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What project are you currently working on?

18K views 92 replies 43 participants last post by  toolmanlh 
#1 ·


What project are you currently working on? Share pictures!
 
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#5 ·
Biggest project is getting back in the shop. Been out for awhile, not because of health issue, rather life issues. So, been fine-tuning my cane handle designs, designing a tenon cutter - that I will eventually use to trim the bottom of my canes to fit a rubber tip on, low priority just now, just have the time to work on it, so want it designed. And working on some new bank designs, Easter Island Heads, two. Got my monster truck designs all pretty well ironed out, but still don't know where to start on the Titon truck design, that one is going to be tricky if I want it to look nice.
 

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#8 ·
Never ever considered walnut to be trash wood. Well, I found some.
My project, a rifle case, requires several different widths (1", 1 1/4", 1 3/4", and 2") of 5/8 thick walnut. Each 42" long. To be sandwiched between 1/8" strips of maple.
Pulled a couple boards from a stack that's been stickered in a closed shed for 12 years. Mind you, this is AZ where the humidity is near nothing.
Got enough of it rough cut to length, planed to thickness and ripped jointed to width. Several hours of labor.
Laid them out on the assembly bench to arrange the pattern and left them overnight. The next morning, Monday of course, every one of the walnut pieces had bowed. Some by as much as 1/4".
What to do? Start over with a different stick? Since the whole 300 bf. stack came from the same Tennessee farmer, I'd likely find the same condition in a random pick. Agonized over the dilemma the rest of the day. Tuesday, I finally decided to try soaking one piece in the bathtub for a couple hours. Took it out and clamped it to a flat, melamine coated piece of MDF. By the end of the day it had flattened out somewhat. So, remembering a wood bending project from several years ago, I decided to employ the same technique to UN bend my wood.
Previously, I'd used lengths of 4" black sewer pipe filled with water and copious amounts of fabric softener. Left overnight, 3/4X3/4 sticks of red oak bent like spaghetti. So, my contrary walnut has been soaking since about noon yesterday. Today, they'll come out and get clamped. We'll see. Fingers crossed.
 
#13 ·
Never ever considered walnut to be trash wood. Well, I found some.
My project, a rifle case, requires several different widths (1", 1 1/4", 1 3/4", and 2") of 5/8 thick walnut. Each 42" long. To be sandwiched between 1/8" strips of maple.
Pulled a couple boards from a stack that's been stickered in a closed shed for 12 years. Mind you, this is AZ where the humidity is near nothing.
Got enough of it rough cut to length, planed to thickness and ripped jointed to width. Several hours of labor.
Laid them out on the assembly bench to arrange the pattern and left them overnight. The next morning, Monday of course, every one of the walnut pieces had bowed. Some by as much as 1/4".
I've tried to use air-dried wood several times here in Mississippi where our relative humidity hovers around 60%. Had bad results every time. I just won't invest my time in anything that hasn't been kiln-dried except for outdoor furniture.
 
#10 ·
Summer is my golf season. Played 5 days straight last week. This puts wood working on the back burner. However, while on vacation my wife promised some friends that I would make boards to hold dominos. I resawed some walnut and ran the boards through the planer. Ready to sand to finish thickness.

Also was going to take the mustang to the hospital where I volunteer. Turned key and everything went dark. Opened hood and smoke was coming from starter. Got it on jack stands, but have not taken time to remove and get tested.

Last project involves soffit. Had new roof and gutters put on last year. I am removing the soffit panels to clean the stains left from the leaks. Also cleaning the debre left by the roofers. Got 1 1/2 sides done. Hopefully will finish second side this weekend.

Frank
 
#12 ·
Nice job, Randy. Bet it's comfy, too.
 
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#14 ·
I'm building a couple of flag cases for the families of deceased Veterans. Discovered Ribbon Striped Sapele at my local wood store. Beautiful wood and not too expensive. I'll post some pictures when finished.
 
