Now I can start my Christmas....

I've been working busily over the holiday to get this ready, and I installed it yesterday. (It's not a good picture, sorry. It is actually very difficult to photograph such a dark piece.)

I'm in the conference room of a local corporation. There are recesses in each of the end walls, and they wanted shelves to match the ones on the other end of the room. Those white rectangles are cut-outs for electrical outlets--which should be inconspicuous once the shelves are filled with "product."

There are more details below the fold, if you are interested...

Here's the plan:

Construction details. I originally planned to make the top one 12' long piece, which would have been a bit risky and tricky. Fortunately the size of the elevators precluded this, and the join in the top turned out to be quite inconspicuous.

Something what's been keeping me busy...

I just finished installing this home office, in a very fine old apartment building here in the city. I'm pleased with how it came out, though there were times I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Especially just the problem of getting all the parts and tools into the apartment. There were many hassles with parking, elevators, cable car line, steep hills.... I love the city, but there are problems here no one in the suburbs even imagines.

Update: Two more pix added.

It was hard to get back far enough to get a picture. Plus, one of the problems was that the room was full of stuff. Makes it awkward. 'Course I once re-did a home office that remained in use during the installation! That was fun.

The desk surface is Wilsonart color "Satin Stainless." Very nice, my customer found it...

A moment of concern...

We recently had an ecumenical service at the parish, and a very splendid thing it was...

CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO: Peace, reconciliation, unity are themes of June 28 event at St. Dominic Church
An evening of sacred music and sacred readings featuring themes of peace and reconciliation June 28 St. Dominic Parish was capped by exhortations from leaders of San Francisco's Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox communities for their traditions to continue pursuit of mutual understanding and unity.

Following their remarks to a nearly full church, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Gerasimos and Archbishop George H. Niederauer lit in unison the final candle of a candelabra which had served as symbol of growing unity during the evening. Between choral offerings, pairs of youngsters — one Greek Orthodox, one Catholic — would walk to the altar area and each light a candle on either side of the candelabra.
Titled "Litany for Peace: An Ecumenical Evening of Sacred Readings and Music," the program featured three choral ensembles — the Solemn Choir of St. Dominic Church and the choirs of San Francisco's Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral and Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church...

Photo by Arne Folkedal
©2007 ArneFolkedal@gmail.com, used by permission. [Thanks!]

The little awkwardness for me was that I built that platform they are standing on. And all I had been told was that it was for the children, to help them reach the candles! Of course I had made it very sturdy, I know how to do this stuff. But still I felt a bit queasy when I realized that these two important guys were about to stand on it together... "The early 21st Century seemed to be experiencing a new dawn of ecumenism, until the catastrophic incident in San Francisco..."

Fun stuff with a scroll saw...

As a matter of general info, there are lots of woodworking things you can do without a shop or expensive tools. One neat machine is the scroll saw.

My son was tasked with buying a toy alligator to go on the going-away-party cake of someone in the choir who is moving to Florida. We were about to go driving around looking, but I hate shopping, and I said, "We could just make one." And so we did.

My scroll saw is a plain-vanilla Powermatic, that cost me less that $150. (Of course if anyone's looking for gift suggestions in the four-figures neighborhood, these babies are what I dream of. But don't really need.)

My machine has undoubtedly paid for itself many times over, just in making small gifts. Back when my children needed presents to take to a birthday parties, I used to make keychains by cutting the person's name out of a scrap of Rosewood, which can be buffed to a nice gloss. I probably did at least 30 of them over the years, which is a LOT of trips to Toys 'r Us avoided!

If anyone is interested, I made the alligator out out two pieces of smooth 1/2"-thick Poplar. I taped them together and cut out everything except the legs. Those were cut on each piece separately. Then I glued the two together. The color is green wood dye. The actual cutting took less than 10 minutes. It's about 12" long.

Rather cool cabinets...

...though it's I what says it. I installed these a few days ago. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to photograph them, because the space is too small to stand far enough back! (It's in a short hall branching off from another hall.) Also, they are lighted cabinets, but the electrician has not yet connected my wires to the line. I'll show you my sketch below the fold, so you can get the big picture...

(This is drawn with the formidable Google SketchUp Pro, without which I do not know how I ever lived. You can download a free version of Sketchup that does almost everything the pro version does, except it won't export as well.)

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.

Maybe someone out there in the "Audient Void" knows the answer...

....To a minor dilemma I have. It's a little thing, but is starting to really bug me...

In my work as a cabinetmaker I frequently use a timer. For instance, I'll glue and clamp a piece, and then use a timer to make sure it stays clamped just long enough before the next step.

