Category Archives: Woodworking

Memorial Day Weekend

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A three day chore marathon, closing with the annual remembrance of those lost to us in active military service. I choose to be a bit more OCD about my duty to honor our losses. (Or, as @xeni noted the other day on twitter, CDO, because it SHOULD be alphabetized!)

Saturday: I got the table apron and legs completed and assembled:

Table apron and legs assembled

Table apron and legs assembled

Next on Saturday, but without any photographic evidence at this time, I got our hanging baskets populated and hung up on the front porch. The watering outlets are in the baskets, but that isn’t set up with a supply yet, that’s held for Monday.

Final Saturday task – I applied gel stain to both surfaces of the cherry table top, to even out the look of the wood:

Staining the cherry top

Staining the cherry top

Sunday was a power run: I did the shopping, then applied a first coat of polyurethane to the bottom of the table. I mowed the lawns, with a dog walk as the halftime show. I evened out the first coat of poly with #0000 steel wool and a bit of 320 grit sandpaper, vacuumed, cleaned, and dried, then applied a second coat of poly. I watered and weeded out back, and took a little break. I then prep’d the bottom one more time, and applied a third coat of poly. That’ll cure overnight, and I’ll flip the work piece and start coating the top surface tomorrow. That and watering system setup will fill my Memorial Day, as will my thoughts of our fallen warriors…

*      *      *

Our condolences to the families, friends, and the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team on the deaths of these fallen warriors:

  • Sgt. Eugene M Aguon, 23, of Mangilao, Guam, died May 16, in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with a vehicle borne improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Dwayne W. Flores, 22, of Sinajana, Guam, died May 16, in Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with a vehicle borne improvised explosive device.

 

Table work

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I’m working on the table/desk now. It’s got the cherry top that you’ve seen in early construction phase here. Now I’m assembling the apron. I bought the table legs from Osborne Wood Products. They’d have sold me the apron, too, but I was already stocked on the materials I needed for this. On Friday I did all the cuts. Today I did some round-over routing of the lower edges, cut a groove for the table top clips, and assembled the apron:

Assembling the desk/table apron

Assembling the desk/table apron

The center stretchers are affixed with pocket screws. The angled pieces in the corners are glued and pinned – They will (eventually) have holes for hanger bolts from the legs for final assembly. Because I’m using the table saw as an assembly surface, I’m protecting small areas with wax paper. For a larger project, I’d drop on a piece of hardboard instead.

*      *      *

Our condolences to the familes, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Sgt. 1st Class Trenton L. Rhea, 33, of Oakley, Kan., died May 15, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, after drowning while attempting to cross a body of water during combat operations.
  • Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey C. Baker, 29, of Hesperia, California, died May 14, in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Mitchell K. Daehling, 24, of Dalton, Massachusetts, died May 14, in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. William J. Gilbert, 24, of Hacienda Heights, California, died May 14, in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

Cabinet done

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The completed cabinet

The completed cabinet

The completed cabinet shows off it’s party piece – a slide-out tray to make the computers easier to work on. Given the placement of the heavy stuff, though, it’s clear I had to cleat the top of the unit to a stud in the wall – the weight of the two computers was enough to start it tilting forward. I’d expected that, but “tested” it, anyway. One computer, fine. Two? Not so much. It’s also worth noting that I’ve got a half inch of dense closed-cell foam buffer between the computers and the tray, to cut down on vibration transfer – that helps keep the noise down in here.

I got that install done, and got a couple of flats of flowers installed in the front beds today. The weather? Not frosty … more like mid-eighties. Sigh. Time to unwind. Ciao!

Busy Sunday

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When I laid out the doors and shelves and such for finishing, there wasn’t room to leave the cabinet carcass in the woodshop and still have room to setup for roasting coffee. Coffee wins, so I dragged the carcass sections upstairs, assembled and temporarily loaded them up:

Corner cabinet in place

Corner cabinet in place

I ran out of time to get any more finishing done on the remaining pieces, sadly. I did get the main garden up and running today, though…

2013 garden getting started

2013 garden getting started

There’s 24 tomato plants, 12 pepper plants, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, etc. I still have to get the herb box cleared and up, as well as do the watering setup. For the next few days, I’ll hand water.

I’m still going to try to get Marcia’s sites migrated over to the new system tonight, before I fall over sideways.

