February 16, 2007
Job done...
I just finished installing these wardrobes, for a choir rehearsal room. I think they turned out well, but this project beat me up in a bunch of ways. A lot of them just because the two units are big! 7 1/2 feet high, and 5 feet wide. That complicates everything. For instance, there's no 1/4" plywood available wide enough to form the backs— I had to stitch two pieces together for each one. And once the cases were assembled, it's not like I could pick them up and move them about...
However, it was for our own dear parish, St Dominic's, of San Francisco, and for its world-class choir, so it was a labor of love...
For any woodworkers who might be interested, those sliding doors are not really frame-and-panel construction (which would be pretty scary at that size). They are pieces of 1/2" Birch plywood (I was lucky to get some good-looking C-2 at a good price) with strips of 1/4" thick Birch glued on. It worked out well, but there were a lot of pieces to put together. They are lightly dyed to match some other wood in the room..
They are hanging on Hettich System 72222 tracks and wheels--very cool. But the little bottom guides sold with the system were useless--I threw them out and made some long guides of my own.
Posted by John Weidner at February 16, 2007 02:41 PMNice work, John.
When I win a million dollars in the lottery and can actually afford a house 'round these parts (central Maryland), I'll ask you to make some furniture for it. :)
Posted by: Hale Adams at February 16, 2007 05:18 PMOh yeah. If I win the lottery there's definitely money coming your way.
Of course, that's partly because the idiot furniture sellers think that 18 or 20 inches is a good depth for a bookshelf, when the actual depth of a hardback book is only 9 inches and a paperback is under four. Repeat after me, sellers: Those are shelves. Drop the "book" unless they're actually desgined well to hold books, with perhaps a five-degree rearward tilt for stability.
And don't get me started on nightstands. I've decided that what I want is one shallow drawer at the top and two shelves below to hold (quelle suprise) books, with a short lip on the back and sides to keep the grimple from falling off. Now if only someone would sell those, instead of yet another set of drawers...
Posted by: B. Durbin at February 17, 2007 11:19 AMAnd in case you didn't get it, those are lovely. I like.
Posted by: B. Durbin at February 17, 2007 11:19 AMThanks, all!
B. Durbin's complaint is an instance of a larger frustration. There are many products whose design has become "fixed" in the makers minds, and so hundreds of "different" models are cranked out that are all basically the same.
My biggest peeve is the drill press. They are all made with small platforms (usually round) to hold the workpiece. The platform can be cranked up or down. It's impossible to balance a long piece of wood on the little platform, it's just not meant for that.
Woodworking tools need a long fixed bench to hold the board, with the tool doing the moving (think radial arm saws). But every year brings new editions of the same old machine. No one re-thinks; the drill-press lobe of the brain is ROM, not RAM...
Posted by: John Weidner at February 17, 2007 12:07 PMHey, John, build your own table for the drill press.
My late grandfather Adams, who was an avid woodworker, built his own worktable in the '40s and used it every day until he fell ill with cancer in '76. It was perhaps seven feet long and 30" deep, and at just the right height for him to work at, because he built it. Not only that, but he added large wooden vises on the corners to hold workpieces, complete with large wooden screws he fashioned by hand.
So why don't you follow my Grandpa's example and custom-make the drill-press platform that you want? (In your copious free time, no doubt. :) )
Posted by: Hale Adams at February 17, 2007 06:48 PMFree time? Wuzzat?
Hale, I have built worktables and benches. In fact, one of them is included in a Taunton Press book, The Workbench, by Lon Schleining.
But the table of a drill press gets raised and lowered, and any substitute I built would have to do so as well. That adds a bit of complication...
Nice to hear about your grandfather and his workbench. It sounds like a great piece.
Posted by: John Weidner at February 17, 2007 09:49 PMWow - absolutely gorgeous! Your work will be loved long, long after you're gone...makes me wish I had such skills...
