Countertops

Now, in my last posting, I was talking about this island I built for the kitchen. Casters, cabinets, turkey, etc...

Truth be told, I suffer from a disease called, "shiny object syndrome." It's more common than you may think. We ended up cancelling school this week because of snow and ice. This left me with a week of time at the house with nothing to do but several dozen projects around the house. The obvious choice would be to work on the kitchen island, so naturally I attacked the bamboo in the back yard again.

Pre-Cutting

When we moved in, the bamboo was thick and slowly encroaching upon the lawn. I cut it back to the fence two years ago and it seems to have returned because of the bamboo behind the fence. My hope is that by cutting the bamboo in sub-freezing temperatures I might be able to kill it by freezing it. We'll find out soon enough.

Post-Cutting

If the freezing method doesn't work, I have a jug of concentrated Crossbow that might do the trick. I've read that it's essentially impossible to get rid of, but I need to try.

Okay, where were we? Oh year, kitchen island. 

Before I attached the new countertop, I had to build up the substructure so that I could attach some decorative molding to the outside edge. I used some 3/4" pine on edge that I cut to final thickness so that the substructure would be level enough to put the particleboard on.

Other than ripping stock on the radial saw in the garage, I did everything with hand tools. It ended up being faster to use a tenon saw and a bench hook than marking and walking to the garage to use the miter saw for every cut. 

One of the base cabinets, has two angles that would have proven to be tricky had it not been for a sliding t-bevel. (For any of my students reading this, the sliding t-bevel is the thing in the middle of the picture with the wood handle and the metal stabby thing on one end.)

After the corner section, it went pretty quickly.

If I had to do this again, I would have added some extra sub-structure between the two cabinets in the center, I think it would have made the panels line up a bit better.

Once that was done, I had to cut the panels to size and attach them. Attaching them was not all that bad. I had decided to chalk lines for the substructure to begin with but later decided that it was just a bit faster to just eyeball it and drive lots of nails. 

Unfortunately, the two panels used for the top didn't end up quite as perfectly flush as I had originally hoped. I had originally thought about using a belt sander to sand the ridge out, but ended up using a card scraper. It didn't originally occur to me to use the scraper, but I wanted to avoid getting too much dust in the kitchen.

The screws actually hold up a piece of pine underneath the panels. The seam had no support underneath so there was quite a sag, I fixed it with something out of the scrap bin. 

It turned out that the card scraper did the trick quite well and only took me five or six minutes to level the entire seam. 

Next was the scary part. I had about $170 into the laminate top and I knew that if I set it down on the top after the adhesive was down and it was done wrong, I'd be out that money and three days worth of time. With some careful planning and some help from Lucinda, it went well. The adhesive really "stings the nostrils" once the can is open. I worked as fast as I could, but it stank and it was inescapable. 

With the adhesive down, it was time to lay the laminate. It went down quite easily. I didn't have a "J-Roller" (I'm still not sure what one is, but Bob Vila says to use one.) so I ended up using the chamfered edge of a 2x4 that I had in the garage from a previous project and a lot of pressure. 

After some quick routing with the trim router, it was as done as it was going to get for a while. 

The (almost) finished product

Kitchen is Closer...

It's been long enough now, that I don't really remember where I left off. So I suppose we'll start with the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

In anticipation of moving the pipes below, I cut out a section of drywall in the bathroom to expose the pipes from the back such that the plumber would be able to move the angles into the wall.

We wanted the pipes inside the wall as we're putting a cabinet where they are currently. The only problem with the plan was in my quest for somewhat perfection. In wanting the saw cuts to be straight, I attached a strip of plywood to the wall to act as a straightedge. Unfortunately, when I sank a screw into what I thought was a wall stud, I had in fact put it into a section of 3/4" copper pipe...which happened to be the main water intake for the house...with no valve between the hole and the street.

So after putting the screw back in so that it would slow the leak, I waltzed outside and shut off the main at the street...Lucinda called the plumber.

As it came to pass, the valve that was in the wall near the hole (among being a mess installed in 1965 the likes of which the plumber had never seen) prevented the plumber from an easy fix. He ended up having to cut out a section of pipe with a reciprocating saw and installing some pex and a couple of shark bites.

