Argh… The tool hunt was a bust

Well we made it to the antique show and I looked all over the place and only found one vendor selling any tools and they were okay but nothing jumped out and said buy me.  So maybe next time.  There is supposed to be a bigger show next month so hopefully that will have some additional tools. I guess we will see.  We did however find a great little Windsor Chair.  I need to get it out in the shop and just make sure that everything is nice and tight and to get some photos.  I will try and take care of that tomorrow.  I would love to learn how to build these chairs they are suck a great chair.

We did get a chance to meet a couple of fellow bloggers from The Greentiques Solution and The French Maid’s Place.  They do some amazing work you should make sure and check out their blogs and see some of there work.

 

Till next time…..

Have a Great Day!

Let the tool hunt begin….

Today my wife, son and I are headed to the International Antiques and Collectibles Show.  I am on the hunt for some antique tools.  I am mainly looking for some hand planes maybe a couple of hand drills and pretty much any other thing I can find.  I am really looking forward to this.  I am hoping to find some good deals and can’t wait to restore these tools back to pristine condition.  It will also give me a chance especially with the hand planes to hone (you guys see what I did there) my sharpening skills.  I can honestly say when I was a kid I never thought I would look forward going to antique show.  My how a little bit of time changes things. 

I am kind of on this hand tool kick and want to get some of the older tools to give them a whirl.  I am a huge fan of Roy Underhill he is an amazing craftsman.  I can only hope to achieve half the skill that he has gained over his years of woodworking.  He has a school in Durham and I really hope to be able to take some classes with him and some of his other instructors.  I hate that I live 3.5hrs away.  I however will not let that stop me. 

Anyway…  I have been told that it is time to get ready and go….  I will post any great finds that I happen upon. 

Have a Great Day!

 

Technorati Tags: tools,woodworking,antiques,hand tools

Mirror makeover part 2

I finished the mirror this evening and got it installed.
Here are the photos.  I think it turned out great and my wife seems to love it. 

This is the before photo.







And here is the after.  Sorry for the bad pictures I didn’t feel like setting up the photo lights. 

If you have any questions let me know.








Have a Great Day!

Check out other projects part of Funky Junks SNS

Check out the projects on Today's Creative Blog

Technorati Tags: mirror,makeover,woodworking,kreg,country,frame

Mirror Makeover

A mirror, a stick of lumber, and a saw walk into a workshop…..

The other day I mentioned a series of projects that are about to begin at Grover Woodworks.  One project I failed to mention was a mirror makeover.  No this is a different one that the shutter mirror, we are getting to that, this was a quick makeover and I am not totally finished with it.  Tomorrow night I should have it totally painted and ready to install.  We decided we wanted a new mirror for our downstairs guest bathroom.  We looked around and found several that we like the cheapest being $40.  Being cheap frugal my wife and I both new I could build a better mirror for less.   We took a trip to one of our favorite bargain stores Big Lots and found this…..   It’s a little uglier in person.  Big Lots had this for $10.  I removed the mirror from the frame without killing the frame or the mirror.  We will reuse the frame for another project it will be modified as well. 

So tonight I decided it was time to make the frame for the mirror.  I took some extra sticks of lumber that I had left over from the shutter mirror project and built the frame using a miter saw and a Kreg Pocket Hole Jig.  I really like my pocket hole jig.  I need to upgrade to the K3 at least.  Anyway I digress..  After a little bit of planning, measuring and cutting I started to see the frame come together.  Here are a few of the pieces cut out for the frame.

