Large Book Case

Nothing too fancy about this project.  Just a big, sturdy and practical book case.  The goal of this and probably future posts:  Less words - More pictures.  I always enjoy taking pictures, but I rarely want to sit down and type up a "nice" blog post, it's just not my thing.  This new objective should yield more projects ending up here.

Without further rambling, what you came for...  The book case.

It's a 6' tall, 1' deep, 2.5' wide solid wood monster.  And I was very surprised when it weighed less than I imagined during the design.  It is almost too big to carry by yourself, but I am just that awesome... so I did.  :)


I pulled this one off for right around $100. 
1 - 2"x12" x 12' (cut exactly in half for the two 6' sides) $15
7 - 1"x12" x 2.5' shelves (They vary by ~1.5" in width if they are fixed, or removable) $30
1 - 4'x8' x 1/4" Red Oak Plywood for the backing (or any laminate / plywood sheet you like) $26
1 - 32oz can of Minwax "Golden Oak" wood stain. $8
1 - 32oz can of Minwax polycrylic clear semi-gloss finish. $18
4 - 6' metal shelf tracking (cut in ~2.5' pieces) $10
12 - wood screws  $2

The pictures should tell the rest of the story well enough.  Enjoy!

The 2x12

The shelves cut out

Partly assembled

Starting to stain.

Still adding stain.

Golden Oak

Tracking close up, I used a 3/8" straight plunge router bit to inlay the tracking.

The middle fixed-shelf and tracking.

Finished with the first coat

Backing in place

Almost finished!

The semi-gloss finish.

A nail-set to tap in the few nails I needed.

2 removable shelves finished.

Closeup.

Finished!

Double Six Dominoes

I have been on a small kick recently about making games and entertainment things in the shop which is way more fun than making practical and useful things all the time.  The first in the lineup was a set of dominoes because we didn't own a set and it seemed easy enough to start with.  All said and done, this project only cost me about $25, but that was because I needed a new can of tung oil to coat them.  It was $18 at Home Depot, but will last for many more projects.



I also bought a small sample can of flat black interior wall paint for $3 which has lasted me for several other small projects already.  And a 36" red oak 1"x2" S4S board for around $3.  It was nearly hidden in the lumber section on a small floor level rack full of really neat 'trim' boards which are perfect for board game projects like this.  They also had poplar and maple and a few other types.  So now that I have the tung oil and paint in supply, I can make another double six set for just $3!  The finished 6-3 domino to the left is sitting on top of one of the trim boards.


So all you need are the supplies listed above and a miter, circular or even jig saw if you have a steady hand.  A drill with nearly any drill bit size will work, it depends on how big you want your dots.  I used a 3/8" which seems like a fairly large bit for such a small piece of wood, but I only drilled lightly into the surface so the dot would have a gentle concave slope, if you use a smaller bit the angle of the tip is usually steeper and will make the center of your dot deeper.  It is really just a preference thing.  Then I used some coarse 60 or 120 grit and some finer 220 grit sand paper to make them smooth.

If you have a drill press, which I do not yet, this project would have gone much faster and the dots would have lined up much better.  I ended up liking the variations in dot size and spacing.  It gave the dominoes a real home made look and feel, but I am not nearly the perfectionist I used to be about this sort of thing.  One thing I did which made this whole project easier and allows making duplicate sets in the future is making a template (When all your friends and family ask you to make them a set).  I had a piece of that really tough clear plastic that lots of kids toys and things from the store come in (you know, the kind you have to use scissors or a knife just to open and will cut your hand open if you aren't careful).  I cut out a small rectangle piece that fit a domino template I had already cut and sanded, and then carefully marked and drilled out holes in the plastic to make a full double nine domino (that would be a 3x3 pattern of dots on each half of the domino (see drawing on left).  Domino sets can also go all the way up to double 18 but that becomes a lot of work and a lot of dominoes to make (see the chart below for what you will be getting into).  My set of double 6 was just 28 dominoes and 168 dots to be drilled and I recommend doing that first, the neat thing is I can just add the 7-8-9 dominoes to my set and convert it to a full double 9 set if I decide to later.

Set Type	Double 6	Double 9	Double 12	Double 15	Double 18
# of Tiles	28	55	91	136	190
# of Dots	168	495	1,092	2,040	3,420

A few pointers on a project like this that I learned along the way.
1.  Mark a pencil line on your miter saw or on the table so you can space your domino cuts evenly so all the tiles come out as close to the same width as possible, any variance can be fixed with some sanding.
2.  Make sure your template is top notch, or all the dominoes will be off some.
3.  Try to cut all the dominoes out in the same day or you may come back a few days later and have lost your pencil mark and have half your set look different.  (Dominoes need to be hard to tell apart when they are upside down in the draw pile for obvious reasons.)
4.  Apply the black paint to the dots very carefully.  I used a toothpick and a very small paintbrush.  Just get 1 or 2 drops of paint and spread it around carefully.
5.  A scrap piece of cardboard works nicely as a paint/finish area.


