Inset Shelf in the Basement

A couple years after we moved into our house, the furnace exhaust pipe started to leak water where it entered the chimney. The flue gases were cooling too much, which caused the water vapor to condense and rust through the flue pipe. This is due to the fact that neither our general contractor nor the mason that worked on the chimney could read and understand blueprints. Rather than putting the chimney flue inlet on the side of the chimney that's in the furnace room, they put it at the bottom of the basement stairs outside of the furnace room. Since the basement is cooler than the furnace room, the water vapor condenses and can cause trouble. (Side note here: when you own a house it's all about water. You have to make sure it goes where you want it and never goes where you don't.) We got it fixed eventually by installing a very expensive length of insulated stainless steel flue pipe. Before we got there, though, I thought that if I could equalize the temperatures between the two spaces, the condensation may not build up. So to that end, I took out a section of drywall in the furnace room wall. Of course, that didn't work, and now we had a big old hole in the furnace room wall: definitely not up to code. Hence, this set of shelves.

I used left over trim from the porch project to make these shelves. They sit right in the spot I cut out and actually look like they belong there.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason I did not fire up the compressor and use my finish nailer for this project. I went old school and used a hammer and nails. I managed just fine, but the nailer would have been helpful for those times when I was holding wood with one hand and needed to pop a nail in. To me, that's the primary benefit of using a nail gun: when you work alone, you don't have the extra set of hands to hold things together while you nail them. Being able to pop one in easily without a lot of fuss makes a big difference.

Here's the hammer I used. This one belonged to my brother Jamie and I've held on to it since we were kids. We each got one for Christmas one year; I think I was 8 or 9. Anyway, it's a special tool that I'm glad I have around and can still use.

Basically, I built a box that was half an inch smaller in height and width than the hole I was trying to fill. After making sure it fit, I added the shelves, nailed the back on, and attached the trim. Then, from the back, I used some window shims to get it in nice and snug. A few finish nails hold it in place.

Handmade Christmas 2014

I had a great time this year making Christmas gifts and one (late) birthday gift. You can see most of the gifts I made in this photo. The only thing missing is the scarf. I didn't want to bring that down to the shop as there was a good chance that it would have gotten covered in saw dust!
Click on the links to see details about all the things I made.

Infinity Scarf
Lap Desk
Gift Boxes
Candle Sconce
Universal Joint Model (This is the birthday gift)

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Model Universal Joint

Model Universal Joint

I've been wanting to make this model of a universal joint for years and this is the year I decided to actually do it. Milling up the parts was very, very time consuming and fussy but I think I did OK given that this is my first time at trying to create very accurate parts.
Here are the pieces that will become the forks. The larger one is actually in a U-shape, which you'll see later.

I pre-drilled everything because working with the larger blanks is way easier and safer than trying to drill small parts.

Here are the parts after cutting them out of the blanks. Now you can see the U-shape of the forks.

I decided to stain some parts a contrasting color just for visual appeal so I created these little hangers to allow the parts to dry after staining.

Here they are drying after being stained.

It was easy to urethane the square pieces after slipping them on this dowel.

 Here's one half of one of the joints before assembly. I used the pennies as spacers so that I could apply some pressure to get the dowels in without worrying about breaking the fork, which was a bit delicate.

Next, I used a Dremel cut-off wheel to cut the short pins for the joints. This was way, way easier and safer than doing it on the chop or table saw. I used the scrap from another christmas gift to hold the dowel steady while I cut the pieces.

Here's one fork in the process of being assembled. The pennies really helped. I put a dab of super glue on each pin to hold it in place.

Two forks, assembled.

Two forks joined with a drive shaft.

Here are the joined forks on the base plate. I wanted to have them offset as much as possible to really get a sense of how the thing works.

Progressing towards mounting them on their base. Input and output shafts in place. That's the partial base in the background with its finish started, too. (In case you missed it in passed posts: those plastic triangles that the base is sitting on are the best thing ever for finishing projects. They are super stable, do not leave a mark and get the pieces and parts off of the bench, which is awesome.)

And here it is assembled and finished. The left-hand mounting block isn't perfectly square, which is a bummer, but I didn't notice until after I had glued and screwed it in place.

