Do it yourself

Quote: rxwine

I do that occasionally, but my results are more like so:

XD

That's the beauty of forums. You only post the wins and before long everyone thinks you know what you're doing ;)

Quote: Face

Bah. A band saw is one of those things I often find myself coveting. That and a press / drill press.

But I don't mind. I don't really have a shop anyways (as you can see, I'm building this table on the floor of my basement). And those tools do take up a lot of space. Plus it doesn't hurt to get creative to get a job done. Granted, I could never profit from it, as my way takes way too long. But it is sort of "fun" building things in an unorthodox fashion.

Oh yeah! I asked for one for Christmas maybe 15 years ago. I use it like once a year, but when I use it the thing is totally worth it. She sat in storage during my years in Phoenix and broke. Thought all was lost as what broke was aluminum. Lucky for me my brother knows a guy at work who welded it back together good as new. Same guy welds the aluminum that keeps the eastern fleet of KC-135s refueling our fighter jets. Those things are from the 1950s!

As to building stuff in the basement, I finally got my basement cleared out for a remodel. It felt like 30 years or more of dust I was sweeping out. I bought the house 3 years or so ago and it needed so much work that this was the first chance I got to clean it totally out what with all the crap the old owners left behind. After sweeping it out I squirted down the walls and (lightly) the furnace and other items as there was so much dirt. I used the "flood the floor" method to finish it off and I still need to sweep and flood again before I paint the floor.

When that is done I plan to put my workbench and other tools in, plus some shelves. Shelves will be tool storage plus going to try to grow mushrooms or/and microgreens on some. Will be a build-it-myself shelves with some good Irish-German over-engineering. ot sure what it is about being a guy and being able to build things but I love it.

Quote: AZDuffman

Not sure what it is about being a guy and being able to build things but I love it.

Amen. As do the ladies ;)

My basement is finished, but been thinking of un-finishing it. The carpet is all 70's style anyways, and I could really use a workshop instead of trying to keep an entire garage warm with a torpedo heater =p

I carried on today after the family dinner, figuring it wasn't going to do itself. I suppose it doesn't look like much, but that's kind of how I figured this would go. Part of the time sink is doing things "my way", partly is it's just a bitch to turn lumber into a nicely crafted table =p

After the glue set, the table top is rock freaking solid. I'd bet all my Earthly cash that I could load my race car onto the trailer using it and it wouldn't break. Mission accomplished on that front. So today was gonna be the frame, and other than a few niggles, I've no complaints.

I sketched out a frame on the back of the table top using a bit of hunchin', bit of figgerin', and set to cutting. The first side went on pretty much without a hitch. Just all the measuring and hand drilling and knife cutting dowels takes up a lot of time. But when it was done, it banged in place first try and sat level and true. I moved on to the other side and it, obviously, took just as long. I'd say it was a good 90min for each side. I ran into a bit of a problem as it wouldn't sit perfectly level. Either it or the board making up the top must've been a little warped. But it was off by maybe 2mm, nothing that deserved a recut. It just wasn't perfect. So while the glue was wet, I fetched the battery out of my race car and set it on top. That held it in place plenty good enough to hold it flat while it dried =)



Next was the short parts of the frame, and wouldn't you know it... given the 6' span of the table, the ends of the frame were off just 1/16". I was staggered. What's that saying about sunshine and a dog's ass? ;)

Anyways, I got them cut and sanded, drilled the holes and knocked the dowels in. By then I was kinda drunk, and I wanted that battery to sit more to get a good cure on the glue. So tomorrow (assuming I can walk, as working on the floor is sort of miserable), I need only measure 6 holes, drill them, and bang my premade sides in. Viola! Frame done. From there I will build up a base for the legs to get a bit more height out of them, cut some reenforcing plates, and get those on. And I do believe I will be able to finish this table off without using a single nut, screw, or any other connection that'll leave an unsightly hole. Not bad =)

Then comes the real bitch of sanding the table top level. I know my DA is out, as the dual action cuts stupid grooves into whatever I use it on. I'm all ears if anyone has any advice. So far, I've just accepted that it's just gonna be a f#$%ton of grunt work. Or "shoulder rehab", if I'm feeling optimistic =p

Does your basement have an outside entrance?
That could be a project if it doesn't. It really
broadens your horizons to have a wide outside
basement entrance.

What costs more, a shit ton of sandpaper or a piece of MDF cut and fitted and already glass smooth, put on top of your superstructure? You know eventually you are going to want to pound on it, thicker more better.

I didn't understand why you went with boards in the first place and not some AC plywood or MDF?

It does sound like something I would do, done, won't do, pain is such an excellent teacher.

Why you do all this on floor? Don't that hurt?

