A Learning Adventure in the Workshop

G&G Drawers - Two down and four to go

I completed the center drawers (one for each desk) this past weekend.  See below:

Note the traditional Greene and Greene exposed box joints on the drawer fronts.  The pins stand proud on the front of the drawers by about 1/8 of an inch. The drawer backs are installed with sliding dovetails.  The Incra LS router table jig made the construction of the drawers fast and easy.  I left the sides of the drawers long in the back so that they can be pulled out to expose the entire drawer contents without falling.

I began cutting the parts for the four side drawers also, and I hope to complete them this week.

Galootaclaus sighting in July

Earlier this year I posted photos of my "Galootaclaus 2006" gift from Derek Cohen from down-under (Perth, Australia to be exact). If you don't know what/who Galootaclaus is, I recommend that you join the OldTools email list and find out.

Anyway, I just noticed an article from Derek on the OldToolsShop website...and what do you know, its about the gift that he sent me!

See: http://www.oldtoolsshop.com/inTheShop/shopImpr/box/index.asp

Learning the Spokeshave

For some reason, I've been intimidated by the spokeshave in the past, and really haven't used mine much.  I figured that since I'm not a chair maker (yet), I really did not have much use for one.

Over the past few days though, I've needed to true-up and smooth out the gentle curves that make up the bottoms of the drawer faces on my G&G desks.  I had been using sandpaper to do the final fitting of the faces to the drawer openings (after having cut the drawer faces by using pattern-routing on the router table), but sanding is slow going, messy, and not much fun.

I reached for my spokeshave, and took a few easy passes, and whammo!  The  drawer front was finished.  Smooth, gently curved and ready for use.   Spokeshaves are good for cabinetmaking too...if you have curves.

The spokeshave is remarkably easy to learn and use...much easier to learn than traditional planes.   No need to be intimidated like I was!   I see many more uses for this tool now that I have made my breakthrough.

The more woodworking that I do, the more that I appreciate hand tools.  As these desks have progressed (over the past year or more), I find myself reaching for hand tools more and more...and killing fewer electrons...and the work is coming out better!  Some times that old ways are the best (but nobody better touch my Dewalt thickness planer!!!)

"Primo" Grill/Smoker Cart Complete!

Here it is!  The "Primo" ceramic smoker cart is complete!   The project only took about two afternoons to complete including designing and buying the materials.  I am pleased with the result.

The cart is made from standard pressure-treated lumber from Home Depot for the legs and the horizontal structural components (just 4x4 and 2x4 material) and Trex-brand composite decking for the shelf and top surfaces.  Since Trex cannot support much weight, the pressure-treated lumber was necessary for the structural components.

I basically copied the overall cart design from the photographs of the cart that Primo sells on their website.  I used the dimensions that they listed on their price-sheet as my guide to overall size.   I even copied the "curve" to the front edge of the top surface.

They made their version from Cypress wood, and I considered doing the same....but the cost did not seem to be worth it, and I went with Home-Depot-available materials.

I placed four 12x12x1 concrete pads onto the bottom shelf underneath the grill to protect the Trex shelf from heat.  These were just paving stones from Home Depot at about a dollar each.  I placed them as close to the front edge of the bottom shelf as possible, so that when cleaning ash out of the grill it will fall onto the concrete and not onto the Trex.

The wheels are replacement solid-rubber handcart wheels also purchased from Home Depot.  Since this grill and cart are HEAVY (I'm guessing north of 500 lbs between them), I did not want to use inflatable wheels that could go flat easily.  The front wheels are industrial-rated swiveling casters from Woodcraft.

I cut the opening for the grill and the curve on the cart top with a jig saw after making and tracing a paper template onto the cart top.  After cutting with the jigsaw, I sanded the edges smooth with a palm and a belt-sander and then routed a small radius on the top edge to finish it.  The routed edge really makes a difference in the final look of the cart.

I liked working with the Trex material, it was easy to cut, route and sand.  It is heavy (much heavier than wood) and expensive though. ..about $18 for 1x6x8.   But, since it will last forever with no maintenance, it guess it makes up for the cost in the long-run.

