Purple Reign

So after a week of silence, I bet you thought I was already off the blogwagon, didn't you? You also probably thought I'd not done anything further with the shop.

Both not true.

Progress Report:
1. I've finished hanging the lights. They are bright! Yeah! They're wired so I can have overhead light just over the area where the workbench will be or I can have light over the rest of the room or I can have both (or none, I suppose...). Also have can lights against the back wall where I plan on installing a bank of base cabinets. I have plenty of outlets along the walls, so I can use portable lights for when I need to create a raking effect.
2. I've narrowed down flooring selection. Hopefully this week I'll be able to view samples of the three or four I'm going to choose from and will be able to put in the order. Would like to get the flooring ordered this week so I can get it into the room to acclimate for a few days prior to install. We'll be pushing this part to the wire. In the mean time...
3. *sigh* The walls. Ugh, I hate purple. So far, the exercise room purple walls, painted by the previous home owner, have defeated me. After three (3) coats of KILZ, I can still see a hint of it coming through. Is it because they painted virgin concrete? Is it purple paint coloring from Hell? Why can't I get it covered up? I'm going to let my third (3rd) coat dry for more than 24 hours and then I'll go down again and see what it looks like. Maybe I'll paint a test area with the semi-gloss top coat to see if it is giving me good coverage.

Wish me luck. And toss any advice my way you might have on painting purple walls.

Oh, and I had an interesting idea for the box commission I recently received. I'll toss some photos/descriptions at the person requesting the box to see what he thinks. If he likes it, I'll start working on dimensions and details. Don't worry; I'll probably let you know what I'm going to do.

Shop Flooring - Light Or Dark?

This whole idea of setting smaller goals seems to be working! In the last week, I've installed my can lights, painted the ceiling (two coats, semi-gloss), replaced a few outlets that needed replacing, put all outlet and light switch covers back on, and installed two of five florescent lights (I'm currently using 5000 Kelvin color temperature bulbs for a natural daylight effect; it seems a little harsh, so I might change a few bulbs out with a lower color temperature to warm it up a little). I'll try to get some pictures up this weekend.

In order to complete my current goal list, I need to finish the lighting, paint the walls, and get the flooring down before May 1st.

Thinking ahead, I'll need to get flooring ordered within the week so I can let it acclimate to the basement before I install it. A life-long friend of mine, Ken, owns a carpet and tile store and is going to help me out with the flooring. I think he's partly interested in helping me because I'm going with a new product and he wants to see what it looks like when it is done. I might even be able to talk him into helping me install it for some beer and pizza... (good beer, of course).

Continuing a theme of an eco-friendly (and not echo-friendly, which would just get irritating after a while) workshop, which will be the subject of another post, I think I'm going to give cork flooring a try. He carries a new product of cork flooring that is Greenguard Certified and comes in 4" wide planks, like a hardwood floor might. That should make installation easier (I can crosscut with my power miter saw in the basement instead of on the table saw in the garage). And it should be a tool-friendly floor when the inevitable chisel rolls off the workbench.

So now here comes my question for you, the general woodworking community. Should I use lighter cork flooring, like the image on the left or darker cork flooring, like the image on the right, in a workshop?



I'm trying to consider more than just, "a dark wood floor will always look dirty", which is exactly the problem I have with my 1100 square feet of Santos Mahogany flooring on the main level (which happens to show drywall dust cat prints really well). It's a workshop; it will be dusty. That doesn't bother me. But I do want something that is inviting and pleasing to the eye, in addition to being comfortable to walk and work on.

Things to consider when responding:

• The ceiling is semi-gloss off-white paint.
• The walls will be semi-gloss off-white paint.
• I plan on setting up a totally movable tool storage system involving a permanent French cleat around the entire shop with smaller 2'x4' storage boards I can move around as needed, so the white walls will hopefully be broken up quite a bit.

So please, give me your opinion. Is the floor in your workshop darker or lighter? What do you like/not like about that aspect of your floor? Would you put your flooring down again?

(And no, this isn't some shameless technique for getting people to comment on my blog. It is a very shameful technique... but I also want to hear what you have to say.)

Gentle Nudges Abound!

I like to think I'm pretty good at taking a hint. In the last week or so, it seems like I've received about five or six of them. That's a little excessive, isn't it?

Hint #1: This past Thursday was the annual Show-and-Tell for the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild. Always a good place to go and get inspired - if not by what you see, then at least by the actions of others. This is also the second year we've had silent auction tables. I already had a pile of duplicate tools (ok, ok... they were triplicates) sitting in a box to be sold on eBay or Craig's List or just given away, so I decided to bring them in. Oh, ho! I came home with $230 in my pocket AFTER paying listing and selling fees to the guild! (I didn't complain about the fees - it all went to the guild, after all.) That will go far in buying my new shop floor!

