Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT DIY Shop

[Jeff Ivers]

Spent some time in the shop fabricating these.


So that I could hang the MG window hanger gifted me by my daughter for my birthday. She has been doing stained glass projects for a bit over a year now.
In between coats of paint and since some cool fall weather has arrived finally, I got outside and sanded the frames of the 2 walk-in doors on the barn, the one on the shop and the one into the storage area of the attached garage. Then I washed the doors and primed the frames and doors. Have I mentioned I hate painting? Hopefully over the next couple of days I will get a finish coat on.

About a year ago, the ice and water dispenser on my (at that time) 12 year old refrigerator started sticking on - resulting in ice cubes cascading onto the floor or water spills. I ordered a new dispenser switch, but while waiting for it to arrive, I tried cleaning around the actuator lever and solved the problem - until last night.

Since I had the new switch and the sticking came on very suddenly and was worse than before, I decided to install the new switch.



Got the switch installed and the water dispenser worked but the ice dispenser would not. So, apart it came. Notice the disconnected pigtail with the blue and black wires? My first theory was that the pigtail needed to be connected - could not find anyplace to plug it in. The other wires going to the connector the pigtail is coming from descend from a hole in the top of the dispenser opening. The hole is big enough to accommodate a mate to the pigtail, so I felt around trying to find the mate that must have slipped up into the hole - no joy. Put it together so the water dispenser would work and went to bed. Spent a bunch of time trying to find U-tube videos on this repair on my model or schematic/wiring diagrams. Found one video that appeared to be the same model as mine showing the pigtail connected. Took it apart again this morning and tried to use my phone camera to look up in the hole - could not find a connector. That is when I looked more closely at the brand new switch assembly and discovered an actuator rod was not connected. Turns out that on my fridge that pigtail does not connect to anything! Connected the actuator rod, put everything back together and everything works now - the joys of home appliance repair!

 

[RickP]

Turns out that on my fridge that pigtail does not connect to anything!

That has baffled me too -- I've noticed it on multiple brands, so it seems to be pretty common. Frustrating, but at least you got it working.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

That has baffled me too -- I've noticed it on multiple brands, so it seems to be pretty common. Frustrating, but at least you got it working.

I presume that is what they refer to as "running changes". The most frustrating part to me is the amount of time one spends trying to find information on older items on the Internet and how misleading the info can be when found.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I hung the "MG" stained glass on the backdoor to the kitchen (see a couple of posts above). The special brackets were to grasp the top of the add-on enclosed blind that covers the door's built-in window. We added this add-on blind about 25 years ago and I have really liked it.

So, I was looking at the outside door to the master bedroom which has a full window insert. We had gone cheap on it with some sheer curtains and after about 32 years, the sheers were about to disintegrate. And, since installation, a neighbor built a house next to my back yard (no privacy fence). I decided it was time to add one of the add-on blinds to that door to replace the sheers. Off to the internet to see if they are still made and where to buy. I quickly found one company that makes the add-ons and navigated their site to determine how to measure and identified the correct add-on by name (no part numbers on the site). When I clicked on buy, I was taken to a list of vendors, some local, including Lowes, Home Depot, and a local lumber yard. When I went to Lowes and Home Depot web sites and entered the name of the product I needed, I could not find a match. I emailed the manufacturer and asked what to do. A few days later, I decided to try the local lumber yard, thinking they might be more adept at special orders. First, I was referred to one of the register guys. After he decided he did not know enough to fill my needs, he passed me off to the window/door specialist. Before going, I had phoned and been told they were not likely to have the item in stock but their specialist should be able to order for me. So I talk to this guy and he tells me I need a product with a specific part number for a 22' X 64". I had measured the door, per instructions, at 23.75" x 65.75". Nothing he said provided a correlation between the name of the product I had looked up and the number of the part he wanted to order for me. I asked how much and was quoted over $400. When I indicated that was a bit more than I anticipated, he amended the price to $390. After confirming I would be stuck with the item if it did not fit, I asked if he could contact the company and confirm the part number was the same as the name of the model I needed.

A few days later, having not heard back from my email or the lumberyard, I found the phone number for the manufacturer and called. A very nice lady was able to confirm that I had measured correctly, identified the correct model by name and provide me with both the current model number and the old model number. With that info, I once again accessed the Lowe's website, located the correct model, determined it was in stock at my local store for $157. I made the purchase, picked it up a few hours later, and completed the installation the next day.


