Next Project - Bunkbed

Our son Joshua is just about ready to start climbing out of his crib. We started looking for a bed for him on the weekend but didn't really find anything that we really liked. Closest thing was a solid maple trundle bed, but we didn't like how high the bed was because of the trundle.

I dug through my old Canadian Home Workshop magazines and found a November 2000 article on how to make a bunk bed using construction lumber. The author (Steve Maxwell) used construction grade 2x10 lumber to build a nice looking bunk bed with frame and panel construction for the head and foot boards.

Though there is a parts list in the article, there is no mention of how many BF of 2x10s are needed. I made up the different parts as components in a Sketchup model and then copied them onto some 2x10x8 and 2x10x10 components to calculate how many 2x10s are needed. The construction lumber needs about a month to dry out so it can be usable for furniture making so I don't want to be short lumber, nor do I want a bunch of extra 2x10 lumber cluttering my workshop.

I ended up with a total of 19 - 2x10x10s and 7 - 2x10x8s. I rounded up the 2x10x8s to 11 to allow for warpage/shrinkage/mistakes, and to make it a nice round total of 30 boards required.

I exported the Sketchup image to 2D to post below. All the parts on the left are different colours, but the colours don't all show up in the cut layout on the right. Probably a buggy display driver on my PC.

Custom Mortise Jig in Sketchup

A few days ago I introduced a jig I use for creating mortises in table/bench/chair legs. Since google has finally released sketchup to run under Windows Vista, I took a bit of time to create a sketchup model of the jig.






I have uploaded the model to the sketchup warehouse, so you can find it there, look for models owned by 'markswoodworking'. Or click on the image below.

Don't Worry Bee Happy

For the past few years I've been seeing bits of sawdust in the air and on the deck in our backyard. I've also seen large bees around, but I never connected the two together until this weekend.

Sitting out on the deck after dinner I noticed some sawdust float down and followed it up to one of the cross beams (2x10 PT) atop the deck. Standing on a chair I found a 3/8" hole in the cross beam, with bits of sawdust slowing being pushed out.

I couldn't see what was pushing out the sawdust, and no amount of banging on the wood would make the creature show it's face, so I waited for a few minutes before getting tired and climbing down. I looked around the deck and found 5 other holes, most older and more weathered than this one, but didn't see the occupants of any of them.

Guessing it could be ants or hornets, maybe termites I was hesitant about sticking anything in the hole and getting some nasty bites back in return. I sat back and waited. Eventually I saw one of the large bees I'd seen in the past buzzing around that general area. Sure enough the bee eventually popped into the hole.

Now my decision was whether to get rid of the bees or to let them 'be'. I tend to lean towards letting things alone that don't harm me or cause damage, so I left this alone and looked up "bees and wood" the next time I was online.

I found 'carpenter bees' on wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bees. The description definetly fit my bees, and since they "will not sting unless directly provoked" and "Since the tunnels are near the surface, structural damage is generally minor or nonexistent", I decided we could let them bee.

I've been watching the bees the past few nights, and three things I've noticed :

1. The seem to have trouble finding their hole
2. If they are near the hole and I move to get a better view they immediately fly away from the hole
3. If they are in the hole, no amount of banging on the wood will get them to come out

Morris Chair Staining

My least favourite part of the Morris Chair project is half completed.


On the weekend I put two coats of Minwax Provincial oil based stain on the chair and stool. I took me two hours using brush and t-shirt rags to apply the stain, then I let it dry overnight before lightly sanding with 220 grit and then applying the second coat the next day.


I'll let the stain dry for the next week and then start applying Minwax Satin wipe-on Polyurethane next weekend. Sometime this week we are going to try and get out and look for some leather for the seat and stool cushions.

Custom jig for Mortising

I don't have a dedicated mortiser, so for making mortises in legs or rails I usually make up a custom jig from medium-density fibreboard. I then use a plunge router with a template guide and a 3/8" or 1/4" spiral upcut bit to cut the mortise - the Freud 75-106 3/8-Inch Diameter 2-Flute Up Spiral Router Bit [amazon] is usually my bit of choice.

The jigs are quick and easy to make, and ensure that all the pieces have the mortise or holes cut in the exact same place. The top picture shows the underside of the jig.

The left jig in the photo is for cutting a mortise in a stool leg. The leg blank is clamped between the two inner supports, the outer supports are just there to stabilize the base. The mortise is then cut out with the plunge router in 2 or 3 cuts depending on the depth. In between cuts I use a shop vac to clean the sawdust out of the mortise.

The right jig is for drilling a series of holes in a rail that will then accept vertical slats. Using the jig makes sure the top and bottom rails will match perfectly.

I make sure to label the jigs with measurements and try and reuse them whenever possible.

Morris Chair Pegs

The back of the Morris Chair pivots on a pair of wooden pegs to allow the back to be adjustable. Another pair of pegs that are stuck into holes in the armrests set the position of the chair back. These pegs would be very simple to turn on a lathe. Since I don't have a lathe I make them up using different sizes (1", 5/8") of dowel and the drill press.

First I clamp down a scrap 2x4 to the drill press table and drill a 1" diameter hole about 1" deep into the 2x4. Without moving the 2x4, I insert a 2" section of the 1" dowel, then drill a 5/8" hole 1" deep into the 1" dowel. Using the hole in the 2x4 to hold the dowel in place ensures that the 5/8" hole will be centered in the 1" dowel.

The 5/8" dowel needs to be sanded down a little to fit into the 5/8" hole in the dowel and the matching 5/8" holes that are on the chair. (I should probably have invested in a 21/32" drill bit). So I load the 5/8" dowel pieces into the drill press, turn it on and use some 80 grit paper to sand them a little thinner. Checking and recheck to ensure the proper fit, then some further sanding to 120 to smooth them out. Since that sanding is against the grain, I removed the dowel from the drill press and sanded with the grain to clean it up.

