plywood crafting.

When Jeff and I were on our annual autumn holiday - this year visiting Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks (luckily just days before the bleeping shutdown) - I made him stop at a kitchy corner gift shop in Jackson cos I noticed a really really awesome sign hanging in the window. Jeff didn't bother himself with actually accompanying me inside (I think sometimes it's cool to be a kitchy tourist!) so I went in alone to check it out. It was made out of plywood and plastered with an infamous Muir quote ~

'The mountains are calling and I must go'

There was another - even bigger - sign that said even more simply ~

'Go climb a mountain'

I had to have them. Trouble was - they'd be hard to fit in my carryon luggage. And they were kind of stupid-tourist expensive. So I told myself - 'I can make that!'

Time then to put that theory to the test... It started with buying some cheap CDX plywood and designing a file to size.

Then printing out a set of the letters - as many as could fit on each letter-sized piece of stick-on label paper I had. That was the easy part. Then came the painstaking cutting out part. Of every letter. Which actually wasn't too bad - especially with help!

Then sticking them on - using guides in the design layout and a T-square on the plywood to measure the leading and kerning.

Until it was finished...

Wait... obviously I had painted the plywood white before I began. So then it was time to paint over the letters.

And... the real painstaking part. No... the really painstaking part. Peeling them off. Every. Single. Letter. Oh and the teeny-tiny hyphen. Stupid hyphen.

My fail was that I used regular old Avery label paper (8-1/2x11" sheets granted) cos I had some lying around - but which do not take to being painted over very kindly. And so it was nearly impossible to get them off. Before I make more of these kinds of plywood signs I need to invest in some proper vinyl sticker sheets. But regardless - a couple hours later it was actually finished -

And looks pretty cool I must admit. I have to saw off an inch from the bottom (for some reason I cut it at 16-1/2" instead of 15-1/2" cos clearly I have yet to learn the ol' adage 'measure twice cut once' rule from grade school carpentry... ).

But once I master that - up next...

: )

antique store goldmine.

So on a layover to the ocean in Port Angeles we dropped in an antique store to see what treasures we may find. Besides picking up a few more glass insulators for a buck each (everything was fifty-percent off cos the old man was wrapping up his business to retire and devote his time to woodworking) - we found some absolutely incredible things for anywhere between a couple to at most ten bucks each.

There are the glass insulators in the foreground - I'm planning on building a pendant light fixture for above this dining table that uses them, some cloth-covered cord, 2x4s and Edison bulbs - but more on that later...

Then these awesome casters that I figure I can use to build some sort of table - a coffee table, sofa table or maybe a new entertainment-type-center thing.

A cool solid rock maple (like the wood they use to make piano pin blocks) miter saw box that I'll probably use to make some sort of spice rack or key hanger or something... I've no idea but it was cool and a buck or two.

Ooh and this gem! A dovetail jig! I've been thinking of getting one of these for a while now - and I'll need it to build a dresser. This one cost I think ten bucks...

Then these random metal things - a bracket that looks like it's meant to encase a 1x4 and some sort of iron tow hitch... I'll probably take off the hitch ball but the iron bracket will make part of a really bloody awesome shelf. And the metal flange thing will look cool on a 4x4 or something also as a shelf perhaps. Metal details on wood are awesome and hard to come by.

Speaking of... the absolutely COOLEST find...

This set of four cast iron 2x4 clamps!!! These things are the coolest things I have ever scored - immediately I knew they would make this glass insulator pendant thing a million times cooler!

I was planning on building the pendant with a distressed, stained 4x4 but upon finding these the plans have changed - I'll use two old 2x4s instead held together on each end with one of these cast iron clamps. The 2x4s will have to be found at a salvage lot but shouldn't be too difficult. I'll write up more about it once I really get going on it (so far we just tested by drilling 3/8" holes through the tops of the insulators with a diamond hole saw bit).

Anyway - sad that this little store is going out of business but I'll always remember these awesome finds - now to get to work finalizing the plans for the pendant and dreaming up what to do with the other iron and metal things.

some rough 2x2s and a desktop.

When we were touring the Boeing Flight Museum last month - in the old section that was supposed to replicate (or was... I can't remember now) the Old Red Barn (the first Boeing factory) - I got an idea for a desktop that I could make out of glued-together rough lumber. So a couple weeks ago I went to Home Depot and picked some out... the last of the lot on the pallet. No worries cos I wasn't being picky (this time) - the knottier the better.

I started then with some rough 2x2s...

The key was the little 12" planer I bought from a co-worker's dad for forty or fifty bucks a few years back... so I lined them up in the order I thought looked good based on knots and grain and such, numbered them and fed them through the planer a couple at a time to square them up nicely and plane off the dirt and such. J helped. I didn't really get any good shots of the process but then we glued and clamped them and let them dry for a day or so.

J also picked out a maple-colored stain he thought looked good that I finally applied the other day after boring holes through each end for a 3/8" threaded rod I also picked up at Home Depot to give it an 'industrial' look (strictly ornamental... but it would appear to also serve the purpose of holding it all together). Then rubbed on some poly (my favourite part of finishing!)...

But that was about it. Oh... I routed one side to have a nice edge on which to rest my wrists...

Like so...