Meanwhile, since the weather cooled off, it was time to get out the splitting wedges and tend to the larger cuts from tree/limb cleanups done earlier in the year.

Over 2 ricks of wood under the lean-two and a half rick on the front porch - I am set, as I normally burn about 1.5 ricks of wood during a winter.

 

[Prospecter]

What a hassle getting that blind. Good of you to hang in there and git 'er done. Looks great!
I'm impressed that you split that wood by hand. I did that at one time, but the joints don't allow that any more!

 

[RickP]

I was looking at these add-on blinds a couple months ago, but got frustrated by the lack of comprehensive info online. Most of my searches turned up multiple copies of the cheap generic imported stuff. What manufacturer did you end up choosing? I'll try my search again and limit it to their models.

Nice covered firewood storage! I wish I had an overhanging roof like that -- looks like you're set for winter.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

What a hassle getting that blind. Good of you to hang in there and git 'er done. Looks great!
I'm impressed that you split that wood by hand. I did that at one time, but the joints don't allow that any more!

Thank you. There have been many times I wished I had a power splitter, but the quantity I split just does not justify the expense to me. I still cull an occasional tree, but mostly clean up downed trees and limbs. The big stuff that needs splitting gets stacked separate and I work it a few pieces at a time till I catch up. I had a pretty sore right shoulder for a couple days after the latest episode.

I was looking at these add-on blinds a couple months ago, but got frustrated by the lack of comprehensive info online. Most of my searches turned up multiple copies of the cheap generic imported stuff. What manufacturer did you end up choosing? I'll try my search again and limit it to their models.

Nice covered firewood storage! I wish I had an overhanging roof like that -- looks like you're set for winter.

The blind I installed is from ODL. Very pleased with quality, ease of installation, and verbal help from company. Once you follow their instructions for determining raised or inset and measuring to determine the correct model name, be sure to call to find out the model number - save yourself lots of time and hassle. Thank you on the storage. I had my barn built with an overhang on the south side and a few years ago added the overhang on the north side. Love having the covered space!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

As part of my recycling efforts, I have had a can crusher mounted in the pantry for about 30 years. I knew the pivot points were wallowing out. After some thought (very little), I decided I had probably gotten my moneys worth out of the crusher and decided to order a new one.

Once the new one was installed, I got to looking at the old one and thought "I'll bet I could fix that." So, I drilled out the pivot points which were made somewhat like an integral rivet.

Then, I spent way too much time sandblasting off the old powder coat finish.

I reassembled the unit using a piece of .5" threaded rod, washers, and some nuts. I carefully measured where the pivot point should be since the drilled out holes were much larger than .5". Tightening the nuts locked the washers in the desired pivot location.


I then welded the washers in place on the inside of the back piece and the outside of the front piece, cleaned up my welds, and painted everything.


Finally, I reassembled using a .5" bolt and locknut to form the new pivot point. Since the new pivots are the washers that are thicker than the crusher wall thickness, this will probably last longer than the replacement I bought.

 

[Prospecter]

Recycling the recycler! Nice!

 

[RickP]

It looks better (stronger) than new!

That's a slick way to reinforce a sheet metal hinge. I'm definitely using that in the future.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Built the house long before they came out with all these huge flat screen TVs. Bought an entertainment Armoire that initially housed about a 32" CRT TV, eventually replaced with a 40" flat screen - largest that would fit.



This has always seemed like an adequate size to me, given the size of the room and the placement of my easy chair. However, time marches on and I find myself wanting to use the info button to determine what is currently playing as I browse channels. Unfortunately, it is really hard to read the "info" display, so I got to thinking maybe it was time for an upgrade. Also, this armoire really dominates the room. So, I have started down the upgrade path. First, a shelf is needed for the center speaker and antennas.

I want a 4' shelf, but they only sell 8' lengths of 1x12, so I bought an 8' length of 1x6.

Added some edge banding, some stain and some spar urethane.

Then I needed some shelf brackets.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I had this carefully (?) thought out plan to mount one bracket on a stud, lay a 4' level across that bracket and the second bracket and then attach it to the appropriate stud, then lay the shelf across the brackets and attach with screws from the bottom, leaving a 1/4" gap at the back of the shelf for wires. Plan worked perfect - till I decided the shelf needed to be mounted one stud to the left. Now I have a dilemma - how to I hold this assembled shelf in place while attaching it to the studs in the new location. So, I thought what would the GJ collective suggest and came up with "cribbing".

I knew there was a reason I kept an assortment of Amazon boxes on hand!

