TV Console: problems, problems

All is quiet in the shop. I have run into a series of problems with my current project and I am taking a break.

I vowed to be brutally honest on this blog. With each project I offer a critique; you know, what went well and what didn't. I started a series of posts called "Note to Self" where I offer a lesson learned. And with this post, I am going to open up about the problems which have already surfaced as I tackle the TV Console project.

This weekend has been a humbling time in the workshop. I have quickly learned that when it comes to processing lumber like my African mahogany, I am woefully unprepared:

1. I don't have a jointer that can put a straight edge on long boards. I made a jig for my tablesaw that has helped, but I need a jointer with a longer bed.
2. I don't have a thickness planer. The mahogany has subtle variations in it's thickness and some of the boards are warped. A thickness planer could help me fix this.
3. I don't posses the necessary hand tool expertise to correct the warped condition of my stock (about 25% of the 40 board feet I ordered is either slightly or significantly warped). So I need to take a class on hand tools. I saw a video about hand tools - it mentioned an improperly set up plane, for example, leads to some back breaking work. I can attest to this because I am worn out right now.
4. I am going to need to order a little more lumber and my funding for this project has dried up. This makes me wonder if I should even risk any more money on it.

Most of my problems are associated with transitioning from going down to Home Depot and selecting the best, straightest boards from their stock and moving towards buying lumber sight unseen and having to make the best of what I receive.

So, I am in the least going to finish gluing up the boards to form panels for the middle shelf and the top. I will then locate a cabinet shop that can run them through a thickness planer and make them flat for me. Then we'll see where the project goes from there. But I am going to take a couple of days off from woodworking first.

To see all the posts on this project, click here. This is post six in this series.

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Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. Or jump over to Facebook and leave me a message. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to Wood Fever.net by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

My favorite on-line source for quality lumber.

Messing around with SketchUp

If I had built this... One of the design options for the Scott Bookcase. I abandoned it due to it's complexity and the estimated length of time needed to complete it.

When I started designing the Scott Bookcase, I went through four different designs. The design shown above was my imagination run amok. I say that because this design would have taken me a long, long time to complete.

This idea had been just a drawing on graph paper until this week; a drawing that I did not want to throw away, but it kept reappearing: in my office, in our guest bedroom where our home computer resides, among other places. It's almost as if this drawing was telling me to do something with it. So, I started messing around with it in SketchUp…

Architecture in furniture. I like architecture and this design was an attempt to add architectural elements to a basic bookcase. This illustration was re-sized in SketchUp prior to exporting and it has lost some of it's sharp detail.

The spark. This built-in bookcase with it's strong columns inspired this design. Photo taken from the September/October 2002 issue of Southern Accents magazine.

As I drew this bookcase on graph paper, I had visions of this great project being a big portfolio builder and thought of the compliments I would gain from it. But also, I began thinking of all the parts, especially the many molding pieces that would have been necessary for this project and my excitement started to fade. Plus, this project would have taken me the better part of a year to complete and I would not have made any money on it. Here are some close-ups...

A strong base. I like the double layer base to the columns. All of the base cap moldings were drawn as separate pieces and then moved into place. This is very time consuming. I later found a better way to do this.

Columns continue. I kept working on a way for the column to continue to the upper bookcase. Note the lower bookcase table top and how it extends outward at each column. This is the first time I have drawn raised panels in SketchUp.

A first. For the first time, I actually drew the quarter round molding located under the table top separatly from the bookcase. Normally, I draw the quarter round profile in place and then make it wrap around the furniture (problematic because it is difficult to make them components while they are in place). Here I drew a line that followed the path the molding would take, cut it and pasted it next to the bookcase. I then drew the profile and made it follow that path. I made components of each piece, grouped them and then moved the group in place. Worked like a charm and a lot easier than the base cap molding which I drew as separate pieces.

Second attempt at crown molding. I originally drew a three piece molding which ended up being way too big and bulky. This simple crown worked much better. I also used the new follow-me procedure on the crown as well as the hide feature, which was new to me (to see how this is done, see the Dave Richards post on FWW.com about it here).

I worked on this on and off for several days during the week. I tried a lot of new tricks in SketchUp for this illustration, so this was a good exercise. It was also good to see what this design would look like in 3D.

UPDATE 9/2/2011: See a related post, "The evolution of a bookcase design" by clicking here.

The TV Console Project
I had planned a TV console update this weekend, but there is not a lot to report. I am currently smoothing out one of the glue-ups that will become the sides. Three boards glued together - the middle one warped upward forming a hump that I am removing. I worked like crazy on it today, generating so much saw dust and shavings that I once again got the electric blower out, raised the garage doors and blew all of it outside.

