Thread: nightstand 2 progress if interested

Day 10 again.

No progress on nightstand the last few days. Visitors have now gone back home so expect to restart tomorrow.

Attached are photographs of our 7 year old grandson and as you can see he was a very happy lad. He is going home with a 12ft beachcasting rod ( I purchased in the 1960's of what we then called firbre glass which had just hit the market here at that time) in addition he has also been gifted with my fibreglass boat rod which is heavy enough for shark fishing, each rod ring has double agate guides. The boat rod has landed some hefty old conger eels and skate in bygone days. The beachcaster also has some good history, there were times back in the 60's when nightfishing for cod that the fishing line used to freeze in the rod rings. I thought it was a good opportunity to pass these items on hoping they give pleasure again in the not too distant future.

Another piece of news is that the misses spotted some 8x2's in the now banned skip (doesn't look to me if he is taking any notice of our council instructions (those not understanding the meaning of the last mentioned sentence is that the builder has a banning order on using the skip on his residential premises for business use)
So on info received I picked up 34ft of 8x2 softwood as per pictures attached. I did have to get the hosepipe out and wash down the wood planks owing to them having been covered with sharp sand. So it looks to me that I shall be backing making more planter boxes in the near future unless any member can make alternative suggestions re this timber.

Weather set mild for week so expect to make some good progress with the nightstand except interruptions from travel agents cause some set backs.
Virgin start daily flights to Australia in January so that should create 2500 extra seats a week to fill and help keep fares down!!!

Photographs attached. The parting from my fishing rods but the acquisition of some more timber.

The builder was chucking that timber out?????? Must be big profit margins in UK . I'm a builder in Melbourne and there is no way I would be chucking it out . Wot!!! no snow either .

Regards Peter

To Peter 36

Funny you should mention snow, the daughter who was visiting over the weekend travelled through snow which is acturally a bit early for us.

As regards the chuck out, the builder is working from home and that means he cannot officially use his premises for business so he has to dispose of this stuff otherwise he would now have over 50 cu ft. of the stuff laying about .
Which I seem to have in my garden. Something wrong somewhere????

Maybe your local builder doen't really need a skip.
Uou should consider putting a gate between your side fence and your garage and make a huge timber rack (concealed by the gate)

Bob
If things continue that way I shall be pushed in that direction, my garage space is getting less. I suppose I could have an outside rack and then bring timber undercover for a short period prior to need.

I did suggest to the builder if the council keep giving him grief, drop the good stuff on my drive as he was passing

DAY 11

I was pleased to get back out to the workshop again this morning, but this was after hearing of your troubles in Sydney with transport. (I never used to pay fares anyway when I was a boy, I used to duck under the ticket barriers)

The first thing I had to consider was sizing of side panels so I put the frame up and took measurements and was pleased to note that they were identical for each panel side. Dadoes had already been completed last week 7mm deep all round so I allowed 5 mm for tongues. The first panel has two tongues whereas the other two only have one extension. This involves careful consideration when finalising panel widths. Lengths were also finalised and crosscut to size first. The top and bottom tongue or perhaps called a tenon was cut using my Triton workcentre with my own version of crosscutting jig as per picture below. The long edge of tongue was then cut on the router table using a nice router bit called a rebate cutter. ( they have spacing bearings which can be substituted according to your rebate requirements) Naturally I ran a test piece of scrap timber through first on both above operations.


I do have some nice distractions when working from my workbench which faces on to the rear end of my garden or perhaps the yard might be a better description. (I live on a corner plot so have four separate garden spaces surrounding the property. Incidentially there is still an open invitation to any of the forum members with long term membership to come and stay during our summer period except 7 days at the end of July beginning of August 2005).
We have numerous bird feeders sited in the garden and at the present time blue and great tits are eating us out of house and home on grated peanuts.

Finished the day rounding over the panel edges and hope to have all three panels dry fitted daytime tomorrow.

Balance of pics day 11

DAY 12



Dry fitted side panels today but had a number of set backs. Firstly the total width of the three slats came out at about 1.5mm oversize so set up the rebate cutter bit and put that right on one panel each side. Next problem I had forgotten to chamfer the top edge of each slat when putting the edge finish on each piece. I didn't fancy putting the end grain to the router after having already done the long sides, so I rubbed the end grain ends down with a new piece of 120 wet and dry wrapped round a wood block.



I then hit my next problem. I put up the old Black & Decker workmate (over 30 years old) clamped the slats and rails in the workmates blocks and got to work cleaning up with the orbital sander.( This was done outside the workshop and without a dustbag connected, the dust covered the glazing of our conservatory so if anyone wants to create a cheap sunshield in Aus. there's a good tip.) Now I come to the disaster. A side panel slat as checked for some reason, this piece of timber never looked perfect but why it should finish up in this condition because of sanding I am at a loss to explain. (see my pictures if my description does not explain the problem)



All other timbers have successfully cleaned up but I have glued up a replacement for the spoilt slat. I went to the cut off box and got a piece of 3x2 off cut from the same plank original so did a resaw to 3x1 and left to join overnight.

There was success with chamfers applied to leg corners happily, pictures attached show legs positioned in my version of mortice jig for performing this operation



So today I shall be getting out the planer thicknesser preparing the above piece together with further requirements for the base, door panels plus their frames.

