Building a Shed Part VII

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop4 Comments

My wife and I bought two old ten pane French windows a couple of years ago at a flea market. We knew as soon as we saw them that they would be perfect for the front of the shed.  Even though they were in good shape, I had to trim off the edges a little bit so I could work with them.

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After I took all the hardware off,  I covered all the screw holes and areas with damage with two-part wood putty. The stuff did the trick as it was hard as a rock the next day.

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These windows were very well made with through tenons. They appeared to be made from old growth white pine.

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Because we wanted the windows to actually function, I had to build a window frame for each window. I took a 2 x 8, sliced it on my band saw, and milled the lumber down to 3/8″ thick on my planer. I then started to make the bottom sill with a slight chamfer to allow rain water to run off.

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I built a frame to fit inside the window opening and sized the window to work inside the frame. I did a whole bunch of test fitting taking it back and forth from the shed. It took all day to make just one of the frames.

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Once the window fit, I attached boards inside the frame so that the window would have a nice place to sit when closed.

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I bought 2 1/2″ wide hinges with removable pins and laid out the mortises. I cut the mortises with a chisel and a router plane to make the depth of the mortise the same throughout its length.

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I then test fitted the window in the frame before I went out to the shed to attach it.

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Being very patient, I fitted the window frame to the opening with wood shims and tested the window. It took nearly two hours to fit this window so that it would operate to my liking.

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Once the window fit well on the outside, I attached the frame to the opening with 15 gauge galvanized finish nails.

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The next day, I built and installed the other window. They both came out really well and open and close with ease.

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A simple scrap of cedar with a screw in the center acts as a latch for each window.

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Building a Shed Part VI

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn WorkshopLeave a comment

Getting the roof done, it was back to working with wood, which is what I like. I had already started a little bit of the siding trying to shore up the shed so I could get up on the roof without being nervous with all the rocking and rolling going on up there. All the siding I bought was 8″ wide, 10′ long tongue and groove pine board. I scarfed joint the back row pieces so that I could nail them together at a 2×4.

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By far the easiest part to side was the left side. We did that one week day after work before I started the roof. Since the shed is 10 feet wide, I simply nailed them to the frame with 2 1/2″ 15 gauge galvanized finishing nails.

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Fast forward a few days and after I shingled the roof, the majority of the siding was up. I originally started to use short pieces between the windows in order to use up some of the scraps. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if I continued to do it this way, by the time I got down to the bottom of the window opening, with my luck, my bottom board wouldn’t line up with boards directly on top. Instead, I opted to cover up the window opening and later cut out where the window went. I did the side window the same way, but didn’t snap a photo of the before shot.

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I took my jig saw and ran down the opening cutting away the wood leaving about 1/4″ from the 2 x 4’s.

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Then, being a woodworker, I ran a flush trim bit on my router and routed the siding flush to the 2 x 4’s.

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Siding was nearly complete except for the small bottom piece to cover up the 2 x 8 flooring. Now it’s on to the windows.

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Building a Shed Part V

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop4 Comments

After building my scaffolding off the front of the shed, I went back to applying the roof tarp. This time it went much easier. I bought a slap hammer and slapped staples all over the place once I hammered down some button caps at the top and bottom of the roll.

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Once the one side of the shed was tarped, I moved the scaffolding over to the other side. It took me all day to get the shed tarped, but I did it safely which is all that matters.

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I went to Home Depot and bought seven packs of dimensional shingles and one pack of old style flat shingles. I used the flat shingles and laid the first row upside down and also up both sides of the roof with a 1/2″ hanging off the edge. I started on the back side of the shed because that is where the scaffolding was at the time, plus the fact that if I screwed up, it would be on the back.

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Laying the shingles was pretty straight forward. I started at the bottom laying over my upside down course. I hammered four 1 1/4″ roofing nails in each shingle making sure my shingles were staggered so that the seams of the second level didn’t run in line with the seam of the first.

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Every  few rows I would snap a chalk line to make sure my shingles were running straight.

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It took all day, but I finished shingling the roof. All I needed to do was the ridge vent.

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By this time I was so tired, I stayed focused on getting the job done and didn’t bother going inside, grabbing my cell phone to snap some pictures of laying the ridge vent. I finished up the roof by cutting through the top of the shingles with a utility knife, laying down the ridge vent, and shingling over top of it.

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This is the ridge vent from inside the shed. This will allow all the hot air inside the shed to  escape.

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The final shingle on the ridge vent was hammered down with 2″ roof nails and covered with roof cement.

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The next day, I went up the ladder to cut off the excess roofing shingles on the right side of the shed with my utility knife. Because I laid down my starter course first with the ordinary flat shingles that over hung 1/2″, it was easy to trim up the dimensional shingles flush to them.

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It’s all fun and games until the roof leaks. A few days later it started to rain. I went out to see how everything was holding up. Thankfully, there were no leaks and the water shed from the roof quite nice.

