Category: This Week In the Shop

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This Week in the Shop: 3 Simple Picture Frame Plans

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Picture frames make fantastic skill building projects.  You can practice joinery and create precision jigs.  Frames reward practice and good finishes.  They can be made from cheap materials and scraps – meaning they are easy on the pocketbook.  All in all, the perfect project to start with.

Three Picture Frames, Left to Right: Schoolhouse Frame, The
Three Picture Frames, Left to Right: Schoolhouse Frame, The Salvaged Door Frame, the Dead Simple Frame

With one exception.  Miter joints – that is, two 45° angles meeting and forming an exact 90° corner….umm, that’s hard.  Very hard.  So how can you make a simple picture frame with simple joinery that looks great?  Over the years, I’ve developed three semi-surefire picture frame designs that are simple to make and look great. Next time you want to frame that special moment, try the next three picture frames: The Salvaged Shutter, The Dead Simple Frame and the Schoolhouse Frame.

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This Week in the Shop: New Tools, New Projects

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I found these boxes inside a log from a tree felled in my parent’s backyard, in the house my brothers and I grew up in. I’m now in my thirties and my youngest brother is closer to thirty than twenty-five. We’ve grown up, moved out, moved back, gotten married, had kids, and brought our kids back. This holiday season, we’ll be together for a few days and hours. Then, like many families, we’ll scatter to the wind. A few years ago, I stuffed my suitcase with a log instead of presents. This year, I made matching boxes for every person in my immediate family – mom, dad and four sons. Continue reading This Week in the Shop: New Tools, New Projects

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Tool Primer: How to Finish Your Project: Film Finishes

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This is the third Tool Primer article on finishing your woodworking project.  You can find Part One:  Sanding here and Part Two: Penetrating Oils here.

DSC03801_thumb.jpgIn this article I will discuss the film finishes available for woodworking projects at most local big-box hardware stores.  The first step is creating a clean, dust-free uniform surface by sanding all a parts to a high grit.  I detailed my process in Part One.  The finishing process is the difference between a good woodworking project and a heirloom piece of furniture.  When I want to really knock a project out of the park, I focus much of my energy on choosing and creating a proper finish.

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Making a Makerspace, This Week In the Classroom, This Week In the Shop2 Comments

Making a Makerspace: Top Five Materials in an Educational Makerspace

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This is part four in my “Making a Makerspace” series.  You can catch the other articles here.

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Makers use stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.  Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary Stager dedicated an entire chapter to the various materials necessary for a makerspace to function in their book, Invent to Learn.  I’m just going to go for five: the top five materials in an educational makerspace!

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Tool Primer: How to Finish your Project: Penetrating Oils

woodshopcowboy

This is the second Tool Primer article on finishing your woodworking project.  You can find Part One:  Sanding here.

In this article I will discuss the finishes available for woodworking projects at most local big-box hardware stores.  The first step is creating a clean, dust-free uniform surface by sanding all a parts to a high grit.  I detailed my process in Part One.  The finishing process is the difference between a good woodworking project and a heirloom piece of furniture.  When I want to really knock a project out of the park, I focus much of my energy on choosing and creating a proper finish.

DSC03801

Keep reading for the breakdown and uses of the common penetrating oils found in your local big box home improvement and hardware stores.

Continue reading “Tool Primer: How to Finish your Project: Penetrating Oils”

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Community Watch: TX/RX Labs’ New Woodshop Build

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In a few short years, TX/RX has grown from a small collective to one of the largest hackerspaces in TX, if not the US.  It holds spring and fall semester classes in all sorts of cool subjects:  computer programming, electronics, fabrication, crafts, art, etc.  You can see the whole list at http://www.txrxlabs.org/classes. Last Sunday, a group of volunteers came together to build seven workbenches.  Check back to see our progress over the next few weeks. If you want to join in the build, or sign up for classes, scoot over to http://www.txrxlabs.org to catch all the news. Make it safe … Continue reading Community Watch: TX/RX Labs’ New Woodshop Build

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This Week In the Shop: Queen-Sized Bed

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It has been a while since I’ve shared a completed project from my bench.  I haven’t been particularly inactive, just an inactive blogger.  Recently, I completed a queen-sized platform bed for my wife and I.  I completed the footboard over last winter break, and this summer I took on the headboard.

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The headboard and rails are put together with pocket hole joinery.  The headboard, made out of solid birch and poplar, is way too heavy for the light rails.  Instead of raising the height of the bed and creating thicker rails, I used a french cleat in my wall to hang the headboard.  The bed is rock solid now.  Finished with amber shellac and wax.  Check out the Sketch-Up drawing for more info. Continue reading “This Week In the Shop: Queen-Sized Bed”