And here are a few pictures of the finished set.  Happy gaming!

Build a Pet House

In the previous post I mentioned my wife and I just bought our first house recently. We have been very happily married over 1 year now! With any married couple you at some point talk about kids and pets and other important things like that. By the way, this and lots more are on our family blog. If you want the full story behind this one in particular, it is here. So long story short we had our family talk and decided no kids for a while and no pets either. About 2 weeks later we rescued 3 cats while out geocaching and, surprise, we still have them, funny how that happens isn't it? (Note: Nope, no kids yet.)We decided that the 3 cats would be outdoor animals, we did not want to clean up cat hair and have scratched furniture and all that, but we enjoy having them around. The great thing is they come with a sleek fur coat, rodent control claws and night vision all pre-installed from the factory. So the perfect answer was to let them live outdoors and keep our property free of moles, rats, mice etc, which they do quite well.

This post is not about the cats, it is about the cat house I decided to make them because I felt sorry for them sitting in the cold rain outside all night. (Weak and unmanly of me, I know) I went with a traditional looking pet house that ironically ended up looking more like a cross between a dog and bird house (Picture a foot perch peg right below the door).

I made this entire project for around $30 at Home Depot. That was for 1 4x8 sheet of 1/2" pressure treated ply wood, 1 10' 2x4 and 1 pack of shingles, wood screws and roofing nails, we had paint left over from the house so we just used that, but you can get small sample cans for a few dollars at most hardware stores that might just be enough.

To the left is a shot of the floor and walls. I made the roof detachable so you can pull out any blankets and get inside easier.

Here is the quick run down:

1. Lay your plywood out and draw out the floor, 2 side walls, 2 front/back walls, and 2 roof halves. You might try drawing out all your pieces on a piece of paper first and give yourself some leeway in case you over-cut. Here is a simple diagram of what I drew on the plywood to make the walls and floor. (You can move the pieces around much better than this, to reduce the amount of wasted wood. Just make sure you have all your pieces drawn out how you want before you make the first cut! ) Remember to make your 2 roof pieces each a few inches wider than the sloped edge of the front/back wall (See: Pythagorean Theorem A²+B²=C² for some fun with math!) so you have some overhang on each side to shed the rain water, and similarly make them a few inches longer, front to back, than the floor so it covers the front door area like a front porch. I think I ended up with about 7" overhang on the front, and about 2" the other 3 sides.

2. Cut the pieces out with a jig or circular saw. I traced a circle around a paint can lid on what would become the front wall to cut out the doorway, make sure it will be big enough for your pet to fit through or this while project will yield a large useless lawn ornament. Cats are better able, and I think even prefer, to squeeze through tighter spaces much more than dogs so i left it fairly small.

3. Sand all the sharp splintery edges down. A course 60 grit sandpaper works great for this.

4. I ripped a 2x4 right down the middle for about 4 feet which yields about 8 total feet of 2x2 that you use for supports in the 4 corners and 3 lengthwise brace pieces at the top where the roof piece will sit (See the interior photo toward the top left for their placement, look closely at the far inside corner). Remember the measure twice cut once rule. The 4 vertical corner pieces are about 2" shorter than the height of any of your 4 wall pieces since another 2x2 will be sitting on top of it lengthwise and it needs to all fit.

5. Assemble all 4 walls with the 4 corner supports all onto the floor piece. Fit them all together first as best you can before you start putting screws in to make sure everything lines up. (This is where an extra arm or two, or a set of clamps might help.)

6. Cut out a pair of around 6-10" 2x4s and angle the top edge to the appropriate pitch to make the roof supports to hold the 2 roof halves together, see photo to the right. (Hint: Just lay your 2x4 piece down under either of the 2 side walls you just cut out and trace the top edge onto it. The pitch angle needs to be the same so they fit snugly.) I also routed the bottom edges with a roundover bit so they would slide onto the house frame easier, you could also just sand it a lot. When you assemble the roof make sure the 2 2x4s you just cut out are spaced exactly far enough apart so that when you drop the roof onto the frame they fit snugly around the 2 front/back walls to hold it in place.

7. After the roof is assembled lay your shingles and attach them using the roofing nails. I did not use tar paper on the bottom layer as you would on a house normally and the house still has no leaks, but you can do so if you really want. When you lay shingles you start with lowest point of the roof (I.E. both sides) and build your way up to the center peak and layer them over each other so they overhang and will shed water onto the top of the next shingle below and so on (Here is a pretty good guide with lots of pictures! If you have never done this before search the internet and read up on it). Dont forget your starter strip! (The backwards first row of shingles, see guide) And for the crown since it is a much smaller roof than a house, I cut each tab in half to yield 6 total crown pieces from a 3-tab shingle. If you do not do this it may just look funny and out of proportion.

