Furniture Builds – Greatwall Studios Graphic Design

The Table Project: Told in Six Parts, over the next three months… or not.

September 4, 2024September 4, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Had two hours empty yesterday before I needed to pick up the kids from school so I eagerly jumped into the garage wood shop to begin sanding the old scratched finish off of the table. All three portions are slightly different colours due to sun exposure, or lack thereof. The middle leaf being the darkest and most lustrous due to never having been used. So I took up my brand new belt sander, which immediately started to blow scorching hot air out the back, melted the finish I was trying to sand off, directly into the very fibers of the sandpaper belt, and I had to switch back to my trusted Milwaukee orbital sander. Ugh! I honestly wanted the belt sander to work so that I could cover more square inches faster. Maybe I’ll need to save the belt sander for higher grits that take less pressure to remove. The heat bothers me, as the sander is brand new, and never used before. So not too sure about that.

But plan was/is : remove old stain and finish on top surface, and around the sides. Sznd through the grits (60, 80, 100, 120, 150, 220) blowing off the dust inbetween. Spritz with water and sand again at 220 grit. Round over the outside edges, as the table is a wee bit sharp as is. Sand as needed. Apply Danish Oil with a darker Walnut stain in it. Wipe off excess. Lightly sand with 300/400 grit sand paper. Reapply Danish Oil. Let dry. Buff with 400 grit sand paper. Apply wipe on poly finish. Then set the table top aside, and begin cutting my Walnut legs, gluing them up, drying, trying up the faces, chopping to length, rounding over edges, and then building captive boxes specific to each leg, in all four corners of the table. Drilling out the fixture holes. Screwing in the inserts. Then wiping on my poly finish to the legs. Disassemble, and bring down stairs into the basement to replace crappy old folding table where the kids play legos, and do puzzles.

I could be done in three/four days, or it will take me until December to complete. Hardly any inbetween around this type of thing. Life/work gets in the way. So there is that to look forward to. I didn’t take any pictures yet. May only do so once I finish the whole project and set it up down stairs. So stay tuned for updates on this potential catastrophe. Should be a fun time had by all.

***Editor’s note: Turns out the fancy shmancy mahogany hard wood table is actually Poplar with thin veneer on it. Which I sanded through in spots die to how bad the gouging, scraping, and scratching was. So, change of plans. Sanding to 220 only. No roundover on top surface. Danish oil, with no poly top coat. And I’m going to make Ash legs, and not waste my Walnut on this cut rate table. So I’ve spent some time cutting, and milling an Ash board to make four sturdy legs with no glue ups required. Still need to make four captured ends to lock them to the table though. Will still round over the legs. But now they’re going to be more square in profile than rectangular. No big deal. I’ve jointed one face, and one perpendicular edge. Now I can run them through the planer. Cut the two bits into four matching legs, and finish those up without any need for glue. One fewer piece of Ash to get in my way. Also – saving my Walnut for another project, SCORE!

*Upon sanding out the gouges I’ve learned that this is a veneered Poplar table.*

Danish Oil Walnut Stain will not cover the veneer wear through. So a new line of attack is required. Now, it’s just a refurbished crafting/homework table, rather than being entirely “restored”. I don’t wish to redo the veneer. I don’t have the patience, tools or know-how for that. No desire either, at this point.

As you can see, even after removing the original fi ish (image not shown) the middle leaf is still an entirely different colour from the rest of the table. I’m going to lean into that mottled look by using Ash legs, stained in a Walnut oil. Sturdy, but not an heirloom piece to be coveted by children, and extended family alike.

Slapping some stain on the old girl.

February 28, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It was sunny and plus thirteen for about 90 minutes earlier today, so I popped out to the wood shop and dashed some Walnut coloured Danish Oil Stain onto my youngest daughters new single bed frame for the cottage.

I started by spot sanding a few bits that didn’t get all the love they needed the first couple of go rounds, and then spent a few minutes dusting it off with the air compressor. Then I splish-splashed the Danish Oil rub on it with a very wet foam brush, and ran through a few clean rags wiping it off. I think I managed to avoid runs in the finish, but I’m sure there’s one someplace very visible that I couldn’t see while I was bustling away this AM.

