today's progress picture is here:

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 08006.jpg

See you tomorrow! Doug

_____

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Monday, July 24

Day 7 - Sewing Center

Welcome back dear readers,

I hope you have a restful weekend. We spent Saturday in the Treasures Of Appalachia gallery (http://www.TreasuresOfAppalacia.com); it was Marie's turn to be shopkeeper, and I tagged along to do the weekly books. Sunday was church. All in all, a pleasant weekend.

This morning I began by breaking down the mortising machine and setting up to cut the dadoes and rabbets where the various panels and parts will join together.

Most of the morning was spent laying out these cuts and double checking for accuracy and knocking the panels apart again.

I got some of the cuts made before stopping for lunch, finished them up in the afternoon. After this I sealed the ends of all the filler panels to help prevent splitting, and took a break during the heat of the afternoon to let the sealer dry.

In the evening, the sealer was still tacky, so I cleaned up the dadoes and rabbets and checked all the panels for any pits or checks that need to be filled. By tomorrow morning everything ought to be good and dry and I'll be ready to hand sand the filler panels and begin gluing the sub-assemblies together.

See you then! Doug

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 07.php

________________________________________________________ Smoky Mountain Woodworks Custom designed, solid hardwood furniture. www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com

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Friday, July 21

Day 6 - Sewing Center

I'm not sure what happened to Day 5's posting -- maybe Internet Gremlins got it again. So, to recap day 5, we cut mortises and fitted tenons into them.

For details see

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 05.php

For today we were getting' groovy. Cutting grooves into which the filler panels will fit, then trimming the panels to a precise fit into their frames.

For the whole story, see:

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 06.php

I'm not quite sure why it is that some of these links turn into clickable links and some stay a text string that you have to copy into your browser window. I'm taking notes to see if there's something I'm doing differently sometimes.

By the end of the day, we have the entire cabinet casework frame & panel assemblies together and taped in place for a test fit.

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 06012.jpg

Looking good so far. Next week we'll begin making the bits and pieces that go inside -- like shelves and drawers and the feet that go under.

See you then!

_____

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Tuesday, July 18

Day 4 - Part two

Because of the interruptions yesterday I only got about a half-day's work done, and since I'm chronicling this project I want to keep time frames straight.

What a beautiful morning! We are enjoying 67� at sun-up. The radio says that Saint Louis (where Marie was born and raised) has 98� this morning, so I'm happy with what we have. Because our forecast is for "dangerously high heat indices" this afternoon, I went out to the shop early to get some time in. That way I can bail out for a while in the hottest part of the day and not sacrifice that time. I can do my bookwork and web site stuff that I normally do early at this time in the relative comfort of our house and office (which *does* have insulation!) and use the cooler parts of the day for the woodworking. During the winter I use the early morning for inside work while the wood stove heats up the workshop. I guess it's about time I flipped over to the summer schedule.

So, the early morning was spent scuffing and applying the final coat of polyurethane to Tammy's table. After breakfast it will be tacked up enough to move out of the way so air-borne dust won't settle in the finish while I work on Paula's sewing cabinet.

For those who are just tuning in, the item we're building now is at:

http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/Cabinet_Sewing.php

The one pictured is made of cherry and cherry veneered plywood. Paula's is being built of quarter sawn white oak using all solid hardwood frame and panel construction. Well, except for the top pieces, which are work surfaces and have to be smooth, flat and solid; these will be made from oak planks joined into wide panels. But we'll get to that later.

For today we're working on the framing needed to create the casework. Specifically, the cutting of tenons on the rails and muntins. In order to get a good fit with one another, mortises and tenons have to be made very carefully. A sloppy fit yields a weak joint.

I spent the majority of the day on this -- until the heat drove me out. I got all the tenons cut and trimmed. In the evening I came back to double check some lay-out dimensions and get ready for tomorrow's task of chopping mortises.

Today's progress picture is available here:

http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 04012.jpg A pile-O-parts.

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Monday, July 17

Day 4 - Sewing Cabinet

Hello, I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was quite interesting as we got away on Saturday for a little field trip. But you didn't log in to read about that. But I am rested up and ready to get started again.

Today I spent the early morning session working on Pamela's web site, and the morning smoothing out the panels that were made up last week. They all turned out very nicely. I made an extra one in case any went bad on me, but none did, so I'll have a little extra stock to work with.

By lunch time it was getting pretty hot. This makes me really thirsty but kills the appetite -- which is a good thing as I'm trying to loose a few pounds. OK, OK... a lot of pounds. Ever since I tore up my hip and had to stop taking my one-mile walk with the dogs every day at lunch time, I've been gaining weight. Got to do something about that. Not getting hungry helps.

After the lunch break I got started laying out and cutting the casework tenons. After a bit it was getting too hot: 96° outside but with no insulation in the roof of this building, once the afternoon sun starts beating down on it you can bake bread in here in the afternoons. So I abandoned shop for a few hours and went back to finish up once the sun started going down. The good thing about these mountains is that it cools down as fast as it heated up. Fans help blow the hot air out once they can find some cooler air.

I had to stop a bit early to switch over to finishing a project that I had been working on before this one but had to set aside while waiting for the client to decide how it was to be finished. Now that she's given me this info, I want to get it done and out of the way so I'll have room to assemble the parts I'm making for Paula's sewing cabinet.

The polyurethane can set up over night and I'll see how it looks in the morning. Now it's time for a shower and to get after some bookkeeping and web maintenance on my site before bed time.

See you tomorrow!

A photo of a smoothed out panel is at:

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day04003.jpg

Thursday, July 13

Day 3 - Sewing Center

The early morning session was spent working on Pamela's new web site -- just getting things set up with her hosting service and pulling in a copy of her current files.

The morning session was spent trimming the rails and stiles I made yesterday to finished size. Since my miter fence got destroyed yesterday morning I used my cut-off sled; not quite as convenient since it doesn't have the easily adjustable stop block for obtaining precise cut-off lengths, but it served the purpose.

After the lunch break I mounted a fine tooth blade on the table saw and jointed the half-panel parts, then spent the afternoon gluing and clamping the pairs of panel parts into full panels. I left the first 5 panels in the clamps for a couple of hours, just long enough for the glue to tack up good -- then carefully removed them from the clamps and set them aside to cure while I worked on gluing up the remaining 4 panels.

Once all horizontal surfaces were covered with clamps and panels, there was little I could do in the shop, so I spent some time in the office taking care of some chores there.

Tomorrow is my day to be shopkeeper and do the bookwork at Treasures Of Appalachia, so no work will get done in the woodshop.

See you Monday! Doug

_____

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Wednesday, July 12

Day 2 - Sewing Center

This day, dear readers started out with a bang. Literally.

While trying to cross-cut an 8 foot plank into smaller lengths on the table saw, the blade bound up and kicked the board back at me. I managed to get out of the way, thus avoided serious injury, but my miter fence was completely destroyed. Bummer. I'm going to need that in a day or two when I start finish cutting parts.

The morning session was spent roughing out the rails, stiles and panel blanks.

After lunch I surface planed all the parts and resawed the panel blanks.

The evening session was spent doing bookwork.

That pretty much killed this day.

The photo journal for this project can be found at:

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/index.php

Until Tomorrow...
Doug

Tuesday, July 11

Sewing Center - Day 1

Today was a long heavy day. We brought in a mess of white oak for this project a while back, but not enough of that was quarter-sawn oak. Quarter Sawing is a special method of cutting a log so that the grain rings run vertically across the end of the board. The advantage is that it warps less, the problem is that quarter sawing a log wastes a considerable amount of it -- thus making this lumber more expensive than flat sawn lumber.

Quarter sawn lumber exhibits a unique "ray flecking" pattern that has become the trade mark of Arts & Crafts style furniture, which is what Paula has in her home. So, she wants this piece done in quarter sawn oak and stained dark to match the rest of her home.

