Determining Screw Length For Interior Walls

 

When driving screws into interior walls it's important to avoid driving into wires or pipes.  Wires and pipes going through studs should normally be going through a 1" diameter hole that is centered on the stud.

Interior drywall are typically 1/2" so a maximum screw length to avoid hitting something would be 1/2" + 1 1/4" = 1 3/4".  For a cabinet back that is 3/4" that would mean 1 3/4" + 3/4" = 2 1/2".

Object Backing	Maximum Screw Length	1" Into Stud
0	1.75	1.5
0.25	2	1.75
0.5	2.25	2
0.75	2.5	2.25
1	2.75	2.5
Drywall	0.5
Stud	1.25

Buying Plywood - Cuts, Cores, Matches and More

Buying lumber from a lumber yard can be intimidating, but surely plywood is simpler... right?  Plywood is a manufactured product that has a more controlled process and standardization then harvesting lumber, but there are still a lot of variations in plywood that makes buying plywood more complicated then if you were to buy a PlayStation off the shelf.  

I don't buy plywood frequently, each time I do I have to refresh myself on all the different terminology and options that I get back from the lumber dealer so I decided to write a post to myself to save my time re-searching the internet on what each thing means.

Core Materials

Plywood is made of layers of wood materials sandwiched between the wood veneers that gives it's look.  Walnut plywood is made from two walnut veneers with enough the material ("core") between them until it is the thickness desired.  The layers gives plywood its stability and not have the wood movement that lumber typically have.

Face and Back Grades

The face and back of plywood have grades that describes its quality:

Face grades:

• AA - Premium, architectural quality for interiors, case goods and high end furniture.
• A - Not as high as AA but still excellent appearance. 
• B - Less perfect and consistent than A panels but more economical.
• C - More defects and variations.  Not as attractive so good for less visible applications.
• "Shop" grade - Panels that have some imperfection that causes the sheet to not meet the grade (e.g. A1 or C2).

Back grades

These goes from 1 (best) to 4 (worst).  Grade 3 & 4 allows for open defects.

Baltic Birch Grades

Baltic Birch uses a different grading system:

• B/BB - one face free of "footballs".
• BB/BB - An average of 4 to 6 footballs per face
• BB/CP - An average of 4 to 6 football on one face and unlimited footballs on the back

(BB/CP example)

Veneer Core

Veneer core means the odd-number of layers between the face veneers are made of sheets of wood layered in alternating grain direction for stability.  Lighter and have strong screw holding power, but might not be as flat if there are imperfections in the core layers which can show through (aka "telegraph").

There are processes to address this such as Columbia Forest Product's MPX core to make veneer core smooth and reduce telegraphing.  MPX is Columbia's registered trademark for basically using smooth hardwood crossbands in the core to smooth out the veneer.

MDF Core

MDF core consists of using medium density fiberboard between the face veneers which is very stable and uniform.  MDF can be heavy and can swell up and dissolve when wet.

Combination Core

This core uses a combination of MDF and wood veneers between the faces.  

Veneer Cuts

The way the veneer is cut effects the appearance, properties and cost of the veneer.  For example, plain sliced cuts produces veneers with the "cathedral" patterns while a quarter cut produces a more thin line pattern.

(image source)

(image source)

A rotary cut can produce Whole Piece Face (WPF) veneer where the entire face of the plywood is a single piece of veneer and can be more economical to produce.  In order to make a full sheet of plywood from the other cuts, the strips of veneer of placed side-by-side so there can be a fine seam between the strips.  How the strips are placed is called matching which is discussed more below. 

Veneer Match

Unless it is a whole piece face, the veneer panels needs to be placed side-by-side in order to crate a full piece of plywood.  How these panels are ordered is what is called veneer matching.  There are multiple ways to do this and I provide some links in the references below that describe them but the common ones are:

Slip Matching

Slip matching places each panel next to each other without turning or flipping them over.  This creates a repeated look.

Sequence Match 

Sequence match requires that the panels come from the same log and be more consistent panel-to-panel.