Good thing it’s so light weight, I didn’t need to call for help to move the whole thing around while I worked. Rests on my bench easily enough. It’s times like these that I am thankful for all the space saving theatrics I’ve had to undertake recently. My old layout would never have been wide or clear enough for both the frame and me. No chance I could have freely walked all 360 degrees around it before. I could still do with the whole shop being a good 36 inches wider, but that’s a very expensive construction matter. Also not going to happen. No way I tear down walls, and add roof for just three feet. Plus the property line is right there and no municipal office would ever grant me permits to get closer than eight feet to the line. So I’ll do what I can with what I’ve got.

Side bar: I am toying with the idea of taking down the pre-built racking that looks kinda shifty, in favour of metal racks, and reclaiming higher up wall space, but I need to get rid of several stored doors, and car seats, strollers, and household junk before I do that. It needs careful planning. I could benefit a great deal from doing so, but it’ll cost me both time & money, and a fair bit of aggravation to boot. I’m thinking it over. But I digress.

The Pine bed frame is one inch thick, with box joints, and a slatted cross member design. The feet all screw on, and the slats screw down into their mortises for extra peace of mind. It’s light weight, and has been stained to a Walnut brownish tone. One single pass. I’m told with Danish Oil I could do multiples, but I find one wetly soaked coat works fine for me. It ain’t no heirloom quality piece but it should last a few years. I hope.

(Fig 1.) *Pieces break down. 6 feet / 6 slats / 2 rails & 2 ends.*

(Fig 2.) *Hand scraped finish, but sanded to 100 grit. Very rustic appearance.*

(Fig 3.) *Assembled upside down. Original Pine colour showing.*

(Fig 4.) *Starting to Stain with it still upside down. Notice how much room I now have to get all the way around it! Ohh- Aah.*

(Fig 5.) *All stained up, drying & off gassing that nose prickling oil finish smell. Could stay in here for a few days getting that smell to dissipate.*

Finishing isn’t exactly my favourite thing to do. It’s sticky, and smelly, and finicky too. My shop doesn’t have an air cleaner, nor do I use anything better than a shop vac to control the dust I make. Not good for high end, ultra high quality finishing. But I get it done regardless. Although now the temperature has plummeted down to minus one, and will go even lower and bring in some snow too. So I don’t know how anybody can plan around this type of thing. Well… a temperature controlled working space would alleviate those stressors, but I ain’t got that kinda dough just lying around for a quirk of mine.

So maybe a single spray on layer of Diamond Coat will go on next, or not. This piece may not be worth the additional effort. It will get scratched & marred. I’m none too concerned about that. If I can get a shot of it in situ up north I’ll update about the bed frame one last time. Take care out there. Ciao Bella.

The Pine Bed Episode. The one where I learn, again, not to leave projects for months on end and expect everything to fit as well as the day I made all the joinery in the first place.

February 23, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

The story up till now goes as follows; My youngest was in a crib at the cottage for a long time. Then I transformed said crib into a day bed, which she used until she was too long for it and spent all night kicking the end and side panels waking everyone up. I took the crib down and we pulled a single mattress into the room and set her up on the floor. With the intention of putting up a bed shortly there after. Things happened over the summer and the bed was forgotten about. Travel, funerals, anguish, and work took a front seat. Come to September and I milled down a few pine boards, cut them to size, made lots of tight fitting joinery, and then let it sit because I had other things to do and it wasn’t a priority. Fast forward from September to February and a warm spell and I finally had the time to sand it all down, and then I went ahead and began assembly and fitting it all together. Wood movement is a thing, and I continuously don’t pay enough attention to that fact and leave projects for months on end. Good news is, we are assembled. I need to do a few gap fill touch ups, and then a final sand in a few spots, and then stain it all. Let is stand & off gas for a few days then schlep it to the cottage in the back of a truck. It’s pine so it’s pretty light. Easy to move around, and lift up several sets of stairs.

Assembled while upside down. Waiting for box joint fixes, sanding and wipe on, wipe off stain.