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Building a Shed Part IV

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop2 Comments

The day after we got the framing up, I was excited to get going on the roof. I knew I needed to put drip edge on the roof sheathing before the tar paper, but my wife, Anita, told me that I need to put the fascia boards on first.

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So, we went to Home Depot and picked up some 6″ wide cedar boards 10′ long and cut it to proper length. Since the roof was 16′ long, I had to scarf joint the boards in front with a 45 degree angle in case the boards shrink a little bit over time.

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I cut the side fascia at the same angle of the roof rafters and carefully fitted them together with tight joint at the top.

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After a few hours the fascia was up, so I started installing the drip edge. I watched a couple of YouTube videos to make sure I cut the drip edge properly so I could bend it at a 90 degree angle.

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The drip edge went up with ease. Now it was time for the tar paper. I grabbed the ladder and laid down the first row. I hammered down button caps about every foot on the bottom and about every three feet on the top.

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The first row was up and I started on the second row overlapping the first row about 4″. This is where the hell started. Because we built the rafters based on a 3, 4, 5 Pythagorean Theorem, the roof was at a 9 / 12 pitch. I couldn’t stand up on the roof because it was too steep nor could I manage to work on the second row off the ladder safely because of the slope of the yard. With all the trouble, I couldn’t tack down the second row without the tar paper getting ripples in it.

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Completely pissed that I couldn’t do it, I removed all the tar paper from the roof. We decided to shore up the shed framing by putting up part of the siding. This way when I’m on the roof, the shed wouldn’t be rocking and rolling back and forth.

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Since my shed wasn’t going to have a soffit, I cut notches in the first row of the siding to slide past the rafters.

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It took a bit of time, but I was happy with the outcome. Any gap would be filled in with caulk. I ended the weekend getting a lot done, but felt completely defeated by not being able to tar paper the roof. I spent the night in a bad mood because I had no idea how I was going to do it.

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The next morning I went to work, and while walking through a Lowes, I spotted a book in the magazine section called “Building Sheds” by the Taunton Press. I skimmed through the book when I saw a picture of a couple of guys installing a roof on a shed. When I saw how they were doing it I thought to myself “of course”! The guys built wooden scaffolding platform on one side of the shed framing. I rushed down to the lumber aisle and figured out how much it would cost for two 2 x 12’s, four 2 x 6’s and a couple of 2 x 4’s. It ended costing $45.00 for all the lumber and $20 for the book. I got home that day and immediately started to build the scaffolding.

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I shored up the platform with a couple of 2 x 4’s cut at a 45 degree angle on one end. I screwed 2 1/2″ and 3″ screws throughout the scaffolding so I could stand on it without fear of it caving in. Once I was done building it, I climbed up the ladder and stood on it. It was perfect! Now I could lay the tar paper on one side of the roof, break down the scaffolding, and build it again on the other side of the shed to do the other side of the roof. I was so happy I figured out how to do it safely.

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Old Workbench Magazines

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop6 Comments

Some of the oldest woodworking magazines I’ve ever seen. Some of these go back to 1969 for a mere $0.35.

Everybody misses “Woodworking” and “Woodwork” magazines. How come no one misses Workbench?

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This must be the days when boys wanted to build something instead of playing video games.

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I bet this saw still works today.

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Just think, you can still buy a circular saw today for $45.00. According to an inflation calculator, $45.00 in 1969 is worth about $300 today.

Building the Shed Part III

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn WorkshopLeave a comment

Remember this thing? Probably not. I started building this 10′ x 14′ shed late last year. I waited nearly two months for the deck boards to come in from Home Depot, but by the time they came in, it started to get cold for the year.

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Fast forward six months, I decided to get off my duff and start building the shed again. I went back to Home Depot and bought a bunch of 2 x 4’s and a few 2 x 6’s and framed out the walls.

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My wife bought a nice old sixteen pane window for the shed a couple of years ago and we decided to place it on the side of the shed. I measured it and framed it out making sure there was a little gap on all sides so it would be easy to install.

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The front of the shed will have two more old windows with big double doors in the middle. I laid the window in the frame to see where I wanted the header. We decided that all the windows and the tops of the doors will be placed at the same height.

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My buddy Dave came over in the morning one Saturday so that we could raise the walls and build the rafters for the roof. The four walls went up with ease and everything was plum and square. Good measuring on my part I guess.

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After we installed the top plate to the wall, we played around with angles for the roof until decided to use the 3′, 4′, 5′ Pythagorean theorem method. We cut a test rafter to see how it looked and cut out the birds mouth so that the rafter would fit on the walls nicely. I wanted the rafters to hang over the walls about one foot.

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Cutting the angles for the rafters was easy since there was a 31.62 degree measurement on my sliding compound miter saw. We cut all the wood and made seven rafters in about an hour.

