Summer Already

Times have been a bit tough lately, and I haven't had much spare cash to get any projects done. I have one project I could be working on (stripping and refinishing the salvaged front door) but I need to set aside some time to work on that since it will be a gross messy job.

I also want to do a few "Cornwall Homes" updates, but there's really nothing overly exciting to report.

Currently I'm building some kitchen cabinets and doors for a client, and I've been keeping busy with small projects (clocks, paintings, and other odd bits). I've actually made a bit more progress on the Cherry Bookcase, and the bulk of the ornamental top is now done. Next will be a few structural braces on the back, and some turned finials.



I'm currently enjoying the last day or so left in some beautiful peonies, and enjoying the weather before summer really sets in.

End of Year Wrap-Up

Ho boy, I've been lazy with my blog and updates, and I sincerely hope you guys and gals haven't abandoned me, or given up hope on this blog, since there's still so many more projects left to do (and hopefully some big ones coming this year).

This post is going to wrap-up a whole bunch of projects I've talked about this year, but that I haven't posted any photos of yet. These mainly include mundane/uninteresting projects, but I'm still posting them for you (and for my own record keeping).

First, OLD projects. I mentioned making a bit more progress on the "shop hutch" earlier this summer. This included fitting all the doors (old windows), installing the hinges and knobs, and installing some old salvaged crown moulding to the top. I still have the 4 bottom doors to cut and fit (just plain flat doors), and 3-4 drawers to make in the centre opening.

Another project that I never showed is the large (9 foot tall) storage rack/shelving unit that I made (which is standing in the left corner next to the hutch in this photo below). It's hard to tell the scale, but trust me, it's massive. The hutch is 97" tall (a hair taller than your average 8 foot tall ceiling), and the shelving unit is a foot taller than this.



Crown moulding detail:



Again, this entire hutch is just crudely built, and was made entirely out of SCRAP wood, and junk parts (other than the hardware). The crown moulding was free.



Next I'll show the work that was done in the back staircase. This "room" is hard to photograph, and there's also some junk in there currently (old doors, and a bicycle) so the photos are likewise awkwardly taken.

Basically, if you can remember YEARS ago before I gutted this room, the ceiling was horribly sloped (see photo). This was because the wall with the window ended on the flat roof, which has a 1:12 pitch. The made it very awkward for the drywall, and this was why it was all crooked. It also didn't transition well into the straight lower section (garage ceiling). I spent a bunch of time basically calculating the new angles, and arranging a set of guide wires, and installing new 2x4s in the correct locations. This fixed the ceiling, and once the new drywall is installed, it will look great. I also insulated the whole space, and installed (or started installing) a vapour barrier.

Before:



Now:





I spent a considerable amount of time relocating the light fixture to the centre of the room. Originally (you can spot the old hole) it was near the top of the door. Now it's closer to the centre of the ceiling, and if I want, I can install a hanging fixture which won't interfere with the door.



I still have that back wall to insulate (it's only the thickness of a 2x4 though (and I have no idea why since all the other walls are 3 1/2" deep).

These are the wood strips around the windows that I needed to install. The drywall will end next to them, and they will be completely covered by the new mouldings. You can also see one of the two new outlets I installed (in case I want to have Christmas lights in these two windows - and somewhere to plug a vacuum, etc).



By far the biggest undertaking this year was the rebuilding of the entire 28 foot long exterior wall of the garage. Over the past few months I've been installing insulation and vapour barrier on it in preparation for drywall (the entire interior of the garage will be finished in drywall, and painted, along with window and door casings (eventually).





I also installed new (old fashioned and inexpensive) light fixtures. These are new octagonal boxes fitted with plain porcelain fixtures and clear bulbs. They're on 2 circuits, one having 4 lights, and the main one having 6.





Next, I have a few fun woodworking projects to show off.

