woodworking

I sense a perverse serenity throughout the area these days. It's as if the sheeple are just going through the motions, waiting for the next hit. Even my liberal friends are starting to realize that Obama might just be another politician, and not the messiah.

I continue to get ready for whatever may come my way. I cannot see a way for the economy to get out of the mess that it is in. I feel that wall street is just a pile of get-rich-quick schemes devised to fleece average Americans from their money. So, I'm off to HR to reduce my 403b to the minimum after I post this. It will give me an extra $40 a week, which I will invest into silver - when I can find it.

There are a few things I need to do. I need to finish the in-law and rent it. I need to get rolling on my resume and get out of this god-forsaken shithole of a job. I need to get wheat and store it along with a grain mill. So much to do with limited money and time.

As for time I have been helping "Al" with the design of his saltwater fish tank. I'm an OK woodworker, and the tools I have will work for the plexiglas he needs to cut for his tank. I would post a picture, but I cannot get google sketchup to download - it's blocked by the security team. :/

I have a renewed interest in my woodworking hobby. Working on the inlaw apartment always gets me going. I have a lot to do woodworking-wise as I bought a lot of lumber when it was cheap, and now I need to make some projects out of it.

The first project will be a short hall table to go under my projector screen to hold magazines and the center speaker for the surround sound system. Reading magazines, not the ones that have ammo in them! The next project will be a workbench. A real one, with a tail vise and face vise. It's going to be about 84" x 32" and at least 2" thick - all rock maple. The legs will be ash, and I'm going to go with a patternmaker's vise for the face vise and the Lee-Valley twin screw vise for the end vise. I can't wait. Finally, I need a coffee table. So I'll make a nice one with a top that lifts up so I can use it as a TV tray to eat dinner while on the couch watching my Red Sox.

I will have to post pictures of what I have already made and what I am working on, since somewhere there is a Midas Mulligan who I might need to get the attention of. (hint hint)

I originally started with blacksmithing. I loved it, but I didn't have the time to do it right. I still have my two anvils, forge, etc. but not the time to learn how to do it right. Woodworking I got into shortly after I gave up on the smithing. I have always loved fine furniture, not the fancy gaudy shit, but the shaker style.

Shaker furniture is plain, almost drab until you notice the clean symmetry, the exquisite craftsmanship, and the functional design. The first piece of furniture I made was my nightstand. It's crooked as all hell but I cut the mortise and tenons myself. I fitted the drawer. It's hard maple finished with nothing but shellac, but it is now a rich, warm flesh color. When the sunlight hits it right it looks like it will start to breathe.

Being cheap er, frugal, the last piece I made was made of poplar. Poplar gets a bum rap in my opinion. It's a cheap wood because it is prone to streaks and stains of brown and green through the light yellow to creamy wood. It also lacks any distinct grain pattern. But with the right touch, you can stain it to mimic cherry or walnut.

I needed a stand for all my AV components. Normally these are in a TV stand of some kind, but I use a projector mounted to the ceiling so nothing store-bought would work. I made a stand about 36" tall with an oversized top with a shaker undercut to make the top look thinner. I should have made the legs thinner, I think they are about 1/2" too thick. The shelves are adjustable with movable shelf supports and are made from plywood with poplar banding around the edge.

The project was stained with a walnut stain - minwax, I believe. I then gave it three coats of a water-based polyurathane, sanding between each. the last coat was rubbed down with steel wool. The final coat was with Renissance Wax, which makes the wood feel silky to the touch, and adds a little additional protection. I should hit it with another coat of wax. I will see about taking a picture and posting it when I get home.

I picked up woodworking because I always knew I would need to work the rest of my life. I was too late into saving for retirement, and I knew I would go nuts if I didn't have a job. So I figured I could become a furnituremaker and make one of a kind, high end furniture for the rich once I retired from the "real" job. Lately the "real" job has been preventing me from enjoying my hobby, but hopefully soon that will end.

I just got to figure out how to get my tablesaw to fit into my bugout bag!