(start here)

Book Matching

Book matching turns the panels over so that two adjacent panels mirrors each other much like how you open a book.

References

1. https://www.decorativehardwoods.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/HWPW%20Handbook.pdf
2. https://chesapeakeplywood.com/architectural-plywood/
3. https://www.columbiaforestproducts.com/library/reference-guides/grading-guide/veneer-cuts-and-matching/
4. https://www.columbiaforestproducts.com/2015/08/29/matching-confusion-uncomplicating-an-overused-term/
5. https://www.columbiaforestproducts.com/library/reference-guides/core-types/
6. https://www.archtoolbox.com/wood-veneer-matching/
7. https://awiqcp.org/news-and-blog/wood-veneers-matching/ -- sequence matching have a higher standard for matching more then slip (which is also layers it in sequence.
8. https://www.decorativehardwoods.org/pdfs-available-download

Workshop Upgrades to Improve Organization and Workflow

Continuing my efforts to have better organization and improve the workflow in my limited space garage workshop (1/2 of a 2 car garage but where we have to be able to park one car), I tried to tackle two birds with one stone by using many of the scrap materials that were left over from previous projects that was taking up space to build an assembly table with some storage underneath and a mobile bench top tools cart.

All the materials used for the table were stuff I had lying around so the design was partially dictated by what I had on hand, but the final result matched exactly what I wanted:  a 3' x 3' mobile table (since in a small shop, I often had to move things around).  Having it be 3 feet allows me to be on one side and reach across to the other side without having to walk around the table.

A shelf on the bottom gave me additional storage keep items off the ground and I can move the table around while having all the tools move together.

I added drawer slides so that I can expand the work area, have storage and have easier access to the items.  When not in use everything goes back into a compact 3'x3' space.

Before building the assembly table, I was using two temporary Bora 2' x 4' Centipede workbenches which took up slightly more then 4' x 4' of space.  They had limited space beneath the top and everything would be sitting directly on the ground.  I had a bench top sander, band saw, planar and jointer on it which took up most of the space leaving me just a small corner as a work surface.  Again, with only materials that I had lying around, I made a mobile cart to hold all the tools in a more compact dimension (3x2) that I can roll around and store to the side.

In the above picture, you'll also noticed that I moved the miter saw from the built-in cabinet to a mobile stand (a repurposed Bosch table saw cart I previously built but not used since I sold the saw) that I added an OEM Kapex top.  Now, I have the saw, the bench top tools cart and router table (also on a mobile cart) lined up in a row so they take up less space but are still easy to access when I need them.

I added wings and fence with a stop block to the miter saw. 

I bought this pine plank around 10 years ago with the intention of using it as a wing for the miter saw.  The track fence is probably just as old (or older) and was also intended to be used for the wing to make repeatable cuts.  Well, better late then never, right?  I finally set it up.  The wings (yes, there is one for the other side) can be detached and folded so they can be stored away.  The fence can slide on-and-off of the brackets on the back. 

I also made some changes to the MFT3 and the cart it sits on.

I replaced the fence it came with with a UJK fence and I removed the fold-down bracket that held the Festool track and use bench dogs sitting in the 20mm holes to attached the track.  This allows me to not worry about making sure the bracket is calibrated to be 90 degrees to the bench dog holes and I also don't have the track standing up vertically all the time and having to reach over to pull it down.

I finally added drawer slides to the cart so I can pull out the trays and have easy access to the items stored behind the systainers.  I had bought the slides 11 years again with then intention of doing this and only gotten to it this year.

The dust extractor faces the back of the cart which made turning it on manually very inconvenient.  It turns on automatically when the connected tool turns on, but if I just wanted to use the dust extractor to clean up, I'd have to walk around to turn it on.  I added a Bluetooth on-off switch to the end of the hose so that I can turn it on manually without having to go behind the cart.

The final setup has not only increased the functionality, flow and convenience of my workspace, it also gave me more space even though I've gotten more tools the past year and it cleared away a lot of materials that were lying around.