But I have been unable to find the sort of timer I really want. It needs to clip to my belt, be small, be simple to use, and be sturdy enough to take some knocks.

I've tried the two shown below. The first one hangs from a string, but the plastic loop that the string goes through soon broke. The second one is great, but the belt clip soon failed. (And worse, the clip is attached to the sliding battery cover. So a slight bump slides the timer right off, leaving only the cover on my belt!)

I may try this one next...

Another day, another dullard...

I just installed this little bookcase (inspired by this style), and all was well, and the customer was happy...except one tiny detail...

I fastened it firmly to the wall with three screws, two of which went right into the sliding pocket-door you see. Ooops. (Fortunately I was equipped with the necessary gear to repair the damage.)

Tall cases...

I haven't blogged much lately, because I've been rushing to complete this project so my customers can show it off at a big party this weekend...

They have a few points of interest. The wood is cherry, darkened with a dye and finished with shellac. I used shellac because it dries quickly. But I relied too much on that, and stupidly left the shelves stacked up while I installed the cases. And they stuck to each other and left ugly marks in the finish! Fortunately shellac is easy to repair, because a new layer will melt into the previous one, so I could fix things with a brush.

Also they are about 9 1/2 feet tall, which added complications, like having to disassemble the cases to get them into the room. But unlike most of my jobs, this was a brand new building and everything was plumb. In fact I couldn't quite believe it, and made the base 1/4" short, expecting to shim it level over the ups and downs of the floor. But there weren't any!

Finished...

I just finished this installation today. Big job, about 12' long and 10' high. Turned out pretty well, though it's I what says it. Maybe I'll have some time to blog now...

Here's a shot in mid-installation...

I should have brought a taller ladder!

Garden furniture project update...

Here's the whole set finally finished...On my screen the Redwood looks more pink than it really is, and of course they will all soon be brown...

A fun project...

I made this garden chair for Charlene. A little table will join it eventually. It's made of Redwood, and will soon darken, and eventually weather to the color of the fence you see in the background...

This job was fun because I could be much more relaxed about the details than if I was working for a customer. I made no drawings and only took a few measurements from other chairs. And a lot of the wood was re-sawn from some 4x4 scraps I had lying around, which was very satisfying and parsimonious... (the plants are mentioned below)

The very large fern you see behind the chair is Blechnum chilense. Blechnums typically have upright fertile fronds, which are not green and which carry the spores. The shriveled-looking things you see standing straight up are fertile fronds. And behind the frond that the sun is shining on is another fern, Blechnum nudum, which has the charming common name of Fishbone Water Fern.

Those twisty branches you see against the fence belong to a climbing rhodie, Rhododendron fragrantissimum. (Whose flowers are indeed very fragrant.)

My site...

I've belatedly fudged up a web site for my cabinetmaking business. If you are interested, it's here. Feel free to comment or cricketize.

On eBay, very cheap...

The US is apparently now getting a lot of the counterfeit tools that have been a problem for a while in Europe. They look just like the familiar brands, sometimes with the brand name, like Makita, sometimes with a different name.

So if you find a brand new power tool cheap at the flea market, or are offered it under the table by a "company rep," (and maybe you think you are getting a deal on stolen merchandise), it's probably you that's getting ripped off.

My suggestion, always buy from a reputable dealer.

some of what I do for a living....

Once upon a time there was a tiny kitchen in a tiny house, where a nice lady professor loved to cook, in conditions of the utmost cramptitude. There was a sort of niche or alcove next to the stove, which wasn't very useful. So she asked me, and my collaborator Johnny Zanakis, to rip out what was there, (a long and dirty day's work in itself) and, in a space exactly 48.5 inches wide, and 23 deep, to build in a long list of kitchen desiderata. It's close to finished, we're just waiting for the blacksmith to make more hardware, and you can see the results.

Or some of them. Many are hidden. All those drawers, for instance, have removable partitions that can be configured many ways.

Number 1 indicates some French antique glass bins with handles, sort of like square measuring cups. (Charlene saw them and is ready to kill for some.) I made pockets to hold them. #2 is a traditional Hoosier flour bin. The round part on the bottom is a sifter—you put a bowl underneath and sift flour into it. #3 is a slide-out shelf that will soon have a marble slab on it, for pastry making and such. #4, to give you an idea how crazy this project has been, is where I pushed the opening back between the wall studs, to gain an extra 3 inches for the flour bin, and for the mixers and gadgets that will soon clutter that green shelf That wasn't cabinetmaking; more like sculpture....