Midweek Sharpening Station Progress

 It's Wednesday and I should be in my shop. Instead I am writing a blog post about my mid-week progress and watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the spy/action movie with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. It's been a long week already and looking like it's going to be longer. I needed some decompressing time and while I enjoy my workshop time I really try to focus while I am working with power tools.

I left my Sunday post with adding/fitting the drawer fronts and applying a first coat of polyurethane. I got two more coats of polyurethane on the drawers and handles Monday and Tuesday. Tonight I put them all together with some 1-1/4 inch washer head screws. I think they are actually lath screws versus a wood working washer head screw but they get the job done.

It's looking pretty good for a piece of shop furniture if I do say so myself.

I reminded myself while I was putting the handles on all the drawers that math is hard. I'd thought I'd made enough handles for all the drawers and the door that is going on the right hand side but I came up with just enough for the drawers.

Fortunately I had a reserve handle sitting around in my hardware drawer. That's what's sitting on the top of the cabinet. When finish the door - probably this weekend - and finish it - probably next week - I'll also finish the extra needed door handle.

Anyway, I just figured I'd share the image of the cabinet with all the drawers. I love this phase of a project when you can see everything coming together. Right now I need to either go make some popcorn or maybe toaster-oven-smores.

Thoughts on Water Based Polyurethane

 My experience with water based polyurethane is pretty limited. I do have a couple of projects that were finished with water based polyurethane but I have to admit I had my wife finish them. I needed them finished before guests showed up and I had travel plans and couldn't do it myself. That was also close to two decades ago.

Many of the YouTube wood workers I watch will finish their shop projects with water based polyurethane. I figured I may as well give it a try on my sharpening station. There was going to be a lot of water involved anyway so why not protect it from getting wet. Or at least protect the wood from getting wet.

So I bought a quart of General Finishes water based polyurethane. I picked General Finishes because it is what my local Woodcraft store carried and I use their oil based Oil and Urethane varnish on most of my other projects. 

So far I have applied three coats to the case, drawer fronts, and handles. I'd been planning on putting even more coats on the case except I got bored. It isn't like I am going to be soaking the project in water. It is just going to have water splashed on it occasionally. The third coat went onto the drawer fronts and handles tonight.

I know it is durable because my other furniture - including my table saw outfeed table - has held up for close to 20 years. While I think I prefer the amber hue given by oil based polyurethane the color imparted by the water based is fine. The odor is certainly less objectionable. 

The main thing I don't like about it is the application. Sure, the brush cleans up with water but with my wipe on oil I could just drape the rag I was using over a saw horse or the edge of the table until it dried. Another difference is my wipe on polyurethane is thin enough that it self levels. I need to worry about leaving puddles but it stays wet so long I can just make sure to wipe down the project one final time and I don't have to worry about it. Speaking of wetness the water based poly dries quickly which is nice for being able to put multiple coats on in a day but I also have to be careful to keep a wet edge. Also, my wipe on poly dries (cures) quickly enough since it is large part mineral spirits to put multiple coats on in a day.

My gripes are pretty much what you expect with a water based polyurethane so there are no surprises there. But despite my griping I'll keep using it for shop projects. The low odor and sufficient protection is sufficient to sell me on at least that use. Bob Flexner says you cannot thin a water based polyurethane but this can says you can thin it by 10% with distilled water. I might try that next time to see if it reduces brush marks.

Sharpening Station Drawer Fronts

 I got my drawer fronts added today.

I pulled some 3/8 inch(ish) thick quarter sawn white oak out of my scrap bin. I'd ripped it for panels in one of my previous projects but I'd done an extremely poor job so they'd been set aside and re-milled. The were still flat enough for my purposes so I finished milling them down to about 1/4 inch thick. Then I cross cut them to length using my cross cut sled and ripped them to just wider than the drawer fronts.

I centered each drawer front by feel and aligned the false front with the bottom of the drawers, except for the bottom drawer which I let run long.

The drawers are sticking out in the above image because I haven't fit them yet.