For about 1 or 2 years (or possibly even longer?) I've been making do with this metal rod to hold my rolls of toilet paper, all the while planning to make a suitable replacement for the missing original. Since I was making this new, I decided that it should match my curly maple vanity (most antique ones are just painted black).

Before:



After examining several photos of original toilet paper holders, and even buying a beautiful old set of chrome bathroom accessories (the holder was not the same size though), I found a fairly simple way to reproduce the roll holder. I used spare clock door handles for the knobs, and added some wider flanges on their bases. These were then threaded, and matching brass inserts were made for the wooden rod. The inserts were hammered in place (very snug friction fit), and then I finished the parts to match the vanity.





The brass knobs were antiqued with a thin spray of coloured lacquer.



You can see how the reddish brown is a perfect match to the vanity (I used the same wood, and the same stain).



Then I finally made the top display shelf for my Cherry Bookcase. I may want to change around the display in there, but currently I have 2 small clocks, several old alarm clocks that were in my grandfather's old things, and 3 of my early whale oil lamps (and books).



The shelf was made in pine, and bevelled on the front edge to make it look a bit thinner. I also had to make a curved cut out at the front to allow room for the two door catches. I painted the shelf to match the backboard.



Lastly, I have just two more oddball bits of news to share.

First, I was THRILLED to find one store that still had a bit of tintable oil paint for sale. As some of you might know, pretty much ALL oil based (alkyd) paints have been taken off the market, except for spray paints, and a few "Rust Paints" like Tremclad. Unfortunately, I still haven't painted the upstairs floors (there's the spare room left), and I still need oil paint.

The man was able to match the colour through the computer (I knew it was Florence Brown off the top of my head) but when I got home, I noticed it's not the same shade. AT ALL. It's fine though, since I'll simply use it for the first coat, and I should have enough of the "L" Room floor paint to do the second coat.

My original colour is on the left, and the new (lighter and less reddish) is on the right.



The last bit of news was a failed house explore that I'm still sad about.



This is a gorgeous, and rather large house near the outskirts of town. It has been slowly decaying for at least close to 10 years, and just this past year or so, part of the front porch has rotted and collapsed. I wasn't sure at first if it was really abandoned or not (and I'm still not 100% sure - you'll see why in a minute), but it has a rotting roof fascia, at least 2 or 3 broken or open windows (note the basement window on the side of the house is tilted open), and from walking by it, it looks largely empty (almost no curtains, and no visible furniture). One of the attic windows is wide open (and according to Google Maps has been wide open at least since summer 2013).

I went to go look at this place about a month ago, and it was quite cold outside. Despite the fact that the house appeared completely abandoned, there was a sign on the side door (which looked ajar) that said "Private Property", and it appeared that the house was still be hooked up to electricity (the meter was still there, and looked to be working). This left me quite confused. There was also a boat parked in the open-front garage at the back.

I was just about to head for the side door when a man across the road yelled at me: "Hey! That's Private Property!" So I just told him I was looking around, but he kept an eye on me, and I just left. I assume he might be the owner, and I *SHOULD* have just asked him, but he really didn't seem too friendly so I don't think I'll be headed back there. I had gone around 10am on a Tuesday, so if this guy wasn't at work then, he's probably retired, or he works from home. Since he's already spotted me, it's too risky to go back. I don't want to get caught or have the police called on me, so it's not worth returning, but part of me REALLY wants to see the inside. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

Other than this house, I've pretty much exhausted the supply of abandoned houses in town. There are around a dozen, but all of them are sealed-up tight.

Varnish Update

Alright, so far, so good. Several things are now varnished and DONE, but there's still a few things left to do, still.

First, the two built-ins are varnished, and have the shelf hardware installed. Second, the body of the bookcase is varnished, as are the backboards, which are installed, and the doors. What's left on the bookcase are the shelves (they have 1 coat so far), and I still need to make the knobs for the upper doors, a shelf for the upper case, and the top crest. The backboard (ply) is cut, but I want to paint it teal, and I need to decide on a shade.

