Woodworking

Nice work, Harry.

[John Bridge]

Very nice piece, Harry. I particularly appreciate the old meat grinder. My mom used one of those way back in the day. Feel free to put all your stuff on here. Who knows? We might team up and make a killing, eh? Not.

I'm gonna try for a pic of my dinette set. It might inspire you. I say try because my dinette is very small. I'll have to shove myself against the wall to get it all in.

Stay tuned.

[John Bridge]

Okay, well the room is not large enough to get the whole thing at once. I could probably go outside and shoot through a window, but hey . . .

The design is my original, but it's fashioned on the Early American idea of simplicity and functionality. The entire thing is held together by the wood pegs driven into mortises in the rail ends. The only place I used nails was on the bench planks to help hold them to the contoured forms while the glue set. Otherwise, it's glue and wood.

The wood is all 2x4s I got from Home Depot. There are two or three species of pine, a few pieces of Doug Fir, and there is some hemlock in there, too.

The table top consists of green marble tiles from Asia, I think. The tiles are simply laid in loose, bumped up against one another.


"knock-down table and benches"

[cx]

Nice work, Harry. I suspect the truth wasn't entirely with you when you claimed not to be ready for Oak. Or at least a little Mahogany, it's real easy to work with.

John:

Perhaps if you could say something really tacky to your wife, she could shove you a bit closer to the wall. Then axe her to hand you the camera.

Nice work. Zero metal fastners is my favorite way to work with wood. Like glue and dowels - and lots and lots of clamps. Does that set really still knock down, or did you glue it once together?

[John Bridge]

kelly,

everything comes to parts. and I tole you before. it's "ax" not "axe." Axe is that tree chopper thing. I ain't even a real texan and I know that.

Clamps are the deal. You never have enough. After a while one gets pretty creative. I've used wood shims, wedges, and bungee cords to hold things together. Pipe clamps are good if you have a bunch of different lengths of pipe handy.

Well hell. Guess one of these days I'll have to show you a pic of the 17th century European bench vise I made out of oak laminations.

In the meantime, what with all your talk of glue and dowels, I've got a feeling you might have some project pics of your own. This would be the place to show them off.

[Harry]

Thanks
I enjoy working with wood and like most of you here, I don't use nails or screws except for the hardware. I haven't mortised yet, just dowels and oversized tongue and grove so far until I get a better setup in the garage.

John ... I like your table. I'd like to make something similar with some limestone I have left over in the workshop.

Harry

[cx]

John, I know you done already tole me twict, so, figgerin' you bein' older and all, I went right over to axe ol' Merriam (you know, the girl wrote that big book pretending to be a man, an all) and she said you could spell it ax or axe, ever which way you want. Didn't even have no preference. Don't need to be no Texan if you got ol' Merriam.

Actually I have very few pictures of anything I've built. Nearly all of it is in somebody else's house and I've never been much on photography anyway. Just started taking pictures of construction projects because a friend lets me borrow his digital camera and they are absolutely the cat's ass. But mostly it's pictures of the house being built so's I know just where to cut into the wall to find this or that place where I done something dumb, or someone else did. Really great for that. Just take lots of pictures, bring'em home, load'em inna computer and forget'em 'till somebody says, "I know we roughed a clean-out in that wall" and you have to drill a 3" hole in the fine stained baseboard - in the right place. Love it.

But that's not what you axed about. I have some pichers (another Texas word) of the trim in the last house. That count? Only furniture I've ever made lives elsewhere and wasn't all that impressive anyway.


Clamps GOOOOOD! Pipe clamps, bar clamps, Jorgensen clamps, spring clamps, C clamps, piece-of-innertube clamps, lead-shot-bags clamps, masking-tape clamps, and the list goes on. Use'em all. Even had to resort to the truck-bumber-against-the-tree clamp at least once.

Not just for gluing either. Bar clamps are some of the best assistants I have for many jobs that would be impossible alone without them. They're cheap help, don't bitch about the conditions, wait in the truck all day if you don't need'em, don't smoke, don't drink, don't steal none of your other tools. Did I mention that I like clamps?

And since Bud and them (see, I speak Pennsylvania too) ain't around, guess I hafta be the one to question whether we really wanna see pictures of any of your vises, John.

[flatfloor]

John, seriously, nice chairs, but you would mind telling me where the hell rest of us are going to sit?

BTW, my Golden loved the picture of you and the bird, she can't wait!

[Sonnie Layne]

gotta great recipe for parrot,
and for goldens as well!!!
See you in September

John

Nice work. And a true Texan would have said "I done tole you...."

I apologize in advance for any beer I spill on your nice table while visiting the Bridge Estate.

Rob

[cx]

Hey, ol' flatfloor just reminded me, I got some pictures of me and a Spotted Owl. Like to see his Golden retrieve that sucker! Lest you shot it first, of course, which wouldn't be fair, I don't think.

Bet Sonnie ain't got no recepies for them, neither.

[Sonnie Layne]

Oh, contraire, m'cher...
calls for an oven roasting pan, two cups of turtle soup (for basting), a cup of crab/shrimp meat, one cup okra, one cup coarse chopped onion, Stuff the appropriate critter with crab, sautee the okra and onion in butter, stuff them into the critter. Set the oven at 350 and bake 30 min per lb. or better yet, set 'em on da grill til the first side turn nearly burnt' lookin, den ya turn 'im over, kill the heat and let 'im cook (baste often) til the taters are cooked, then you slice and serve.

[cx]

Hell, that sound like jus a standard Coonass recipe for jus about anything! Bet thas the same one you was gonna use for the dog, too.

For dat Spotted Owl, gotta have a sure-nuff en-danger recipe. Like maybe if you use'n that Ridley's turtle for the soup and maybe some Snail Darter for the stuffin' and such. And NO okra. Y'all always pewtin' okra in everthing.

Do better.

But that did sound good. Maybe with just an ol' dead chicken. And no okra.

Sonnie

I like okra. Feel free to include in anything you whip up for me. My only yucks are mushrooms and brussel sprouts.


Rob

[John Bridge]

dammit, i'm gonna keep this thread on the subject of woodworkin'. An yor gonna see my vise.

And oh. The word is "pitcher." That's how my helper, a native Texan, says it, as in I took this pitcher of my vise.

One more thing. Merriam weren't no texan. Merriam were a yankee.


You can drop a door or other panel down into the vise about 14 inches, which makes it easy to work on edges, etc. Also, the vise will open about 12 inches to grip thicker objects -- small boxes, for instance.