DAY 13

I feel lack of progress today, owing to household regimens. You know, the lady wants this done and that done, never seem to have anytime for myself. So went up our council tip and dumped 10 bags garden rubbish, hedge clippings etc. too heavy to compost. Did some more household jobs and eventually got out to the workshop at 2pm.

Firstly machined up a replacement side slat to replace yesterday’s problem but left the dadoing and tonguing to another day. I did manage to machine and cut base pieces to size and put them under my clamping system for gluing up. ( A bag of aggregate as per photograph, it stops the boards lifting whilst glue sets)

There is another photograph of my present timber stock which I estimate now stands over 32 cu.ft. There are smaller piles of timber suspended on roof beams and also laying under workbench which I have not taken into the estimate. My wife did report some more timber supplies but I had to reject the temptation even though the timber was 6x4 what looked like pitch pine, and quarter sawn, probably over 100 years old but iron nails studded the timber where roof battens had previously been affixed. If someone was boatbuilding they would have made lovely frames.( I would most probably have left the nails but knocked in)

Going deaf tomorrow if she finds anymore jobs to be done.

DAY 14

We had the pleasure of another visitor today, our youngest daughter arrived to tell us of her new career. She has successfully landed an agency for selling house properties worldwide but mainly Europe. (Small plug if you want your property in Australia displayed for sale in SW England)

This meant another delayed start in the workshop, therefore I took rough measurements of door and drawer stock requirements, and pulled out some lovely sawn softwood and marked up sections avoiding knots at joint areas. Isn't it amazing how knots always occur just where they are not needed. The bandsaw was used to resaw 4x2 down to 4x3/4" door panels and drawer pieces. My Triton workcentre was used to rip up 70x37mm eventually down to 50x25mm. All these bits will then be put through the planer/thicknesser. This 70x37mm stuff is what they have been using for roof rafters in the U.K. since the 1960's. Prior to this date 4x2 was the usual minimum.

The workshop was closed down around 3.30 pm, which you might think was early but here in the U.K. it is starting to get dark and damp around this time. A draughty double garage with damp sawdust lying around means we start thinking of getting round the nice cosy fireplace in the living room .

Should get in 3 consecutive days of playtime before shopping again, can't imagine anymore visitors arriving.

Beautiful sunrise by the way hope you don’t object to the pictures attached here.

DAY 15

Did I say I would have 3 consecutive days free in the workshop, not likely, a Christmas prezzy arrived, father christmas comes early. A daughter thinks I must need to watch more television, it's one of those digital program receivers with loads of channels. I follow the installation instructions to the letter and nothing happens and I keep trying for nearly an hour. Eventually I have a go using my fingers and then it all starts to go right. (The instruction book has omitted a vital instruction).

So I get out to the workshop for 1/2 hour before lunchtime to complete the machining of the replacement side panel. Pleased with the result, I cannot tell that the new panel was not machined up at a different time and settings as others.

After lunch I setup the planer/thicknesser and thickness down the rails, stiles and doors together with the insert panels that are going to be needed. After that operation I crosscut to size using my own mitre pull saw station.

I then decide to look for more timber to use for the front draw panel, I have a suspicion that the present piece could check (split) as side panel did earlier. I did manage to find a piece of 4x2 which had a sufficient clear run just avoiding some very nasty looking knots. I put that through the bandsaw and then planed down the surfaces and thicknessed them to a 14mm thickness.

Finished the day again at 3.30ish and brought the frames in to my playroom/ex. bedroom and put in all the panels as per photograph below. The atmosphere is very damp outside and in the workshop so most probably I shall store the frame and other components here, as and when completed.

I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had unfortunately chipped my planer/thicknesser cutters. I placed an order locally and learnt today that delivery will not be until February (out of stock) for disposable type blades. Luckily they do have some resharpen types available. I mention this in case you might want to consider having a spare set. Three months is a long time to wait and I suspect the blades all come from the same country. C...a.

Enjoying watching your project come together. Glad to see that I am not the only one that has little challenges as projects progress - or not! Thought you might like to know that I appreciate the problem that the weather can cause in keeping you out of the workshop. It will be an uncomfortable 38 degrees C today, and heading for 42 by Tuesday.

Bob

Lovely weather, we nearly flew out to Sydney last Wednesday night and the wife is rather envious after reading your above remarks.

Pleased to hear that you are interested in reading of my progress with nightstand, I sometimes fear that I might be going on a bit.

If I was working for pleasure in Sydney during the next few days, 38/42C, I would most probably take my equipment out into the garden/yard. I would find that very pleasant, perhaps thats what you Sydnonians do in such conditions.

DAY 16





Started the day working on the bedside cabinet by taking out the bottom side rails and putting a rebate in sides and rear for the 12mm base piece.

After this had been done the door rails and stiles were morticed and tenoned ( which were completed by 2.30 pm.) Photographs are attached showing tenon shoulders which have cut nicely on the workcentre using the sled jig I have displayed at earlier times. The tenon cheeks this time though were cut off using the bandsaw, the reason for using the bandsaw was because for some reason this tool is running very sweetly, which is not always the case. Both shoulders and cheeks had a dummy run using a piece of scrap timber of the same dimensions as working timber. Mortices were then cut using my basic bench jig to the four stiles.

The day was finished putting a coat of water dye on the side panels which will be fitted to the frames without glue enabling them to have free movement. This is I think necessary has the furniture will eventually sit very close to central heating radiators.