I also need to pick up some glass for the upper doors.

Here are some photos (minus the upstairs built-in, which I forgot):



I had originally wanted to have the cherry stained a deeper red/mahogany colour, but it would have required a lot more work (stripping and sanding additional sections), and in the end, I'm quite happy with just the clear varnish.



The office built-in (same room). Same story here. I had thought about staining the Fir plywood a shade darker, but it came out perfect with just a clear varnish on it.



These next ones show the pieces in context within the room.

High on Fumes

I've started on some extensive varnishing around the house, namely the two built-ins, and the bookcase (which is in the garage to help minimize the fumes).

I generally use Satin Varathane for most of my finishing projects, and I thin it for the first coat (as suggested) 10%, but I either use mineral spirits (aka paint thinner), or turpentine. I generally prefer the smell of the turpentine, but MAN, the fumes are strong this time.

I had been torn with whether to stain the Fir on the built-ins, use a tinted varnish, or just use clear (plain). I ended up just going with plain varnish and I'm SO GLAD I did.

The Office built-in in particular turned out a beautiful shade of orange, and I'm actually surprised with how dark the final colour will be. It's going to look great, but like I said: I'm really glad I didn't add stain. Hopefully the orange tone will match the refinished birch floors when I eventually do those.

The built-in in the upstairs hallway is a bit lighter, since it gets very little sunlight, but it looks pretty good too.

I still have a lot of varnishing left to do. I only did the bottoms on the bookcase, since I need to do those first before I can flip them and do the rest, so I still have the bulk of the two cases to do the first coat, then all the doors, shelves, and back boards (I'm doing just the cases for now, and when those are done, I'll do the shelves and back).

Pics soon-ish.

Small Cherry Bookcase Update

For those of you who have been following the progress on the cherry bookcase project (which has been dragging for months), I made some progress on it today.

Not a whole lot to share, but I spent a good 3-4 hours working on it this weekend. I milled all the tongue and groove back boards yesterday, and I cut, routed, and sanded the 4 bottom shelves.

Tongue and groove back boards:



Shelves:



Hopefully, I can get this project done before the cold weather rolls in (in the next month or so), but I won't hold my breath. All that's really left to do is the top shelf, and the top decorations, but I might just go ahead and varnish/assemble the whole thing as-is, since I really want to set it up and use it for all my books that are still in storage.

Cherry Bookcase Project (Part 4)

Alright, first off, if you're just joining me now, you can check out parts 1, 2, and 3 here:

http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.ca/2013/02/cherry-bookcase-project.html
http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.ca/2013/03/cherry-bookcase-project-part-2.html
http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.ca/2013/03/bookcase-update-another-oil-painting.html

Yesterday I left you guys with a bit of a teaser, and I'm not sure that too many of you have seen it yet, but too bad, since I'm doing the follow-up now. :P

On the last post, I had finished sanding the bottom case (the main bookcase part of the overall cabinet), installed the mouldings, and the bottom was basically done except for the shelves and back.

Since then, I went through what wood I had left, worked out some dimensions, and decided I should have just enough wood to build an upper glazed case (that's glazed as in glass doors, not frosted doughnuts) and I started building it.

I needed quite a bit of long pieces for all the mouldings, and horizontal stretchers, so I decided to use-up this cherry board that I picked up YEARS ago at a yard sale. It was a slightly warped and flawed board (crack down the centre), and not very wide. I had originally thought that I'd use it for a clock case, but antique clocks are RARELY ever made from cherry, so this project was as good a project as any to use it up.

Because of the extremely limited stock of cherry, the upper case isn't going to be all that useful for books. The interior case will only be about 7 5/8" wide on the exterior, leaving me with a shelf/interior of 6 1/2" (because of the back and the front frame taking up the other inch). Some books would definitely fit on 6 1/2" deep shelves, like novels, but I don't have that many of those. Most of my library consists of larger reference books. Instead, I'll likely use the upper case to display small clocks or collectibles.

