Tag: Woodworking

April 21, 2020 – Truth in advertising, the $100 pantry?

April 21, 2020 /

Before I started on the pantry project, I had estimated for my wife, the cost would be $100. My estimation was based on my belief that I would need finish, hardware like drawer slides and some incidentals.

I was cleaning up the other day and I ran across the pile of receipts from the project. So, I was curious myself how I did. I knew that it was more than $100 based on some repair to the bandsaw, but how bad was it?

DateLocationReq. CostOpt. CostDescription
Jan 17True Value$19.85Dust collection, glue
Jan 20Home Depot$40.83Hardware, plywood
$55.12Polyurethane, dust collection
Jan 25Bi-mart$16.97abrasives
Feb 4Bi-Mart$8.49hardware
Feb 11Lowes$12.87knob, bandsaw blade
$17.17Extra blades
Feb 11Amazon$158.94Bandsaw blade release
Feb 11Do-It Best$4.99Electrical extension
Feb 14Woodcraft$45.97saw maintenance upgrades
Feb 14McGuire Bearing$10.56Thrust bearing
Feb 21Bi-mart$4.49Epoxy
Feb 25Bi-mart$4.99patching compound
Feb 26Home Depot$1.48shims
Feb 26Sherwin-Williams$22.07Paint
Mar 3Lowes$6.18Brads
Totals$275.89$155.08$430.97

So, the truth is that I didn’t make it under $100. Without the saw problems, I would have been much closer, more like $120. In addition to the required cost, some of the optional costs could have been avoided, like the polyurethane turned out to be an unnecessary purchase. I upgraded some parts in the bandsaw when I was dealing with the bearings.

I certainly never planned on dealing with a tool failure, but it happens. The other optional purchases were for productivity or replacing used stock items like abrasives. Productivity is hard to quantify but stock is not; I did not need to buy those items because I already had them. Technically, not part of the cost of the project, but realized as part of it.

So, it is a $450 pantry.

March 11, 2020 – Project Complete

March 11, 2020 /

Everything that I set out to do has been done. I have put in 12-14 hour days over the last week to get there, but here we are.

I learned a lot and I got some good practice in. I had my ups and downs in terms of making mistakes and recovering.

  • I learned that I couldn’t force my will on some boards with knots and checking because it was good work wasted with split boards as a finished product.
  • I found that the pressure on tight rips through the tablesaw tended to cause the edge of a board to skew up and not end up with at straight edge (something I will have to solve in the future).
  • I learned that not all cheap bandsaw blades are equal, I basically did all of the resawing using one blade even though I tried three different blades through the course of the project. One straight out of the box just didn’t cut. The first one spun off and hit the metal covers, I just threw that one out after that and didn’t try another cut.
  • My jointer is not square. I think that the blades do not sit parallel to the outfeed table. Confession – I have never changed them and that is the way they were set when I bought the tool, used in 2005. But basically, the more passes you make on a wide board, the more it takes off of the outer edge and the shape becomes more of a rhombus. The fence is square to the table, so you have to rejoint the first edge after doing the face.
  • On glue-up, I need to make sure each individual board is against the clamp face. I ended up with some wavy and curved panels because I was not paying enough attention when I did it.
  • It is hard to ‘sand out’ unevenness. It takes a lot of work and the results are not as good as a good panel.
  • Mistakes take a lot more time to correct than doing it correctly the first time. That is easier said than done, but knowing how to correct them is a long way toward a better end product. Doing a side profile drawing would have saved me making the broom cabinet incorrectly and having to build a cap (which I did twice 🙁 ).
  • I have been loading my 18ga. brad nailer incorrectly since I owned it. The brads load to the front of the magazine, unlike the Porter-Cable which load to the back. This caused a lot of jams and general dissatisfaction with performance until I figured it out, this week.

By now, you have probably nodded off to sleep, so I will stop now. It just goes to show that I have a lot to learn. So, what is next? I have vehicle problems, I have a rental that needs rehab and Coronavirus mania is picking up. I have a follow up on my political story as well.

March 4, 2020 – Pantry Update

March 4, 2020 /

The end is near… probably not near enough to finish by the end of this week, but maybe if I work into the weekend then I will be done. I am hoping to have the final cabinet assembled tomorrow. I still have the face frame to build and paint as well as the final attachments and painting.

I am going back out to the shop to paint again. Talk to you tomorrow.

February 28, 2020 – Nail gun repair

February 28, 2020 /

Yesterday, I got the parts I needed to repair my 20 year old nail gun, so I did a quick video on how to repair it. I thought for a moment about just tossing it, but when I looked at how much it cost to replace ($170), I thought that I would look a little closer at repairing it.

The parts cost $21.22 plus about three dollars for shipping. The repair was easy and now it is back in service. Check out the video.

February 18, 2020 – Review: Amazon Warehouse

February 18, 2020 /

What an epic hassle dealing with bad thrust bearings on the bandsaw has been. Today I will be discussing my experience with Amazon Warehouse and not the guide upgrades that I had ordered. I think that it will be clear when I am done why.

First, for the uninitiated, Amazon Warehouse is a division of Amazon that resells returned items from Amazon. These items are supposed to be inspected, cleaned but otherwise in ‘like new’ condition.

In my case, the Jet JRBG-14 were bandsaw guide upgrades that cost $153 from Amazon. I noticed that Amazon Warehouse had them for $112 with Prime Shipping. Rather than trying to see if they were stocked locally or find a replacement thrust bearing, I decided that I would work around the problem for four days while I waited for a significant upgrade, according to reviews.