Therefore, I need to go through the white oak pile again and look for the quarter sawn boards.

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 01001.jpg

I found enough that I don't think I'll have to special order any, but it meant un-stacking, about 500 board feet of lumber, pulling out the QS boards I came across and then re-stacking the rest with the stacking sticks between each layer ,of course, so air will continue to circulate through the pile.

These boards are all 8 or 9 feet long, and oak is heavy anyway, so this was a good "weight-loss" day. Under our business practices, we don't charge for this prep work, so this was also a day without pay. I get paid only for billable hours.

Time for a shower, some supper, hopefully a good nights rest so I'll be ready to start rough milling parts tomorrow.

The complete photo-journal for this project can be found at:

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/Sewing_Center/Day 01.php

_____

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Wednesday, June 28

CD-End Table - Day 15

I should call this "Best Laid Plans" because of the way things worked out. I had planned to go get the crating board I need, crate the cabinet over the weekend and ship it Monday morning. Unfortunately it rained all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday; no opportunity at all to get the supplies I needed -- which would have been ruined by an hour long ride in an open bed pickup, at interstate speeds, in a deluge. So, Lori, I'm terribly sorry for the delay. Once the materials were on hand, here's how we crate up a piece of furniture. We begin by shrink wrapping it to help keep the drawers pulled in and not jiggle up and down so much. http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15001.jpg Then we take 4' x 8' sheets of Styrofoam and cut it into 3" wide strips. http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15002.jpg These strips are cut to length and applied to the cabinet. Two or three layers may be needed to build out where we have protrusions like knobs and overhangs. We use duct tape to fasten the strips to one another, but are careful not to let the adhesive touch the cabinet. A top plate of foam is cut to size and fastened in over the entire top of the cabinet. http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15003.jpg We repeat the process around the base and affix some extra strips on the front, again to help prevent the drawers from moving around during shipment. http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15004.jpg We do not wrap the entire cabinet in two or three layers of foam because the heavy duty, triple wall corrugated board we use for panels offers enough puncture resistance that the foam would be redundant. And this foam is getting expensive, so to hold your crating fees down we use just what we need. Next we cut and apply the corrugated side panels. At a half inch thick, this stuff is very stable and stiff. We use masking tape to hold the panels together for the moment. http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15005.jpg Once the panels are all in place we rip 1/6 pine lumber into strips to use in bordering the corrugated panels. These probably aren't necessary in a crate this small as the corrugated panels have so much rigidity and crush resistance (when corrugations are run vertically) that they alone *may* prevent the crate from being crushed if another box is stacked on top of it in the truck trailer. But to get the best rate from our truck line, a crate is defined as being wood reinforced. So we apply the wood: nailed together and glued to the corrugated panels. http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15006.jpg http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15007.jpg To finish off, we build a pallet style base that allows the crate to be easily moved and lifted with a fork-lift or pallet jack. Then we run the shipment through Old Dominion's web site, generate the bill of lading and shipping label, and it goes out on the dock to await a ride to White Pine TN where the O.D.F.L. truck dock is.

http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_15009.jpg This process took 5 1/2 man hours to complete, not including the run to Morristown to get the crating board. But, we can rest easy now, knowing that it is well protected for its' trip across country. This one is on its’ way. Now it's time to clean up the shop, put all the tools away, sweep out the debris and get ready to make the next piece of furniture.

Thursday, June 22

CD End Table - Day 14

This is the day where a lot of gratification is generated: Finishing Day. Even though the past few days have seen much progress as all the various parts came together into a completed project, until the finish is on, it just doesn't "pop".

The morning session was spent sanding. All of it. Some done with a random orbit power sander, but a considerable amount of the finish sanding is done by hand.

After lunch I began spraying lacquer, letting it dry, then scuff sanding it to smooth the surface before applying another coat. The drawers were removed and finished separately. The entire piece got two good coats, then the top got a third to add an extra measure of protection.

I finished up the spraying right at 5:00, went in for some dinner then came back to install the brass knobs and clean up the spray equipment and take some pictures.

The heat and humidity are high today and I want to let the piece sit overnight to be sure the lacquer is properly hardened before we start wrapping it in Styrofoam and building a custom crate around it.

Here are some photo links:

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_14002.jpg and
http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_14003.jpg are shots of the piece from two different angles to see both sides.

http://www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_14004.jpg is a picture of my favorite feature of this piece; one of the boards we split for use in the back panels shows some gorgeous quilted pattern. Photography doesn't to it justice.

This completes this project. Tomorrow I'll go buy the materials I'll need to build the crate -- we don't have space to store those here. The crate will be built over the weekend and we'll take it to the truck line early Monday morning and send it on it's way to Lori. We hope she will be as impressed with it as the visitors to our shop have been today.

Have a great weekend, and we'll start a new project next time.

Wednesday, June 21

CD End Table - Day 13

Very strange day today. It started early: about 1:30 am when the dogs decided to have a bark fest. When we got them settled down I was to much awake to get back to sleep, so I went into the office and got some work done. Wrote a magazine article, wrote a newspaper press release and worked on the Treasures web site for a bit. That was a long early morning session!

The morning session was spent flattening the top plate I'd glued up and sanding with 60 grit paper. Then routed the bevels on the edges of the top plate and sanded the whole thing (including the bevels - done by hand) to 100 grit.

After lunch I made and installed the mounting blocks that will hold he top plate in place and installed them. Then carefully lined to the top plate and fastened that in place with screws from inside the cabinet.

Progress photo: http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_13.jpg

This completes the construction of Lori's CD End Table. Tomorrow we'll begin the finishing stage.

Till then...

Doug

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Monday, June 19

CD End Table - Day 12

The early morning and morning sessions today were spent working on the new web site. I've gotten portions of it ready to be opened to the public, but was having some problems getting the old site to communicate properly with the new one.

After lunch, I got started on the top plate for Lori's CD End Table. This involved taking the billets that I'd roughed out at the beginning of this project and flattening them out with a hand plane where corners wanted to lift, then surface planing them to the proper thickness, cutting glue-joints on the mating surfaces and drilling these surfaces for dowel pins. Finally applying the glue and drawing it all together with long clamps.

This panel will have to sit over night to allow the glue to set up solidly before I can work with it further. So, I'm heading back to the office to work on the web site some more.

See you tomorrow,

Doug

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CD End Table - Day 11

I see that the notes I sent to be posted last Friday did not post once again. So, I'll try again before posting today's notes. Here goes...

Hello dear readers!

My early morning was spent on bookkeeping chores. Then I surface planed and milled out the parts for the drawer fronts. This is a little trickier than it sounds because they have to be kept in order so the grain flows across the drawers.

Then I had to take a little time to do an emergency job; Terry's lamb feeders. I had planned on doing those after Lori's table was done, but due to a sudden change with his employer, Terry will be leaving after tomorrow and may not get back this way. So I knocked his feeders out quickly and will have Marie deliver them in the morning.

Lunch time. Had a couple of problems to deal with, nothing major.

The afternoon session was spent shaping, sanding, aligning, drilling and installing the drawer fronts onto the drawer boxes. It was a long afternoon -- didn't get done with this until around 7:00. But I wanted to finish this step today because I will be in Treasures tomorrow, so will not get a chance to work on this project again until Monday.

All that's left to do now is to make and install the top plate and do the finishing. Then, Lori, it's on it's way to you!

Progress photo for today is at: http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_11.jpg

See you Monday!

Doug

Thursday, June 15

CD-End Table - Day 10

I wasn't able to post this last night, so I'll try again this morning. These notes are for Wednesday June 14.

Long day, short notes.

The early morning session was spent working on the web site and answering e-mails. It seems that Storage Beds are suddenly quite popular; we've had three inquiries about them in three days. One requested a bid and seems serious, the others are just shopping.

