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A New Project

Welcome to the next post on my journey into my www (wonderful world of woodworking).  I am in the process of building a cabinet/ tool bench to house my shop vac to reduce the noise.  I am modifying plans that I found on that other www (world wide web), to be a bit bigger to accommodate a dust cyclone that will reduce the amount of dust collected in the shop vac and make it easier to get rid of off the sawdust.

I purchased the wood needed and cut it down to the size for the cabinet.  I did not have to change the thickness of this wood, so not as many toothpicks this time.  The plans I am following require that I rout out some channels that the sides will sit in.  I thought, no problem.  I have a router and have it installed in a section of my table saw, so I would be able to use the table’s fence to ensure that the channels are set to the correct depth and are nice and straight and parallel.   I started on the top section to rout out the first channel.  No problem, everything worked as planned.  Then I switched to the bottom panel to create the same channel.  
 
My first pass was not as neat as the top one.  So I ran it through again.  I looked at it and noticed that I wasn’t getting a consistent depth, which resulted in a third pass.  I should mention that the depth of the channel is set so I can’t go too deep.  Finally, I made a third pass putting what I thought was the right pressure on the piece of wood as it went over the router bit.  Everything was great until I got to the end of the board.  Then I realized that I should have supported the board on the long end instead of just holding it.  This resulted in the wood changing direction.  My perfect pass now looks like a squiggly line that a kid would draw with a crayon.  My only saving grace is that the depth of the squiggly line was perfect.  If only the sides of the cabinet were squiggly.  Luckily I can flip the board over and hide it on the bottom.  
 
I don’t consider this a failure.  This is what some would call a “teachable moment”.  So I will take it as such and support the long end of the wood when I get back to working on it.  I am sure that this is far from my last teachable moment as I progress.   
 
BTW, there are technical terms for the channels and other things I described above, but I have no idea as to what they are.  Maybe  the deeper I get into the www these terms will be at the tip of my fingers and someone who is fully ensconced in the www will stop laughing and understand what I am trying to say.  
 
I will post pictures of the finished product when I get there.  Seeing as I started this project about 2.5 weeks ago, the finished product maybe a long, long way away.  
 
Until the next time.  (I really should come up with a catch phrase for ending my posts).
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Back at it

Well, here is my first post in a long, long while.  I am sitting on the train to Quebec City to pick up a car and not able to sleep.  Therefore, I am going to update the blog. I am actively seeking a side hustle for when I retire as I probably won’t be able to live the life I am accustomed to while working.  Sounds like I am getting a divorce and negotiating alimony.  I guess that is an accurate description of the way I feel at the moment.  I have to say that the “trial separation” that I am experiencing right now feels good.  Except for the reasons I am separated that is. So, getting back to my side hustle.  I have decided that woodworking is one of the ways I am going to make some extra cash.  After all, I have a couple of tools that woodworkers have.  I have a table saw, a drill press, and assorted hand tools.  How difficult can it be to create masterpieces out of wood that people want to part with their cash to obtain.  Well, let me tell you, it ain’t that easy. I purchased plans to build the 9” cross that you see in the picture here.  Then I bought the wood in the 3 different colours needed.  Then I joined the Ottawa City Woodshop that has all of the tools that I need but don’t have.  I spent some time in the shop and planed the wood down to the thicknesses needed for the cross.  In the process, when trying too hard to get the correct thickness, I turned a very expensive piece of wood into toothpicks. I was all proud of myself when I reduced the wood down to what I thought was the right size, only to measure it and find out that it was to thin to use as I intended.  Back to the wood store.  This time I got the wood close to the right size and you can see the results. When I assembled and glued the pieces of the cross together, I thought that everything was perfect.  Then I took the clamps off and took a good look at the finished piece.  I can see about a hundred mistakes in my workmanship.  There are pieces that are not cut square, a couple that were not perfectly aligned as the glue dried and various other flaws that I notice but may pass inspection by others.  My only solace is that I will keep this cross as a reminder of my first piece and how much I have to improve if I want this to be my ticket to the lifestyle to which I am accustomed. I intend to keep you up to date with my progression into the wonderful world of woodworking (www) as I go along. I have several projects that I intend to build and possibly sell when I feel the products are worthy. Stay tuned.
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Changes

Hi there.  Changes to the site are coming along slowly.  I just changed the theme to see what would happen.  It looks good so far but the masses will let me know.  Just need to figure out how to customize this theme to get rid of the ugly pink colours.  We will get rid of those ugly colours soon!