Does woodwork count as fabrication?

[Beater]

I tinker more with metal than wood, but I tried my hand at building with wood recently.
Not sure this belongs in the "fabrication" section but I'm posting here anyway...

We need some more clothes storage in our bedroom (old house, not much closet space) so I decided to build a blanket chest. I'm just winging it.

I'm building this out of 3/4" birch plywood, some quarter round, and a few other pieces of molding. It's 48" long, 18" deep, and 18" tall.
It'll be painted, not stained, so I'm using a lot of air nailing and wood filler instead of legit furniture building skills.

I have to sand it a bit, and then it's ready for paint and the 48" piano hinge...

 

[Motofixxer]

Of course it counts. It's creating something with raw materials. The chest looks pretty good.

 

[motofly196]

Looks great! I'd like to see it when you're done, looks like a great design for a toy chest too!!

 

[Vinko]

Looks good. I've been wanting to building something like that for a side porch.

 

[StumpXJ]

Looks pretty damn snazzy to me. Nice job!

~James

 

[brokenknee]

From dictionary.com Yes it does.

 

[woodshadower]

Some great stuff can come from "winging it" !!!!!!!

 

[Jack Olsen]

As a fellow make-it-up-as-he-goes-along carpenter, I salute you. That looks great.

 

[kbs2244]

I don't know if you have any little ones.
The woodworking guys always say to use some slow acting lids in case you have a little one that has opened it up and is hanging over the edge looking for something when the lid decides to close.
There are a few different designs and suppliers.
Check out some of the woodworking sites.

It looks well done.

 

[Beater]

Thanks for the positive comments. I think it's gonna turn out pretty good for just a $50 investment. (I already had the molding, glue, nails, etc. Just had to buy one sheet of plywood and the hinge. I already have paint from another project.)

I'm gonna try to finish it this weekend, then I'll post more pics.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Yeah, the no-slam hinges are a must if any toddlers are going to have access to the bench. I used a piano hinge for each cabinet, but also the first slam controlling hinge listed in this link:

Link

-when I built this for my son's nursery:

 

[nate379]

Jack I always see pics of stuff you have built that looks to have lots and lots of time put into it. How do you find the time? Are you retired?

 

[mike13u]

That, my friend, is indeed fabrication.

 

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

Yes, it does count

nice job

 

[Beater]

Yeah, the no-slam hinges are a must if any toddlers are going to have access to the bench. I used a piano hinge for each cabinet, but also the first slam controlling hinge listed in this link:

Link

-when I built this for my son's nursery:

Nice work.

No kids here, and no plans for kids. Been married 13 years and we're both cool with the choice we've made. So... I'm just going with one of the generic supports like this:

 

[Jack Olsen]

Jack I always see pics of stuff you have built that looks to have lots and lots of time put into it. How do you find the time? Are you retired?

Not retired. But I do my for-a-living work out of an office that's attached to my garage.

I didn't do much of anything -- in terms of hobbies, building, fixing, whatever -- until I turned 40. Then something kicked in. Now it feels like I've constantly got three or four projects going. I do just as much 'work' work as ever. But I'm getting more focused at it, and that frees time up.

 

[woody 73]

Hi, That is a wonderful job very well done!!! It is so nice too see other people working in wood I am not alone...

Keep up the great work .

All the best Woody.

 

[colt zantop]

cool stuff guys...I dont have the patience... LOL

 

[D.J.]

OP your projest looks good! Man dosen't Jack come up with some of the coolest projects and has enough thought to put some radius's in every thing he does! Really Cool guys keep up the good work!
D.J.
________
STARCRAFT 2 REPLAYS.NET

 

[Jack Olsen]

OP your projest looks good! Man dosen't Jack come up with some of the coolest projects and has enough thought to put some radius's in every thing he does!

Ha! You're right. I'm sure it all goes back to my first construction project -- a back yard half pipe for skateboarding. First I built it myself, useless and wrong; then my (engineer) father patiently walked me through doing it right. A small amount of his good sense took root, and -- without thinking about it -- I often find a place to put in an arch or curve in stuff I build. A nod to him.

