Thread: AJ's Projects

The set of drawers that I posted on the previous page have started to breed, 2 sets the same as the previous one and a set of double drawers as well, but I haven't started on the wood part of that project just yet.

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Cheers Andrew

Originally Posted by AJ.

I made this tallboy and finished it quite some time ago, just hadn't got around to posting it. Only MDF like a few of my other projects, so maybe not real woodworking, I promise the next post will be real woodworking.

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Cheers Andrew

Sorry, Andrew, but I can't agree.

I can see nothing wrong with MDF, used wisely.

OK ... it doesn't have the longevity or the beauty of natural timber. Nonetheless it does have it's good points. It is flat, smooth and takes finish very well. It is very inexpensive. For some who are either less affluent or who simply want to make a piece inexpensively, it can be a great choice. It makes a great substrate, especially for shop cut veneers.

Many years ago I watched a TV program called, "A palace, or no home". The story was about councils that refused to approve small, inexpensive houses finished with fibre cement sheet inside and out. I recall looking at one such house during the show and remembering that this was the type of house I grew up in. It was what my dad could afford. It might be seen as cheap and nasty by certain folk, but others called it home.

About 30-40 years ago my dad made a cabinet out of particleboard. It was what he could afford. It is as pretty as the tallboy you posted and many years after his death still sits in the dining room. It's a perfectly good piece of furniture.

At about the same time I bought my baby girl a cheap chest of drawers out of unfinished particleboard. I was as poor as a church mouse having just built my first home. The unit was strengthened, the edges were finished and the unit was painted white. Nearly 20 years later when my marriage failed, she was still using that cabinet.

I'll admit my preference for pretty wood, but still think that some MDF and particleboard furniture is "real woodworking". Others may disagree, and that's fine, but I still like your white tallboy.

Originally Posted by AJ.

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Cheers Andrew

When I grow up I want to learn how to weld. Your cabinets and the pallet jack are an excellent illustration of why.

Originally Posted by John Samuel

Sorry, Andrew, but I can't agree.

I can see nothing wrong with MDF, used wisely.

We are building a new home. The expansive kitchen costs a fortune. We're talking high end, display home kinda thing. No need to even ask what the cabinets are made out of because we all know what they are made out of. It aint solid timber.

There was nothing wrong with the houses I grew up in. Well, there was plenty wrong with them, but you know what I mean. They were just fine. However my father grew up in literally the poorest family in town during the great depression. Your comments about a perfectly good piece of furniture resonated with me.

All that said, I live in a humid place and don't have good dust collection. Two big issues with MDF. So I'm not an MDF snob but I do avoid it, mostly.

The thing is, that my wife also likes white painted MDF or melamine. She wants white or light coloured furniture. She's after a minimalist or at least light and airy look. Which often clashes with the polished solid timber items I'd like to create. I'm trying to learn how to fit in with her interior design style but this is a long slow journey for me because I'm a left brain type.

It's a shame you have those issues, Dave.

It's possible to get a great finish on MDF with white NC lacquer. Not sure what it is with the fair sex, but many of them are kinky for white furniture. IKEA knows this.

If you can get it, camphor laurel timber that is mostly light honey coloured with just a touch of colour makes nice furniture for those who like the lighter colours.

Have fun!

My shed lining project has moved along fairly well. Only one wall to go, however I need to make some storage to shift all the junk....... eer I m mean important and useful stuff that is currently blocking access to that wall.

I decided to neaten up the transition from the MDF to Iron with timber painted in the same red as some of my other shed projects. I picked up a huge stack of old pine floor boards for next to nothing and these machined up nicely to tidy up the join.

The haul of floor boards
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The transition, screwed in place using dome head cap screws to give that industrial look similar to some of my my other projects posted previously.
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Cheers Andrew

I mentioned previously I was planning on making more signs to decorate the shed walls, well the first lot (style) are done.

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I am planning on having a go at making some pressed metal sign to add to the walls, but they will be a fair way down the track as time is limited and the Honey Do jobs are piling up.

Cheers Andrew

I recently bought a Domino and the starter pack of Dominos to kick off. It didn't take long for me to use up most of the 5 x 30 Dominos, so I figured it was a good excuse to use up some of the various odd pieces of good timber I just cant bring myself to throw out. A lot of them were made from old chair frames I got given, a really nice light coloured hardwood but with lots of joinery and profiled edges not enough decent timber for any other project. So win win. I get some dominos I needed and cleaned up some of my less than useful stock that I cant bear to throw away.