The rest of the day was spent shaping, sanding and installing the drawers into Lori's end table. This took all day.

The evening session was spent processing a new order and 'conversing' via e-mail with my PHP programmer. Great things are afoot.

The progress photo is available at: http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_10.jpg

Till next time...

Doug

_____

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Tuesday, June 13

CD End Table - Day 9

Today's early morning session was spent... sleeping!

This is because there was a Dog Party at 2:30 am, and that is too early even for me. There was, apparently, some critter wandering around that had all the dogs on the mountain in an uproar. Including ours. They REALLY wanted to get out and chase whatever it was (probably a bear). But, one of our closer neighbors is not well and tends to get upset when the dogs wake him, so ours stayed in -- and barked anyway. We scolded them for that and they trotted back and forth through the house whining and growling, and mumble-barking. They *really* wanted to bark!

I did, finally manage to get back to sleep -- about the time I normally get up, so I slept in. I got no web work done today.

The morning was used to mill the rabbets and grooves on the drawer box parts and to cut the drawer bottoms of 1/8" BBP.

The late afternoon was consumed by assembling, gluing and squaring the drawer boxes.

The early afternoon was used to mow the lawn. I suspect what got the dogs all stirred up last night was a gazelle, attracted by the Serengeti-like grass field our "yard" has become. It didn't rain at all today, so I took advantage of the chance to mow.

Today's progress photo is: http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_9.jpg

The more observant among you will be wondering why there are 10 drawer boxes when only 9 are needed. I like to make an extra in case something goes amiss during assembling and fussy-fitting. Having an extra means I don't have to go back and set up all the tools again just to run parts for one drawer.

And if nothing goes amiss, these drawer boxes make good storage or tote boxes in the workshop.

Time for me to go take a shower, so you need to go on now...

See you again tomorrow!

Doug

_____

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Monday, June 12

CD End Table - Day 8

Happy Monday to you!

The early morning session today was spent working on the new web site; configuring all those attributes takes a long, long time over a slow connection like mine. I’ll keep working at it as I have time and eventually it will get done.

The morning session was spent removing the clamps from Lori’s casework and checking for any problems. There were none. Then I installed the front skirt (that arched piece at the bottom) and sanded the entire case to 150 grit.

Lunch time. I took care of some phone calls and an issue that was waiting for me on the answering machine. And I managed to eat a little lunch.

During the afternoon session I re-sawed and planed the poplar billets that were prepped last week, then trimmed the pieces to exact size for the drawer box parts. That took all afternoon – lots of “stick a piece of wood in this side of the machine, run around to the other site to catch it as it comes out, run back around front and stick another piece in the front.

9 drawers; 4 parts per drawer. Three passes each through the table saw, as many as 8 passes each through the surface planer. You do the math; lots of running back and forth.

If you’d like to see a progress picture of what we’ve got so far, copy and paste this address into your browser: http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_8.jpg

This evening I’ll be working on bids.

See you tomorrow.

Thursday, June 8

CD End Table - Day 7

I spent the early morning session working with our web site's LinkMachine. Most of the links that have been submitted recently are inappropriate; real estate sites, a home improvement directory, a circuit board manufacturer, and so on. The obvious ones can just be deleted, but because the names and descriptions used in some submissions are misleading (they sound like they would be a good fit but aren't what they say they are), they have to be checked out. I suppose the people submitting these links think we're using a completely automated system to handle links and they can slip all sorts of garbage into our links directory -- which is exactly why we can't let the LinkMachine run on full automatic. It's a shame some people are so dishonest.

The morning session was spent gluing up the side assemblies of Lori's cabinet, milling the 9 drawer slide rails to completed size and shape and laying out the cuts needed to produce rough billets of poplar for drawer box parts. Once the sides came out of the clamps I assembled and squared the case. After lunch I will begin work on drawer boxes.

In the afternoon I got the poplar boards cut down into billets for drawer boxes but can go no farther until the case assembly is dry enough to remove clamps and move out of the way. Oh, I long for the day when I'll have more work space!

A progress photo is at:

www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_7.jpg

So I went into the office and finished one of the bids I've been working on and ordered all the hardware for Paula's sewing cabinet.

Tomorrow I'm doing some volunteer work in Newport to help raise funds for a young woman with ovarian cancer. I will be away most of the day.

So I'll check in with you again on Monday. Have a great weekend!

_____

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CD End Table - Day 6

Note: I tried 3 times last night to post this entry and it was refused each time. I'll try again this morning. This was yesterdays post: Wednesday, June 7th.

I started off this day by putting my early morning session (5:30 to 8:00) into working on some bids that have piled up. Didn't get any completed because I need more details from the clients, so I e-mailed them and set the bids aside for completion later.

In the workshop I began by discovering an error in the grid work that forms the front of the cabinet. The center drawer holes are 1/8" wider than the outer drawer holes. So I stopped the time clock and re-made the horizontal grid parts and made note of the error on our working plan. I'll have to adjust that so it won't happen again. I'm not sure how it didn't get caught before.

Once the client's time clock was started again, I resumed the work I had planned to do today. First I cut the small pockets into which the ends of the drawer slide rails will fit: 9 in the front grid, 9 in the pack panel rails, all perfectly aligned so the drawers will be square to the case.

With that done I was able to apply glue to the mortises and tenons of the back panel, assemble that panel and clamp it up. Of course I checked it for 'square': 1/32" off of perfect -- close enough that it's not worth trying to "rack" the panel to correct it. Then I glued and clamped the grid work. Both of these assemblies will need to set up over night before I remove the clamps.

So I took the time to do some cleaning up and putting away tools that will not be needed again. I believe Marie has a project she wants to be working on this evening, so we'll need some work space for that anyway.

Since things are taken apart again, I didn't take a progress picture today, but if you are interested in more pictures and construction details, copy and paste this address into your browser:

www.smokymountainwoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD_End_Table/index.php

This is an article that was written during the construction of a previous 9 drawer CD End Table. It's not as in-depth as some of my more recent articles, but it gives you an idea of what's involved.

Time to grab some dinner, so we can get on with the evening projects.

Till tomorrow...

_____

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Tuesday, June 6

CD End Table - Day 5

Today was a good, productive day; we've finally reached the point where visible progress is being made.

The morning was spent cutting mortises in the casework stiles, cutting grooves for the panels to fit into on all stiles and rails, and fitting the tenons on the back rails into the mortises on the back stiles.

Lunch time.

I spent the afternoon sanding the five panels to 150 grit (much easier to do it now than after they're encased in the framework), fitting those panels into the side and back assemblies, cutting the rabbets in the rear of the side panels to house the back panel, and cutting and fitting the half-laps in the grid work parts that will form the front of the table.

A progress photo is available at http://www.SmokyMountainWoodworks.com/InTheShop/CD-End_Day5.jpg

See you again tomorrow...

_____

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CD End Table - Tenons

Once again things got busy yesterday evening and I neglected to post the daily notes, so this is for yesterday, Monday the 5th.

The morning session was spent surface planning the 4 half-panels we glued up last week to 3/8" thick, jointing the inner edges and gluing them into full panels for use in the case sides. Then we set up the tools to cut tenons.

The afternoon session was used to cut tenon shoulders on the band saw, then cut the tenon cheeks on the table saw using a tenoning jig.

I had a little time left over so I went ahead and laid out the mortise locations on the back panel stiles and set up the drill press with the mortising attachment so it will be ready to use in the morning.

'Nuff for today, see you tomorrow.

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Thursday, June 1

CD-End Table - Trimming Parts

I'm still trying to get the hang of this new Blogger e-mail interface. It allows me to post these messages by sending an e-mail instead of logging into their web site and using the control panel -- which has been VERY slow and often unreliable in that the message I'm trying to post occasionally veers off into never-never land because something somewhere times-out. This method of posting seems more reliable, but it wraps the text lines arbitrarily so I have to find the right line length to set in my e-mail client so it works out properly here.