Hint #2: Earlier in the day on Thursday, I'd received an e-mail from Spike Carlsen, a fellow woodworker and author of several woodworking books. A few years ago, he gave a presentation at one of our guild meetings. In preparation for the meeting, I wrote a review of his book, A Splintered History of Wood. He's just published another book, Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects, and wanted to know if I would read and review it.

Hint #3: My friend, Alex, has been posting pictures on Facebook of the progress he's making on his new workshop. Jerk.

Hint #4: When I got home from the SLWG meeting, I checked my e-mail and saw that I'd received a possible commission request!

Hint #5: My little boy is getting baptized the first weekend of May. My wife's aunt and uncle could possibly drive down from Ohio for the event! Her uncle has recently become an avid woodworker and apparently this new interest was all started with the turned bog oak fountain pen I'd given him for Christmas one year. He has a pretty nice setup in the third bay of their garage. One of the last times I was up visiting them, I helped him install his Gorilla cyclone dust extractor. His shop is organized, clean, and fully functional. There's no way I can let him see the complete wreck of a room I call my workshop!

You think five hints is enough? I do!

So it's time for me to kick into gear and get some things done. First I need to get some things done in my shop - a bit of painting, hanging some shop lights, and installing a floor.

I want to get click-in cork flooring. I think it will work well in a woodworking shop - it is tool friendly and will provide some cushion for my feet. I don't have quite all of the money I need to buy the flooring, but I think I might be able to take a "loan" out of our savings account to cover the difference. I'll pay it back, I swear!

And... that's my goal - to get those three things done before May 1st. I don't want to set too many goals for myself that I get overwhelmed, you know? And when my wife's uncle comes to visit, that should be a good opportunity to get some ideas from him as to how I can set up the shop to achieve the best use of space.

Oh, there is another goal - to dust this blog off and get it back up and running. I haven't been writing anything lately mostly because I haven't been doing any woodworking. It is hard to justify the first without the second. But I have several blog ideas running through my head, and some obligations I need to fulfill, so I'll work on that, as well.

Sorry for the prolonged absence. Hopefully I'm back! My only excuse for the lack of blogging and woodworking is this guy to the left...

Now... who wouldn't want to spend all of their free time with this little Clark Kent wannabe?

Going to the Woodworking In America Conference... Really??

Yes, really!

I am fortunate to have married an incredible woman. She is an absolutely wonderful mother and a thoughtful and caring wife. And earlier this year, when I was presented with an opportunity to go to the WIA Conference, I didn't think twice about it because I didn't want to leave my wife home with our ~2 month old baby.

But it happened to come up in a conversation and she asked why I hadn't talked to her about attending. I listed my reasons and she poo-pooed them, saying I had a great opportunity for a unique experience and I should take it.

So I signed up!

It is just a few days before the conference now and I'm starting to get nervous. Not because I'll be leaving work a little early and rushing home to pack and then driving six hours to Cincinnati. And not because I'll be spending three days running around like a chicken with his head cut off, trying to figure out if I should be watching an instructor in awe, furiously writing down notes, or snapping pictures until the cows come home. And certainly not because I'll be attending much of the conference in unbifurcated freedom (look for me in the mocha Survival Utilikilt)!

I'm nervous about being away from my boy for so long. I wonder if I'll find the strength to leave this little guy...






















... for three days.

(Before you suggest it, Skype is already out as I'm taking the netbook with me, which has our only web cam on it. Oh, but wait... my mother-in-law will be in town with HER notebook, which also has a web cam! So maybe I can still get to see him in the evenings!)

I want to try and take the momentum gained from attending the conference and use it to push myself back into doing some woodworking. With a new baby, it is difficult to find the time to make it in the shop, but I know the time is there - I just have to find it.

So if you're headed to the conference, as well, and you see a red-head in a kilt, be sure to stop him and say hi! (Hopefully it will be me, natch.)

If you're not able to make it this year, check back here after the conference - I hope to have several blogs written on my experiences there. It won't be the same as being there yourself, but it might be the next best thing!

Birth of a Sincox...

I want to take a minute to apologize for being a bit remiss in maintaining my woodworking blog over the past month or two.

Instead of woodworking, I'm been focusing on getting things ready around the house for a new addition to the family. We needed to do things like assemble cribs and strollers, finish some kitchen renovations, get a closet installed, and paint, paint, paint. Then two weeks ago I decided to go in and have sinus surgery done to clear up an infection issue I'd been dealing with for six months.

Fortunately, we were able to get most of it done, and recover from the surgery, because I decided to suggest Dana go to yoga class Tuesday evening.

Oops.

She came back and complained about some lower back pain. I attributed it to the class and asked if she felt a twinge at any point where she didn't get a pose right. She said no, that everything seemed to do well in class.

Four minutes later, she felt the pain again.

OOPS!

Timed it once more, just to make sure...

Yep. In retrospect, maybe yoga wasn't such a great idea, Ethan...

So off to the hospital we went, suitcases and bags and books in tow. A short seven hours later, my wife and I had a new addition to the family. So the Birth of a Roubo will have to take a seat for a little bit as the Birth of a Sincox takes precedence...

