steve newman

cheap table part three

2013-02-13T03:17:00Z

Somehow, I don't like this set up used for pictures. Where was I? Ok, I guess i will just show the completed project, and the Chair it was supposed to match. Chair was my Grandma's, now belongs to my Daughter. let me know if you like it..

Cheap Table??

2013-02-13T02:31:00Z

Ok, Daughter wanted a small Dinette Table for the kitchen. I had some old planks down in the Dungeon Shop. Milled up an old Oak 2x8 into four leg blanks.This is what passes as a tablesaw nowadays. I used the edge of the saw's base to set the width of the rip. Then a little handplane work to taper the blanks I marked out the taper, and started at the foot, working my way back up the leg. Last pass gave me a tapered leg, and I didn't even have to sand anything. Next up, aprons and a top. Top was the easy part. I had an old waterbed frame side, a 2x10 of pine. Crosscut into two 36" long slabs. Now, waterbeds sit on a plywood base, and ther side frames have a rabate along one edge. I flipped one slab over, planed the two rebates to match each other, and off to the clamps it went, more about that later. Aprons: I had some old 1x oak. Just some nasty stuff. Cut a pattern out for the ends and the front & back ones. I hate straight aprons. Here is both the top, and the aprons. Not having a tablesaw might have slowed things a bit? Nope, this is to be a "Hand-made" project. Aprons needed tenons. Laid them out, cut the shoulder line with a coping saw, and chopped the waste away with a chisel. Pared down to the lines, flipped the apron and made anothe side. Ths is what a handtool tenon looks like. i think each tenon might have taken 10 minutes, start to finish. As for cutting these aprons to length? A Hand saw was used, of course. Ok, got the tenons done, back to the legs. Needed a few mortises for the tenons tot go into. Over the years, I grew tired of "blowouts at the top of the legs. So, I just made the mortise go on out the end of the leg. I used that coping saw (again) to kerf a line Then a chisel to mark the bottom of the mortise. I just chopped a square hole near where the mortise ended. , using a 5/16" chisel. I then used the same chisel to "pop out" the waste. looks like a part two, coming up?

Hand plane's tale: Crash and rebirth

2012-07-28T02:48:00Z

Awhile back, I had won a Diamond Edge #6c handplane. It was kind of rusty, front knob was cracked, everything was in one piece, though.. However, when the box arrived at my front door....something didn't look quite right. The front of the part came out of this box, followed by the rest of the plane..Not quite what I thought I bought. While waiting on a refund, I did a little more "shopping". I also started to take what parts I could save and clean them up. Front knob? Pattern for a new one on the lathe. It's bolt? Snapped off in the base,still had some threads left, clean and set aside. That Union style frog? PB Blaster to loosen the bolts, clean and polish the frog and the bolts. Rear tote? It came off in three pieces, and two rusty bolts. Toss the rubber tote into the trash can. New tote was on the way. I had swapped a #3 lever cap for a Cherry #5 tote. Which left the lever cap, the chip breaker, and the iron itself. Funny part about it, the iron was narrower than the chip breaker. It also had a Stanley logo stamp, with a patent date. Iron SHOULD have been @ 2-3/8" wide, it was actually @ 2-1/4" wide. I still had to CLEAN all the rust off of these, but I was swapping parts as well. swapped the Stanley iron to a fellow who needed an iron for a Stanley #5-1/2. I got an iron in return (along with a few of his other parts) that was made in sweden, by Berg. A look at the rusty stuff...Ugly, ain't they? They will clean up though. As for my shopping trip back to the Ebay? I won a base for a stanley/bailey #6c. I told the shipper to pack it like it was eggs, unless he wanted to do a refund. Base showed up, almost like new! Very little rust, not much fun clean up wise. A look at how things were coming together..Had to file the holes so that the bolts would fit, seems that the Union frog was a hair wider then the Stanley holes. A new front knob, a nicely sharpened iron, and a new Cherry tote...A little finish on the tote and knob, then a test drive.. and NOW I have a Stanley/Bailey/Union/ Berg #6c, with hand made handles. took about a week of working here and there on it, as I had a second large handplane getting a refurbishing at the same time. But, that another story. I wasn't about to give up on this plane, since there was some good parts in it. Stubborn, I guess.

