Friday, December 20, 2013

Cut list for the 2x4 crate

I had somebody on YouTube ask for cut list for the 2x4 crate so I just added a PDF to the downloads section of my website.  You can find it here:

http://woodworkingcollections.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html

Just scroll down to the picture of the 2x4 crate.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Cutting dimensions for the full size ice chest cooler box

I've been practicing more in Sketchup and have learned how to add dimensions to all the parts.  I made up a .PDF with some cutting dimensions and added it under the cooler box picture in the downloads page.  Check them out and let me know what you think!

http://www.funwithwoodworking.com/p/downloads.html 

I want to try and figure out how to make a cut list showing the boards with the pieces cut out of them but that is going to be my next big learning project.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

My first sketchup of the rocking chair cradle

I mentioned in one of my VLOG's a couple of weeks ago that I am going to make a rocking chair cradle for my brother and his wife who are expecting their first child in January. I am hoping to have it completed by Christmas.  I have finished my first draft of the project in Sketchup.  I expect to be making some design changes as I mock it up but this is what I am starting out with.  I have no idea what kind of joinery I am going to use yet or if those rocker bottoms will even work.  It should be interesting...


 
 


Monday, October 7, 2013

New project videos every other Tuesday

I mentioned this in a VLOG on YouTube but I don't think that I said anything about it here.  My new goal is to have a project video posted every other Tuesday instead of once a month-ish.  I will still be making random VLOGs when the urge hits me but the goal is every 2 weeks on the projects.  My last project video was posted on September 24th so the next one will be posted tomorrow.

That is all.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

My first bandsaw box

I've had the  bandsaw for a while now so I figured that it was finally time to make a bandsaw box.  All the bandsaw boxes out there are all curved and graceful looking so I wanted to see if I could make one all boxy with a square drawer.  I couldn't be bothered to glue anything together so I grabbed a well used and abused piece of scrap 2x4.  Here is the result.


I forgot to take any pictures while I was actually cutting it so here it is all cut up.

The first thing I did was to cut the back off.

I then cut the top and the bottom off.

Next were the sides which left me a chunk of wood from the middle.

I took that center chunk and cut the front and back off and hollowed out the center. 

I then glued the top and bottom back onto the sides




The next step was to glue the drawer back together.


And then clamp it up


Once the glue was dry it was time to glue the back, back on.

I put that block in the front so the clamp would have something to push against.

The drawer should have been the same size as those side pieces but was a smidge larger so I sanded it down to size with the disk sander


Here is what the final piece looks like.

Now that I know how to do it I am going to make a bigger and nicer one.


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Project - How to build a 5 board bench

My sister recently bought a used table on Craigslist but it only came with 3 chairs so she asked me to make her one.  Her only request was that it be 17" tall and flat black to match the other chairs.  I did some looking around on the web and found the traditional 5 board bench design.  I also found Charles Neil's video on YouTube and figured that I could build a variation on that design.  It also gave me an excuse to try out the new bandsaw. You can download a free sketchup file of this project in the downloads section of this site and you can also watch a video of me building it here: http://youtu.be/1_hz2n7v9ss


I started by cutting the legs to rough length using my little cordless saw.  I don't feel safe cutting
pieces that long on my contractor table saw.

I then cut them to length and width on the tablesaw.

Here are all the pieces cut to size.  There is 1 extra 1x6 in this picture because I was originally
going to put a support shelf under the seat but the legs are slightly bowed and it didn't match
up when I cut the shelf straight so I decided not to use it.


I used 1 of the side aprons to mark the notches on the legs.




This notch will be cut out and the side apron will rest in it.


I then marked in 3" on the other end of the board for the width of the bottom leg.

I marked the center of the board at 5" to drill a hole later.

I then glued the aprons to the top pieces.

I drilled out a 1 1/4" hole at that 5"  mark.  It is recommended that you drill a hole rather than just cut a "V" there so that the board doesn't split later on.

I then drew a line from each side of the hole down to the 3" mark that I made earlier.

An \d cut the shape out on the bandsaw.  You could just as easily made these cuts with a jigsaw.

The legs are slightly bowed so I marked them to have the rounded side facing out.

I used the scrap pieces from the legs to make some blocks to glue in later.

I used my little sanding wheel on the drill press to smooth the inside of the legs.  I found this one at
Lowes for under $10.

I then rounded over all the sides not getting glued to something else.


I sanded everything before assembly.  I also only sanded it to 120 because I am going to paint it.

I clamped it up to see what it was going to look like.

I used a scrap piece of 2x4 as a spacer for the ends.

I glued the legs to the top/apron pieces and then made sure that they were square before clamping them up.

Here are those block that I cut out earlier.

I took it out back and spray painted it flat black.

 I sanded the whole thing with 220 to smooth it out and also gave it some distressing to make it
look a little older.  I'm not a big fan of over distressed projects so I tried to keep a
semi-light touch.




This was my first time using satin poly.  I've only used gloss up to this point.

I ended up putting 4 coats on the top and aprons and 3 coats on everything else including the underneath.  I also put some felt feet on it but forgot to take pictures.