Shelf successfully moved and cribbing removed.

This is the end of phase 2 - the cabinet holding the amp is a temporary solution. The goal is to disassemble the armoire and hopefully salvage enough material to construct a more suitable cabinet.

It was a real chore to get that armoire out the front door, down about 100 ft of gravel drive, and into my shop by myself - it's heavy, even on an appliance dolly.

 

[Uofime]

I had this carefully (?) thought out plan to mount one bracket on a stud, lay a 4' level across that bracket and the second bracket and then attach it to the appropriate stud, then lay the shelf across the brackets and attach with screws from the bottom, leaving a 1/4" gap at the back of the shelf for wires. Plan worked perfect - till I decided the shelf needed to be mounted one stud to the left. Now I have a dilemma - how to I hold this assembled shelf in place while attaching it to the studs in the new location. So, I thought what would the GJ collective suggest and came up with "cribbing".

I knew there was a reason I kept an assortment of Amazon boxes on hand!

Shelf successfully moved and cribbing removed.

This is the end of phase 2 - the cabinet holding the amp is a temporary solution. The goal is to disassemble the armoire and hopefully salvage enough material to construct a more suitable cabinet.

It was a real chore to get that armoire out the front door, down about 100 ft of gravel drive, and into my shop by myself - it's heavy, even on an appliance dolly.

I more or less did the same thing at my in-laws house. The trick to removing the armoire is to disassemble it in-situ, right where it stands now, it’s a lot easier to move in pieces and you need to take it apart anyway. You’ll likely only need a couple simple tools to take it apart so no need to get it to the shop until the modifications begin anyway.

Theirs became shelves for their garage, which was in dire need of organization.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Good suggestion, but it is already moved. In my case, I wanted to get my entertainment back usable as soon as possible and did not have enough room to disassemble the armoire in the living room.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Made some progress on disassembling my entertainment armoire.



Got the easy stuff removed. This thing is largely put together with staples - hate pulling staples. Luckily, no glue so far. The remainder is mostly stapled, but has some hidden screws I cannot get to without removing large amounts of trim, which are, so far, being stubborn. If I don't think I can get the trim off without damaging the large panels, I may get out the circular saw.

 

[Prospecter]

I have a dull old set of side cutters that I use for nail / staple pulling. They grip the shaft close to the wood, and provide good leverage to get the thing started out of the wood.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I have a dull old set of side cutters that I use for nail / staple pulling. They grip the shaft close to the wood, and provide good leverage to get the thing started out of the wood.

That is what I use also. The part that I hate about staples is that these were driven below the surface, so one has to hammer the pins from the back side to raise the "head" of the staple to where one can grab it with the side cutters without damaging the wood - and, inevitably there are a few where the pins repeatedly bend and you cannot get the head to rise. Then I find myself trying to drive the pins with a 1/16" punch.

Worked on the project a bit today and found where they had used glue - think its time for the circular saw.

 

[Prospecter]

Oh, well. Good to know when enough is enough. Scraps should at least burn well.
Wishing you happy Turkey Day.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Happy thanksgiving to you, too - and all the other GJers.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Though I managed to get the piece of trim off that covered this and can probably salvage the trim, this was obviously glued and is now kind of messed up - I will loose 7 or 8 inches off this side piece. The fancy trim around the top is also glued and will be even harder to remove. I discovered the front trim was placed on as an assembly - had hidden screws that could not be accessed while on the unit.

In order to salvage as much of the trim as possible, I decided to use the reciprocating saw to "free" the front trim just below the fancy top trim.

I was able to remove the bottom and middle shelves intact - luckily they were not glued into the rabbets. Now I just need to figure out how best to remove the top trim, top and sides to maximize salvaged materials.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Today, I finished phase 3 of this project. I completed dis-assembling the old Armoire, removed all staples and screws except 4 or 5 that decided not to cooperate, marked the location of the bad boys so the area can be cut off or avoided, and took inventory of the bits I have. Next up is designing a new cabinet - so far I have dug out a piece of graph paper.

 

[Prospecter]

Some nice salvage wood there, due to your careful demolition. It's difficult to get all the fasteners out of oak. If you need more material to supplement, I've picked up some oak cabinets for not much at our local ReStores. The odd single cabinets not part of a set tend to be especially inexpensive. And of course Craigslist and Marketplace.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I completed phase 4 the other day. Used some graph paper to layout the design of the new cabinet. Phase 5 is to figure out which pieces will be cut down for the new cabinet and complete those cuts.