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New Computer Desk

2012-05-14T04:35:00Z

Old one was getting a bit beat up, one grandBRAT needed a desk for HIS computer. Decided to make a new bottomhalf, and just re-use the small hutch from the old one. It seems that I have a supply of Beech, and Oak, from that old garage that fell down. I glued some up into a desk topthen turned the handplanes loose on it. A Stanley Handyman #4 ( No. 1204) did the final smoothing out. I also wanted some bread board edges. so i fired up the dado blade in my Franckensawcut the rebates and the matching grooves for the oak Bread board ends. Slid the finish pieces together ( after some fine tuning) and added one screw to each board in the top, from the underside of the top. With that done, time to build a base for this great looking top Some very ugly looking legs! They even look worse than my own legs.... Added some aprons with hand chopped Mortises, and tablesawn tenons. I needed a special front apron, since there would be a pair of drawers added. Glued this mess together on the top of the tablesaw, since it is flat, and i can reference to square on it's ends.now we are getting somewhere.. That pipe clamp with the black pipe, that is used to pull the whole mess into something close to square. Once things were cured, glue wise, i flipped the whole mess onto it's legs. i needed to install some drawer runners, and size the drawers. Front of the center runner sits in a single dovetail, the back end is screwed to the back apron via those angle blocks. Side runners are just clamped and glued. I started to fit the two drawers, as well. I got a chance to try out my new router, and a three year old jig that I finally get to use. One was fitted at a time ah, there's those bread board ends, as well. Four screws hold that top onto the base. One into each leg top, via a slotted hole. Screwhole was then covered with a plug. Once both drawers were fitted. I bandsawed two knobs out of some walnut scraps i had on hand. and did a rough shaping with a sander. Loaded this mess up into the van, for the seven mile trip to the house. Didn't ake too long to switch things around, computer-wise. The old hutch was in place, and filled back up. I'll add a finish after awhile, letting the wood get used to being in a house, instead of a Pole barn. A look at the (almost) Finished Desknow, I just have all them wire to organize.....

Rust hunting results

2012-05-13T18:48:00Z

i needed a few planes for the shop. Decided to go visit a few "thrift stores" in my area. Found a few rusty, CHEAP planes. Just needed some work to clean back up , and return to service. A Stanley Bailey #8c at one shop @ $25??? Sold !! Kind of rusty but a hours of work, some elbow grease, and a pair of new, homemade Walnut handlesyand we have a "new' 100 year old plane.

Next store, a $8.00 Stanley handyman #1204 smooth plane. Also on the rusty side. Same story, some work on the rust be-gone, new handles, sharpen the blade, and a smooth plane is back to work. a before and after photoHmm, the after photo took off on me. We'll try again. A third such store produced two old planes, one made for a hardware Company called Worth back in the 1930s, about 13-1/2" long. Seems to be a #5. Got it for $10.00. The other plane? For $5, I picked up a Union #3c from about 1917. Again, a little rustybroken rear tote and all. Oh yes, we have the tools to fix it back up, into a good user plane. The hard part was that tote. At least the clamping part, anyway. Got the tote glued back together, and cleaned up. Sharpen the iron, and away we go looks like new? There were a few others out there, and they also got the same treatment. A Stanley #80 scraper plane @$4, A Stanley 9-1/2 Block plane @ $4, a Mohawk-Shelburne #700 Block plane @ $1. And, it wasn't just hand planes either. seems a few stores also had some handsaws. I wound up with about a dozen oldies. Anywhere from a Disston D-8 Thumbhole 5.5 tpi rip saw for $2, to a couple backsaws for a dollar bill each. Rehabbed most of them back to new. threw out one cheap saw plate though. It had more waves in it the Lake Erie. I have managed to sell some of these saws. Three however are staying in the shop. i rehandled a D-23 with Sycamore, at 11 ppi, it is my new crosscut saw. Same block of Sycamore also rehandled an old WS&M Co. 6 tpi rip saw. A "Hybrid saw was also put together. A STEIGO handle was added to a Disston "Toolbox" saw blade. The STEIGO's blade? well it was the one with all them waves. The disston handle? It went onto an old Irwin Toolbox saw blade. The three backsaws? one was a clean up only (so far) two got new walnut handles. The one had a broken down, only the bottom there, handle. Save the broken handle, and put a new walnut one on the 10" backsaw. The saved handle? Well that D-8 needed a bit of wood for the bottom of it's thumbhole handle. matched the new piece to the old handle, add a refinish, and sell it off.