I used the holes I drilled for the handles to hold the false fronts to the drawer boxes while the glue dried. After the glue dried I used my low angle block plane to shave the fronts down to get an even gap all around.

I was pretty happy with my construction. The top three drawers are interchangeable. The fourth drawer is the same height as the top three but unfortunately I must have changed my technique setting the runners as I needed to trim that drawer a bit shorter than the top three. No worries...  I don't see a great need to ever change the order of the drawers. I did miss getting a "good enough" centering on one of the drawers but again, if this was a non-shop project I would have taken more time.

After fitting the drawers I gave the fronts a quick sand with 120 grit sand paper in my random orbit sander softening the edges while I was at it. Then I took the drawers back to my new finishing room shared with our utilities and applied some more of the water based poly to the fronts and the drawer handles.

I didn't bother wetting the pieces and sanding them before putting the poly on them. I'll just sand the fuzz after the first coat dries. Also, I noticed as I was putting poly on the handles that I hadn't sanded them after rounding over the sharp edges. Again, I don't care. This is shop furniture and I'll sand the  worst of the fuzz off when I sand the poly.

I wanted to make more progress this weekend but I'm still happy with what I did get done. I'll get a few more coats of poly applied this week. I've got one last fitting I need to do on the drawers. One of the slides got set a little too close to the front so one of the drawers doesn't fit flush. My plan is to remove the recalcitrant drawer runner, sand the front back a little then return it to the case. So long as I am careful to not break the runner it should be fine. I'll probably put that fitting off until I go to reinstall the drawers.

Next up is the door for the right hand side and the back. The back will just be some 1/4 inch plywood, whatever I can find in my shop. Might be Baltic birch, I might have some red oak, or maybe it will just be some luan. I unfortunately ran out of the white oak board I used for the case. I fortunately have another short piece of white oak in my wood rack that I should be able to make the door out of. I'm a little disappointed I need to cut into another board. It's going over my wood "budget" a little bit but all my white oak is technically left-over wood from earlier projects so I guess it is okay. It is just opportunity cost against a future possible project.

Sharpening Stations Drawers Fit!

 

They fit...  THEY FIT!!!!  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....

If I hadn't been sitting on the floor I would have danced a jig!

Since my last blog post I put another two coats of water based polyurethane on my cabinet. I had to sand after the first coat because of the raised grain. I didn't necessarily have to after the second coat but I did anyway.

This afternoon I started by cutting my drawer slides to 13 inches using my cross-cut sled.

Then I used my stationary stander to round over one end of each runner. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of that. I basically just free-handed a slight round-over on the end of each slide. I don't plan on taking the drawers in and out of the cabinet all that often but if one comes out I wanted it to be easy to get back in.

My next step was to figure out where I wanted my screws and then to pre-drill all the screw holes.

Now to install the runners!

I created the grooves in all the drawers a consistent distance from the top of the drawers. My plan was to use a spacer that set that same distance plus 1/8 inch. I used the spacer to set the top slides a consistent distance from the top of the cabinet.

With the holes in the runner already drilled I just held the runner in place with clamps and pre-drilled the holes in the cabinet. Then a couple of 3/4 inch screws to hold it in place. After installing both runners I slid the drawer in place and it worked!

Leaving that drawer in place I added the runners for the next drawer down and repeated for the the other five drawers.

It was right after I slid the bottom drawer in place that I wanted to dance a jig. Not only did the drawer fit, the spacing between all the drawers was super consistent including the bottom and top. So I am very happy with all the drawers and how they fit. I think I left too much slop between the runners and the sides. Oh, the drawers aren't going to fall out but there's about a 1/8 inch gap and I'm thinking a 1/16 inch or 1/32 inch might have been better.

Regardless I am satisfied. 

Tomorrow I am going to plane down some more scrap quarter sawn white oak into 1/4 inch veneer and add it to the faces of the drawers. After that I'll add the handles and put a few coats of polyurethane to them.

If I am super productive I might add the back and start cutting out the pieces for the door that'll go on the right hand side.