The following photo shows the basic box for the upper case along with 6 scrap pieces of 1/4" cherry veneered panels. I could make a 6 panel back for the upper case, but I'm not sure whether or not it would look too busy.



Here you can see how I made the top of the case with a jigsaw puzzle of different boards. Why? Because I wanted the extra height. Parts of it are solid wood, and others are particle board (with cherry veneer). All are leftovers. I was also planning to do a matching string detail as the bottom case, so the harsh line between the different parts won't show.



Next, doors. With a constantly dwindling stock of old/new wood, each piece had to be measured and carefully picked. A few of the door frame pieces have screw holes (on the back or edges) that will mostly be hidden. They're held together with a simple butt-joint and dowels.



I always like to do a fair amount of research (since I'm so picky and I want to get the "most bang for my buck", or rather: effort in this case, since most of the stock was free). I wanted traditional looking glazed doors, but preferably without the multi-piece glass and complicated joinery. I've always loved Gothic pieces, and I don't own ANYTHING AT ALL with Gothic carvings or aesthetics, so since the base was pretty plain, I could do Gothic tracery in the upper doors without having it look "wrong" or mismatched. I went through 3-4 books (Antiques, Early American Furniture, Furniture of Old Quebec, etc) and copied several nice designs, and I also have a stock of nearly 150 internet photos of antique bookcases, so I had many options. In the end, I went with this pattern:



The top mouldings mainly came out of that yard sale board I mentioned earlier.



All 8 demi-arcs were taken out of the two upper panels from the previous side panel, and as a side note, the two bottom panels got turned into the sides for the upper case.

To make the segments, I used my drawing to make a pattern, and traced out the pieces. All the "grid" portions of the doors are 3/8" thick.



I won't even pretend that these doors were "easy" to make. They were assembled in a fairly simple manner, but they were still a total time-consuming pain in the ass to do.

All the grid pieces were cut to be 1/2 the door thickness (3/8 in this case, for a 3/4" thick door) and longer on the ends so that they extended 1/4" into the door frame (on the inside), to match-up with my 1/4" rabbet to hold the glass. It's hard to explain, but in photos that will be in "Part 5" you'll see this better.

All the joints for the grids are half lap joints. The notches are cut on the 1/4" ends, and matching notches are cut into the door frame edges. In the following photo, all 4 arcs have been notched and fitted on the upper points. "H" (the second arc) is also half-lapped over the top of "G" instead of being notched into the door frame. "G" continues into the frame, but "H" does not. Again, you can see this better later.

The pine horizontal bar is just a temporary one for measurements. With the 4 arcs in their places, I then traced a vertical line on each one. The interior door width is exactly 16" (which worked out beautifully). Divided into 4=4" You can see the 4" reference lines at the top.



4 arcs cut and sanded smooth along that edge.





Next, the 4 arc "pairs" were glued together along their long flat edges (using clothes pins and masking tape). Once glued, they were lightly sanded, and trimmed to length.

The centre bars were done next (and were done AFTER in case there was a bit of deviation in the arches L-R (in case they were slightly off centre from my 4" marks).

Note: nothing is glued yet. Those office clips worked out awesomely.



Next, the last pieces were the two bottom bars. These were cut to fit tightly, and push the arches up into their corners as much as possible (you want a snug fit, not one that's so tight it will deform/force things).

Again, half-lap joints were used. since I have 3 pieces coming together at the middle crosses, the middle joint was done with a diagonal cut (one on the top arch pieces, and one on the bottom bars).

I *COULD* have divided the 3/8" pieces all into 1/8 sections, and had all 3 pieces slot together, but it would have been a lot more work, and this was just as strong.



Yesterday's teaser photo:





At this point, the door grids were done and ready to glue, but I only glued them today. Also note that I haven't yet installed the upper bead detail, or sanded the putty on the crown. The doors and grids will also be routed to match the bottom doors. I'm also pondering adding a crest with 3 finials in a Hepplewhite-inspired style.

