Cicip Working

I havent had a chance to work on the case in the last couple of days but I was able to get to Sketchup last night and make a drawing of it.  There was a definite learning curve but Im finding that it really helps with the design process.  I was able to figure out some of the dimensions much easier and even found a design element to add.  Im hoping to get some work done on it this weekend and plan on having a new vlog update tomorrow night.  In the meantime I posted the sketchup file in the download section.  Feel free to download it and let me know what you think!

Well, after a small prescribed burn, I have at least one corner of the shop decent enough for some pictures.

First is the new wood rack doing its job quite nicely:


I didnt realize how much 6 stock I had picked up. This was mostly because the old rack couldnt handle 8 stock in an easy manner. Now that I have a much better rack, I can go back to buying longer, and thus more versatile, stock.

As I mentioned in a comment on the previous wood rack post, I added plywood "decking" to the second and third shelf to both increase the racking resistance (earthquakes) and allow for easier storage of shorts. Also, I added sliding trays under the bottom platform to handle even more shorts.

And here is the GGTC - Gigantic Green Tool Chest:




The body of the chest is made of 3/4" birch plywood that I found buried at the bottom of the old wood rack. I dont use plywood very often anymore, but this was leftover from my table saw days and much too nice to send to the landfill.

This is going in to my school shop to safely keep unsupervised hands away from sharp tools.

Now its back to the shop overhaul - next up, the new wall!

we trucked our new slabs to berkshire products last week to ahve them sanded. many hundreds of dollars later, we can really see what they will be like ... theyre not numbered the same as before, but you get the idea ... i think ill let them speak for themselves ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
theres a fine desk in here i think
aka, the goat faced slab
#5 in the photos below ... not bad ...
really not bad at all ...
funky one ...and below is the original post ...
well, this one looks like its going to be a beauty. the next time you see it, it will be more obvious, but i can tell you now that this piece of timber is pretty spectacular. its slab #2 above. true, its got some minor issues, but ooh lah lah, it looks like there is some fantastic stuff hidden in that roughness. it will make a great coffee or center table, and its available to be transformed and delivered soon to you. lots of other claro walnut ideas to consider in this recent post. click the photos below to enlarge them.
i purchased these 4 new smaller slabs from my supplier, goodhope hardwoods, while shopping for the piece above that i purchased for a new client in new york city. its going to be a 10 foot dining table. its hard to see here, but its covered in curly figure from one end to the other .. i hope to start working it up later this week.

3/26 .. less hard to see now

crazy !!
i also purchased these three medium sized slabs and it looks like number 3 or #1 will make a really nice desk. a few years back, we made this mango wood desk, and ever since, ive been meaning to do another along those lines as a spec piece. im working with the director of exhibitions at the guilford, vermont welcome center on route 91 and hope to show some pieces there this summer. nothing like a claro walnut desk to grab some eyeballs.
i just realized i forgot to photograph slab #2, but ill get on that tomorrow.
and ive still got this last piece from the previous set. it is literally in two pieces, cracked from end to end, but is hanging on the wall with steel tube stiffeners for now ... i can see a nice curved, end to end set of butterflies, big to small to big again, reconnecting the two pieces into one fine dining table. its about 45 x 90 x 1.375 thick. great figure hiding in there too. its the next one in the log from the one below .. nice ..
in case you are wondering if i robbed a bank to buy this wood, theres an explanation having to do with our recent show at the southern vermont arts center. we had, as ed sullivan used to say, "a really good show" ... it comes down this tuesday.

Were working away pretty steadily on the house restoration project . We finished construction of the wall hung tv cabinet this week; were just waiting for approval of the finish color samples. I think were running slightly ahead of the construction schedule which is always nice. The cabinet below has its challenges though it looks simple now that its done. Its a mix of cherry and curly maple with some small moldings in cherry or walnut around the door panels. The door and end panels are resawn solid curly maple so we like to do the first coat of stain (which is pretty much always the same) before we glue them up. Then we typically get the finished color and first coat of finish on the whole door before we apply the moldings. This process prevents a part of the panel that might be unfinished from showing later as the wood moves from season to season ...

Looks simple ... but, theres actually no real much structure to the cabinet so we had to hang it as its going to hang on the wall to be sure that the doors will hang true.

When we went to the site this week, we took a pattern. There is a channel cut through to the wall behind the cabinet to accomodate the cable box, which is deeper than the cabinet .. We explored the wall behind and found there are two studs that have to be cut and headed off ... not surre about the ebox shown below ... Id like to get that in there somewhere ..

This shows the cut through to the wall and the tv mounting bracket. It a Sanus; a nice one. Very shallow and well made

This picture shows the French hook hanging system ... Two cleats on the cabinet; two on the wall.

The electrician gave us this box on Wednesday and hoped we could get it in the cabinet behind to the tv ... hmmmmm

We finished installing the moldings and painted the front door .. The paint seemed too shiny for an old door to us. The shinier the finish, the better the UV protection, but the more you see each and every pimple and defect ... We turned the final coat over to the painters and it will probably be a compromise satin finish ...

Part of our scope of work is to refresh/refinish the fireplace surround (which Jim has already done), and install a new lighted cabinet in place of the wooodbox/shelf thing thats there now ...

Trevor, exploring the lighting

Figured out .. This stuff is nice. The plastic tracks are easy to install and hold the lights securely. Its easy to cut and join once you study it for a minute ..

Rough wired and installed ..needs a top molding and some final paint

We also made a pair of 3" thick, well insulated, pine doors for the utility room. Sam made the hinges, floor bolts and a nice thumb latch ...

Inside latch details

Fixed door bolts

2" thick pine frames covered with 3/4" t&g pine outside, the spaces filled with 2" foam and 1/4" Baltic bircg glued and screwed to the inside

We also installed a small cabinet in the library under the stairs that go to the attic ...