 

[E.rodz]

I am up for anykind of fabrication wood, metal,plastic.It's all somthing to learn from. nice job keep up the great work.

 

[Beater]

Ha! You're right. I'm sure it all goes back to my first construction project -- a back yard half pipe for skateboarding. First I built it myself, useless and wrong; then my (engineer) father patiently walked me through doing it right. A small amount of his good sense took root, and -- without thinking about it -- I often find a place to put in an arch or curve in stuff I build. A nod to him.

That's awesome. My first wood project was a quarter pipe, in about 5th or 6th grade. It sucked, but the second one was much better. Got help from my mom with the second one 'cause she saw us building it with hand tools and she broke out some power tools to make the cuts for us. Awesome.

I've built a zillion ramps since then. I'm 35 now, and just over a year ago I built a ramp in my yard. I don't have a nice flat spot in the yard, that's why it's up so high. The back left corner sits right on the ground, but the rest of the ramp is on stilts...

This is me at my first annual Old Man Skate Jam...

 

[LoneGunman]

Nice work Beater, Jack you are an inspiration. Me and wood do not get along at all. I can build something out of wood to where it will be strong but when it comes to it looking good it's not happening.

 

[Jack Olsen]

That's exactly it.

My father showed me how to get the curve right by attaching a pencil to a string that was the length of the radius you wanted, then connecting the two edge pieces with studs.

I'm older than you, though -- I was going for something more like the big public-works concrete pipes and deep pools of the era. Mine was only 8' wide, but the diameter of the thing was 20', so it went up 10' from the ground with 2' of vertical on top of that. And mine had no flat space in between -- as soon as you were down, you were going up the other side. I painted the "Sims" logo on the vertical section.

 

[wineslob]

Nice work guys! Here is a christmas present I made for my wife this past year:

I built it at work so it would be a surprise. She was surprised.

 

[mooman]

Great work guys! You're all hired to help my son and I build his first pinewood derby car.

 

[Keep]

*edit* My first project in woodshop was a 1/4 pipe as well. 5ft tall with a ft of vert. Ended up cutting it down to a very nice launch ramp.

Very nice work. Here is my submission:

Its cedar lined as well. I got sick of trying to stuff blankets in the closet.

I have some more in here:
http://www.netquickposse.org/photos/index.php?album=woodworking

 

[PurdueSD]

Thanks for the positive comments. I think it's gonna turn out pretty good for just a $50 investment. (I already had the molding, glue, nails, etc. Just had to buy one sheet of plywood and the hinge. I already have paint from another project.)

I'm gonna try to finish it this weekend, then I'll post more pics.

so how did it turn out?

 

[Beater]

so how did it turn out?

I'm a lazy *** and haven't worked on it in a couple weeks. I actually built it a month or so ago, but then I had some other stuff to do and never painted it. It's been way too cold lately to paint it in my unheated, uninsulated garage, and I've just been too lazy to bring it inside to work on it. Maybe this coming weekend???

 

[64merc]

Yeah, the no-slam hinges are a must if any toddlers are going to have access to the bench. I used a piano hinge for each cabinet, but also the first slam controlling hinge listed in this link:

Link

-when I built this for my son's nursery:

How do you know which weight to order?

 

[Jack Olsen]

I weighed the bench top.

 

[z28snksknr]

I am the same "make it up as you go" carpenter.

I've been thinking of making a cedar chest for blankets, sweaters, etc. for a while. Thanks for sharing. You've inspired me to actually make it happen (sometime in the future).

 

[mjozefow]

Nice work, but leave air holes/slots if you have young kids!

 

[Flathead Youngin']

There's some nice looking things in here.....the blanket chest is great....

When we build a new house I'm going to try build a lot of our furniture...

I have most of my stuff from high school.......

