Archive for April, 2007

Hutch (no Starsky)

Sunday, April 15th, 2007

I have a number of cabinets that contain my collection of VHS tapes.  For DVDs, well, they've just tended to pile up on top of those cases.  On Friday, I wanted to watch one that was toward the bottom of the pile and triggered an avalanche.  After getting them piled up again, I thought about it and went downstairs to see what kind of wood I had available.  Turned out to be plywood left over from building the layout, so I cut some to size and created a hutch using very quick dado joinery.  However, it left a lot to be desired — bare plywood edges, tendency to splinter along the edges, etc., but it did get the job done and proved the concept.  On Saturday, I visited Lowes and got a length of 1×6 red oak.  I then built a permanent hutch in the same manner that I build my display cases — mitered corners, biskit joinery, etc.  After two coats of poly and a final rub down, it's in the living room holding many of my DVDs, clearing up the mess and looking very nice.  A nice project for a very rainy day — one hutch, no Starsky. Wink And, no commentary, please, on my taste in DVDs! Laughing

hutch

Display Cases on the Web Site

Thursday, April 12th, 2007

In looking over the Display Cases page on my web site, I noticed that there were a few things missing.  I went downstairs with the camera and the page now shows each of the ten display cases that I've built (as well as the original two that I had built for me).  The next project will be another small case that will go on the other side of my control panel and then, assuming I can get the necessary long sticks of red oak, I'll build one that's eight feet long to go between the smaller of the two originals and the floor.  With four shelves, that one will add a very welcome thirty-two feet of storage space.

Done!

Saturday, April 7th, 2007

Three coats of water-based semi-gloss polyurethane later (and hand sanding/rubbing after each coat), the display case is done.  Here it is in position, and, it being a display case for trains, there are trains in it.  I've taken a lot of photos during construction and will write this up as a photo essay for those who would like to try building their own cases.

display case

Almost Done

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

Well, the glue is dry and the display case is out of its web of clamps.  With the help of a friend (thanks Ed), I got a sheet of nice luan plywood on the way home after dinner.  I've now cut it to size and fastened it to the display case.  All that's needed now is some touch up hand sanding and three coats of water-based polyurethane.  I even got the plexiglas that will become the sliding doors.  Here 'tis.

display case

Display Case

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

This past weekend, I stopped by Home Depot and picked up some red oak.  While they didn't have the eight foot lengths that I need to make the large display case I've been promising myself for the Atlas reefers, they did have six and seven foot lengths which were perfect for making a smaller case to span the front of the ready yard.  For the last few days, I've been cutting and rabbeting and dadoing and bullnosing and doing other such woodworking tasks (and enjoying myself).  Yesterday was a beautiful day (and according to the weather forecasts, the last such for quite a while), so I took the Workmate out on the deck and spent the afternoon sanding everything (one experiment in sanding downstairs convinced me to never, ever do that again).  Last night I did the preliminary glue-up (three sides) and I've just completed the final glue-up.  The display case is resting in its clamps and turned out quite nicely.  When the glue is dry and it's released from its web, I'll do any touch up sanding, measure, cut, and attach the luan plywood back, apply the finish (water-based polyurethane), and get some sliding plexiglas (or perhaps lexan) doors to complete the display case.  While it will only hold about twelve cars, at least that's twelve more cars off the layout.  Here it is in its web of clamps.

display case