Pinned Drawer Joints

This is what I mean by pinned drawers. A drawer does not have to be dovetailed to showcase craftsmanship although that is what tradition is. Pins can just be just as elegant and still be strong.

Guest Bath Vanity

Construction wise, the woods are similar to the Master Bath vanity. The granite top is cashmere white. The drawers are not dovetailed but instead rabbeted and pinned with walnut pins. The contrasting color of the dark walnut and the light colored poplar is really striking.

The Dovetail Work

There is a lesson in this illustration - in that man usually looks at beauty from the outside. The Creator always sees the beauty as more than skin deep. In this case, creator (small c) shows that, the dovetail work is meticulously done the old fashioned way - with a dovetail saw and chisels. The approach I use is patterned after that of Rob Cosman, the master of handcut dovetails. There is a video on YouTube where Rob Cosman does one of these joints in less than 3 minutes. I am not that fast but not terribly slow either. I start with the tail board and cut the tails with the dovetail saw - very sharp progressive pitch saw of Rob Cosman's manufacture. I rough cut the waste with a coping saw. And then I chisel to the line made by the marking knife. Rob is fast because he chisels so little away. He cuts very much closer to the line with a fret saw. Then comes the pin board which is marked with a knife using the tail board. The key is to precisely cut the waste so the fit is tight. Better to be a shade too tight than too loose. Care pays with a sweet looking - tight fitting joint. The sides are made from poplar. Drawer slides are made by Blum, the invisible variety.

Tub Surround

The tub surround has matching woodwork to the vanity - again raised panel construction from African and South American mahoganies. The tile work is done by "yours truly" for a change. My wife usually does most of the tile work but not this time. Tile layout is courtesy of my graphic designer son Jonathan

Master Bath Vanity

Well.... It took a while but now that it's done we can enjoy it. The stiles are made from Sapele (also known as African mahogany). The rails as well as the raised panels are from Honduras mahogany. The countertop is a granite stone from Brazil no longer obtainable by the supplier - so it is going to be rare to find this stone. The mirror frame is likewise from the same materials. The mirror glass was sourced from H&H Glass in Easley.

My Uncle Rafael in My Shop

Good wide angle shot of my shop during my uncle's visit

What About The Incra Fence?

I have not totally abandoned the Incra1000SE fence system. For really precision work, I use it exclusively with the Incra Miter Sled shown here. This is my go to system for making rails and stiles on raised panel cabinet doors to make perfectly repeatable square cuts. The Incra stop is superior to the Kreg in one aspect, the ability to position the stop precisely against the table saw blade since it has micro-adjusters on the stop. The miter angles can be set to increments 1/10th of 1 degree using a vernier on the miter gauge. But like I said in the previous post, my everyday fence is the Kreg, except for when I really need to be precise in which case, this is the system I go to.

Fence Storage

When not in use, the fence stores on the saw horse which makes it quite handy. There is a 10mm wrench within arms reach for removing the splitter on the saw.

Table Saw Secrets - About Miter Fences

My go to miter fence for everyday work is a cobbled up combination of the Kreg fence and an Incra V27 miter gauge. The great thing about the Kreg is about the ability to mount a sacrificial wood fence which reduces tearout and backs up small pieces. The wood fence comes in handy in registering where the saw cut will be by the fresh saw cut on the sacrificial wood fence. You can also mount a wood fence on the Incra Miter1000 but the stop does not work well with it. The Kreg stop is designed to accomodate a sacrificial wood fence. Notice on the left is a saw horse which is adjustable to the height of the saw table. It has an UHMW plastic top which aids in sliding large pieces across the table.

Router Table Improvements

The router table box I built in 2008 has worked great. I just needed a home for the collet wrench and so I built an outside pocket. The doors are also quicker to remove to make adjustments. I removed the thumbscrews and replaced it with wooden latches. There is no substitute for a straight and solid fence for most every day routing tasks. I have a special fence for the large blades used in making raised panel cabinet doors. You are probably wondering - why build a box? Anyway, there is a 4 inch vacuum line connected to my dust collector. The fence also has a port for a 2 inch vacuum hose found on most shop vacs. I really haven't found the necessity to connect the shop vac. The box mounted vacuum works that well.

Tool Cabinet - Inside

The inside section is getting a little crammed. There is a holder which I built for the jack plane. Also the Stanley Bailey #4 smoother has a new rosewood handle. There is also a new Titemark marking gage on the door. The dovetail drawers a.re full of little treasures like a Lie-Nielsen dovetail marking gage and rosewood handled marking knives. The top shelf has a Rob Cosman dovetail saw inside the box jointed walnut box. You cant see it very well but there is a set of Kirsch chisels on the inside portion of the right outside door. See my September 2008 blog post for the initial look at this tool cabinet.

Improvements to the Shop - Tool Cabinet

Since I completed this cabinet in 2008, it has been populated with more tools and so I had to add additional places for tools to hang or be stored. All my router bits are now on the left side along with the Sorby lathe chisels. Other tool additions include a Woodriver #3 smoothing plane, a Woodriver standard block plane and a Lie-Nielsen rabbet block plane. I use pocket screws quite a bit and so I have a place on the right side of the cabinet for the small boxes of Kreg pocket screws in various sizes and a shelf for my numerous Fastcap tape measures.

Guitar Chair - Fold Out Foot Rest

Here some detailed views showing how the fold out footrest works.

Guitar Chair - Additional Views (Folded)

This is the guitar chair in the folded position. It folds flat to a thickness of about 5 inches. The wood is mahogany and it is finished in Danish oil.

Best Ever Guitar Chair

It has been a while since I posted status on any new project. This is a project I embarked on a few months ago. I have been searching the internet for a folding guitar chair that I can use for playing classical guitar. I found one and built a prototype out o plywood just to see how well it worked. I was disappointed. It was unstable because it has only a swing out leg. I proceeded to build a prototype with two swing out legs and with 4 points of support it is a LOT more stable. Also a feature I added is a fold out leg support which is a substitute for using a footstool. It raises the left leg the same height as my custom built footstool. For you guitarists out there looking for a unique chair on which you can practice for hours, this might be the one. The back is sloped to support the lower lumbar area. The seat is cutaway to facilitate lowering the right leg for that classic position.

Reloading Bench Unfolded

With the top up, the top and press are solidly locked into the legs. The back is screwed to studs on the wall to take the leverage of the press. All the supplies are handily reachable from reloading manuals, dies and so forth.

Master Bedroom French Door

Finally finished the French Door that I built for the master bedroom. The rails, stiles and panels are all from select pine.

Finished Cabinet Drawers

Finally finished the drawers for my tool cabinet. The drawer fronts are cherry - no stain - just tung oil. The drawer runners are cherry as well. the drawer sides are poplar.

Sheet Goods Rack

Freshly stocked with plywood and african mahogany boards ready for projects. A 200 psi 17 gal compressor is in the background along with a wall mounted back.

Left Back Corner

The left corner has the planer - a Ridgid 4330, A Delta US made bandsaw - yes US made. Towards the back is rolling clamp rack (home made) and it contains a lot of clamps. To the right is a 1.5 hp dust collector. Against the wall are shelves for screws, router bits and power hand tools.