Black Hat Shop Works

[aggierailroad]

Not much to it this weekend on account of being out of town, but I did get a decent start on the french polishing process. What a pain in the ****.

Here's the bottom of the box with one coat of amber shellac. To retrace all of the steps for the bottom: Sanded, 180-220. Once coat of wipe on walnut grain filler. Sanded 320-400. One wet coat of about a 1.5lb cut of amber shellac.



Here is the top, same process, only with three coats of the grain filler. 1 heavy, 1 medium, then one very reduced skim/glaze coat. If you are familiar with body work, it is the equivalent in both texture and quantity of using a high end glaze like Evercoat. Sands quickly, but will clog the higher grits.



2nd coat of shellac, a'la French Polish. The principal behind the "French Polish" is to rub and buff out the finish while you are applying it. Shellac is organic and dissolves into high proof alcohol, which is also it's carrier. You essentially take a pad (fine linen or cotton) wrapped tightly around a wool filler and rub on (with moderate pressure) the shellac. On the second coat you also dab on a few spots of mineral oil to lubricate the pad, and you keep dribbling on high proof alcohol, my preference being Everclear. No lie, it's cheap and has a high enough alcohol content to work great, along with being contamination free.

Keep burnishing in the shellac, applying a dab more here and there and let the alcohol melt the layers together. Eventually, you get that high gloss sheen.



The amber color gives it that nice, rich glow. I'll probably keep the cuts lighter and lighter from here on to keep up the gloss but not add much more color.

In other news, went into high production mode and made a jig to drill 1/2" holes 1 1/2" apart.



These are for the magnetic knife blocks that will be coming to a store near you... (www.doghouseforge.com)

Drilled into basswood - a pain in the **** to finish (it turns weird colors) but it is widely used for its ability to be carved. All of the old church altar carvings are generally basswood. As you can see, it planes quite nicely.

 

[skippy24]

Awesome work. One question though. What is the reasoning for leaving the finger joints extended on the bottom of the box?

 

[aggierailroad]

Awesome work. One question though. What is the reasoning for leaving the finger joints extended on the bottom of the box?

Just to act as "feet". Opted not to have any kind of stick on rubber type feet, as those always tend to come off. It did make it a pain in the **** to sand and finish around them, and you can see some shellac buildup as well that I'll have to work at with a Q-tip.. The joys of homemade gifts.

Thanks for reading.

 

[aggierailroad]

I got wiped out by a cold this weekend, so little to no progress on the home front. I was able to get a new tool, a Starrett 13C double square. In my humble opinion, if you want to get serious about woodworking, this should be in your arsenal, or some other highly accurate square.

I also got (built) a new tool - a crosscut sled for my tablesaw. It is a little small, but I only really need it for doing small work, so it fits perfectly for my space constraints. Total time invested was about two hours and some scrap lumber. I won't get into too many details on how to do this, namely because I can't find a way to improve upon the explanation from the wood whisperer. Check it out here.

A sled will change how you use a table saw, what you can do with one, and how safely you can operate one. You may even eliminate a tool that you think you need: a sliding compound miter saw. Gasp! Try it out, you'll like it.

Also, I don't have any of the fancy tools he has to make his. You'll need a tablesaw, a block plane comes in handy, or, worst case, sandpaper. Here we go:

Cut your runners to fit in your miter slots. Pay attention to grain orientation. Mine are from hard maple 1x stock I had laying around. Oak would work great as well, scavenged from a pallet.



I shaved a hair off of my runners for fitment with the plane. Now, lay the runners in your miter slots (key thing: remember when I told you a while back to square your blade with your miter slots?????? Critical for use with a sled!!!) Drill your holes (to prevent splitting the thin runners) and countersink the holes. I use a brace and do it by hand, it's faster than changing bits out for me, and my drill *****. Note, mine is unfortunately narrower than I would like, but it's all I had on hand. The base is 1/2" MDF.



Index those screw heads! An OCD thing I picked up from a certain fellow from TCOTU (The Center of the Universe - or something like that).



Cut your backboards. Mine happen to be scrap poplar. I may add another layer to stiffen the front brace a bit more, but I'm not too worried about it.



Decorative trim with a coping saw..



Done. Raise the blade up into it just like in the video.



Not to brag.... but mine came out at 0.0005" over 5 ft of total runout. Not bad at all. Sometimes you get lucky.

Here's the bottom for giggles. And the new square. Don't drop it!



