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Friday Fun Thread for March 10, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I made a bookshelf for my retro game manuals! imgur

This one took me a while. It started with me wanting to get my old manuals out of the beatup cardboard box they'd been in the last 25 years. My original plans had this consistent 75 degree angle to all the front design elements. I even attempted to make the drawers with all the ornamentation I wanted at this angle, and it was a clusterfuck that would probably have been enormously error prone had I pushed on. So I redesigned the project around nice safe 90 degree angles.

I still wanted to challenge myself, so I kept the rather simple ornamentation on the front. I also from the start wanted to try my hand at some drawers. Then I decided, fuck it, lets do some hidden drawers! This decision enormously increased the precision I would need to bring to bare. I invested in an actually decent miter gauge for this purpose. But I also designed the drawer faces to use the ornamentation to blend in.

Between point A and point B, I went to my local lumber yard and grabbed a bunch of rough 4/4 red oak from the dent and ding section. I think it came out to about $2.50 a board foot? It's like $10+ if you get it S4S. But I invested in a thickness planar with my Christmas bonus last year, so I was prepared. Knocked a $200 lumber purchase down to about $40. Which also knocks it well down into the "Nobody cares if I spend this money" category.

Side note, planing rough lumber is super relaxing and meditative.

Some practice, adjustments, and a planing sled later, and I'm milling perfectly flat and square boards to any dimensions I choose. It's an enormous upgrade from buying shitty warped planks at Home Depot. At rather outrageous costs to boot. One weekend I spent really focusing on my cut list, and figuring out how much lumber and which dimensions I would need, and getting all that planed.

Then I had to take a break to build the wife a 144 sq ft partially raised and partially dug garden. My back was agony.

Garden complete, I finished cutting all the pieces I needed, including the miters. The next day I set up the routing table with some setup blocks I invested in (because of the precision I knew I'd need). Got most of the rabbets routed out. A few of them required me to chisel out the last bits, because the piece that would join in had some funky angles involved. The day after that I finally put together a box joint jig, but mostly just to do the ornamentation for the front which consist of 3/4" alternated raised and recessed segments on the top and bottom. You really need a jig for this kind of stuff.

The test cuts were a disaster as I dialed in the router's speed settings. One piece was just savagely ripped up, and another got torn in two and thrown across my shop. Always wear your goggles. I literally did not even see it happen. One moment it was there, the next moment it wasn't. Also, never put your hand over the blade, even with something between you. That thing can vanish before you have time to react. Yikes.

Anyways, I eventually dialed it in and nervously cut the actual pieces I needed. It went well. I only had to recreate one of them.

I started by gluing up the outer shell and the drawers. This was a straight forward enough process, and some right angle clamps I ordered came in extremely handy. Because precision. Next up, I did the ornamentation at the top. This was a fucking disaster. It's a miter joint because I didn't want any end grain visible, and no way I tried to clamp it worked worth a damn. It was constantly being pushed out of whack. And glue got absolutely everywhere and required a lot of sanding to remove when I finally gave up and decided the clamps were close enough. The next two pieces of trim (there were 3 total) I just held in place using painter's tape. This was the blatantly superior method. I'm going to use it until it stops working on all my miter joints.

Next I tried to figure out the rails for the drawers. The hard part was figuring out what sort of spacing I really needed for a smooth pull that wouldn't bind. Then I used some playing cards to get everything evenly spaced, and glued it up. Having learned from previous glue mishaps, I used lots of painters tape at the joints to catch the squeeze out. Takes forever to setup, but the mess it prevents is very much worth it.

After that, it was time for the front bits that go between the drawers, and then the top. The plank had warped slightly during the week it had sat in the shop, so lots and lots of clamps were used to really hold it down.

At one point I was afraid the shelf had about a 16th of an inch of wobble to it. But it turns out that's just my workbench. On actually professionally made furniture, as well as the floor, it was perfectly flat. So thank god for that. I used so many right angle clamps I'm not sure how it could have possibly been out of square.

And the finished product. Kind of. I still haven't taken it out of the clamps, so this is just a photo of the test fit. I also still need to stain it, maybe today, and then a coat of shellac to finish it.

Wholesome.

What's the playing card trick? Equal number of cards between each gap?

Basically, yes.