In the first part of this post I explained the beginning of this project.

After all the wood was surfaced to size I cut the posts to length.

The panels were positioned in the posts by cutting a 1/2″ groove in the posts and a 1/2″ tenon on the top and bottom of each panel.

The posts were attached together by creating mortises in the posts and cutting tenons on the ends of the horizontal supports.  The lower support was notched into the vertical posts with a 1/4″ relief,  which I am hoping will be sufficient to handle the load of the wet soil inside.

After it was assembled I added the Lattice to the back and hauled it out into the backyard for Alicia to apply the  Minwax Oil based Stain.

The discount price 30$.   I took a look and thought it could be used for planter boxes.  Douglas fir isnt necessarily ones first choice for planter boxes as I dont expect that they will last longer than a few years.  That said 30$ is cheaper than a half wine barrel so I was sold.  I brought it home and stacked it in the garage for a few months  to dry out a little more.

After drying I began to flatten and square up all the lumber.

To do this I used my Planer and Jointer.

Because at the time I only had a 4″ jointer ( 6″ is home but needs some work and … another blog post about it)  I wasn’t going to be able to face joint the lumber flat.

So I built a cheap planer sled for face jointing and cut the 2×8′s into 60″ lengths.  I then ran them through the planer until one side was flat.   I did  for same process for  the 4×6′s.

This step was necessary because the lumber was very cupped and bowed.  The wood was shimmed to prevent deflection from the planer wheels and was all flattened on one face.

After this I put the sled away and flattened the corresponding face.   For the 4×6′s  the final planed thickness was 2.75″  I eventually ripped them to 2.5″  square poles for the project construction.  For the 2×8′s I was able to flatten them to a thickness of 1.25″  and a width of 7.125″.   Once I finished this step the weekend was over. The shop was also COVERED in shavings.  It filled the entire yard waste bin.

During the next week now knowing what I was able to flatten the lumber to, I learned how to use Google SketchUp.

This is my first draft of the planter that I had been planning.

I knew that since the 4×6′s were splitting I would need to rip them into smaller square poles.  Also because of the cracking and imperfections of the 2×8′s  I wasn’t going to be able to use them in long lengths.  Due to these limitations I researched some options and built this model in sketchup.  It kinda looks like a Bed … Get it .. Raised Bed ..

In the next post i’ll show more construction photos and (hopefully)  the finished product.

After doing the rough assembly tonight I realized that there are some changes in the final bed that will I will have to update in the Model as time permits.

Well needless to say my Craftsman 3/4 HP of unknown capacity air compressor was not up to the task.   When the first coats of paint were applied to the shutters it was a long painstaking process of waiting on the compressor.  3 Minutes to fill,  7 seconds to paint.   Yeah,  it was frustrating and took an entire day standing in a paint filled garage.

This started my quest for a new ( cheap ) big ass compressor.   I originally thought I might try and build a compressor out of a large propane tank,  a HF pump or CL sourced one,  and a new 5hp motor.   The quest began and eventually I broke down and posted in the want ads to trade for lumber for an upright air compressor.

That afternoon I got a call.   some back and forth,  and a compressor was mine.

This compressor came to me filled with tall tales,  some of which I’m sure are true,  needless to say they included Elephants, Landmines, Chinese tractors, Thailand, Rosewood,  Jeff Gordon,  Adultery and … a compressor was born.

It is a mash-up of older Craftsman single stage parts,  a replacement motor,  and tank of unknown size,  though it is definitely smaller than a 60 gallon which I had set out for.

Once I got it I ordered a new pressure switch,  check valve,  and pressure indicator and got it all connected and up and running.

The next project would use this compressor and the compressor would DEFINATELY prove itself.  More in my next post… for now lets just say I can use the HVLP gun without stopping and the compressor does kick on but will catch up and shut off while spraying.   MUCH BETTER.

Its not too pretty to look at but I’m happy to have it in the shop.  You can see its older baby brother next to it.

The stool which I have blogged about previously here I finally finished sometime on the day after Christmas 2010.   I had hoped that we would be able to get it to Camden so that it was under the tree on Christmas Day but sadly, my time management skills, life and learning woodworking came in the way.

The project was finished by smooting all the milling marks with my Stanley Bailey #3 hand plane  and all the edges were champhered with a block plane.

The plugs used on the seat and seat back were made with walnut and once sanded the whole project was finished with 4 coats of shellac (spray)  and paste wax.   In retrospect,  and after reading about finishing more it seems a stool, which may find its way into the bathroom someday, would have been better served with a more water resistant sealer.

