Category: projects

Project: Cutting Boards

So in the fall I decided to make some cutting boards to give as Christmas presents. As is usual when it comes to my woodworking projects I grossly underestimated the time and effort it would take. (So please forgive me if you’re family and you didn’t get a board! I ended up with fewer than I had planned.)


Overall I was quite happy with how they turned out. They’re made out of walnut, cherry, and maple and are put together with the end grain facing up. Because they’re made on the end-grain, I couldn’t run them through the planer to even out the surface because it would have chipped them like crazy. So there was A LOT of sanding involved (way, WAY too much sanding). But I think it was worth it in the end.

End grain cutting boards are more durable than normal boards because it’s the hardest edge of the wood. They’re also easier on your knives because the blades will slip in between the wood fibers like in between the bristles of a paintbrush and so to a certain extent they’re self-healing. I used glue that’s been FDA-approved as food safe and finished them with several coats of mineral oil.

(By the way, if you have a wooden cutting board that’s looking dry or thrashed you can sand the surface with a light grit sandpaper and then rub on a couple coats of mineral oil (available at drug stores in the, um, laxative section) and it should really refresh it.)

I’m getting excited about this upcoming semester of woodworking class. It starts at the end of the month and my good friend Kristin is going to take the class with me which will be very fun. I’m planning on making some small boxes because I want to improve my joinery skills and also have the chance to work with some exotic woods which I can only afford to buy in small quantities. My goal is to have detail plans drawn up before class starts which should cut down on class time wasted waffling over dimensions and such.

P.S. – Oh, and to those of you who received a cutting board, remember that if you put it in the dishwasher I will HUNT YOU DOWN. Happy new year! xoxo.

Slowly But Surely

This summer I have two goals: to get in shape and to organize my house. So far I’m making slow progress on both. It took me about a week, but I finally finished this project:





It’s a corner bookcase for my office/sewing room. It’s made up of Billy bookshelves from IKEA: 2 narrow units and 1 wide unit that each have height extensions. They’re held together by the corner bracket that IKEA sells.

The process of covering the back of the bookshelves was the same as the bookshelf I put in our bedroom, but this project upped the ante. To begin with, there were 3 shelves and 3 height extenders, so there were 6 pieces to cover in fabric. Stretching the fabric, stapling it around the edges, and smoothing down the excess fabric with spray adhesive (lesson learned: use it outdoors, not in your dining room!) got a little old after the 4th piece. Also, I had ambiously (foolishly) chosen a print with bold horizontal and vertical lines so it was a little difficult to line up both axes to make sure they were straight. Also, attaching the height extensions to the top of the shelves was a bit of a fiasco because of the low ceiling but N. was very sweet and helpful and came up with a solution to the problem. So, it all worked out well in the end (phew!)

Now I just need to organize my books on the shelves and sort out the rest of the room. Once the rest of the room is presentable, I’ll post some pictures.

Mr. Sandman part 2 and E.

I think our float turned out pretty well. Mr. Sandman lost one of the shells from his mouth during the trip to the parade grounds, but other than that he survived unscathed. Now he’s sitting in my living room but I’m afraid he doesn’t quite fit the decor. I don’t know what to do with him other than prying off the sunglasses I glued to his head and chucking him into the trash. I have to admit that I got a little *sniff* attached to the guy. If anyone here in Utah can think of a good use for him, they can have him, sunglasses and all.

Since we got back from Oregon things have been pretty hectic with N.’s parents leaving for Korea, my helping with the parade float, and E.’s double ear infection. Yep, E. has a bad double ear infection. I didn’t mention it before because I was hoping it would clear up and I’m sure that everyone is sick of hearing about E.’s various ailments. But it hasn’t cleared up yet (and so you get to hear about it. Try to contain your excitement!)

It started with the cold that E. and I caught back at the end of May. E. developed a double ear infection from the cold and before we went to Oregon he took a round of oral antibiotics. His recovery didn’t seem quite as dramatic as the doctor said it would, but he did seem to be feeling better and so I didn’t take him back in for a check up before we left (foolish, foolish, Faith!) I thought the problem was fixed.