Also got started on some Cocobolo knife holders, available soon on www.doghouseforge.com. Stuff kind of smells like browned butter when cutting it. Weird, until I started sneezing like crazy.



Magnets embedded in a basswood "holder", all of that will be filled with a quilted maple spar. Look up the word "maple chatoyance" to get an idea of what it will look like. Bet you didn't know that word. These are 11" long to fit on the side of cabinet.

Thanks for reading.

 

[aggierailroad]

Finally got around to shaping the Honduran Rosewood tote and knob for the old but new to me Stanley #4 smoothing plane. This is a great one for smoothing boards and panels both before and after glue-ups.



Bought them on eBay... the quality was lackluster, at best. Buyers beware.

And I got the curved "cube" top cut out. It's pictured in its future home. It still needs channels routed out so that it sits just below flush with the steel bar tops. Used a bandsaw and horizontal belt sander to fair the curves. I ordered a Japanese extra fine safe-edge file to clean up the cutouts. The "blades" are curved and have a hook. It produces little curls of wood, rather than dust. Very similar to an aluminum file.


I really like how it turned out. Still have to plane the bottom faces back to lighten it up, but that should be easy enough.

Lastly, I know I'm beating a dead horse - but one more lesson on wood movement. Went to a new, trendy restaurant today where they used a lot of reclaimed material for furniture and decorating and have expensive cocktails. They had the tables made locally, with the tops made of reclaimed pine flooring. Kind of gross, but, that's not the point here.

We noticed a bow/curve in the table top, so I peek my head below and notice that they just attached them to a plywood base with everything screwed through some stringers. No way for the wood to move laterally. Naturally, it moved where it could - up! I have two gripes here, 1) hire craftsmen to do your work if you can afford it - people that know what they are doing and 2) if you can't hire a true craftsman, educate yourself! Rant over.

Here's the damage:







That's all for this weekend. I trimmed a shed out for my sister, but it's not that exciting.

 

[aggierailroad]

Bueller.

Trimmed out this garden shed that my dad and sister built (for my sister). Easy enough and she pays in donuts and pie. Fortunately, I didn't have to paint. I hate painting.



Also got suckered into a mallet-off. I've got some oak from the pallet that the compressor came on that I was saving for a rainy day. I took the trusty #5 to it, with Lee Valley's fancy new PM-V11 iron. Supposed to be as hard as A2 and as easy to sharpen as O1. Needless to say, I had a few hours on that blade straight from the factory (gasp!) and it was a beast to plane down the oak. I have since put a new bevel angle on it, sharpened and honed it, but sadly have not used it yet! Anyways, here's how she looks when I started and about 20 minutes later.





If there is any interest in knowing how to flatten a board like this by hand, let me know, I'll post some steps.

Got the dados cut into the table bottom.



Planed the edges down to "lighten" the look of the top. It's 1" walnut, and I brought the centers down to about 3/8".



Here it is faired out. I am waiting on a file to come in the mail so I can clean up the rebates for the legs.

 

[aggierailroad]

Got some knives in from someone that lives in Florida and is always in the doghouse.. Pretty slick, it's nice to have a knife that's sharp out of the box and comes with a kit to keep it in service - oil, steel wool, instructions and a lifetime warranty. Gordon Ramsay and Bobby Flay better watch out - I'm gunnin' for them!



I also got glove slapped on Instagram to a mallet-off. Build the best mallet that you can (wooden) either a carpenter's or carver's and submit pics for judging. The pics will be displayed in a gallery/studio in England somewhere, and we may all do a mallet swap. Anyways, I had some oak from the compressor pallet, and after an hour or so smoothing and squaring it with the trusty Stanley #5, it's starting to look like this:



A few cuts with the sled on the tablesaw... and...



I made a rip cut with the 'saw and hogged out the waste with a 3/4" chisel. If you can't shave with your chisels - sharpen them! Look at that grain, you can see the chisel's reflection in it!



You can do great work with "sub par" tools - this was a $20 chisel 4 pack from Rockler.

I dovetailed the handle, which is waiting for its maple laminate, which got taken out of the clamps today. Didn't snap a pic.. But, here's the gist of it:



Should replace that crappy resin/rubber mallet in no time. To do: cut the wedge, bevel the head, add the inlays, form the grip with a spokeshave, drill a relief hole, cut a shoulder in the handle for the head, peen the brass inlays, counter sink them, finish them, buff, oil, wax and polish. Easy, no? Oh, and chamfer the edges..

