saw donkey pt II,,,,,,

I worked some more on my version of the saw donkey. That didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked it but I am making progress on it. I didn't complete that but I did finish the second bookshelf. I've got it on the bookcase I just made for myself. It has one book in it so won't feel like it isn't loved.

I'm still sore from my adventures on friday. I took it slow yesterday and I took it even easier today but my lower back is still stiff. I really feel it after I park my buns on a chair for a while and then get up. Hauling that 80 pound lunchbox planer up and down cellar stairs might be stretching my limits at my age now.

left pile done right pile awaiting

I have been squaring up the ends of these on my tablesaw. It's a been a chore because my blade will not cut through the 4x4. I have a little piece left that I have to plane flush before I can repeat it on the opposite end. That end is a little easier to do because I have a stop to make that cut with. Before I started on that, I finished the bookshelf.

putting on the 5th and final coat of shellac

this is nice brush - much better than the crappy artist brush

So far I am liking this brush a lot. I especially like how it lays down the shellac. It flows off the brush evenly and smoothly. There aren't any lines and I don't seem to get as many drips on the edges. I didn't have any problems with the size of the brush. The small size allows me to put the finish on in a very controlled manner one area at a time.

length of the handle is ok

I thought this would piss me off being so long. I also thought it would interfere with getting into the backs of the shelves but it wasn't so. The length of the handle made that easier to do here. I could stand back and apply the finish with a clear view of the surface. The length of the handle was an asset here, it was almost like holding a pencil in your hand. I had very positive control of the movements of the brush. It's a keeper.

right side glamour shot

head on

left side

rear

I originally had planned to paint the ends like I did on the first one I made. I changed my mind on that after I changed the shelf joinery and the type of shelves. I don't mind painted furniture but my preference is to use a clear finish and let the wood be seen. I also like the end detail of this over the rectangular ends of the first one. If I make another one of these, it'll be like this one.

I can't count now

After double triple checking myself, I realized that I still can count higher then ten without taking my socks off. This saw donkey isn't a a trestle like I used on my two workbenches. The feet on these are turned 90°. So instead of 4 pieces each assembly, there are five. This 'H' trestle imprint will come back to haunt me again.

had to buy another 4x4

At least I'll get to try out my hard point saw and see how well it works.

the fast way according to Richard Maguire

Richard says to make a square saw cut on the top about an 1/8" deep or so and then saw down at an angle on the other squared line. The saw will track in the first saw cut as you do the second one.

looks to be square and saw works ok

square on this face

too much daylight on this face

Like anything else, this fast way or any other way, it is going to take practice before I get square off the saw on all four faces.

checking for twist first

This will give up the two extra feet that I need. I am going to plane two faces flat and square and then run the other two sides through my planer.

I wanted to use this one

I checked all four faces at Lowes before I bought this and I didn't see any cracks/splits any where. This must have happened after I sawed it in two. Of course this is the shorter piece I wanted to use - the feet are 20" - I'll have a lot of waste on the other one that I'll have to use.

got my two faces square to each other

a little more than 1/8"

If I was making four new feet I would just run this through the planer. These two feet have to match the other two so I'll use this scrap from yesterday as a gauge to plane this 4x4 down to.

glued a split

The split from the other part of the 4x4 extended into this end about 6 inches. I don't know if this will be waste or not so I'm gluing it just to be safe.

right number of pieces now

This is not a 'H' trestle. The difference here is the feet are at a 90° to the top and not parallel to it. At this point I'm still thinking 'H' trestle and not what it will be. That also means the tenons on the uprights will be offset 90° top and bottom. That I was aware of and planning for.

mortises all laid out

using through tenons

I don't think Richard used through tenons on his but I'm using them here. I set my mortise gauge on a scrap 4x4 centering a 1" wide mortise.

made a major mind fart here - see it? because I didn't

I drilled out most of the waste on the tenons. Trying to mortise a 3 1/4" deep one with my mortise machine would strain it. This way all I have to do is square up the corners and the sides.

squared one up

I wasn't going to do this but when I checked the mortise machine, I had the 1/2" chisel installed in it so I had to do one to see it. I still don't have a clue that I screwed up yet.

look see at what's to come

Now I see that something isn't quite right. I was happy that I knew my tenons would be different on both ends and I'm happy with the look of my upcoming saw donkeys. I was playing with this to get an idea of the height when the light bulb finally came on.

some big holes to plug

I had been thinking of this as a 'H' trestle the entire time I had worked on it. I had in my mind that I needed two mortises on each of the feet. This isn't an 'H' trestle and I needed only one mortise in the middle.

I've got a couple of ways to fix this. The first one is to buy another 4x4 and make 4 new feet. And remember that I only need one centered mortise. The second option is to square up the mortises I made in the feet and plug them. I have a lot of scrap 4x4's that I can use for that.  Since this is a shop project, I'll be going with option #2 and putting plugs in.

I was aware that I needed to pay attention to the tenons at the top and bottom of the leg but missed the mortise connection. I could leave the mortises as they are but I don't need to be reminded of this every time I look at them. I'll come back to this tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

trivia corner
What does 'chop suey' mean in Mandarin Chinese?
answer - odds and ends