Back to playing in the shop - finally!

[Swingman]

After two complete cabinet kitchen projects the past six or eight weeks (with the excellent assistance of Leon, without whom I would not have tackled two concurrent projects of this magnitude), it has been nothing but hard work in the shop for some time.

A couple days ago, with all the above put to rest, I finally got to have some fun on a _small_ project:

's amazing what some dinky scraps, and working on a different scale, with just an idea in your head, will do for your woodworking attitude. My only regret is that since this project isn't for me, it will soon be just a memory and some pictures ... but it's sure been fun!

I am starting to think it's time for me to scale back ...

[Leon]

Hey, where are those Walnut dowels? Looks fine this way too!

Sounds like Leon should have done more to make the job less of a daunting task and hoping you will soon forget the agony of it all. I am ready for the next. :~)

[Swingman]

They took up too much real estate and wouldn't allow two rows of spice jars. This is not as two tone artsy fartsy, but more practical by a long shot.

Actually, I'm kinda impressed by the thought it took to design (rebuild the wheel) a simple spice rack ... just the right dimension to keep things from rattlling around, making sure the racks can be adjusted to miss any shelf in the cabinet, the rail high enough to not allow anything to fall out when the cabinet door is closed hard, etc ...

Tom Watson was right ... at our age (mine, not yours) one-off "art pieces" are the best idea. ;)

[Ba r r y]

I'm 40 and in the middle of a California King maple platform bed, with a birdseye head board.

I don't ever want to do a solid wood piece this big again.

Bring on the spice racks...

[Cap'n 321]

I spent a most entertaining and enlightening 45 minutes touring your web site. Thanks for sharing your shop and the jigs. Lots of food for thought and some summer projects as I get my shop in order.

Cap'n 321

Sw> After two complete cabinet kitchen projects the past six or eight weeks

[Swingman]

Thanks for the kind words, and you're most welcome ... I hope you get as much enjoyment and satisfaction from your shop and woodworking as I have from mine.

[Swingman]

I've got 23 years on you and often lose sight of how satisfaction is rarely proportionate to the size of the project. There is something addictive about freshly sanded, well fitted, bare wood that just plain feels good to the senses, no matter the size. I've been back to the shop at least three times tonight to just touch and feel the bare wood in that dinky little spice rack ... and finally brought it into the house so I could do so without having to fight the mosquitoes.

[Enoch Root]

I'm with you. But I'm in a terrible bind. I've been hoping--praying, that what I have is a metal allergy. After the worst is over, I still have rough skin on my finger tips where it has flaked off from the (to me) severe reaction to *something* that might be the cocobolo I've been working with recently and have fallen desperately in love with.

Soon I will regain the temerity required to determine whether it is indeed the cocobolo, or the metal shavings I had also exposed myself to during that time.

er

[Pig]

I am envious, as my bride has me doing a large interior trim and painting project in the dining room, foyer,stairwell and hall. Large cornice, chair rail, frame panels, casing and french doors;this is after laundry room cabinets and 16 feet of base cabinets and bookcases (with window seat), etc. No time for puttering, no time for making small tables, etc. New construction in this area (NJ) is just drywall and some cheap base molding, so I guess I'm investing in the real estate with the upgrades, but I'll tell ya, its getting pretty old.......

Mutt

Sw> After two complete cabinet kitchen projects the past six or eight weeks

[nailshooter41]

I couldn't agree more. I am also liking more personalized projects a lot more. I had more actual "fun" at the lathe and belt sander a few months ago making kitchen ware for Christmas presents. I lined up all my scraps and made turners, spatulas, spoons, stirrers, etc., and at the end of a month a group of them. I originally intended to sell them so I could use the money for a new scroll chuck, but they were claimed by the signifcant other well before they were available.

I didn't mind too much. I had never done anything like that before, and I used to take them in and put them out on the table just to look at them. They were so far off the path of what I usually do I grew attached to all of them. So now we have a big cannister full of "treen" ware.

I liked your rack a lot. Is it for an upper or lower? Your design? May have to swipe an idea or two from your pics!

And do try to keep Leon busy. I would hate to hear of someone in Houston arrested for resawing his neighbor's garage with some kind of new bandsaw! Of course, with all that high powered resaw capability he should be able to keep you in lots of smaller pieces for those smaller projects....

Robert

[Swingman]

Lower cabinet ... a tray is a tray, but haven't seen anything exactly like it that uses French cleats to make it adjustable. Working with 1/4" stock will make you finally see the wisdom of a 23 gauage pin nailer if you don't already have one ... I used clamps, but one is now on my short list.

LOL ... his neighbors are keeping an eye on their hardwoods. Leon's walking around with paper thin resaws in his shirt pockets to show off - and I do mean tissue paper thin. That bandsaw is impressive in what it'll do.

Scraps, I have plenty of ...

[mac davis]

Maybe he should go into the business card thing... must be a market in the wRECk for see-through wood card blanks, right?

Mac

[Swingman]

Hehe ... the one he sawed/I saw the other day was way too thin for a business card!

... and apparently reproducible. I was proud that my lowly Delta 14" would do about a 1/16th" slice, with luck and depending upon the type of wood, but this was less than half that.

[nailshooter41]

Swingman wrote:

[Swingman]

[Swingman]

Anybody have/use a Grex?

[nailshooter41]

Swingman:

Remember this thread? We were both in it:

had some other feedback from some amigos about the Senco not sinking the nails all the way. Some say yes, some say no. You might ping Robatoy and see what he settled on as I know he was in buying mode at the time he started that thread.

Robert

[Swingman]

Now that you mention it ... the Bostitch TU-216-2330 certainly has a better price than the Grex (and they're both Taiwanese) and local availability of ammo looks like it could be a factor with the Grex. Seems like quite a few have the same problem with the PC not sinking pins properly.

Circle Saw has the Bostitch ... will probably check it out. Thanks for the heads-up, Robert.