8. Caulk the walls and floor if you want to, I did not, but should have so water will not leak in through the wall seams. Make sure any nails sticking through are filed down or bent in for safety! :)

9. Paint or water seal it all. Use an outdoor or oil based paint or a typical wood deck sealant. We actually used our left over interior latex paint from the house which has fared the elements just fine.

Craft a Cedar Adirondack Chair

This has been one of my favorite projects to work on. I have always loved these chairs at the beach or just in a back yard during the summer. Here is the rather brief Wikipedia page about them if you want. What started this project is that my wonderful wife and I just bought our first house recently and it has a detached workshop and deck in the back so I decided the deck needed some patio furniture and the I just couldn't pass up making some myself in my new shop! I looked around and immediately loved the idea of an Adirondack set.



For this project I was pretty much clueless about everything, other than they were going to be made from wood :) so I found this guide at Popular Mechanics which was very good and has an incredible interactive 3D design window you can look at the chair with, but it lacked in a few minor areas of detail that I had to figure out on my own, so I give it a 9 out of 10 as it was still easy to follow, very simple and straight forward, and it does cover almost everything you need to know. It only was missing a few measurements and angles that would have saved me putting on my trigonometry hat on and dragging out the TI-83. I started with the guide and then ended up winging it the rest of the way just referring to the guide for the measurements.

The approximate cost was $100 per chair and about $10 for the drink table, but you can almost make the table from the chair leftovers. This is for the 3 cedar boards which were around $30 each at home depot and the .5" and 1.25" wood screws, wood plugs (to cover the screws) adding up to around $10 more. I used Thompsons water seal which is not included in the estimate because I had it sitting around it and you don't need much of it. I also am not including sandpaper and replacement of the countersink bit I broke on chair 1 due to operator error (I slipped). Total project time is something of a mystery to me as I did this in my free time over a month or two spending an hour or so at a time a couple times per week. If I had to guess, around 20 man hours per chair, this includes the Trig. time and figuring out other missing information as well.

Want to make one yourself or just curious how I did it?

1. Go download and print off the plans yourself (or search for a different one)

2. Make sure you have the right tools. You will need: A circular saw, jig saw or band saw, router, sander (or just sandpaper and elbow grease), drill and screwdriver. The bits/blades that I used were (10" circular blade, medium sized wood cutting jigsaw blade, 1/4 round-over router bit, 60 120 and 220 grit sand paper, 3/8th inch countersink drill bit, a plain old Phillips screwdriver bit, tape measure, square, straight edge, ruler etc.






3. Get the materials. I used:

• 3 1"x12" x 8' red cedar boards per chair with a lot of good scraps.
• 1 box of 2" #8 wood screws.
• 1 box 1.5" #8 wood screws.
• 1 box round oak plugs (50 per pack).
• 1 can of Thompsons water seal or any waterproof finish.

4. Get the plans and follow them (too obvious?). Measure out all of your cuts to your board, if you are familiar with Tetris, use that mentality to make them all fit with the least amount of wasted wood. Start with the biggest pieces first and fit in the small ones around those. Draw them all out with pencil lightly and then make your cuts with the circular and jig saws. (My grandfather always told me to remember the old saying "Measure twice, cut once", and he is correct!)

5. Once all the pieces are cut out you need to sand them all then route the appropriate edges (all exposed edges not butting up to another board) using the quarter round bit.

6. Next, arrange the pieces, drill your countersinked holes where needed and screw the pieces together.

7. Fill all the screw holes with plugs. I just tapped them in lightly with a hammer.

8. Give it a good coat or two of water seal using a paint brush or old rag or t shirt (something that will not leave lint pieces). Let each coat dry for 24 hours or so. You can also use other exterior finishes such as a stain or varnish or even an oil based paint (Obviously, this last option will hide the wood and grain patterns entirely, you could make the chairs out of a cheaper wood, pine maybe, and paint them a bright pastel color for the typical Adirondack look.)

9. Clean up the mess and relax.





And a few finished shots.

As promised...

Pictures and details of a few things. Here are some of my most recent projects that I will go into more in the next few posts: Cedar Adirondack chairs, a cat house for our rescued felines and a set of double-six dominoes for fun.

Adirondack Lawn Chair













Cat House









Dominoes

Check back soon for the details and instructions on how to do these for yourself.

The Beginning

This is my first post. I have been wanting to blog about some manly workshop things, but I seem to be spending more time doing stuff than posting about it, perhaps that is a good thing.
(Note: I am unsure of the reality of whether or not trying to capture the essence of something manly for a blog post is a conflict of interest or otherwise degrades it's inherent manliness to the point of no longer being truly manly. I will look into this and get back to you.)

I have no pictures, and nothing exciting to mention, and am not too motivated to get either of those. So, all in all, sounds like a perfect time to blog about it.

I will return with spiffy pictures and details soon I hope.