I was sore, sore, sore all day today. The quarter sawn white oak drafting stool build has begun. It took a couple of weeks for the material to arrive, and that delay is always built in and expected. This past Sunday I brought a rough cut 2x8x10 and a 1x10x12 down to finish dimensions and all the lugging back and forth reminded me that I have back muscles and hamstrings! :) Solid oak is heavy! Last night I milled the basic seat, leg, apron, and stretcher parts as shown below but it didn't loosen me up much. Getting old is a beach.
Tonite I felt like I didn't do much, but actually did. I cleaned off a bench that has had an old table on it for years... and the clutter that went with it. I need space to set up a new Powermatic PM701 bench top mortising machine! So something had to be done about the clutter and this table because there's no where else to set up the mortiser! I've debated with myself for years what to do with that old table... stash it under the house and forget it, throw it away, give it away, or clean it up and sell it. Tonite I put several hours of elbow grease into cleaning it up for refinishing and eventual sale. When I'm done I'll just sit it in my driveway with a price tag on it and the first one to walk in with the cash will take it. :) I'll get a photo of it up here eventually. But the process is in full swing. I'll probably feel tonight's effort some time on Thursday.
And I glued up a little finger joint box that will house my mortising bit collection. No photo of that yet either, but I decided not to waste my first set of finger joints. Once I'd dialed the fit on the test pieces I sized it for a box that could actually be used for something. More on this later. I'll work on finishing up the top and bottom this week and look for some inexpensive hinges and hardware.
I'm taking time with the stool because I've also been tweaking the design a little bit. This is one of those builds where the design is somewhat organic in that I don't really have a plan to work with because I'm designing it as I go from something I saw somewhere online. It's not how I'm used to building things. :) One of the details that bothered me about the online design was the thru dado in the seat frame. I didn't like the look of the joint on the outside of the frame and it felt a bit lazy. So instead of routing it thru the full length of the frame as shown in my earlier video I've decided to connect the frame with mortise and tenon joints. I'm still debating the groove with myself... but for now, this is the direction I'm headed with the seat. My original design idea was posted a while back here.
Oh... and the other thing that came to light (again) the other night is that I need to pull a 220V circuit into my shop! Bigtime. My little 15A circuit struggles with ripping 8/4 oak and I'm sick of messing with it and resetting the breaker. So my neighbor, who is a licensed electrician, is going to help me install a new 220V outlet and rewire the motor on my saw. This will also set me up to purchase a band saw at some point already wired for 220. More power is what I need... arrr, arrr, arrr... more power.
Tonite I felt like I didn't do much, but actually did. I cleaned off a bench that has had an old table on it for years... and the clutter that went with it. I need space to set up a new Powermatic PM701 bench top mortising machine! So something had to be done about the clutter and this table because there's no where else to set up the mortiser! I've debated with myself for years what to do with that old table... stash it under the house and forget it, throw it away, give it away, or clean it up and sell it. Tonite I put several hours of elbow grease into cleaning it up for refinishing and eventual sale. When I'm done I'll just sit it in my driveway with a price tag on it and the first one to walk in with the cash will take it. :) I'll get a photo of it up here eventually. But the process is in full swing. I'll probably feel tonight's effort some time on Thursday.
And I glued up a little finger joint box that will house my mortising bit collection. No photo of that yet either, but I decided not to waste my first set of finger joints. Once I'd dialed the fit on the test pieces I sized it for a box that could actually be used for something. More on this later. I'll work on finishing up the top and bottom this week and look for some inexpensive hinges and hardware.
I'm taking time with the stool because I've also been tweaking the design a little bit. This is one of those builds where the design is somewhat organic in that I don't really have a plan to work with because I'm designing it as I go from something I saw somewhere online. It's not how I'm used to building things. :) One of the details that bothered me about the online design was the thru dado in the seat frame. I didn't like the look of the joint on the outside of the frame and it felt a bit lazy. So instead of routing it thru the full length of the frame as shown in my earlier video I've decided to connect the frame with mortise and tenon joints. I'm still debating the groove with myself... but for now, this is the direction I'm headed with the seat. My original design idea was posted a while back here.
Oh... and the other thing that came to light (again) the other night is that I need to pull a 220V circuit into my shop! Bigtime. My little 15A circuit struggles with ripping 8/4 oak and I'm sick of messing with it and resetting the breaker. So my neighbor, who is a licensed electrician, is going to help me install a new 220V outlet and rewire the motor on my saw. This will also set me up to purchase a band saw at some point already wired for 220. More power is what I need... arrr, arrr, arrr... more power.
Tool Time Dave! Arrr arrr! Get that new band saw with the 327 inch Chevy block! Arrr arrr!
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