 

[aggierailroad]

Latest end table is finally getting some finish. I got in a wood "file" to square up the leg slots and add the chamfer around the edges. Here she is with the first wipe on coat of PolyAcrylic.



A day later - 400 grit to flatten between coats. 2nd coat, 1 or 2 more to go. Test fit in the shop to mark mounting holes in the bottom.



I'm really liking this piece.... Certainly turned out better than I had hoped.

 

[Hot Chop shop]

Latest end table is finally getting some finish. I got in a wood "file" to square up the leg slots and add the chamfer around the edges. Here she is with the first wipe on coat of PolyAcrylic.



A day later - 400 grit to flatten between coats. 2nd coat, 1 or 2 more to go. Test fit in the shop to mark mounting holes in the bottom.



I'm really liking this piece.... Certainly turned out better than I had hoped.

That turned out great!
It's funny how much more metal tubing that X pattern takes up.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[aggierailroad]

No kidding... The bar stock I used came from a scrap yard. I only bought half of the stick.. Went back, 6 months later, looking for some to match, for this table. Walked around over an hour, no luck. On a whim, I looked on the large off-cut rack. There was the other half, right where they had left it the first time.... Should have known. Had about 4 inches left over.

Well, a few updates. If you remember the pecan slab router plane project, I've finally got a client and project in mind. He wanted a guitar playing stool, nothing fancy. I had a perfect slab in mind...

First I cut it up...



Then I roughed it up....



Then I hollowed it out...



And a little more hollowing...



Voila, a Sam Maloof inspired guitar playing stool seat. I talked with the customer: he sits a bit on the edge, so I kept the saddle low but will still scoop the arches in the front out some more to make it a bit more comfortable. For reference, the back is about 1/2" below grade, the front, about 1/4". Just enough slope to lock you into it and not slide out.

From here, I will fair the curves with 60 grit pads on the die grinder, sanding blocks, rasps, and finally cabinet card scrapers.

This one was a new challenge, and pretty fun. All of that took less than 30 minutes, and I can say I'm pleasantly surprised.

Also, in boring news, added a pantry shelf for my most demanding customer.

Primed, caulked and spackled.



I did finish these... More pics on the DogHouse thread. Available in the very near future for sale on his website.



Lastly, I took this Stanley #4 100 year old plane out of the electrolysis tank yesterday. She's almost ready for another hundred years.

 

[kbs2244]

Amazing work.
I love to see it.
But how did you manage to turn a garage site into a wood working one?

 

[DoghouseForge]

Amazing work.
I love to see it.
But how did you manage to turn a garage site into a wood working one?

Oh ****!!!! you mean the "fabrication and Techniques" section is only to show pictures of the tools and space you use to build things? Not the actual fabrication and techniques involved!?! What rock have I been under?

 

[aggierailroad]

Amazing work.
I love to see it.
But how did you manage to turn a garage site into a wood working one?

Thanks. I think? You're right, I shouldn't be muddying these hallowed hallways with my fine furniture building. My poor garage is being mistreated by the likes of scum such as I. Cease and desist order duly noted and denied.

 

[aggierailroad]

Think I left in the middle of a lot of projects. First and foremost, the magnetic knife blocks are selling like hotcakes from the doghouseforge.com website. Who knew?

Moving on, I added some shelf bras to the shelf I added, and the next few down.



Just some 3/4" MDF, some 3/4" cove moulding, and a cove router bit. Easy way to make a boring pantry look "custom" and built in.

Got a few new tools for the shop. The one on the left, a router plane, for making grooves, dados and even tenon cheeks. The right, a dual marking gauge - perfect for scribing lines in the wood. This is a better technique than a pencil because it will cut the wood fibers and make a nice crisp line for your joints. You can also set your chisel in the line for accurate mortises.



Also, hard to see, but I've done some drawings for some new work. The first, a pair of beveled mirror frames to be made out of red oak. Mirror size is 24x30. Full mortise and tenon construction, although, I might be persuaded to use pocket screws - depending on the client's budget. Should be a fun, easy project.



Next is the North wall to a walk in closet. This demanding client wants drawers, shelves, pants pull out racks, etc.... This one will be a beast.



Lastly, the stool seat is taking shape. Some quality time in the Black Hat gym got her looking goooood. Spent a lot of time with rasps and files, and finally some 60 grit roloc discs in the back to get the scoop just right. Band sawed around the edge, planed the top lip flat, and added a small chamfer with a tiny block plane. This is turning into a favorite.