Yesterday we roughed out all the parts we'll need for the casework of this CD End Table. This morning we re-sawed the billets for the side and back panels and glued up the first half-panel. While the glue was setting up, we surface planed and trimmed all the 7/8" thick pieces (case rails and stiles mostly) to exact size. That killed the morning session.

After lunch we got two more half-panels glued up and trimmed the �� thick parts to finished size. We�ll wait to finish-trim and assemble the pieces for the top plate until just before we�re ready to install it. That way if any of the pieces decide to twist or warp, they�ll do so *before* we use them in the top plate

Tomorrow id my day to spend at Treasures Of Appalachia, being shopkeeper, doing bookwork, including the payroll for the month.

Till Monday�

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Wednesday, May 31

CD End Table - Stock Prep

Yesterday I spent the day surfacing the boards I'd pulled into the shop to acclimate. The rough-sawn surface makes it difficult to see the grain patterns, so planning the boards just a bit to reveal the surface makes it easier to decide which boards will become which parts. Today I will begin cutting the boards into rough-cut parts blanks. Being Month-End, I had to take some time this morning to run statements on our web site maintenance customers. This evening I will close out the books for May and run the needed reports. In addition to this we are projected to have another record high temperature this afternoon which may drive me out of the shop again, we'll see. I'll stick it out as long as I can. Marie bought a dorm-size refrigerator at a yard sale and put it in the shop so we can keep cold bottled water and Gatorade on hand. That helps. I'm posting this morning instead of at the end of the day because I'll probably forget again. I've gotten out of the habit lately. I'll have to work on that. Till tomorrow...

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Thursday, May 18

Tea Chest & Stuff

This past weekend was the first annual Pickn' Plantn' & Plowin' festival at Treasures of Appalachia (serves as our storefront as well as an outlet for the works of almost 50 other artists) and that consumed most of last week and all weekend. Now that it's over I can get back to work.

During the festival one of our two drawer tea chests (in hickory) was auctioned off via e-bay and the Treasures web site as a fund raiser for Treasures, which is a non-profit corporation. It sold for a disappointingly low amount, but that's life on the auction block I guess.

We are also building another two drawer tea chest, this one in walnut for Lauren. It's almost done now. I haven't been taking and posting photos partly because we've already done that with a previous chest and partly because I just don't want to take the time to do it again.

Between rebuilding the new Treasures web site (www.treasuresofappalachia.com) which crashed a while back, destroying the database that drives the product catalog, and working on the new version of the Smoky Mountain Woodworks website AND building furniture I don't have much time to spare. But it's going well and we're getting great comments on the Treasures web site. The new SMW site will be a while yet before it's ready to go live -- VERY complex and needs quite a bit of custom programming.

It is my goal to get this new SMW site to a point where it will allow our visitors to play 'what-if' with our products. By this I mean that as they select the various options like type of wood, hardware choices, stain/no stain, the site will offer updated pricing based on the cost of the materials involved. By tying this function into our materials inventory database we can automatically keep the pricing on each product accurately updated. This should ease the number of e-mails we get from people saying, "I like this piece. The price you show is for oak, how much is it in cherry?" etc.

Of course we will still be dealing with the folks who find us listed in a directory somewhere, never bother to look at the web site but e-mail us with a flurry of questions -- most of which are answered by the web site. But that's life.

Till next time...

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Wednesday, May 3

Eng Gdn Bench Day 16

Work day begins: 5:30 AM I do apologize for being so remiss on my note keeping over the past few days. Many things have been going on, and I simply run out of time before it all gets done. Construction on the first bench is now complete and I will begin the finishing stage today. If you check the construction article (Title link above) you will be able to see what the steps to this point have been. This morning we sand. It’s not exciting or glamorous or even particularly interesting to watch, so don’t expect lots of pictures. There were a couple gaps that I decided to fill before oiling, just to be sure rain water doesn’t work it’s way into the wood and promote decay. While the filler was drying I took care of some office chores. Lunch Time All the finish sanding is done. I didn’t have to go real far with this piece – just to 120 grit – because the oil finish we’ll be applying needs to penetrate the wood. If we sand it too fine, the pores clog up with sanding dust and prevents the oil form soaking in. Besides, we’re not going for a high gloss shine anyway. Workshop closes: 4:00 PM I spent the afternoon hand applying the oil to all surfaces and working it thoroughly into all the corners and crevasses where rain water might want to collect. After the whole thing was covered with oil (which required rolling the bench over to get the bottom side) I went back over it with a pad made from soft cloth and buffed the whole thing. This picks up any excess fluid which may have pooled up or started a run, and spreads it out to any spots that may be a bit thirsty yet. Now it has to sit for 18 to 24 hours for the oil to cure. One coat is all it needs for now, we can apply another in 30 days if we feel it needs it, but we’ll have to go fetch the benches out of the churche's therapy garden to do so. They are anxious to get the benches in place. I spent some time cleaning up the shop, cleaning and putting away the finishing equipment and tools. This is not billable time and is not counted in the figures below. Nor is time spent waiting for stuff to dry. Now that this one is completed, we will deliver it so I have space in the shop to assemble the other one. It will be the same process, so I won’t bother to post a blow-by-blow account. I will post again when it’s done and we’re ready to get started on the next project. Billable Man Hours: 1.75 Billable Materials: ½ quart outdoor oil. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Thursday, April 20

Eng Gdn Bench Day 13

Work day begins: 7:00 AM We’re having a thunderstorm this morning so I can’t boot up the computers, so instead I stay in bed a while extra. Spring time in these mountain often starts the day with a pre-dawn storm, then it clears up and turns into a beautiful day. God is just watering his garden. Lunch Time The weather hasn’t cleared up, in fact at the moment it’s hailing – which is very LOUD under this tin roof. This morning I got the 26 back slats made and got some of them sanded. Workshop closes: PM This afternoon I finished sanding the back slats, and the upper and lower back rails for both benches. Then dove into “Fussy Fitting” one back assembly. There was a fair amount of fitting to do… many of the tenons were just a bit fat. But that’s OK, better then too thin. Billable Man Hours: 7 Billable Materials: All materials used were cut-offs from previous steps. Nothing new billed. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Wednesday, April 19

Eng Gdn Bench Day 12

Work day begins: 5:30 AM My ‘pre-dawn’ session is being spent catching up on my technical journal reading and pondering the Treasures web site debacle. So much work, just gone in an instant; do I really want to put all that work back into it? Maybe not. Some portions of the data are more important to the continued success of the gallery, those need to be replaced as quickly as possible, but many of the products that were listed didn’t seem to garner much traffic. I’ll use the sites’ traffic logs to decide which were the most important. Lunch Time I cut the mortises in the front rail for the tenons on the seat support, then changed over to the ½” chisel and designed a jig to hold the lower back rails to cut the mortises at a 12½ degree angle. I found a couple of telephone messages from customers saying that they tried to e-mail us and the messages were returned as undeliverable. So I cut my lunch break short and took some time to look into that. Workshop closes: 3:30 PM Joy O'Hare called: she’s having trouble with her computer and needs some help. Sigh… MORE computer troubles. I also have to take the truck and go pick up Marie after she turns in her rental car, then we have to make a trip to Morristown. So it’s time to get cleaned up and changed. But I did get most of the ½” mortises cut in the back rails. Billable Man Hours: 3.25 Billable Materials: none To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Monday, April 17

Eng Gdn Bench Day 11

Work day begins: 5:30 AM Over the Easter weekend, I managed to destroy the database that drives the Treasures Of Appalachia on-line store, and have been attempting to recover that data ever since. The early morning was spent discussing the problem with tech support at my hosting service. Without going into detail, the news is not good. I’ll have to rebuild the database that took me 4 months to build the first time. Once I see Marie off, I eagerly head for the workshop – where there are NO computers. Lunch Time I spent the morning roughing out parts for the 4 center seat support rails and the seat slats, fussy fitting the end assemblies and doing some sanding. Just as I was heading back to work the phone rang: is was Phyllis in California. She’d seen that we had a 12 drawer CD End Table available for immediate shipment, and wanted some details… since the web page that was supposed to give her that information was “having some issues”. (A result of the blown-up database.) So I e-mailed her the pictures and information she needed. Workshop closes: PM This afternoon I rough cut the 4 seat support blanks I made up this morning, and trimmed and planed the 10 seat slats. This evening I’ll write up today’s article and post these notes, then try to figure out if it’s going to be worthwhile rebuilding the Treasures product line database. Billable Man Hours: 6.5 Billable Materials: 32 bf 4/4 white oak. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Time out

Had to take a couple of sick days here. It wasn't pretty.

