Below 265 SQ/FT Legenddc's Shop

[legenddc]

Monday night I finished making all of the rectangles.

Last night I went downstairs to start connecting the pieces. Was just about to drill dowel holes and thankfully I realized it before I drilled them. I laid out the lines on the correct legs and screwed that up too, which was a simple enough fix. Almost messed up a 3rd time so I threw in the towel for the evening.

Snuck some time in today and managed to get everything together.



Up next is sanding the inside edges before it's all glued together.

 

[captain14]

Sometimes if it’s too late or I’m too tired, I just wait until I’m ready for the next day or two. It’s just too easy to make a simple mistake.

 

[Nolift911]

Looks great! BTW will have to hook up at C&C sometime - the kids didn't get out of bed last weekend for that and we missed out.

 

[legenddc]

I never know when I'm going. Depends when my son wakes up. He's good until he finishes his donut and then I have 5-10 minutes if I'm lucky.

 

[Nolift911]

I never know when I'm going. Depends when my son wakes up. He's good until he finishes his donut and then I have 5-10 minutes if I'm lucky.

Yup BTDT - now at the teenager stages they won't get out of bed, but want to go and stay all day. Breakfast at Katies for 3 teenagers is like mortgage material...

 

[legenddc]

Sometimes if it’s too late or I’m too tired, I just wait until I’m ready for the next day or two. It’s just too easy to make a simple mistake.

I totally agree. Especially when it comes to using dangerous, sharp spinning tools.

My semi cold + pink eye riddled brain is apparently on strike. I sanded one of the frames yesterday thinking I was using 80 grit. Eventually I started thinking this is taking a while. Got to the 2nd frame and it was then that I realized I never switched the 220 grit disc to the 80 grit disc I took out of the box.

Second frame went much quicker.

 

[legenddc]

Friday evening I was able to get the edges rounded over and a lot of sanding done on it. Apparently I didn't manage to take pictures.

Saturday morning my daughter woke up early. I told her I figured it was her brother up because he wanted to go to cars and coffee. Next thing you know, we're waking him up and sneaking out. Hard to get good pics when you're making sure your kids don't get run over, carrying a coffee and whatever a kid has just handed you. I've learned they don't like the smell of the old cars exhaust so walking behind the parked cars lets them make it a little longer.

The new Rolls Royce Spectre was there.

And a few Porsches parked next to each other. The Cobra was a replica.


After that I locked myself back in the shop to finish sanding since both kids had a friend over. Early afternoon I went to Walmart, swapped my car battery in the Walmart parking lot, returned the core, and picked up some groceries from the store next to it.

Saturday night my wife and I got to spend some romantic time together gluing up the table legs.


Sunday it was time to clean up the shop, install the leg levelers and get a coat of stain on it. Shockingly this mess cleaned up pretty quickly.


Leg levelers were requested on this kitchen table base. Knowing I was doing a heavy round over on this I had a feeling the T-nut that comes with the legs wasn't going to work.


Fortunately you can tap wood with regular metal taps. A bit of a complicated process because I didn't have the right size brad point bit. I had to drill a smaller size hole using Kreg drill guide I bought for this. Then drilled the correct size and finally chucked the tap in the drill.


Last night I got the first coat of stain on. I'm staining maple which isn't normally a good idea as it can get blotchy and absorb the stain different. I used pre-stain conditioner before I stained it.


It's a bit uneven but I'm not worried about it yet as I still have two coats of a walnut gel stain to put on. Should get that on this week and the top coats depending on how long it takes to dry. I'm following the same steps on a scrap piece of wood so I can test that to make sure it's dry before ruining part of the real piece.

 

[larry4406]

Nice!

Where was the cars and coffee?

 

[Nolift911]

Was there - missed you again!

 

[legenddc]

Nice!

Where was the cars and coffee?

Katie's Cars and Coffee in Great Falls. We were there around 7 AM and it was pretty busy. It used to start emptying out around 8:30/9 but it might go later now.

Was there - missed you again!

I almost got on here to let you know we were going but the kids were rushing me to get donuts.

 

[legenddc]

I hope everyone had a Happy Father's Day this weekend!

It appears that I jinxed myself last week with my statement around the stain. I put on a coat of the walnut gel stain and the color seemed off. A second coat on one of the sides didn't do much either. Since this is being stained to match pre-existing furniture I needed to get it correct.

Finally on Thursday I decided just to cut my loses and start again. I used my newly purchased card scrappers to scrap off the side with the double coat of gel stain. The rest was sanded with the random orbital sander at 150 grit. The super fun part was sanding all of the intersections and curves that I couldn't get with the ROS. A curved card scraper and the Preppin Weapon sander block did the bulk of that but there was a lot of hand sanding as well.

Finally I got another coat of the red oak stain on it.