More Sharpening Station Progress

I spent a little time this weekend sanding the sharp corners off my carcass and drawers then prepared my sanding station to go into the finishing stage. One thing I wanted to do is hide the blonde plywood that would show in the corners. The case has square corners but the rubber mat has slightly rounded corners. I wanted to de-emphasize the blonde plywood by painting them black. I might have some black paint around but I decided to use a rattle can my wife had for basing miniatures. To prepare for that I masked off the white oak with some painters tape.

I apparently didn't get any pictures of the station with the tape before I painted the corners. Sure, it is a little messy. Yes, I didn't cover the entire thing. There is going to be a rubber mat covering the top. It'll be fine.

I've moved the sharpening station into the finishing process. I've lost my finishing-room as we've converted it back to an office for my wife during Covid. Since my plan from the beginning was to use water based polyurethane which smells a lot less than oil based and isn't explosive I moved the cart to the back of my basement - near the furnace - which is less dusty than my workshop. That wall behind the cart is actually the back of my workshop.

After giving the spray paint a day to dry I applied the first coat of water based polyurethane. 

I have a love-hate relationship with water based polyurethane. It has its benefits over my normal oil based polyurethane:

• It smells less (fewer VOCs)
• It doesn't carry a risk of fire
• It's clear
• Dries quickly enough for several coats a day

On the other hand my standard oil based wipe on polyurethane has its own benefits:

• It adds a warm look to the wood
• It doesn't raise the grain
• It's thin enough it self levels so I don't have to worry as much about drips, runs, or sags
• I have plenty of open time to move it around to get good coverage
• Dries quick enough for a couple coats a day
• Can be applied with a disposable rag

The positives of one type of polyurethane are pretty much the weaknesses of the other. I was half regretting my decision to use water based poly when my wrist started hurting. If I haven't mentioned this before, I have feeble wrists. During high school I worked in a pizza shop (S'barros). I got Tendonitis in both my wrists from making pizzas there. Downside is that I have to be careful what I do with my wrists. On the plus side I know how to stretch pizza by throwing it in the air.

Anyhoo, my wrist started hurting while I was painting on the water based poly. If nothing else it made me appreciate how low stress applying the oil based poly with a rag is.

I did appreciate the very low odor. I have a poor sense of smell due to being allergic to cats and having three of them. However, I try to keep the odors to a minimum so they don't bother my wife. The water based poly could be smelled when right next to the project but it didn't even stink up the basement much less the rest of the house.

This is a shop project so I was really mostly concerned with providing protection from all the water that it is going to be around as well as trying something new. Any issues with poor application would be a learning experience and not a detriment to the functioning of the project. However, it raised the grain something horrible. I should have been expecting it. I know water based finishes raise the grain. I had just forgotten.

That's where I left it for the weekend. I've got to give it a quick sanding and then another few coats of polyurethane. I need to finish the drawers by making some white oak veneer to go on the fronts, more polyurethane and then installation in the cabinet along with handles.

Feels like I am coming into the home stretch even though there is a fair bit left to do. Hopefully I get some good sleep tonight and can get a few hours in the shop tomorrow night.

Sharpening Station Sliding Tray and Drawers

 I was quite productive - for me - in the shop this weekend. I started by fitting the sliding drawer scaffolding to the full extension slides. The scaffolding was just a little too wide to fit between the drawer slides so I ran it through my table saw taking off about 1/32 inch off of each side. I don't know exactly how much as I just shaved a little bit off each side until the scaffolding fit.

Once I had the scaffolding fitting I mounted it in the cabinet using the slides. I mounted the slides resting on the bottom of the cabinet. The scaffolding is just a little shorter than the slides so I measured from the top of the slides to the centerline - where the mounting hardware is - and drew a line on the scaffolding and used that to mount the drawer part of the slides. With those in place I put some glue on top of the scaffolding and set the sliding shelf on top. I used some old bar bell weights to clamp the shelf to the scaffolding until the glue was dry.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me and missed getting pictures of the scaffolding without the shelf. You can trust me that the shelf is hiding some drawer slides and the box that I showed in the most recent blog post.

