Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover

[nhowkins]

Good Morning Gregor,

I realize you're crazy busy with Velomacchi so I'm not looking for a long response, but I do have a quick question.

Do you use any specific tools for calculating plywood cuts? And how do you appropriately use plywood to minimize usage while keeping uniform grain direction?

Thanks,

Noah

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

There are calculation programs available on the net. Just google: 'cutlist'.

Perhaps its not the best and perhaps there are better programs available, but it worked for me.

 

[sakurama]

Good Morning Gregor,

I realize you're crazy busy with Velomacchi so I'm not looking for a long response, but I do have a quick question.

Do you use any specific tools for calculating plywood cuts? And how do you appropriately use plywood to minimize usage while keeping uniform grain direction?

Thanks,

Noah

This is probably one of the things that separates me from a professional cabinet maker because I don't have a method really. For the expensive stuff like walnut I draw it out in my notebook and just work it out visually. For interior drawers and stuff, where I'm using Baltic Birch I tend to be a bit more liberal as that wood to me seems more like metal whereas the scrap all has value so I enjoy having it around and keep extra stored in the space between the garage and house.

Thanks Sean! The response so far has been pretty amazing. Once reviews come in I'll post some links but we've gotten an outsized amount of attention from across the board.

Gregor

 

[tacostand]

Do you use any specific tools for calculating plywood cuts? And how do you appropriately use plywood to minimize usage while keeping uniform grain direction?

Thanks,

Noah

Hi Noah,

One thing to keep in mind is that plywood is stronger in the long axis (8') than the short axis (4').

To review, plywood is composed of several layers glued perpendicular to each other.
The outside ply runs the long axis of the sheet on both faces. You have your choice as to which side you like best as the 'finish' side.
In order to accomplish this, each sheet is composed of an odd number of plys.
Since each sheet has an odd number of plys and since both faces have the grain running on the long axis, there are more plys running in the direction of the long axis than the short axis on each sheet.
This makes each sheet stronger on the long axis.

If you need 48" shelves, for example, you could cut (8) pieces at 12"x48" (minus the thickness of your saw blade or 'kerf').
You could use either the long axis or short axis as your starting point.

However, they will be stronger if you cut the 48" out of the 96" length of a sheet than if you cut them out of the 48" width of the sheet.

With all that in mind, if you orient your cuts based on the long axis of the sheet, some of the work of the cut list will begin to take care of itself.
When you are building something that requires several sheets, you can use graph paper or a program like sketchup to lay things out and compare to help you figure which cuts to take from which sheets.

Hope this helps.

Dave

 

[nhowkins]

Gregor, Tacostand, and Turbo,

Thanks for the responses. It seems like I'll just have to figure out what's going to work best for strength and making grain match up.

Noah

 

[sakurama]

Since each sheet has an odd number of plys and since both faces have the grain running on the long axis, there are more plys running in the direction of the long axis than the short axis on each sheet.
This makes each sheet stronger on the long axis.

You learn something every day - even my own thread.

Thanks, that's very cool and good to know.

Gregor

 

[tjpavlov]

Cabinetry question-- I remember you saying that you were committed to building faceframeless, euro-style cabinets. They all came out great. Can you share any resources that you found to make this style of cabinets? Everything that I read online seem to be about the more common faceframe style.

How do these get their strength? A thicker back, perhaps?

How have yours held up for you? Any problems with shelves sagging for the wider cabinets?

Thanks so much!

 

[sakurama]

Cabinetry question-- I remember you saying that you were committed to building faceframeless, euro-style cabinets. They all came out great. Can you share any resources that you found to make this style of cabinets? Everything that I read online seem to be about the more common faceframe style.

How do these get their strength? A thicker back, perhaps?

How have yours held up for you? Any problems with shelves sagging for the wider cabinets?

Thanks so much!

Surprisingly well. In fact a few of my garage cabinets which were made with simple shop grade birch could use a small amount of tweeting to realign the doors but they're off my maybe 2-3mm and only a couple at that. I sometimes feel I'm tempting fate with all the weight that's in them - maybe 80-100lbs in the loaded ones and when you consider that I have 6 doubles on a single cleat it just blows my mind they're still hanging tough. French cleats rule!

