OK, I started out the day doing some pore filling on my desk (see previous post).  All went well but drying time was making me wish I had something to do and then…I remembered that Kathy wanted me to look at our fan in our shower.  I did and took it apart and cleaned it which improved it’s operation a great deal but…while I was up there I saw (for the millionth time because it’s been there  a while) a little spot of mold be our sky light.  So…

I decided to repair this spot.  I removed the affected drywall (and a bit around it too).  I’ve replaced new drywall after an inspection that showed that the mold was just surface mold.  The sky light has a mechanism to open it so that is an issue.  I had to remove the bulk of the mechanism leaving a short chain.  After trying to work the drywall mud around it I got some painters tape and taped it as much out of the way as I could.

I’m an ok, not great, but ok mudder but I had a bugger of a time getting the mud up there and taping it.  I even hollered at Kathy during it cause it wasn’t going well (sorry sweetie!).  I did finally get  it up there.  It’s not one of my best mudding jobs but I think I can work with it on the next coat or two.

Needless to say, I’ve got a project that will slow my finishing work down and on top of that, we’ll have to use the kids shower for a few days (got to put up the other coats and prime and paint it).  Fun time at our house  - for sure!

UPDATE: Well, I finally finished this project.  We got to shower in our own shower for the first time in about a week and boy was it nice to have some elbow room.  Back to working on my desk (I made a little laptop tilt to help the laptop stay cool – I’ll post pictures tomorrow).

Post from: This Week in Wood (c)2009 Glenn Thompson. For Downloads, Pictures, and other great content go to This Week in Wood. See This Week in Wood Legal Information Page for specific usage rights.

Unwanted Detour

I haven’t been in the shop much over the last 2 weeks.  We are in the last days of summer and the kids will be going back to school next week.

My one exception is that I got a few minutes over a few days to put the final finish onto the handcut dovetail hopechest and sand it.  The finish is feeling and looking really good.  I’m quite happy with it.  I still have to get some handles, a latch, and some form of lid support (still thinking about that one) before it is totally finished.  I have a simple idea for handles which will work if my primary objective is to use it as a hand tool transport.

My hope after school starts is to get some pine and some other wood (oak, cherry) and make small scraps to cut dovetails over and over again to improve my skills.  I want to get to the point where repairs are not necessary.  I may spend a week or two on that (while finishing the hopechest).

After that, I don’t have a specific project locked in.  One possibility is to create a standing desk (smaller than my main standing computer desk) for my laptop which I use in my music station.  I may also redesign and build the music station itself.  One of the goals in this possible project is to come up with a design that is more like real furniture rather than ikea furniture.  Another possibility may be a deskset (pencil cup and note holder).  One other idea, is to create a bench top router table or a router table that could be clamped to an existing bench though I’ll have to think about the design on that.

My posts should get more frequent again beginning next week.

Post from: This Week in Wood (c)2009 Glenn Thompson. For Downloads, Pictures, and other great content go to This Week in Wood. See This Week in Wood Legal Information Page for specific usage rights.

Last days of summer

This last fall, we had our kitchen remodelled.  I really mean remodelled too as we took everything out, knocked a wall down, put in a new layout and appliances.  An no, I did not do the work nor would I even be willing.  Kitchen’s are probably unique in a home in that you can’t afford to be without one.  It’s often the heart of a home and because of that every minute it isn’t functioning the whole family will suffer.  I’m confident that I have the skills to do a kitchen (with a very cautious note on plumbing as I really am nervous about it because water can really ruin everything even with a small leak) but I also know that it would take me forever.  The company we had do the work for us was Kitchen Plus and they did great work and in only 3 weeks and a day or two.

When all the work was done, we realized we had more storage than we had but had a small wall that a bookcase would serve well for cookbooks and such.  Since I wasn’t going to put doors on it, I could keep the design as simple as they come.  I wanted it to tie into the kitchen which now has cherry cabinets so I decided to use cherry plywood (solid cherry would have been too expensive for this piece).  The bookcase has a fixed top and bottom along with one fixed middle shelf for stability.  It’s got a toe kick and fits quite well in the space giving us the maximum storage.

As you can see, it’s a simple but functional design.

Post from: This Week in Wood (c)2009 Glenn Thompson. For Downloads, Pictures, and other great content go to This Week in Wood. See This Week in Wood Legal Information Page for specific usage rights.

Past Projects – Bookcase for Kitchen

When you are a part of a family, you do you best to contribute in ways that make life better, safer, funner.  When you have some skill at woodworking (not saying that I have much more than some), you also get roped into non-woodworking projects like plumming, painting, carpentry and such.

This weekend, I spent time doing a higher tech version of those kind of projects.  Our home is very tech.  Over the many years we’ve lived here, I have worked to create an elaborate (though amateur) video distribution system including TV/Video signals and Security Cameras.  I’ve also put in a higher quality phone system than what was originally here.  Lastly, I wired the house with Cat5 cable for my computer network.  In fact, my computer network  is probably more capable than many small business and includes 3 routers, 2 16 port switches all capable of Gigabit speeds.

My younger son’s (Mitchell) computer was using wireless for it’s connection but we found that even though it was 802.11n it still wasn’t as quick as his brothers so I put a network port near his computer which required running cable from my patch panel to the wall next to his station.  The patch panel is in the attic and the wall’s access was in the crawl space so it was a lot of fun.  Doing it mostly by myself, it took about 2 hours (thanks to my wife, Kathy for the final feed).

Also, my music station was wired but it had a long cable coming from another port on the other side of the room so it wasn’t a very professional looking setup. This was a little easier than my sons because I had access to the wall in the attic. Of course, easier this way has a down side. Feeding a cable from the attic to an outlet height is a trial and error process. It’s not hard but takes time (thanks again Kathy). This also took about 2 hours with most of it doing the trial and error (or so it seemed).

I put 2 cat5 and 1 RG6 cable to each outlet to allow for some minor growth or change in the future. I would have probably put more RG6 and maybe a voice cable for telephone but that would have required a 2nd run to each location (I only have so many sets of cable run).

I still have to fix some drywall (first coat is on) near the outlet for my sons computer station but all connections are done.

Post from: This Week in Wood (c)2009 Glenn Thompson. For Downloads, Pictures, and other great content go to This Week in Wood. See This Week in Wood Legal Information Page for specific usage rights.

Not Woodworking