It’s not the prettiest thing, certainly not heirloom quality, but one inch thick pine should hold up for a few years at least. Slatted to hold a box spring, or go straight over with a firm mattress. Would I have preferred to build it with Walnut or a hardwood, certainly I would, but it would be 10X the weight, and who knows how much extra in cost.

I put in an order for 20BF of Walnut last night from a company that delivers. Rough cut, one inch thick. Should come some time next week. I can then plan some narrow book shelves for my kids, and a new Urn. I’m going to try hand cut dove tails this time. I want to book match the outside so I’ll also need to cut some boards down the middle too. That will take some time. Sounds like fun!

I just can’t seem to find the time to get over to the mill to view lumber, so getting some delivered is really helpful. If the wood quality is a bust then I will have to do so myself, shop in person that is. I didn’t spend crazy money on it, so I’m not expecting glowingly perfect boards. A touch rustic perhaps, definitely straight with no cupping, or twist would suit me just fine.

I recently had the chance to use my wood moisture meter. Works great. Reminds me I need to charge and format my endoscope for the car. Has lights on it too! He-he.

We have the funeral today, so I need to fetch the kids from school, change, and head over to the visitation, and then the service proper, and then hang around after to take all of the decorations, flowers, and photos down. Hug your loved ones. Ciao Bella.

Social Posts Going On A Run – Again.

January 27, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It’s the weirdest thing, every so often a post, or tweet will catch on and that will gather likes, followers, making the view count numbers all jump up. Over the last week my Twitter count has jumped by seventeen followers. I had had a hard ceiling of 58 followers for a very, very long time, and now I’m up to seventy five. Pitching the same content out into the ether as before, but suddenly gaining a tiny fraction of traction. Same here on my blog. I’ve gone on a follower count bump run over that same seven day period. Curious. I’m up over two hundred and fifty blog post followers here with WordPress/JetPack. I’m not exactly drawing “numbers” in the traditional sense for a celebrity or a brand/product, but for little ole me, it’s a noticeable jump. And I could not tell you what sparked it. I will say this, at least as far as Twitter is concerned. The new adds are mostly bots, and Cam girls, and the like. I don’t for one second believe that they are real people, or that I am getting famous. I play it up, because the idea of being a person whom gets a fat head, and begins to act like an influencer with 75 followers is hilarious to me. I also toy with calling them my henchmen. And using such limited notoriety to run for school parent council, or being an honouree to open a brand new local laundromat. Ribbon cutting for clout. Ha. Makes me giggle.

As far as I can tell it is still raining. I believe that is to continue until tomorrow or Monday. I started book #2 for this year. It is called “Transit” by Edmund Cooper. Written in 1964. It’s not a bad little book. After finishing the nearly 600 pages of the Adrian Tchaikovsky novel, last in the Trilogy, I wanted something self contained, and considerably shorter. Win on both fronts! I also went poking around my book shelves last night and found four books I haven’t read yet, and I will read from that bunch when I have a chance. I’m not doing the 12 for 12 challenge this year. But I do want to keep on reading, if/when possible. My To-Be-Read pile from all of my previous years of book collecting is substantial, and varied. Mind you I did get rid of quite a few from this TBR pile, because I knew I would never read them. I had tried Tad William’s and Erik something or other before, and found it distasteful. I also got ride of books I didn’t like even though I read all three parts of the trilogy. Now, would I like to read all the books in my collection? Yes, sure I would. If I never bought another new book, I could probably do it. But I follow a fair few authors whom are still releasing new works, so the likelihood of not reading anything new in favour of finishing what I already have is slim. Life comes at you fast, so you never do know.

I also got rid of two of the four Mo Hayder books I owned because they were so disappointing compared to the first two that I had read. Plus she, the author, is now dead and no new book was forthcoming to set it all right by course correcting. Can’t blame her because she’s dead.

