Laying a stone tile floor, part 3

Finally, the stone goes down: 

Next is to seal the travertine and grout the tiles. Almost done!

Side note: we somehow crashed a drill during mixing. I suspect a faulty piece of equipment but it looks like a short along the armature of the drill motor: 

Replacement or repair cost as much as the drill, so we replaced it and gave the new one back to the neighbors who loaned it to us (Doh!)

Laying a stone tile floor, part 2

The previous threshold was pretty rotten so it had to go. 

So the new one was placed with significant silicone caulking to seal it up. 

A little damage to the casing from prying out the rotten portion but will have to be fixed up when it is a little warmer. 

Te cement board:

Laying a stone tile floor, part 1

While I know this isn't woodworking per se, I did write a post once about how those skills have helped translate into other projects, so this is a callback to that sentiment. Anyways, we decided to redo the "sunroom" floor after the dog finished off the old carpet that was in there (in fairness, he really just put it out of its misery.) and it was decided that we would be laying travertine. So we ripped the carpets out and pulled up all te carpet tacking. I checked to make sure te floor was level (it was) and flat (it mostly was) and we are now dry-fitting the cement board underlayment. Now, I read many various posts about skipping the thinset mortar under the backer boards, and ultimately the final word is "don't be lazy, fool!" which is what the manufacturer says to do, too. (Hardieboard). Additionally , I'm hoping the additional layer on thinset will help offset the extremely slight crowning at the middle of the room and allow a more flat surface when screwed down. We shall see...

Small Rack

Small rack to hold dog leashes in the laundry room. This is a piece of aspen that really fished well. The dowel posts are poplar. Stain is "gunstock". 

I chamfered the edges and used a Forstner bit on the drill press with the board propped on a similar thickness board beneath it for the angle. Top coat of de-waxed shellac.  I really had no idea aspen had such a nice grain to it. 

Keyed mortise and tenon 2

After a few mistakes here and there, the keyed mortise and tenon coffee table is nearing a final state.  A few notes: maple is hard to work with, but the keyed tenon is solid as a rock as a result.  So that is nice.  I might still cut new keys as these are still a little too "angular" and they are slightly too long/high.  

I am very pleased with the table top, it will be the first project that was really properly surfaced prior to finishing.  The lamination turned out very nice as well, and the sanding makes such an immense difference in the finish of the final piece.  I think once the keys are fixed up and the top secured, we will be happy.  This was an additional test-piece prior to working on the cherry bench that was the inspiration for this piece.

Adirondack Chair

So this was my most recent project. It is interesting because this was the absolute first thing I started when I didn't know anything at all, then I took a big long break from it. Then, I came back to it after doing other projects with more skill (and more tools). Full disclosure: I used a jigsaw and sander. Now that I can go outside it is a little easier to do those things. 

Now I need to make a few more or it will be a pretty lonely seat :) it is comfortable which is nice and I think it is aesthetically pleasing as well. It is cedar with teak oil finish.

Hard Maple - they aren't kidding

Prior to making the cherry bench, I wanted to make a slightly less serious project. We need a coffee table and I like the look of the Stickley "fireside bench", so this is loosely based on that design. 

This is my first project in maple, and for the record, hard maple really earns the title of "hard". What a difference from working with poplar and pine. I think I already need to re sharpen pretty much everything I've used on it so far. 

The first photo is of the initial laminating of the top.  While I am improving in my larger lamination skills, the required trying and truing took hours of hand planing to get reasonably flat.  I don't have a true scrub plane, but I now fully understand the utility of one.  I also picked up a nice long Stanley #7 which helped immensely for the longer runs.

This is the top of the bench withe some initial dry fitting and measurements for making the keyed tenons.  I realized after fitting that I did not do a shouldered tenon, which was a mistake.  I decided to place reinforcement blocks underneath to bolster it instead of cutting a new piece; I may change my mind before final assembly.