Tag: pine

bookmark_borderKotansu from Tama Trays

Posted on by Elliott Evans

I am very excited to tell you about this next project because it has been “in progress” for a very long time. Once I made the tama storage trays, I started thinking about how to keep them all together in a tidy fashion. I could just put them into drawers, or I could make them into drawers. Sweetie and I have a couple of Japanese haribako sewing toolboxes, so I could base a small chest of drawers (kotansu) on the existing trays and that basic design.

Small Chest of Drawers, or Kotansu

That went pretty well. I was able to make the carcass in a day or so. It is just pine common boards that I planed down to half-inch thickness to reduce bulk. Cutting the slots to hold the drawer supports in place was tricky, especially since I wanted to have the double-depth drawer in the lower left. There is also a not-drawer in the upper left which is actually top-loading bin with a hinged lid. I wound up cutting the lid for the bin with a traditional Japanese hand saw called an azebiki nokogiri which is designed to start cuts in the middle of a board. I bent the drawer pulls myself from brass rod. and installed them in the drawers in simple friction-fit holes. Since the carcass is deeper than the drawers, there are wood blocks behind each drawer to keep the drawer from sliding in too far.

The kotansu sat in an unfinished state for some time, until this summer when a friend of ours gave me some curly maple scants he had cut and planed for making knife handles. After cutting some of them to size to match the drawers, I finished them with shellac and glued them into place. Lining up the holes for the pulls was somewhat tricky, and fitting them closely to opening in the carcass took a lot of fine-tuning. Once the drawers were complete, I felt that the bare pine of the carcass was a bit too bright, so I gave it a light coat of wood stain just so it contrasted better with the maple.

Kotansu with open drawers

Now it looks like furniture! It is so satisfying to be able to finally call this project “done”. I made the original trays almost two years ago, and assembled the carcass about a year ago. Completing this third and final (?) phase is a big relief. I use the tools that I store in here all the time, which means I use this project all the time and having it look so much nicer is wonderful.

bookmark_borderPennsic Gate Panels

Posted on by Elliott Evans

Last year, I made a new entry gate for the Debatable Lands Pennsic camp. Part of the design was for two panels, made from 6-foot 1-by-10 lumber, that are basically decorative and not structural. The idea was to use them as message boards that could be repainted every year or so depending on what people wanted to say. Last year, they honored 50 years of the Debatable Lands. (Because you can’t spell “Debatable Lands” without “L ans“.) This year I wanted them to honor Pennsic 52. (Now playing with a full deck!)

I bought two 1x10x72 boards at the orange DIY store and sanded them smooth. Last year I rounded-over the edges, but this year I did not bother. Then, I applied sanding sealer to harden the wood and sanded it (after drying) to create a nice smooth surface for painting. I did the “calligraphy” and playing-card “illustration” mostly by hand using enamel paint. The white rounded rectangles were taped off to make it easier to keep the edges crisp. rather than get too twitchy about making identical card backs, I just taped margins on the rectangles and kind of swiped the black and red brushes across. Most people seemed to understand what I was going for.

Anyway, these went over well and as a bonus, I can use the cards again next year since it’s 52 years as a Barony!

bookmark_borderTravel Crate for a Takedai

Posted on by Elliott Evans

So, the takedai I have actually comes apart into pieces, so you can travel without having this large loom-thing in your vehicle. It didn’t come with a box or anything, though, so I would be traveling with a pile of loose parts like this:

If only I knew how to make some kind of box… oh wait, I do! I calculated that I needed a box about 4.5″ deep, 30″ tall, and 22″ wide. I thought I would have to buy wider lumber and cut it down to 4.5″ wide, but the store I went into actually had 1-by-5 in stock for some reason. How weird is that? The large faces are “masonite” style hardboard. A couple of sheets of that are cheaper than a similar amount of plywood, and about as durable. The “rim” is some of the 1×5 that I actually did cut down to width in the band saw.

