The Bedroom Desk 3
Remember the desk? Last worked on it way back in August…
Anyway, I finished it last Monday, and here’s the final part. Because it’s finished.
This here is the pile of wood that the desk has been for the last few months. Upon looking at the proportions of the desk, I realized it was too long.
Look after the jump to see in progress shots.
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Monday
Finished the desk today. I’ll put the post up later. I’m back posting at the minute, so I want the entry near the top of the page for a while. But believe me, today was the day I finished it.
Friday
Got a commission today from an interesting patron. See who it is after the jump.
The Bedroom Desk 2
What’s on the schedule for today? More of the same. Almost exactly the same in fact – I made a mirror image of what I made yesterday, then cut the three cross pieces. The cross pieces are located at the front of the desk, in the middle of the desk, and about 1/3 of the way up between the two back uprights. It really is an incredibly simple design.
More after the jump.
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The Bedroom Desk
And we’re off. So after rough cutting my 17 foot lengths of material down to a manageable size I started marking out and cutting the back upright. This piece, and it’s mirror, are the anchors of the desk. The writing surface and the shelves intersect with it, and it connects to the two legs, which connect to the front uprights which support the front of the desk.
So, it’s a bit crucial to get it right. I’m using this new mitre saw I bought a while back for in and around 20 euros from Homebase, and it does a great job of making sure that your cuts are straight, or well angled if you so wish. It doesn’t do compound mitres, which annoyed me slightly when taking it out of the box, but after using it today it does many jobs quite well. Cutting 2 by 2’s though… it’s about as much as it can handle.
More after the jump.
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Friday
The wood arrived this morning, and the delivery guy left it out on the lawn. I didn’t realize until the afternoon because I had no reason to go out the front door, and I didn’t notice the receipt stuck in the letterbox. But thanks very much for the delivery service guys.
Heiton Buckley Builders Merchant. 24 Euros for 15 meters of pine, including 7 euros of delivery, which was necessary, as I don’t own a car. I don’t think taxis can accommodate that kind of wood.
Prospective Project #2
And here is my second prospective project. This is a desk for my room that has to fit in a very confined space: 80cm by 80cm. It’s between the end of my bed and the wall, and there’s nowhere else for it to go because my room is rather small. It’s one of the two box rooms in the house.
I am actually building this project starting Friday. I’m going to try and do it in a weekend, but it’s unlikely seeing how complicated it is. The two back uprights have 8 or 9 joints each. On one piece of wood. Man that’s going to be tough to pull off.
Did the planning and I’ll be able to make it with just 3 lengths of 50mm by 50mm. That’s 2″ by 2″ in the old money.
Prospective project #1
I have the house to myself this weekend. I’m considering doing a project. Google sketchup is a fantastic program to use when you’re thrashing out some details. The picture is of a craft table I’m considering; I could build the skeleton quite easily in a weekend.
The drawer fronts could be plastic, coloured with a tinted sheet. I really like this design so I’m going to keep going on it, and maybe I’ll build it one day.
I’ll probably make myself a desk this weekend though as I am in bad need of one.
Here’s an idea, since this is a first prospective project, maybe I’ll design 4 or 5 things then you, my loyal readers can vote on them.
Monday
My jovial face hides the nature of my thoughts lately: that my current comfort with being on the dole, and living week to week and never really achieving anything is a cycle of just marking time.
I finished my my pliot today, and I’m sending it off within the next 10 days or so. I’m designing a new coffin, and I’ll be working on the prototype over the next few weeks. That’s the plan anyway; need something to lift me out of this funk.
Tool Review: Challenge Xtreme Impact Drill
Hello there are welcome to the second of The Mad Carpenter’s tool reviews. Today we have a look at the power drill, one of the corner stones of the woodworking world. You need a drill these days; either for driving screws, drilling pilot holes or drilling… larger holes. It seems really limited, but trust me, it gets you out of a lot of work at times.
I splashed out 30 euros for this drill, which isn’t a lot to some, but I’m on a very fixed budget. There was one for half the price of this one, but it didn’t include a carry case, and I thought I’d splash out a bit.
More pictures and reviewing after the jump.
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Wednesday
Click after the jump for the drawing of the desk I’ve needed since I moved in.
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Sunday
Still sitting around with the buddies. Becky might be moving in. Which I think is fantastic news. She’s a stilt walker, circus performer and prop maker. She alters her own clothes, and all that sort of stuff.
Frank’s an animator, Mary plays music, Sin writes, and I work with wood. We could start a little commune. If you want to see a picture of Becky, look after the jump.
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BP Wednesday again
All right, so I’m starting to flag here, so I’ll post the rest of the updates tomorrow. Along with the latest project news and I’ll knock out a tool review before the end of the week. How’s that sound?
BP Thursday
So today is bit devoid of information, so I’ll give you something else:
Autocad design after the Jump.
It’s a coffin.
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Back Post Tuesday
So I haven’t updated in freakin’ weeks. There are very good reasons, and I’ll be showing them to you over the coming posts: New tools, computer aided design, projects… a whole bunch of stuff.
The Other Mad Carpenters
In a moment of idle contemplation, I googled “The Mad Carpenter” and apparently it has shown up in a lot of places before I got to it.
I don’t see this as ripping off someone’s idea, I see it in the way I see many things: Good ideas never die. Two totally separate people invented the television at the same time, coming up with the combination of words “The Mad Carpenter” has obviously struck several people throughout time, and I’m just one of them.
Want to meet the others?
1. The Mad Carpenter Inn. If I’m ever in Laramie Wyoming I’ll be sure to drop in to them, get some pictures and spend the night.
