Woodworking - 18 month retrospective

From J:

I started woodworking in earnest about 18 months ago. After I completed my latest project, I wanted to take a look back at where it started and what I've learned along the way.

First project: a new workbench/saw station/rolling monstrosity. For a first project, it was decent. Very solid construction (glued and bradded rabbets). It was never quite level and the workflow on it tended to all focus on the left hand worktop, with the right side being completely neglected. Still, I have a special place in my heart for this thing.

 

Shop cabinets: Pretty happy with the casework, and while I love the pegboard doors, the miters are pretty ugly. I used the 45 degree presets on my miter saw which, I now know, are not perfectly 45 degrees. Live and learn. Pegboard doors are awesome.

 

Shower stand: we really needed a new one, so I built one. I used "mortise and tenon" construction, but in retrospect there were better ways to do this. This was my first lesson in doing proper cleanup of glue squeezeout. After I renovated our shower and we no longer needed a stand, this was handed off to my parents where it currently houses a collection of decorative stone birds in their guest bathroom.

 

Plant stand: I had leftover cedar and A wanted a plant stand. I just kinda built this one without much planning. It's always been a little wobbly, but it still stands and serves its purpose.

 

End grain cutting boards, v. 1.0: Merry Christmas, everybody. Project highs: everybody loved their cutting boards! Project lows: I hadn't figured out how to actually flatten anything at this point, so it took me hours and hours of sanding to get these things "flat."

 

Entryway coat rack/key rack: I consider this to be my first foray into "fine" furniture. The coat rack is gorgeous, despite some sloppy tenon work. I also had a couple of goofs that I recovered from nicely and A hasn't found. I don't even notice them any longer. In retrospect, the finish on this was quite rough (literally) compared to what I do now - this is the area where I've made my most significant improvement, I think. Still, we'll probably use these pieces for decades. I love them.

Workbench upgrades: Added a router table (AKA a sheet of plywood with holes cut in it) and some drawers to the workbench. First drawer turned out great. Second drawer glued up out of square and always looked wonky. Third drawer was cut incorrectly, I couldn't get it to fit, and I ended up smashing it. My first true failure, glad it was just pine.

Storage tower: this was a big build. Most of it was done concurrently with my shower renovation, so my shop time was very divided. This was a really ambitious project: expensive wood investment, lots of new techniques (drawers and doors, shelves, panel glueups), just a really complex project overall. It has some definite highlights: first of all, I built the thing and it looks pretty good. It's level and doesn't wobble. But, as I've reflected on this, I gained an appreciation for the attention to detail that's required to make something look perfect in the end. The joints on this are a little gappy, the doors are a little wonky, and the finish is rough. All things that I've improved on going forward.

Vanity cabinet: I feel a bit like this project was me entering the big leagues. The joinery was much tighter. It's square. I changed my finishing technique and got vastly better smoothness. We use this multiple times a day and it works great. I learned some lessons about door fitting. But in the end, just look at this thing. It's gorgeous. Little errors don't matter when the end product looks this good.

Block cutting boards: Goodness, I've made a LOT of these. Lots of people got these for gifts, and I sold something like 20 of them. I built a jig to help with glueups, a jig to help with flattening, and just churned these things out. It was fun, but by the end I was getting burnt out on cutting boards. It started to feel like a second job.

Shoe rack: I realize now that I never blogged about this one. Our old shoe racks were the kind made out of little expandable metal poles. Our shoes always fell off of them and they were frustrating. So, I made this. It fits into the closet like a built-in. All of our shoes fit on it and the front sections have exciting swinging and sliding action.

Keepsake boxes: For my nephews. One in cherry, one in walnut. My first time working on something this small and delicate. A very enjoyable project. Finish was decent. I liked doing two of these in tandem, it made it much more efficient. Fitting the lids was a challenge. Lessons were learned.

Clothes rack: Mmm, that tiger maple. Currently mounted behind the master bedroom door. Compared to the first time I did mitered joints (on my workshop cabinets) these are much, much improved.

Christmas season 2015: my workshop looked like this for about 3 months straight.

Workshop redo: While building the vanity cabinet, it became clear to me that my workbench situation was lacking and my workflow could be improved. I broke down my old workbench and used its scraps (along with some construction lumber) to build a new long workbench, a new standalone saw stand with a flip-up extension wing, and a new router table. I added a new assembly table made out of a door on sawhorses. I built flip-top carts to hold my new drill press and planer. Amazingly, I only had to buy a two sheets of plywood, some galvanized pipe and fittings, and some construction lumber to build all of these. I was able to reuse almost all the old workbench. This new arrangement has worked out much better. And, technically, we can still fit a car in the garage.

Groland upgrade: this one was fun, I reworked an Ikea cabinet as part of our kitchen makeover. Given that I had the constraints of working from an existing framework, this turned out great. The finish is top notch.

Pantry: And now we come to the present day. I look at the pantry and see how my previous projects have impacted this, especially the storage cabinet. I paid extra attention to getting tight and gapless joints. I sweated little details about getting things aligned as closely as I could. The finish is glass smooth compared to what I was putting down a year ago. My biggest challenges with this project involved working with rough lumber - I milled everything myself rather than buying it surfaced from the hardwood supplier. There are always improvements that I have to make, but I think I'm on the right track! Looking forward to seeing what the next 18 months hold.