E. was really good on the drive to Oregon (even over the mountain passes) and for the first few days. But by the end of the week he was waking up 3 or 4 times a night crying and generally feeling worn out. But he was still really good on the drive back.

I took him back in to the doctor the Monday after we got home (the 16th) and his ears were infected pretty badly. So that week he had three shots of rocephin, which is pretty much the strongest antibiotic that the pediatrician uses. The shots were pretty painful.

Fast forward to last Monday when I took him back for a follow-up. The rocephin hadn’t worked and his ears are still really infected. Our doctor referred us to an ear/nose/throat doctor that we’re going to go see today. I’m a little worried about him having to have tubes in his ears. He just seems too little to be put under general anesthesia but everyone I’ve talked to that have had it done says it solves the problem. This is E.’s first persistent ear infection though, so I don’t know if it’s warrented. N.’s taking off from work a little early so he can go to the appointment too. I guess we’ll just have to see what our options are.

Mr. Sandman

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’m on the activities committee at church. We plan parties and events for the ward (or congregation). Living in a small town in Utah with a predominately LDS population is interesting in many ways. One of them is in how closely the church is involved in civic matters. Most towns in Utah have a big festival/fair every summer with parades, carnival rides, contests, and rodeos. All of the wards in our town are encouraged to decorate floats for the parade.

The part of me that loves diners and drive-in movie theaters, and lemonade stands (or rather the idea of diners, drive-in movie theaters, and lemonade stands) loves the idea of these festivals. (So charmingly small-town! So summery and soaked in Americana!) So I was thoroughly charmed when I found out I was going to be helping on our ward’s float for the parade. (A float! In a real rodeo parade!) Our float’s theme is “Santa’s Traditional Summer,” mostly because the parade theme is something about Tall Tales and Traditions and the committee really wanted to do something that called for one of the committee members, a somewhat large guy, to dress as Santa Claus in an old-timey bathing suit.

So my assignment was to make a snowman that appeared to be made out of sand. I had no clue how to go about it, but I but some paper mache mix and balloons and spray paint. I think the head turned out fairly well:

But I have to admit that I am dubious about the structural strength of the other two spheres. I hope the whole thing can support itself. I guess we’ll find out later today – the parade’s at 3pm. Well, I’m off to finished Mr. Sandman. A boatload of hot glue can stick anything together, right?

Gardening

I had vague plans to plant a garden this year. I thought it would be fun and had visions of tending it while E. rolled around on a blanket in the sunshine. But then the weeks flew by and I thought it was too late. Especially since we had mistakenly turned on the garden soaker hose when we turned on our sprinklers. This meant that for the last month we had been generously watering the weeds that sprung up in the garden which resulted in some very impressive dandelion specimens. The amount of work it would have taken to get rid of them all was too imposing.

But then, a very helpful neighbor (Thank you, Mr. C!) assured me me that it wasn’t too late and offered to bring over his rototiller. In about 15 minutes, he turned my mini-dandelion farm into lovely clear ground. (That thing on the left is a rhubarb plant that we inherited from the previous owners along with the raspberry bushes on the right.)

A couple of days ago we planted four tomato plants, about 6 various hot peppers, and squash and zucchini.

Elliott enjoyed hanging out on the lawn with N. Well, he liked it until he got tired and started screaming bloody murder.

But overall I think he liked it.

Project Update: Armoire Completed!

I want to say ‘thanks’ to several people who helped me with this project. The biggest help was N, of course. He was so supportive and cheerfully spent the last 10 Wednesday nights at home with E. while I’ve been at class. I’ve really enjoyed becoming a mom and staying home with E. while working part time from home, and I think one of the things that has made the transition easier is that for one evening a week I was able work on a hobby I enjoy and to relax by myself. N. was very encouraging about me taking the class, which I really appreciated.

My instructor was a HUGE help. I’ve taken the class on and off again for about 5 years and I think that sometimes he gives me a little special treatment. This time I needed about 3 extra hours to be able to get the armoire finished and so he let me come in on Tuesday morning during one of the degree program classes to work on the shop.

My mom (who was visiting my sister Jan this week) and Jan watched E. on Tuesday morning so I could go work in the shop.

My in-laws were also a big help. My mother-in-law came over a couple of times to watch E. while I went to the lumberyard for supplies and my father-in-law helped me (as he often does) bring home the armoire in his SUV.