Into this: final 150, 180, 220, 320, 400 sanding to follow... Any volunteers?



Lastly, all of the girls needed some "me" time and came over to the spa to get their nails did. It took most of an afternoon, including flattening the bottom of the new (to me) Stanley #4, the midsized girl at the top. She's used for final smoothing of panels. Flattening the bottom involves gluing sheets of 80 grit emory cloth sheets to a thick piece of glass and getting a good ab and shoulder workout in. Move on to 150, then up until about 320 or so. Mark with a sharpie on the bottom from time to time to see where you are taking off.



I'm thinking that's it for now... Gun box to be finished soon, with luck. As always, I'm happy to answer any questions!

 

[-Brent-]

Incredible work and explanations. Your writing and photos have really taught me a bunch.

That said, the best thing I've learned is the hammer dent trick. I mean, not for me, I never miss... it's for a friend.

 

[gipraw]

Awesome work. I really enjoy reading this thread. Any update on the Mallet?

 

[aggierailroad]

Thanks guys - I never miss either - my friend does when he comes over to "help".

The mallet, yeah, that guy. It was lovely wasn't it? Let's just say it may have gotten moved to the lessons learned bin/don'trepeatthattricktwice....

I screwed up cutting the shoulders in the handle for the head to sit on, cut wayyyy down into it, tried to glue it up anyways, looks like ****, you weren't supposed to ask about it.

 

[gipraw]

Thanks guys - I never miss either - my friend does when he comes over to "help".

The mallet, yeah, that guy. It was lovely wasn't it? Let's just say it may have gotten moved to the lessons learned bin/don'trepeatthattricktwice....

I screwed up cutting the shoulders in the handle for the head to sit on, cut wayyyy down into it, tried to glue it up anyways, looks like ****, you weren't supposed to ask about it.

That happens. What did you do with the head? That would make a nice handle or knob for something.

 

[aggierailroad]

That happens. What did you do with the head? That would make a nice handle or knob for something.

It's yours if you want it!

 

[AeroAggie]

Nice work!

Gig 'Em.

 

[Kevin54]

Aggie.....your work just amazes me. Wood and I don't get along too well together. I can wut metal all day long and hold a tolerance of .0005, but give me a piece of wood and I'll screw something up right out of the starting gate. And people like you that works with wood, you make everything look artistic. I wish I had your talents.

I read through the complete post, but I may have missed it....was the piece of Pecan you had flattened out and it warped on you, was that what you used to make the table with the steel legs? And if you did or didn't, that table turned out beautiful.

When it comes to the infamous purple HVLP spray gun, I have the same thing only mine is from TSC in the green. I'll grab that before I'll grab my Devilbiss gun. It does a great job and is just the right size for small work.

One other thing I wanted to ask, where did you get your regulator setup from? If I ever get my garage addition done, I'm going to run some airline, and redo my compressor setup. I like what you have. And if you wouldn't mind saying, do you know how much you have in the regulator and the complete setup shown?

And again....you just do some impressive and beautiful work!!!

 

[aggierailroad]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas.

Kevin, I'll trade you some wood skills for your machining skills ?? I'm just an amateur compared to the guys I hang out with. The pecan slab that I flattened - it became the stool that you see in the most recent posts. The latest "curvy" table was from a piece of walnut from the local hardwood store. I got some pro shots taken of the table and will get them posted up as soon as I can. I'm glad you like it - I can talk you through making one if you ever get a wild hair.

I finally found the info on the regulator - looks like I got it from www.usaweld.com. The invoice says HTP America, Inc. Hasn't let me down yet, and it came in at $360. I don't even have a condensing loop in front of it and it only kicks out super dry, cold air. Feels great after weedeating!

 

[aggierailroad]

Kevin, I found where I put them.... finally....

http://www.doghouseforge.com/bhsw/

 

[aggierailroad]

Few things got done this weekend - but it felt like not enough. I thought I'd be able to get it all done on Friday... not even close.

Got the gun box ammo drawers shellacked. They still need to be sanded, cut and polished, because I opted to spray, instead of the French polish method.



Got the parts cut out for the mirror sketch I showed earlier. In case anyone is interested in a project like this, find your red oak at a "hardwood" lumber store, not the big box stores. You'll pay about half as much - red oak is premium wood at "contractor" stores, and low grade (compared to exotics) and the price reflects it..