I cut the hardboard to size first, taking the thickness of the wood into account. I actually broke out the circular saw for that, since it was faster than getting the table saw set up. Then, I built the frame, gluing and nailing (with a nail gun) the frame pieces in place around one side. Screws at the corners secure the butt joints. Once that was done, I glued and nailed on the other side, completing the box. Next, I cut six inches off the top of the box, and built the two rims around the openings of the body and lid portions of the box. The rims are glued in place, and secured with screws.Finally, I added the latches to secure the lid during transport.

I went for a tall narrow box instead of a flat wide box because I felt it would be easier to slide the pieces in than to stack them up. I kind of feel I was right. Slide in the two big pieces, then put the long pieces long the side. It works pretty well, and it’s easier to carry vertically than horizontally especially after I messed up the tendons in my lower arms lifting tabletops five years ago.

Here’s another angle so you can see how neatly it all fits in.

bookmark_borderMonitor Booster

Posted on by Elliott Evans

Here’s a silly little quick project that barely even rates a blog post, but here it is anyway. So I have this external monitor that I used to use for work back when I worked from home. You can see in the photo that if I have the tablet in its charging stand, it blocks the lower-right corner of the monitor. The monitor’s stand is not height-adjustable. I only needed to boost the monitor up by like 1.25″ to get it above the edge of the tablet.

Luckily, regular “l by” lumber is 3/4″ thick, so stacking two layers would get me 1.5″ of boost. I still had some of the same cherry-stain pine shelving that I made the little desk hutch out of, so it was just a mater of cutting one piece the same size as the footprint of the monitor stand, and making four little feet. The whole thing is just glued together, and I put some cork pads on the feet to make it just a little nicer.

Enjoy the reflection of my messy studio.

bookmark_borderCrate for a Single Sawhorse

Posted on by Elliott Evans

So last year I made a crate to hold the pieces for two sawhorses. The only problem with that project is that a crate big enough to hold all the pieces for two sawhorses plus all the pieces for two sawhorses is quite heavy and two sawhorses is not enough sawhorses for most work. I usually like to have at least three sawhorses, that’s why I made four sawhorses. Anyway, I decided to make a crate that would be somewhat smaller, and would be sized to only hold the pieces for one sawhorse. I started this a while back, but only just put the final touches on it.

I started with a couple of pine 1-by-8s, cut all the corner joinery by hand, ripped the surplus lumber into slats for the bottom, then assembled the crate with some nice copper nails I found at Rollier’s. I wound up cutting the holes for the handles using a jigsaw, because cutting those by hand with a keyhole saw is very annoying. I used more of the palm rope from Hida Tools.

The crate is actually spacious enough that if you’re willing to overfill it, you can carry all the pieces for two sawhorses. If you use it along side the other crate, you can distribute the different shapes between the crates such that the two crates hold all the pieces for four sawhorses without overfilling.

Anyway, with these two crates I feel like I have fulfilled all my needs for sawhorse storage and transport. The crates also serve as valuable supports for tool chests, and holders for surplus lumber while the sawhorses are in use.

bookmark_borderSmall Cooler Karabitsu

Posted on by Elliott Evans

Sweetie ordered some frozen food from someplace, and it arrived packed in a small cooler. I had the bright idea to make a small karabitsu to hold/hide the cooler, and that was all she needed to hear. I grabbed some 1/2″ pine and some surplus 2×4 for legs, and got to work.

Small Coolerbitsu

The body of the karabitsu is 13″x10.5″x11″. I used traditional box joints at the corners. The legs are simply glued on, though they do hook under the body to support the floor. The floor is fully captive inside the walls, and nailed in place. The lid is a 3/4″-thick piece of “premium pine”, and it is rebated to fit the body of the box like a box lid.

Open Coolerbitsu

Here you can see the rebated lid, and how nicely the little cooler fits inside the body. The handle ropes pass through holes in the ends of the body, and the rope does a good job of keeping the cooler in place. The exterior of the karabitsu is finished with clear polyurethane, so if it gets rained on or otherwise splashed with water it should be OK.