Knobs for the upper and lower doors will be hand-turned cherry ones, as will the finials (if I make some).

Bookcase Teaser!

I spent the entire day and part of yesterday working on the upper case's doors. I will be posting "Part 4" very soon, but in the meantime, I thought I would post this evil teaser photo.

Bookcase Update & Another Oil Painting

So I finally got the right sand paper to finish sanding the top for the bookcase. I had to go back twice, since apparently they now sell "sticky back" rather than velco back paper, and I got the wrong ones initially.

I also milled and installed the trim moulding. I'm really happy with the finished outline. I was originally just going to use a small cove, but I made two samples and I opted for the Roman ogee instead.





Lastly, I picked up another nice oil painting for super cheap (5$). It's painted on a sheet of masonite, so it's definitely an amateur piece, but it's pretty well done, and it reminds me of picnics at a park we used to visit in the summer. There was a second painting (on canvas) that was the same size and in an identical frame (by the same artist), but it wasn't nearly as nice, so I left that one behind.

I hate the frame, but the shape and size are ok, so I'll be painting it. Either gold, black, or a combination.

Cherry Bookcase Project (Part 2)

Alright, it seems almost mind-boggling that I've already been working on this project for a month. It's true, though, that I've only been working on it a few hours a day, and only "when I feel like it", or when it wasn't insanely cold out (since the garage is unheated and not insulated. so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad.

It seems so slow, though, since a project like this could have been thrown together in 2 days at work. Especially since all the panels were already made.

Anyhow! The bookcase is nearly done now. I can't do much more on it until I get more sand paper.

If you want to get caught up on this project before I go any farther, check out part 1 here: http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.ca/2013/02/cherry-bookcase-project.html

Alright, when I left off last time, I was still deciding whether or now I still wanted to reuse the original euro hinges, but I decided to scrap those in favour or some more appropriate hinges. I'll also note that if I had kept the other hinges, I would have needed some blocks inside the cabinet's frame to hold the clips for the base of the hinges, and they would have been in the way for the books and shelves (not practical).

I decided to just route-away some rectangular sections and patch the holes with a matching rectangular block of cherry glued in place. It doesn't look that pretty, but the new hinges hide it partially, and it's not visible on the exterior.

Next, I started to rebuild the face frame. The sides and bottom were easy, but I had to calculate the exact width for the middle brace, and the height for the top ones.



Since all the current pieces on the front and sides are sun-bleached (and permanently messed-up), I used matching blocks of wood from other parts of the old cabinet, so that I'd have a continuous "sun-bleached line" going around the top of the cabinet. I have a photo and a bit more of an explanation farther down.

Face frame done, and door edges routed with a 3/8" rabbet around the 4 interior edges. I'm still deciding if I want to use those large wood knobs.



Here's that sun bleached line I'm talking about.



Basically, cherry is well known for it's sensitivity to sunlight. If you're working in a workshop that has natural light, you need to be very careful with cherry. If, for example, you place a board of cherry in the sunlight with a square lying on it, in as little as a few hours you will end up with an L shaped shadow permanently printed onto your wood plank. Likewise, if you have a pile of cherry boards near a window, everything in the sun will darken, and you will end up with shadow lines along the edges of your boards. At our old shop (which had lots of south facing windows), we quickly learned to throw old blankets on top of piles of cherry pieces.

You *CAN* sand some of the discolourations out, but it's tedious, and a lot of the time the exposure is fairly deep into the wood. In the case of this cabinet, there used to be a really wide (and ugly) moulding along the top of the cabinet (now removed). You can see the moulding here:



This moulding was covering the wood for YEARS. In the photo with the sun-line above, I already sanded the pieces down through the varnish to bare wood, and the line isn't going away. To get around this problem, I milled a small bead moulding to cover the line. There will still be a difference in the shade of the wood on each side of the bead, but it's not noticeable and all the lighter wood sections will eventually darken (basically everything will end up matching in a few years). You can see the bead detail farther down.