Also made some progress on the guitar stool. Bought some non-certified 5/16" steel rod to make some hairpin style legs. I don't have a bender, so a sheet of 16ga, a bolt and a rod tacked to the sheet and clamped to the bench work just fine.



You need some kind of "wiper" I believe it's called, to get a tight bend for the last half. I improvised, used a piece of bar stock clamped on one end so it could pivot. I then took a bar clamp and used the screw to **** in the rod (the pads were on either side of the bar stock pieces). Clamp as low down towards the bolt as possible to get a tight bend. They came out 99% perfect. Total cost: $6.24.





All four done in about 30 minutes, including jig building.

I made a jig to hold the triangle shape to weld in the "trusses". They were all cut on the dry cut to the same length. For some reason, it was hit or miss on using an abrasive cutoff wheel in the grinder. I don't know if the rod was hardened or what. Was using the nice stainless cutting discs that Robert has recommended to us all (what an improvement, btw).



Made a jig to hold the seat level at the correct height off the floor. If you made the seat bottom flat, it would just be a matter of cutting your legs to the same length. But no, you dome the bottom of the seat to look cool and you can't do that. You were so smart and now you have to cut them all individually and make a custom double curved plate to weld them to. I hope it works...



Oh, I also put some sealer on the seat - naturally didn't take a picture. I'll work on that. Thanks for following along.

 

[MP&C]

Nice job on the "vintage" table legs!

 

[aggierailroad]

Nice job on the "vintage" table legs!

Thanks - I try to be a pretend metal worker from time to time... It normally doesn't work out so kindly for me.

 

[aggierailroad]

Got some new toys, aka tools last week. At the top is a LeeValley flat spokeshave with A2 iron. African rosewood handles and cast steel body. It feels as nice as it looks. Below that is a WonderPup - a type of clamp that uses bench dog holes. It's pretty versatile and allows you to clamp oddly shaped items to your workbench, without something protruding over the top - useful for planing or even router work. At the bottom is another PMV-11 plane iron for a Stanley #4, the one I recently restored.



I got two of the legs mocked up. At this point I was deciding if I wanted to keep going, I just wasn't feeling the look...



Kept on chugging, took a blurry pic, and determined that it needed a small, low back. That's why the outer rods stick out, the back will be attached there.



She's looking better here, and with the addition of some bracing and a foot rest, I think it will turn out. Seat height is around 34" - tall, but we wanted to command a "presence" while on stage.



Here's that #4 right out of the restoration box. Didn't do anything to the blade, factory grind. I am very pleased with the results. That shaving is right at 0.001" thick. You can't ask for more out of a 100 year old smoother combined with a modern iron.



Also finished up that hammer. The spokeshave was used to chamfer the handle. I used a low angle plane to smooth the head and a tiny block plane to make small chamfers. It is surprisingly well balanced and sure does knock a chisel around with no problems. The next one will be even better....



I'll have to snap some pics of the wonderpup in action, along with the work I've gotten done on those mirror frames.

 

[gipraw]

Nicely done.

Do you plan to add any additional support to the stool legs?

 

[aggierailroad]

Nicely done.

Do you plan to add any additional support to the stool legs?

Thanks! Yes I do, probably two rings.. You won't believe it but I calculated where those little braces need to be to keep it from buckling. I wanted to use as small of rod as possible to make the seat "float". So, technically, it doesn't need them, but our brains are conditioned to "want" them.

 

[aggierailroad]

Didn't get a lot done but I did get a few milestones knocked out. Going to talk a little bit about mortise and tenon joints today, and an easy way to make them. Not quite as fast as pocket screws... but you'll like these a lot better.

I cut the bulk of the tenons on the table saw, using a home made sled and the crosscut sled I showed earlier. The cheeks are cut by making a jig that slides over the fence and is perfectly perpendicular to the table. There are tons of videos and tutorials on how to make them out there. Mine is just MDF and a piece of pine.

I hand cut the short cheeks with a mini Japanese pull saw (dozuki nokogiri). They are razor thin, have hardened teeth and cut on the pull stroke, something I've always found to be much more logical. The blades are replaceable, and you can buy about 10 of them before you get a nice Western style dovetail saw. Not that I don't like the Western style, but for a shop on a budget....