I've been wanting to build this model of a universal joint for years and years. I'm happy with how it turned out and am looking forward to giving it away, as that was also been my desire for years and years. I hope the recipient likes it since we haven't talked about how cool universal joints are for about 15 or 20 years. Yes, I've wanted to do this project for that long.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Pipe Candle Sconce

Pipe Candle Sconce

Here's a fun, quick gift. I got all the parts at Home Depot for not very much money. The hardest part of this gift is scraping the price tag and the tape that holds it on off of the nipples!
This isn't a great photo but I couldn't put it in a decent place to photograph it without giving away the surprise.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Gift Boxes

Wooden Gift Boxes

I go to breakfast with a couple buddies almost every week. We've been doing it for over 10 years. They've started giving Christmas gifts so I figured I should get with the program. My gift is very simple but it starts with a homemade box for each of them. This is a pretty standard box that I like to make and they're pretty easy. I'll make lids for them this year which will be fun.
I start by cutting a dado on one edge to take the bottom. Since I'm building a lid that'll fit over the top like a shoebox, I only cut one dado on the bottom. Then I cut the miters.

After cutting the bottom, I glue it all up with my handy strap clamp. I love this thing.

After the glue has cured for about an hour but before it's hard, I get in the corners with a chisel to take out the squeeze out. Works like a charm.

To make the tops, I built another box with both the top and bottom in place. I'll slice it apart on the table saw.

Here's how I slice open the box to create two tops. I used a window shim for the last cut to keep it as even as possible when I ran it over the blade. This helped a LOT to make the cut nice and even.

Here they are right before finishing.

And here they are in the middle of being finished. I had so many gifts to urethane this year that I got a headache.

I filled the cups with Champlain Chocolates and stuffed the boxes with red packing paper to add a festive touch.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Wooden Lap Desk

Lap Desk

The second gift I made this year is a bed tray. My younger daughter spends a lot of time in bed playing minecraft and chatting with her friends so I thought she might like a little tray to keep her laptop off her legs and give her a level spot for a cup of tea, too.
I started with some nice, clear 1x3 pine. I ripped about 1/2" off of one board, cut them very roughly to length and then glued and nailed them together.

Then I cut them to length with the 45 degree angle on each end. Basically, picture a thick (and crude) picture frame.

I then glued it up.

Just a quick side note here. I've been using the Home Depot's craft wood for years because I don't have a planer so it's easier to buy it already dimensioned. The trouble is that they slap this crappy sticker on every single piece and it's a pain to get off. Well, this year I thought of heating up the sticker with a blow dryer and then peeling it off. It worked like a charm!

I cut the slats for the top next. I made them about 1" wide and I wasn't really sure how many would fit or if it'd have to adjust any for thickness, etc.

I came up with a great system for spacing them out. Most are 3-pennies apart with a few that are just 2 pennies apart. It worked perfectly and they're all symmetrical.

Here it is with the top all glued and nailed on before I made the legs or put any finish on it.

I decided not to get too fancy with the legs, so they are fixed in place. They're glued and nailed so I think they should be sturdy enough. If they're too short, I can add extentions.

And here it is upright and ready for finishing.

I used my usual clear varnish finish. I put two coats on with light sand after each coat. Nice and smooth and it won't absorb any spilled tea.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Infinity Scarf

This scarf is my first handmade Christmas gift of 2014. I got ahead of the curve this year and finished this one before Thanksgiving. That may be a record for me!
I pretty much followed this YouTube tutorial to do it.
It took 3 skeins of super bulky yarn and an 11.5 mm "P" hook.

Since it's an infinity scarf and I want Helen to be able to wrap it around her neck three times, I started with a 72" chain.

Here's my progress after 1 complete skein. You can see that there's at least one extra twist in this photo (foreshadowing!).
(I'm not sure why it's so blue in this photo. It doesn't look that blue in reality. At least, not to me.)

Here it is after 2 skeins. Kinda twisty.

So enough suspense: it was so twisted when I finished (at least three twists: I have no idea how I did that) that I pulled the whole thing apart and started from scratch. I basically got the hang of the half-double-crochet stitch about two thirds of the way through the first scarf so the second time went much quicker AND I only have one twist. I'm really pleased with how it came out. I sure hope she likes it!

Post Script

I liked crocheting the first scarf so much, I made a second one just for the hell of it. Different color, same pattern.