This is a nice little cooler that should be good for chilling beverages for an afternoon, or for packing lunch to an event.

bookmark_borderKaminari Camp Shelves

Posted on by Elliott Evans

In our camp each year, there is always a pile of random stuff in one corner of our common pavilion. Things like empty storage boxes, bulk packages of paper towels, and random office supplies. Camp leadership asked me to noodle on the idea of shelves for that corner, so at least things would look a little more organized and not just piled up. I had some ideas, and luckily for me they already worked out!

The lumber I had was three 48″ long stair treads. Stair treads are usually a full inch thick, so they should sag a lot less than the 3/4″ pine I usually use. I drilled holes near the corners of each shelf for the hardware to pass through. The base is cut from 2-by-4, and I added hand-cut half-lap joinery. The uprights are also cut from 2-by-4, and they have lag screws and dowel screws running into their ends to join them through the holes in the shelves and the base. Each upright is 18″, so the total height is about 5 feet tall.

Here is what they look like without picturesque stuff decorating them:

Here is the historical design I was imitating:

The original joinery in the book is shown as a double-shouldered mortise and tenon joint. I was pretty sure that would exceed my current capabilities and definitely deteriorate over time. I figured the hardware route was faster and more solid. It all joins rigidly together. Given that the shelves were a gift, that I only bought about $20 in lumber and $15 in hardware, and that I had all of the finishing materials I needed already, this was a very affordable project.

bookmark_borderLarge Bodai

Posted on by Elliott Evans

I’ve made several sets of small warping pegs, called bodai in Japanese, in the past, and even made this full-size pair some time ago. The only problem with those round bases is that they are too light. Subsequently, I made this new pair of bases for those bodai. Each base is weighted with 6 5-pound blocks of steel.

The benefit of these is that they can be placed an arbitrary distance apart, even if no tables or other clamping surfaces are available. If you need a 12-foot warp, just place these 12 feet apart and warp away. they can also be used as fixed points for kute-uchi loop-braiding if that’s more to your liking.

The new bases are made of pine. The bases are 7.75″ square and 6″ tall. Given the 0.75″ thickness of the lumber, that leaves a nice size void inside for the steel blocks, which are 3″x6″x1″ each. The boxes are held together with screws, which is not very attractive, but I wanted to be able to retrieve the blocks later if I need them for something else.

bookmark_borderEdo Suzuribako

Posted on by Elliott Evans

I wanted a toolbox to hold my kumihimo (Japanese braiding) tools and supplies when I go traveling, so I made this one based on a Japanese suzuribako (scribal toolbox) from the Edo period. I had already made a bunch of pine trays custom-sized to hold 32 tama (weighted bobbins), so I made one more tray as the drawer, then designed the rest of the box around it. I didn’t want to spend the money to get an authentic set of hardware. I just bought hinges, handle, and hasp from the orange store. I might still add some corner braces to the outside if I can find some for a good price. The completed toolbox is 13″ long x 8″ wide x 7″ tall.

I bought two 6-foot 1x10s from the orange store and then planed them both down to 1/2-inch thick. even after trimming off the planer snipe this was plenty of lumber for the whole thing. All the joinery was cut on the table saw with a regular all-purpose blade. The corners of the drawer are miter cut and glued. Also, the two full-height corners of the box body have mitered corners. The floor of the tray is joined to the sides with 1/4″ x 1/4″ rabbets into matching dadoes. The two floors of the body are similarly joined, though the “front” of the box is flush and flat.

Battens on the underside of the lib will hopefully keep the lid from warping, and they provide solid anchoring for the hinge screws. The drawer pull is actually a “footman’s loop” from strapworks.com. I mostly used brass screws to attach the hardware. I did not like how the contrasting metal and philips heads looked, so I covered over all of the screw heads with “steel stick” epoxy putty. I could have done a better job with that, but it still looks better than screw heads.