I will say that years ago I built a wall and closet in a studio of mine and used metal studs and promptly loaded it up with some strong shelving and the shelves pulled the anchors (dry wall anchors in sheer) and the wall from the ceiling. There were probably lots of reasons and mistakes but I've never used metal studs again and won't.

In the kitchen I did notice on of the two wide cabinet shelve sagging about 1/4" over 32" of so. Not bad but it was also holding all the plates with heavy ones in the middle so once I "redistributed" some heavier plates to the sides it was fine but I think I'm at the limit of possible width.

The drawers I'm most thrilled with. Partly because they're attractive with the Baltic birch, partly because the dividers I made are great and help so much and partly because the things are so strong. Same with the drawer pulls - they've withstood being used as a ladder by the kids and have no deflection.

One of the best resources and one I leaned on heavily due to being invested in Festool was their forum which is great. Here's a few I liked:

http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-projects/euro-cabinets-101-2-a-beginner's-guide/

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/festool-lr32-how-to/

http://davelers.com/32mm/Basics/168.html

I didn't find the link but a guy who goes by erock on the Festool forum has a bunch of great videos. He's not a carpenter by trade so he does a good job of explaining it all simply.

Hope that helps,

Gregor

 

[lilscorpion]

erock has changed his YouTube channel name to "The Poplar Shop". All of his videos are good material however the ones you'll want to look for is a 21 part series called "Building Kitchen Cabinets" where he walks you through the entire process all the way through install. IIRC, the series covers building cabinets with face frames but it will give you plenty of great ideas to consider before you dive in.

I think the best series he has for building face-frameless euro cabinets is the one titled "Festool LR32 System" where he builds a base cabinet through to completion. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGbeXl4WLOiKsIsmh_td7XAUg11NOfhuk.

 

[baseten]

Thank you for sharing your work with us. I've added so much to my idea file for remodeling my late 70's contemporary after reading through all 85 pages.

The cabinet building resources you compiled have convinced me to add a domino to my shop and build my own cabinets using that joinery method.

One quick question! - what kind of range is in your kitchen? I really like the layout of it and couldn't find where you shared any specifics on it.

 

[bdking]

One quick question! - what kind of range is in your kitchen? I really like the layout of it and couldn't find where you shared any specifics on it.

That is a Viking D3 30" Dual Fuel Range (model RDSCD2305BSS)

 

[sakurama]

Ben nailed it - it was his suggestion as well. Love it.

Ben, props on the most understated sig line in history.

G

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

The Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover aka "The Ask Gregor Thread"

Since we're talking kitchen here and your wife is a chef, I've a question for you:
"We have no gas in our kitchen and are considering to leave it. So we'll need to resort to electric (ceramic/induction) cooking. There have been quite some developments over the last years. Since I don't know much about cooking (I like good food and am not completely incapable but it's nothing special) and electric seems all the same to me. What would your wife advise us?

I'll be rebuilding our kitchen in about a year or so. I'm reading up to be able to make some good decisions. However our current ceramic plate is dying so it needs to be replaced and I'd rather spend money on this only once.

Thanks!

 

[nhowkins]

Thank you for sharing your work with us. I've added so much to my idea file for remodeling my late 70's contemporary after reading through all 85 pages.

The cabinet building resources you compiled have convinced me to add a domino to my shop and build my own cabinets using that joinery method.

One quick question! - what kind of range is in your kitchen? I really like the layout of it and couldn't find where you shared any specifics on it.

That is a Viking D3 30" Dual Fuel Range (model RDSCD2305BSS)

Ben nailed it - it was his suggestion as well. Love it.

Ben, props on the most understated sig line in history.

G

Hey guys,

Just checked on Viking's website and that stove seems to be discontinued although I'm sure they have a newer version available now.

Gregor, I agree that Ben's signature is a bit understated. I like it tho. Nice and clean.

Ben, I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your signature idea. I think it works well for me.

 

[bdking]

"We have no gas in our kitchen and are considering to leave it. So we'll need to resort to electric (ceramic/induction) cooking. There have been quite some developments over the last years.