Next, I ordered some hardware for the cabinet: 2 locks, 2 keys, 2 escutcheons large enough to cover the sun-bleached knob locations, 4 3/8" offset hinges, and some shelf hardware. My order came up to around 66$ but I also had some knobs for the bathroom vanity, and 2 barrel bolts for the Office built-in with the order. So we'll say 40-50$ish. That's about all I'm spending so far on the entire project, plus a few nails, screws, and varnish.

While I was waiting for the hardware to arrive, I decided to plane down a whole bunch of old scrap wood t-g boards from around the house. A lot of this old wood could have been used for clock repairs, antique reproductions, or other projects, but then again I still have a lot more wood, and this is a CHERRY bookcase, so I decided to go ahead and use the old wood. This was mostly boards that were part of the basement "corner shanty" which you can see in this old photo. The entire thing was a crooked, useless mess and I took it down.



Most of the boards were either warped, cracked, painted, or all of the above.



For the back boards, I needed these 3/4" boards planed down to 1/2", Not too bad; only 1/4" to remove off a few boards, right?

Yeah...



Huuuuuuuge pile of saw dust, and it probably took at least an hour.

And here's a quick preview of what those old boards look like. They are random widths, and I plan to add a bead detail on them (I haven't done that yet).



Next was the base. At first, I was going to make just some simple (haha yeah right) turned bun feet, but I really didn't feel like doing all the glue-ups for the blanks, cutting them to size, setting up the lathe, and turning them (especially in the freezing cold), so I abandoned that idea. I remembered that I still had a box full of cherry off-cuts from the old woodworking company I worked at. I found 4 pieces just large enough to make the sides and front feet.

Picking a design was hard. I'm VERY picky with details (as I'm sure you've noticed if you've been reading for a while), and I spent a few hours looking through some of my furniture books, internet auction photos, and searching the web. I didn't find exactly what I wanted, but I did get a few ideas. These next two (horrible) photos show 2 foot options that I drew-up. The photos are upside down, since the cabinet was lying on its top.

Too fancy:



A little too plain/angular:



The third design turned out well, and I cut them out on my scroll saw (not the best tool for this job, but it worked out alright). I'd suggest using a band saw, or a jig saw (I have neither, since my vintage jig saw kinda crapped out on me).





The entire bottom skirt and mouldings are all held together with mitres, biscuits, and lap joints, along with a few glue blocks and screws, followed by a bunch of sanding and a bit of puttying.

With the base done, and enough wood pieces set aside for the top, I noted that I might have enough wood to make an upper cabinet to sit on top. I really like the idea of a very tall (nearly floor to ceiling) bookcase, so I might try to get it done. The only issue is that I don't have cherry for the shelves and the back for the upper cabinet, so the interior would either need to be painted pine (since I'm not spending a crapload of $$$ on cherry for this), or carefully stained pine (to look close to cherry/mahogany). I'm leaning heavily to a painted interior. Maybe light green, beige, or light blue (something historic that pairs nicely with cherry).

This would be the approximate size of an upper case. I'd make some fancy glass panel doors for it. I could make it a bit taller if I also added 2 drawers, but that's also adding a LOT of extra work.



Hardware received and installed (door hinges and locks):



Top glued up. The top is a scrap section of 5/8" cherry veneered particle board with 3/4" x 3" mitred boards on the three exterior edges (biscuits again).



And finally, here's where I'm at today. The top is now routed and sanded on the bottom side. What's left to do is just to sand the top (on the good side), sand the doors, and then mill and install a cove or ogee moulding to go along the top edge of the cabinet (to transition between the cabinet and top where the blue arrow is, and also to hide the screws). I just need to make a trip to "the big orange box" and get some sand paper discs.

I'll also need to finish-up the back t-g boards, and cut 3 simple shelves.



Lookin' pretty good for a pile of "scrap", right?