*      *      *

Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Staff Sgt. Eric D. Christian, 39, of Warwick, New York, died May 4, while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.
  • Cpl. David M. Sonka, 23, of Parker, Colorado, died May 4, while conducting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.
  • 1st Lt. Brandon J. Landrum, 26, of Lawton, Oklahoma, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Staff Sgt. Francis G. Phillips IV, 28, of Meridian, New York, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Kevin Cardoza, 19, of Mercedes, Texas, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Thomas P. Murach, 22, of Meridian, Idaho, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
  • Spc. Brandon J. Prescott, 24, of Bend, Oregon, died May 4, in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.

Finishing a cabinet; Ch-ch-ch-changes a’coming.

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Finishing the corner cabinet

Finishing the corner cabinet

 

I’m making progress, as you can see. This cabinet may be upstairs as early as Wednesday of the upcoming week. Depends if I can get enough coats of poly on the doors and shelves. Pictured above, I’m at the poly stage for the face and insides – the dark teal sides are already three coats and cured. After supper, I took those down, laid out the doors and shelves, and first-coated the backs. Tomorrow, a quick sanding and I’ll get the second coat on.

*      *      *

While I am not going to have the liberty to host sites that aren’t mine, I’m migrating back to a personally administered system. $FIRM has graciously allowed me some bandwith, 1RU of rack space, and an old R410. I’ ve got Scientific Linux (the high-energy physics respin of RHEL) I’m doing this for reasons. REASONS, I tell you. Well, I’m not telling you, not now, anyway. There are likely to be format changes, too, though I’m going to maintain the blog format for convenience. But it may not be the front-line landing page anymore. What I do will be clear and documented, though.

This site is running from the new box, as are Daynotes.com and Daynotes.net. Speaking of the former, Daynotes.com is still “owned” by Tom Syroid. But since Tom appears to be staying offline, there’s no way to transfer ownership. If anyone wants to pick up the ball this year and give Network Solutions some money to renew Daynotes.com before the site expires in mid-September, that’d be awesome. You don’t need to have any formal access to renew (spend money) at NetSol, at least you didn’t last time I did it myself. I’ve renewed it several times personally, but it’d be nice if someone has found it useful steps up for a year or two. Let me know if you do, and you’ll get public thanks, here and elsewhere.

Depending on the gardening potential tomorrow, I’m going to try to get Marcia’s sites migrated to the new box before the new week gets rolling. Now to walk the mutt in between rain bursts and then do a bit of remote system administration for work. Ciao!

Paint It Black

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Well. not “black” as such, Rolling Stones songs notwithstanding. But I’ve managed to get finish (off-white, some walnut stain bodged onto the white for character, and dark teal) applied to all the bits of the cabinets. I’ve got a bit more “character” to apply to the face frames of the cabinets, then it’s time for polyurethane. Another few days at least…

It was a good five-day stint of woodworking and finishing, fun, really. I did take a break from that to shop, mow, and roast coffee (Nicaragua Finca Santa Helena Caturra, from Sweet Maria’s, of course) today, too.

*      *      *

Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

Pfc. Barrett L. Austin, 20, of Easley, South Carolina, died April 21 in Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained when his vehicle was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device in Wardak Province, Afghanistan, April 17.

Capt. Aaron R. Blanchard, 32, of Selah, Washington, died April 23, in Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy indirect fire.

1st Lt. Robert J. Hess, 26, of Fairfax, Virginia, died April 23, in Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy indirect fire.

Capt. Brandon L. Cyr, 28, of Woodbridge, Virginia, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.

Capt. Reid K. Nishizuka, 30, of Kailua, Hawaii, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.

Staff Sgt. Richard A. Dickson, 24, of Rancho Cordova, California, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.

Staff Sgt. Daniel N. Fannin, 30, of Morehead, Kentucky, died April 27, near Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, in the crash of an MC-12 aircraft.

Half-week Off

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I turned 10base52 (not 1, sigh) this week, on Wednesday. So I took that day, and the next two, off work so that I could spend some quality time in the woodshop. I finished building all of the cabinet doors and inter-shelving, installed the cabinet backs, and tested all the hardware:

Cabinet door fittings

Cabinet door fittings

Then I pulled, bagged, and labeled all the hardware, and started applying finish to the small pieces:

Finishing doors and shelves

Finishing doors and shelves

Today, those get a top-coat of polyurethane and a bit of distressing. And I’ll start applying finish to the cabinet carcasses. At least that’s the plan. But the yard needs some attention, too. Hmmm…

Spring games

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Friday night surrounded by wind and rain, we played Scrabble. Turns out that there is a body part you can use to not just win, but dominate in this game:

Winning at Scrabble takes balls.