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#16 ·
I'm making urns for deceased cats, of all things. I've made quite a few urns for deceased Veterans (photo attached), but this is the first time for cats.

They are similar in design, but smaller at only about 5" square. These are mahogany with mitered and splined corners. The top is pocket screwed on, with four screws (one in the center of each side) from the inside. The bottom is attached with 4 screws countersunk (one into each side with two offset to prevent incorrect re-assembly). All of the screws are round head stainless (Kreg doesn't offer #7 pocket screws in stainless). The urn is designed so that the bottom can easily be removed to insert the cremains. They should be suitable for placing on a shelf, or if buried, they should hold together for many years. This is a batch of four.

Two of these urns are planned for immediate use. The other two are speculation, or possibly display samples.

They are in the finishing stages now - 2 coats of Watco Red Mahogany Dainish Oil, followed by 3-5 coats of polyurethane. All surfaces, both inside and out, are being finished. Photos will follow when completed.

I'm also building a few more tool boxes from BB plywood with box jointed corners similar to the one attached.

Charley
 

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#17 ·
I am almost finished painting my new garden shed. Bought a kit from the big orange and I regret it. I should have built it from scratch. when that is done, I will be setting up my new shop. I moved mid-June and the garage was packed with all my stuff. So now with the shed built I was able to move much stuff into it. I cleared a space last night to build my lumber rack. I have so much wood now that I bought all that Walnut I shared pictures with you guts a while back. There is much more than I thought so I got a really good deal. Here are a few pics of the shed before painting and of the garage before moving day.
 

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#19 ·
I just finished this chest of drawers to support my drill press. The steel table that came with the drill wasted too much space. I love drawers. They are much more efficient users of space than doors. For the carcass, I used 3/4 Oak ply that was left over from another project. I wouldn't have expected the weight of the drill press to bow the 3/4 top, but it made the top drawer-front drag a little; hence, the aluminum angles to carry the weight to the edges.
 

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#20 ·
Hi, guys.
Right now I am working in two woodworking projects. The first one is a angular cabinet for the stereo sound equipment and the other is a rack for shoes.
From time to time I work on a modification for my homemade milling machine and gathering ideas to increase my chinese lathe´s bed.
 
#22 ·
No need to steal the idea, it is freely given.

The original steel legs were 32" X 22", so I kept the same footprint. But drawer slides 32 inches long wouldn't be practical, even if I could find them. So, I just made some narrow drawers to fill the space in the back.

I had plenty of space in my shop until I kept dragging more tools home that needed floor space - and wall space. Like many others, I've been forced to put some machines on rollers. The drawers let me take some tools off the pegboard and free up some space there.
 
#24 ·
@dirt_dobber,

Norm's design has a weak point in the two rear legs, but it is easily fixed. Install a board between the rear legs, just below the seat back. It will eliminate the rear leg twisting and breaking when people sit in the chair on a sideways slopping ground. I had to repair one of my chars, then installed the board in all 6 of them, and I haven't had a problem with them since installing the boards 7 years ago. Keep the bolts tight too. I used Loctite.

You did a great job on the chair. This is just a suggested improvement to make them last longer.

Charley
 
#27 ·
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#28 ·
Durn, forgot my other Easter Island head bank.
 

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#30 ·
Just started making a utility cabinet for the basement bathroom to match the vanity that I made. The plan is to have doors top and bottom, overlapping like the vanity as I don't want a center stile as there will be a pull-out shelf at the bottom of the upper half cabinet. I may go with European hinges this time as the doors are larger and it's going to be easier to get them adjusted to hang properly with the minimum gap at the overlap. All the parts, except for the two adjustable shelves and the top, are cut out and ready to assemble. Kind of jumped into the project, so working off a rough sketch. Planning to biscuit join the stiles of the face frame to the sides but pocket screw the rails to the top, bottom and fixed center shelf.
 

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