(Oh, and as a minor update on the Roubo... I checked the lumber in my garage-come-kiln the other day and it is light as a feather and straight as an arrow! So when I AM ready to get back to working on it, the lumber is good to go!)

The Birth of a Roubo...

This last Saturday a friend of ours was over doing some electrical work in the kitchen. My brothers and I had removed the old counter and tore down the tile backsplash the previous weekend. While the drywall was down, I wanted Mike to update the wiring to make sure all of the outlets were GFI and add some under-cabinet lighting.

Mike has one of those big trucks you love to drive around and every guy you pass stabs you with jealous daggers from his eyes. I like borrowing it when he is working on a project at our house.

This last weekend, I borrowed his truck to take a trip to Lowes. I needed to pick up some supplies for the work he was doing, but I also wanted to take advantage of the bed of his truck to haul a little bit of lumber home.

Two hours later, I returned, triumphant (and sore and tired...)! I had the lumber picked out for what I'm calling The Ten Board Roubo.

It starts with the hand-selecting of ten 12' long 2x12 southern yellow pine boards. Let me tell you, hand-selecting 12' long boards by yourself isn't exactly easy. If you ever start on a bench-building project in the future, I would suggest bringing a friend along to help move lumber during the selection process. Those suckers are heavy and unwieldy.

Once I got them home, I cross-cut them to somewhat smaller dimensions before I stickered them in the corner of the garage. The top is going to be 8' long, so I decided to cut them all into 8' and 4' sections.

It isn't much to look at so far, but it is a start... and it makes my garage smell good!

The mahogany board sitting on top of the stack is not part of the bench but another project I also started (er... picked up again?) this weekend. I'll have some progress on that project at a later date.

Total price for the bench lumber came out at about $150. I'd love to be able to spend the time and money on wooden screws for a face vice and pick up a shiny wagon vice for the end, but I have a baby due in less than 10 weeks, so both are at a bit of a premium right now. I'll settle with using the two record vices I picked up last year (a #52) and three years ago (a #52 1/2). As long as I recess the inner jaws and make some nice big chops for them, I'll be happy.

Decorative Wood Inlay Book Review

Decorative Wood Inlay
By Zachary Taylor

At some point in your woodworking endeavors, you'll find yourself doing inlay of some sort. It might be intentional, such as the addition of stringing to table legs or banding to the lid of a box, or it might be to cover up a mistake, like when I had to inlay an escutcheon into the front of a box to cover up an error I made cutting the key hole. Whatever the reason, it never hurts to have a book handy to get you through these times. Decorative Wood Inlay is the first book I reach for when I want a refresher to get me prepared for my next inlay venture.

Zachary Taylor is a woodworker from England who comes complete with the dry, wry humor we tend to associate with our brethren from across the pond. His writing style is clear and concise and easy to follow, but also very “British”. While wordsmiths will find joy in such sentences as, “The stroke is completed with the same attitude of the blade to the hone,” others might have trouble digesting the English nuance. In this case, he means the blade should be in the same position on the sharpening stone when it ends as when it began.

The book is organized in an easy-to-follow format, beginning with a brief history of inlay and ending with, as he so aptly puts it, “the finish”. Some of the chapters are a bit sparse, like the history (he does call it “brief”) and the last two chapters on adhesives and finishes. In his defense, however, I would point out that a book written on inlaying wood in a decorative manner should mostly cover the process of inlaying wood and not focus on the most basic mechanics of woodworking.

The first few chapters are useful to the beginning woodworker who already knows they want to incorporate inlay of some sort in many of their pieces. Chapter 2 covers the tools and equipment one might find useful while Chapter 3 discusses what Mr. Taylor deems to be important features for a shop setup. It is important to keep in mind that his ideal workshop is created with his kind of work in mind, so it certainly wouldn't work for someone who builds kitchen cabinets for a living.

The bulk of the book, of course, is spent discussing various types of inlay, covering several techniques for each type. Mr. Taylor first starts with one of the simplest types, corner banding. His first method uses a custom purfling tool made for him by Carl Holtey, one of Britain’s master plane makers. The second and third methods involve multi-tools (e.g. Dremel) and hand-made scratch-stocks.

He follows this process for each technique he discusses – how to perform the function with a variety of tools, going into enough detail with each method that they all seem comfortable and do-able. Throughout the next chapters, he outlines inlaying stringing, inlaying curved stringing, inlaying panels and motifs, and inlaying irregular shapes. Each technique he discusses builds upon the previous, finally ending with the high-end techniques of inlaying guitar rosettes and purfling.

Over the past seven years, I’ve amassed a nice little collection of woodworking books. Many of them are quite enjoyable and do get read from time to time. But this book gets pulled down from the shelf for reference and for reading pleasure more than almost any other. I think it would be a fine and inexpensive addition to any woodworker’s library.