After this mishap, it would actually take about a week and a half to get the plumber back to the house. Apparently, he had other work to do...or something like that. In the mean time, we had the electrician to the house to do all of the work for the kitchen, this included:

• Moving a thermostat as well as the 220V power associated with the ceiling heat for the living room.
• Moving the overhead lighting switch for the kitchen to the other side of the room.
• Moving the electrical runs for the microwave and the range.
• Installing a new run to service the washer and an outlet next to the newly moved switch.
• Getting me to crawl around in my attic enough to bruise most of the front of my body and feel like I'd been in a street brawl for several days.

The highest point of our attic crawl space isn't actually tall enough to get a blue rubbermaid tub through if it's upright. I can barely be any higher than prone when I'm up there. Crawling 18 feet back and forth through it sucks, but it beats the crap out of paying the electrician to do it for me.

Okay, cue the plumber:

The left is with the drywall up in the kitchen. The right is before the drywall went up in the kitchen for the wall and the ceiling. If you notice, there are a few wires hanging down from the ceiling. That's right, when I pulled the crap down from the walls in the ceiling it took a bit more ceiling with it than I had hoped and I ended up exposing a section of the ceiling heat coils. What does that mean, Mr. Longo? It means that my life just got a whole lot less fun and a whole lot more work...ey.

Basically I have to slap mud up onto the ceiling and embed the coils into it. Then it's a game of mud, dry, mud, dry, mud, dry, until I've made up the almost 5/16" of mud that the coils were in to begin with so that the ceiling levels match. Boo.

Oh well, onto the island! We were told that if we were going to have a stationary island in the kitchen that building code said we would need to have a couple of outlets. As we didn't want to put in a post or try to trench in our cement slab foundation, we opted to not have a stationary island. Fortunately for us, the code doesn't apply to things on wheels!

I found locking, rubber wheeled, ball bearing, 125# casters on sale at Harbor Freight for $3/ea so I bought 12 figuring that if we were going to have more than 1500 pounds spread over the whole thing at some point that we may want to re-evaluate what we were doing with out lives.

For starters, I had to attach three cabinets together and build a sub base for them.

Now, the sub-base was needed as these are three upper cabinets that we were re-purposing as base cabinets. As the upper cabinets are shorter than base cabinets, I needed to build them up to match height with the two base cabinets we were using. As you can see above, I used some pressure treated 2x6 that I ripped down to final width on the radial saw and then simply attached it with screws. What you can't see are the casters that I added to the base. 

The casters weren't quite tall enough to just attach to the base of the cabinets, so I had to improvise. I found that the thickness of the 2x6 was just enough to get the caster to clear the sub-base, so I screwed two casters to a section of 2x6 and then attached that to the sub-base...instant fix. 

Once that was all done, I had something I could work with:

I attached casters to the larger base cabinets in the same fashion. The section of countertop you see on the far end of the island is from the original countertop. It went away. 

This is where I was essentially at Thanksgiving. We were able to share a wonderful meal with my Grandfather and his girlfriend who drove down from Renton, Washington. 

By the way, there were only five of us for dinner on Thanksgiving...the 16 pound turkey was more than sufficient.

Time for an Update

If you've noticed, I've been somewhat dormant here for some time. School has started and I've become fairly absorbed in working with students as a teacher and Athletic Director. Fall seasons are now behind us and I'm finding myself with a few spare seconds here and there so naturally I'm trying to fill them in with something.

We have a plumber and an electrician scheduled for this coming Friday to finish all of the "stuff" that I'm afraid of with the kitchen remodel. I'll be posting some pictures shortly of where we are to this point. Not much has changed in this venue except a couple of small items now moved and some more drywall gone.

Some things change. Houses get remodeled, kids get bigger, teaching staff changes, life goes on. Some things don't change. Friends are still there for you, family still cares, students come in the door in the fall and leave in the spring (and the time in between is filled with 12 and 16 hour days with many weekends filled working with kids to boot).

As an educator (soapbox time) I will, from time to time, reflect on what it is that I do for a living and what it is that got me to where I am today. Ultimately, I would not be teaching had it not been for the teachers who had a positive impact on my life growing up. In many cases they were like parents to me. For those that I was close to, thank you. For those who had an impact upon me (there are more than I could count, I think), thank you.