And here it is complete with the two coats of walnut gel stain and 3 coats of General Finished Arm'R'Seal.



I think my color was off from a combination of too thick a first coat of red and sanding it to 220 instead of the 150 recommended for the gel stain. Lesson learned. Just wish it didn't take 5.5 hours to fix.

 

[legenddc]

Delivered the table base this morning. The legs really match the chairs and the lady I made it for was thrilled with how it came out.

 

[legenddc]

It has been non stop here since Father's Day. The night before I delivered the table I went to a Nationals game. Wednesday, when I delivered the table, my old college roommate came up with his family. Had a late night catching up with him and another friend's family that came over.

My wife went out a trip with her college friends on Friday the 21st and came home Monday the 24th. Kids and I had a great time. Monday the 24th, before my wife even got home, I left for New Orleans for a work trip.

In between all day meetings we got to go on a boat tour of the Mississippi river and of course made a trip on Bourbon Street, including a visit to the oldest bar in the US.






I got home Thursday evening and was home for less than 36 hours before we went away on vacation. Packed the car without much room to spare.



Went mini-golfing at a place with some animatronic dinosaurs


Kids made friends at the beach so we shockingly had a lot of sitting under an umbrella. Not a bad view.


Saturday we stopped at my in-laws house for a few hours to celebrate my wife's birthday. Sunday my mom and I went to the Nationals game as a friend couldn't go.



Yesterday I had the day off to get gum graft surgery. Now I'm back working with a half my face swollen the size of a softball. Stuck on a liquid diet until tomorrow morning and then soft foods for 2 weeks. I was told the most I should be doing is walking. Sitting around not working on anything is like torture.

 

[runit]

Nice score on the All Day Variety pack!

 

[legenddc]

Wasn't planning on expanding my ToughSystem collection but the recent sale at Home Depot pushed me over the edge. The stack on the left and in the middle are the new ones.



Loaded up some already

• 2 drawer is plumbing
• 3 drawer is electrical tools, outlets, soldering irons
• 1 large box is drywall repair
• 1 large box is painting

Still empty

1. Small box - possibly use this for my impact wrench and impact sockets
2. Small box #2 - might put all things related to trim molding in here
3. Large box - electric power washer if it fits. Need to grab it back from my dad.

All put away in their new spots.

 

[captain14]

How are you going to label each box identifying the contents?

 

[legenddc]

How are you going to label each box identifying the contents?

The parts that say ToughSystem 2.0 are removable so I'll print a label and put it on the back of that slip of paper. Will wait some until I know I'm not changing things around.

For things that might change, like what I store in those cheap plastic shoeboxes, I'll typically use dry-erase duct tape.

 

[legenddc]

I finished cleaning up the tool room and workbench. Haven’t seen the top so empty in a long time. Ended up pitching a lot of random fasteners. Now that I have the thread checker I can always order a new bolt without a run to the store.


A buddy from work texted me yesterday saying someone dumped a saw by the dumpster in their apartment complex. I forgot some of the places have individual garages there.


Sadly it was missing the motor and fence. My son said he’d come with me and we grabbed the cast iron wings. He zipped off the bolts with an impact while I held them up.


I cleaned one with some WD40 and Scotchbrite with my random orbital sander for a couple of minutes. Might need a more aggressive pad to really clean it up but it’s functional. I think the holes will line up so no need to drill the cast iron.
Just weighed these. The standard stamped wings are 10 lbs each. These are 28 lbs each.

 

[legenddc]

Got the wings mounted up. I painted the sides black instead of having that Jet tan color and rust on the sides.

Drilled a new hole in the power switch. My son decided to help with it.


Also posted a bunch of things in our Buy Nothing Facebook group. Anything left by the end of the week will get donated or properly disposed of.

 

[legenddc]

Not much has happened lately. Back around the time I last posted my wife got an oil change and a laundry list of things wrong with her car. Then we went on a week long vacation. On the last day I ordered a Tekton 1/2" impact metric shallow and deep set, Gearwrench long pattern metric wrenches, new front outer tie rod ends and new rear springs.

It took almost 2 weeks to get car parts in. Armed with everything I thought I needed, I took the kids to my parent's house to work on the car while my wife was home sick with Covid. It was a Friday night when I started and immediately stripped both sway bar link bolts. Not knowing if I would be able to find replacements locally I stopped and buttoned everything back up.

The next morning I attempted to remove the tie rod ends and couldn't get the jam nut to move. Unfortunately I left my torch at home. The kids had been at my in-laws and my parent's most of the week so I decided just to quit and go have fun with them. Packed everything up, came home and then realized I wasn't just hot from being in the garage but my fever of 102 meant I also had Covid. With kids activities and upcoming travel I think we’re just going to have a non-dealer shop fix it.

This weekend my son wanted to go to the local cars and coffee. Hard to focus when you’re there with a 6 year old. I enjoyed seeing these cars there that I haven’t sent before.