My most essential tools for woodworking

When I first started learning woodworking, I watched shows like the New Yankee Workshop and videos on Youtube.  I was envious of all the tools and gears that the creators had but over time I realized that I don't work like them or build things the same way they do.  The tools that I reach for my projects turned out to be different from what is often shown on the videos.  To give another perspective on what are tools to consider for the hobbyist, here are what I use for almost every project.

Used for Every Project

Measuring tape - There's no project that doesn't require some way to do measurements.  Even if you are going to buy rather than build, you will need to be able to measure.

Mechanical pencils - I don't recall any project that I've done that didn't require having a pencil to write or mark something.  It was so common for me to be searching for a pencil that I ended up buying a bunch of cheap mechanical pencils and having them everywhere so that I don't constantly stop to look for one to write with.

Combination square - I didn't expect this to be my #1 most useful tool for woodworking.  You don't usually see it being shown or highlighted in woodworking videos, but this the versatility and usefulness of this understated tool means that I use it for every project.  I use it to mark, set repeatable heights, as a straight edge, 45/90 degree finder and a host of other activities.  I started with a basic one and eventually knew that if I bought an high end one I'd have no regrets.

Used for Most Projects

Drill & Driver and screw drivers - Most projects will require installing fasteners (e.g. screws) so either a set of screw drivers or a power tool (driver) will be used.  A drill is used for drilling holes but can also can drive screws but I  prefer having separate drills and drivers. 

Woodglue or Screws - Joining things together requires either glue, screws or nails.  I don't use nails much so it's either glue or screws for me.  For screws, I prefer the square head screws rather than phillips screws but it's not so common to find in US hardware stores.  Torx head screws can be found but they might be more expensive.

Saw - Having a saw is very useful.  I'd recommend starting with a Japanese handsaw which are less expensive but cuts better (in my opinion).  I also find Japanese handsaws to be more versatile then western style handsaw.  There are also powered saws such as table saws, track saws, circular saw, etc.    Having something to cut with is VERY useful but there are times when I buy materials to size that meant I didn't have to do my own cutting.

 Very Useful

Woodworking square - My first "splurge" tool was a Woodpecker woodworking square and I nearly always reach for it at some point when I'm working on a project.  I mostly use it to check for square but I also use it to hold things square and check for straightness.

Mallet - I use a rubber mallet a lot more then I use a hammer to avoid marring surfaces when I really need to pound something.

First Cross Cut Sled

I decided make myself a small basic crosscut sled to use with my table saw.  YouTube is filled with videos on how to make a crosscut sled ranging from simple to ones with built-in clamps, adjustable kerf openings and many other features.  I won't go over how to build the sled as there are enough videos on YouTube to learn from. I will just share what I learned from building the sled.

Not knowing what features I would really need, I didn't want to spend too much time and money on my first sled.  I figure that I just need to build one and try it out to see how I would use it.

As basic as this sled is, it isn't the most basic type of crosscut sleds which just needs one fence and one runner.   I decided to have fences on both ends and have it sit on two runners since it felt safer and more stable to me.

There needs to be runners that rides along the miter slots.  The majority of videos on Youtube shows how to make them using wood, but some Youtubers advocate buying metal ones to save on the hassle.  Wood runners can change in size over time causing the sled to wobble or become difficult to move.  Instead of either, I made mine out of HDPE plastic which I can cut on the tablesaw until it fits into the slots.  The easiest way I found is to buy a cutting board and cut it to size, but I made two mistakes.  I first bought one that was 1 inch thick thinking that I could always cut it down to right width and thickness but while getting the right width was pretty simple cutting to get the right thickness caused the plastic to bow.  Even a 1/2" thick board was a little taller the the height of the slots and you want the thickness to be less  then the height of the slot so debris on the floor of the slot doesn't lift up the sled.  With plastic, you also need to pre-drill your screw holes or it will cause the plastic to bulge out as the screw is driven in.  In the future, I'll go with 1/4".