Workbench project

2012-05-13T18:20:00Z

Is underway. i started with some old, nail-sick, UGLY beams from a garage that fell down, old age. enough for four legs and some other items. I also had a beam laying around outside of the shop, kind of buggy. Wound up takingan axeto plane off the buggy stuff. Brought it in, and split the beam down the middle. A Circ.saw made a saw kerf down two faces, then a splitting maul, and a sledge finished the split. then the handplanes took over, and smoothed things out What was supposed to be a couple of stretchers, turned out to be a couple planks for a benchto So, now I had a top

Time to make a base. Those four legs needed some work to accept some stretchers between them, so the saws, and chisels came out. I got a couple done, decided that things were going a might SLOWLY, and picked up a circ.saw to make some kerf cuts. Then I could knock out the waste, and then chisel it smooth I got all the joinery done, time for a test fit After sitting thing up on the legs, time to make some skirtswith a tool well on one end. skirts went all around the bench. made from old waterbed frames. These are 2x10s. two long ones( the sides of the bed) were enough to wrap the bench in skirts. Screwed to the top, and the legs, i even tried some dovetails, on one end Just one end was enough for me. When you have to use a BIG 26" RIP saw to cut dovetails, you are working way too hard. I still have a bottom shelf to add, maybe a leg vise. i have been hand planing the top for flatness, THAT is going to take a while. Pole Barn floors, anything but flat, so I'll have to add either levelers to the legs, or ( being the cheapskate I am) just slip a shim under a leg or two. Well, so far so good, cost? $0.00, gotta love that...

Plank Table

2011-12-27T05:11:00Z

The "Other Half" wanted a small Prep table for the kitchen. I had a plank of Oak out in the shopabout 13-1/2' wide. I clean the old boy up, trimmed off the beveled edges to get things down to fit my 12-1/2" planer. I had a few other old boards, and made a base for this plank to sit on.Next, I took all the parts back to the house, where there was some heat, at least. I added a few details, just to dress things up a bit. Like a bread board edge, and a bead board edging along the aprons.A spokeshave cleaning up the saw marks on the legs. The edges under the aprons are notched to fit around the legs. A hand powered mitersaw was used to miter the corners. A few nails here and there to hold things in place while the glue dried. next up, some stain and varnish.the box beside it is a Toy Box for a family friend. More on that another time... as for that "Hand-powered mitersaw"

Blanket Chest

2011-11-14T19:35:00Z

From a few old Oaken barn rafters? Yep, after pulling a few pounds of nails, resawing down to about 3/4" thick, and planning down nice and smooth, I wound up with a nice stash of White Oak. Purdy, ain't they? Made a box out of some of the parts I found a plan by Norm Abram and started to mill up.Next, a top was glued up, and then flattened out with a few handplanes a couple planes usedThen time for some stain and varnish Not too bad? Size is 18" wide (plus overhand of lid), by 40" long (again add a little for the overhang), by 22" tall.

Reclaimed wood

2011-09-28T22:31:00Z

Black Cherry, resawn from a floor joist. Quartersawn White Oak, from a barn rafter. Glued up the Cherry into a panel, cut handles in the QSWO , and miter the corners. Wood came from an old garage that was torn down, my cost was just the gas to hual the "junk" away. About a pick up truck load. The tray is for use when the stove is NOT in use.