If you had a teacher that impacted you in a positive light, let them know. Track them down. Send them a note. If you went to a big school, you might think they don't remember you. You'd be surprised.

Anyhow, I've had kiddos here in the shop working for the last 45 minutes so I think I'll attend to them a bit more closely.

Long Time Coming/I've Been Busy

Since we've last spoken I've taken on a number of projects. Well, to be honest, there have been two or three, but two main projects. The first is the demolition of the extraneous sheds. The second project is the kitchen remodel.

To start with, let's talk about the router table's progress...

I managed to make the drawer sides for the table. Just not anything else to finish the thing.

The ends of the sides are rabbeted and the bottoms all have dadoes for the bottom. I just haven't done any of the final fitting or assembly yet. Nor have I built the faces for the drawers. Or the doors for the router space for that matter. I'll put this into the, "stuff that I really should get done, but will get around to at a significantly later date, or at least when I next think of it and have time nor anything else better to do" column.

Next is the demolition of those pesky sheds. The first to go was the chicken coup. I'll give you the general lowdown with pictures. 

As you can see, the front of the thing was the first part to go. With the help of my good friend, Patrick Rocchio, I was able to get the rest of the coup down in about two hours. We were able then, to cut up a good amount of the parts and throw them into the dumpster. I really wish that I would have gotten a picture of the dumpster, as the overflow was fairly amazing, but I'll deal. 

All that remains of the coup is a small pile of debris that I think that I'll throw on top of the next dumpster for an even more epic picture. 

Now, between the chicken coup and the remodel a couple of things happened.

First, I harvested the potatoes out of the meager garden that I keep.

We really like potatoes, and they grow fairly well here, so there you go. 

Next, Lucinda went to a conference.

The car pictured above didn't belong to us when she first left for the conference. Dave (aka "the Davemobile" aka "1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo") is still sitting in front of the house, but not for too long. Please don't tell him, he wouldn't take this news well. Neither am I for that matter...

Now, I'd like to say that this was something that I could hold over my wife's head for the next forty years, the new car was planned for some time. We knew that the Jeep was on its way out and that we needed to get something else. We wanted a crossover SUV, but couldn't afford the one that we wanted, but decided that the sedan was big enough for the car seat we have and hopefully another sometime in the future. Plus, the mileage is so much better than anything we drive right now.

Dave's engine has been cutting out lately, which isn't really that big a deal unless you are driving on a freeway in heavy traffic. (Note: This didn't actually happen, just a for instance) I'm in the process of cleaning out the Jeep and will likely take him into donate him to a charity whenever I get sick of paying the insurance.

Now to the remodel. 

Lucinda and I decided a while ago that the wall between the kitchen and living room needed to go. Our living room is lit by two wall sconce fixtures on either side of the fireplace and two floor lamps. This just isn't enough. The resulting feel is that of a cave. Not like a Taliban cave, a nice one. You know, a cave with couches, television, nice stereo system and cookbooks. 

After much thinking, we decided that the wall mounted cabinets in our kitchen could be re-purposed for use as base cabinets to help create an island.

In the picture above, you'll see a variety of things. You'll note that the counter top is a complete mess. You'll also note two different colors of wall and what looks like a 2x4 peeking through the wall. This is actually a long opening. On the other side is a separate 32" x 5' frame that was nailed in place after someone screwed something up. The stove is currently under the white box microwave.

We removed all of the cabinets then I got to work tearing out drywall. Lucinda felt that she wanted more to do with the remodel than, "designated fragile item out of the cabinet wrapper" and picked up the reciprocating saw and got to work.

For having never used one before, she did pretty well. 

For now, we're at somewhat of a standstill with the remodel. I removed all of the wall studs that I thought were safe to remove to open things up a bit more. There is too much electrical to really do any more for the time being. I'm fairly confident that I could move the 240V outlet for the stove and move the other outlets for the microwave and aux, but the switches and thermostat are things that I really don't want to tackle. Plus, if the place burns down, I want it to be someone else's fault. 