There is an age-old argument about whether to cut the mortises (hole) or tenons (the not hole ) first. Ideally, for me, the mortises first is best because it's easier to layout your lines. However, unless your wood is perfectly dimensioned, this can get you into trouble. Because of the tight tolerances and large number of parts on these small mirror frames, I opted to do the tenons first and use them as a guide for marking the mortises.

Your best friend for marking those mortises is a sharp razor, (or marking knife) and a marking gauge. The double one is nice, but not necessary.

The reason to not use a pencil is that we want to cut the wood fibers to use as a placeholder later for your chisel. This tiny groove allows you to cut perfect mortises without drifting around on that first hammer strike.

Now, the easy way, without a mortising machine, to cut mortises is to hog out the waste with some kind of drill bit. My preferred method is to use a spiral up cut router bit chucked into the drill press. Pros: it's very rigid and won't tend to drift while you are drilling; great at chip removal; inexpensive at about $25 for a HSS bit. Cons: they typically only have about 1.25" of available drilling depth. I'd advise you to not be tempted to use those hollow chisel mortising bits... They are janky at besk, and it won't take that much chisel work to clean up the corners with this method.

So, mark your mortise locations, set up a fence that is parallel with the bit on the press, and get a quick vise grip to use for holding the work to the fence, not the table. Drill, move over to overlap about 10% of the last one, repeat.



Take a smaller chisel than the short width (a mortising chisel is nice to have here, but not required - I didn't use one here) and set it just a fraction ahead of the scribe line. Grab your mallet and give it a big chop. Repeat on the other side. You'll notice that it slides back into the scribe line when you make the cut - a tendency caused by the wedge shape of the chisel. Now take the biggest chisel you have and put it in the scribe line for the long sides. Chop down. No need to scoot ahead of the line due to the small amount of material being cut, a sharp chisel will just slice right through.



Voila. Done. For a tight, gap free fit, ensure that the face is perpendicular to the side. If you sight down the board, across the top of the mortise, you may notice some twist. The high side will hit the tenon shoulder first and leave a gap on the other side. A few swipes with a plane will fix that right up. I also like to chamfer the edges of the tenons to allow for irregularities in the mortise corners and glue squeeze out. Sandpaper, a chisel or a file work great.

Put them all together for a dry fit.



Looking good, a few gaps to clean up before final glue up.



Thanks for reading. As an estimate of time - I did all of the mortises in about two hours - that's 16 of them. About an hour to do the tenons.

 

[aggierailroad]

That piece of plywood in the back of the last pic got cut up to be used as an insert that will hold the mirror. I cut it with a circular saw and a new 60 tooth Freud blade- like a hot knife through butter. I can't say enough about Freud saw blades.

I also forgot to mention that I routed a 1/4" groove into the frame from joint to joint to hold the panel. Typically they are not glued in, except for maybe at the top and bottom middle to allow for some movement. Not gluing it gives it that "old" furniture rattle as well.

I then ripped some slats to glue on the back to act as a reinforcement and some decorative "flair". It would have been cool to miter the connections... but this is the back after all.

Before you slide the backer in, paint it black. This helps you to avoid any weird reflections if there is a scratch in the silver (aluminum) backing. This is an especially important tip if you are setting the mirror in a rabbet - you should paint the rabbet black so you don't get white-ish reflections bouncing back. I'll also use a dark mirror mastic to glue in the mirrors.

I cut down the top to receive the crown top detail, but naturally didn't take a finished picture. Instead I have a closeup of using the router plane to flatten the bottom of the rabbet I cut with a router. It's amazing how non-flat a dado or rabbet can be when machine cut.

If you use a dado stack on the table saw to do cabinets, bookshelves, etc., I highly recommend this tool from Lee Valley. If your cases are bowed and you can't figure out why, your dado didn't cut to full depth - usually because big panels are never flat and it's hard to push down, and through ,and sideways while sawdust is blowing in your face. Just set the blade depth on this hand router at the edge of the groove, a depth that typically got machine cut to the correct depth. Just push it through the rest, cleaning up the bottom. You will be amazed at how much material you remove. Check final depth with an accurate combination square.

I do better at updates via instagram, you can find me there by searching for @blackhatshopworks.

Thanks for reading.

 

[DoghouseForge]

looks beautiful and the handmade aspect blows me away. So much time and attention to detail.

Your hand plane and hand tool collection seems to be growing nicely. Soon you can sell all of you power tools, quit you day job, and join the timber framers union.