Residential clients I work with almost always go with gas ranges or cooktops, but they are definitely coming into the process with a strong pro-gas prejudice. I have had a couple of clients who strongly preferred electric induction ranges from the beginning. I don't know if it's coincidence that both were men, engineers, and had strong research-based approaches to all of their decisions. Obviously you have to have the right cookware to go with induction, check out the inter-webs & do your research. Last I heard those guys are still happy with their kitchens.

I don't have any experience with non-induction electric range tech (other than the old-skool exposed toaster element coils of cheap electric resistance ranges. Yikes!)

Ben, I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your signature idea. I think it works well for me.

Looks good

 

[dhubbard422]

Re: The Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover aka "The Ask Gregor Thread"

Since we're talking kitchen here and your wife is a chef, I've a question for you:
"We have no gas in our kitchen and are considering to leave it. So we'll need to resort to electric (ceramic/induction) cooking. There have been quite some developments over the last years. Since I don't know much about cooking (I like good food and am not completely incapable but it's nothing special) and electric seems all the same to me. What would your wife advise us?

I'll be rebuilding our kitchen in about a year or so. I'm reading up to be able to make some good decisions. However our current ceramic plate is dying so it needs to be replaced and I'd rather spend money on this only once.

Thanks!

We're not chefs... but, we have a preference for gas stove tops too. So, when we purchased our new-to-us house which was all electric, we simply added an oven with dual fuel options (gas stove top, electric oven), ran a gas line into the house and fed the gas stove top via a medium sized propane bottle (a 40 pounder here in the US). I have been amazed by how long a single bottle lasts - roughly 3 months. We have two bottles with a T-valve and it's really been easy to deal with. Anyway, there may be options for you, even in an all electric house...

 

[Fast914]

Hey Gregor, I like many of us have watched from the day you started on the journey with the house and if memory serves me correctly, it was a pic of the original BMW that got me going...to all who would love that Backpack...remember, Father's Day is coming...LOL! I have already told my wife and kids what I want!!!

The tool roll though is very cool and that is something I really need...did you mention that they are available now or coming soon.

Congratulations on your new venture,

Grant

 

[onemanarmy]

Read through this entire build.
Read through the trip thread on ADVRider
Read through the bike build

Thanks for sharing it all in such detail, words and pictures.

I, along with many others, have learned quite a bit.

Looking forward to many more updates.

 

[elvee]

If I can chime in on the cooktop discussion. I'm a big fan of gas, but more of the pro chefs I know are going with induction. Heat up is as fast or faster than gas, there is less risk getting burned (big plus if you have kids), and typically easier infrastructure. There is a need for cookware that meets the needs of the system, but there is a pretty wide range of usable types. You probably won't have to throw out every pan you own.

 

[plumfat40]

awesome

 

[sakurama]

Okay, I'm back from the abyss. For a week at least!

To warm up I thought I'd share a failure - one of those moments when you've searched for something for so long and finally find an amazing deal and then your brain shuts off. This is me looking for a Burr King.

Since building the Revit bike I have been amazed at the capability of the Burr King three wheel belt grinder - it's not fair to call it a sander as it's far more burly. So I keep an eye on them on eBay where they always go for around 1700-2200 and I have an alert on CraigsList that's never gone off. They are the sort of tool no one sells because they're so damn good.

So a while back my alert goes off for one that's below half the going rate. I call immediately and promise to come pick it up. The guy who's selling it is super nice and between that and my desire to find one for a deal my brain shuts off. It looks all there and when he turns it on I don't even notice there's no belt. He says it needs to be "cleaned up" - the euphamism that should set off all the alarms.

No. Not me, I take it.

It looks all there but it's not. It's missing the tool rests and it's frankly pretty well used up. I was very tempted to take it back after thoroughly going over it. It seemed like everything was worn out, broken or missing. Still I thought it might be able to be rescued.

Surprisingly it worked but it tracked like hell. This pulley sort of explained that.

Yikes. To get this to run smooth it would need to be turned down and crowned. In order for it to turn true it needed to be held by the inner race lands and for that your best bet is an expanding collet that you can machine to the size you need.

Since you're machining the collet on your lathe it will be absolutely concentric.

