Month: October 2026

As I suspected I have some gaps to fill under the top shelf because I cut the relief too wide and then add a bunch of sanding on top of that error and the compounding faults leave a hefty void I now need to fill. Fear not! I have some Cherry bands that I can sand, stain & insert underneath to close the gaps, so that should alleviate most of my troubles. The mitres aren’t as tight as I’d like, but hard to quibble with it now it’s got glue and nails in it! Ha. I will add the Osmo tomorrow and do my little tidy up then too. I can have it indoors by Saturday afternoon or Sunday depending on how busy we are with Halloween.

So we aren’t as long as I’d hoped for. Not as wide, and not as tall. We do have the shape I was aiming for, and the hardwood held up to my ministrations.  The joinery I spent hours on had to be cut off because I was misaligned, so not a great finish to a project, but on the other hand I feel like done is way better than perfect, and I can move on to the yard work here or at the farm without this storage unit weighing heavily on my mind. That’s a good thing.

It looks ok, a tad amateurish, but what can you expect. I aimed high and came in a little lower, but it should serve its purpose. I can now choose to add little rubber feet or soft pads to float on the floors here. Our dog has ruined the hardwood by dropping his animal leg bones everywhere so I’m not all together that worried about fresh indents on the flooring. Soon enough we will be able to reclaim several feet of workable space at our front entrance way, and for that I am happy, happy, happy.

So no custom orders just yet around here, but one day I’d love to build us a dining room table, and a couple of desks for the kids. Nothing too crazy or elaborate, but elegant and tasteful. Made in Walnut or Cherry. It would be cool to add a Padauk or Purple Heart element to those items, but we will see how things go.

Thanks to those whom unwittingly followed along as I stumbled through this latest furniture build. I will post one last update once I get it put in place and tear the dogs crate down. Look for that on Sunday or Monday.

Also, not a fan of working directly on the floor, but this item is so long that I could not do the assembly on my bench. Trying to manoeuvre it into position by myself was a task I’m loathe to repeat, but if I want to get better and improve I need to continue to make stuff for the house. It’s not hot today so the glue gave me slightly longer working time which I am appreciative of. Also, not going to lie, I was pretty happy that my two centre shelves slid into place with little fuss. That was a happy little moment I’d gladly revisit on my next project(s).

I think moving forward (excepting the wood I already have in my possession) I will buy S4S wood from the local mill because my planer is a joke and I can start the build immediately without having to process the rough lumber. Saves me time, but will cost more. I’m ok with that. I think it will be some time before I can afford a new thousand dollar planer to replace the failing one I’ve got now. I can go right into panel glue ups, and cutting my pieces for joinery elements. Could be a game changer.

I personally always wanted to go from rough sawn lumber to finished project all by myself, but now I no longer consider it cheating to by good quality lumber that was surfaced on all four sides. I certainly would have far less dust & shavings to contend with if I did so. I have loads to burn! Better make an added stop at the farm to the burn barrel for my cut offs and sawdust/shavings. They smell lovely but get everywhere and add a tonne of additional cleaning to every single build. That’s all for now.

Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

Came out with clean feet and not much else I’m afraid. Better luck next time. Definitely do not drink the water, it smells like nacho cheese Doritos and feels a tad oily. Not good for the gastric tract of a fellow human. No sir. Don’t drink it, no matter how tempted you might be. Oily feet, remember? I just said it like five seconds ago. Also, knowledge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, along with it comes existential dread, and understanding just how bad things are out there. Far better to keep those little piggies full of jam and have a smooth brain where all the worst parts of life just slide right off. It’s a decision to be made, most certainly, same as any other, but on the upside you remain ignorant to much of the ridicule you face, and the surface of most things are pretty pleasant! No hard feelings, no second guessing, no worries of the slightest detail. Blissful even. So you’d do well to avoid the oily nacho cheese foot water, and instead grab a hot dog and a local team jersey and go on about your life free from the burden of deliberate and considered thought. The world awaits you!