The fence that sits away from you is there to help hold the sled together and doesn't need to be flat and or be 90 degrees to the blade.  The fence closest to you needs to be both.  I glued two pieces of plywood together (both had a slight bow) and sandwiched them between two straight box levels to get them flat.  I made sure that the height of the fence is higher then the saw blade so it doesn't get cut through and I figure that higher the fence the less chance of me getting my fingers too close to the blade.  Then I realize that the fence was too tall and it made it hard to reach down to hold my cutting pieces so I can to cut down two sides of the fence where I would be holding on.

The blade guard block behind the fence is to prevent your thumbs from getting too close to where the saw will come out if you push the sled too far forward.  While I rounded everywhere else on the fence, I kept that block guard sharp to further discourage my thumbs from getting near it.

Making the runners took most amount of time but that might be because I got lucky when setting the fence to be perpendicular from the blade.  I put in a screw on one end of the fence so that I can pivot it.  Then I used a woodworking square against the fence and saw blade until it was 90 degrees.  I clamped down the fence and was prepared to use the 5-cut method to calibrate it but after I found that I was within .001 and .0005 of an inch I decided that was good enough for me!

Having a crosscut sled can help with some of the cuts that I used have to do with a hand saw since they were too hard to do on a track saw or too dangerous on a miter saw.  I expect the small size is enough for my needs except with doing miter joints when the length is long.

Building this sled doesn't require a lot of techniques and it took one afternoon

New Yankee Workshop Now On Youtube!

I just noticed this week that The New Yankee Workshop is now officially on Youtube!  The New Yankee Workshop is an iconic woodworking show that ran on PBS for 21 years.  The Youtube channel doesn't have all the episodes but even the official website didn't have them all.  The only way to get all the episodes was to buy the complete series DVD which costs $3000.

They seem to have a lot of difficulties bringing the episodes online or at least was bringing them online very slowly.  As of this writing, the official website has had most of its contents removed and has a message saying they're rebuilding it.

Dust Collection and Portable Table Saw Carts

Working in a limited space means that I have to constantly move equipment around in order to have access to what I need.  This takes times and takes away some of the fun since it feels like that I spent more time setting up than I am actually building things.  To help myself setup faster, I made two mobile carts.  One is for my shop vac dust collection and the second is for my portable table saw.

Dust Collection Cart

The cart is pretty basic and holds the shop vac on the bottom and the sawdust separator on top.   The connectors detaches easily so I can quickly connect tools to it and the outlet strip gives me access to power when I need it.  Now I don't find myself dragging along the separator, vac, power strip and tools separately and can roll them all to wherever I'm working.

Table Saw Cart

My workflow doesn't center around a table saw so I usually keep it on the side until I need to use it.  That means having to find a place to set it up, plug it into the dust collector, and put up a out feed table to support the cut-off.  By putting the saw on a cart with wheels, I can move it around easily.  The area under the saw can hold saw accessories and the fold-up out feed table makes it more convenient then having a separate table.

I can how roll the two cart to where I'm going to use them and quickly connect the saw to the dust collector and start working!

Returning to Woodworking

After many years of doing very little woodworking except to occasionally cut something to size, I dusted off the tools and started to make three pieces of furniture for a small shed.   Returning to woodworking re-introduced the three classical problems I always faced:  materials, space and organization.

Materials

To build anything requires having materials: wood (plywood and dimensional lumber), fasteners (screws) and finishing.  

I'm able to get lumber (1x, 2x clear douglas fir) at a nearby lumber yard easily and they don't take much space.  I can fit them into my car once I put the back seat down.  The prices on lumber was eye opening.  I've read in the news about the soaring prices of lumber due to the pandemic and supply chain issues to until now I've not had to buy much so there was a bit of sticker shock seeing how much lumber cost now.