Chest of Cedar

2011-06-12T14:06:00Z

Cedar Chest

2011-06-12T02:40:00Z

Out of Aromatic Red Cedar. I started with several rough sawn 8/4 by 6" wide boards. milled down into something my small shop could work with. "Plan" was for a chest that LOOKED like a small chest of drawers. A top drawer would be a false drawer. The top would then be a lid, opening up to show a cedar lined storage area. Two small drawers in the bottom were to be real. Frame and panel construction, with the panels "raised" using just two cuts on the tablesaw. The two small drawers were also beveled to match the raised panels. Small knobs added. Just some knobs I bought at Menards, the smallest they had in stock. Two bright brass hinges hold the lid/top. Three coats of poly gloss were used.

Homemade table saw fence

2011-03-02T02:57:00Z

With just three pieces of scrap wood. The oak cleat rides on this Dewalt Jobsite Tablesaw's fence rail. The plywood triangle has a factory edge and a square corner. I clamp these two to the saw, aligning with a miter slot. Once everything is squared up, I screw the cleat in place. A piece of 1x2 pine is next:

Screwed to the plywood, using the factory edge as a guide. Two "C" clamps will hold the fence in place, when using this fence on the saw. Cleat keeps things aligned with the miter slot, wich SHOULD be parrallel to the blade. Another view:

You can also use this jig to guide routers, or as a speedsquare to guide a circular saw. Just clamp in place and cut. Need a taller fence? Remove the 1x2, and add a taller board in the same location. Add some corner blocks to keep the tall fence straight.

A crate from Brazil?

2011-02-26T04:21:00Z

Yep, it supplied the wood for asmall cabinet. The flat panels are just 1/4' luann plywood, from a different "crate", but the solid wood parts came from a shipping crate from Brazil. Unknown what kind of wood it is, but it would not take a stain. The colour seen is from just a couple coats of poly. This wood will change colours if in sunlight, from a redish brown, to a bright orange. There is a piece in the pictures that shows the orange flavour, it's on side of the left-hand door.

This cabinet has been through a few moves, from one apartment to another over the years, handles went MIA so time ago. Another shot

Kind of beat up, but still holding together. That breadboard edge has stayed the same the whole time. This wood does NOT move, at all. A look at the top

The two front boards have been nearer the window for awhile, and have a nice orange colour. Now, IF I could just find another crate (or two) I think I'll make some other projects with it.

Pine kitchen island

2011-02-11T19:33:00Z

Just $28 in pine, from Menards. The two shelves are panels sold at Menards. The legs are resawn from a 2x4. The spindles were resawn for a 1x4. The aprons were re-sized from more 1x4s, and cut down to 3" wide. This will get a paint & contact paper finish, so why use "good" wood? More pictures..

A shot of one of the end assemblies, during glue-up. All parts were milled out in that COLD pole barn shop I use. They were then brought into the nice, WARM house to be glued up. More pictures

A view of the back of the island. Bottom shelf was cut to fit. If needed, a second shelf can be added, later on. A few cleats and install another shelf. Not bad for just some pine and screws.

Kitchen island?

2011-02-11T00:49:00Z

And for less than $30! It can be done. I went to the local Menards store and got a few pieces of pine. A glue-up panel, 1x16x36, and another 1x12x36. Presanded, ready to use. I also picked up three 1x4x8's and a 2x4x8'. A small pack of 1" drywall screws was also in the cart. I ripped the 2x into some leg stock, 1-3/8 x 1-3/8 x 34" long. I ripped the 1x4s down to 3" wide for some aprons, and some others to 1" wide for some spindles. Spindles were also bevel at each end. All the cutting was done out in my un-heated, pole barn of a shop. The tenons were also cut out there on my tablesaw. Then I marked out for the mortises, and chopped them out with a chisel. Kept me warm doing it that way. Brought all the pieces into the house ( a five mile drive) and started to glue things up

One end section, glurd up, with the spindles screwed in place. A day later, I added the rest of the pieces to make a nice little table/island.