Quote: Evenbob

Does your basement have an outside entrance?
That could be a project if it doesn't. It really
broadens your horizons to have a wide outside
basement entrance.

Good call

Quote: Evenbob

Does your basement have an outside entrance?
That could be a project if it doesn't. It really
broadens your horizons to have a wide outside
basement entrance.

No dice. Half the house is patio, other half, septic. There's nowhere to put it.

Quote: petroglyph

I didn't understand why you went with boards in the first place and not some AC plywood or MDF?

I hate plywood. It's good for a lot of things, but not this (imo). If I just wanted "a table", I'd have just ripped some plywood, screwed in some legs, and been done with it. I wanted to make something you'd be proud to have in your home. Something level, strong, that had both quality construction and aesthetics. Real wood, real grains, real craftsmanship (or at least as real as I can manage =p)

I'm not looking for perfect. Just like saw marks on a pole barn type building sort of convey a rustic feel, a bit of wave or hammer marks are fine. I just want it close, ya know? I want it Good Enough.

Quote: petro

Why you do all this on floor? Don't that hurt?

Hurts like hell! Why you think I drank so much? XD

But really, I don't have another way. Garage is cold, full of a disassembled car, and there's car type grime on all my work surfaces. Not good for wood. And I don't have stands or sawbucks or anything. And I have no jigs or anything of the sort. So the floor is where it went, and it served as a flat surface to get things as square a possible.

Do what you gotta do, ya know? =)

Quote: Face

No dice. Half the house is patio, other half, septic. There's nowhere to put it.



I hate plywood. It's good for a lot of things, but not this (imo). If I just wanted "a table", I'd have just ripped some plywood, screwed in some legs, and been done with it. I wanted to make something you'd be proud to have in your home. Something level, strong, that had both quality construction and aesthetics. Real wood, real grains, real craftsmanship (or at least as real as I can manage =p)

I'm not looking for perfect. Just like saw marks on a pole barn type building sort of convey a rustic feel, a bit of wave or hammer marks are fine. I just want it close, ya know? I want it Good Enough.



Hurts like hell! Why you think I drank so much? XD

But really, I don't have another way. Garage is cold, full of a disassembled car, and there's car type grime on all my work surfaces. Not good for wood. And I don't have stands or sawbucks or anything. And I have no jigs or anything of the sort. So the floor is where it went, and it served as a flat surface to get things as square a possible.

Do what you gotta do, ya know? =)

Sure, I get it. I've done metric tons of caveman stuff. Tons, almost all of it the hard way. Poor people have poor ways.

I used T&G for my first home made doors, they are still being used 25 years later, slammed every day. : )

A friend taught me some things that helped. I want to pass this along. Especially doing glue up jobs, [or other] flat space is precious. I had a couple of those foldable sawhorses. You know those cheap ass bi-fold closet doors that everybody throws out? I snatched some just before going in dumpsters, didn't matter if one side was busted or not. Take the hinges off. Buckets or even a chainsawed log to height, and a few of those hollow core doors and in less than five minutes you can have 30 feet of flat space, waist high. When done, they stack upright or hang from a ceiling. They get used over and over and over, they weigh nothing, surprisingly strong for woody projects. Get my brother off the floor.

Next, I see you used some 1x4 pine? Boards on Kodiak are un godly expensive. Those 1x4's were a few buck each. So, I scavenged as a way of life. Garage doors come crated in 1x4. They use millions of air staples, but if you get a chance look. I hit home construction projects and almost all of them had a pile that I got boards from. I saved hundreds of linear feet of that 1x4 and used it for many, many things.

Ever see someone toss out a broken couch or worse yet a box spring? Underneath they almost always have easily attainable fair quality hardwood. Old weight benches are made out of good fir. The building supply places usually have a pile of "dunnage oak" that they leave out for scavengers. I also heated with wood.

If you keep doing things the easy way like it seems you are [ : )], you might get someone to demo a biscuit joiner for you sometime. I made boards and still have my own Makita planer [not the best] and have made a lot of good looking wood from scrap. IDK, kept me out of the bars?

Hi folks, I just want y'all to know that as I sit here slurping my morning coffee and trying to attain a functional state, I'm enjoying this DIY chatter. I even figured out that T&G meant tongue and groove doors. Its good to have skills and not all that long ago everyone in this nation had to be able to grow, butcher, preserve, make bowls, make barrels, make tools and use tools. Now off grid self reliant living is a section in the local bookstore, back then it was real life.

Just bought a new toy.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-1700-PSI-1-2-GPM-Electric-Pressure-Washer-RY14122/203800590

Loving it. Back deck was gross with blackish mold on the wood.
Took out my new toy, lovin my back deck now, can see beautiful wood again, now have to stain.