Plywood is more difficult to get home and are heavy.  Fortunately, in the years since I last had to buy plywood, a local company will now deliver to residential addresses.  The one downside is that their hours and distance are just enough that its prohibitive to go and check out their inventory first hand.  I ordered a few sheets of 3/4", 1/2" and 1/4" Maple.  I've been conditioned to go straight to 3/4" plywood for most of my projects but with the cost and sometimes the weight, I realized that using 1/2" can be just as effective.  Whereas I previously would've used 3/4" for a dust separator/shop-vac cart, this time I used 1/2" and realized it was actually a better choice. 

I keep a stock of various size screws but did not have enough for this project.  The online store that I like to order from from were out-of-stock or had long delivery times for what I wanted so I ended up buying some from the lumber yard.  I went with GRK fasteners which are more expensive but I heard they are the bee's knees.  The heads use Torx (star) recess which are superior to Philips and can be used both indoors and outdoors.  I have a personal preference for square heads which I find easier to insert into the head and also easier to figure out the right bit size to use (pretty much #2), but they aren't as common to find locally.    I found that I mostly use 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" length #8 screws with the occasional 1". 

The last major material I needed is finishing.  Basic polyurethane varnish is readily available at the local hardware stores, but for woodworking I've mostly used Gel wipe-on stains and top-coat.  They are easy to apply and hard to mess up.  The small woodworking shop that I used to buy from had closed and other local places that would normally sell it are out-of-stock so I went online.

In the end, I found that it is easier now to get materials needed but at this particular time the challenges are high prices and supply chain issues.

Space & Organization

I was quickly reminded of one of the biggest frustration of woodworking: space and organization.  My work space is one side of a 2-car garage and it felt like I spend more time rearrange equipment and setting up then actual woodworking.  One of the most frustrating thing was to doing setting up to do task A, do task A, rearrange for task B, task B and realizing I need to do task A again and having to rearrange everything again! 

I ended up doing some major reorganization of my workspace which took just as much time as building the furniture.  I ended up building some things for the shop as well and by the time I was near the end of the third project my workflow was night-and-day different from when I started.  The garage is still not big enough to have every equipment in a fixed location, but they are starting to be less cumbersome to access.

My Garage Workshop

Even before we moved into our house, I had been planning an area to be my workshop.  I wanted a place that was organized, comfortable and had the space for me to work on projects big and small.

Everything is against one wall or on wheels so they can be moved against the wall to help conserve space.

It felt good to have built a lot of the things myself (with some assistance from a little helper) including the workbench, carts and some of the shelving.

I'm looking forward to being able to build some stuff here.

Mitre Station in the Workshop

While the Kapex isn't a large compound sliding mitre saw, having it on my workbench effectively took up most of the available work surface so I've been wanting to build some kind of miter station for it.  Originally I thought about building a mobile mitre station, but after some thought decided to just build a stationary one next to the workbench at the same height so the workbench can double as a work piece support extension.

It's essentially just a box with an compartment underneath being used to house the dust collector.  The main challenges for the build were making it level since my garage has a pretty steep slope and getting the height right so that the Kapex is at the same height as the workbench.  I used shims on the back to and on the front I used some machine levelers to make it easier to adjust the height.  I was able to get it even with the workbench.

There is an opening in the back for the hose, power cord and air to flow through.

The other side of the station still need an extension so I'm thinking of building a folding extension that I can pull out whenever I need to use it.  Also, some shelving next to the station would be useful and would complete my work space "L".

Dust Collection for Router Table

I have a list of woodworking projects that I've been wanting to do and last weekend I planned on completing a couple of them.  My work area is in the garage and shares space with the car.  To do any work requires that I back the car out and setup my tools each time.  This isn't a big problem as most of time since I have most of my tools on mobile carts and setup time is minimal.  The project I had planned on doing involved cutting down full sheets of plywood so there was some extra setup assembling my cutting table.  While this takes away time that I'd like to spend working on the projects it's a minor annoyance.  Now what is frustrating each time I get to time to do some work is the dust clean up especially when I work with the router.  So much dust is generated that I always have to cut my working time so I can clean and vacuum up the mess and while I can keep the car outside during the weekend I have to clean at the end of each session since I don't want the family to have to go through all the dust.  This meant that I probably spent a couple of hours out of a few hours on cleaning.