In other news I took a few minutes to myself yesterday, away from paid work, to go into my garage and break down the change table for parts. Nuts and bolts went into a jar, the mdf went into my wood pile, and the change pad went up into storage. I think certain parts of the change table are real wood, and not particle board with veneer. So I kept those for random projects that sometimes present themselves. I still need to break down the sidewall portions, but I might need to find out a saw to do that as it didn’t just unscrew, or come apart with a few hard whacks with my palm. I still have our backyard bench in there taking up space, but it’s a keeper, and I can’t be busting that up. It was a project from my wife’s students and has sentimental value. Just reminds me they used my expensive stain like paint, and used the entire $40.00 can on one single bench. No wood grain to be seen. Was supposed to be a smokey blue grey wood grain, but now it’s just a solid wedgewood blue. D’oh! I had to laugh, once I stopped being annoyed. I didn’t even get my rollers or brushes back afterwards either. Nor my drop cloths. Donations to the human fund I suppose.

Well travelers, it’s been a morning, and I must be about my Saturday business. Ciao Bella.

Day #675: Out in the Weeds

October 20, 2023October 20, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

For the life of me I can not recall a reason as to why I kept this writing streak going, other than compulsion, and daily habit. Even so, I’m awfully close to going a whole year without writing any short stories. I have written copious amounts of nonsense, and silliness though. Funny to think I felt my numbers of views were down in the year to year review, so I tried to write every day for a few weeks before I hit New Years Eve and was going to stop. Then the next calendar year had the best showing ever, and then dropped off again. Not as low as in years I posted almost nothing, but I failed to gain enough traction to warrant making the writing streak a compulsion. So what do I do now?

Did a few other things as of late too. I finished my sixteenth book this year, by John Scalzi, called “Starter Villain”. It was a fun little jaunt in a mixed up James Bondesque world of mischief and mayhem. Finished it in just a day or two. Very pleasant read. I’m back to the Adrian Tchaikovsky novel I tried to start several weeks ago. Hopefully now I’ll have the available concentration to read five or six hundred pages of science fiction. I’m still halfway through “American Prometheus “, so I should either finish that or hang up that particular book mark, and call it a day. It’s good, and thorough to say the least. A bit like reading a textbook. Something I haven’t needed to do in close to twenty years. I feel as though I should read it at a desk with a highlighter in hand. Gives off those kinds of vibes. Still a good read. Just more dense than I care for right this minute.

I got into the shop this week to work on my pine framed bed. I have some work to do on the box joints, as I didn’t go deep enough, and I need to square off the bottom of each joint, as I left them rounded over. But on the bright side I did some bandsaw work, some hand saw work, and got the project just a little closer to finished. I’ll take it!

We have a PA Day today, so the kids are up early, of course, not that we have to shake them and roll them around their beds to wake them up on a regular school day. Where they cry and moan about wanting to sleep in, but on the days they can do so, they are up earlier than usual without a problem. I can’t tell you what a surprise it will be once either, or both start to sleep in on weekends, summer days, and holidays. I imagine they’ll be up late making a racket around the house so not much of a win there anyway.

The other day I went out and picked all of the remaining apples off of our two fruit trees to send to my friends horses. I had a fair amount of quality sized apples this year. The red ones all fell off earlier, and the wasps terrorized those for weeks. Once the temp dropped enough to drive them away I came to claim what was left. A half a grain bags worth. No where near what was on both trees, but I don’t fancy getting swarmed and stung for apples. I thought we were going to get a bunch last year with all the blooms the trees had, but then no fruit was produced. This year however, whoo boy! If I had a bee suit and a cider press I could have picked all 2-300 apples between the two trees and made some cider or fresh apple juice!

Funnily enough I recently saw that an old acquaintance of mine was coming to the end of a contract position, and i saw a job posting that i thought could be right up their alley, and they complained to me about it. So don’t be alarmed should i not do things of that nature for other people. This year has really reiterated how bad of an idea it is to do anything nice for other people. Yet i keep on doing it. Going to learn my lesson at some point. Or become a jaded prick about it. Either way – we all win!