In the meanwhile. I think that I can find enough other things to do around the house. Picking up another 10 gallons of paint while I'm at a conference in Eugene Monday will help. 

Until next time...

Oh, It's You...How Have You Been?

Surprisingly busy actually.Let's backtrack from where we left off and move forward to where I finished up today.

Last I posted, I had just figured out what to do with the upside down center divider: shims.I cut them out of scrap oak that I had from the project...problem solved, problem staying solved.

 I know that the two shelves on the right are lower, it just ended up that way. This single bookcase holds all of the books that were on the two old ones, plus a few.

After the bookcase was finished there was a short break. Next, I decided to re-organize the garage before I started building the cabinet for my router table top.

As you can see, there was a lot to re-organize. I think that I like the new layout a bit better. The only hitch is that the 240V outlet for the radial saw is on the opposing wall from where the saw is now. I think that I'll deal for the time being. 

I built the top for the router table almost two years ago and am just now getting around to building the rest of the thing. The idea was a cabinet with a compartment for the router that I can add dust collection to later and then a couple of drawers to hold the routers and accessories.

I cut two dadoes and a rabbet on each one of the sides of the case first (I had cut three of the case parts at the school a few weeks ago).

 I used the new router with the plunge base for starters. Second, I used an aluminum, clamp-on edge guide and a top bearing pattern bit. They worked all right, I suppose. I didn't like the pattern bit too particularly well with this set-up as it took some chunks out when I accidentally tipped the router a little.

The case ended up turning out all right all things considered. I put together a face frame with the Kreg Jig and attached it using the same method. It strengthened the case quite a bit.

Got the drawer slides installed, pilot holes drilled to attach the top. Got the top on and put it where it's going to reside when it's finished.

Not too shabby for a start. Tomorrow, drawers, faces and doors for the top. Oh, and the back too...

Crisis Averted

After laying on the floor in the office for a while after discovering my mistake and then sulking on the couch for a short while, I decided to call some people. First, my grandfather told me that filling in all the holes and then re-drilling was his solution. That sounded about the same to me as pulling everything apart. Dad then told me that I could likely figure things out and that he wasn't really sure but thought that the fiasco was kinda funny...this got me to go and sulk on the couch some more.

Finally, after a sufficient amount of sulking I had the brilliant idea that I could just make the shelf thicker on the end with the inverted shelf. It was decided that a 5/8" spacer on each shelf would do the trick.

The amount of sulking that took place did eat into my workable hours today. I did manage to get all of the shelves cut and the front and rear rails cut as well. Everything was sanded to 220 and I called it a night.

Backing up, the wife and I tried to get the bookcase into the office through the hall and it was simply too long. Fortunately, there is an outside door to the office. After carrying the bookcase outside and around the house it finally made it to its final residence in the office.

Big slips make for long days. The good news is that I should be able to have this one done tomorrow.

So I Need to Take a Class On Paying Attention

I was just in the office where the bookcase now resides measuring for shelves when I realized that I installed one of the center dividers upside down. Thinking time.

What a Day it Has Been

So about that top rail I replaced yesterday...I apparently like destroying them. I intentionally cut this one a bit too wide so that I could just flush trim it with the router once it was mounted. I didn't figure into this little equation the grain direction in relation to the router bit rotation. After a bit of kickback I had managed to split out a large section. After some choice words I had to run to the lumber yard for more stock.

Wasted minutes later I had the new one securely mounted to the frame as well as the case.

Previous to the top rail debacle, I had spent time sanding and oiling the back for the bookcase. This was only slightly more time consuming than I had planned and actually quite rewarding once I saw the veneer come to life under the oil finish.

During the process of attaching the trim on the sides to the case I ran into an issue with my compressor that I've just sort of dealt with until today. It's a really old, "on-demand" compressor from Sears that my Grandfather gave me a few years ago. It looks like it was purchased in the 1980's or possibly earlier. Anyway, from time to time it doesn't have the "oomph" to drive the brads or pins that I've been using for assembly. So I upgraded:

Twice the horsepower with an oil lubricated pump. This presents a bit more maintenance but the increase in pressure and decrease in decibel output is worth the titch of extra work.