JP

 

[aggierailroad]

Lots of work this weekend - hanging a three piece crown molding in the guest bedroom. This one had a heck of a learning curve... Still have to fill, sand, prime, sand, caulk, paint, paint, touchup. Do not agree to do this, even if it is your own, stupid, idea.

Some tools you will need to do this:

• Miter Saw (power or hand w/ box)
• Caulking gun
• Tape Measure
• Pencil (mechanical is best)
• 18 ga. brad nail gun
• 23 ga. pin nailer
• Compressor (2 gallon is fine)
• Half round file

An additional tool that will make it go much more smoothly is a Starrett, or similar, miter gauge protractor. It will tell you the angle of your walls and where to set your saw for gap free miters.

Here's where I started, also took out the crappy drywall window casing and will be trimming it out in a modernized "Craftsman" style jamb and casing.

The first thing to do is to make a mockup of your crown that's about a foot long. Sorry, no pic here. Glue it together and use the pin nails. Take your mockup and trace around the bottom and top edge with the pencil. At the same time, use blue painter's tape to mark the stud and joist locations.

I then ripped a sheet of 3/4" MDF down with my homemade "track" saw into 1.5" strips to use as the cornice (top piece). Total time, including the rips, about 5 minutes. I had about 52 feet of wall to cover.

The rip fence, with a new Freud thin rip blade. I have heard that the Diablo's are OK for about $25 less.

The pile of cornice pieces. Prime and paint one short and long edge to help you out later. MDF soaks up the paint. You will need a high quality sandable primer, not something like Kilz. I recommend Sherwin Williams brand.

Then, using your marks, start nailing in the cornice, using construction adhesive on the mating side. On the wall where the ceiling joists run parallel, double nail at an "X" angle to lock the piece up while the glue dries.

Bull nose corners ****, but you can take your model and a carpenter's square and make the transition. Use a combination square to mark on the corner where you need to start and stop the pieces. Just lay the square on the corner and mark where the radius first start to touch the square edges. That will be your inside (short) cut length for later.

I had a small gap here because I did this corner before I got the miter gauge. Turns out it's an 88 degree corner.... No miter gauge? No problem, use a bevel gauge and protractor, divide by two.

Then, start on the bottom (drop) piece. It's best to start on the longest wall and go in a circle to best utilize your material. Same process here, lots of trips to the saw and back. Also, a thing on joints: when a single stick of trim won't span a wall, use a "scarf" joint at the junction. Cut each piece at matching 45 degree angles and **** them together. Two things here: more surface area for glue, and if the joint opens, you won't have a crack into oblivion, it will just slide and expose a bit more of the other piece behind it, which is much easier to touch up later.

Now, onto the crown. No secrets here, it's actually not that bad. First, you'll need (rather, want) to make a crown fence for your miter saw. Just a wide secondary fence that supports the crown upside down and backwards on your saw. That's right. This prevents you from having to have a double bevel saw. If you do, go for it, that's just one more adjust you have to make. I'm all for easy though.

Set the crown up so that it sits correctly on your saw and build an easy guide fence like the one below. They also sell stops that fit some saws, but this big Ridgid behemoth doesn't allow for that. Pre-cut your 45, 22.5 and 90 grooves.

I also use an auxiliary MDF fence for additional height.

Now, you should cope your inside miter angles. I do not believe the hype that it is a stronger joint, but I do think that it will help with expansion problems later on as it will "slide" rather than pull apart and create a seam. Essentially, square cut your long piece that goes in the first inside corners. No miters needed. Now, for the next one, make a 45 degree miter with the bottom as the "long" side. Next, take a pencil and scribe a line that's on the edge of the face side and where you just cut. (I recommend finding a video online - this gets confusing) Take your coping saw and cut away the waste at an angle nearly 90 degrees to the waste. After a few of these, I opted out and used the die grinder with a 60 grit disc.... Clean it up with a half-round ******* file.

Try a test piece first....

Work your way around the room again. I found it best to make all my measurements from the bottom because that's what was "up" on the saw and helps you gauge your cuts. If that doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to clarify.

Be sure to use the construction panel adhesive on the top and bottom faces. I used 18 ga. 1.25" nails for the crown, 1.75" for the cornice and drop. Use the 23 ga. pinner for nailing the miters together to help keep the seams tight while the glue dries. I ended up using Titebond II wood glue for the mitererd outside corners.