It was true to a few tenths - which machinists refer to when they are talking about ten thousandths or in this case .0002". This is one of those cases where it's taken me a long time to appreciate english measurement but in this case inches is more granular than metric which only goes to two decimal places for things this small..

I cut a 1 degree bevel on both sides of the flattened wheel. I wasn't sure if it needed it but it's pretty typical for anything that runs a flat belt to have a crown. The crown creates a hill the belt wants to climb and so it keeps it in the middle of the wheel.

The rear wheel wasn't tracking well either as the arm was worn. I made a bronze bushing and sleeved it to size.

And I also cut that wheel down.

Since this machine is older I don't know if it was supposed to have three rubber wheels or not - pictures I find show different combinations.

Then for fun I decided to make a new belt guard to practice my aluminum tig welding. Something I'm still working on.

Lastly was the missing knob for the tracking which I copied from one that was there.

I didn't go down the rabbit hole of stripping it and repainting mostly because I was worried that I'd end up with a very pretty piece of **** that would be a reminder to my haste. As it turned out it works very well now. This is the 1" model - the 562 - and while I really wanted the 2" model I have to say I'm impressed with how well this one works. Grinding the welds on the belt cover was very easy and the belt tracks great.

So that's one small thing that I've done but this is spring in Portland and we are having a glorious week of weather after a very wet winter but I'm back to the house to try to finish the kitchen and get some trim finished.

Ever since Ben told me about a mutual friend who built his own kitchen cabinets but has been without drawer faces for over seven years I've been terrified that would be me. It's been two years so I am making concessions to perfection and I'm just getting it done.

Must. Finish. Kitchen.

Stay tuned for more this week.

Gregor

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

Okay, I'm back from the abyss. For a week at least!

Who are you again?

I'm glad you didn't forget about us. Nice opening about that Burr King I guess that happens to all of us once in a while. But what is the fuzz about those grinders. 2000 is a lot of money! What makes them so good to justify that kind of money?

 

[koosh]

I dont want to sound like such a fan boy towards you but i have read this whole thread a couple times now (was originally brought here by build-threads), and i am in complete awe of your work! i get really excited by seeing the transformation of homes and garages from old to new, and average to amazing and this does not dissapoint!
i thought i had a reasonable amount of skill but looking at this thread i realise how much i have to learn! thankfully i have a few years in me and more houses to move to, to hone my skills!
i look forward to more updates and hopefully they are more frequent now the winter seems to be behind us for another year!

 

[Choirboy]

Like koosh, I also don't want to sound like a fan boy but... oh hell, I'm a fanboy. Great job as usual! I look forward to seeing kitchen updates

 

[Huxley]

MMMMMM. Machining. Nice.

You reminded me that I need a belt guard for a Kalamazoo KM-10. It appears to be of similar ilk ("Made In USA", steel behemoth) as the Burr King - maybe they are cousins. Congrats on finding it & you still ****. For me, completing the refurbishment process rivals the joy of deal finding.

 

[sakurama]

But what is the fuzz about those grinders. 2000 is a lot of money! What makes them so good to justify that kind of money?

I didn't get it until I used one. I think it comes down to two things: power and tracking. They never bog down no matter how hard you push material into them. They also never throw the belt. I can push almost sideways and the belt will pivot around the part and keep grinding. That flexibility really makes the thing versatile so it ends up being the tool you go to for sharpening (against the wheel), grinding off the rest or deburring on the open belt. The wheels are sprung so they absorb pressure. Try to get a chance to use one and then see what you think.

I thought i had a reasonable amount of skill but looking at this thread i realise how much i have to learn! thankfully i have a few years in me and more houses to move to, to hone my skills!
i look forward to more updates and hopefully they are more frequent now the winter seems to be behind us for another year!

Thanks! Yes, I'm really trying to make time to get stuff done so I'm hopeful to have more progress to post up.

Like koosh, I also don't want to sound like a fan boy but... oh hell, I'm a fanboy. Great job as usual! I look forward to seeing kitchen updates

Thanks, I'm looking forward to it more than you - trust me!

Congrats on finding it & you still ****. For me, completing the refurbishment process rivals the joy of deal finding.