Plenty of room inside stuff. Even though I planned the whole thing around the drawer, I had to sand quite a bit off the sides and bottom before it would fit in the body. As I have noted previously, sashimono (close fitting joinery) is really difficult.

bookmark_borderPine Top Folding Table

Posted on by Elliott Evans

You know those old folding tables from about 25 years ago? The kind with a chipboard top, wood grain printed vinyl surface, and rubber edge banding? The kind that look like garbage if they ever get wet? Well ours got wet several times and saw some hard use over the last 25 years or so and it really looked like garbage. Also, the edge banding shrinks over time and starts to come loose.

I really like how light, portable, and durable the newer folding tables are with their blow-molded plastic tops, but I don’t like that much plastic in my life. I mean… bletch.

So anyway, I figured I could remove the hardware from my old 6-foot table, make a new top from some 1×10 pine common boards, slather it with outdoor-grade polyurethane, re-use the old hardware, and have a new-looking table. So that’s what I did!

I started by straightening up the edges of the boards with a hand plane to make joining easier. Then, I drilled dowel holes into the edges using a cordless drill and drilling guide. (I like the Kreg guide for this job, since it has a 3/4″ slot on the underside that clips right onto the edge of the board to keep the hole straight and centered.) Next, I put dowels in the holes to keep the boards aligned, and glued all three together into a single surface. Overnight in the clamps for the glue to cure, then scrape off the squeeze-out. (Kunz glue scraper, accept no substitutes.) Finally, trim the ends with a hand saw so they all match up.

Construction complete, it’s time for shaping. I trimmed off the corners with a hand saw, because they were likely to get all busted up anyway. Next, I rough sanded everything with the random orbit sander and some 100-grit to remove the last of the glue and smooth out any uneven joinery. I used a cordless trim router with a 45-degree chamfer bit all the way around the top and bottom to break the edges. I also filled any gaps, holes, etc. with wood filler I made by mixing sanding dust into water-based rice paste. Another round of power sanding with 150-grit and it’s starting to look like furniture.

For me, finishing always starts with sealing. I like to use (General Finishes) water-based sanding sealer because it soaks in and hardens without getting gummy. Then, a round of 220-grit power sanding to make things smooth and ready for polyurethane. I pay special attention to the end-grain at this step. The sealer enables me to get this as smooth as the edges!

Now, start with the underside and add a coat of poly. I brush this on by hand, which is a lot of work, but I have done this so many times that it is very satisfying and almost pleasurable. Make sure to wipe off anything that drips over the edges, then apply a super-thin coat of poly to the edges themselves. Once that was dry I flipped it over onto blocks and did the same to the top. This dried for maybe a week because I didn’t have much time in the evenings after work.

Yesterday morning, I hand sanded both surfaces with 320-grit to rough up the poly and remove bubbles and nibs. I have one of those sanding pads that take the same velcro discs as my sander, and I really recommend them. I applied a second coat of polyurethane to the underside (and a third light coat to the edges) and let that dry for most of the day. Then I attached all the metal leg and apron hardware. One thing I discovered when studying the old tabletop is that this is not a precision job. None of the hardware is straight or even to begin with, so don’t stress too much about measuring and aligning the legs and brackets. I drew a single center-line on the underside, perpendicular to the long edges, aligned the feet to that by eye, then drove screws through the brackets into the wood. Then, I lay the apron/frame down, centered it up by eye, and screwed it down. Now I could unfold tthe legs, flip the table over onto its own four feet, and apply a finish coat of polyurethane to the top.

Now I have the nicest looking cheapass folding table in the neighborhood.

Folding Table with a Pine Board Top

I figure I will probably spend the next few years sanding the top and applying more polyurethane every Spring until a durable surface is formed. Any dings or scratches can be repaired instead of tolerated. I have saved the hardware from a $50 folding table using only $54 in lumber!