I decided that I need to do something about this otherwise I just won't be able to get much done, so I started to see if I can put some kind of dust collector into the router table.  Most plans show a dust collector connected to the back or base of the router, but a lot of people also mentioned that this didn't work very well in actually capturing the dust.  Also, a lot of dust actually accumulate above the table..  Buying a Festool 1400 and the CMS module isn't a realistic option, so I did some  more searching and found the Keen Dust Collector for Routers.

Essentially this is a little rubber cut that you put on the underside of your router plate so that dust doesn't fall down into the router and router table.  By limiting the space where dust can spew a vacuum's section is a lot more effective in capture the dust.

I have a Bench Dog 40-001 ProTop Contractor Benchtop Router Table which is an enclosed router table so setup involved drilling a hole in the back to run the vacuum hose through.

There is is plastic sheet that sits between the router base and the router table.  It has a velcro ring that the blue rubber cup sticks to so the cup doesn't move around.  Mount your router and put in the rubber cup and then attach the hose.

Conclusion?  It works very well!  I cut multiple dados through 3/4 in plywood and very few dust got on the floor or into the router cabinet.  It was good enough that I felt comfortable going right back into the house after a slight dust off with my hands for some dust that did get on to my shirt and pants.  For about $40, you can have  a pretty effective dust collector for the router table that can save hours of clean up.

Mobile MFT3 Cart with Boom Arm and Storage

My "workshop" is, like many people, in the garage and one stipulation from She Who Must Be Obeyed for letting me indulge in my hobby is that the garage must still be able to function for its intended purpose for at least one car.  That means being able to move stuff around and out of the way.   While the MFT/3 is not super heavy, it doesn't motivate me to want to me to move it.  Besides moving the table itself there is the vac and other pieces of equipment that needs to be moved as well.  I decided that what I need is a mobile cart with storage that will keep everything together and I just need to roll one thing around.

The result is this mobile storage cart for my MFT3:

I got a lot of the inspiration from others especially those who posted on the Festool Owners Group.  I added a boom arm to hold up the vacuum hose and power cord so they stay out of the way when I'm cutting.  There are 3 compartments for storing things in the front and a small storage place in the back as well.  The caster are machine leveling casters from WoodRiver which keeps it stable and stationary when, but when I want to move it I can lower the wheel.

Finding a place to keep the saw between cuts has always been a pain so I decided to have  space next to the table to put it down.  I put in some sides to prevent it from accidentally falling off.

I haven't done too much since building the cart, but I have some projects in mind if only I can find the time... :-)

Latest Shop Addition: Router Table

After using a lot of make shift router tables to build my shoe cabinet, I decided to buy a router table. Router tables are very versatile and woodworkers often build their own (much like building a workbench is a rite of passage), but this time I decided that I'd rather just buy one and use my time on building other things instead. Instead of a full size router table, I went with a portable benchtop model because my space is limited so I went with the Benchdog contractor's table.

It wasn't difficult to setup and the table top and fence is pretty nice. It is a benchtop version so it has to sit on something or it is pretty low to the ground. Putting it on top of my workbench would make it too high to comfortably work with so I decided to build a mobile base for it which will also give me some extra storage for all my router related stuff while letting me move the table around the shop easily.

I used plywood that was left over from another, bought 3 inch casters and spent an afternoon working on it.  Compared to how long it took me to build the shoe cabinet, making this cabinet went lightning fast.  Having the router table to help create the dado and rabbits definitely made things go much faster. 

Straightening Warped Ikea Solid Wood Table Top Part 1

Ikea, mostly known for its modern Scandinavian design particle board furniture, also sells some solid wood products such as counter tops and table tops.  They aren't expensive hardwoods but cheaper woods such as pine and beech, but if you don't have the equipment or time to mill your own stock (thickness planer, jointer, etc.) and laminate them together then Ikea might be an alternative.