It's funny but before kids when I had time restoring an old machine was a small project that I got great satisfaction from. Now I feel like I don't have the luxury of time.

One of the things that I've struggled with is the fact that just one or two extra machines in the shop combined with the motorcycles and suddenly I can barely move around. It's not fun. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the garage and the conclusion I'm coming to is that I'm going to have to give up my original ideas about the layout and that I need to get the motorcycles out to make room to do the work that is the whole point.

So, in the coming weeks I'm going to be trying to find solutions both temporary and more permanent. It's the same for the whole house. I'm realizing (so slowly) that my grander vision for the house is something that can't, without both lots of time and money, be obtained. I can either scale back my plans or my expectations and so I'm scaling my expectations. That means accepting the deck is going to stay for longer than I want so I've cleaned it, repaired it and accepted it. I'm slowly realizing that I have a very long term project on my hands - not the 1-2 year project I planned.

But, there's still progress going on and while the sun is out I need to get my *** back in gear.

Gregor

 

[rvieceli]

Small bites, Gregor. that's the key.

Keep up the good work.

There was a time many years ago when I thought I was making progress with my own issues about perfection. I had acknowledged that I wasn't going to be able to get stuff perfect every time. But I hadn't gotten to getting it "good enough", I had decided that I could get it close enough to perfect that nobody would be able to tell the difference and that was still as immobilizing as perfection.

It's still a struggle.

 

[sakurama]

Small bites, Gregor. that's the key.

Keep up the good work.

There was a time many years ago when I thought I was making progress with my own issues about perfection. I had acknowledged that I wasn't going to be able to get stuff perfect every time. But I hadn't gotten to getting it "good enough", I had decided that I could get it close enough to perfect that nobody would be able to tell the difference and that was still as immobilizing as perfection.

It's still a struggle.

We need a support group...

 

[lonestarky]

Don't ever let perfect get in the way of better. That's a serious concept from my previous employer Toyota manufacturing. Small changes add up to big improvements and are usually better than large sweeping changes all at once. They cause a lot less disruption too.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Huxley]

We need a support group...

You are posting on it. Too bad we enable each other also. <devil> I never knew I needed a Burr King, a laser measuring device, Strong Hold cabinets, etc.

Any single hobby can fill up a shop quickly. If you diversify into 10+ trades, your square footage has to change in some way. Carpenter, plumber, machinist, painter, car/motorcycle/bike mechanic, landscaper, tile setter, architect, engineer, business owner, woodworker, IT guy, electrician - on and on. The true renaissance man is busy if he wants some pancakes with the family.

I got some support for you right here....

Try to stay busy and make progress on something each day/week. It all adds up. Don't beat yourself up because your mind moves much faster than the real world.

Everytime I 'finish' a project, all I see is the mistakes that were made. Feel my pain.

 

[sakurama]

You are posting on it.

Indeed I am and this is most definitely my support group.

So I promised an update and I'll deliver one - the house is finally finished!

Yeah, April Fools.

So early in the week I busied myself with finishing drawer faces. I faced a conundrum about the existing pocket door which was two different sized frames and also butted nervously up to the kitchen drawers.

I started by pulling out the frame and cutting the outside opening so it would match the inner one.

Then in order to have space for the trim shaved down the new frame boards and then shimmed them out so that the trim would fit perfectly and cover all the bad things that were happening there. To fill the space so the nailer would find purchase I cut strips of plywood scrap to fit between the shims and glued and nailed it in place to be extra sure it would stay solid.

Then I moved on to the last drawer faces I would have to make.

Sadly my plywood was damaged on the edge from being stored in the covered but not fully protected entranceway. Happily I didn't need those two inches.

Just a quick note about the big sheet of foam you see me cutting on. The track saw uses a rubber strip to reduce splintering as the blade comes up through the top of the sheet. It works great. The lower side though can still tear out although not as bad. This was ripped sans foam.

And this was cut on the foam. The tear out you see is very minor and easily brushed away with a light pass of sandpaper.

The last sheet of walnut was exactly enough, minus those two water stained inches, to finish the last drawer faces. Cut, banded and sanded.