When the package arrived on Thursday, I eagerly opened the package and to my surprise there was a problem.

  • Top Guide
  • Bottom Guide

I wont make you guess or wait too long to get to the point. So, upon closer inspection, I was sent two parts that do not match the diagrams or my expectations. And worse, the bottom bracket was missing the blade guide as well. What it appears to me is that someone ordered this upgrade and returned the OEM guides back to Amazon. The dope that supposedly inspected this clearly did not do their job.

Needless to say that I was pretty PO’d. I lost four days waiting for this to not get a usable part. To top it off, some dishonest actor got away with this. And quality control at Amazon Warehouse must be very poor. This has got to be one of the few items that is returned with a diagram of what the item is supposed to look like. The next day I drove up to Portland to solve my problem for good, costing me about three hours to get the replacement bearing (but not the upgrade).

I think the Latin phrase Caveat Emptor should be put into place when buying from Amazon Warehouse. I would be skeptical ordering anything complicated or expensive in this manner. Unfortunately, you cannot actually see what you are buying and there is no guarantee that getting what you bought.

February 12, 2020 – It is almost Valentines, it’s time to talk about six inches of wood

February 12, 2020 /

I thought that I would make a video how to make lumber from a rough sawn board. I did some experimentation this time by merging two video streams: one from the phone and one from a Go-Pro. I can say that I probably need a little more work on the Go-Pro side of things because it is hard to see what you are actually filming and the lens has quite a bit of curvature too.

The process of making boards

As you can see from the volume of my posts, I am enjoying this project and this process. Hopefully tomorrow I will be installing the bandsaw blade guide upgrades and I will be in the business of wrapping this project up. Probably two weeks more of solid work.

February 10, 2020 – First Change Order

February 10, 2020 /

I got the base cabinets in place last week. My first motivator was to get them out of my way, but I wanted to see how they fit.

Base cabinets put into place

The first thing my ‘customer’ said was that she wanted the cabinets white (along with asking some questions about some minor flaws). Now, I have spent quite a bit of time on the finish already and I was trying to match the other cabinets in the house at least in look. But, after some sharp disagreement from me… I will be painting them white tomorrow.

I don’t know if you can see the first major design mistake I made, but I am not going to disclose it now. I will talk about it when I get done, I think that I have figured out a solution.

I have almost all of the lumber milled up for the upper cabinets, but I ran into a serious snag today. The thrust bearing on the upper guide is seized up. So, to replace it, I ordered a Carter guide bearing setup. I am hoping for a significant improvement in performance. That will probably get a review this week after I get it installed.

Finally, I have some auto maintenance to do this week, which I will also talk about later this week.

February 4, 2020 – Three down, two to go (plus a lot of work)

February 4, 2020 /

I finished the third cabinet on Monday. So the whole set of bottom cabinets are complete.

The biggest cabinet, with an adjustable shelf

Today, I ripped out the old pantry. With it, there was some hole patching and it got a paint job. Part of my motivation to do this at this time is I am starting to run out of room for the new cabinets and working at the same time. I am also anxious to check my measurements before I start building the uppers.

Ready for paint
Watching paint dry

I didn’t know that there was an outlet hidden behind the exiting cabinetry. I am going to test rearranging the bottom cabinets to see if I can take advantage of the outlet placement for the refrigerator. That will only work if the rifrigerator door will open properly in that position.

I also noticed that tile was placed over the existing floor so there will have to be a small amount of chiseling to do to remove some grout that is in the way for final cabinet placement.

Aside from building the final two cabinets and shelves, I need to build a counter top, a face frame for all of the cabinets to lock them together and a toe kick. So, while I am making good progress overall there is still a lot of work to do.

January 27, 2020 – One down and four to go

January 27, 2020 /

My first cabinet is assembled. It is the most complicated one. Hopefully, the rest will go quicker. In fact today I did all of the millwork to go from rough lumber to panel glue up for the second cabinet. With any luck that one will be near completion tomorrow.

The broom ‘drawer’

Here are five tips I have learned by building this first cabinet.

  • Bandsaw setup for re-sawing is critical. This is an area that I have really struggled with. I have tried to get half inch boards from 1 1/4″ and ended up with firewood because the blade wandered so badly. Make sure the blade is tensioned and the guides are tight. I have also learned my saw better and know how much allowance I need to make a quality cut.
  • Dust collection saves time and gives better results (usually). I have never really used dust collection preferring to cleanup the mess later. After hooking a shop vac to the tools, I believe that it improves precision (in re-sawing) and productivity.
  • Mobile bases on tools in a small shop are worth the cost. I don’t have mobility on all of my tools and what I notice is that instead of moving machines to optimum positioning, I will suffer with less than desirable results rather than milling a new piece. That will be in the works for the next project
  • Water-based polyurethane is a great product. It is a little pricey at $50/gallon but you save tremendously on clean-up and I can get six coats on in a day with a serious two hour dry time. I still prefer the warm look of an oil based product, but it is really hard to argue with the performance of a water-based.
  • Pitch still runs after 15 years. When you hit a pitch pocket that hasn’t been exposed to air, it drips out and makes a mess of everything. I have some paint thinner on hand to wipe it off, but usually after it gets all over.

I am technically nearing the end of week two on this project and there are still lots of things to do, but I am enjoying the process. The next update will be after I hit another milestone.