These 2 pieces of the top trim are all that I could salvage and the trim is too massive for the new cabinet. These will be cut to 1 inch square pieces to form the joints between the top and sides of the cabinet.

Just to the left of the flat piece is a stack of salvaged face trim. These will be used as face trim on the new cabinet. They have been cut to size, but before I can proceed, the edge round-over has to be evened out as there were places where other pieces intersected where the edges were not rounded over - waiting on a router bit. The flat panels that I cut from the old shelves and sides have to be worked on to match the finish. In some cases one side was stained but not varnished, so all I have to do is add varnish to make those panels usable.

The long side panels will each yield a 31 by 16.25 piece to form the sides of the new cabinet. The challenge here is to match the stain on the unstained portion or judiciously lay out the construction so any mismatch does not show. These pieces have to have 2 dados cut into them for fixed shelves and holes drilled for an adjustable shelf - waiting on a shelf pin drilling guide.

 

[Prospecter]

Jeff, I am enjoying following along. Great stuff!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Phase 5 of my Armoire repurposing is complete. The first task was to repurpose the riser so that I could use it in the master bedroom where I moved the old tv.


I ran masking tape all around the back part of the riser and then ran the riser through the table saw to remove the back 4.5 inches. I then removed the cross tie from the cut off piece and reinstalled it on the riser. A bit of light sanding, stain, and varnish on the exposed back edge made this complete.

The sound bar fits nicely under the riser and leaves room for a DVD player to be added.
The last 2 pieces I needed for the new cabinet were cut from the original side pieces as shown in previous post.

The first of those 2 pieces is above. Since the Armoire had been stained after assembly originally, there was a line as seen above that separated the stained and unstained parts of the wood. I tried some light sanding and was not able to remove the "run" line. Since this is oak plywood and I had no way to know how deep the stain had penetrated, I decided to do my best to match the stain and leave the line.

This is the second piece. I did a little better with matching the stain.

This is the second piece after the application of one coat of varnish. Notice the match is even better. I am going to rely on some "magic" when assembling the cabinet to achieve an acceptable outcome. The mismatched stain areas will form the inside of the sides of the top, 6.75" high open shelf that will house my amp and dvd recorder. I believe with the equipment in place, no one but me will ever notice the mismatch. Later today, I will receive some router bits and a shelf pin drilling guide. Tomorrow, I plan to cut 2 dados in each of these pieces, drill shelf pin holes, stain the dado slots and apply a final coat of varnish.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

It warmed up enough today I could roll the table saw outside and work on my side panels. And, my shelf pin jig finally arrived in late afternoon.


I taped and marked the planned cuts and laid them on the saw to make sure I had my alignment right before flipping the panel over and cutting the dados.


Stained the dados, drilled the shelf pin holes and applied a second coat of varnish. Getting close to starting assembly, but first I have to do some round-over on trim pieces which will then need to be stained and varnished.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

The last few days have been mostly spent on trying to stain the trim bits to match the main panels. This has been a challenge because some of the trim bits were resized, which left unstained wood and some of them had to be rounded over or beveled, again leaving raw wood.


Fascia trim.


Base trim.

I also worked on gluing the fixed shelves into the side panels (above) and assembling the base trim.

I decided to order a Kreg shelf pin jig to make this project easier. When it arrived, one of the plastic pins on a small snap off piece used when making longer runs of pin holes was broken off. I went online and reached out to Kreg inquiring about obtaining a replacement piece. They promptly sent me an entire replacement jig at no cost. Excellent customer service!

As a contrast to that, on Monday I checked my mail at 4:30 pm and again at 6:30 pm. In my mailbox at 6:30 pm was a notice saying they had tried to deliver certified mail/signature required and the recipient (me) was not available. I found that interesting as I had been in my house the entire time and the doorbell never rang - notice was in mailbox 300 feet from front door. So, I went online and requested a re-delivery to the front door to occur on Wednesday. On Wednesday, I looked out the front door at 4:00 pm and watched the carrier insert mail in my mailbox and drive off with no attempt at re-delivery. I went out and checked the mail, came in and lodged a complaint online, and then, believing my delivery opportunity had passed, left the house for a brief errand I had put off while waiting for delivery. When I returned 30 minutes later, there was a notice on the door claiming they had attempted a re-delivery. Eventually, the PO ripped the signature bits off the 2 envelopes and delivered them to my mailbox on Saturday without my signature. When the PO reached out requesting feedback on the complaint filed on Wednesday, I explained in detail how poor the service had been and pointed out that if the carrier was dishonest about making an in-person delivery it had the effect of trying to transfer the workload to the office staff, presuming I would drive to the PO to pick up the items at a time of year when the office is swamped.