After I had that in place I moved on to the drawers. 

I measured the left hand opening at 10 3/16 inch wide and 14 5/8 inches deep. The sides I'd cut earlier this week were 3/8 inch thick and 1/2 inch high. The height doesn't matter but the thickness does. The scribble in the upper right corner of the paper is me calculating the length of Part A. The scribbles in the middle right are me calculating how long the drawers should be then deciding to just make them 14 inches. Bottom right is me working out my parts lists.

I ended up with a stack of drawer parts...

I always get nervous when working from measurements that I'll have made a math error so I like creating a couple of trial/test pieces first. One challenge with that is that once I get to cutting joinery on the table saw using a dado blade I have a very specific fence and blade height setting that I don't want to change. Order of operation is crucial and having test pieces ready to go is vital.

I forgot to make test pieces...

I did have remainders from cutting out all the drawers so I used my miter saw to cut some test pieces and created a test piece.

I don't have the slot for the rail in these test pieces but I was able to see that the box was directionally correct in sizing. Then I cut all the joinery...

and test fit a box...

Yeah, it looks a little wonky but that's just the camera angle. It is actually quite square. 

And the moment of truth...  Does a dry-fit drawer fit in the cabinet with runners?

And if the above photo doesn't give it away, the answer is "yes, the drawers do fit". They've got just a little bit of wiggle which is good. There shouldn't be too much expansion and contraction since everything but the runners are made out of plywood but still, just a little wiggle is perfect.

I was running out of shop time on Friday (had a puppy play date, then dinner to prepare) but I got three of the boxes glued up and set aside. My Friday plans were to get up Saturday, glue the rest of the drawer boxes early in the morning so that when I into my dedicated shop time I could add bottoms and keep moving.

Unfortunately I stayed up too late Friday night so I was too tired on Saturday to use power tools. Part of shop safety is evaluating your own capabilities. I will not use power tools if I've had alcohol within the last 12 hours, am tired, or have other things in life causing me to be distracted. I value my safety and that of visitors to take unnecessary risks.

Gluing and clamping however doesn't require power tools so I did get the remainder of the drawer boxes glued up. I also spent some time looking for luan to make the drawer bottoms out of. I didn't really want to put "good" Baltic birch into the bottoms. Unfortunately all I could find was Baltic birch so I decided to use that rather than make a trip to Home Depot for luan.

Sunday I started by re-measuring the drawer boxes to get the width and length for the bottoms. Measure twice, cut once. I then ripped a couple of 9 3/4 inch strips from a sheet of 1/4" Baltic Birch and then cross cut those into 14 inch lengths.

Then I glued bottoms on all the drawer boxes.

I'd originally thought to just clamp them (stack them all with some weight on top) but the first one was slipping around enough with the glue that I decided to tack them in place with some 18 ga staples. I was actually looking for my 1/2 inch 18 ga brad nails but I couldn't find them so I used the 1/2 inch staples instead. Probably a better choice anyway. I did a quick check and it doesn't look like I blew through any walls.

It was at this point where the list of things remaining on this project was getting pretty short. What I really wanted - and still want - to do was to install the drawers and see the cabinet mostly complete. Unfortunately I haven't done final sanding on the case touching up any scratches and more importantly softening the edges/corners. I also want to get finish on the cabinet before putting the drawers in.

I was wrestling with quitting for the day and decided I could get one more thing done. I decided I could cut out the drawer/door handles from some scrap white oak. I've made a number of these handles before for other projects, I think I may even have shown it. I've made a plywood template for tracing out the shape.

I traced out the first row on the board, then ripped it and a second strip off the blank using my table saw. I traced the second row after ripping it free. Then I used my bandsaw to cut the handle blanks out.

I tried setting up a stop block on my drill press so I could cut out the inside curves using a Forstner bit. It was slower and less accurate than just rough cutting them with my handsaw and the sanding them with my oscillating spindle sander. The above blanks have been cut out using my band saw with a 1/4 inch blade and then sanded using my oscillating spindle sander, stationary belt sander, and hand sanding block.

