The kitchen shelf unit - Done.

[Greg Guarino]

Finally.

[Martin Eastburn]

Nicely done!

I have a kit bash one in progress myself. I got a bookshelf shipped to me and it had two right sides. Got a left side shipped in and assembled it like the others.

Now I have a 7' Dark Cherry board that will become a shelf in the work room for my hat collection.

Thanks for sharing.

Mart>

> >

[Bill]

Congratulations!

Bill

[G. Ross]

Looks good to me.

[Swingman]

Valuable new skills, manifesting themselves in a well designed and executed, unique piece of furniture that complements your kitchen.

Congratulations all around!

[jloomis]

Looks Great. I have one very similar although not near as nice. One problem is that they are always hard to reach and clean. Other than that, they provide a great place to store those items used not on a regular basis. john

Finally.

[Greg Guarino]

Thanks for the kind words, but must confess my confusion about labeling "hard to reach and clean" as a "problem". :)

I prefer to think of it as "hard to see the dirt".

[Greg Guarino]

Thanks. Following advice from the kind folks here, I hid my errors successfully. :)

Good find. This:

... was made from the special "Swedish wood" that was once my daughter's "high bed".

[Greg Guarino]

Thanks. And yes, the additions to my skill set should be useful in the future. Atypically, those "additions" came without the expected amount of angst and error. Not to worry though, I made up for that luck with errors elsewhere.

I have a backlog of ideas for future projects. The next one will likely be either something like this:

or like this:

I haven't decided which, and there will likely be some changes to the details. But either of them would definitely up the ante a bit as regards "degree of difficulty".

[Michael]

Nice work! Pleasing design and finish.

[Leon]

LOL, It seems that early projects take for ever, treasure that because you are relatively young. As time runs shorter for you, you are forced to build faster.

Nice job!

[Greg Guarino]

My projects take forever for three reasons:

1. Figuring out how to do things, sometimes without the most efficient tool.
2. Errors

but mostly because:

1. A few hours each weekend is pretty much all the time I have to devote to woodworking.

As for being "relatively young", if that's true, what kind of geezers must I be talking to here? :)

[Leon]

All a necessary part of the learning process.

That is the way I was before I retired at 40. Woodworking helped me to keep my sanity. I rebuilt and enlarged the kitchen in our previous home when I was still working full time. That took IIRC about 18 months.

LOL some us are really really old. LOL I'll be 60 this year.

[Morgans]

"Leon" wrote >> As for being "relatively young", if that's true, what kind of geezers

I'm just a year and change behind you!

[Greg Guarino]

And, at least sometimes, part of the fun. I like the "puzzle" aspect of woodworking. Installing this rather unwieldy object seven feet off the floor on a masonry wall - by myself - took some creative thinking. This is what I came up with:

I think it's good for my mental health too. Part of the reason I have limited free time is that my parents need a lot of help these days. I'm not the only one doing it, but I'm over there 4-5 times a week. It's a tough situation that intrudes on my thoughts as I travel to work and during other idle time. It's helpful to have a woodworking "puzzle" to occupy my mind instead. The "steel pins" idea was probably hatched during my commute.

Wow. That *is* old. A whole three years ahead of me.

[Leon]

LOL. You have got a lot of building to catch up on!

[woodchucker]

I dunno about that, it still takes me forever on big projects. I'm not in a rush, and I get side tracked (ADD maybe) :-(.

I always seem to find something that I can do quickly so I put that off, and do something that gives me that quick gratification that so many crave... guilty...

[woodchucker]

You retired at 40?

How'd you do that? I am 56 and still trying to keep in the workplace... Not very sucessfully. Might have something on the hook but it is totally messed up hours.. 1am start time.. not happy.

[Leon]

I was in upper automotive management with several different companies. My last job before retiring afforded me a very nice retirement package. This was a relative small business that was making hand over fist profits and the owners were being taxed out the wazoo. The retirement plan provided for all was extremely generous and it was the same as the owners plan. I immediately took the lump sum distribution and rolled it over into the market. That said, I have not touched it yet. My wife had a pretty good job and an even better retirement plan so we live off of that and what ever I bring in from selling my work.

The fact that we have been debt free since 2 years after I retired helps greatly. No house payment or rent adds up quick. My son, now 26 learned by that example and he paid his house off when he was 25.

[Leon]

You have to plan ahead and maintain focus from beginning to the end. I never begin a project anymore these days with out every detail being ironed out before buying the materials.