I used my new cabinet scraper, an old block plane as well as a bench plane that I had lost, but found it. I am such a novice with hand planes - I may take a course on hand tools or something like that. There is still some work to do on this panel and then it is on to gluing up the sides and the base. But that will be for a post next week.

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Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. Or jump over to Facebook and leave me a message. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to Wood Fever.net by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

TV Console: construction begins

Refinements. I draw my project full size on a scrap sheet of MDF making slight adjustments to it's size. Note the paper cup and washer I use to help me draw the circular parts of the bracket feet (click to enlarge).

So I have recovered from the installation of my new HDTV in my entertainment center and have turned my attention to the TV console project (completion of my built-in project is on hold until I complete the TV console). One of the things I want to do with the TV console project is to spend a little more time on the design aspect of it.

I have been very pleased with the SketchUp drawings of this piece (see them here). But, I know from past experience that just because something looks good on paper or on a computer screen, doesn't mean that it looks just as good in real life.

With the TV console project, even though I very much like the design, I was concerned that the SketchUp illustration captured the true size of what I had drawn. After all, this project as designed is less than two feet tall - it is pretty small, so I decided that a full size drawing was needed (photo above).

A nice surprise. The African mahogany. Two of the boards are over 15" wide - purchased from Bell Forest Products. Three of the smaller boards have warped pretty significantly since arrival.

Sunday afternoon, my Dad stopped by and looked at the beautiful African mahogany that had arrived and we discussed the size of the project. Two things emerged from this meeting. I ultimately decided to make the TV console slightly taller, and I thought the bracket feet looked a little small. So I enlarged them slightly. Since the early stages of a project can be sort of boring (I mean how exciting are photos of me gluing two boards together?), I plan to go over these design changes in more detail as the TV console starts to take shape.

Under way. The first step is to glue up boards which will become the bottom of the TV console. I use one of the wide boards for this. The color match is pretty good (I love the color of this wood).

Thank goodness for Thanksgiving. The upcoming holiday will give me time to continue with the glue-ups so that I (hopefully) will have the basic box of this project completed by the weekend.

To see all the posts on this project, click here. This is post five in this series.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. Or jump over to Facebook and leave me a message. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to Wood Fever.net by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

My favorite on-line source for quality lumber.

An entertainment center upgrade

I have the very unusual situation of having three projects going on at one time: the built-in project for my daughter's bath, the TV console for my Dad and today, I am tackling a modest upgrade to our entertainment center. See below:

Cramped. It is tight quarters in my shop. In the foreground, the African mahogany for the TV console project and you can see the built-in in the background. Note that I have had to use a ladder as I work on the built-in.

And a mess. The modification to the entertainment center is on my outfeed table. I have allowed my shop to become a mess. Note the area in the far background - this is future expansion for my shop. Right now, it is a home for some of our junk.

My entertainment center (EC for short) was a monster project from about six or seven years ago (see my post about it here, including a "before" photo with the old TV). At that time, TVs were square and deep. Now they are rectangular and skinny. To maximize the TV size, I decided to fore go a table top stand and mount the TV to the back of the EC. The problem is, the back is too deep, so I need to build a mount to move the TV forward in the opening.

My project for today. I have taken a few pieces of scrap plywood and fabricated this mount. The base will rest against the back of the entertainment center (screwed in place) and in the photo above, I have added a cleat which will be screwed into the shelf above. The whole thing will be spray painted flat black.

Clever. I thought this was a stroke of genius. My EC weighs a ton and we have nice oak flooring that I don’t want to scratch. To eliminate this possibility, I use a car jack to raise the entertainment center and I then place scrap carpet underneath the feet which enables me to slide the EC forward gaining access to the wires in the back.

Pre-installation. Here is the cavity the old TV resided in. Note the cut-out in the back. To minimize the width of the sides, I allowed the TV to stick out through the back a couple of inches.

Ready for the TV. Here, the mount is in place. I eventually remove it, because the bottom of the TV hits the table top. I move the mount upward about 1/8” and the TV fits.

Installed. The TV fills the opening in the EC – there is only a fraction of an inch clearance on all four sides. There were not many 37” TVs to choose from at Best Buy. This is the highest resolution model I could find that filled the opening.

I still have some wiring to do. I have to admit, I got confused with all the wiring. Some of my components are new and some are older, so I have various levels of technology, for instance I have four HDMI inputs on my TV, but none of my components utilize HDMI. I spent at least an hour or more working through the best way to connect everything.

