From Past times

As much fun as creating wood furniture and repairing older ones I have to say that when I designed wooden toys to sell was a very rewarding and challenging time in my careerer. I have had some interests in purchasing my wooden train from my Bob's Timber Toys line from the 1980's... Some designs were my favorite and some well lets just say they paid the bills... Now I will make, or recreate the ones that I felt had style and design to them... After many years of learning new tricks of the trade I will employ them into my New design... Also I am thinking about bringing back my custom name signs from solid wood stock which can be hung, sat, or attached to shelf, or even a coat rack. I will be using my hand made templates used back then to create a unique look to lettering... Also I can use script lettering to create writing on the wall... The more I think about this venture the more excited I get to start! So Hold on and come back often to see what's New from Bob's Timber Toys...

What to do today?

Well the finish is dry on the cabinets and the stripping project is underway but because it's raining out I think I'll work on the inside projects.... I have a new pantry door to build, using an antique etched piece of glass from and old door... I've got to create this door using these dimensions of the glass as to not make it out of balance in dimensions. The glass size is such that the style and rails on this door are to be adjusted accordingly. I don't want to change them too much because of the other doors in the house are all alike and I don't want this one to look like an odd ball. My first challenge is to remove the glass from the old door without breaking it... so wish me luck.

jh69vsyatz

Now to finish

Well today I will finish the cabinetry started last week. The Stain was applied and dried all week... more than necessary but I took advantage of the week end to let dry, instead of using work hours to prepare the surfaces for a finish. This morning I shot a sealer layer to the stained surface just heavy enough to cover but light enough to dry quick. After this layer dries I rub out with sanding block to level the raised or uneven surface preparing for the second and third layers of depth. Usually I don't have to rub out more than once but if necessary I do rub out. Now I'm just waiting for that second step...

Working on today

I have a project in my shop that I'm almost done with... just needing to put a stain and finish on. The project is a base 4 drawer unit out of hickory wood and an upper wall cabinet made to customer's dimensions. While using a hickory style and rails and drawer heads I'm using birch plywood for the box sides and back. I've installed many cabinets and have found out how cheap many companies make this part of the cabinet... It's almost shameful how much cabinetry costs that little to no strength is designed and used into making a cabinet. For this product I used ½ inch ply for the sides with a hickory veneer to produce a stable box for the cabinet... The styles and rails used for the face frames are constructed using a pocket hole type construction. I've found out that this is not only easy and quick but a very strong joint and produces a very good product. After fixing many a drawer box that has fallen apart... I decided to use a multi layer birch ply... not the usual 5 ply but I believe this one is 9 ply and is stronger and better for durability. The hardware I used was a light weight type drawer hardware chosen by the customer. I would have liked to use a better quality drawer glide that has durability and longevity of life to the most wearing part of a cabinet… Granted the cabinet box doesn’t have to be ¾ in ply to be strong but the hardware of a cabinet will take a beating for every day use. This is where I have seen many cabinet companies fall short on quality. Sometimes I think that if the designer would have to install his own product in his own house before he could sell it I think he would change his mind of how to build it…(just my thoughts)