The new compressor was able to attach the back to the case without any issue whatsoever. While attaching the back I was posed with the question of how to locate the center dividers through wood that I was unable to see through, even with my x-ray specs. I ended up using some rare earth magnets. Put one on each side of the thin back and I was able to slide both right next to the divider. This gave me a great picture of where the divider was and where I needed to put the brads.

After the back was attached, oil was applied to the non-nice veneer side and it was ready to move indoors.

I had really hoped to have this thing done today, but it just wasn't in the cards. The good news is that the shelves should go relatively quickly tomorrow so it should be in the office with books on it by tomorrow evening. I'm looking forward to having this one done!

Progress...Still

Today was productive. With the exception of putting two screws too far into the face frame and having to make a new piece for the entire top, things went well.

The new trim router and rabbeting bit were great for rabbeting out the back for  the rear panel. I used the Dremel Saw Max to cut the 4x8 sheet of 1/4" oak plywood to size. I was happy with the ease of use. Cut quality wasn't the best but it got the job done fairly efficiently so I won't complain too loudly.

Got the face frame attached with pocket screws and the additional supports for the bottom cut and installed as well.

I think that I could have been close to finishing today. Hitches were an interview I had to conduct for a coaching position at the school and we had guests come in for the evening during the interview. Phenomenal people, my wife's friends from college out from Pittsburgh.
Hit it hard again tomorrow and I might have this thing done before church on Sunday!

So Close...Still Working

Today was both more productive and less productive than I had imagined.

The replacement center divider ended up taking almost an hour to cut and drill. The up side to this is that I've been using some tips that I've read in woodworking magazines and they are working. One such tip is using painters tape over cuts in veneered plywood. The painters tape peels off easily after the cut and it also helps to keep the veneer from splintering out too much.

This was also the first time that I got to get a good look at the full size of this project. I'm always astounded by the size of many of the things that I build. I'm able to crunch the numbers in my head fairly easily, but the perspective is always amazing to me. The first glimpse I got of this was with the dry assembly after I finished the second center divider.

Dry assemblies like this are useful for several reasons. First, they allow the opportunity to check for squareness and find out where clamps will need to be placed. For this bookcase, it made me realize that I'd need to put some supports underneath the bookcase to keep it from bowing. It also gave me a feeling for how big the entire thing really is...huge. I think that this will be doing a far better job of holding all of the books that we have in the office.

After the dry assembly, it was time to sand. Before sanding, I decided to make a "finish test board."

I always threaten to make these, but rarely end up doing so because I know what I want already or am just being a titch lazy. Essentially what this is is a piece of scrap from the project I'm working on that's been finish sanded and then had several finishes applied. I ended up using pure Tung Oil (top right). It buffed out well and I'd only need to do a couple of coats to get it finished the way I wanted.

Next was sanding...lots of sanding. Then trying to apply tung oil with the kiddo running around at my feet.

After letting the oil cure for a few minutes, I added glue and assembled. I did end up using my two pneumatic nail guns to reinforce the dadoes. I used 18 gauge brads for the dadoes on the bottom and 22 gauge micro pins for the sides and top.

After cutting some of the solid oak trim and getting the miters close, I decided to call it a night. I brought in the remainder of the supplies from outside and wrote a to-do list for tomorrow to finish things off. Hefty but doable. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this thing in the morning so that it can be done by the time guests arrive - this seems to be how I'm coming to do things around here...

Lots Done/I Hate to Work Frustrated

Got into the shop this morning and set straight to work. I wrote myself a list of things to get done in order for the bookcase to begin with and then just started cutting parts. First the cut the top, then the ends. Rout dadoes into the bottoms of the ends for the bottom.

A video on how I "sneak up" on dadoes with an undersized bit is here.

Drill the pocket screw holes into the tops of the ends. Next measure and cut the bottom. After cutting the bottom I clamped it all together to check for size and square using some home made cabinet corner blocks.

Rout the dadoes into the top and bottom for the center dividers, then measure and cut the center dividers. Finally drill 360 holes into the center dividers and ends for shelf pins. This is when I found out that it was time to stop for the evening 360 holes earlier...