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Since the the total length of the roof was 16′ long, we ended up making another rafter that sat in the middle of the shed so that the OSB plywood would have something to nail to at the end.

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I trimmed the OSB plywood to the proper size on the second row so that I would have about a 2″ gap at the top for a ridge vent. We got a boatload done in one day and I was happy I finally started to build the shed again.

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Making an Apothecary Cabinet Drawer

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Furniture3 Comments

My wife bought an apothecary cabinet that was missing one of its drawers. I took a look at how they were built and assured her that I could make another one. The drawer was about 6 1/2″ tall x 8″ wide x 7 1/2″ deep.

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The drawers are made of pine so I grabbed a scrap 2 x 8 and drew a couple of lines down the edges. The side of the drawers were about 3/8″ thick, while the drawer front was 3/4″ thick.

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I took each piece and cut kerfs down the lengths of their edges making it much easier to rip them off at the band saw. This saves the band saw’s blade and motor as it won’t have to strain as much.

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After they were ripped on the band saw, I took them over to the planer and sized them up to proper thickness.

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I made the drawer bottom out of mostly quarter sawn pine, so it wouldn’t expand and contract as much with changes in humidity. It too was about 3/8″ thick.

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Focusing on the front, I cut a 3/8″ x 3/8″ rabbet on each end the same thickness as the sides of the drawer.

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I then used my little Record plow plane and planed a 1/4″ groove down the sides and front boards that started about 7/16″ up from the bottom. This way the 3/8″ thick bottom will not rub as the drawer is being pulled in and out. You can do this step on the table saw, but I really enjoy using this little sucker.

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I cut a 3/8″ dado on each side of the drawer side so that the drawer back would fit nice and snug.

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Using my Stanley No 140 rabbet block plane, I chamfered three sides of the drawer bottom to fit inside the 1/4″ groove I plowed with my plow plane.

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Dry fitting the piece, I made sure everything fit properly and was square. The extra length of the drawer bottom and top of the back was quickly trimmed off at the table saw.

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Once everything fit well, I glued the sides and back and pinned the drawer with 18 gauge brad nails. I didn’t use any glue on the bottom as I want it to move with changes in humidity.

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After about an hour, I ended up with a nice little drawer for my wife’s apothecary cabinet. I’ll have to use vinegar and steel wool to age the pine. My wife will probably repaint the entire piece so the drawer front will match all the others.

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The Travesty

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Workshop15 Comments

It’s sad to see such a fine saw in this condition. Maybe I should rescue it.

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It’s been like this for over 30 years.
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Alright, let’s play a game. If five people tell me to buy the saw, i’ll go back and get it. I already have two thumbs up from here and Facebook. I just need three more people.

UPDATE: I went back today and the saw was gone. Somebody either got a nice saw for a reasonable price, or they got something to hang over their fireplace. Haha.

Harvest Table

On By MVFlaim FurnituremakerIn Furniture1 Comment

A few moths ago my wife, Anita, and I picked up some old barn wood flooring in Dayton to be used for a harvest table she wanted me to build for her booth. While the wood sat in the basement, she kept looking for the right legs to use for the table. In the end, she opted for me to make some out of Douglas Fir 4×4’s I could buy from Lowe’s. She searched Pinterest for a leg she liked and printed off a picture so I could make it.

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I looked at the picture and started to turn something like it on the lathe. I kept the top of the leg similar to the picture, but changed the bottom to be a bit more simpler. After a few tweaks, I was happy with the end result. Now the challenge was to make three more legs that matched this one.

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I used a piece of scrap wood and marked every major location where there was a bead or valley in the board. I then used calipers to measure those increments and carefully tried to copy them to the next turning.

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After several minutes of careful turning, my second leg looked very similar to the first one on top. Even if the legs weren’t exactly the same, it was fine as they would be far enough away from one another that your eye wouldn’t be able to see the difference.

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If you’ve never turned Douglas Fir, I highly recommend it. It sucks..sucks bad. The crap chips like crazy even with sharp turning tools. Fortunately since the harvest table was suppose to look old, the chips wouldn’t be a big deal.

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After a couple of hours, I turned four legs that sort of looked like one another. The final step was to put them back on the lathe and use my parting tool to cut them at all the same length which was 30″ tall.

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The simplest part about building the harvest table was actually building it. I simply screwed the skirt onto the legs using 2″ screws. I didn’t even bother plugging the holes.

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I used cleats and pocket hole screws to keep the sides from bowing. I then attached the top onto the cleats using 1 1/4″ screws. Super simple.

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This was the table before sanding the grime off the boards.

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This is the table after a couple coats of white milk paint.

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As you can see, once sanded, the milk paint gives the table a nice worn look. Even though this table breaks three of the seven deadly sins of woodworking, it works for it’s intended purpose. Just don’t expect to see it in a woodworking magazine anytime soon. All that matters is that Anita is very happy with it and finally has the harvest table she has always wanted.

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