Yep... that was it. Easy peasy. This was really just a test afterall - now that I know it works I'm totally going to do more of this type of woodworking (glueing up pieces of rough lumber) for other pieces of furniture I plan on designing/building...

rooftops and garage doors.

So for some inexplicable reason the garage has gotten a lot of love this summer-and-now-autumn...

Earlier in the summer I totally cleaned it out and organized it taking a load to the dump and one to Goodwill. It was a huge improvement and we could actually see the backwall (where I took to hanging our bikes).

Next - and I never mentioned this cos it didn't seem that exciting... though in the vein of full documentation of this little house I am mentioning it now... A couple years ago on a trip to the Puyallup Fair I intentionally stopped by one of the booths of a dude selling garage doors (intent on actually updating the ugly fiberglass garage door after having finally painted it, hanging new trim and building a gable vent and installing cedar shakes like I did on the front of the house earlier that summer).

But all the garage doors were the uninspiring cookie-cutter kind that looked like everyone else's so I never called the guy back (though I gave him points on his dedication for trying to persuade me).

And I'm cheap.

But finally this summer it got to me... so I did something. With some oil-rubbed-bronze-type spray paint I had left I first painted all the ugly aluminum hinges and handle -

Then I primed the door with some leftover Kilz.

OK - so far so good and not a dime spent... Next I had to decide on a color... this was tough. I wanted something bright that would contrast with the otherwise pretty Earthy palette I had chosen so far (traditionally - the door contrasts the most with the rest of the palette whilst keeping roughly in the same saturation/lightness - so on an HSB scale the hue can contrast pretty drastically but the other two should be about the same as the rest of the palette - and... I digress... ). But sticking of course to the Benjamin Moore Historic Collection... HC-10 Stuart Gold it was -

And in an afternoon the garage door went from some weird tan-ish fiberglass to bright yellow -

I'm still not entirely sold on it but... another afternoon and $20 worth of a quart of Benjamin Moore paint and I can fix that.

That was back in July... fast-forward to this weekend where it was time to put on a new roof.

I don't have any good before pictures that show the roof covered in stupid pine needles and moss - but it was time to replace it. No doubt the original roof from when the garage was built sometime back in the eighties... the roof on the house had been replaced after and didn't match the garage (thankfully cos I really kind of like the reddish-brown colour of the house shingles). And so I ordered up eight squares and an extra bundle (for the starter row) in 'Bronzed Brown' and got to work ripping off the old stuff...

(No pictures of that enjoyable process - which involved tearing them up with a shovel and tossing them over the roof into the bed of my truck waiting below - thanks Stuart!).

Here's a stack of cut tabs that I'd use for the ridge cap...

After the old shingles were peeled off and every single nail pulled Scott and I went to work laying the sealant sheeting and then... well - nailing the shingles. Lots of shingles.

But it goes fast and we had a good system... and before we knew it the first side was done -

It was - well - systematic... Cut the shingles to pre-determined sizes for the book ends -

And check the level-ness of the rows by the white line on the sheeting -

Despite the forecast calling for sunny weather it didn't really end up as such... though it never rained both mornings were wet from fog.

But like I said - despite all the methodical cutting - roofing goes quick. And before we knew it... we were done (actual drip cap now and all)...

And the garage roof now matched the house -

Still to do then (on the garage)...

- hang some lights on the outside of it that turn on with a switch by the back door (already wired)

- hang 4-6 recessed cans for better lighting inside the garage

- finish hanging the trim on the south side

- pressure wash and spray paint the gutters white

I think that's about it. Nothing terribly costly since I have most of what I need already (well - I'll probably need to buy some more cans of white spray paint). Just time. Always time.

But I had a lot of fun roofing and it looks great - nothing much more satisfying then the feeling of a manual job well done... and done right.

Thanks Scott for all your help, extra supplies and expertise!

shelf [part two... and done].

So today - with rain in the forecast (i.e. no skiing at Rainier) my backup plan was to finish this shelf (so I can move on to the next project... for which I have quite the list going but nothing narrowed down - though I'd love to build something else... ).

That meant having to dado all the joints... so off I went clamping the jig to each piece and being careful to route on the correct side of my line (thankfully I only screwed up once - on a small piece for which I had enough scrap to recut)...

Eventually after a couple of hours I had a nice pile of dadoed wood...

And then... time to start putting this 6'x4' puzzle together! I figured building it lying down would be easiest - and so I quickly had the first half done glued and drying...

I realized at some point though it was gonna be hard to get this thing into the basement and that... maybe I should build it with screws instead of glue so it can be disassembled for easier transport. But it did pretty much go together like a puzzle - fit the right pieces together in the right order and BAM! Done!

With hooks on the end for ice axes and poles and such...

And a cubby for tents...

Then let the bin organization begin... (!)

I am stupid-excited to get this stuff finally organized properly. I don't know exactly how much the jig cost to build (probably $20-30) and the plywood was $35/sheet x 3 sheets. Not terrible for a custom randomized shelf.

And maybe the coolest part... it's modular!

Meaning if more room is needed I can build a top section (just 2' tall to make it a cool 6'x6' cube) that will line up with the four vertical ends - they can be stuck together with dowels even. Yeah... maybe I'll get started on the add-on right away hehe...