What I've Been Doing

I haven't posted here as often as I'd planned. For that I apologize, mostly to myself. My plan was to have something new here at least once per week, but that hasn't happened.

In October of last year I wrote a piece called "The Drawers of the World..." in which I discussed a job I had picked up building some cabinets for a garage workshop for a friend of mine. I had planned to finish that job and get moving on two other projects he wanted me to build, and have it all finished before the end of the year. Well, I delivered the cabinets last weekend.

A number of things happened, including being called to substitute teach more than anticipated at the beginning of a semester, taking care of my mother and grandmother when needed, the suicide of one of my son's classmates... it all adds up to the job taking longer than I wanted. The main problem, however, was me.

I should amend that last statement. The main problem was the intersection between me and the drawers I was using for this project. My friend, Clay, had these old drawers lying around taking up space and he asked if I could use them, all eight of them, in the design. I said I could, and that should have been that. He wanted me to use standard-issue side mounted drawer slides. He wasn't the least bit interested in having the cabinets look attractive so long as they were sturdy and functional. Again, I told him I could deliver what he wanted, and that should have been the end of the discussion.

I built the framework of the cabinets out of standard two by fours the keep the cost down and to provide a heavy, sturdy base for the workstation. I walled the cabinets in with half-inch birch plywood, giving one of them an extra, inner wall to support the narrower drawers on that side. I installed the hardware for the drawer slides inside the cabinets. I installed the mating hardware for the drawer slides on the drawers. And I cussed and pulled my hair for a couple of weeks.

What I didn't anticipate was the construction of the drawers themselves. We don't really know how old they are, but they were part of a built-in unit that was in the house when my friend, Clay, bought it. The house is around 70 years old so, for all we know, the drawers could be that old as well. However old they are the one thing that's certain is they were built without the use of a straight-edge. Or a square of any kind. It's possible they were built be someone on the verge of losing his sight but too embarrassed to admit it.

The drawers didn't fit. If they fit in the front, they didn't fit in the back. If they fit in the back they would fit in the front. The slides are designed to compensate for minor variations in size and I had taken that into account when I built the cabinets. I should have examined the drawers more closely before starting, but they were in a stack in the corner of my small shop and I just never thought to pull them all out.

One other thing: I don't have much experience with moving parts. It's a learning curve, and I'm gaining altitude, but when I started this project I really needed more experience with drawers than I had at the time. It took some down time to figure out exactly how to shim the drawer slide parts to make them fit because the space I left for myself was so tight, but I plowed on through to the end.

I finally finished the project and delivered it. Clay is very happy with it. And I will not turn down another project of it's kind. I will, however, remember the lessons I learned.

During the times I was scratching my head, trying to decide how to proceed, I worked on a few other projects, including the large and small cherry candle holders you see here, and which you can purchase at my Etsy shop if you so desire. There are no photos of the cabinets as of yet. The next time I'm at Clay's house I'll take a few pictures of them. While they were in my shop I really wasn't in the mood for photos. I wasn't in much of a mood to blog, either, as it turns out.

"There's a lectern up in the sky."

The first time I built a lectern I thought it would take longer than it did. This time it's going even faster. I started yesterday by laminating two sheets of 3/4" birch plywood. Today I got my wood, ripped it into eight 1 1/2" strips and two 2" strips, cut the strips to length and got three-quarters through the glue-up process. Tomorrow I'll have the base finished and I can start working on the top.

I'm substitute teaching this Friday, October 17, 2008. I plan to have the lectern finished and delivered by then.

In the meantime I'll be starting the cabinets for my artist friend, Clay, who sincerely wishes to remain totally anonymous. He'll be quite happy to hear this.

The cool part about this is I get to perfect my building process and get paid at the same time. So when someone buys a lectern at my Etsy site I'll have the whole thing down to a fairly speedy procedure. That will help make it more profitable without charging anything extra. And I'll be able to work on a lectern whilst building other projects for other clients, which means I can accept more jobs at the same time. Everybody wins!

Update, October 13, 2008:

The entire column is glued up and clamped up. When the glue finishes cooking I can start sanding it.

The legs have to be drilled for the brass threaded inserts so I can attach the levelers at the very end of the process, after the lectern has been finished. But I need rubber feet for this one instead of sliders because this classroom has tile instead of carpet, and I want to make sure the rubber levelers have the same size bolt screws first because, if the bolt is smaller, I'll need smaller threaded inserts. And there's just no practical way to make a hole smaller after it's been drilled.

So, I'm going to Rockler Woodworking this evening to see what sorts of levelers they have in stock. I love going there! I'm like a kid in a candy store!

Update, October 15, 2008:

I finished the assembly of the lectern today and began the finishing process by applying one coat of clear satin polyurethane.  One more coat on the column and two more on the top and it'll be ready for delivery, probably tomorrow evening or Friday, depending upon the humidity, which can affect the drying time.

Update, October 18, 2008:

The lectern has been delivered, the client is happy. There was even talk from another teacher about commissioning another one!  This is greatness!  I want to get a photo of the lectern in her room with kids there, but I don't know when that will happen.

The Drawers of the World... or at least the garage... Phase one, in which Doris gets her oats...

A good friend of mine named Clay, who wishes to remain anonymous, brought me over to his house recently and showed me a collection of eight drawers and an old door. He asked if I could build two cabinets to house the drawers and use those same cabinets to support the door, on it's side, so he would have a sort of work bench in his garage.

Now, Clay is an artist. In the classic sense. He paints pictures. He doesn't need the sort of work bench I have in my wood shop. So this idea of his was certainly sound.

And I can, indeed, build just what he's asking for. Thursday afternoon I'll be purchasing a ton of 3/4" birch plywood with which to begin the previously mentioned cabinets. Along with the sheet goods I'll get eight casters, four of which will have brakes on them. I'll worry about the drawer slides after I pick up the drawers from Clay this Saturday.

This will be fun. Once again I'll be building something I've never built before. I know I can build it, but it's still something new for me. That's exciting! When I was a graphic designer I took on jobs all the time without knowing exactly how I would complete them. I never missed a deadline in 13 years and my clients were happy folks and loved the results. When I see some possible obstacle in my path a solution always presents itself. And I like working on the fly.

I'll document this adventure here, with photos, just as I did with the lectern. Speaking of which, I'll be building another lectern at the same time as I start the cabinets. A teacher from the intermediate school has already paid for it.