Thread: A Real Workshop

Great read and an impressive shed, you should be mightily proud

finished yet?

Hows the progress coming? I read this whole thread the other night, great to see how far it has come. Any new photos?

No, the shed isn't finished.

I have been making some progress on the doors.

The new Jet Mortiser is getting a run. I only had a 10mm 3/8th" chisel but decided that it was too small. I ordered a 1/2" chisel. Both have been sharpened and cut nice clean mortises.

I cut dado channels for the raised panels. The groove is 1/2" to match the mortice chisel.

It took a bit of fiddling with the Freud dado set to get close to 1/2".

The door stiles are 3m long so I needed infeed and outfeed support.

The cuts came out well.

The only difficulty was centering the dado. One option was to runs the boards through one way then turn them around and run them through again.I didn't feel good about running the long boards through twice and risking a mistake.
So I decided to mark the face against the fence for all parts and use it as as reference for future cuts and the mortises and tenons.

Do you cut the mortices or tenons first?

I decided to use the dados to locate the mortices. The half inch chisel was set withing the dado.

Twin haunched tenons were used for the top, bottom and middle rails.

The mortisers cut clean tenons.

Half the mortice was cut from one side and the other half cut from the other side. I marked all the cuts with a combination square and marking knife to be as accurate as possible.

It was still a relief when both halves of the mortices met.
A couple did have a step of about 0.5mm. Some of the boards had warped since they were jointed and thicknessed and this made it difficult to get the mortices to line up.

They are much better than I could have cut with a chisel and much easier.

Next, the tenons.

My garage and yard is still cluttered with timber and other stuff. Plat sheets are a pain and I have several sheets leaning in front of the fridge and storage cabinets. They are always in the road.
My plan is to put a rack in the new shed so I can store flat sheets vertically but I need to wait until the electricity is on before I can line the shed and fit it out.

I saw an interesting rack in the latest FWW mag that I thought would suit my shed. It has a low base and a couple of stays at the top to retain the sheets. I would like to avoid solids sides to the rack so I can use the full width of the shed when using the Mitre saw.

This is my prototype.
The base is pallet pine a bit over 1200mm deep and the width matches the wall joist.
There is a Cypress board along the edge that sits proud of the base to retain the sheets.
Along the front is a hardwood board to slide the sheets over. FWW used a strip of polycarbonate because it is easy to slide the sheets on. I might use it next time.

I covered the base with a piece of ply that was on hand. FWW put a laminex sheet on theirs. I have heaps of that but don't have the contact cement. When I buy some contact cement I will put laminex on the sheet as I am sure it will make it much easier to slide big heavy sheets.

I used a couple of screws to fix it temporarily to the shed frame.
Then screwed two boards onto the LVL rafters to retain the top of the sheets.

It works OK but I am not convinced that the top retainers are good enough.

For the time being I have got rid of the annoying flat sheets in the garage. It will be easier to get to the fridge now.

I better get back to the door tenons.
Cheers

Next to make the tenons.

I used a set of Freud dado blades and snuck up on the thickness until it matched the mortices.

The picks show the process.

It took a few minutes trimming the tenons until they fitted smoothly.

I did the outside frame first then assembled it. Then I took the measurements for the muntins before measuring and cutting the short tenons.

I will put wedges in the tenons when I am ready to glue up the doors.

While the door frames were assemble I sanded the joints flush.

Originally Posted by Scally

Next to make the tenons.

I used a set of Freud dado blades and snuck up on the thickness until it matched the mortices.

The picks show the process.

It took a few minutes trimming the tenons until they fitted smoothly.

I did the outside frame first then assembled it. Then I took the measurements for the muntins before measuring and cutting the short tenons.

I will put wedges in the tenons when I am ready to glue up the doors.

While the door frames were assemble I sanded the joints flush.

Hi Scally, watching the progress of your doors with interest as I've still got to make mine, I slapped together some chipboard and pine ones to block the hole in the wall for now.
Thanks for taking the time to document your work.

Bruce T.

Thanks Bruce
I have been tempted to do the same.

I did a bit more cleaning up of the joints. There was a step on most of the joints so I guess my setup wasn't as accurate as I thought. I think the long and wide boards means that any errors are exaggerated.

They look fine now and I think they will be strong enough once the wedges go in.

Mal is expected to deliver some more timber later in the week which will include timber for the raised panels. There will be a few days preparation before I can glue up the doors.

The five timber doors will be exposed to the weather.

The eaves will protect them a bit so they shouldn't get too much direct rain on them.

With furniture I prefer an oil finish that is sometimes topped up with a poly to help it last a bit longer.

It is easy to apply and gives a beautiful look and feel.

I think I need something tougher for the outside of the doors.

The side doors are under a narrow eave but they wont get much direct sunlight.

The front doors are under a bigger eave and will be protected from most rain. They face north and will be in direct sunlight most of the day.
They face the pergola and the yard so I want them to look good.

Do I try a decking oil and re do it every six months or use a heavy polyurethane? I know Feast and Watson and Intergrain have some finishes for outside timber.

Please give me your thoughts.

Wow so much enthusiasm in a door finish.

Well here my vote but really have not tried either on a door so it is a guess.

Personally I would use .....

What about a spar varnish Scally? If it can stand up to life at sea the doors shouldn't be a problem.

I used a decking oil on the pergola, as recommended by the local hardware shop.

I am not overly impressed.
Then It needs recoating every 6 months.

A Spar finish sound better, NC.

Are there any you recommend?

Maybe this one Scally. I haven't used it but it sounds ok.
Feast Watson - Exterior Project - Marine