Barron

Looks great. I love making pens, the hard part is finding a reason after you have given every one you know. They do make good tips (in addition to cash) for guides and special service when traveling.

I wouldn’t try laminating anything thicker than 1/8” or maybe 3/16”. It would take a very long time to thin the top down to a reasonable thickness, maybe a belt sander with really coarse grit, then use the drum sander to o finish it off. Good luck.

Finish the bottom side first, then flip and finish the top while the bottom sits on the pyramids. Any damage from the pyramids will never be seen. After the first few coats you can probably quit worrying about the bottom.

You can avoid the splinters by using a piece of Pantyhose. It will slide smoothly with the grain, and snag against the grain. I do recommend asking your spouse before cutting up a pair, don’t ask me how I know.

I don’t have photos, but simple round overs, angles, and profiles work nicely. The gallery wants to highlight the photo, not the frames. If you are working cheaply, I’d go with paint in neutral colors. This probably is not the time to highlight your Woodworking skills.

Some rip blades are flat topped, and the box joint set is very good.

I have used it, it works great, but I don’t know if it has longer open time than epoxy. I’ve found that if I pour epoxy onto a flat surface, the open time is longer than if I leave it in the mixing container.

If you do ship lap panels you won’t lose any width, and it will still look good.

The panels were housed in grooves on all four sides. I routed a groove in the center of the frame, all the way to the ends of both the rails and stiles, then just filled the gaps at the top and bottom after assembly — I didn’t think any one would ever be able to see the fix.

I only have a 500 domino, and that is what I used. I think I used three or four per joint, but can’t remember for sure. I’m fact, I may have used a technique to make a large mortise, and then made my own wide domino. Either way, I think it will work.

I built a door pretty much as you described. I used 6/4 pine for the rails and stiles. The panels were tongue and groove milled down to 2/4, and the angled faux braces were 2/4. I used dominos for the joinery. Held up for as long as we had the house. The sliding door hardware was designed for 8/4 stiles, but I just had to cut the bolts down. Since the doors slide, and are hung from either side of the top, the braces are cosmetic, so the direction isn’t critical, and really, there isn’t much stress on the frame. Good luck.

I’d try a little stain. Stain has larger sized pigments than dye that may fill the pores enough to hide the little specs of paint. As suggested above, try it on a small area to see if it helps. Good luck.

If the top photo is after the dye, what is the problem? You have done a good job of blending the sap wood into the heartwood. Once stained and finished, the sap wood should be pretty well blended in. I would probably test finish that one slat to confirm (and limit the sanding if it doesn’t work).

I’ve moved my shop five times. I did the sell the saw/buy a new one once, but that was to upgrade to a Saw Stop. Since the Government was paying for the move each time we used a moving company. I never had any problems with my tools, and only minor nicks with shop furniture. Moving companies have the stuff and experience to wrap your tools, and the people to get them from the old shop to the truck and into the new shop. I did treat the cast iron surfaces, took lots of photos, just in case. My Roubo is the take down version, but it’s never been ‘taken down’, the movers just picked it up and put it into the truck. Just my own opinion, but I never considered my ‘big’ tools all that delicate, and I can realign them if I need to. Good luck with whatever you decide to do and enjoy retirement.

Actually, the circ saw is spraying out sawdust, which is a known carcinogen. . .