Pop's Shop

I’ve decided that the best fit for the space between the chair and couch would be an oval table. The furniture that I’ve already started for the basement is Mission style. So here is the design I came up with for the first one. I’m thinking square for the second.

Here are some close ups of the skirt. I cut kerfs about every 3/16″ and left about 5/64 of material The tables support was built for two purposes. 1) To support the skirt and give plenty of glue surface. 2) To give support to the legs.

Here is a close up of the lower support. I did a through mortise joint for each leg. The outer edges of the tenon have a chamfer around them.

I finally got around to working on my end tables again. The first one is an oval shaped table. It’s my first try at bending curves (for the table skirts). Just have some sanding left before stain and varnish.

The other night I found myself recutting a piece of plywood due to chipout on the bottom side of the table saw cut that I had made. I realized that I have the perfect tool for making table saw inserts, my cnc router.

I did some quick measurements and threw them into TurboCAD, mounted up a 1/2″ piece of MDF, and soon had my first insert. Now I’d rather of been using UHMW, but I’ve found that MDF has some very machinable properties. It’s easy to cut, can be drilled and tapped for set screws, and it’s also cheap.

Recently we bought new furniture and around the same timeframe finished a family room in our basement. The old furniture, along with the TV moved out of our upstairs family room. What? No TV on the first floor? Well, I have to say this has been a blessing. We have two teenagers that we think of as our “clutter monsters”. It’s amazing how quickly they can displace everything in a room in a matter of minutes. With no TV on the first floor, they tend not to hang around for very long, in turn, this area stays pretty presentable when guests stop by.

Well, we’ve started doing more entertaining in the past year and have a growing collection of wine bottles and other beverages that shouldn’t be left in the reach of teenagers. So we’ve decided to convert the area that once housed our TV into a lockable liquor cabinet. I installed the insert today and am very happy with the overall results.

The insert opens to allow for easy reach to it’s contents and a place to prepare cocktails. Below the liquor cabinet is a large drawer that my wife requested for storage.

Rather than buying speciality hardware, I prefer to buy regular brass and brass plated hardware, remove the clear coat using stripper, and finish the hardware with a black stained glass patina. This saves a whole lot of money and has a very impressive finish. Still need to install some stop, cut a mortise for the lock, and varnish the other drawer fronts.