Had a weird experience this weekend. Met a couple who looked at and almost bought our house 12 years ago when it was on the market. They put in a backup offer to ours. Small world.

 

[legenddc]

First Festool purchase. Found a fantastic price on a used Domino. It honestly may never have been used. I guess I need to go order some Dominos now and get back to working on that bookshelf.

 

[Xti04]

First Festool purchase. Found a fantastic price on a used Domino. It honestly may never have been used. I guess I need to go order some Dominos now and get back to working on that bookshelf.

Nice score! Of all the tools they make the domino is the one that interests me the most especially when I was doing lots of natural lumber stuff and needed the strength increase over a biscuit which is more for placement to me.

 

[Nolift911]

Wood novice. Dominos better than biscuits?

 

[Xti04]

The dominos are thick and can actually beef up a joint. Biscuits are like an 1/8 in thick and are used to locate 2 flat edges together but dont really add support.

 

[legenddc]

Nice score! Of all the tools they make the domino is the one that interests me the most especially when I was doing lots of natural lumber stuff and needed the strength increase over a biscuit which is more for placement to me.

Thanks. I honestly wasn't looking for one but happened to be in the "right place at the right time" virtually. For $530 shipped to my door I couldn't pass it up.

Wood novice. Dominos better than biscuits?

According to this video they're slightly stronger. Here's another writeup of wood joints.

A big advantage over a biscuit cutter is the ability to change the thickness and depth of the Domino you use.




I believe my dad's biscuit jointer uses #10 or #20 biscuits. They make a wide slot. If you look up at the table leg base I made it was only 2" wide so I couldn't use biscuits. Drilling the dowels for that took me 80 minutes, with a lot of that marking where the dowels went to connect the middle piece.



Dominos are 4-10mm in thickness for the smaller DF500 I picked up and can be cut in various lengths. You're also able to cut a deeper mortise in one piece and a shallower one in the adjoining part so you don't blow out the side. If a piece is big enough you can put multiple Dominos in it, not just side by side, but also stacked.

The side table, coffee table and TV stand I made all have legs too small for a biscuit. I did use biscuits to help reinforce and align the miters on the TV stand. The rest of those joints are mortise and tenon. I made those with a router and edge guide for the mortise. The tenons were made with a table saw and then I would round the edges with a chisel. It's a pain to dial the tenon thickness. I did pick up a shoulder plane so I could finesse them individually to fit.

It works fine, just very time consuming. With two kids in elementary school and my wife and I working full time I'd rather spend my time with them than hand fitting mortise and tenon joints one at a time.

The good news for me is if I somehow don't like it or I'm not using it enough I can sell it at a profit since I bought it so cheap. It's a bit strange to have the most expensive tool in my shop being one of the smallest.

 

[legenddc]

I haven't looked into yet but there are also connectors available for knock down joinery. I'm honestly not sure all of the uses for it but I believe you could use it to break furniture down to smaller pieces so it's easier to move. Basically your own Ikea flat-pack or connect a bed frame. Not sure of the strength rating for them.

 

[legenddc]

My Dominos came in today. Since I still have my dad’s biscuit jointer at my house I thought I would take some comparison between the biscuits and dominos.




It’s hard to photograph but here’s a side profile so you can see the thickness. The biscuits are just under 4 mm thick while these dominos are 5 mm and 8mm thick.



With the Domino df500 I can use dominos up to 8x50mm in depth.

 

[Nolift911]

Making me hungry...

 

[captain14]

I have never heard of dominoes In Woodworking. Something else to look into and fall into the rabbit hole.

 

[jar944]

I have never heard of dominoes In Woodworking. Something else to look into and fall into the rabbit hole.

Bring your wallet, it's a expensive fall down the hole.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

@legenddc Thoroughly enjoyed your thread this evening. I see many similarities with myself in regards to initial work space, storage and projects. You have definitely created some excellent articles of furniture. Love the note from your daughter and pic of Dwight. Excellent pics of autos as well. Keep us all posted on future endeavours.

 

[legenddc]

@legenddc Thoroughly enjoyed your thread this evening. I see many similarities with myself in regards to initial work space, storage and projects. You have definitely created some excellent articles of furniture. Love the note from your daughter and pic of Dwight. Excellent pics of autos as well. Keep us all posted on future endeavours.

Thank you! I've seen your Lake Thread pop up a few times but haven't had the chance to go through your threads in detail yet. They have been added to my list!

 

[nicholam77]

First Festool purchase. Found a fantastic price on a used Domino. It honestly may never have been used. I guess I need to go order some Dominos now and get back to working on that bookshelf.

Jealous!! I would have bought one a long time ago if they weren't so damned expensive. I imagine you'll make good use of it with the type of furniture you've built in this thread (great work btw!)

