The King

Geeez The King has been too busy lately for fun hobby stuff.

Well, old Pops has been busy in the shop working on the TV Credenza and just hasn't had time to do any fun hobby stuff lately.  I stopped at the Bend launch ramp today and threw a few sticks for Sam.  The river is really low but is still a little murky for fishing.  A couple of more days and the Steelhead better take cover because I'm getting shop fever and ready to wet a fly.  

I'm almost done with the credenza and as soon as the finish cures I can rub it out and install all the hardware.   I plan on loading it in the trailer and showing it off to a few interior decorators in Redding and Chico.  Maybe I can find one of the 1% that rolled their fortune into gold last year before the tumble.   I'll post some photos when I get it put together.  If my name was Sam Maloof I would price it at $8000 but old Pops will probably price it at $1800.  This project has taught me a lot about finishing and hopefully it will payoff.  It is really cool when you can close your eyes and run your hand across the top and actually think you are feeling a glass top.  The process starts by gluing up five boards on edge and then scraping and sanding with 100 grit sandpaper to remove the glue squeeze out.  Next I took the top down to a local cabinet shop and paid them $25 to send it through their $15,000 wide belt sander, 80 grit and then 150 grit.  It comes out of the wide belt sander totally flat.  I took it back to the shop and raised the grain and sanded it to 180 grit.  I was going to dye (stain) with medium Mission brown dye but after many test runs I decided that leaving the wood natural showed the grain the best.  Next came about ten coats of vinyl catalyzed lacquer.   After the finish cures for about four days the hand rubbing starts.  Hand rubbing is basically wet sanding the finish with progressively smaller grit until the surface is polished to a deep shine.  You use mineral oil or soapy water as a lubricant and start sanding with 320 grit.  When looking at the top at an angle you can still see dust dimples and imperfections so the process starts again as you work the top over with 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500 and finally 2000 grit.  It's a good thing I have already had carpel tunnel surgery.  2000 grit will give a glass smooth finish that looks about a foot deep.  When this project is finished I will post it on another website showing all the methods and techniques that went into this high end piece of furniture.  As a comparison most furniture has one seal coat and two or three coats of lacquer.  I can't wait to finish this one.  

The photo above was taken at Skyler's birthday party.  Thanks for the fun time Skyler.  

Still Snowing

In our boredom of watching it snow, I got out the video camera and ran across this video of Buddy that I took this summer when we visited Olivia.  Enjoy

Blog tips

Hi everyone,  I just thought I would post a message to everyone about some of the features of my blog.  The method that Blogger uses to distribute my posts to everyone is called Google Groups.  Everyone that is now getting emails of my current blog posts belongs to Pop's Family and Friends Google Group.  This group includes 26 people that are not only family but many close friends.   When I create a new post everyone in my group will automatically get an email with the post.  What you get is only the email version of the post and not the actual post on my blog which has all the history and archived posts since the beginning.  Pop's Hobby Blog has many other links that can keep you informed of what is going on with other family blogs (such as Olivia's Blog).  To access Pop’s Hobby Blog from the email Google groups has sent you just scroll to the bottom of the email and click on the link in the line that says " Posted by Pops to Pop's Hobby Blog at 2/16/2009 at 09:1200am.  

Things to remember:

1. The email you get is generated by Google groups.
2. When you reply to this email, everyone in the group gets the reply (the same as reply all)
3. There are three ways to post a reply to my post.

• The first is by hitting the reply button on the Google Groups generated email and then everyone in the group will get your reply.
• The second is by adding a comment at the bottom of the post on the Pop's Hobby Blog page.  Everyone in the world will see this comment.
• If you want to reply personally to me without anyone else reading your reply, then start a new email message in your email program.  Only the two of us will see this reply.

My Blog has had over 3200 views and remember, it is open to the world so if you comment on the Blog please don't give any information such as addresses, phone numbers or any personal info that you don't want the world to see.  

Blogger is a really cool way of keeping the family and friends updated on what's happin'.  If you start your own blog using Blogger you have many options on who is allowed to view your blog.  I have chosen to make Pop's Hobby Blog visible to the world.  I use Google Groups to distribute new posts to a selected number of people but allow anyone to view it on the internet.  I just make sure I don't post anything I don’t want the world to see, especially personal information.

 

I hope with all the new babies coming this year everyone will follow Olivia’s lead and startup a website or blog to keep everyone informed on the growing family.  Happy Safe Blogging.

Snow update

Monday morning and it is still snowing.  I cleaned off the decks yesterday and as you can see on the rail we got another 6 inches last night.  The snow has a lot of moisture this year and hopefully it wont' start raining and wash it all away.  

This is an interesting photo of the ice sickles handing off the roof.  The snow is starting to slide off the roof, bending the ice sickles to about a 45 degree angle.  We are waiting for the roar of sliding snow and it looks like the ice sickles will hit the railing, which will probably sound like breaking glass.  

We are leaving for Reno tomorrow morning so we hope the snow slows down a little.  Michele is off all week for Presidents week so a trip to Reno is much deserved.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

We sure love the snow and Mother Nature blessed us at the cabin last night with a nice blanket of lovely snow.  It has been snowing all day and the weatherman sayes the worst will come tonight.  We have reservations at the Peninsula Bar and Grill tonight for a romantic dinner and we are lucky it is only a few blocks away.  Enjoy the photos and have a nice Valentine's Day.

Cabinet Photos

I promised photos so here we go.

Detail of locking miter joint in corner.

Hinges are not installed yet. 

There will be three doors on the back with ventilation.

Have a few clamps!

I'm happy, the box came out perfectly square.

It is fun when a plan comes out.

Too busy for Hobbies?

I just looked at my last post and shame on me for not updating sooner.  I have been busy working out in the shop building Christmas presents, Ryder's bunkbeds and a AV Credenza.  I decided to lean towards high end furniture and my first project is just speculative at this point.  With  everybody and his brother buying big screen TVs and none of them fitting the old style entertainment centers I thought it might be profitable to build a Credenza to stash all the AV equipment.  Check out my drawing.

I finished assembing the carcass today and will be working on the partitions and fitting the doors tomorrow.  I'll update with some actual photos tomorrow(maybe).   It looks like a regular cabinet but it has all the old school building techniques that take twice if not three times as long to build.  The cabinet sits on caster so you can wheel it away from the wall and get behind the cabinet to setup all the wires and gizmos.  The back of the cabinet is finished with a faceframe and panel doors.  No nails or screws in this cabinet except for the hinges an the screws that attach the solid wood top.  Most all of the joinery is mortise and tenon and the front and back is attached to the sides with a locking miter joint.  The frame is dadoed together and glued.  After final sanding I will do a hand rubbed finish that you should be able to see yourself smile in.  Simular units will sell from $4k to $6k in the right market. (not red bluff)  This is my first attempt to do high end work and beleive me, it is a lot of fun.  

OH, by the way, I did go fishing on the Trinity a while back with Steve and Dan Coffman.   We had a good time even though we should have been there yesterday.  Just a few photos to remember what steelhead fishing is all about.