Chair Repair

We've been slowly putting together a dining set over at our house. A few months ago we found some chairs in need of some love on craigslist. A friend re-covered the worn out seats. In the meantime, we had scored a table from a store in Santa Cruz and our dining set was almost complete. Then, a day after our chairs came back re-covered, padded and looking great, one of the chairs snapped. I wasn't too surprised and I had already noticed that two of the chairs had already snapped in the same exact position. Luckily, I have the skills and tools to fix such a crack.

Here's the chair.

I used a knife and these paint brushes to get the glue into tight spots.

Here's the crack itself, held open with a screwdriver.

Here is a dry run of the clamping process. Whenever you're gluing something, always do a dry-clamp first. I taped that piece of wax paper resting on the seat in place around the leg, just in case I spilled some glue.

  

You can see that I used enough glue by the way it's gushing out of the crack. Also, those little wooden blocks are to protect the surface of the chairs from getting marked up from the clamps. I also wrapped the wooden blocks in packing tape so they wouldn't stick to the glue.

Good as new!

Barely noticeable, right?

Woodworking Takes Patience

Especially when you don't cut it right in the first place.

Another Whale

A long time ago, when I was still in woodworking class and had access to fancy machines, I made a whale from some scrap wood. It came out so cute that I've always wanted to make more of them but have been feeling like I don't have the right tools. Then it occurred to me that people have been woodworking without fancy tools for centuries so I should suck it up and give it a go and so I did.

First, I made a dark, clean outline for my cuts from a stencil I created. The original tail of the first whale I made never felt quite right to me so I tried a different shape for this one.

Making sure that your outline is clear really helps guide the process.

Then I started hacking with my miter hand saw and a small jigsaw that I'm clumsily learning to use.

Once I got the basic shape cut out, then I started hacking at it with my chisels.

The process moves slowly, especially since this is the first one I've done in a while. I still have a long way to go and that tail still doesn't feel right to me but I'm working on it. That whale will be smiling in no time.

I've Been Ignoring You Again

It gets this way around big craft shows (Renegade Fair is coming!). The house is in complete disarray. There are towels strewn in the hallway (your brown owl is coming soon, my etsy orderer), the front room is crowded with wifey's ties and the kitchen... well, actually the kitchen is clean. Go us! We're actually constructing a complete new booth this time around and it's given me a chance to use my (finally) installed vise on my new workbench! Check it.

First, I had to build up the thickness of enough of the table to support the screws on the underside of the vise. If I had it to do over again, I would have extended this longer than I did. It's a little saggy in the middle. 

I glued it once.

Then added another layer. 

I attached the vise to the underside of the table and installed the legs.

Then I screwed a section of 2x4 into the wall to anchor the table to, for added stability.

Finally, it was standing. I put a coat of oil then wax on it. That's supposed to be good or something. I'm making stuff. I'll show it to you soon.

Not So Fast

I thought it would be so easy to install the vise I bought but it turns out I have to build a whole new workbench. There's a lesson in there somewhere about needing a workbench with a vise to build a workbench but I'll be damned if I know what it is. All I know is, this is going to take a while. 

 Measuring. That's a good first step.

Gouging a large chunk of wood from the current work table. Why not?

 Doing the whole thing with my bare hands. Fun!

 Close to accepting that it's just not going to work.

Vise

Last week, my wife texted me and said, "Your vice is here." Since I am a complete and total ass, I texted back, "My vice is at home in the liquor cabinet. What you have there is a vise," and so it is! I've really wanted one for a long time so that I can get to carving my ridiculous wooden creations at home. Now it's here. And it's so heavy. And I have only vague ideas on how to install it. Tonight, I'm going to take it out of the box and get to measuring. This is an exciting step for The Heated Design Studio.

Just Like Jonah

My teacher said, "Get it finished and get it the hell out of here." I haven't quite gotten around to applying finish yet. I'm thinking shellac.

Unit

This project has been in the back of my mind for a while. There's so much vertical space but a free-standing shelving unit would be too wobbly. This back room has been a mess for weeks. It's on its way to becoming a workshop for my wood working. Furniture class (and javascript class) will be starting back up again soon and I want to be able to do some work at home, especially since this is the last time I can take the class. Anyway, I get a little shiver every time I see how everything is clean and lined up all neatly.



What's that? Does it dispense gasoline?: I went to the Mission to flyer tonight. I live on a far edge of the Mission. People still poop on the street but there's less gun-play. Anyway, the Mission District of San Francisco is notorious for having the highest concentration of the city's hipsters, which is true. On my way home from getting those flyers up in various bookstores, cafes and record stores... oh, and the lesbian bar (ladies), I stopped on the sidewalk to shove tape and flyers back in my bag and caught the tail end of a conversation between a hipster, who was locking up his bicycle (of course he was) and a gentleman who I thought was asking for directions. The reason I thought that was because I heard the hipster say, "Sorry, I don't know. I've never driven a car in this city." Of course he hasn't.

I almost just kept going but instead I turned around and said, "Did you need directions?" but the first gentleman was too far away and didn't hear me. The hipster did though and said, "oh, he wanted to know if he still has to pay the parking meter."

Ok, I understand not having driven in the city, but certainly the hipster is familiar with the concept of parking meters. The first gentleman appeared to be visiting from another country and has an actual excuse to not know that the hours of operation of a parking meter are posted on the meter. I took the gentleman over and showed him that as it was after 6:00 pm, he did not need to put money in the meter. Jackass hipster.