It is currently raining. It started to rain several hours ahead of schedule so I am happy we decided not to go back to Canada’s Wonderland for another Halloween Haunt adventure. Was supposed to start between eleven and midnight, but was softly pattering on the ground by eight o’clock. We’d have been there for little more than an hour and it would totally kill the vibe. Mist is one thing, but a full on rain would end the night. Precious few available days left this season. I think we might be finished, but perhaps we can get one last visit under our belts this year. I’d very much like to ride Yukon Striker one more time. It’s such a smooth ride. I like the articulated carriages. Plus I feel as though they weren’t concerned about the footprint so they were able to make softer transitions between tricks/gimmicks, and your neck and back are all the better for it. Five stars, do reccomend! Try it at night in the dark.

If there’s one thing I know, it’s that…

September 20, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

I am going to drastically underestimate how much time it will take me to break down wood boards into something usable for a specific project. Now I’ve had these 12″ wide, by 1″ thick by 8′ long pine boards since the spring of 2020, at the height of our flatten the curve, stay home whenever possible portion of the current dark time line. I had intended this wood purchase for making larger Harry Potter trunks, but after making four of them, plus a few tool boxes, trays, drawers and such it fell off my radar. Now I need a single bed for my youngest child at the cottage, I think now is as good a time as any to try to make some plain, but classy simple furniture.

Which brings us back to my original statement. Just how long it took me to break down three 12x1x8ft pine boards into the needed pieces on my improvised cut list. After all is said and done (assume all lengths as 8ft long and 1 inch thick here, I don’t want to have to repeat that part over, and over again) I have four outside members at 5.75″ wide, and three that are 3.75″ wide. I have not planed them as of yet, nor jointed them. I feel like I want to do these with a hand planer, and a card scraper. So smooth, but not an 800 grit buttery smoothness. Had I of chosen to use Cherry or Walnut I think I would go to those kinds of lengths when finishing. But here, hand plane or card scraper smooth will be just fine. I’ll round over the edges with a router, as I don’t own any type of hand jig shaper to do profiles and things of that nature. I’ll get to my point, as I digress.

Just a few simple measurements and a handful of cuts took me 73 minutes. *Face palm*. Yeah – I was not rushing in the slightest. I’m not sure I could have gone any slower though. Setting up the fence, double and triple checking my measurements. Getting my roller stand to help me keep the 8ft long 12″ wide boards horizontal with the cutting plane was awkward. Helpful due to the weight, but cumbersome. My featherboard only worked on cuts below 10 inches. I knocked things over, and banged the fence a bunch, so I had to stop and reset. Glad I don’t charge by the hour for this hobby of mine.

My main concern is doing a three prong box joint for my main bed frame. Some legs with pegs to keep them in place. And some hand cut channels to drop in six (or so) cross braces or slates, so that the mattress or box spring can’t fall through the center. If I get a bit overzealous I can give one end a headboard to stop pillows from falling off. In accordance to the room it’s going into, one side and one end will be up against the walls, so I don’t have to go crazy. I want it to be sturdy. Have no sharp edges, and try to inset the legs to avoid stubbed toes. I want the legs to be tall enough I can get a vacuum head under the bed, but not so high the mattress feels like it’s up in the air. Little kids and falling onto hard floors won’t make me anyone’s favourite human. If I can keep my cuts flush and not full of open gaps I’ll be a happy camper.

I have lots of dark stain. Walnut, smokey green, ebony even. I’ll have to ask my kid if they want it to still look like wood when completed. I really just want to get her mattress up off the floor now that the day bed slash crib is going to a very pregnant cousin for continued use.

I’ll take numerous photos if I manage to get any further into this over the coming days. I know I have six large projects coming between now and Christmas, so if I work smart I should be able to do this without too much of a problem. If I get the legs sorted out, and the slates cut down, I can pick away at the main frame box joints and have it ready for late November or by Christmas at least. I make no promises.

Follow along as I shoddily remake other people’s famous designs like a hillbilly gone blind on moon shine. You like cupped boards, with twists and knots? Have I got the perfect project for you to follow. Adios muchachos.

Things that I accomplished yesterday.