That was my thinking since I wanted to have wood table in the office that can take some abuse, but I don't have the equipment to do it from rough stock.  Telling She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed that I'm going to spend $800 on equipment to build a $100 table won't end pretty so for $79, I picked up the beech wood table top and a few legs.

The table top looks nice, but to my dismay when I opened up the box it was obviously slightly warped.  My wife didn't seem to notice but I took out my 4' level and sure enough there was a slight curve around 1/8th of an inch.  My first thought was to go exchange it but transporting the sucker is a pain.  After some googling, I settled on an "old timer's" method.

Take the table top and put it on grass that is slightly damp during a sunny day with the concave side facing down.  This will let one side absorb some moisture and the sun will dry/pull moisture through the other side.  The idea is to balance the moisture content in the wood so that it will flatten.  After leaving it out for about 3 hours, the wood had indeed flattened.  Actually it started to warp a little in the other way so I had to flip it one more time and keep a more careful eye on it.

Once it was flat, I took it into the garage but sometime can up and I had to leave it there for a few hours.  When I returned, the table was warped again but not as bad as before.  My idea was to sand the table when it was flat so that I can immediately apply some polyurethane varnish to seal the moisture so that it won't warp again, but couldn't get to it in time so it looks like I will have to try this again next weekend.

Some Garage Organization

The July 4th weekend gave me a chance to tackle organizing the garage.  It is a 2-cars garage and it was important for us to be able to park at least one car in and not use everything for storage and the workshop.    After some research, I went with the RubberMaid FastTrack system for the walls since they aren't too expensive and can be installed by one person.

This is the "parking" side of the garage.  The alcove in the back corner was a perfect fit for the wing-chun stand and the wood cart was exactly the right depth that I can push it against the wall still be able to fold down the steps up to the attic.  The kids' bikes and stroller hangs off one fast track.

This is the "workshop" side of the garage.  It is still not completely done but right now it allows me to keep stuff somewhere without them getting underfoot.

I need to get some more hooks and I'm planning to add some shelving above the workbench.  The floor is pretty sloped and took a lot of shims to get it leveled.

Sandbox with Seating

I had promised that once we have completed the house that I would build a sandbox in the backyard.  A sandbox is pretty easy to build since it's essentially a box.  A few things to consider when building a sandbox is whether there are cats and other animals around since you don't want your child's sandbox to become an oversized litter box.

Because there are cats in our neighborhood, I knew we needed to have a lid of some sort for the sandbox.  The dimensions of the box is 8' x 4' so a single lid that span the whole sandbox might be too heavy for the little ones to lift.  I decided to divide the sandbox into two 4' x 4' sections.

I built the lids to fold on top of each other so they become a seating bench when opened.  It still offers plenty of play area for the kids, easy for them to open while keeping neighborhood animals out.

Mobile sheet cart loaded

Here are some pictures of my mobile sheet cart all loaded up. It works really well and freed up a ton of space in my garage and I've been able to roll the cart around the garage myself.

Here is the side for larger sheet goods:



The middle part is used for holding lumber with the top using as a shelf:



This side is for holding misc sized parts and dowel rods:

Plywood and lumber cart.

Much to the dismay of my wife, my woodworking hobby resulted in our garage getting filled with plywood, wood and scraps from the different projects. One of our shelves was inaccessible since it was blocked by full sheets of plywood, and my wing chun stand became a spot for random pieces of wood to lean against. The walnut that I had were stacked under one table and was hard to sort through and the weight of everything discouraged me from moving any of it. It was time to do some organizing so I decided that I needed to build something to store both the sheet goods as well as the lumber and scraps.



Thanks to K who sacrificed two afternoons to help me with this project. We put together a sheet goods cart based on the plan in The Complete Book of Woodworking by Tom Carpenter. This design is pretty common and many examples and variations of it can be found through a Google search. I like this particular design because the cuts and assembly are pretty straight forward. Some of the nice things about this cart are:

Small foot print -- It takes up only 12 sq ft.

Mobility -- casters makes moving around easy even when fully loaded.

Holds sheet goods on one side, scrap bin on another, and full length lumber in between.