After I had finished drilling out the second center divider, I set it onto the "done" stack and noted that it was longer than the one I had drilled previously. After an expletive, I grabbed a tape measure and started measuring. Finding that I had not cut the second piece too long (what I was hoping for, simply fixed by cutting it shorter) but I had cut the first divider too short. 1" too short.

This "short"coming means that I'll have to cut another piece tomorrow morning and drill out holes for shelf pins before moving on. This eats up around fifteen minutes of work time that I had hoped to spend doing other things.

Despite the mistake, I'm fairly close to having the case completely cut out. Trim, shelves and finishing to go after that.

I'm just glad to have retained all of my fingers. Time for some Athletic Director work, then bed time.

Moving On/I Have a Problem/Catch-Up Projects

Hi, my name is Aaron, I have WWADD. (Hi, Aaron)

Let's back up a bit.

The bunk beds are finished. At least as finished as they are going to be until the lumber has completely dried out.

Kenny, Jenne and the kiddos said that they were fine to sleep on, so I'm not too worried about that project.

More recently, I took a bunch of stock into the school to make some rip cuts on the table saw. I can rip using the radial saw at the house, but it's about 1 degree out of square and I'm not really looking forward to figuring that one out. So anyway, the stock was ripped for the oak bookcase, a wall mounted cabinet for the garage/shop and the case for a router table that I want to build as well.

Got all of that loaded onto the trailer at the school and brought it home only to throw it into the garage for the night.

Today I woke up, took the kiddo to daycare, walked into the garage to work on the bookcase and built two drawers instead.

Now, in all fairness, the drawers go to a cabinet that I built for the garage months ago that was never finished. The drawers have reduced the cabinet top clutter. They have made it such that dust has a significantly harder time entering the cabinet.

The fact of the matter is, that I walked into the garage this morning with one intention, and ended up doing something completely different.

Since I built two drawers today, I may as well go into how that was done.

First off, the stock for the drawer sides and back was ripped months ago at the school so all I needed to do was measure the depth for the drawer and I'd be off to the races.

Now, I didn't make all of the measurements and go from there. I didn't draw up plans and work from them either. I did what cabinet makers and furniture makers used to do...measured and cut everything to fit as I went. This allows me to make something that's truly custom, and allows me to slack just a bit.

As I said, I cut the drawer sides first on the miter saw and then set up a router to cut rabbets on the ends.

I use the cheap, aluminum depth/height gauge from Sears for setting the height of my router bits. It was inexpensive and it's also fairly accurate. I went from there to setting up my edge guide and then "sneaking up" on the fit of the rabbets with a piece of scrap that was once part of the drawer sides.

Once these were done, I clamped them into the cabinet and measured for the fronts and backs.

From here I was able to cut the drawer fronts and backs, cut dadoes in the bottom edges of all of the pieces for the bottom, and then measure and cut the bottoms. I did a dry fit of all of the parts before putting them together with glue and nails, and I'm somewhat glad that I did as my measurements for the fronts and backs were off by about 1/16 of an inch. With all of the parts cut, I sanded up to 220.

Now for assembly:

I only add glue to the rabbets. This allows the panel for the bottom to shrink and expand with humidity changes within the dado. You will see the pneumatic nailer in the picture above as well. After I glue and clamp, I use the nailer for the final joint structure. It also allows me to take the clamps off of the work.

With this done, I set the drawers on the slides and attached the fronts. To attach the fronts, I put the drawer all the way in, set some shims on the top of the door below, and then carefully pulled out the whole drawer and then clamped the front to the box with a couple of f-clamps.

I opted to use my new Kreg Jig to attach the fronts to the boxes. The Kreg Jr. is the one in the photo, but I used the full size guy on a couple as well. Fairly pleased with the job that the Kreg Jid did.

Drawer fronts attached, I pulled the slides out with the drawers and attached them to the cases with screws and then attached hardware.

Final step was adding stuff to the drawers.

I did make a jig to cut the dadoes on the bookcase today however. So I've started.

Anyway, time for some sleep. The cabinet is almost done, I'll need to cut some trim for the edges, but other than that, I'm done with another project.

I think that I can have the bookcase finished by Friday. This works well as we have more company coming for the weekend!