April 6, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Can’t be resting on those laurels for long, so today we acknowledge what we’ve finished, and then we turn to face the front and keep on truckin’. I managed to finish book number eleven (11) of my twelve books in a calendar year challenge. Mo Hayder’s “Ritual”, which was… anticlimactic at best? A 400 plus page book about two or more adults who are unable to deal with loss, whether it was recent or from their childhood. And a sub plot about ghastly mutilation & murder. I thought there was going to be a bigger build up to pay off, but, eh! Not bad, not awful. I mean I finished it, and we all know I have no problem giving up on books part way in. But… a bit of a let down in the end. I think that is the third or fourth Mo Hayder book I’ve read. The others were far superior. This one was more melancholy than suspenseful. Tick it off the list. Book eleven is in the can! So I turn to another Richard Morgan book to complete the twelve. His 2008 novel “The Steel Remains”. More light hearted and humorous than “Black Man” or any of the Altered Carbon series. Let us hope it stays good so that I can complete my 12 book challenge. Although if I get enough pages between multiple unfinished books, I’d take the page count of what was read, add it up, and if it crosses 250, I’d call my challenge done. If I’m being honest. Cover to cover is the goal, but I’ll take partial credit for pages read in a pinch.

Second item on the list was to finally sit down and watch Sony Studios’ “Morbius”. Which felt much like “Venom”, in that it was ok. Obviously lower budget than standard MCU fare, but not horrendous. It wasn’t a Uli Boll film, so it wasn’t unwatchable. Slightly better than Venom 2, the Carnage one with Woody Harrelson. It even had one of the actors from Andor in it. I’ve had that dvd in my possession since Christmas, so I’m glad to finally take that off of my personal to do list. The kids had dance last night, and costume fittings, and dinner with Grandma, so I had an additional 90 minutes on my hands. Nearly three hours of free time to watch a movie, eat, finish my book, and shower in peace.

Also, I finished all the sanding on the Urn. Up to 800 grit with hand sanding using a rubber hand block. Buttery smooth. I used a torch to make the grain pop, and then needed to move through the grits again back up to 800 grit. No matter. Looks good. I’m happy with it. I even managed to get some Osmo finish on it, and buff it off with my polisher. Very nice! Today I want to add feet, and perhaps some spacers to stop the lid sliding around. We’ll see how we feel later on. But I can see the end of the tunnel on this one. Glad to put it behind me. I have since learned that the recipient is not sure if they want it anymore, so I may keep it for myself, for future use. I’m not afraid of that kind of preparation. Live and learn.

I have burgundy, yellow, emerald green, and this blue felt to choose from. Think HP House colours.

I’m also just about ready to rewash my resin kit in warm soapy water, to make sure all of the mould release is gone. I don’t want any part of this thing to peel or puckers or wear off prematurely. Given how much time and effort it takes to test fit, sand, and scribe lines, and fill holes, and pin together, and find work around for misshapen joints, I don’t fancy my expensive paints peeling off of it just hours after laying it down because I missed a spot.

So here we are, Thursday. Looking at the four day long weekend for Easter. By next Wednesday the temperatures supposed to reach above 20°C. That’s wild. I’d settle for three to five weeks at the 14°C range, and rains over night, and storms while we’re all sound asleep. As I understand Ottawa had an ice storm recently, with parts of the city without power. Yikes.

Oh in work related news, we managed to get just about all items off to the printers. Some items that require a third parties input were held up, but that’s honestly to be expected at this point. So yeah! Fantastic news. Ciao Bella!

The Urn Build : Finale Episode… sort of.

April 5, 2023greatwallstudios1 Comment

I have finally managed to get all three pieces built, sanded up to 800 grit, and now it has one coat of clear coat on it that has been buffed to a higher than usual (for me) sheen. I have it drying in the garage, where it can spend the next 36 hours off gassing before I hand it off. All that is left to add are the tiny rubber feet for the bottom, so as not to scuff the surface where it will reside.

I added one tiny step, by using a blow torch to add some colour, and visual texture to the central column. I am glad I did a test burn on some scrap red Oak, so that I could change my plan up a bit mid stream to work on the central column and not the cap/case topper. A darker base makes it feel more grounded, and less visually monotone. The grain pops with the Osmo finish I used, so it looks pretty sharp. I do like how the blue felt looks against the red/tan tones of the red oak. I could have gone a bit more fancy, by using dove tails or a box joint for the central column, but the butt joints are sturdy. So C’est la vie.