In other news the latest Dune Part Three trailer just dropped and it looks like a lot of fun. I’m excited to go see it in December. I’d like to take the kids to go see Wildwood too because Laika studios makes really great stop motion animation films. This last one took them nearly 16 years to complete. How incredible is that? Right?

I’m pretty sure today is Wednesday. If I can do it I’d love to get my latest furniture build done by the end of the week. Wish me luck.

You guessed it we’re in Niagara Falls until about 11:00 am today then it’s a drive back to our regularly scheduled lives. Just a quick two day getaway with the kids in tow. Visiting with extended family on my wife’s side, and doing some local sight seeing since we aren’t going Stateside for beach fun. At this rate I’ll be back in my office/studio working before 3:00 pm today, as if nothing happened. The dog might feel a little differently about that but he’s with Grandma and she spoils him, so I don’t feel bad for the four legged critter.

It’s Tuesday! I sure hope we didn’t miss the recycling truck because our bin was full to overflowing! Would not be much fun to have to wait two more weeks to get that stuff gone! Yikes.

We’ll be back to farm dog walks by late afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning. Life as we know it continues.

Keeping ourselves occupied while we have better than expected weather! To the Go-Karts! Tally-ho.

Keeping this one short, feel free to disregard this message… Save yourselves.

I had hoped to both clean the garage and apply the Danish oil stain to my Cherry boards yesterday, but after working in the garden for an hour it was still a little chilly outside so I instead waited until three o’clock to clean the garage and vacuum up as much dust as I could and then wait for today to do the stain. That way I didn’t feel like I had to rush. I could take my time and avoid runs, splotches and missed areas, or overlaps that get darker than everywhere else the stain was applied.

Teens out my choice of darker stain on Cherry might have been a bad choice, but I wanted it darker right away, and given we’re heading into winter didn’t think the UV rays would enrich the natural tones fast enough for my liking. I think a deeper amber, reddish brown after a year or two will look even better. All of our current furniture is dark, so I went with it.

I will come back to assemble it on Tuesday or Wednesday. That should be more than enough time for the stink to wear off a little while it dries undisturbed. Once I get it assembled and make the last two cuts for the centre shelves to fit just right I will then come back to wipe on, buff off the Osmo clear coat protective finish. I took some lengthy breaks so I hope to finish this by November 2nd, if not by October 31st. All I will say is that it’ll be completed before we reach 2027, how about that?

I wore a respirator whilst staining and I had a big box fan acting as an exhaust fan too. But you know what? Still smelly and still makes me feel a little lighter on my feet than I should. At least I tried to mitigate the fumes before putting myself in the centre of them. I think a nice little scuff of the finish with a 400 grit pad will allow the Osmo to really shine once applied next week. We’re going to put up the inlaws Halloween decorations later today, so I did my part before putting this furniture project down for a few days.

Up next, laundry and more cleaning up. The friend I helped out the other day wound up renting a garbage bin because the plywood and strapping we pulled off the walls and out of his garage ceiling weren’t worth reusing like he had originally planned. So since he had only a half full bin he let me bring a few items over to help fill it up. I got rid one one 100L garbage bag of random junk, a big waxed box from old fair veggie entries, two busted bean bag chairs, a broken child’s camping chair, and a twenty year old ceased weed eater that I think I ran on straight gas with no oil mix, and I welded the piston into the shaft in 2006. I have this crappy wire racking in our cold storage room, but getting in there is a hug hassle, and I hadn’t planned on doing the mini purge, so I got out what I could. Maybe the neighbour that takes scrap metal will take it off my lawn if I put it out in another week or two?

I was so in the mood to clean after that I took a shot at the pantry and cleared that up a bunch. So many old spoiled bags of nuts, and out of date oatmeal pouches. I wonder at all the things we buy and then forget about until it starts to take up vital space in our lives. I’m just trying to keep this place from looking like a hoarders episode. When I pass I don’t want others to waste weekends of their lives sorting out my shit. I keep the good stuff, and some sentimental items. No storage lockers or off site deposits of junk for me!  As I continue reading, I’ll have to sweep through my books again. The wardrobe is a constant struggle, same with all of the kids clothes. Holiday decorations & lights too. Bah! I could cull more paintings of my own too. I’ve kept crappy canvases just because I did them in college nearly 30 years ago. I should paint over them with white and try something new if I’m going to keep them around for much longer.

