Coming soon to my workbench is a small cabinet for my cousin. What’s everyone building this holiday season?
Alas, my only holiday project is getting the three dining chairs whose crossbars have fallen apart fixed before anyone shows up to sit in them. Not difficult, except that not a single thing I’m going to need to clamp is flat and square.
I’m (re)building a bird feeder for my mother. I have a design I came up with that makes good use of crappy big-box cedar boards. The squirrels eventually ruin them, so I’m ready for this year’s iteration.
The body is dovetailed together, which feels maybe a little over complicated, but it is a really strong joint and I enjoy cutting them.
The imgur album for the one I made five years ago is actually still up:
https://imgur.com/a/mkis0HpFree standing clothes shelf. Four shelves and some pegs for hanging shirts. My partner needs more space in the wardrobe.
Also need to finish making a small play table for the kids that I started 2 years ago. I didn’t have the tools I need to flatten it properly, but it’s still sitting there.
Then I’m mostly going to be just looking at doing some home repairs since I’m out of work for a little while. Back verandah is rotting and could use some reinforcing.
Now I would need this too. My clothes are all over the place. Maybe I’ll postpone the screen and go make a hanger…
Just bought a small table router to make a noodle board to cover our glass top range.
Making a makeup table for .you wife and then also need to do some floating shelves in my big girls bedroom.
I’ve wanted to make a simple 3 panel screen for a long time. With some kind of light cloth stretched over it. Not much of a woodworker but I think this is a realistic project
That’s an exercise in frame-and-panel construction, possibly without the panels. Are you looking for the cloth to pass light/be translucent? If not the easy way to do that is to wrap the fabric over some thin plywood to make panels and set those panels into rabbets the way you’d build glass cabinet doors.
Alright, thanks for the jargon ! No, I mean yes, without the panels. I was picturing a hollow frame with some cloth stapled over it. No need to make it heavier than necessary, and I don’t want it to be completely opaque either, just not see-through. Also wood is very expensive over here, so I want to keep material to a minimum. My main concern is managing to find sapine bars straight enough. Sapine ? bars ? I have no idea if I’m using the right words. I’m loosely translating from french
If you don’t already have fabric you’re intending to use, you might also consider paper as an option. Paper of the type used in Japanese shoji screens, that is, not office bond paper.
I looked it up and it’s not made with rice. www.eshoji.com/faq/shoji-shoji-paper-rice-paper-everything-you-need-to-know
Ah, like rice paper ? that’s a good idea. Not sure it would fare well here, it’s very humid. But I do like the looks, let’s see if I can find any
Cheers !
Your English is certainly better than my French.
Google translates “sapine” to “fir” so I take it you either mean fir or cedar wood or softwood in general? “bar” you probably mean “board.”
Concerned about finding fir/cedar/softwood boards that are straight enough? I feel that. Softwoods don’t like to stay straight even when properly dried and milled. Perhaps a hardwood like birch or poplar (depending on availability in your part of the world) might be easier to work with.
In case you’re more used to British jargon, what us Americans call a “rabbet” the Brits call a “rebate.” A groove cut at the edge of the board.
Ah yes, sapin is indeed fir. I assumed since pin is pine, sapin must be sapine… but it’s never that simple. 😁 When I said bar, I meant a piece that’s usually 240cm long, with a square-ish section about 4*4cm. The french for it is tasseau -google says “cleat”, but an image search doesn’t exactly return what I’m trying to convey. Anyway…! yes, for a freestanding screen I would go for a more stable wood, but there’s only fir and red wood, and the latter is unaffordable… it’s okay though ! as a complete amateur, I accept the risks. I am also not equipped to cut a rabbet (!), looks like I need some special equipment. Thanks btw, I just learned a lot !
Lots of ways to cut a rabbet, they make router bits for it, you can do it with a table saw (Americans often use a dado blade but it can be done with a standard blade in two cuts) or you can accomplish it with nothing but a chisel.
I’d have to go the manual route I think, given my lack of proper equipment. I’ll consider rabbetting for my screen, I always feel kinda bad using screws 😁
You will hear voices out there who will tell you it’s wrong or improper or lowly to use metal fasteners rather than traditional joinery in furniture projects. Those voices are dumb and bad and wrong. Pocket screw joinery–done correctly–is strong enough for projects like this, inexpensive and easy to make, and accessible without a lot of tools. If it holds the project you want together what’s the problem?
Just got a commission to make a charcuterie/cutting board for a friend of my brother’s.
Beyond that, little gifts for friends/family that are long overdue, most notable being a rosary bead holder for my mom.
I’m refinishing an old bench my wife made when she was younger with a UV blocking epoxy so it can sit outside, then I need to actually start an L desk for my tiny office. I’ve been putting that off for over a year and have been working on a temp desk lol
Nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.
The older I get the truer that gets