I really wanted the cherry used in this project to POP!  It was cherry that I got from the downgrade bin in the hardwood store but when I saw it thought it was beautiful!.. I guess that is all that matters… well that and 80 BF of Cherry @ 1.25 a ft .

I also learned a really important lesson about taking your own pictures of the projects that you want to remember.  If you want to take a good, quality, rememberable picture,  do it before you gift your work.   Otherwise it will take months to finish your blog post series.  I got a wild hair and asked my brother to send me the pictures this week so that I could finally write this post so here they are

Growing up I watched This Old House and New Yankee workshop and learned about the art of recreating classic furniture and building techniques with the latest spiffy power tool.  Seemed like Norm always had the latest and greatest power tool to cut just those few dovetails on his drawer…  This is the way I learned about woodworking.  I watched Norm and I read about it in books and on the internet.  If you saw my previous post about the I can do that stepstool ( not yet finished ),  the seat bottom and the step/seat back are screwed and plugged with plugs.   I have never used plugs yet so I google… read ..  and decide  ”I need a block plane”.   Well being the avid craigslister and freecycler that I have become I immediately post on craigslist and on freecycle for “Old Rusty Hand Woodworking Tools”  as wanted ads on both.   A few hours goes by and my first response comes in:  ”I have an old plane you can have”… A day later a call,  I have some planes sitting on the shelf,  A half dozen or so ill sell you for $25 for all,  then another call  ” I have 3 you can have”

After collecting all of them and the few extra that they threw in I collected the following lot.

Last Count

Stanley Bailey #4

1 Bailey #5 that is broken and welded

2 Bailey #3 one is a sweetheart

4 Random other Stanley #4 equivalent

2 Spoke shaves

2 Wooden Fancy Pants ones

2 sets of old school wooden bar clamps

2 old Craftsman block planes

14 Planes for 31 $

Plus you can seem some files and a oil stone

[picasaView album='HandTools']

Worried that the wood had been outside and not knowing its history I opted to take all the cutting board stock and bake it in the oven to sterilize it prior to glue up.  Not a big deal really,  I just lowered the oven rack to the bottom and filled the oven.  Inside on the bottom of the oven I put a pyrex dish with water in it to keep the air a little humid.  I baked at 160 (inside of  oven temp) for 6 hours to make sure.

Once cool I pulled the wood out and arranged it in groups for prospective boards and began gluing them up into blanks.  I only have enough clamps and cauls to glue one at a time so this took about a week to glue all the  board blanks that I have completed so far.  I glued some in the morning and some in the evening and on some days both

Pictures below are the mineral oil finish being applied on some of the boards.

Following up on a Craigslist ad I found an individual about an hours drive away that had 8′ long strips of what he said are Hard Maple, Walnut, and Mahogany. Ellory and I made the drive and filled up the entire back of my truck! Wood was hanging out significantly out of the back of my 5′ crew cab truck, proved to me that I might not need a lumber rack for now.

Once home and unloaded I sorted a little, saving some larger stock for other projects. I also realized that mostly what I have is maple, walnut, cherry and some red-oak or maybe mahogany. Honestly I’m not too sure what some of it is. Most of it is so small in width that I will likely have to plane it all the way down to 1/2″ prior to glue up. Some will allow wider, and some ill save for shop fixtures like torsion boxes for my table saw outfeed table I have been planning.

I began trimming out the knots and jointing two edges then squared up on the planer and table saw. Mostly I am planning on using edge grain and not end grain for the boards because I really really like the look of the long strips glued up. I am planning however on doing a few end grain so Ill post those as I make them.

Here is the first one off the press and hopefully I learned enough on this one to make the next much better.

I had to take this picture on top of the sawdust bin as the sun was setting!

So I looked on craigslist.  After a while I was blown away by some of the “deals” on there and couldnt believe that people were selling these saws that sold originally for $500 for $150 on CL.  During my research I found  sawmillcreek.org which I learned a lot about how to buy a table saw.  Reading there changed my mind about what I thought I wanted and I set out looking for an older saw in the $150 price range.

Soon enough a used Delta/Rockwell 34-338 table saw.  He was selling it for 175 and it was in good condition.  Also included was a Unifence and Rail which I couldn’t resist.  I didn’t really want  a contractor saw but this would fit the bill.  I offered $150 and it came home with me.

Here is the saw as it was when I got it home.

After swapping out the Fence and the rail and building an extension table:

(need to find this photo)