 

[legenddc]

Jealous!! I would have bought one a long time ago if they weren't so damned expensive. I imagine you'll make good use of it with the type of furniture you've built in this thread (great work btw!)

Oddly enough I was reading your thread when you were talking about the domino jig from Peter Millard and was planning to make it when this popped up. Just read about your experience with the kit you bought from him this morning. I've been using a router and edge guide to make mortises and the table saw for tenons. Really looking forward to speeding up the process.

 

[nicholam77]

Oddly enough I was reading your thread when you were talking about the domino jig from Peter Millard and was planning to make it when this popped up. Just read about your experience with the kit you bought from him this morning. I've been using a router and edge guide to make mortises and the table saw for tenons. Really looking forward to speeding up the process.

Ah, yes. I haven't really used it for a real project yet, but the Peter Millard style router jig does work. But it isn't that fast. Setup and clamping is a bit annoying. Probably the biggest advantage over what you were doing is the use of the Dominos and 5mm upcut spiral bit give a perfect tenon fit without the trouble of the table saw.

If I ever get to building some cabinets I have planned, I might give my Peter Millard jig a proper go.

 

[legenddc]

Fall sports/activities are kicking my **** at the moment and I haven't had a chance to get back into the shop. One thing that bugged me with the Domino is the plunge depth adjustment was extremely hard to set. Definitely wasn't springing back into place like it should.

The adjuster (73) seems to be crooked as it's sliding in the Main Girder (61). Everything appears straight and no burrs or rough spots where it slides.

I don't know if it's because the Connection Flange (72) is bent or out of alignment with the Main Girder (61). I do know that both of those parts are $82-96 each while the adjuster (73) is $7.10.

For $17 I had the adjuster being shipped here. It arrived yesterday and while the kids were getting ready for bed I started taking apart the DF500.

Taking it apart is fairly easy with the diagram. Top case and back off.


Pull the spring back and pull the brushes up some to allow the case to come off.


Four more Torx T15 bolts.


Finally you can access the part I needed.



I tried the part and was having the same issue. Chucked it up in my drill and filed it down some. Still having interference but it was getting better.

Ended up very slightly tweaking the rod the adjuster rides on, part 72 above. Seems to have fixed everything. The bottom two settings don’t go fully into place by the spring alone but it’s so close when you let go of the black adjuster it pushes the green knob into place.

Headed to my son's basketball game in a minute. Will hopefully have a chance to build a test side piece for the bookshelf after.

 

[legenddc]

This is a pretty standard lunch break for members of this forum right? Driving home Tuesday night my daughter noticed the floor beneath her seat was soaking wet. Seems my sunroof drain clogs every other year now from all our pollen. Quick blast from an air compressor and its cleared out. Lunch break today will be to go vacuum the car out.



I'm finally back to spending some time on making this bookshelf. I finally came to the conclusion a test piece is in order to help me figure out the layout and settings on the Domino. I have a few more things to figure out on the test piece and then I can pick back up work on the real one.

 

[legenddc]

My busiest time of the year at work is done and I'm looking forward to getting some stuff done around the house and in the workshop. I did buy a cheap set of carbide tools for the wood lathe.



Hoping to get my daughter to use them soon but obviously I had to test them first. Sadly the Harry Potter wand I was making broke but I did find a half-done bowl blank that I completed this weekend. I think I started it 6+ years ago. Also baked some bread this weekend with my son.



Up next will be to not get distracted with the lathe, clean up the shop and get back on the bookshelf.

 

[legenddc]

Last week I finally started on the bookshelf I’m making for my daughter. I had already milled up a bunch of parts and never got around to much after that. First I cut the legs and side panels to the final lengths. After that I used the Festool Domino to create mortises to help with the alignment. Here’s a one side of the bookshelf.


I had decided to overlap the front legs from the pane but wanted the back legs flush for maximum shelf depth. That meant the legs had different reveals on the outside. You can see the gap below where the pencil is.



I cut the back legs flush with the front.


Doing this created the problem that the back leg wasn't square. I added some additional wood to the back legs on the inside and cut it square. Now when I go to taper the legs they will match.

Finally I milled some wood for the upper and lower stretchers that connect the two sides and using way too many squares I was able to mark where to create the mortises with the Domino. As of yesterday I officially have the shell of a bookshelf.

This is what happens when you change the leg size on multiple pieces of furniture multiple times. I’ll have to make some cutting boards with these strips.
More to come as I‘m trying to keep the consistency going. My red X calendar isn’t looking so great this year and is now behind my monitor. Might have to go digital with it for next year.

 

[legenddc]

Decided to do a test cut on a panel for the fixed shelf. Proud of myself for being smart enough to move the test piece to the workbench from the cast iron too. Maybe next time I’ll be smart enough to adjust the depth.

Today I went to buy a vacuum attachment for the dust collector and also picked up a taper jig.