Eng Gdn Bench Day 10b

Work day begins: 5:30 AM So what’s up with the Day 10b, isn’t this day 11? Yes, technically it is. But yesterday half the day got blown away by weirdness so I only got half a day’s work done. Today the insurance man is coming by to impress upon me the importance of having health insurance. That will, in all likely hood take some time. So, I’ll count this as the second half of yesterday as far as the production schedule is concerned. Lunch Time I got the remaining mortises cut, the tenons trimmed and pieces test fitted for one whole end frame. It looks good and fits well. I was afraid that there was going to be a problem (again) with the angle on the back of the arm piece, but once I got all the parts assembled and drawn together, everything fit quite nicely. I guess ‘ol Norm knows what he’s doing after all. ;-) (The plan we’re using as a starting point for these benches is from Norm Abrams and the New Yankee Workshop.) Workshop closes: 5:30 PM The insurance man didn’t take up too much time, but Mom e-mailed to say that her drain is stopped up and they don’t have a plunger, could I help? So I walked down the hill to help out. I got another end frame trimmed and fitted. And a third underway. Billable Man Hours: 4.25 Billable Materials: none To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Monday, April 10

Eng Gdn Bench Day 10a

Work day begins: 5:30 AM The early morning was spent taking care of some chores on the Treasures of Appalachia web site. Just before breakfast I went out to start a fire to warm the shop because it’s still pretty chilly in the mornings. However, things then went weird on me. The entire morning ended up being spent dealing with stuff and fixing peoples problems. None of which had anything at all to do with our woodworking, but other projects that we are affiliated with. And a couple had nothing much to do with anything… they just happened to call me. Lunch Time Time for a quick lunch, them I’m leaving the phone in the house and heading out to the workshop. Workshop closes: 5:15 PM I got most of the mortises cut in the front and rear legs this afternoon. These monsters are tough to do even with a mortiser: white oak is tough, hard wood and getting the chisel to penetrate for a ¾”wide, 1¾ deep cut requires lots of pressure. If the chisel/bit set makes it all the way through this project, it will be junk when I’m done. Billable Man Hours: 4.25 Billable Materials: None To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Friday, April 7

Eng Gdn Bench Day 09

Work day begins: 6:30 AM Looking into a glitch with our computer network took some time this morning, but now I’m off to the workshop. Lunch Time This morning I roughed out the pieces I need for spreaders and seat supports. The spreaders were then trimmed to finished size and have the tenon shoulders cut. The seat supports are just roughed out. Workshop closes: 4:00 PM This afternoon I finished cutting out and shaping the seat rails (for the ends) and cut the tenons on the seat rails and the spreaders. I’ll take care of the seat supports next week when I’m ready to install the long rails. Right now I’m working on building the end frames. At this point I would normally set up the drill press to cut mortises. But Marie is wanting to make some stump candles tomorrow, and will be needing the drill press as a drill press. And there isn’t enough time left this afternoon to do more than make the change-over and tune the set-up. So I’ll wait to do those things until Monday, then I can get after the mortises once the machine is set up. So I’m closing up a little early in order to pick through the cedar branch pile for stock suited to stump candles. It’s supposed to thunderstorm tonight and tomorrow morning… might as well keep the stuff we’ll be working with dry by taking it inside now. Later on, I’ll do the construction article and post these notes. Have a good weekend! Billable Man Hours: 4 1/2 Billable Materials: 5.5 BF White Oak 3.5 BF Red Oak To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Thursday, April 6

Eng Gdn Bench Day 08

Work day begins: 7:00 AM It’s quite chilly this morning, so I’ve gone out to build a fire and warm things up a bit. While I’m waiting, I’ll take care of some bills and banking that need doing. Lunch Time This morning I got all 12 of the laminated parts belt sanded to finished shape and then sanded again with a random orbit sander to take out the cross-grain scratches. Workshop closes: 5:30 PM I spent the afternoon laying out mortise locations and cutting the tricky tenons on the back side of the arms. There was also a small glitch in the design – an angle that wasn’t going to work out right where the back of the arms meet the back support. I had to redesign the pattern and modify the parts. Luckily I caught it before the tenons were cut on these parts. This evening I’ll work on several bids that are waiting to be done and posting these notes and the construction article. Billable Man Hours: 6.75 Billable Materials: none To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Tuesday, April 4

Eng Gdn Bench Day 07b

Work day begins: 6:30 AM Checking e-mail and getting the daily stuff started. It’s chilly this morning, may have to build a fire to knock the chill out of the shop. We also have some special activities today that will interrupt the normal flow of the day today. I’ll have to run into Newport for a short time this morning, then go back again this evening for a couple of longer meetings. That will mean a shorter than normal day in the workshop. Lunch Time Spent most of the morning on errands and odd jobs that popped up. Seems odd jobs breed odd jobs. Workshop closes:400 PMI got all the screw hole plugs trimmed off, and the twelve laminated parts band sawed to rough shape and surface planed to 2 ½” thick. Now it’s time to sponge out the truck cab (Zadie lost her breakfast in there this morning), get cleaned up, and head back into Newport. It will be a long evening, and tomorrow I’m in Treasures again as shopkeeper. Thursday I should be able to put in a regular day. Man Hours Billed: 2.5 Materials Billed: None. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Monday, April 3

Eng Gdn Bench Day 07

Work day begins: 5:30 AM The folks who bought our old Blazer showed up this morning to try to get it running. Didn’t work, but it took up the morning. Lunch Time Spent the morning keeping an eye on the fellows in the driveway messing with the Blazer and applying wood filler to the cracks in the long rails. Workshop closes: 6:00 PM Made up 120 tapered screw hole plugs from cut-off pieces saved so that the plugs would match each piece closely. Plugging the screw holes in the laminated parts used up 104 of them. This evening I’ll get things caught up on the blogs and work on the web site some more. Man Hours Billed: 2:30 Materials Billed: 104 3/8” screw hole plugs. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page

Thursday, March 30

Eng Gdn Bench Day 06

Work day begins: 6:30 AM It’s chilly this morning, but will warm up quickly, so there’s no point in building a fire. I’ll just take care of some office work during the early morning. Lunch Time I’ve got the blanks for the 6 long rails roughed out and surface planed to thickness. Workshop closes: 4:30 PM Spent the afternoon trimming the long rail blanks to finished size and cutting the tenons on each end. Man Hours Billed: 5 Materials Billed: 36 b.f of 8/4 white oak. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Eng Gdn Bench Day 05