But this was a quick project as far as the woodworking is concerned. The big take-away from this project is to plan everything out in advance. The little mount I made worked as planned, but I had to design it so that it could be easily removed. The TV fits so tightly to it’s opening that to change any of the wires, I will have to un-screw the mount and slide all of it forward with out scratching the finish on the table top.

I have plans to design a new EC that will allow me to move up to an even larger TV. When that happens, the lower section of my current EC will become a chest of drawers. But, this is a project that is several years away, because this weekend upgrade extends my current EC's life a few more years.

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Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. Or jump over to Facebook and leave me a message. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to Wood Fever by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

Internet overload

When I started this blog a little over a year ago, I had no idea how large the internet woodworking community is. And I keep learning each week just how massive the number of resources are - and there are some excellent resources.

There are blogs everywhere. There are many video blogs and audio blogs - some very well done which begs the question, "How do these guys find time to produce and upload these files; do woodworking, and hold down a day job?" And what about the wife? My wife thinks I spend waaayyyy to much time on the internet as it is, and I don't do video posts.

It is a wonder that I get any comments on my own blog, simply due to the sheer volume of blog posts to look at. I am having to limit the amount of time I spend looking at cool projects on blog after blog after blog (I can barely keep up with stuff in my own blog roll). Of course, a helpful tool for blog management is my Google Reader where I can quickly scan tons of websites for the information that interests me most. So, to viewers of this blog post, I offer a sincere "thank you" because just visiting my blog is an accomplishment unto itself.

One blog that I would highly recommend is The Woodworker's Journey. This blog, run by Adam King, offers some truly good information about the business side of woodworking and Adam's site already features an excellent audio interview with Michael Fortune.

Another resource packed site is Fine Woodworking.com and the various blogs they offer. Just going through these posts could keep me busy for hours (they have an excellent SketchUp blog and some really cool video posts).

As you can see in my right sidebar, I have a Facebook account and I have been disappointed with the low volume of valuable woodworking information there. The Facebook groups I have become a fan of are filled with spam, especially the 15,000 woodworking plans folks. If I see another piece of spam from those guys, I think I'll scream.

Twitter, though has been very much worthwile for me. I did not like it at first, but I have discovered a large woodworking community there where some very good information is exchanged. So, if you are a woodworker, get a Twitter account and start playing around with it. I found out about the Woodworker's Journey through Twitter.

Then there are a number of large woodworking forums. I have signed up at Tommy Mac's woodworking forum, Woodtalk Online's forum, and the WoodNet forum. I have not yet posted anything on these forums, but already, I can see that I will have to basically pick one to live on and I am leaning towards the Woodtalk forum simply because I have signed up for their podcasts.

And that is another thing, if you don't have time to listen to an audio blog post or watch a video blog post, in some cases, you can download them to your iPod or iPhone and listen to them while you drive. I listened to three excellent podcasts yesterday by Adam King as well as some good stuff from Matt's Basement Workshop. I am even going to have to limit the things I download.

To me, all of this is amazing, but something to be controlled. Last night I had planned an our or so of shop time, but it didn't happen because I was messing around on the internet.

Beth's built-in: stain completed

Curious spots. After drying for almost a week, I sanded the stain off all the drawer fronts. Then, stain began wicking up through the pores in the oak - very much unexpected (click the photo to enlarge).

I am at the point in this project where progress isn’t that noticeable. And, my work week was very hectic – some early morning travelling which eliminated before work shop time. And the same was true in the evenings for much of the week. I put up a message on Twitter (I refuse to call them “tweets”) about how my day job was really interfering with my woodworking. Oh well, I have to keep in mind that my day job is what enables us to pay the bills…

I spent some time Friday morning sanding the stain off the drawer faces. The stain was a little spotty and I was hoping that sanding it off and re-applying stain would eliminate some of this – and it did, but I discovered something surprising. After six days of drying time, stain wicked up to the surface of the oak (see the photo above). I have seen this happen with oak while the stain was still wet, but the surface had long dried. I sanded it off as best I could and then re-applied the stain.

A nice morning on the screen porch. After re-staining the drawer fronts, I set them out on the screen porch to dry. The cool sun light on the drawer faces kept the wicking problem to a minimum.

This built-in will reside in a cavity I found adjacent to my daughter's small bathroom. This cavity is exposed to the attic above, so this built-in will undergo some significant changes in temperature through the year (one of the reasons I selected plywood for the case of this project). I am going to do everything I can think of to protect the parts of the built-in that face this area. This includes two coats of exterior paint. I am even thinking about attaching insulation to it somehow.

