Railroad Clock Kit

I ordered the plan and parts for a Railroad Clock Kit from Lee Valley in December 2007.

The plans and parts sat on my shelf for the next year while I waited for the building mood to strike. When I stocked up on lumber in August 2008, I picked up a few pieces of walnut that I had in mind for this clock.

Finally in November 2008 while I was taking time off for running I had time to do a bit of woodworking. The only change I made to the plans were to remove the bead detail on the door and to use solid wood instead of plywood for the back and behind the clock face. My local suppliers do not have any walnut plywood and since I was able to get the walnut at a very good price I had no problem resawing and using it instead of plywood.

I probably have 4-5 hours into the clock and it is almost complete. The next steps are to do a final hand sanding, then apply the finish and mount the hardware. I'll also have to bring the door down to the local Home Hardware to get them to cut the glass for me.

Probably 20 minutes sanding and 20 minutes x 3 or 4 for the finishing. I should really just finish this thing off and get it on the wall!

Completed Coat Rack

I finished up this coat rack a long time ago, but never did post a photo of it here. We have put it to great use over the past year, it is normally overflowing with coats and 'stuff'.

Two coats of Minwax Provincial, then two more coats of Minwax satin wipe-on poly.

Over the next few days I'll post pictures of my current pile of unfinished projects. I really need to find some time to 'finish' these things!

Small Project

I'll have to finish up with another couple of workshop updates, but for now I'll just say the workshop is up and running.

Yesterday I took the day off work to relax at home and do a little bit of woodworking. In my last Lee Valley order, I picked up a set of five coat hooks on clearance. I paid $15 for 5 hooks like these bungalow hooks, the ones I got were a satin nickel finish.

A quick google search found this example of a mission coat rack :

I spend a bit of time in Sketchup and came up with a plan for my five hooks :

Then yesterday I put it together :

From my pile of Red Oak I found a really nice Quartersawn piece for the top shelf and a nicely curved grained piece for the back that has some curl on one end.

I'll finish it up with some Minwax Provincial Stain and wipe-on poly this weekend.

Hardwood Urn

My grandfather passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago. The funeral services took place a few days later and in between I went out to the workshop and put together this box to hold his ashes.

The sides are red oak, the front and back are walnut. The top is a 5/8" piece of walnut capped a walnut 'cross' and cherry. I'm not sure if the top will stay together as the vertical walnut piece is cross grain with everything else.

A few simple brass hinges secure the top with no catch to hold it closed. I considered a magnet to hold it closed but decided to keep it simple.

A friend of ours does engraving and I had him laser engrave a brass plate that sits on a lip inside the box, held in place with some oak strips.

The corners are all at 45 degrees with biscuits to increase the available glue surface. A few coats of wipe-on poly to finish it off.

New Workshop - Floor Finished

I wanted to give the floor a bit of colour as I wanted the workshop to be a nice place to work or hang out in. I decided on a light blue colour. I used two coats of a Behr primer, then two coats of their porch/floor paint. I didn't bother sanding the floor at all, but the plywood is reasonably smooth to begin with. The primer and paint pretty much cover all the screws, and the floor looks quite nice.

By the time all this was done it was time to move into the house. I'd have like to have had time to finish off the walls and ceiling but I just didn't have enough time. So I filled the workshop with all the tools and junk from the old workshop. When you don't have any shelves to load up things really pile up.