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Over on LumberJocks, they’re having a Halloween Challenge and I thought that I’d enter. They’re giving away three prizes to randomly-selected entrants – the first prize is a $50 gift cert from Lee Valley. Anytime the prizes are given away randomly, instead of based on skill and craftsmanship, I’m all over that! But my wife didn’t particularly want me spending a lot of time in the shop merely for the chance at a $50 gift certificate for tools (and DEFINITELY not for a plane holster or a cap, she would say).
So she told me that she’d let me have $50 extra bucks for tools if, instead, I built a lego table for our kids. We’re expecting our third child in a few weeks, and once that little bugger starts crawling around, we’ll need to have those legos off the floor.
So I thought that was a pretty good deal. I downloaded Google Sketchup (my first time using it) and started planning the table. I based it off of this great project (a train table) by fellow LumberJock Joshua Sargent.
The table will be a multi-use table. The plywood panel will be covered with a 70×100 (centimeters) “car mat” – you know, a colorful very thin rug that has roads, buildings, etc. drawn on it. It’ll be removable if need be. I’ll then build a frame and panel “lid” which will seat onto the top. On one side, it will be a plain smooth surface for a homeschooling workspace (I’ll have to figure out the best way to fill the grain so it’ll be smooth). On the other, I’ll have a checkers/chessboard painted on one half, and on the other half…hmm, any ideas?
Below is the sketchup of the main part, minus the lid. You can see that it’s pretty much identical to Joshua’s table, except that I’ve joined the frame pieces with dovetail joints instead of screws. I think I’ll still need screws to attach the legs to the frame, unless you guys can think of another option.
Thanks for reading!
I’ve entered my step stool in a contest on SmartFlix (think NetFlix for DIYers). While I do believe in “May the best man win,” I’m no fool: all the other contestants are probably trying to get votes just like I am!
So how about it? Click on the link to go to the contest page. Thanks in advance for your vote!
P.S. I plan to do a write-up on SmartFlix in the near future, so stay tuned for that.
Since we’ve moved to Kota Kinabalu, I’ve been sick almost the whole time. Nothing serious, but bad enough that I’ve had no desire to get in the shop when I’ve had free time. I’m finally starting to get well. And today, my wife (out of the blue) suggested I go get some shop time. Yes, ma’am!
So today I finished unpacking my miscellaneous boxes that arrived by mail and by boat. My shop’s fairly organized, but a couple shelves will really help a lot.
I also finished my Japanese sawing trestles, which I put on my project list immediately after reading The Schwarz’s article on them. Now I’ll be better able to start work on my bench proper, which I think will also be a Japanese-style bench (again, grabbing the idea from reading The Schwarz).
Next step will be to get a slab of wood (if I can) that is 4″x10″ and 5′ long. That’ll be my benchtop. I’ll be able to work with that slab on the trestles until I get some horses made that will support the slab at a better height. I think I might trick out my Japanese-style bench with some planing stops. One of the main things that this bench doesn’t give me, though, is a way to do dovetails. I think I’m going to make a simple heavy box with a vise on one side, and that box will mount to the bench. This will raise the work surface as well, which will be better for dovetailing. I might make my sharpening station work on that box as well. I’ll have to draw up a Sketchup of the bench in my mind, because I don’t know how clear this all is in print.
Anyway, here is a shot of my trestles. Nothing fancy. In fact, I sort of avoided making them attractive on purpose. I’ve got too much to do to focus on fine craftsmanship on shop furniture. The wood is kapur, which is monstrously hard and really tough to handsaw; it also has an interesting silky kind of texture.
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