I might have got a bit carried away, I wanted to make a decent amount but hadn't exactly planned on making over 3000. Oh well, I will use them eventually, a current project will chew up a couple of hundred

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Cheers Andrew

In the post above I alluded to the fact that I have a large project on the go that will use up some of the Dominoes I made, so thought I would post some progress pictures as I have the first part mostly complete.

So this is an MFT in the truest sense of the word, not just for cutting square but also it will be an outfeed table for the table saw, assembly table and some more storage. 18mm MDF for the MFT top, 16mm MDF for the rest of the torsion box and spotted Gum for the surrounds.

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I mitered the corners and they came out pretty decent all things considered, some minor gaps that I was able to hide by burnishing the corners ever so slightly.

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I have already started using the MFT to cut up all the panels for the carcasses for the base cabinets. It really has made life so much easier, the accuracy and repeatability I can get using this set up along with the tracksaw is brilliant, better than anything I have ever been able to achieve previously.

Cheers Andrew

Originally Posted by AJ.

It really has made life so much easier, the accuracy and repeatability I can get using this set up along with the tracksaw is brilliant, better than anything I have ever been able to achieve previously.

Cheers Andrew

Isn't that a saw with a sliding table in the background? Surprised you couldn't get quality cuts with it. Very nice job on the torsion box MFT. How did you attach the top and base to the Spotted Gum?

Originally Posted by aldav

Isn't that a saw with a sliding table in the background? Surprised you couldn't get quality cuts with it. Very nice job on the torsion box MFT. How did you attach the top and base to the Spotted Gum?

Yes that is a sliding table saw and whilst it is good it doesn't have the capacity to cut up the pieces I need for my cabinets, its much easier with the track saw as I only have to handle the full sheet once. I honestly have to say that I think the track saw and MFT gives a better quality of cut and less chance of losing accuracy due to skill errors, or at least any errors will be a piece too large rather than too small, which is always easier to rectify.

The spotted gum is attached to the MDF torsion box with Dominoes and glue, Titebond 3.

Cheers Andrew

After way to many hold ups, delays, side projects and distractions I finally finished 2 more of my tool drawers.

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Cheers Andrew

One of the many distractions I had in regards to finishing my tool drawers was an ad on FB marketplace for a heap of "firewood" A quick look at the picture told me it was better than firewood and with no price listed and with numerous comments being posted when the add was only a few minutes old I knew I needed to act quickly. Long story short, she wanted $150, I said yes I can come straight away. Ultimately I collected 5 ute and trailer loads of reclaimed timber varying from crap that went on the burn pile immediately due to termites through to plenty of structural pine a massive stack of Oregon and various hardwoods. Part of the deal was she needed it gone ASAP, so I just brought it home and dumped most of it in the bay our caravan normally sits in ( the caravan is a whole other side project and distraction) so sorting it all out is now a major project in itself.

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You might notice some carcasses in one of the pictures above, they were meant to go at ground level where the rack is now, a last minute change of plans has them 2.4 metres off the ground in order to get a rack underneath. I will update these when they are finished, just need to paint the doors and fit them.

After digging through and extracting some of the pine, I used that to make a rack to store some of the timber, 3m wide and 2.4 high, that might store a 1/4 of what I have, I have room on another rack for a bit more but still need to come up with a plan for the bulk of it!

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Cheers Andrew

Another job ticked of my list, although jobs seem to get added to that list faster than I complete them

Some basic cabinets for storage, ultimately situated just below roof height in the caravan bay of our shed, directly above the timber storage rack I postage about above. We are only storing things here that we rarely and in some cases hopefully never need to access, such as the rear seats from our 4wd, our daughters old and now spare wheelchair along with some not often used camping gear. All this stuff had been dumped in our detached spare room/ granny flat that seemed to have become a dumping ground for everything too hard to find a home for. So a big clean up in that room and an upcoming similar cabinet build there led to this build, in order to clear out some of the larger items that are difficult to store.

melamine carcasses and MDF shaker style doors.

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I am slowly getting my pile of timber sorted and getting some of it on the rack.

Cheers Andrew