I am so happy to have finished these cabinets with their stain - if I never stain another piece of wood again it will be too soon. I so regret the stain. Looks great now but what a headache and natural walnut would have been nicer or ever better I'd have used the sapelle from the closets for everything. Live and learn.

Warm weather and no wind lets me get a light coat of poly down and dry before any dust has a chance to settle on it.

And that's my update for the moment but I'm just a bit ahead of that - not much but a bit but I want to leave myself time to read about my favorite slow motion train wreck that is the Donald...

And on that note and this day I give you this:

Gregor

 

[dhubbard422]

Gregor,

Thanks for the post (all of your posts) and especially the final gift of youtube ^^^^^

I'm off to pick up a Miller tig welder courtesy of craigslist. Hopefully, it is as advertised, but this is craigslist... I guess I'll now have to look into Burr King and I already have Festool envy. Especially for their track saw, but I think a homemade guide will have to suffice for now.

Lookin' forward to your next post.

 

[sakurama]

Gregor,

Thanks for the post (all of your posts) and especially the final gift of youtube ^^^^^

I'm off to pick up a Miller tig welder courtesy of craigslist. Hopefully, it is as advertised, but this is craigslist... I guess I'll now have to look into Burr King and I already have Festool envy. Especially for their track saw, but I think a homemade guide will have to suffice for now.

Lookin' forward to your next post.

Good luck. I enjoyed your thread so far - looking forward to seeing it come together. I'm envious of all that space.

Lucul asked about my Tig and it's a Dynasty 200DX. FWIW tig to me is the ultimate welding technique because it can do anything - steel, stainless, aluminum and from thick to wafer thin because the control is so great. It supposedly takes longer to learn and requires greater control but the way I learned - first on steel, then on stainless and finally on aluminum - was a natural progression of difficulty, each building on the platform of the former.

I'm now comfortable with aluminum. Not great at it, as I'm reminded from the many Instagram feeds I follow on welding, but to the point that I'm ready to build some things with it. Each project improves your skills for the next one and having a "thing" you need requires you to solve real problems.

Good luck.

Gregor

 

[sakurama]

So Judiaann quitting her job means less money (for the moment) but it also means that, for the first time since we've moved in, she's actually around to help out.

She's said that if she had a "painting kit" with all the supplies it would be easy for her to touch up the trim and the places where the kids have used the walls for their personal canvas (they're better now thankfully) and so off to the shop I went!

I purchased two quart containers for the black and white paint and made a small caddy from scrap that could hold four if needed but the extra two places hold stir sticks, brushes, tape and cups. Thankfully we've limited our paint two three colors with only two being used throughout and keeping everything satin has proven to be the perfect solution.

And suddenly I had a helper. She's no Jorgé but as a pastry chef she's pretty damn detail oriented and has done a great job with the help of the cat. I think it's also given her a small idea of the work involved and a sense of involvement.

So with the drawer faces drying and the first round of trim painted I started putting up "case and base" as Ben says. My method is to take one side and place it up on the door frame and leave between an 1/8" to a 1/4" of reveal. It's something I'm not fussing about - "not letting perfection get in the way of better" as was stated above by lonestarky. Trim is visual. It's job is to visually finish the carpentry and cover the awkward meeting places of doors and walls where two trades and reality meets. Measuring isn't as important as even gaps which your eye picks up on. If something isn't plumb it's too late to fix now so use the trim to cover the mistakes.

With the vertical board up I'll grab a scrap with the right miter to mimic where the next piece will go - in this case the scrap is the top board I'm holding. I'll hold it at the same reveal as the vertical and then I'll just transfer the measurement over to the vertical one. The dotted (and pencil) line is the approximate cut and to be safe I'll sneak up on the cut. Nothing is worse than cutting the long trim too short so it's a lot of trips back and forth. The more I do it the less trips I make.

It's something that took a while to get into the habit of but not measuring things is by far the most accurate way to measure things... if you smell what I'm cooking. Any chance you can test fit and mark and especially with trim as miters are a particularly tricky thing to measure - inside? outside? middle? Yeah, you want to just use some scrap and mark things in place.

The next thing I've learned is to back miter my cuts by a few degrees - in this case about 3-4. One reason is that the actual jam can be proud of the wall by an 1/8" or so and that means that the trim will be leaning backwards to touch the wall opening the miter slightly. By tipping the compound you're giving yourself a better shot at a tight miter where it will be seen - the outside.

Most trim has a recess in the middle to facilitate this angling back situation so that the parts that contact the door jam and the wall actually make contact.

And that is my process. I only started back beveling my miters just recently and I can see a marked improvement in tightness.

And now, a trim intermission.

Oh, and yes the inside of the jams in these shots will be painted black.

Festool sadly doesn't make an air nailer but my research lead me to Senco and I've been very happy with it. It's a "FinshPro 18MG"

I like the 18ga nails as they split the difference between the more common 15/16ga which can split delicate trim like my 1/2" quarter round and the too-delicate-to-hold 23ga pinner (which I have but only use to hold things that are being glued). This nailer will do 2-1/8" brads which is longer than most and it shoots very straight, has never jammed and has a pivoting air hose fitting.

It's now raining again but my stain and poly are finished and the next thing is to get the drawer faces mounted and the pulls welded. If luck smiles on me I may actually get to tile the backsplash this week so expect another week of progress.

Gregor

 

[lonestarky]

G- you're exactly right... Marking is far better than measuring. Another tip... Cut your miters 1deg past 45. The gaps will sit tighter too. I've never done black trim, but it works for me with stain grade, white is nice because everything gets caulked. Work looks good. If your wife is anything like mine, who is also a dessert chef, after 2 hrs of any work like you're having her do, she says "I'm exhausted" and calls it quits. But I just look at it like "well that's 30 min of work I didn't have to do".

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[gasgas17]

We cut all of our casing to rough lengths. Mitered on one end if they are going to be mitered on both. Mark all of our margins with a set of scribes, allowing us to mark each piece of casing in place off our margin marks. This allows us to cut a room in one trip to the saw. (a former co-worker used to say "wear your boots out carrying one piece of wood" in a back woods drawl). Cut all miters 45 degrees and square for max glue joint contact. Adjustments are made with the block plane during install. A nice sharp apron plane is key to tight miters. The miter saw is just a rough cut to get you started. Building something on a work bench, well that's different. Anyone can make fits on square, perfect corners. Casing, crown and base take some finesse.

This guy is your friend when fitting miters. Nice and light in the apron too.

 

[OJ Bartley]

Now THAT is the kind of advice you get from a real craftsman. Taking absolutely nothing away from Gregor's work, of course, I just wanted to point out that gasgas' method seems to come from years of specific experience and way above and beyond what most "pros" I've seen could manage. That's full on 10 10ths casing work.

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[gasgas17]

Gregor is doing fine work, but we can all learn from one another here. Myself included!

 

[sakurama]

If your wife is anything like mine, who is also a dessert chef, after 2 hrs of any work like you're having her do, she says "I'm exhausted" and calls it quits. But I just look at it like "well that's 30 min of work I didn't have to do".

That is hilarious. I just laughed out loud and she asked "What?" Oh, nothing.

We cut all of our casing to rough lengths. Mitered on one end if they are going to be mitered on both. Mark all of our margins with a set of scribes, allowing us to mark each piece of casing in place off our margin marks. This allows us to cut a room in one trip to the saw. (a former co-worker used to say "wear your boots out carrying one piece of wood" in a back woods drawl). Cut all miters 45 degrees and square for max glue joint contact. Adjustments are made with the block plane during install. A nice sharp apron plane is key to tight miters. The miter saw is just a rough cut to get you started. Building something on a work bench, well that's different. Anyone can make fits on square, perfect corners. Casing, crown and base take some finesse.

This guy is your friend when fitting miters. Nice and light in the apron too.

Great advice that I'll be trying on the next round.

It's been mentioned before but the sharing of knowledge on this forum is one of the greatest aspects of GJ and why I enjoy it. While I enjoy figuring things out on my own gaining knowledge from others experience greatly shortens the learning curve. No matter how much you know there's always someone who knows more but when they share that it's a sign of great confidence.

Gregor

 

[paranoid56]

I agree with you on the burking, been wanting one ever since using one.
did you ever think about making your own belt sander? i keep seeing plans and they seem much more affordable