I was asked to create a small two tier plant stand. You may be asking yourself: “what the heck is a plant stand, and why would anyone want one”. To be hones, this one is purely decorative in nature. The plant will reside on a table/dresser and instead of sitting directly on the surface it will be elevated slightly.
Continue reading Making a PLant StandTag Archives: wood
setting up supermax 19-38
Earlier in they year, I had ordered a new drum sander. It took a few months to be delivered, but I finally have the Supermax 19-38 in my shop. In November, I built a dedicated rolling cabinet for the drum sander and it now is the time to see how well the cabinet works out. I also took some time to properly assemble and calibrate the sander.
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Silverware organizer
I set out to create a better silverware organizer for our island drawers. The current one (purchased) was too narrow and short. It didn’t make good use of the drawer space. The goal is to use all scrap wood and not to use any glue, just in case there needs to be modifications later on.
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Custom laundry storage cart
In the laundry room, we have a small, plastic storage cart that was in place when we moved int. It holds things like detergent, bleach, dryer sheets. With it being plastic and holding a fair amount of weight, it leans and falls into the washer and dryer and can’t stand on its own. So, I set out to create a custom cart made from wood.
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End grain cutting boards
With the holidays coming up and a large amount of scrap wood in my shop, I decided to make some end grain cutting boards.
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Creating a custom coffee table
My wife and I have been wanting to replace our ottoman/cube/coffee table thing for a while. I wanted to build a custom one and we landed on a design that we both liked.
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Custom end table with recessed outlets
The Plan
We have a corner in our living room where two couches meet and there is just a large empty space. So, we decided to make a table to fill that spot. The table would be about the same height as the couch arm rests and it would be nice to have a place to plug our electronics in for charging.
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Building A-frame shelf
It was time to replace a small cube shaped piece of furniture with a new A-Frame shelf. The shelf will be made from Maple and Walnut. Since the majority of our furniture is dark, black-brown, the maple will get painted. I started with 8/4 maple and 4/4 walnut. The shelf is roughly 80″ tall, 29″ wide, and 20″ deep
The Plan
Creating Epoxy Inlay Art
I set out to make some gifts based on an Idea from my wife and then coupled that with a bit of Instagram inspiration. The plan is to inlay a design based on the Deathly Hallows symbol from Harry Potter. I originally planned to actually cut the design out, but that was going to prove challenging. Here is a photo of my finished prototype that I made from poplar. Once I figured I could actually do this properly I set out to make a few more. The finished art is about 7 1/2″ wide by 7 1/2″ tall
Folding Planer Support Tables
I have had some fold-up shelf brackets sitting around the shop for a long time. I originally bought them for something else, but I don’t even recall what they were for. So, I decided to add them to my flip top table to act as outfeed/infeed for the planer and supports for the miter saw.
The elevation of the miter saw and planer are different from the axis of rotation, so I need something that can adjust vertically. I also know that the planer/saw won’t be perfectly 90 degrees to the stand. So, the folding wings have to have a little rotational allowance as well. Here we go.
Here is the table:
I started by laminating two pieces of 1/2 plywood together to act as supports for the folding brackets. Screws and some clamps work pretty well to laminate. Then I laid out the slots I need for the vertical adjustment and oversized them for some rotational allowance. Then, screw the folding bracket onto the laminated piece.
I then drilled the locations for the hanger bolts and tested the fit of the folding brackets.
All looks pretty good. Now its time to measure for the height of the support piece that will mount the wing. I used some scrap 2X4s and cut them to 2 inches, which will put the panel of MDF at the proper elevation. I screwed the 2X4s the shelf brackets and then added a piece in between the 2X4s to keep them fixed to each other. Imaginge a box without the 4th piece near the hinge. I wish I would have taken a picture of this, but still no time machine, shucks.
I turned my attention the wing itself. 3/4 MDF cut to 23X23 inches. I wanted to trim the MDF so I don’t crush or damage the corners and edges. I turned back to my scrap pile and found some 2X6 cutoffs and ripped these down to 1/2 thick strips. After that, the tedious part started, mitering all corners to fit. Once I dry fit all of the pieces, I started glueing and using pin nails to hold it on. Once I have them all pinned, I used clamps and cauls to make sure there was good contact and let sit until the glue dried. I trimmed the edging where I would be lifting the wing, so it wouldn’t get ripped off. You can see that cut below.
I pulled out the block plane and flushed up the edging to the top
I added a large chamfer to the edge near the planer to allow boards to ride up, if I didn’t have them perfectly aligned.
I set the wings on top of the folding brackets, centered them, and starting drilling holes through the top into the support pieces. I went a little overboard with the screws, but better to have too many than too few. After attaching, I applied three coats of poly with some sanding in between and then finished it off with wet sanding. A little wax and done.
