Mum and Dad flew home Tuesday, and it's been a little quiet here. My youngest daughter keeps saying Grandad's in the shower, he'll be out soon. No---she's old enough to know better, she's saying it to be funny.
Before they left, Dad and I all but built a new bookcase. I have still to finish it (sand, stain, wax), and I need to cut a couple more shelves. But all in all, it's done. We built it seven feet tall, and put in brass pilasters to make the shelves adjustable. So given that many or most of my books are undersized, I figure I can get 7--10 shelves in this one. They're 28 inches wide and 10 inches deep, so that's a lot of storage. I can hardly wait to get it done! I plan on a trip to Lowe's tonight to get a couple more 1X10 boards, which will become about six more shelves.
I did learn an interesting thing on this project: we bought a 5/8" straight-cut router bit to cut dadoes to hold the shelving pilasters. So rather than the cheap bits I have, I bought a decent (probably not "good", but decent) Bosch blade. Wow! No more working in 1/16" at a time: this puppy chewed a 5/8X5/8 groove in one pass! That makes it definitely worth it. I've spent too much of my life working a router slowly into some stock: had I known how much my cheap bits were slowing me down, I'd have bought better ones a long time ago.
So when I go to get some shelving stock tonight, I'll buy some new bits too.
Now, a bookcase is the most basic thing you can make, but I am making a few of them, and proud of them. Why? Because I'm using them as test projects to try and learn to do stuff right. This one was made way better than my last one: I cut tongues and grooves in stock to create a ladder-like side panel, whose gaps I filled with inset plywood. So it looks way better than my previous bookcase. Next time, I'll so something almost exactly the same, but I'll make better joints on the sides: next time I'll make comb or dovetail joints.
Eventually I'll learn this stuff. I love working with wood, but my passion far outstrips my skill.
4 comments:
Last night on CBC there was a special "50 Greatest Canadian Inventions" show. I found out that you don't have Robertson screws in the States! I was shocked. I had no idea! Just one more reason to move back...
(insulin won, btw)
There goes Gwen, looking for a fight, AGAIN! Wikipedia says that about 10% of screws sold in The Land of The Free are Robertsons. However, to be fair I'll check it out the next time I'm at Lowe's. You gotta be careful about all that "Canada-is-so-much-better-that-than-the-U.S." proganda. They're pulling the wool over your eyes. Get out, now, while you still can. Just let me know when you need the names and places of the Underground Railroad.
It's an idea. But do you have insulin there?
Gwen, Gwen, Gwen, you forget to whom you speak. I can get you what you need. Just say the word
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