Previously I rounded the corners over using my belt sander. That always felt a little risky but if I only had to do one or two it was quick to setup and didn't take that long to do. This time, having eight handles to do, I decided to use my router table. It didn't hurt that my router table was already set up with a 1/4 inch radius round over bit.

I thought this was enough for the day and called it. I still wanted to throw the drawers into the cabinet  but that needs to wait. Unfortunately it might be a couple of weeks before I get to that point.

Sharpening Station Sliding Shelf and Drawer Slides

Yup, another post about the sliding shelf. I ducked into the workshop for a little bit last night and took a closer look at what was going on with the sliding shelf. It looked like my clever plan for gluing up the shelf didn't provide the accuracy I wanted and the top didn't glue to the rails perfectly straight. The rails didn't appear to be off as much as it looked like in the pictures but I decided to redo it anyway.

This time I decided to make a box using tongue and dado joints.

The joints are super sloppy because I didn't care enough to set things up super accurately. Not all the tongues are the same size. Not all the dados are the same size. It'll be fine. I left one end of the box "open" because there is a hand hold in the front and I needed to leave room for fingers.

I tried dropping it into my cabinet and shockingly it didn't fit. Actually it wasn't that shocking. I'd kind of expected this to be the case. My "drawer" box is square but unfortunately the cabinet opening isn't perfect. The front of the case is about 1/32 inch wider than the back and the front is what I used for sizing my cross pieces. Since the back is narrower than the pieces it doesn't all fit.

I think I'll just run it through my table saw and trim that 1/32 inch off one of the sides. The slides probably have enough "slop" to account for the small amount of oblique angle on the two slides. If not, I can shim the front of one of the slides to bring it back into parallel. It'll be unobvious. 

The other thing I did last night was to lay out my drawers for the left side of the case. This is a 1:2 ratio.

I wanted more thin drawers since deep drawers can waste space and when stuff gets piled in them things get buried. This is mostly just so I can get an idea of how I'll break the space up into drawers. As I build them and install them I may very well change my mind on exact heights.

After laying out my drawers I realized I had not milled sufficient slide material out of white oak. Since I didn't like the job I'd done on those anyway I dug into my scrap bin and found a bunch of poplar. Instead of cutting it to rough size and then running thin strips through my planer I just cut them to to size on my table saw (3/8 inch x 1/2 inch). I'll probably sand them a little bit before installing them.

Yeah, I know poplar isn't the best choice for long wearing wooden drawer slides but I don't see these getting so much use they'll wear out. It isn't like this is a dresser that'll have drawers opened and closed multiple times a day for decades. It'll be fine. If you're looking

Or if not, since I am planning on screwing them in place and not using any glue I'll be able to replace them with maple or some other hard wood when the time comes.

That was a lot of work for only an hour in the shop. Of course it was redoing most of the work I'd gotten done on Sunday but that's life.

Oh, I almost forgot. I had a minor shop injury on my table saw. It is the best kind of injury, small enough to not be significant but serious enough to remind me to pay attention to what I am doing. I was ripping the thin strips for the drawer rails and during a lapse of attention I let the wood lift on the blade which caused some minor kickback. My hands were still on the wood so it didn't go flying but it did jam my right thumb. I've probably done the same operation a thousand times with larger pieces of wood where gravity played a larger roll in keeping it rooted to the table saw but with these light strips there was a much higher tendency to lift and push backwards.

Having a Saw Stop table saw is not an excuse and I certainly don't treat it as an excuse for sloppy technique. I treat the saw as I would any other table saw without the safety feature.

I finished my rips on the drawer runners paying much more attention to holding them down with my left hand while pushing with my right. No serious injury and a sharp reminder to pay attention to what I am doing.

So next is "fixing" my sliding shelf box, attaching it to the shelf and then installing it. I'll also be milling out the parts for my drawers and assembling them. I'm almost definitely going to use tongue and dado joints on the sides. I'm strongly considering cheating and just gluing the bottoms on and not using grooves. It will give me a little bit more space in the drawer and will be plenty strong for the weight of things I am going to put into the drawers.