Winning at Scrabble takes ______.

Fertilized and rained on, the lawns demand an aggressive mowing schedule. The good news is that following Friday’s storms, the temps were down significantly, making the yardwork a lot less sweaty. I also made progress on the cabinet building in the woodshop, fabricating the perforated screen door for the computer cabinet.

This metal screen cabinet door will aid in ventilation for the computers that will live in this cabinet.

Metal screen cabinet door

All of the components for the lower cabinet are now done. I need to build a couple of intermediate shelves for the upper, and three more doors. Then I can sand and finish that, taking another week or two. Next up, the cherry and maple desk.

*      *      *

Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

Chief Warrant Officer Matthew P. Ruffner, 34, of Tafford, Pennsylvania, died April 9, in Pachir Wa Agam District, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

Chief Warrant Officer Jarett M. Yoder, 26, of Mohnton, Pennsylvania, died April 9, in Pachir Wa Agam District, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

Spring is exhausting…

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Last weekend, spring cleaning. This weekend, yardwork, all weekend long. The front is all pruned up, and first mowing of the year done. Looks pretty good (but the front fence needs a full redo). Today, I spent as much energy as I had (several hours worth) weeding out and tilling the garden beds in preparation for spring planting. In the evenings this week, I’ll get the rest of the back yard cleaned up, too. At least then I’ll have a starting point for the rest of the spring work.

Upcoming: This is going to be an expensive week, since a rock thrown a considerable distance by a truck cracked my windshield beyond the trivial repair stage. I’ve also got router bits to purchase for the cabinet work, and a bit more maple, too. Have to keep going on the office redo, or I’ll still be “working on it” months from now.

*      *      *

Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Ward, 24, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, died April 6 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Zabul, Afghanistan with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

Spc. Wilbel A. Robles-Santa, 25, of Juncos, Puerto Rico, died April 6 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Zabul, Afghanistan with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

Spc. Delfin M. Santos Jr., 24, of San Jose, California, died April 6 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit in Zabul, Afghanistan with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.

Springing

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Some leaves and flowers are starting to make a for-real appearance around the neighborhood. Spring is very nearly here. So is yardwork, more’s the pity.

Most of the weekend I spent down in the woodshop. I have pictures, but no time to process them for you  right now. I did get the table top for my office desk assembled, cut and cornered, rounded over all the edges, and sanded to 220 grit on the flats, and 320 grit on the end grains. Today I finish-cut and did the dadoes on the pieces for the new corner cabinet that will hold computers, a printer, and other things. Tonight, I executed a DNS migration at work. A bit tricksy, but ultimately successful.

*      *      *

Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Tech. Sgt. Larry D. Bunn, 43, of Bossier City, Loisiana, died March 7 as a result of a non-combat incident at an undisclosed base in Southwest Asia.
  • Capt. Andrew M. Pedersen-Keel, 28, of South Miami, Florida, died March 11, in Jalrez District, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when he was attacked by small arms fire.
  • Staff Sgt. Rex L. Schad, 26, of Edmond, Oklahoma, died March 11, in Jalrez District, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when he was attacked by small arms fire.
  • Chief Petty Officer Christian Michael Pike, 31, of Peoria, Arizona, died March 13 in Landstuhl, Germany, as a result of combat-related injuries sustained on March 10 while conducting stability operations in Maiwand District, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. David T. Proctor, 26, of Greensboro, North Carolina, died March 13, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, from injuries sustained during a non-combat incident on March 3, in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
  • Staff Sgt. Steven P. Blass, 27, of Estherville, Iowa, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Henderson, 27, of Franklin, Loisiana, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Capt. Sara M. Knutson, 27, of Eldersburg, Maryland, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Staff Sgt. Marc A. Scialdo, 31, of Naples, Florida, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Spc. Zachary L. Shannon, 21, of Dunedin, Florida, died March 11, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  • Chief Warrant Officer James E. Groves III, 37, of Kettering, Ohio, died March 16 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.