I will need to blow off the felt with my compressor to get rid of the dust, and add four feet, then it’s off to the future resident. Tick that one off the to-do list!

Lid off central column with tray still inside.

All three pieces with clear coat finish applied.

Needs a touch more clean up, and out the door it goes! Happy Easter weekend everybody!

Are you an over the knees or around the ankles kind of a person…

March 7, 2023March 7, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Well now, that’s a deeply circumstantial – and awfully personal question. And the answer is, it depends. Am I home, away, early in the am, very late at night, inebriated, hung over, under gastrointestinal distress? Everything factors in to the answer. No way would I let fabric touch a public men’s room floor. Nu-uh! No way. Never. But if fighting for my life on the seat, may strip down entirely (when at home). Who needs clothes on when it feels as though your entire life is draining into the porcelain. Unwanted firehose spray back is a powerful deterrent. Like I said, that is deeply personal, and I thank you for respecting my privacy at this time.

Tuesday – forgot it was recycling day today. Saw the neighbours gear out front and twigged to it, luckily before the green trucks came through. I didn’t even register it was going to be Tuesday while prepping for gymnastics last night. Usually I pull the bins out of the guard box on Sunday or Monday to load them up, and be ready to spring into action anytime after 7:00am should I hear the grumble of the green trucks on our street. But I completely blanked on it. How odd. I have been fairly busy straight through since January 2nd this year, which is – really, really rare for me. No major breaks as of yet. Oh I know they’re coming. Highly unlikely I’ll be this busy all year long.

I had to put the Urn build on hold due to the cold, and volume of work I had on tap. Glue doesn’t set properly in deeply cold weather. And as mentioned before, no major heat source out there right now. I have it partially insulated, but I have a long way to go before the temperature would stabilize enough to work comfortably between December and Mid March. The base is done, the exterior chamber is done. I have the pieces for the interior cut and ready to glue in place. I have the top of the cover ready, and can build the tray and cover fairly quickly. Then it’ll just be a matter of scraping, sanding and then a highly polished finish to make it shine! I’m ok if they decide to not want it. I’ll put it in my office closet up out of the way, and can hold on to it for myself.

Started a Richard Morgan book I’ve had in my possession since 2007. I remember how much I loved the Altered Carbon book series. This is in that universe, but not directly related. I have a fantasy novel he wrote from 2008 in my to read pile too. I usually tend to buy more books than I can read in a year, so I’m happy to oblige historical me, by actually getting around to reading books that have sat on a shelf for ten-fifteen years or so. I know I have a Mo Hayder book I haven’t read yet too. I’m usually not into horror / murder books, but she writes great, creepy, gripping stuff. The current Richard Morgan book I’m reading is “Black Man”. Longest book I’ve read in quite some years. Over sized paper back with tiny type. So I feel like it would be a much longer trade paperback than the page count it currently has. I’m two fifths of the way in. Lots of action, lots of science fictiony hand waving tech jabber, and lots of mystery/suspense. For some reason I thought I had read this when I kept seeing it on the shelf, but it’s not ringing any bells no matter how far I get into it. Which is great. I hate when I forget I’ve read something before. Invest all that time to read it, and then PING! oh! I know how this ends, oh I’ve read this before! Damn it! On to the next book.

I haven’t put any time into sculpting yet this year. I know I will at some point. Just not right this minute. I haven’t put much thought into finishing up the illustrations for my childrens book either, come to think of it. I really should get that stuff squared away. Not that my writing career will ever go much beyond this space, and self publishing. Sometimes I just gotta get a story out of my head. Doesn’t have to mean anything more than that. I share it, if anyone besides me reads it, or enjoys it, all the better. Hope I made you smile, or wince, or chuckle, or cringe. Better than straight up apathy. You know what I think? I think that many of you out there have a story you want to tell. I think you should put pen to paper and get it out. Just let it fall out of you. Don’t worry about style, voice, the hook, or any of that. That’s for the editing stage. Right now, go jot down some points, and just plop it out on the page. The good, the bad & and the ugly. You’ll feel better when you do. Way easier to tweak and refine what you have in your hands than wish you wrote the perfect thing in one go. But what do I know. I’m just some dude talking on the internet to the three folks that read me off and on. Hey guys! Hope you are well. Ciao Bella!