After I took the Wood Shop job at our local high school, THEN I went back to college to learn how to woodwork.......

Here's the first project I made from my classes. It's a shaker sofa table; book matched top, mortise and tenon frame, half blind hand cut dovetails for the drawers (man the instructor wanted them perfect), lathe turned knobs for the drawers, mixed my topcoat and sprayed it on ......yadda, yadda......

Now, I cheat and use the pocket hols jig for just about everything; strong, fast, looks good in blind spots....I don't know if I could make it that perfect again.....

I gave this table to my aunt when she first got her new home, under the condition that when she passes, it goes to my daughter.......

 

[T56 Impala]

You guys rock! None of my stuff ever turns out good enough to post a picture of. I made a toy box for my daughter. It turned out okay. I use the proper hinges and air holes and paint. I made a few toys for both kids and small table to put my router/modem on. I turned the legs on it myself. Kind of a learning curve in that project!

I built some nice work benches in my old garage. A few cabinets. I built my router table too. I think I used it once or twice. Most of my tools are doing nothing more that collecting dust these days. I used to turn pens. Actually, I just posted a thread about that.

Anyway, very nice work guys. Maybe I'll get motivated to break out the WW tools this spring.

 

[porphyre]

How do you get the urethane to look so smooth?? I can't put down a good layer of urethane to save my life. I've tried regular brushes, foam brushes, and rags. I even went and bought a special "For oil based paints and urethane" brush. I've tried thinning the urethane with mineral spirits. I sand between coats using anything from 220 to 600. I sand before hand. I stain, sometimes I don't. One thing I read said to soak the brush in mineral spirits up to the ferrel to "force out" the air bubbles. Didn't work.

I get bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.

The only thing that seems to work at all is using a rag. But the layers put on by a rag are so THIN. It takes about 5-6 coats to get a good coating. To hide the grain like in Wineslob's picture... man that'd take a dozen coats.

What's the secret to laying down a good layer of polyurethane?

 

[thomask]

Thanks for the positive comments. I think it's gonna turn out pretty good for just a $50 investment. (I already had the molding, glue, nails, etc. Just had to buy one sheet of plywood and the hinge. I already have paint from another project.)

I'm gonna try to finish it this weekend, then I'll post more pics.

BEATER: Great job, to me if you build something from raw materials, it is fabrication.

If you build it from a kit of ready made pieces it is assembly.

JACK: Great kids room furniture project. Are you a New Yankee Workshop Fan?

 

[Flathead Youngin']

I sprayed the table in a special room with a huge ventilator. Many layers and very fine sanding between.....when I had a bubble the instructor made you sand it out and build it back up. Like I said, I don't think I could replicate it at the shop I teach at, let alone at home.

It sounds like your are doing more than your share of what I would suggest. Whatever you used, put it on thin, lightly sand in between each coat. I like to use a worn out pc. of 220 after the first coat or two. Even then it's more like wiping the sand paper over it all rather than sanding it.....unless it needs more attention in a certain area.

I'm a jack of all trades and a master of NONE!

How do you get the urethane to look so smooth?? I can't put down a good layer of urethane to save my life. I've tried regular brushes, foam brushes, and rags. I even went and bought a special "For oil based paints and urethane" brush. I've tried thinning the urethane with mineral spirits. I sand between coats using anything from 220 to 600. I sand before hand. I stain, sometimes I don't. One thing I read said to soak the brush in mineral spirits up to the ferrel to "force out" the air bubbles. Didn't work.

I get bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.

The only thing that seems to work at all is using a rag. But the layers put on by a rag are so THIN. It takes about 5-6 coats to get a good coating. To hide the grain like in Wineslob's picture... man that'd take a dozen coats.

What's the secret to laying down a good layer of polyurethane?

 

[stoval]

This is a scratch built/design satelite speaker system I've recently completed. This took a few months - still tweaking the sound, but very satisfying thus far.

 

[Gds14r]

beautiful speaker cabinet work, i do builds as well more subwoofer oriented though.