NOTE: Blogger wouldn't let me in to post this last night, so it's a day late. Work day begins: 6:30 AM I’ve got someone coming to look at and possibly buy our old Blazer today, so I’m going out early to fetch some gasoline, charge the battery and make sure it starts up. Now we’re going to continue making back legs for these Garden Benches. Lunch Time I got one leg blank cut, drilled, glued together and clamped. Then had to go chasing after Zadie, who climbed over a fence and took off. Workshop closes: 3:30 PM This afternoon I got the last back leg blank built. Just in time too – I’m out of the special screws, and the waterproof glue that I’m using on these. Both are on order, just haven’t arrived yet. I’ve also been tinkering with the Blazer – it doesn’t want to start. No need to go into all that here. But that fellow didn’t show up either. This evening I’ll be working on the web site; sweeping out the dust bunnies and getting things set up to install the new shopping cart system. Man Hours Billed: 2 Materials Billed: 8 bf white oak, 22 #8x1.75” assembly screws. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Monday, March 27

Eng Gdn Bench Day 04

Work day begins: 5:30 AM I have some e-mail to handle, a bid to get started on and several days worth of project notes to get caught up on. I’ve been remiss in keeping up with this blog and the project article, so I have to get things caught up this morning while the workshop warms up. It looks like the rain and snow that has plagued us for the past week will not be a problem today: blue skies and a predicted high in the 50s. It’s chilly this morning though. Catching up a little, I’ve gotten the 4 arms glued up, cut to shape and sanded and 3 of the four front leg blanks glued up. I’ll glue the 4th this morning once the shops’ interior temperature gets above 50 degrees so the glue will work properly. Too cold and it will not set up hard enough. Then I’ll get started on the back legs. But now I need to get busy formatting photos and writing. Lunch Time The power went out for most of the morning, so I got precious little done. It was out long enough that even the battery back-ups on the computers wore out. I was *forced* to take the dogs for a walk on this beautiful day. Workshop closes: 5:15 PM I got the boards for all four rear legs surface planed, and one cut into billets for the rear legs. These are a little trickier than the other parts so far because in order to get all 3 pieces from the same board (thus attain better color matching) they have to overlap so I can’t just cross cut the board on the table saw. I lay them out on the board, then use a saber saw to cut between the parts to “chunk” up the board into manageable pieces. I got the first leg blank drilled, glued and clamped. Man Hours Billed: 4:15 Materials Billed: 16 bf white oak. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Eng Gdn Bench Day 04

Wednesday, March 15

Eng Gdn Bench Day 02

Work day begins: 7:00 AM This morning I’m arguing with the new wireless network I installed yesterday afternoon to replace the Ethernet cable network we had in place before. This will allow much more flexibility as we expand my domain, for the notebook computer can now be taken anywhere in the facility and have access to the main file server and the internet without having to run cables first. Yesterday the thing was working flawlessly. This morning none of the computers will admit to being part of a network. After considerable counseling, however, I’ve got them all talking to one another again, and it’s time to go out to the shop and get started. Today we’ll be making patterns for this bench. Lunch Time Making progress. Because I’m working from what’s called “A Set of Measured Drawings”, there are no full size patterns, only scale drawings on a gridwork to help lay out curves. It’s up to me to translate the little drawings into full scale patterns. I use thin plywood, usually scraps of BBP left over from past projects, to make my patterns. I draw each part on the plywood, then cut them out – very carefully – and sand them smooth. I usually apply one coat of lacquer to the pattern, then draw in the lay-out details like mortise locations, tenons, screw hole locations, etc with an ink pen and label each part with a felt tip marker. If I did this with ink on bare wood, the grain in the wood would suck the ink into it and cause “fuzzy” lines. Sealing the wood with lacquer prevents this spreading. When the ink has had time to dry thoroughly, I give each part a couple of spritz coats of lacquer. Because lacquer thinner will dissolve most inks, a heavy coat would cause the ink to spread and bleed into a splotchy mess. But a couple of spritz coats, with a few minutes between to dry will fix the ink in place and avoid the mess. It just takes practice to get it right. Workshop closes: PM Because this item will be added to our standard offerings, we hope to be using this pattern set again and again. Therefore we will not be billing this customer for the time and materials used in making the patterns. Man Hours Billed: 0 Materials Billed: None To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Tuesday, March 7

6 Dwr CD Chest Day 11

Work day begins: 6:15 AM Performing scheduled computer maintenance this morning, then back to web site maintenance before heading out to do the final inspection on Jon’s CD Chest and packaging it up for shipping. Lunch Time The chest is packaged and the label run, just waitin on the payment to schedule a pick-up. Back to web site maintenance. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Monday, March 6

6 Drwr CD Chest Day 10

Work day begins: 7:00 AM. The weekend turned out to be quite busy, and I didn’t get into the workshop at all – other than to pull and store the white oak we’ll need for the next project. So, we’ll be doing the staining on this chest today. If the weather is dry and warm(er) today, we may be able to shoot the lacquer this evening. Lunch Time. I spent most of the morning staining the chest. First I had to remove the drawer fronts from the drawer boxes because the boxes don’t get stained. Because it’s cooler and damper than what is ideal for staining (the weather dude is predicting snow showers for this evening) it took longer than normal for the stain to take hold. Where I would usually allow it to set for 5 minutes, took around 15 minutes before I could wipe the excess off and get the right color. But it’s done. I’ll have to check it occasionally to see that we don’t have little droplets bleeding back out of the grain, but otherwise the workshop is closed down until the stain cures and I can shoot the lacquer. This afternoon I have plenty of web site maintenance to keep me busy, so it won’t be wasted time. The stain is dry to the touch, so I’ll go ahead and shoot the lacquer this evening, that way it will be ready to package up in the morning. I can’t ship until I get confirmation that the e-check used to pay the balance has cleared the bank, but at least it will be ready to go as soon as that happens. Workshop closes: 6:30 PM. A quick clean-up of the gun and brushes and I’m outta here until the air is more breathable. Back to the web site maintenance. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Friday, March 3

6 Drwr CD Chest...Holding...

Work day begins: 4:00 AM I have a lot of Web site work to do this morning, so I’m getting an early start. The shop is all cleaned up and the tools put away. The drop cloths are in place to protect the equipment, and the finishing supplies are at hand. We’re ready to go as soon as the balance due is received. Why don’t I just go ahead and stain the chest? After all, we know Jon is still out there: he has been following along through the illustrated article and has told us how much he’s enjoying watching the process. Because it’s a rule. There is a policy that was written up by our legal beagle, approved and enacted by the head honcho, and posted to the web site for all to see that says we don’t stain an order until it’s paid for. And there is a reason for the rule: we’ve been taken in before. There is a 9 drawer CD End Table sitting in our gallery that was built for a gal who was in constant communication with us. She wanted it stained a rather unusual color, but because she was so gregarious, I didn’t think anything about it and went ahead to complete the project. But when it came time to settle up, it all fell apart. Now we have this piece that -- had it been finished natural or some color other people are fond of – would have been sold by now. But because it’s pink, it sits there. People comment on the lovely style and the quality of the workmanship, but it just sits there. Unfortunately there have been other times where I felt someone was trustworthy and it ended up costing us money. I’m just a soft-hearted sucker I guess. So, I’ve been admonished to follow the rules. They are there for a reason. Since I can’t be out in the shop making sawdust (because we’re in “Finishing Mode” and have to keep it clean) I’ll spend my time working on the web site and other assorted chores this morning. This is Friday. I like it when it works out that we’re ready to finish on a Friday. That way if payment comes through quickly, we can get the staining done Friday, let it set over the weekend to cure thoroughly, and shoot the lacquer Monday morning. Usually we can still package up the piece and have it ready to go out Monday afternoon. But if payment doesn’t come through right away (sometimes people are just too busy or need to transfer things around a little) the weekend gives them a couple of days to get their ducks in a row without costing us production time. When finishing day comes on, say… a Tuesday, then we can give up one day to waiting but if that doesn’t work out then we have to set that project aside and get started on the next. We’ll come back to the one to be finished when we get to a convenient stopping point to set up for finishing again. Eventually we will enlarge the workshop to about 3 times what it is now, and the expansion will include a “clean room” devoted exclusively to finishing. Then we can put a completed project in there, get started on the next right away and still be able to do the finishing whenever the conditions are met. Well, I’d better stop yammering and get to work. Since no work was done on the chest today, this will not count as a “Day” on the roster. I did get word from the money folks that the payment I’ve been looking for has been initiated, but has not cleared the bank yet. But if I get any time this weekend I believe I’ll go ahead and get the staining done anyway. We have a pretty heavy schedule already, but I’ll see if I can’t eek out a few hours. Time to wrap it up for tonight… I’m tired. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Thursday, March 2