Top can be used as shelving.

The plan even had one end of the cart be a clamp carrier, but I decided not build it for now. I can always add it in the future.



Now, a few lessons learned from building this that wasn't really highlighted in the book. One, it's not easy to do this alone. It's possible but will take a lot longer. The cart is very heavy so when the author says to flip it to its side to install the caster it really takes two people.

Two, among the tools needed, I would throw in a nail gun. It helps to hold pieces in place during assembly. It's not essential, but helps a lot.

Three, have a good set of clamps handy. In the book it showed the use of just a couple of quick clamps but have some larger parallel clamps handy since wood isn't precision materials and will not just "fit". The clamps help to hold the pieces together while you screw things together.

I really enjoyed building this especially since the end result is very functional and useful. The garage is a lot less cluttered now and I can actually get access to my materials again!

Festool Domino Review

The Festool Domino might be Festool’s most controversial tools. Festool is known for its high quality products and the high price to match, but at $800 the Domino makes everyone raise an eyebrow. For some, the Domino is a glorified biscuit joiner, for others it is just a hand-held mortise maker and some might even consider it to be a extreme dowel tool. They are all right, of course, but it’s better to look at the Domino as a whole system including the Domino tenons.

The Domino can be used where you’d use a biscuit joiner, but provide greater strength. It can make mortises, but it does it in the palm of your hand. It can be used in place of dowels but with the added benefit of not twisting. That already is like having 3 tools in one! When you throw in the Domino tenons there is even greater time savings not having to make your own tenons.

The Domino is well built and feels solid in your hand and I especially like how it is designed so that you can use it with markings instead of measuring. For example, putting a mortise in the middle of a ¾” piece is a matter of just letting the fence rest on the face of the board or using the stops that are already on the tool. Even the accessories allows you to place your mortises where you want them without heavy measuring. I’ve used the Domino from building cabinet doors to simple through slots for holding my chisels and it is easy, quick and accurate.

As good as the Domino is, there are still some small things that I’d like to change. Attaching the dust collector hose can be a pain sometimes. The depth of the mortises is limited pretty much for the tenons so it’s not as general as a mortising machine. The switch to set the mortise width should only be used when the tool is running so why doesn’t it lock when it isn’t on?

Is the Domino worth it? I would recommend it especially if you don’t have biscuit joiner, mortiser, or doweling jig since the price of buying the 3 tools starts to put it close to the Domino. If time is a premium then this makes it worth it too. I was able to build two cabinet doors in 30 minutes (my very first) compared to how long it would’ve taken me to do it otherwise.

First Cabinet: Walnut Shoe Cabinet

For the new house, we needed a shoe cabinet so I decided to try my hands at building a simple one. It is made of walnut plywood (3/4" for the carcass and shelves, 1/2" for the door panels, 1/4" for the back) with 3/4" thick and 2" wide solid walnut trim. The carcass uses standard dado and rabbet joints, but for the doors I used loose tenons. The top of the cabinet is so that we can put our phones, key, etc. once I put in a small hole for the charger cables to go through.



It was a good learning experience and overall turned out better then I expected. There are definitely things I want to do better on my next cabinet, but fortunately most of the mistakes on this one isn't visible. Building this cabinet wasn't cheap since the raw materials (solid walnut, walnut ply) are quite expensive (3/4" ply is easily over $100), but for the next cabinet I will have plenty of stock remaining so that will be the savings. If you just needed a single cabinet it's definitely cheaper to just buy one. I also bought the wood that already been smoothed which is very expensive compared to buying rough lumber and planning it yourself. However, I didn't have access to a planner and wasn't ready to buy one.

To cover the plywood edge of the shelves, I went with unfinished edge banding that already have the adhesive on it so I didn't have to iron it on. The solid wood hides the rest of the plywood sides. Finally, I used a poly gel for the finish as I'm not ready yet to use "real" finishes such as shellac.

For the hinges, I went with an European style hinge so that it doesn't show.


(still some sawdust that I need to clean out... ^_^;)