So, here are some pictures of the finished (still need to add handles!) armoire:




Well, that’s it! Overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out. I felt like my woodworking skills improved noticeably this semester. I used some tools I hadn’t used before and was more comfortable with ones I’ve used before.

Below is a slideshow of pictures I took during the course of building the armoire.

Project Update 5: Armoire

This week has gone by very quickly – it’s hard to believe that it’s time to go to woodworking again tonight. Here are some pictures from last week. Last week I glued the face frame onto the cabinet and also cut the lumber for the doors to size and sanded them.

First I applied wood glue to the entire surface of the cabinet where the face frame will be attached. (Wood glue is super strong. Once it’s completely dry, wood glue is stronger than wood.)
A close-up of my lovely glue-applying technique:

Then I laid the face frame down on the cabinet and started clamping them together. My instructor helped with this part. The face frame is somewhat flexible and to ensure a good fit to the box we would clamp it in one spot, tug the next bit into place, and then clamp it again.


After I got the clamps set up, I measured and cut the stiles and rails for my doors. Tonight I have to rout out grooves in the stiles and rails so I can add the panels and glue the doors together. Then I need to sand the doors smooth, drill the holes for the adjustable shelves, apply a wood laminate edge to the adjustable shelves, and maybe add some molding to the top of the armoire–you know, if there’s time. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get all of that done tonight, but I’m going to try my hardest!

Project: bookshelf with fabric backing

I am trying to organize and decorate the house. Progress is coming along slowly but surely. The books stacked on the floor in our bedroom needed a home and so I bought a Billy bookcase from IKEA. The white bookcases are about $20 cheaper than the other colors and so I went with white. But I wanted to spice it up a little and so I bought some fabric to cover the bookcase backing with. This was a test run: if it turned out well I was going to do the same thing to the bookcases I’m going to get for the home office.

(I took pictures of the process but I’m having trouble getting the slideshow to embed correctly. If you click on the image below, the slideshow will open in a new window.)


The Billy shelves from IKEA work well for this because they have a groove for the cardboard to slide into so you can’t see it from the side. The first time I tried to slide in the cardboard after stapling around the edges, the fabric bunched up and it wouldn’t fit. So I used spray adhesive to smooth out the fabric on the back and it worked a lot better. A couple of the staples do show through on the front, but they’re hard to see. Next time I’m going to be sure to put all of the staples really close to the edge so they don’t show.

Project Update 4: Armoire

Class went pretty well on Wednesday. One of the reasons I enjoy taking this class is that it gives me access I wouldn’t otherwise have to expensive professional grade tools. On Wednesday, I used a couple of these tools to put together the face frame of the armoire. The face frame is attached to the front of the armoire to give it stability and a nice finished look.

First I cut the pieces I needed to exact size and lightly sanded them using the huge belt sander at the shop.
Then I drilled pocket screw holes in the ends of the cross pieces. This machine, shown below, is really neat. It similtaniously drills a hole in the end of the piece of wood and also routes out an angled hole so you can drill a screw into the wood and it won’t poke out of the board.

Then I screwed the cross pieces (putting glue on the ends) to the side pieces and ta-da, we have a face frame!

The last step was sanding the face frame smooth. For that I again used the huge belt sander in the shop. I LOVE this machine. The face frame is really wide, about 41 inches (it barely fit in the sander) and it would have been really difficult to sand it smooth by hand. This sander is also great for sanding tabletops and things like that.


Well, that’s all I got accomplished this last week. There are only 3 more weeks of class left! I’m going to have to modify my original design if I want a chance of finishing on time. I’m not going to make drawers any more; I’m just going to make two long doors and have shelves inside. With the change in my plans, I’ll hopefully be able to finish on time. I guess we’ll see!

Project Update 3: Armoire

Class this week was pretty productive. To save time and money, I had bought a 8′ by 4′ piece of walnut MDF to use for the shelves inside the armoire. On Wednesday I used the panel saw to cut the MDF to width (below) and then I ripped lengths on the table saw.


And then, I glued the main frame of the armoire together!

This is the fixed shelf that I cut the dadoes for before.