6 Dwr. CD Chest Day 09

Work day begins: 7:00 AM We won’t be needing to fire up the heat stove this morning, it’s already 62 degrees outside, and another beautiful day is in the making. Yesterday I spent the day at our gallery, Treasures Of Appalachia, in Cosby where several of us got the place cleaned up, and opened for the 2006 season. This morning it’s back to woodworking as usual, and we’ll be completing the drawer installation. Lunch Time This morning we got the drawer boxes routed, sanded and installed. Everything fits quite well, nothing but minor adjustments were needed. Workshop closes: 5:30 PM This afternoon we got the drawer fronts made, routed and sanded, installed the knobs and mounted the fronts to the drawers. That pretty well completes construction. That means it’s time to ask for money – which is what we do when we’re ready to begin the finishing stage, especially in a piece that‘s to be stained. We’re coming down the home stretch now. This evening I will be writing up the daily article episode and posting that and the pictures, then doing some work on our new web site. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, .which is available from my profile page.

Tuesday, February 28

6 Drawer CD Chest Day 08

Work day begins: 6:15 AM Marie has some early appointments this morning, so we’re getting at it early today. A bunch more spam e-mail this morning. so I spent a little while tweaking our mail filtering rules to help take it away before I have to waste time on it. Lunch Time This morning we got the parts for the 6 drawer boxes made. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually a fair bit since we started with a rough sawn 5/4 poplar plank. Workshop closes: 5:15 PM All 6 drawer boxes are completed and await finish sanding and installation. This evening I have to take care of month-end books, invoicing web clients, and some web site maintenance chores that came in during the day today. Tomorrow is March 1st, and we will be re-opening our Gallery, Treasures of Appalachia, for this years season. I will, therefore be out all day. The girls will be here o keep an eye on things, but they don’t get much accomplished when I’m not here to direct them.  To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click this entry’s title. (Blogger seems to have disabled embedded external links) If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, which is available from my profile page.

Monday, February 27

CD_Chest_6 Day 07

Work day begins: 7:15 AM I found another bid request this morning, but this on is a simple request: a TV Tray Table, so I was able to whip that out with no trouble while the workshop was warming up. Lunch Time This morning I’ve gotten the base shoe molding shaped, mitered and installed, and got the top plate trimmed to size, routed and sanded. I had to take a little time before leaving for lunch to fix the propane furnace that keeps the shop from freezing up overnight. I found it shut down when I went in this morning, although there was still propane in the tank. So I took it apart, blew the dust out and checked it over. The problem turned out to be a thermocouple line. It’s working again. Fortunately it didn’t get cold enough this weekend to ruin the finishes and glues. That would have been bad. Workshop closes: 4:00 PM This afternoon I made and attached the mounting blocks that hold the case top to the case, then mounted the top plate and sanded it for finishing. The case is now complete. Tomorrow we start on drawers. This evening after I work up the pictorial article for today’s work, I have some web site stuff to do and some computer-network maintenance to perform. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click the title above. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog, which is available from my Profile page.

Friday, February 24

CD_Chest_6 Day 06

Work day begins: 7:00 AM Got another inquiry about a Deluxe Sewing Cabinet this morning, so I’m taking time to answer his questions while the shop warms up. Lunch Time I spent the morning disassembling and reassembling (with glue) the three main panel components we built yesterday. Workshop closes: 5:30 PM This afternoon I finished the casework joinery, cut the mortises for the T tracks, and assembled the case to test fit, then did it again with glue and clamps. There shouldn’t be any problems with the glue not wanting to set up due to cold… it’s been 85 degrees out there most of the afternoon. That was partly due to the bright sunshine and mid 60 degree weather, partly because I didn’t want the fire to die down too much while I left for lunch, so I tossed a couple scoops of coal into the stove. Whooee does that stuff put out the heat! And when the roof is hot from the sunshine, the heat doesn’t just sneak through the roof like it does when it’s cold. I probably could have let the fire die out, but at the time it was still pretty chilly in there. Dan, the fellow who was interested in a sewing cabinet, placed his order this morning so I need to process that this evening -- a very pleasant chore -- as well as working up the photo article and running the weekly reports so Marie will know which bills she can pay this weekend. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here. If you enjoy this Daily Shop Notes blog, you will also want to look at our Doug Bob blog.

Thursday, February 23

CD_Chest_6 Day 05

Work day begins: 7:00 AM The wood stove is going, and there’s not much in the e-mail this morning. Chris, a programmer I’ve hired to help with the upgrade to our web site, is making good progress with the conversion. I’ll be entering all our information into the database soon. Lunch Time I got all the panel grooves cut into the rails and stiles, and have cut the mortises in the stiles for the left hand side panel framing. Workshop closes: 5:00 PM This afternoon I got the mortises cut on the other side panel, and the back panel. Then trimmed and sanded the panels and test fitted them into the completed frames. Looking good! Now it’s time to format the pictures, write the text and build the daily page for the pictorial article on this project. Then I’ll take care of any bookkeeping and e-mails that need attending to, and call it a day. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here.

Wednesday, February 22

CD_CHEST_6 Day 04

Work day begins: 7:00 AM I’ve got a fire started to chase the cold out of the workshop, but while I’m waiting for it to warm up I’m chasing a worm. It was detected by my weekly virus scan. Apparently our Norton Internet Security software failed to detect or block it’s entrance into our system, but my weekly scan with Avast! turned it up. Slippery bugger, but I finally managed to manually delete it and I just got a clean scan with Avast!. I don’t think I’ll be renewing my Norton subscription. Time to go make sawdust. Workshop closes:4:00 PM Today I got all the pieces glued together to make up blanks for 4 side panels, 2 back panels the case top and the blank for the 6 drawer fronts. I also got the grid work for the front made and glued together. I had a little time left over, so I did a little cleaning up To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here.

Friday, February 17

CD Chest – 6 Day 03

Work day begins: 7:05 AM I’ve got a fire going. It’s raining but warm this morning, so staying warm won’t be such a challenge today. This morning we will begin construction of Jon’s CD Chest. Lunch Time I’ve got most of the casework parts roughed out. I also got Wayne’s stopper rack boxed up and ready to ship. Since it’s going USPS, I’ll have to run that into town tomorrow instead up putting it on this afternoon’s UPS truck. Workshop closes: 4:15 PM This afternoon I got all the case framing parts cut to finished size, re-sawed and planed the pieces to make the side and back panels. Then I did a little cleaning up and putting away. This evening I need to get my notes in order and put together a shopping list so I can buy what’s needed when I go into town tomorrow to mail Wayne’s stopper rack, and I have some bookkeeping to do, then I need to get the progress article caught up so I can post these shop notes. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here.

Thursday, February 16

Stopper racks complete

Work day begins: 7:05 AM I’ve got a fire going. It’s warmer this morning, so staying warm won’t be such a challenge today. Nothing much in the e-mail, so I’ll occupy myself with some bookkeeping and Admin chores while the shop warms up. Lunch Time I discovered a problem with the custom stopper rack and have to re-make it. At this point I have the body cut out and glued together and the shelves milled and sanded. I’ll install the shelves after lunch. Workshop closes: 4:00 PM Wayne’s stopper rack is done and ready to ship. I’ve got a little bookkeeping to do and I’ll call it a day.