The Partial Urn Building Episode: Vol 1.

February 16, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It started with a quick trip to pick up some pre-cut bits of Red Oak wood, hopefully eight (8″) inches in width, a quarter inch thick and around four feet long. Couldn’t find any, so I bought additional five and a half inch (5.5″) boards so I could join them to get the height I was after. I chose the straightest boards I could find after digging through a pile of about twenty or so pieces. I then grabbed a two inch wide, by three quarter inch thick piece to become the trim for my plywood core base. And then I also grabbed some two inch by quarter inch, by four foot strips that will eventually become a tray that sits inside the top of the urn’s central column.

So first off, I rounded over one edge of my two inch wide by three quarter Red Oak strip. Then I cut it down the middle to be one inch wide. Two inches, after further reflection was just too much. Too over powering. Too chunky. Then I flipped that strip rounded edge up against the fence of my table saw and cut out a quarter inch channel for the plywood core to Nestle into. I then spent a considerable about of time measuring and cutting and sneaking up on the mitred corners for my base. I got three that were perfect and one that was off. Seems as though, when I cut the two inch strip down to one inch I released a bunch of tension in the board and it went catywompus on me right from the get go. Not enough to be visible, but enough that with matching lengths and cuts, one corner was out by nearly an eighth of an inch. Very frustrating. Once I had this cut and roughed together I was able to cut down the plywood core that will be ensconced within the red oak chunky trim pieces. After gluing it up, and then spot patching the one sides gap (I managed to get it down below a 16th, but just barely. I was able to sand it, and clean it up to look as though I know what I’m doing.

The Red Oak Urn, loosely held together with clamps so I can measure & fit what’s in front of me, and not what I had on the plans I mocked up.

With the base glued up, I can begin to cut down one of my 5.5″ boards and do a couple glue ups to get my eight linear feet of 8.25″ wide boards for the inner column of the Urn. After the glue up, I extracted them from the assembly table, and the myriad sets of clamps I had used. I used a paint scraper, and then a card scraper to clean off the surface, and then tackled what was left of a visible glue seam with some higher grit sand papers to make it mostly disappear. Next, using the hard measurements from my newly constructed base I began to cut down the outer walls of the urn. At this juncture I decided against more mitred, and went for butt joints. Simple, yes, but effective. I had, at this point, decided that I wanted two layers of wall for the column. The exterior being the full 8.25″h, and the interior two inches shorter, all the way around, so that my tray, once built, would have a partial shelf to sit on, and thus, not potentially fall all the way through into the ashes below. You know, because it’s an urn.

Next steps are the glue up the outer, and inner walls of the central column, pin them in place discretely, but not fully attach it to the base just yet, so that I can sand more unencumbered. Then I can build the tray itself, which will get lined in a 2mm thick felt (Green, Yellow, Burgundy or Blue), i haven’t decided yet. The red oak will dictate what looks best at this point. And once all that is done i can build the decorative outer display cap. This i want to sand and polish up to a very high sheen. It will require hours of sanding, up to about 600 or 800 grit. Then the use of my polisher and wood polish to get that majestic final finished look to it.

The weather is cold and miserable once more, it is February in southern Ontario, so no surprise there. This is the middle of winter, and we’re having the strangest winter I can ever recall. So it might need to wait a bit until I can go back to do more. I have it all documented, and labeled, so I can go back at any time and not be lost. I have no heat, nor moisture control in the garage shop, so let us hope it doesn’t all go ape shit if left for a week. Fingers crossed.

Some of you may know that I had intended to build this out of Walnut, Ash or Spalted Maple which I had lying around the shop. After a good think about how long it would take to mill all of that up into useable lumber pieces, and given the (potential) time constraints of the Urns requester, I felt starting from wood that was already 4s was a smarter choice. My planer, and bandsaw hate to work in the freezing cold. And they make a nasty racket too at the best of times. Oh well. Now I can make one for me with my own materials later on, and it won’t cost me much beyond my time.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: