Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

[Grizz1963]

Morning from a wet England Thomas

Sorry, I have not commented for a while.

I have been focussed on work, and also on my charity cycle ride and fundraising in my own thread.

As always your progress and attention to detail impresses and amazes.

I often think that the one thing I would love to do is be there to help as your" tea boy" or just fetching and carrying or you.

Woodwork is such a therapy

I love the way you joined that split grain to form a picture.


Look after yourself as always.

Keep the kettle on.

 

[MG David]

The walnut is looking wonderful, as we all expected. We have been spoilt by your high standard of workmanship.

It must have been a struggle trying to decide whether to spend an hour a day in your car to use someone else's workshop or put the time into setting up your own. At least is saved you rushing the setup.

 

[realvc]

Re: I thought I recognized that '29 peeking out from the edge of the page!

I just today got around to checking out my newest Rodder's Journal and saw Lou's car or a portion of his car pictured in it.

It is a small world after all that revolves around Mr Johnson's Shop.

Great story of the Walnut tree and how it is being used in your new home.

 

[bluestripe67]

Thomas, the walnut panels etc are beautiful. First class craftsmanship. Dennis

 

[BB767]

Walnut Cabinet Installation

The day of installation has arrived. Here are just a few pictures of the cabinets and bookshelves being installed. Not quite done but you'll get the general idea from these.



This is the lateral file cabinet in place. No drawers or top on it yet.



Here's is a detail of how I chose to deal with the base molding trim in the house. To get the cabinets as close to the wall as possible I had to relieve the area behind the cabinets to give room for that trim. Note that the file cabinet is touching the wall.



This is the east cabinet with the top installed. On the far upper left is the top corner unit.



This shows everything largely in place. There are no drawers or door hardware in place yet.



Here's a good look at the long top with it installed. It spans both north cabinets and the file cabinet as a single, 8' (2.4 m) long piece. It has 2 sealer coats, 1 wash coat (a thinned finish coat for good penetration ) and then 2 final finish varnish coats. There was no stain used anywhere on this project, it was all clear varnish.



In between each coat after it had dried, I spend roughly an hour doing hand sanding on all surfaces on this top piece alone to get that glass smooth finial finish.



Where there was end grain on the sides, I sanded with the grain.



My friends shop had a spray booth finish room and we took advantage of that with good results. I did all the prep work and he applied the spray finish. All together applying the finish and the prep work in between took 4 days. Each piece was sealed on all surfaces. As good as it looks, it feels even better.



I should have everything completed tomorrow and with daylight I hope to have some better pictures too. Thanks everyone.

Thomas

 

[Finallygotit]

Wow!

 

[eokie1]

Thomas, those shelves look GREAT !!! so enjoy following your work !!!
James in St Augustine, FL (the ANCIENT city)

 

[realvc]

WOW!!! Indeed!!!

Another perfect project pictorial.

Impressed as always.

Vince

 

[bluestripe67]

Amazing! Equal to or exceeds any cabinet maker I have ever know. Dennis

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Those are gorgeous!!!! Very nice! I can imagine you will thoroughly enjoy using those for many, many years!

Jeff


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GoodJobTim]

I know the wall corner and walls to floor were not perfectly square but you made it look so. Built offsite too. Amazing work.

 

[BlueBomber]

Dang.....that's all I've got, just...dang!

 

[oberst]

Thing about using solid walnut for your builds is you saved oodles of time not having to bind all those edges! Practical and beautiful!

(T, that is just freakin' gorgeous. Seems a shame to hide those gorgeous bookmatched panels behind doors!)

 

[Boosted1]

Nice cabinets. Well done.

 

[red]

Thomas, you do not cease to amaze me.
Your ability to take it to the next level is incredible!

What type of polyurethane do you use?
I still prefer oil base and my current favorite is PolloPlaz supreme finish.

 

[gfc62]

Re: More Walnut Cabinet Pictures

Those 3M Stickit sanding blocks are great tools.

A woodworker friend gave me one about 20 years ago after I told him I thought it was just a gimmic 3M created to sell those special pressure sensitive adhesive sandpaper rolls.

I changed my mind after the first big project. It makes it so easy to change paper that you don't put it off and continue sanding with loaded paper. Those little rolls hold a surprising length of paper, up to 10' depending on the grit.

I keep several of them pre-loaded with different grits, when you buy a box of 6 they're only about $4 each. Oddly, they no longer show up on the 3M website but are still on Amazon and other suppliers.

Mike you are more than generous with those kind words of encouragement.



This is the block sander I'm used the 320 with and...

 

[Stuart in MN]

You are a true renaissance man...the workmanship is beautiful.

 

[C_F]

Thomas, your skills never cease to amaze! Very impressive woodwork there, the cabinets are just beautiful...as well as all the woodwork in your home.

 

[BB767]

The walnut is looking wonderful, as we all expected. We have been spoilt by your high standard of workmanship.

It must have been a struggle trying to decide whether to spend an hour a day in your car to use someone else's workshop or put the time into setting up your own. At least is saved you rushing the setup.

David you hit it right on the head. It was indeed a struggle to come to grips with the fact that my shop won't be available for a while. I really want to spend some time on my set up and with this walnut project hanging over my head that would have been difficult. The best part is, with the cabinets now done, I can move forward with a couple more house projects. Watch this space.

I know the wall corner and walls to floor were not perfectly square but you made it look so. Built offsite too. Amazing work.

Tim that's right, the floor wasn't a problem...



...but the drywallers did me no favors, especially in the alcove.



This is how well the long top fit overall on the north wall.



The top has a 1/16" reveal with the corner of the wall...



...and the east cabinet fit the alcove nicely as well but the upper book case in the alcove necessitated quite a bit of work on the upper corner unit to get it to fit but I did eventually prevail. It took a while to get all the cabinets and bookshelves fitted to the space to my satisfaction but worth the effort.

Those are gorgeous!!!! Very nice! I can imagine you will thoroughly enjoy using those for many, many years!

Jeff

That's the plan Jeff. Much as it took a bunch of effort to restore Mr Johnson's shop, I've been enjoying using it for over 10 years now.

I am looking forward to the final cabinet set up and then use them as designed. That's where a pair of turntables will be positioned as well as my record cleaning machine. I didn't want a metal file cabinet, I think that would have looked out of place, so I decided to built one that would integrate with the cabinets.

So far the house has worked out pretty well and I have high expectations all the cabinets and shelves will as well.

To be continued. Thanks again everyone.

Thomas

 

[SiGmA_X]

Wow that looks absolutely amazing, Thomas! What was the issue with the drywall fit?

Roman

 

[Hemihead2]

Beautiful craftsmanship and attention to detail. You never fail to impress.

 

[Lyndon]

Hello - knock knock!!

What's this thread doing on page 11 with no posts since 18th July.....?

Anyone home?

Lyndon
Just wondering - since I'm up, isn't anyone else?

 

[BB767]

Hello - knock knock!!

What's this thread doing on page 11 with no posts since 18th July.....?

Anyone home?

Lyndon
Just wondering - since I'm up, isn't anyone else?

Hi Lyndon, I check in here every day. It just seemed folks were a little tired of hearing about the house and wanted something different. Since I'm still finishing details related to the house I don't have much else to offer right now.



The cabinets and bookshelves are now all installed with hardware...



...and some of my turntables for playing vinyl records. Remember those?



Here's the lateral file cabinet in use.



It has heavy duty BLUMOTION drawer slides which self closes the drawers.

So this is my office space in the loft area...



...LP record cabinets on the left. I'll build more bookshelves for the space beyond them but I'll use oak for them to match the record cabinets.

Looking the other way ...



...gives a little better idea of one of my favorite spaces in the house.



Lou seems to like it too! We're off to Bonneville next week, stand by.

Still here Thomas

 

[donnie]

I think i can safely say no one is tired of seeing the house.
Have a good time at speedweek.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk

 

[Bob Heine]

Thomas, I'd be happy to see a post on paint drying. I wasn't worried about your slowdown in posting. I assumed you were getting ready for Bonneville Speed Week. You weren't by any chance changing the rear gear ratio on the Nova so you can do more than watch.

 

[realvc]

Love, love, love seeing the turntables and vinyl selves. I'm still spinning LP's, cassettes, 8 tracks and reel 2 reel. Just picked up a pair of Norman Labs Model 9 speakers and a Pioneer RT-707 reel 2 reel that I don't need but was too good a deal to pass up.

You have a great office/listening space.

Looking forward to the Booneville updates.

It is good to see you post an update thanks
Vince

 

[C_F]

It's already Speedweek time? Dang, this summer is flying by way too fast.

Your office area looks really great, cozy even.

I check in here every day. It just seemed folks were a little tired of hearing about the house and wanted something different. Since I'm still finishing details related to the house I don't have much else to offer right now.

I doubt any of us are getting tired of hearing about the house. Myself, I just figured you were plenty busy & thought you'd get around to showing more when you were ready.

Enjoy Speedweek, it looks like the weather may be more cooperative this year!

 

[SiGmA_X]

I agree, you're welcome to (ENCOURAGED) keep posting house updates Office looks great!

 

[stillp]

If you get bored posting about your beautiful house Thomas, you could always tell us about your TR4...

Pete

 

[ranger101ran]

I hardly every post and I was getting nervous. I have followed this from the beginning. It's been amazing.

 

[MG David]

I quite fancy going to speed week one day. Looking at the dates it could be combined with a trip to Monterey.

 

[Terrick down Under]

I just love my Sunday morning read of your thread. Please keep on jotting down what you are up to.

 

[HOTFR8]

Enjoy Bonneville.

 

[a777fan]

What a great looking office. I love the conti DC-10 model as well. Lots of great memories flying those in my childhood between EWR-LAX to visit extended family. What is your connection?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lootenny]

Thomas, are you in the Path of Totality for the upcoming eclipse? I'm planning to catch it on my way home from seeing my son down at Ft Benning. Who wouldn't want to see it from the COTU?

Denny


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Lyndon]

What a great looking office. I love the conti DC-10 model as well. Lots of great memories flying those in my childhood between EWR-LAX to visit extended family. What is your connection?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thomas

I also have memories of the DC10, but they weren't so pleasant...., we flew in one in 86 from Vancouver via Seattle to San Fran. After the landing in Seattle I walked around the back of the plane to see if it had "learners" plates" on it..... it was a dreadful landing, even after the first 3 heavy bounces.

Lyndon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[panthersteve]

I check in here every day. It just seemed folks were a little tired of hearing about the house and wanted something different. Since I'm still finishing details related to the house I don't have much else to offer right now.

I check in here everyday too, but I mean here as in the COTU

 

[markviii]

The solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, is best seen in southern IL near Carbondale, but we're fairly close to the path (a couple 100 miles north).

For Urbana-Champaign, IL, the eclipse will start at 11:53:30 am (central time). It will reach a maximum of 93% blocked by 1:20:37pm. It is all over at 2:44:56pm. The best time to look will be as close to the maximum, since it will be the largest difference. Please make sure to have approved viewing glasses while attempting to watch the eclipse.

According to Parkland College planetarium staff, "the 2017 eclipse is especially unique because of the uninterrupted land masses it will pass over. The path of totality will start in OR before making its way across the country; it will cut through 14 states in total, finally finishing up in SC."

I'm hoping for clear weather here in the COTU during this rare, in our lifetime, occurrence. If it's cloudy, it will be especially dark, so be careful.

Enjoy the show.

Chris

 

[BB767]

If you get bored posting about your beautiful house Thomas, you could always tell us about your TR4...

Pete

Pete you are persistent aren't you?! Yeah, I need to post about it for sure. It's sitting quietly in the barn, rest assured.

I hardly every post and I was getting nervous. I have followed this from the beginning. It's been amazing.

Wow, from the beginning? That seems like a long time ago....wait...it WAS a long time ago, nearly 8 years now. The thread that won't die!! Many thanks for your continued interest in my poor, feeble efforts at being a junior Peter Egan. Now that man can write!!

What a great looking office. I love the conti DC-10 model as well. Lots of great memories flying those in my childhood between EWR-LAX to visit extended family. What is your connection?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As you probably know I flew for Continental Airlines for almost 29 years, retiring on the Boeing 767 in 2013. (BB767)



If you squint real hard at the base of the model, you'll see that DC 10 was presented to me by Continental Airlines in 1990. Somehow I was selected as Continental Airlines Employee of the Month back then.

Thomas

I also have memories of the DC10, but they weren't so pleasant...., we flew in one in 86 from Vancouver via Seattle to San Fran. After the landing in Seattle I walked around the back of the plane to see if it had "learners" plates" on it..... it was a dreadful landing, even after the first 3 heavy bounces.

Lyndon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lyndon, while I never flew the DC10, from what I understand it was a real sweetheart to fly.....and land. It's hard to screw up a landing in it but it can and does happen. To this day I have a night landing in a B737-300 in SRQ I'd love to take back. I was fairly new on the aircraft and it was just plain ugly. I was expecting Continental to take back their Employee of the Month award after that one!

Humble, humble, humble Thomas

 

[Sweet Old Bill]

Thomas,

Do we attribute the failure to "clock" the screws to Continental or to the move? Just asking?