Wednesday, February 15

CD_Chest_6 Day 02

Work day begins: 7:15 AM This morning I have some bookkeeping to do and will finish up the re-design of our 6 Drawer CD Chest to suit Jon’s requirements. I completed re-doing the drawings last time, no I just have to take off the parts list . It will be warmer later on and through the afternoon, so I’ll get to work in the shop a little later on. Chelsea will probably be around, but I don’t expect to see Dolly; she’s been pretty unreliable lately. Lunch Time I’ve pretty well got the CD chest design worked out, and have another set of shelves glued onto a bottle stopper rack body. Workshop closes: 5:00 PM The 3rd stopper rack is assembled, all three have been drilled for pins and Jon’s rack has been pinned and sanded. Time to send him a note. I also went over the CD cabinet design one more time and feel it’s ready to start production. But that will wait for tomorrow. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here.

Valentines Day

Yesterday, Feb 14th, was not only Valentines Day, but Marie's birthday as well. Yes, it's true, she was born on Valentines Day! And rightly so, for she is a true sweetheart. So it was my turn to whisk her away for a day of fun and celebration. Therefore the shop was closed.

Monday, February 13

Stopper Racks continue

Work day begins: 7:00 AM It’s cold this morning: mid 20s, and we got quite a bit of snow over the weekend. The snow may work out to be an advantage as it tends to insulate the workshop roof and help hold in the heat. At least until the heat from inside melts the bottom of the snow and it slides off. The work order for the day includes working some more on the bottle stopper racks that we started last week and re-drawing the design for our 6 drawer CD chest to accommodate Jon’s requirement for drawer size. Once I know what size the parts will need to be I can start picking lumber from the standing stack in the shop and cutting billets. Workshop closes: 4:15 PM So far I’ve gotten all three stopper rack bodies glued up, pegged and sanded, milled the 3 self sets and back straps, and glued one shelf set glued and clamped to it’s rack body. Now it’s time to re-work the design on Jon’s CD Chest.

Thursday, February 9

YESTERDAY (2006-02-08)

Yesterday was my 50th birthday and Marie decided that we should close the workshop and celebrate my having been around for a half century. She’s the boss! We had beautiful weather and enjoyed a road trip to Sevier County where we had lunch at the NASCAR Café – always a unique experience and took in the Ripley’s Aquarium. Because of our involvement with the Cocke County Tourism Council, the Tourism Director got us a pair of free passes. We were particularly fortunate in that Sevier County – normally bustling with tourists – was practically deserted. Traffic was very light, and the attractions we visited were so empty it was (almost) like having a private tour. The aquarium is something to see! We picked up a couple new DVD movies, and watched one at home that evening. After we got home, it started snowing, and we got our first real snowfall overnight. It’s just beautiful this morning.

Tuesday, February 7

Cabinet_Doors Day 01

Work day begins: 4:15 AM We had a dog party earlier this morning and I haven’t been able to get back to sleep, so rather than laying there staring at the ceiling I’m up and getting some things done. In a couple of hours I’ll go out and start a fire to warm the workshop. I pulled lumber for this project – and Jon’s CD chest -- last week; some very pretty red oak. My task is to make 3 doors to go on a kitchen island. Tommy will do the finishing, I’m just building them. I’m waiting for some info from Tommy right now, so I decide to start on Wayne’s stopper rack while I’m waiting. These are both small projects that I can get out quickly before getting started on Jon's CD Chest. Besides; I have to rework the design to accomodate his drawer sizes. Lunch Time The morning session was spent milling the stile & rail stock to size and making sure it’s good and square. Workshop closes: 4:30 PM This afternoon I routed the inside profiles on the rails & stiles – this includes the fancy joints at the corners, milled out the billets for the raised panels, jointed them and glued & clamped them. They will set overnight to let the glue harden well before I start working them. This evening I’m working on the SMW web site and handling some correspondence. Now that this is all done, I’ll post these notes.

Yesterday -- Intermission – Work day begins: 7:00 AM Being that I’m between projects, I’ll take care of the loose ends that have been piling up before diving into the next one. That means a trip into town this morning, doing some bookkeeping, and a few phone calls. I’ll try to arrange delivery of Iliff’s chair – I need to get that out of the shop so I can get started on the next project… and getting paid would be nice too! Lunch Time I’m nibbling on some left-over pizza as I keep after the Treasures tax paperwork. I had to stop for a bit and fix my scanner/copier. Got the chores done in town. Managed to get hold of Iliff and make arrangements for payment and delivery. Tommy will be showing up soon for some help working on a special project. I have to get this tax stuff finished before then. Workshop closes: 3:00 PM Tommy’s project took only a half hour to complete, and I’ve got the chair loaded in the truck. I’m heading out to catch Iliff at his office in Newport before he leaves for the day. I connected with Iliff and got the check. Marie won't be done with her stuff for a while yet, so I am sitting in the Community Center hot-spot with our notebook computer uploading new pictures to our web sites. It’s going well… 5 times faster than I could do it over my BellSloth dial-up connection at home (on a really good day, 50 times faster than on a bad day at home.) When I finish here I’ll go pick up Marie and we’ll head for Parrottsville to deliver Iliff’s chair to his Ranch House. It will be late by the time we’re done, so we’ll stop for dinner on our way back. A few more details to finish before bed. Our I-net connection is bad tonight, can't post the notes. Will try again in the morning.

Friday, February 3

Day 08 of Mission Rocking Chair Work day begins: 7:00 AM We won’t need a lot of heat this morning, it’s 53 degrees outside this morning – but the weather report is for a possibility of show showers, so I want to get this done early. The first coat of lacquer is on and I’m waiting for it to dry so I can scuff sand it. I sent the girls away this morning because lacquer fumes are deadly and they refuse to wear respirators. I have scuffed and re-coated the chair. Time to Abandon Shop and give the lacquer a chance to harden up good before we handle it. So it’s time to break for lunch.

Workshop closes: 3:45 PM I spent part of the afternoon pulling red oak, poplar and walnut off the lumber piles for the next few projects. After closing up the shop I’ll go on with updates needed by several web site clients. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here.

Thursday, February 2

Mission Rocker Day 07 Work day begins: 7:15 AM I’ve got a fire going to heat the shop and have checked e-mail: mostly junk this morning. Today we’re going to assemble the parts we’ve spent the last six work days making. If no problems rear their ugly head, we should easily accomplish this today, and have time to clean up, put up and vacuum the workshop so we can spray lacquer tomorrow. Lunch Time I’ve got the majority of the assembly done, but now must pause to allow the glue to set up sufficiently to hold when I proceed to the next step. So this is a good time to break for lunch.

Workshop closes: 4:45 PM Everything is assembled and the finish sanding is done. We’re ready to spray lacquer tomorrow. Well, almost, I still have to vacuum the shop and tack-off the chair. No point in doing those tonight as there is a lot of dust in the air that will settle out overnight. We’ll do that first thing tomorrow – while the shop is warming up to a workable temperature for lacquer. I did get all the tools put away before closing up, so it’s just the wood dust we’ll be dealing with in the morning. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here.

Wednesday, February 1

Work day begins: 7:10 AM We’ve got the start of a beautiful day. Quite cool this morning but headed for a high in the mid 50s. A fire is going in the workshop heat stove, and I’ve checked e-mail. Today will be spent sanding. That’s pretty much it; just sanding. All of the parts we’ve made need to be sanded with 100 grit paper, then sanded again with 150 grit. It’s important to get most of our sanding done now because of all the tight spaces that will make it difficult to do after assembly. It’s also easier to knock the sharp edges off now. So that’s the mission for today. ‘Taint glamorous, but it’s got to be done and done well if are to get a good finish. Workshop closes: 4:45 PM Sanding is complete. To view the detailed construction article on this piece, click here.