Started with the furniture build and I’m back to talking about purging the house — again. May I never change! Ha.

It is Saturday. Huzzah! I have some paid work to complete before Monday’s PA Day, so that I am freed up to do activities with the children. Should be fun.

Just did my second climb of October three days after my first climb for the month and boy are my muscles tired. Firearms especially. Lost my grip by climb seven, so we called it a day. I need to be able to hold the steering wheel to drive home, so no good climbing until I’m entirely numb! Ha.

It was looking a little empty when we first arrived but a good number of people filled out the seats down in the lower bowl by pick drop. Not only that but it was a fast paced and exciting game to boot! We pulled out a clutch goal with fewer than 30bsec left on the game clock. 26.5 seconds away from overtime play! Wild.

We shouted, cheered & jeered until our voices were hoarse and our throats were sore. A great time had by all. I just wish we lived closer so it wasn’t such an ordeal to get home when we are all ready tired and sleepy. But, in this case it was well worth the effort and the expense. We won’t be going to five games this year with the price increases, but two certainly seems reasonable I think.

Anyway it’s now Friday, it’s cold and I would really like nothing more than going back to bed for much of the day! Ha. But I’ve got some dahlias to pull out of the ground, and a shop to clean, and stain to work onto my furniture project. Full day ahead of physical activity.

I’m putting the gardening at the farm on hold this morning so that I can help a friend move some heavy equipment around. Plus I’d like to spend the remainder of my morning sanding in my own garage so that 8 can focus on a clean-up and then a wipe on buff off stain tomorrow. That gives it until Wednesday to offgas a bit before I move on to assembly. I think that’s pretty reasonable. Also I’m taking my oldest downtown for a Leafs game this afternoon so I didn’t want to have a sore back from bending over pulling up dahlias. I get that that’s a tad lazy of me, but I need to stay awake for the game, and the train ride, plus the drive home afterwards. Best to not get too physical today if I can help it. Or, not hear me out here, I indulge in a mid day nap! Goofy huh?

But with all that said I have made considerable progress on the furniture build. I have saw dust hidden in every crevice imaginable. Building up under my eyelids too I can feel it! Yuck! I wish the sound of an orbital sander was less of a drone and more musical in tone. Luckily for me there are only six pieces to this build so it takes me less than an hour per grit level, which is nice. I really had to go in hard on the gouges and snipe left behind by my lunchbox planer. The tear out was infuriating. But my constant refrain has always been “Not heirloom quality”, also not total garbage either, but utilitarian and in the middle somewhere.

The youngest seems happy with her Gordie mask helmet thing, so that’s a win for the two of us. I will repeat that if you start in cardboard you should stay with cardboard because paper maché ruined the finished shape, and I’m still upset about that. We were able to spruce it up with the paint job, so all was not lost. Phew!

I need to find my work boots and gloves before I head over to their house just across the way. Hard to believe it’s Thursday, and Halloween in next Saturday, and then it’s November! Whizz! There goes another month. My oh my.

I can get a start on the many many arduous hours of sanding that lies ahead. I will need to take this front & centre storage unit up through a good number of grits to try to minimize the year out and gouging from the lunchbox planer that doesn’t work right anymore. Starting at 60 grit, and then traversing up through 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, and ending on 220. At that point I will have to vacuum and use a blower to empty the garage shop space of as much dust as I can. Once that’s completed I can rub on a good amount of rich coloured Danish Oil. I’ll let that soak in for a day or two depending on the weather and then I can do my final assembly. Once the glue sets up then all of the oil off gassing should be done and I can bring it right in, and tear down the cage! Two big ticket items off the to-do list! Nice.

Oh, on a side note we have just about finished my youngest daughter’s Gordie pumpkin head mask/helmet prop for Halloween. Next time I start in cardboard, I will finish in cardboard because paper maché kinda ruined the shape by sagging into a soggy mess. Live and learn.