My projects

[JohnG]

I've been lurking these forums for quite some time, and just recently started posting a bit. I joined here to get involved in the woodworking community, so I suppose I should actually get involved instead of hiding in the shadows! 

A bit about myself:

I have helped renovate several houses in the past, and I've always enjoyed fixing things and working with my hands, but I had no prior exposure to woodworking except for turning a couple pens. My high school offered wood shop classes, but sadly at the time I thought it was "uncool." Luckily I did have much interest in the school's offering of CAD classes, of which I took all (and more). I only became interested in woodworking a couple years ago, and spent about a year as an online woodworker (as in, I just watched youtube videos and read articles/blog posts). Last year my wife got tired of me spending countless hours of watching youtube videos but not taking my interest any further, so she bought me a jobsite table saw. That began the all-consuming obsession that it has become.

My projects over the past year-ish:

My first project was a bookshelf for our then soon-coming daughter. I decided to make a bookshelf for her, since we were receiving a lot of children's books as gifts. It was made from big box store 3/4" birch plywood, the shelves were glued into dados on the sides, and the back was 1/4" ply, tacked onto the back with brad nails. The front is sloped back, making each shelf deeper as you go from top to bottom, hopefully adding some stability when it inevitably becomes a ladder. I learned a lot from my mistakes on this project.

 

Next I made a bassinet stand for our daughter. We received a bassinet/playpen combo as a gift, but I wanted a separate stand for the bassinet. We wanted her to sleep in our room, but didn't want to have the full playpen in the room as well. This was made from cheap pine furring strips from the big box store, joined with pocket holes (I wanted to go with M&T, but we were days away from her due date, so I needed to get the job done quickly). I learned a lot from my mistakes on this project.

 

Next I made a little step stool for my wife and daughter. I had a bit of extra maple from my next project, so I decided to do a quick unplanned project. As you'll see, my next project was much bigger, so I just needed a quick-win. I learned a lot from my mistakes on this project.

 

I had been using a plastic/metal folding card table as a desk for a while, and most of the mass manufactured desks are too short for me to use comfortably. So I made the jump from making small weekend projects into designing and building an executive style desk for myself. It is just over 7' wide and 33" deep. There are two file cabinet drawers on the right side. The left side has two small drawers for pens, papers, etc, and a cabinet for my computer tower. It has built-in cable management, and there is only a single power cable exiting the desk (except for the montor's power and HDMI running out of the cable management tray to the monitor). The top is two layers of 3/4" ply with solid maple edging, the cabinets are 3/4" ply construction with 1/2" ply backing and the drawers are 1/2" ply. All of the drawers are 24" deep with full extension slides. The visible ply "cabinet grade" maple ply. The bottom layer of ply that makes up the desk top is baltic birch ply. It is ridiculously heavy and solid. The maple ply was stained (insert groans) with a 'cherry' color, and the edging was stained (more groans) with a darker stain, but I cannot recall the name of it. The day after I stained everything, I read that maple tends to be a blotchy species, but I was happy with my results. The solid maple edging seemed to be more blotchy, but I actually like the effect it gave. I also made a little side cabinet for my printer, briefcase, and extra computer to sit in. Eventually I will make a door for it. Everything was finished with several coats of satin GF ARS, following Cremona's method. I learned a lot from my mistakes on this project.

 

And finally my most recent project was a dresser for my daughter. We had been using little cube totes to store her clothes, but as she has gotten bigger that method was becoming a hassle. I had leftover ply from my desk project, so I used 3/4" maple ply for the carcase, 1/2" ply for the drawers and drawer dividers, and 1/4" ply for the drawer bottoms. I used solid maple to make a face frame and runners for the drawers to slide on. I turned the knobs on my lathe out of 2"x2" ash stock. It was all painted (gasp!) to my wife's liking. I learned a lot from my mistakes on this project. Hopefully my last plywood project for a while.

 

Next up will be a desk for my wife. It will also be painted, so I bought a bunch of poplar to use. I'll probably use something harder for the desk top. I may create a project journal for the build, depending on how harsh you all are in this thread 

 

Thanks for reading!

John

 

Edited May 11, 2018 by AnonymousAccountant
removing duplicate pictures

[Chet]

Welcome to the forms John.  These are some nice first projects.

37 minutes ago, AnonymousAccountant said:

I may create a project journal for the build, depending on how harsh you all are in this thread 

Don't be shy on us.  Journals help you learn, and they help us learn.  Even showing mistakes and how they happened and how you fixed them is a learning experience for all.

[JohnG]

Thanks! That was mostly a joke, I do plan on making project journals for my future projects. I've seen how much valuable help and constructive criticism you all have to offer. 

[Coyote Jim]

Great stuff John!...er...Anonymous....Anonymous John?

I find myself in a very similar spot as you are. Zero woodworking background, then an online woodworker, then only in the last year or two I started making stuff. Lots and lots and lots of learning from my mistakes. In fact, with how many mistakes I have made you would think I would be a master craftsman by now.

Don't be scared of making a build journal. I am very much a beginner and everyone on these forums has been very kind and encouraging and helpful to me, even though I am sure they are looking at their screens, shaking their heads and saying "Oh, bless his heart".

Keep up the great work and I hope to see more of it around these forums.

[wtnhighlander]

John, I see a theme in your post, which most of us fail to admit often enough. Learning from our projects is a process that never really ends. I think you are off to a fine start, and encourage you to share your work here as much as possible. Don't be afraid to ask for opinions, either. We have a million of them!

 

[Ronn W]

Great start.  Nice work.  My wife never bought me a saw.  You got a special woman there.

[JohnG]

I’m quite lucky. She has been very supportive of this hobby, and wants me to upgrade to a SawStop (she works in the ER and has seen people come in with fingers in a jar). She hasn’t at all objected to my tool purchases, though I do try to be pretty frugal. 

 

I’ve come to realize that one of my big sources of mistakes comes from changing my plans on the fly. Except for the little step stool, I have made full plans for my projects in advance (AutoCad, Sketchup, and more recently some Fusion360). I print out the plans, part list, and cut lists to keep out in the shop as I’m building it. However, I always get part way into the project and then start making little changes, and not because of issues or constraints that arise. Sometimes I forget why I chose to do something a specific way, or sometimes for no real reason at all. Then I get further along in the project and realize that there was indeed a reason my plans were done that way. I end up having a cascade of changes or having to remake parts to get back on track. 

Is that a common issue with you all? Do I just need to slow down a bit and make myself follow my original plans? Or do you just get better at adapting plans as you go?

I appreciate all the kind encouragement and feedback!

[wtnhighlander]

Just the opposite, my "plans" are more like "suggestions". Maybe I'm not experienced enough to anticipate how the wood will dictate the project's progress, but I AM experienced enough to know the plan will always change!

[wdwerker]

Wood moves, plans change. Parts get cut slightly too short so the entire project must adapt or the budget will suffer. This is a central reality to our world. 

[RichardA]

Wood moves, never enough clamps, plans re- adapt, there's never enough room and your rulers are never long enough.   A day in the life!