Finally, note my "grill bucket" that is sitting on top of the cart in the first picture.  This is just a 5-gallon bucket with a Bucket Boss placed on it (also from Home Depot).  I have found that this arrangement works great for carrying my grilling tools, etc in and out of the house between grilling sessions.   

Experiments with Kamado Cooking

As has often happened with the desk project, a short "intermission" project in the workshop has intervened in progress.

My wonderful family got me a great combination birthday/father's day gift...  A ceramic grill/smoker from Primo Grills and Smokers.    I have long enjoyed grilling, and as my wife says "The ceramic cooker should allow for many hours of your obsessive experimentation"....she knows me well.

From their website  "Ceramic Cooking has been practiced in Asian countries for over 3,000 years. It remains a popular cooking method. Ceramic allows food to cook evenly with minimal moisture loss."    The image below is credited from the Primo website explaining how these cookers work.

This is also known as a "Kamado" cooker and I have been wanting to try one out for awhile.    The better known "Big Green Egg" brand ceramic cooker is of the same type as the Primo.  My wife chose the Primo for its larger size, and I think that she made a very good choice (she knows that bigger is usually better in my book!).  Both the Primo and "the Egg" get excellent reviews on-line and I do not think that she could have made a bad choice.

I have found the website "The Naked Whiz" , that provides a great deal of information on the Ceramic Cookers.   The Naked Whiz also provides an interesting review of lump hardwood charcoals.  These seem to be hard to find in Pittsburgh, and will require some research.

Unfortunately,  due to demand this time of year and limited distribution, my Primo has still not arrived (they are made in small batches in the US).    But that's OK, because it will give me time to build a work-stand/cart for the grill prior to its arrival.   Its always great when your hobbies can collide in this manner!

The grills come designed to be free-standing, but it seems that almost all owners either build or buy a stand to raise the grill to a convenient  height, and to allow for work surfaces  (again, see "the Whiz").  The pre-made stand that Primo sells is made from Cypress, and I briefly considered building one out of Cypress also.....but  I decided to go with less-expensive and easier to find treated-lumber structural components with Trex-brand manufactured decking material as the work surfaces.

I know.....normally I would go with all wood also, but in this case I am being practical...strange but true.

I bought the material yesterday, and will begin construction shortly and post photos.  Once I start work on this, I expect to be able to finish the cart in one long afternoon.  An easy project.

Ebony Complete

Made progress this weekend.  I completed all of the ebony on both desks, and the desk "carcasses" are now complete (except for finish).  Next up...the drawers.

I selected the rough mahogany boards for the drawers and marked-up the rough layouts on the boards.  Next step is to plane the boards to final thickness.  Hope to do that in the next few evenings.

I'm still experimenting with various finishes on scrap wood.  I'm not sure what I want to use on the final pieces yet.

Ebony - one down and one to go

Its been quite awhile since my last post.  Work and other things have kept me away from the shop lately, and I've only made a little bit of progress.

This past weekend I completed adding all of the ebony pegs and splines to one of the two desks, and began adding the ebony to the other.  Ebony is very fragile and tends to shatter, so it can be slow going.

Once the ebony is complete, all that will remain is to make the drawers and apply the finish!

Shop space gets tight...

Made more slow progress this weekend.  The desk carcasses are now complete except for the ebony trim.  Then it will be on to the drawers.

As you can see below, two desks fill the shop.  It will be tight going until these are done.

More Desk Assembly

Below are a couple of pictures of the Greene and Greene desk fit-up.  Its been slow going, but I am making progress.

 

Dry fit begins

I got in a bit of shop-time this weekend and began the long-awaited dry-fit of the Greene and Greene desks.  I fitted and glued-up 6 of the 8 "frames" of legs for the desks.  Two more to go, and then the fun really beings as I work to fit-up the fronts and backs. I'm pleased with the results so far.  My Bessey clamps prove once again that they are the best in my view.

I'm trying to figure out which method to use to do the detail of the irregular box-joints on the drawers.  The Popular Woodworking blog has recently posted two methods, here:  Gamble House Drawers and here:  Gamble House Drawers Alt .  Both methods have advantages and disadvantages.