Well, I didn’t get as far along today as I thought I would. I’ll explain why in a minute; suffice it to say that when certain power tools don’t cooperate, certain tasks take a lot longer than normal.

First off, I need to apologize if you got the impression that I had no milling mistakes on Friday.

This is a result of the blind kerf I was cutting for the spline. I had a momentary lapse, the board lifted and came down away from the fence, and the result is as you see here – a short section of “oopsie” that needs to be fixed.

First step – putty. Putty or bondo is a woodworker’s best friend when it comes to paint grade projects. Fill the hole (slight overfill for shrinkage, since it’s acetone-based putty) and let it dry. Sand, and repeat.

End result – nice smooth wood, ready for primer. First, though, a thorough sanding of the rest of the frame, after removing the excess material from the plugs.

This is called a Japanese Flush Cut saw. One of the niftiest little hand saws ever invented, many hundreds of years ago, by the Japanese. The blade is flexible, so you can use the surrounding material as a guide while cutting off the pegs that are sitting above the surface. Works good, too:

Well, most of the time it works good.

So, glue the piece back in, let it dry, and finish sawing it off.

Well, the oak is harder than the poplar, and I am damaging the poplar more than I want to when the oak is being cut off. Time to save time and embrace 20th century technology. I picked this up at a friend’s garage sale a few years back, and it works quite well. Well, until the all the magic smoke leaks out.

And that is the delay factor I hadn’t counted on. When Mr. Belt Sander gave up the ghost, I had to resort to hand sanding the rest of the frames – both sides, and all edges. I got that finished, and now it’s time to run over to the sister-in-law’s house to visit the niece. She’s in town (she lives in Michigan) and she wanted to make this trip before her baby was born.

Friday, I’ll be priming the frames and once they are dry, I’ll be installing hardware and screen material. See you then.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

As we break the 100 degree mark here in Phoenix, I naturally chose today as the day to start on one of the last paying wood jobs I have left. This one is a set of four (one double, two singles) custom wood frame screen doors for a Victorian era bungalow in the historic district for a friend of mine.

The start of the project is always full of promise and trepidation – did I buy enough wood? how about supplies? will the design work? did I measure it right? – but always promises an adventure.

Once I got TMBWitW’s car out of my shop, I was able to start. The scariest part of any project is the milling – once everything is cut to length and any other cutting/hacking/shaping is completed, a big sigh of relief is heard. Since this is a pretty straight forward project, the sigh of relief comes early. Now the fun part – assembling the parts. The door frames are a simple four piece frame (there will be a middle strut installed later) so the best joinery trick is the most straightforward – pocket screws. I use a small Kreg jig that is actually designed for repair-in-place jobs. I have found that it’s versatility in repairs carries over to the bench work in the first place quite nicely.

That shot also shows the channel I cut for the screen spline to be applied later.

Didn’t know you were going to get a Kreg commercial in here, did you?

Next, the frames are assembled with the square-drive pocket screws. A little glue and the screws act as permanent clamps. With the pocket screw angled in, the fit is pretty much forever. With a high-use item such as these screen doors, I wanted to make sure the duty cycle lifetime would be on the higher side.

After the pocket screws are seated, and the frame is complete, I used plugs to fill the holes. Yes, repairs will be tricky, but the overall look is one of solidity.

Next step (probably Sunday afternoon) is to take a belt sander to the frames, ensuring smooth joints front and back and taking the filler plugs down to flush. After that will be a coat of primer and then the hardware. The screen material itself will be last – for the sharpest looking screens, avoid painting them or poking holes in them with tools!

(note to the sharper-eyed readers – yes, the plugs are oak. yes, the frames are paint grade poplar. the doors will be painted, remember? oak is stable enough to use as filler in the poplar frame. and, as a special treat for next time, i’ll show you the one milling mistake i made and how it will be repaired.)

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Image courtesy of StarrettWire – sign up for some darn good recaps!

It occurred to me last night as I was routing the door parts for the cabinets that I’m working on that I haven’t been taking pictures this go-around. Naturally, it’s too late to show you the before shot of the materials I have sent through the saws and router, so – you’ll just have to wait until I have some finished product to show off. I promise lots of pictures of the install, though.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Yes, a whole week (plus!) without putting thought to keyboard (because pen to paper doesn’t work in this setup) and my mind is whirling with thousands of things to write about.

Unfortunately, they are all dated and of no consequence, so they won’t see the light of day.

I will say this: We (the United States) have enough untapped oil deposits to be free from foreign energy, when combined with alternative forms of energy. Like, walking and riding bikes and sharing the rides you do have to make. Selfish buggers. I’m talking to you, Phoenix. Hundreds of miles of freeways and surface streets, and still we have more people driving solo than sharing rides. Oh, and whining about fuel costs. Here, in one of the few areas of the country that was not affected by Ike’s price increases. Selfish buggers.

I will also say that Obama has finally seen the light, and is trying to slam Palin’s door shut. Tough noogies, Barry. There are still a few things you haven’t shared with the US as a whole that need to be cleared up. Like, a paper copy of your birth certificate. Records from your college time. Lists of clients, cases, and whatnot from your time as a lawyer. What, exactly, a community organizer in Chicago does. Why ACORN plays such a big part in your life. Why Bill Ayers, an unrepentant domestic terrorist, is one of your biggest fans. And, why does the entire muslim world want you to be our next president, if you aren’t muslim?

On with updates of a personal nature:
Custom woodworking isn’t paying the bills. I’ve actually lost money this year. So, I’m driving a cab two nights a week to help make ends meet.
Speaking of custom woodworking, I have a project to do. I need to make a storage case for an item that measures 8 3/8″ long by 6 1/4″ deep by 4 1/4″ high. It will incorporate a picture frame, a brass plaque, fancy footwork and a hinged lid. It will hold Logan’s ashes.
MEG still misses Logan, as do the other dogs. All five of them (MEG and the four dogs) wander around at times; MEG calling for Logey Ogey, the dogs sniffing the places he normally laid. Sara seems to be especially lonely, since the two of them would often lay together at night.

Life, however, goes on. I need to go run some errands. I will swing through the blogroll later today, and drop comments where appropriate. It’s good to be back, and I will try to keep all three of my regular readers entertained whilst I continue to ramble. With the cab, I should have some good stories. Like Saturday evening, when ASU got handed their butts on their home field, and I was sitting in Tempe traffic when they got their one and only touchdown, and I had forgotten that they tend to celebrate those things with fireworks…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

This coming week (the 15th through the 19th, inclusive) TMBWitW is on vacation.

This may or may not be interesting to you, depending on how my wife’s vacation will affect your life. Since I will be wanting to spend as much time with her as possible, I am canceling the Friday airing of The O Word on Blogtalkradio.

I will also not be on the net, answering e-mail, or anything else.

We are just going to spend the week together, alone, with MEG, and enjoy some family time.

I’ll see you in a week or so. At that point in time, I will be starting a little wood project, and I will take you guys along step by step.

Take care of yourselves, and may God watch over you.