It really is best to paint the walls last (if you are going to) because you might drip on them when painting the trim. My wife has no patience, so we painted first to see some progress.

Last but not least, I had some time to make some "teethers" out of hard maple for my nephew. Coated in mineral oil. Jigsaw out, shape with 60 grit disc and then hand sand and plane the face smooth.

And.... drumroll.... no more air leaks! Got rid of the one Chinese fitting that was leaking and replaced with an aluminum made in the USA manifold, added a Goodyear hose reel and a 1/2" ball valve for expansion. Will be adding a blow gun on a coiled hose in the near future. No leaks, works like a champ.

 

[aggierailroad]

Was out of town all of last week in sunny Florida, but I did get a few things done first.

Not a finished shot... but the crown is done and in.

This is the tool of the day for trim work...

Now, on to important Florida non-shop related stuff...

Even the waffles in Florida recognize the bad-assery that is Texas:

^ Taken at a Hampton Inn

Finally met a certain blacksmith and farrier from this forum. He is in fact uglier in person and the camera doesn't add 10 lbs, the cookies do.

We worked on a little heat treating oven project:

I learned some stuff about blacksmithing tools:

Ate a sandwich:

Saw some sewing machines:

Rented a car:

And, made a movie:

 

[MP&C]

Love that crown molding, but hope my wife doesn't see it, too much on the HDL as it is....

 

[aggierailroad]

Robert - don't do it.

I've seen how you do cabinet pulls... To be honest, I have an hour/foot of molding in this. 52 feet..... I even skipped a sanding step...

A lot of that time was eaten my climbing two flights of stairs to get to the saw to make each cut... Someone that's talented and has a saw right there..? Maybe 20 hours?

 

[alpinewhite]

Did you cove your inside corners?

 

[aggierailroad]

Did you cove your inside corners?

Yes, for the most part. I coped the long runs, but for around the door, which is "inset" from the rest of the room, I did not as there won't be as much stress there to pull apart the joint. A cope is a great joint where you expect "pulling" as it will "slide" and not open up as much. Plan them so that your eye won't be drawn to the cope if it does open (which piece is coped, left or right side of corner).

I used a coping saw, it wasn't fun, I guess I don't have the knack for it. I ended up using a 60 grit disc on the right angle die grinder and it took about 2 minutes. Clean up with a half round ******* file. Dusty, but quick.

 

[aggierailroad]

Some updates on the giant trim project... which I don't recommend... ever.

Really though it's been fun, I've learned a lot and had to make a few custom pieces of trim and jigs to cut them on.

Anyways..

After installing the jamb extensions, which are a little "wild" from the wall, they need to be planed down to accept the casing, or molding. The trick to doing this is to plane a slight bevel with the high point being towards the window, the low towards the wall.

When your casing is laid against the wall, you won't get a gap from any misalignment. If you think your drywall is straight.... just move on you sucker, you.

The black line is a 1/8" pencil mark where I want my casing to start. You want what is called a "reveal". Not sure why, just a blind following of the one-eyed man. I do think it adds a level of detail and limits unsightly gaps from house settling down the road.

Once the side casings are on, we need to build the frieze over the top. This is a decorative piece that can be as extravagant as your house allows. I went with a kind of Craftsman/Victorian look. Craftsman in that there are no flutes or decorations on the flat faces and Victorian in the small bed crown at the top with a simple cap piece.

It's best/easiest to build the frieze on the bench next to the saw. Just measure your casing dimension first.

And... about $12 in material later, a frieze.

Installed:

Here's an overall shot, minus the aprons at the bottom. The sills are nailed in after the wainscot goes in as they go over to minimize gaps and make wainscot installation easier.

Trucking along. Start in the corner of your long wall, do the next longest wall, etc.

Do these short walls last using the scraps up:

Using LDF, Light Density Fiberboard, S4S 1x4 pre-primed molding, I cut a rabbet in the back to slip over the wainscot and added a bead detail on the bottom to tie it into the overall "look". The pre-primed stuff is about 50 cents more than Grade A pine or fir, is preprimed, and worth it in my opinion.

Just float it about a quarter or half inch above your wainscot, level it, glue and nail. I also reinstalled the baseboard (original) over the wainscot. I didn't set the wainscot (beadboard) on top because I wanted the detail to still be there instead of it narrowing down to about 1/16".

And, last but not least, a sweet hot rod I saw this weekend. Enjoy:

 

[4EyedTurd]

Where was that mural picture taken?