 

[bdbecker]

That is frustrating. Similar to you, I was working in my garage with the overhead door open. I saw the truck stop at the mailbox so I went out to grab the mail and found the notice. Lucky for me, I knew he'd be by delivering mail to the house across the street within about 5 minutes and was able to catch him on the way back. It was not our usual driver, so I suspect that had something to do with it.

I do know that around here, regular mail is delivered by our regular truck. It seems like parcels and specialty items are delivered by a different person. Perhaps that was the issue on Wednesday.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

That is frustrating. Similar to you, I was working in my garage with the overhead door open. I saw the truck stop at the mailbox so I went out to grab the mail and found the notice. Lucky for me, I knew he'd be by delivering mail to the house across the street within about 5 minutes and was able to catch him on the way back. It was not our usual driver, so I suspect that had something to do with it.

I do know that around here, regular mail is delivered by our regular truck. It seems like parcels and specialty items are delivered by a different person. Perhaps that was the issue on Wednesday.

Perhaps, your non-regular driver had something to do with your situation, but I personally think regular carriers are deliberately doing this to save themselves time and shift the responsibility to the customer to go to the office and pick up the material, which, of course, also shifts work to the office staff. My personal experience is that is takes the office staff longer to retrieve the letter and obtain the signature than it does the carrier. And, with this being the busiest time of the year for the office staff with long waiting lines, making the trip to the office did not make sense to me.

You are correct that parcels are delivered, frequently (but not always), by a different driver. Since they offer the option to request a re-delivery and specify "front door", it would be logical for them to have the regular carrier make the re-delivery, since that is the only way the customer has a chance of estimating the delivery time if they are not able to stay home the entire day. Not doing that would increase the failure rate of re-deliveries.

In my case, since I had reported that the carrier failed to attempt delivery to the front door when I was indeed home, I would have expected competent management to have a talk with the carrier about his responsibilities and make sure he did the re-delivery correctly.

 

[bdbecker]

If it's a common occurrence, then there is no excuse. Filing a complaint was the right move. The postmaster can't hold people accountable unless they know there is an issue.

I feel pretty blessed in the fact that our local USPS seem to be a solid group of people. Beside the situation mentioned above, the only other issues I've had in the last 12 years were a couple of packages being delivered to my neighbor's house. Even then, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt - our houses are very similar construction and were painted a similar color for a long time. Now that the houses are different colors, and I installed larger house numbers, we've had no problems since. Amazon drivers... well that is a different can of worms.

 

[zanyad]

Amazon drivers... well that is a different can of worms.

They're the worst!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

They're the worst!

I am not sure about that - Fed-Ex, USPS, UPS, Amazon - all have demonstrated less than stellar performance over the years at my house.

In addition to the latest incident regarding claiming they could not deliver because I was not available when I was, I have experienced all of the following:

1) driving in the grass and leaving deep ruts instead of staying on the well-packed gravel drive.
2) hiding the package behind the stack of firewood on the front porch - where I would never think to look for it.
3) leaning the package against the overhead garage door, so that when I opened the door from my vehicle, the package fell to the ground where I could not see it and was backed over.
4) placing the package on the stoop in front of the storm door so when the door is opened the package is swept off the stoop
5)shoving packages into the mailbox that are larger than the mailbox opening
6)delivering package to the back door

 

[Dh3256]

I am not sure about that - Fed-Ex, USPS, UPS, Amazon - all have demonstrated less than stellar performance over the years at my house.

In addition to the latest incident regarding claiming they could not deliver because I was not available when I was, I have experienced all of the following:

1) driving in the grass and leaving deep ruts instead of staying on the well-packed gravel drive.
2) hiding the package behind the stack of firewood on the front porch - where I would never think to look for it.
3) leaning the package against the overhead garage door, so that when I opened the door from my vehicle, the package fell to the ground where I could not see it and was backed over.
4) placing the package on the stoop in front of the storm door so when the door is opened the package is swept off the stoop
5)shoving packages into the mailbox that are larger than the mailbox opening
6)delivering package to the back door

To be fair, 2 and 6 sound like a good things to try to protect from porch pirates, and 3 really sounds like bad driving. If you "cannot see" where you are driving maybe you shouldn't be driving? What if it had been a squirrel or a small child or the neighbor's kitten?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

To be fair, 2 and 6 sound like a good things to try to protect from porch pirates, and 3 really sounds like bad driving. If you "cannot see" where you are driving maybe you shouldn't be driving? What if it had been a squirrel or a small child or the neighbor's kitten?

