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Thread: Non-Furniture Hand Tool Projects

  1. #1
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    Non-Furniture Hand Tool Projects

    Want to share some ideas for “non-furniture” hand tool build, but first a little context; over the last 40 years I’ve mostly built furniture for family and friends, which leads me to my current conundrum: we recently become empty-nesters looking to downsize. As a consequence, the LOML has told me in no uncertain terms there is no room in the house for anything else I might build. Sure I’ve been able to sneak in a couple small boxes/accessories here and there but the fact is 6 months ago I built what I think is a pretty cool Seymour, federal style sideboard intended to be used as a bar. It’s still in the garage.

    My most recent ploy was to pitch building barstools to replace our current store-bought versions. That was met with a hard No, however there was the merest glimmer of an opportunity in the suggestion “we might be able to use something outside”. Specifically she mentioned something to raise the welcome mat at the front door level with the threshold and “storage”. Ah hah, the loophole I was looking for!

    Inspired by a Lee Valley email about building planter boxes, I got some soaking wet Cedar 2 x 4’s from the local BORG. Turns out the Cedar was hand tool friendly and fun to work. I didn’t manage any build pics but here are the results: mitered 2 x 4’s for the corner posts, glued/screwed lap joints for horizontal rails and re-sawn 2 x 4’s for side/bottom slats.


















    My key takeaways from this project:

    1) Cedar planes easily, makes the shop smell great. I should find a way to use it in other projects.

    2) This kind of build required waaay more Titebond III and screws than I anticipated – need to stock up.

    3) Cordless pin nailer is absolutely awesome for easily and invisibly tacking joints together. I bought my first one for this project and I’ll never again hand nail another furniture molding.

    4) Orbital sander really come in handy for projects like this.
    Last edited by Mike Allen1010; 08-03-2020 at 6:21 PM.

  2. #2
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    Storage: Two of many things the Boss enjoys are flower arranging and shopping. Consequently we had an excess of materials associated with both activities cluttering what she would describe as a three car garage, but what in fact, is clearly two-car garage and shop. Accordingly I built a pair of shelves out of Doug fir and plywood. The shorter one is fixed/solid, the larger knockdown with through, wedged M&T’s that allow the shelves to be disassembled.










    Feeling smugly self-satisfied that shelves had improved the organization of Sherrie’s stuff, I realized I needed a dose of my own medicine. My scrap lumber hoarding/storage was completely out of control; overwhelming the buckets and cardboard boxes I’ve been using. The “rational” solution would be to get rid of those tiny scrap pieces. Luckily no one’s ever accused me of being particularly rational so instead I built a small shelf/frame to accommodate inexpensive household plastic storage trays. Can’t get good pictures because it’s up against the wall behind my bench. I think it’s an improvement, although the real solution is as obvious as it is unlikely to be implemented.






    Key takeaways from these projects:

    1) “Build it and the stuff will come”; if you even think “might be able to use some extra storage” – build the shelves, you’ll definitely fill them. You can thank me later.

    2) I think every hand tool woodworker needs a dedicated “plywood saw” because manufactured lumber has inescapable “construction utility” and it’s incredibly hard on saw teeth. I’ve used both pull saws with impulse hardened teeth and 8 PPI crosscut Western saws for this task. Think I like the Western saws better because less splintering along the saw line, I can put a little more muscle behind it which seems to cut faster and easier for me to resharpen. Just my thoughts, YMMV.

    3) Construction grade Doug Fir is a miserable hand tool wood (vertical grain DF is a different kettle of fish). Wouldn’t it be great if we could get pine 2 x 4’s?

    4) Having two separate cordless drills makes building with screws a lot easier; no need to constantly switch between drill bit and screwdriver bit.


    Doormat: last project is 48” x 24” x 1.75” “welcome mat” for entry door. As I may have mentioned, the Boss is a decorator. She has a broad range of seasonally appropriate, fabric/rubber front door welcome mats she likes to swap out based on the seasons, holidays etc. Don’t ask – I have no idea why that’s even a thing.

    Problem is front porch surface is 1 ¾” below threshold to front door. Sherrie would like something to raise the welcome mat to the same level as the door. Without too much thought I said I could build a simple wooden grid for this purpose. A simple Maple dovetailed frame joined to intersecting slats via sliding dovetails. Dovetailing the frame was fun. Plowing the female dovetail housings was not – took forever with palm router and various bits.







    Once the frame was assembled, next challenge was dimensioning the slabs and cutting male dovetails on the ends. Fun fact: upon inspection, slope of my dovetail bit didn’t correspond to either the 1:6 or 1:8 slope I was accustomed to. Surprised I never noticed that before – probably explains a lot about why I have struggle getting these to fit!




    I used a router table 2 cut the dovetails and ripped the slats to width.







    After a little pairing with a chisel, was able to get a decent fit.


  3. #3
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    Major challenge was laying out and cutting all the half lap joints on vertical and horizontal slats. I waaaaay underestimated how much work this would be. I assembled one master vertical and horizontal slat and marked the intersection for the lap joint, and then use this master to replicate the layout on all subsequent slats. The small LV layout square was super helpful in laying out the horizontal and vertical lines at the same time.









    I clamped all the horizontal slats together and started sawing. It took me six hours to establish all the cross cuts, and more time to deepen the initial cut on individual slats to the required depth. Practice may make perfect, but it was certainly monotonous! This job had me desperately wishing for a tablesaw!






    Chiseling out the waste was equally monotonous; big blow with mortise chisel to chip out most of the waste, another mallet hit with appropriate width chisel on the layout line, and finally pairing to the desired depth – sharpen and repeat.












    Here’s frame with half the slats assembled - too depressing to count the number of repetitions here!





    Next step is to saw out corresponding half lap’s on vertical slats. Anybody want some Maple scraps for their barbecue?




    I’m thinking about maybe inletting a central panel to carve some kind of “welcome” message, but that would only be for my satisfaction - it would likely be covered by the official “welcome” matt of the season. Should I do it anyway? Key takeaways:

    1) There’s a limit to the maximum number of times you can perform a hand tool task before it goes from fun to monotonous.

    2) During the planning stage, probably a good idea to see item 1 above and plan appropriately.

    3) Even non-furniture projectss can be fun hand tool opportunities; just a matter of whether you focus on the “journey” or the “destination”.


    Thanks for looking, Mike

  4. #4
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    Good practical projects Mike. Like the wedged tenons on the shelf. I got a cordless Metabo pin nailer this past winter - love it also!

  5. #5
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    Cedar planes easily, makes the shop smell great. I should find a way to use it in other projects.
    My potting benches were made of cedar. They sold well at the farmers market.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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