100th Post! ...and still screwing up.

So Jason selected Stickley's Aurora Finish for his Flip-Top Table.  Perfect!  I already know how to do that one and I don't have to stop and run a dozen experiments to get a different color.  Awesome!

So I pull up my handy dandy Stickley Aurora Finishing Recipe & Schedule post to follow my step-by-step notes at the bottom, to the letter.

I mixed up the dye, per my own instructions, and applied it to all the parts today. I let it dry, then put a coat of boiled linseed oil on and went to my Mom's for a pasta dinner.  When I got home I opened my laptop and decided to check the aforementioned blog post to see what the next steps are and I decided to just read the post from the beginning to relive my thought process.

My eye catches on the "1 oz powder to 1 quart water."  I see that I thought this concentration was too dark and too red...   I read on and notice that I triple diluted the mix to get the right concentration to match the Aurora sample.  I scroll down to my step by step instructions and see that it says to mix 1oz powder to 1qt water, and realize that I mistyped my own instructions!

I realize I just applied an over-concentrated dye to every part in this project!  It didn't look that bad as I was applying it, but that's never a good indicator as it looks completely different when it dries.  It didn't look bad when I put the boiled linseed oil on.  But after I realized what I did, I could see that it is, in fact, too dark and too red.

My stomach fell down to my feet at the realization that I may have ruined months of work and hundreds of dollars of wood.

I rushed downstairs, grabbed the can of mineral spirits and a rag and frantically rubbed it over every part to dilute the boiled linseed oil.  After that flashed dry I took hot water and soaked each part and scrubbed.

It worked!  Holy crap it worked!  I was able to remove quite a bit of the reddish/purplish tone.

The only problem now is that each part got a different level of dilution, so I'm going to mix the formula correctly this time (1oz powder to 3qt water) and reapply.  I don't think applying more dye of a given concentration darkens it further.  If you want it darker you have to add more dye powder to the solution.  I'll confirm that on a test piece, just to be sure.

So that's my 100th post.  I almost ruined the finish on a beautiful table and saved my own ass at the last second.  Here's to 100 more!  :-P

Attaching the Hardware

Hinge Mortises  

I didn't have much trouble mortising the hinges onto the back of the chest.  Mostly chisel work and finishing it up with the router plane.  Easy peasy, nice and relaxing.

I need to buy a drill bit centering marker jobbie because two of my hinge holes were a little off.  I made a few "toothpicks", added a little glue and shoved them in, let them dry, cut them flush, and drilled the holes in the correct position.  Worked nicely.

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to transfer the hinge locations to the underside of the lid.  With all of the hinges in their closed position attached to the back of the chest, I rested the lid in position so that it was flush to the back of the rear legs of the chest.  I took my marking knife and marked the sides of each hinge, cutting a little mark into the underside of the lid.  Easy enough.  But how was I going to measure how far inward onto the lid the hinges project?

Using a pencil, I marked where the lid overlapped the cylinder of the butt hinge.  Then I set my marking gauge to the distance of the front of the hinge to that pencil line and used this gauge setting to mark the distance the hinge reaches onto the lid.  None of that probably made any sense.  I was focusing too much on not making mistakes to bother getting the camera.  Sorry.  More chisel work and router planing finished up those hinge mortises.

The Problem with Fancy Brass Screws

Then it was time to screw the hinges on. I thought I pre-drilled large enough holes, but the very first brass screw I tried to drive in snapped off.  I had to go buy a pair of needle nose pliers and chisel around that screw in order to get a good grip on it.  Crossing my fingers, I managed to get it out.  /phew!

After that, I practiced on some scrap white oak until I found the correct diameter drill bit that would allow the screw to go in smoothly.  Not trusting the weak brass, I used some harder metal ones (of the same "number") to establish the thread with less likelihood of snapping.  I did this to all 24 screw holes and then used the brass screws with confidence (and paraffin wax, too, just because I'm paranoid).  I didn't even risk using a power drill.  I screwed them all by hand so I could feel for any resistance that might bend the brass.

Then I had to figure out how to hold the lid in position so that I could attach the lid to the base.  I cut two pieces of wood to the exact height of the bench legs, and two longer pieces.  Then clamped them to the bench so that the lid could rest on the shorter boards while the longer ones acted like arms holding it at 90 degrees.  Thus I was able to lay the hinges into the corresponding hinge mortises so that I could screw them in along the back of the bench.  I even took the time to clock my slotted screw heads.  /Screw-snob!

Clocked screw heads, and you can just make out the "toothpick" repair on the inside of the leg (to the left of the lid support).

Lid Supports.  

I wanted the lid supports to be mounted to the 2"x2" legs so that the sliding till would have more room to slide around.  So that's what I did.  And as soon as they were attached, I took one last look and began to literally and figuratively shut the lid on this project.  ...which is how I ran face first into yet another mistake.  The lid stopped closing 5" above the top of the bench.

The geometry at play requires that the lid supports be mounted to a back panel that is 3/4" thick.  By mounting it 2" from the hinge pivot point, I ended up with 8 screw holes to plug and hide.  So it is what it is, and not what I thought it was going to be.  I moved the supports to the back rail, which happens to be 3/4" thick, and they work as advertised.  Lesson learned.  Know your hardware.

Tray Runners

4 screws each.  Easy peasy.  I put a healthy amount of wax on the rails and a couple more coats of wax on the tray.  The tray slides all the way across with the flick of a finger.  Much better than I expected.

Coat Hooks & Mounting Hardware

I measured, drilled and attached the hooks to the mirror and attached the cleat to the back and mounted it on the wall.  My wall is bowed in two directions so the mirror wasn't sitting flat.  I went and bought another cleat to help suck the bottom in and prevent it from bouncing so much.  My next house will have flatter walls.

That wraps up all the hardware.  Next up: The End!

Breadboard Un-ending

Everything was going so well with the breadboard ends.  The mortises were wider than the tenons, I tuned the fit perfectly, I squared up the shoulder so there were no visible gaps.  So far so good.

I clamped on the breadboard ends before taking a 1/4" drill bit to mark the current location of the center of the holes.  I used my double square to measure 1/32" or so toward the shoulder to mark where I needed to drill the holes in the tenon for the drawbores.

I drilled the holes.  I reattached the breadboard ends and peeked into the holes and everything looked good.

As I stood back and began whittling the pegs I had half a feeling that I was forgetting something, but // Wow, no mistakes so far, what a great day this is turning out to be!  Let's keep going! //

So I glue the front tenon, clamp the ends on and peg them one at a time.  Everything worked perfectly.

I cleaned up the shop, went upstairs and my wife asked me what the best thing that happened today was.  // I didn't make any mistakes! //

It wasn't until the next morning while in the shower that I realized I forgot to elongate the drawbore holes in the back two tenons.  Grrr!

"Can't you just leave it?"

// No.  When winter comes the wood will dry out and it won't be able to shrink.  Those two pegs are keeping it expanded, and it might crack right down the length of the bench lid. //

"You need to make it right then.  It will bother you until winter that you didn't do it correctly and if it breaks you'll be making your third lid for the same project."

// Yep. //

So I cut the breadboard ends off and chiseled off the glue.

It's not all bad.  I had plenty of extra 5/4 stock to make new breadboard ends and now I know just how easy it is to remove them.

I cut a kerf between the tenons using the bandsaw.  Then extended the kerf with the fret saw.  Then whacked each section off with chisel & mallet.

The glued section was removed with chisel & mallet, riving the wood and then shaving it off.

The two back tenons now have elongated holes to allow for wood movement.

New breadboard ends, comin' right up!

All better.