2 and 6 might be acceptable if the location was communicated to the homeowner or done at their request. When done without communication, it amounts to making things more difficult for the homeowner. As for labeling number 3 as bad driving, my house is in the middle of 5 acres and 300 feet back from the street. Never seen a squirrel that would not run off when the door opens. Never had small children trespassing on the property where they were in danger of my backing out. When I have company, I open the door and walk behind the vehicle before backing out. I think all of the examples I listed are evidence of people who do not consider the consequences of their actions when making deliveries.

 

[RickP]

I think all of the examples I listed are evidence of people who do not consider the consequences of their actions when making deliveries.

I hear you on that... we've had our share of careless delivery drivers too.
(which are especially bad with a long driveway, as you mentioned)

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Back to the Armoire repurposing project. Since most of the material I am salvaging is 3/4 plywood, I needed to add some form of edge banding to make the intersections between the top and sides of the cabinet. Since I had a couple of pieces of large trim that I could cut some 1" by 1" pieces out of, I decided to use that. I considered pocket holing the sides and top in order to screw this edge banding on, but because most of the material is already finished, I decided that would not work because some of these joints would be visible unless the slots were plugged, but that would involve sanding off the plugs and effect the pre-finish.


This is a pic of starting to attach the edge banding to the top. Since some of the involved surfaces had been stained, I decided I should reinforce the joint with some brad nails.

That is when this project took a turn sideways. The 1x1 wood was so hard and apparently the grain was wonky, because my brads started coming through the top and bottom of the top. See all the holes above? I finally had to pre-drill the 1x1 and use some ringed panel nails so that I could get them to go in straight. I thought about pulling both pieces off and starting over, but did not have anything else I could get 1x1 pieces out of. Going to have to rely on filler and hopefully some good luck to fill all the holes without it being so noticeable it ruins the looks.

Here is the top being glued and nailed into place.

 

[Prospecter]

Back to the Armoire repurposing project. Since most of the material I am salvaging is 3/4 plywood, I needed to add some form of edge banding to make the intersections between the top and sides of the cabinet. Since I had a couple of pieces of large trim that I could cut some 1" by 1" pieces out of, I decided to use that. I considered pocket holing the sides and top in order to screw this edge banding on, but because most of the material is already finished, I decided that would not work because some of these joints would be visible unless the slots were plugged, but that would involve sanding off the plugs and effect the pre-finish.


This is a pic of starting to attach the edge banding to the top. Since some of the involved surfaces had been stained, I decided I should reinforce the joint with some brad nails.

That is when this project took a turn sideways. The 1x1 wood was so hard and apparently the grain was wonky, because my brads started coming through the top and bottom of the top. See all the holes above? I finally had to pre-drill the 1x1 and use some ringed panel nails so that I could get them to go in straight. I thought about pulling both pieces off and starting over, but did not have anything else I could get 1x1 pieces out of. Going to have to rely on filler and hopefully some good luck to fill all the holes without it being so noticeable it ruins the looks.

Here is the top being glued and nailed into place.

Good approach. I've used paneling nails that way in a similar situation. Looks good now, even without filler.
I'm enjoying the pictures of your shop, too.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Phase 5 of this project was to cut all the salvage pieces needed to assemble a new cabinet. Previously reported this phase as done, but I forgot about back panels for the cabinet.


The back panel of the armoire was only 1/8 inch thick - didn't know you could even get plywood that thin. This piece was glued and copiously stapled so, as you can see, it took some serious damage during disassembly. I think I can get 2 usable pieces out of the upper half of this panel to finally complete phase 5. Phase 6 was to repurpose a portion of the armoire into a tv riser which I already showed. Phase 7 is to assemble the new cabinet.


The new cabinet is coming together. This shows it assembled with 2 fixed and one adjustable shelf. I still need to add back panels, round over the top side edges, and add one more coat of varnish on the top. I may eventually try to add doors to the lower portion of the cabinet, but that will be a separate project.



Meanwhile, phase 8 of the project has commenced. Some more plywood cut and edge banded for what will become a small DVD cabinet.

 

[Prospecter]

Enjoying your furniture rehab. Merry Christmas Jeff.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Merry Christmas to all!