 

 

 

 

Here I have drilled some of the pocket holes and have started to assemble the frame.  One thing I forgot to mention is the rabbet that I cut on all the frame boards.  I did this on my jointer as it has the ability to cut rabbets.  It’s a handy feature, you can also cut the rabbets on a table saw or use a router to cut the rabbets.   The frame is finally

complete and it’s actually pretty square.  There looks to be something a little wrong in this picture however.  Do you see the huge gap at the bottom.  Are my measuring skills really that bad can I not read a measuring tape.  The answer is probably yes no I planned it that way.  I planned it that way because I knew I wanted to add that shelf to the frame.  Wait there is still a really big hole.. :)  Oh yeah the mirror goes there.  Anyway..  I used some scrap wood to fill the gap at the bottom and a little more of the extra lumber to create a small simple shelf.  To make the corbels I took the same lumber and took my speed square and drew out the 45° angle.  I did however slide it over so that there is a small flat front on the corbel.  I used a small nail gun to attach the shelf and corbels to the frame.  Here is the mirror frame after a quick coat of paint.  I am happy about how it turned out.  We are going to try it in the guest bathroom and see how we like it.  If not I am sure we can find a spot for it somewhere in the house. 

As soon as we have it mounted in its permanent location I will post some final pictures for you to see.  To recap this project I am going to estimate that I have about $8 to $10 wrapped up.  The frame was $10, the wood was $1.97 a stick and I used just a little over  one stick and a little bit of paint, so I split the cost of the mirror $5 for this project plus lets call it $2.50 for wood and .50 in paint and screws.  All in all I am pretty pleased with the outcome.  I am getting more confident in my ability to use my tools and had a really good time tonight it was very relaxing.

Let me know what you think or if you have any questions feel free to comment or shoot me an email and as soon as I can get this thing done I will get the last couple of pictures posted. 

Have a Great Day!

Technorati Tags: Kreg,mirror,makeover,DIY,rabbet,corbel,biglots

Shop Clean up Reorganization, Projects, Projects and more Projects……

Well I have not had a lot going on in the shop lately.  That is getting ready to change.  I have a few new projects that are hitting the plate here.  So in an effort to prepare for them I spent a little time last night with my new shop helper wife cleaning up the shop.  Man can that woman can clean.  Now the shop is nice and clean and you can walk out there again.  Okay back to the projects.  I have a couple in progress that we will finish up, 1) The Restoration of the 5 Drawer Dresser should be coming to a close very soon.  I need to finish the stripping process and then repaint. 2) The shutter mirror is assembled and should be getting a few coats of paint over the next several days. 

Now on to the new projects.  I will be doing a build of a Rustic Jelly Cupboard with Punched Tin panels, I will be finishing out our downstairs  windows with the curtain shelves that I started.  These are super simple and look awesome when they are in place.  I will share some tips that I learned building the first two.  This is the first one that I built.  I know my wife is going to be excited since we get to go curtain shopping.  IKEA here we come.    I designed these using dimensioned lumber from the big box stores so that you only need a few basic tools.  3) I am also going to take the shop to the next level.  I am going to be building a Portable stand that will hold both my Lunchbox planer and Compound miter saw.  The top flips 360° so that one tool is on top and one tool is on the bottom out of the way, with it being on wheels I will be able to move it out of the way when not in use.  I also am going be building Cabinets for the shop to provide some needed storage for our tools as well as to get all of my wife’s stained glass out of harms way.  I plan on building these from plywood and lumber from the big box stores using a Kreg Pocket hole jig that I reviewed a few weeks ago.  Do you think that is enough?  Yeah I don’t either. 

So I am also going to be doing a review of the Kreg Crown Pro they are supposed to be available at most Lowe’s stores now.  It is supposed to simplify the process of cutting and installing crown molding.  We shall see.

This leads into the remake of one of our guest bedrooms, the 5 Drawer Dresser and Shutter Mirror are parts 1 and 2 the crown molding will be part 3 and the finale to the guest bedroom makeover will be a modified Farm House Bed designed by Ana at Knock Off Wood. 

Oh yeah and I am going to do a series on learning to hand cut dovetails.  Time to go buy some new tools.  I’m sure I will also get brave in all of this and add more projects. 

Okay well I have put it out there so I guess now I need to follow through.  Honey get ready it’s going to get dusty.

 

Have a Great Day!

Technorati Tags: makeover,woodworking,knock of wood,Kreg,Crown-Pro,Pocket Hole,Refinish,refurbish,DIY,Crown Molding