The 5/8" dowel are then glued into the 1" dowel, and you can see the result above. The peg can now be chucked into the drill press to round over the edges.

Again I use 80 grit to round over the edges, the clean it up with 120. Removing the peg from the drill press I sand with the grain using 120 and 220 grit.

On the chair, the only visible part of the peg is the large diameter dowel. Below you can see the final product on the chair.

Back in town

I was out in Nova Scotia for a week but have returned home and am ready to get back to woodworking. Rosemary really liked her Mother's Day gift (1st Scrollsaw Project) and has taken it to work with her. I didn't get a chance to finish it up with a couple of coats of polyurethane, but I'll get her to bring it home the next time I have another project to finsh and get it done.

This weekend I am going to try and get two coats of stain on my Morris Chair project. This is actually the second Morris Chair that I've built. The first was given away as a gift (sans cushions) while this one will be ours. I don't seem to have a picture of the current one, but here is a picture of the previous chair I built, before finishing. The new one is complete except for a little bit of final sanding. I'm planning on 2 coats of Minwax Provincial stain and 2-3 coats of Minwax Wipe-on Poly.

Once the staining is complete we'll get to work on the leather cushions. We are going to try and get out to a local leather shop this weekend to pick out the leather, then I'll use my new pneumatic stapler to put together the seat and stool cushion. The back cushion I will have to outsource to one of my sewing friends as we do not have a sewing machine.

Here's a picture of the last chair I completed, with some temporary cushions for the picture. The new one should come out the same colour, the leather colour will be chosen by Rosemary.

1st Scrollsaw Project

It's just a simple little Mother's Day gift. Yesterday after tracing our son's hands, I cut copies of his hands out of 3/8" oak. Last night I cut the base out of 15/16" Oak, and put a 30 degree bevel on the edges with the tablesaw.

Note - when putting an edge on a solid board like the base, make sure to cut against the grain first. That way the tear-out at the end of the cut will be removed when you cut with the grain for the final cuts. I forgot to do this and had to cut with the grain twice. Oops.

I sanded all 3 pieces with 120 and 220 grit on my random orbital sander, then took it into the garage for finishing. Both pieces got one coat of Minwax stain, medium oak for the hands and provincial for the base.

If I had a keyhole router bit such as this then I would have cut a key slot in the back for hanging this on the wall. Since I don't I'll leave it whole for now and let Rosemary decide what she wants done (there may be a keyhole bit in my future...)

Ryobi SC180VS Scrollsaw

I picked up this Ryobi SC180VS scrollsaw when it was on clearance at Rona back in January. Finally this week I opened up the box and took a few minutes to flip through the manual. Within 5 minutes I was cutting with it.

The first thing I cut out was a tracing of my hand in some 1/8" hardboard, next I started work on Joshua's hand tracings in some 1/4" oak.

My first impressions of this scroll saw is that it is a well made tool. It has a reasonably heavy duty base and arm. I haven't changed the blade yet as it came ready to cut, but the manual makes it look easy. Wood moves easily across the teflon table, and the hold down arm is easily adjusted with a single knob. The first downside that I see is the 1.25" dust collection port. A 2.5" port would have been more useful for me.

It is about as quiet as you can expect from a power tool, I am comfortable using it without hearing protection. So far it has been fun and easy to use.

Honk! Honk!

On the weekend we went feeding Canadian geese for the first time this year. We found 3 families with 4, 8 and 4 babies all around the same age. There were another 3-4 pairs that were sitting on a nest and another half dozen pairs waiting for eggs.

Workshop Layout

After digging around to find software to do a workshop layout, I settled on the Grizzly website which has a workshop planner. You can't save your created workshop to an image, but you can do a screen capture and add text labels with any image editing software. Here's my current workshop.

Just about time to mow...

Here [rd.com] is a good explanation of lawn mower blade sharpening.

I'll have to post before and after of the lawn later - after I actually mow the lawn. I think I'm the last one on the lawn not to mow. Most other people have already mowed 2-3 times.

Joshua's Sand Table

On the weekend I finished up Joshua's sand/water table.

Rosemary got a good deal on this table from her school. It's similar to this one available at Scholar's Choice for $529. It has a clear acrylic top for when it's not in use and the large tub can hold sand, water, dry pasta, cornmeal or any number of other fun things for kids to play with.

When we got this table the wood was in pretty sad shape. The frame is solid maple, each side held together with glue and dowels. There was one stretcher missing and many of the joints had loosened or failed completely. The casters were broken down and there was no faucet/stop on the tub. The connecting bolts that hold the frame together were bent and a few were missing.

After pulling the frame completely apart I ran the pieces through my planer to remove the old finish and grime. A bit of sanding with the belt sanding attachment on my oscillating spindle sander and it was ready to be glued back together. I replaced the missing stretcher with a piece of scrap oak and the glued the whole thing back together.

We applied 3 coats of Minwax wipe-on polyurethane to protect the wood. I picked up 4 new casters, 8 plated bolts/lock nut sets, a plastic faucet and two bags of blue play sand at Home Depot to finish up the project.

Joshua and his friends on the block are happy to have another toy to play with!

Baltic Birch Plywood Castle

This is the completed castle that I built for Joshua for Christmas 2006. We picked up a tube of knights and dragons at Michaels Craft Store to go with the castle.

The castle is built from baltic birch plywood and sanded to 220 grit. I didn't apply any finish as I figured that Joshua would be chewing on it sooner or later. Besides - finishing is my least favourite part of any woodworking project!

The plans for this project were published in Canadian Home Workshop magazine, the article was written by Art Mulder.

You can purchase the article through the Canadian Home Workshop website for $5.