Primer. Here I apply a coat of primer to an area to be painted. All of the joints will be caulked prior to the final coat of paint.

Ready for polyurethane. The sides and back have been painted and I have fussed with the stain all I am going to. Next up: application of the polyurethane.

Since this built-in will reside in a bathroom, it will be subject to considerable moisture - specifically steam from hot showers on cold winter mornings. I will brush on two coats of gloss polyurethane followed by a final coat of wipe-on satin.

I have yet another project to tackle. Today, the wife and I bought a new high def TV. We are probably the last ones on our street to get one. Our old TV has been a good one, but thankfully, it is starting to mess up, so a new one is in order.

I will have to build a false back for my entertainment center in order to mount the TV to it. I have limited space (a 37" TV was the largest size that would fit the opening) and I don't want to use the desk-top stand which would just take up space. I need to have this figured out by next weekend, so I am not sure how much time I will have for the built-in this week.

And, the African mahogany for my Dad's TV console should arrive towards the end of the week. A lot going on in my workshop right now!

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. Or jump over to Facebook and leave me a message. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to Wood Fever by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

TV Console: an update

There are certain things I can point to as advancements in my journey as a woodworker. There was my shop class at the University of Alabama where I was introduced to many wonderful power tools. Then there was the day my Dad and I went to Sears to purchase my first table saw. There was the day my wife and I moved into our current home which has a basement large enough for me to set up a little woodworking shop. A few years ago, I started an effort to upgrade my stationary tools – over time, I purchased a new Jet table saw, a Delta dust collector and a Jet band saw.

Today was a first for me and yet another step forward. I purchased 40 board feet of African mahogany from Bell Forrest Products for use on my upcoming TV console project (thanks to Dyami at The Penultimate Woodshop for the tip about Bell Forrest Products). This is important because it moves me from just the hobbyist woodworker who goes down to the Home Depot and picks up a few 1 x 6’s as need be to one who calculates the necessary board feet of his project and places an order for unique lumber. Sort of cool, really.

Design selection
I met with my Dad a little over a week ago and showed him the two designs I created for his TV console project. The winning design (shown above) is no surprise since it more closely fits the traditional look of his home.

The African mahogany for his TV console should arrive in a little over a week, so until then, I will continue to work on the built-in project.

To see all the posts on this project, click here. This is post four in this series.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. Or jump over to Facebook and leave me a message. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to Wood Fever.net by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.

My favorite on-line source for quality lumber.

Beth's built-in: laying down some stain

Guess what I've been doing. It's time for stain on my built-in project.

Well, I've been doing a couple of things actually. First, I have been trying to find a local source for mahogany without success. Don't get me wrong, we have mahogany in central Alabama, but not much of it. I also have been adding stain to my built-in project. In the photo above, I have pulled out various leftover cans of stain and I went through several of them testing stain color on some scrap oak. The bathroom where the built-in will reside has a oak vanity which I made a number of years ago. Problem is, I can't remember the stain color. After testing, I determined that Puritan Pine is the color I need.

This morning. Here is the project as it looked this morning.

During the week, I started applying stain to the inside of the top section. I got a coat on the back and both sides of the shelves when I started to run out of stain. And guess what? Puritan Pine is no longer available at both Lowes and the Home Depot. It is not even listed on the sample color pamphlet in these stores. Dang! I already have part of my project stained and I run out of it!!!

As I drove home Wednesday, I remembered an old hardware store, Bluff Park Hardware - and since they are a "Mom and Pop" store, they don't just throw away old inventory. They not only had a can of Puritan Pine; they had three of them. So I am in good shape on this project, but this was a real scare for sure.

Pretty simple. I love staining oak. It is about as simple as it gets.

To apply the stain, I get some throw away chip brushes, brush on the stain, and with an old t-shirt, I wipe the excess off and let it dry. And then I put a box fan on the whole thing because the stain stinks something fierce. I am going to once again look into aniline dyes for my next project just because of the stench from oil based stains.

Currently. There is some slightly wierd grain on the drawer fronts, but I am pretty pleased with the results.

In the coming week, I will begin applying the wipe on polyurethane. And, I will hopefully get to work on the TV console project.

To see all the posts on this project including design aspects, click here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. Or jump over to Facebook and leave me a message. My email is jobranch@yahoo.com. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to Wood Fever by clicking here.

My top three projects:

1. My coffered ceiling project. 2. The Scott Bookcase. 3. My foyer project.