2. Serology: It’s in the blood. A tale of a killer carpenter from Germany in 1901. It’s a true crime forensics deal.
3. Mad Carpenter: A Spanish Fantasy. An ebook titled Mad Carpenter. It’s a little uncanny though, in the blurb it says:
[...] who is the mad carpenter, to collect timbers for his making of her coffin
He’s a mad carpenter, that’s making a coffin? Like the coffin I made?
Spooky.
4. A piece of fractal art. Speaks for itself really.
5. The Mad Carpenter by Jalan Crossland. A song and everything. That video is not actually 20 minutes long. Check out the hat on that guy. I’m starting to think that us mad carpenters are of an ilk.
Jalan Crossland “The Mad Carpenter”
Oh and by the way, the reason I chose “The Mad Carpenter” is because I’ve always liked the idea of being a “Mad Scientist” but I was never any good at science. What I am good at, is making things out of wood.
So there’s my top 5 other Mad Carpenters. Obviously, I’m number 1.
Tool Review: Challenge power screwdriver
Hello and welcome to the first of, hopefully, many tool purchases and reviews. As an amateur carpenter there is seldom greater a joy than purchasing a new gizmo or whirlygig with which to make working with wood and metal not only easier, but more fun. Who doesn’t love a good gadget?
Today’s tool is a 3.6V power screwdriver from the budget tool range Challenge which I’ve only ever really seen stocked at Argos, a strange mix of warehouse and retail shop.
Just to explain Argos to the those of you out there that don’t know; you walk in, look through the laminated catalog of dreams, fill in your slip with the tiny pens provided, then wait for the great computer God ARGOS to call your number and deliver you your wonderous delights.
Enough of that, on to the screwdriver.
This is the little box that it came in, promising lots of goodies and joy inside. However for you kiddies, the goodies and joy are after the jump.
Fix it day
If I look contented in this picture, it’s with good reason.
I love doing things, especially handyman sort of things, so today, after getting back from collecting some money from the government; which had been lying in the post office since last Thursday, and no one mentioned to me until I trekked across town in morning traffic on a bike by the way… I’ve forgotten my point…
Oh yeah! The handle on Mary’s door was all keh-fucked, and I had offered to fix it. So after taking it apart and swapping handles between doors I thought I had it sorted. I moved the handle, and a god awful squealing chilled my handyman soul. I needed to lubricate the handle, but I didn’t have any WD-40, so I did what anyone would do…. Looked for another type of oil. I found cooking oil, and it worked really well.
Feeling full of man-pride, I decided to tackle the doorbell. For some reason, it just wouldn’t ring. Took the button off the door and found a little fuse looking thing which had, well… fused. It was broken. It was glassy in the middle though, not like a household plug fuse, so I set off walking into town as the sun was shining and I was being carried by my man-pride.
I showed my little metal and glass trinket to every shop employee I could find that worked in a shop relating in any way to hardware or electricity. Walked at least 2 miles back and forth around town, each shop assistant telling me to go to a different shop. Cut to 5 shops later. An hardware wholesaler, Irwin’s Electrical on the port road.
And say what you want about customer service these days, but those two old guys were helpful beyond belief! They took their time examining the little thing I showed them, and they told me it was actually a little light for behind the doorbell, and since it was fused, it wasn’t completing the circuit. Sold me a replacement, after making sure it was as close to the right thing as they could sell me, and then give me a receipt. Told me to come back if it was the wrong thing for money back and everything.
Got a taxi home, for I had the feet walked clean off me, and started working on the doorbell again. The copper contacts inside were grubby, the plastic casing was full of dead spiders, the wiring was corroded… nightmare.
So I bent the copper into the right place after cleaning it, stripped the flex cover off to expose clean wire, reassembled the unit, slotted the little fuse-bulb into place and pressed the button with gritted teeth.
My heart has never swelled more at such a simple “Ding-Dong”.
I had a moment of man-triumph today. And damn it all if it didn’t feel fantastic. It’s the simple little jobs that take the longest, but it’s so fulfilling to have something WORK after you’ve put in so much effort.
Oh and on a side note, I bought a decanter today, Put a deposit on it two weeks ago. It’s worth 150 euro, I got it for a third of the price. I’ll do a post about it tomorrow.
The moral of today’s story is: If you can fiddle with it until it works, why would you call someone to do it for you? It’s so satisfying to wipe the rust and grime off your hands knowing that something works better now than it did before you decided to fix it.
Happy tinkering carpentry fans
Guess who got mentioned on national radio?
That’d be me. I was mentioned on the Ray Foley Show yesterday.
On Today FM, one of the national radio stations of Ireland.
So there you go. Minor fame. Don’t discount local publicity outside of the internet.
Hundreds of views in a single day, due to a little mention on the radio.
Thanks Ray.
The Mario Cube: Phase 2
Welcome to the second installment of the Mario Cube project.
When I last updated youse, the box was a mere skeleton.
But now, the box is covered in skin, the hinges are installed, and the construction phase of the box is done. All that’s left to do is to phase 3 – paint. But that’s fodder for another blog post.
The skinning of the box is a relatively simple task, but it is really fiddly. There is a great deal of shift and shimmy, a lot of nudge and bump… I’ll just say this, I’m really glad that I’ve got my new belt sander.
If you’d care to step this way, and glance downwards you’ll see the nearly finished project.
Here it is. Notice the bolts, I’ll get to those later.
Each side of the box was a little fiddly to fit, but these things usually are. I decided to have the plywood overlap on one corner of each side so that end grain would only appear once on each side. This decision also made each of the sides closer to each other in size. I tacked the plywood to the skeleton after cutting and then belt sanded three of the sides; I belt sanded the fourth after the second side was tacked in place. It made the whole thing nice and uniform. Brilliant.
Pictures of the inside and details about the bolts after the jump.
