Addition to my shop

After having finished my last project I decided to build some additional shelves for my shop. I was fed up to see all my planes taking my workbench space so it was time to sort that out. 

I built this on the same design as my other shelves for my braces and hand drills. Unfortunately I did not think about taking much pictures about the construction.

Gluing up the last pieces

For this one I added some support that will rest on the workbench below. The shelf itself is quite heavy but with the addition of all the plane weight I thought it was preferable to have this resting of some surface instead of putting all the strength on the wall, even if screwed in the inner studs.

At the end this is the final result.

Final setup.

Close-up

The shelves are built around my screen and this is where vintage classic tools meet with technology. I find a screen to be a very convenient tool to display a schema or plan of your project. It is easy to take a take a picture of your plan  with your phone if you draw it on paper, share your phone screen to the TV screen and you have a big size display board.

Now onto my net project. I need to build a bathroom vanity for my master bedroom. For this I came up with something that will schematically look like that:

First draft

The top will receive the vessel sink and faucet. Pretty simple and straightforward looking but this is the kind of design I like the most.

The sink is ordered and I will wait to receive it before starting any more detailed plan so to check for correct sizing. 

Project delivered

Finally, it is done. Last weekend my TV stand project was delivered and made my sister in law happy.
Here are some pictures of the final result.

Front view.

Top side finish.

In place.

This has been a very nice and interesting project that allowed me to learn many things.

In summary the lessons learned are the following:

• Full size drawing - Having a full size plan of what needs to be done provide a way to quickly check measurement. Also direct measurement is less prone to calculation error.
• Avoiding blushing on pine wood - I found my recipe of Shellac mix and application and it is very effective. This is the first time I was able to easily get no blushing when applying the stain.
• Staining - Very easy to stain using a piece cotton rag instead of a brush. This has the benefit to leave no mark.
• Finish - Here again I found my recipe for wiping varnish and was able to get a pretty decent finish. Add a coat or two of beeswax and some buffing to get the shine I wanted. Also start finishing early in a project and before assembling parts when possible. It is far easier to finish a piece set flat on a table than after having assembled it. 
• Router plane - This is a handy tool that makes very easy to get precisely sized tenons.
• Mortise by hand - Cutting mortises by hand is easier than I originally thought when you use a sharp chisel and the right.
• Lamination - Be very careful at wood orientation when laminating boards so the wood fibers are all on the same direction. Doing this ease a lot planing the surface.
• Spokeshave - Are handy tools very nice to use when creating round shapes.
• Sawyer bench - This is so enjoyable to saw long board using a sawyer bench. The position is perfect and makes very easy to saw straight.
• Don't rush - Take the time to think before doing something so to properly plan it ahead. If any issue, step back and think instead of rushing to try to fix it as it will just worsen it.
• Gluing - Always have your gluing sequence repeated before starting, always have all the clamps and tools ready and reachable, always have a bunch of damp cloth nearby.

This is a lot of good experience that I will certainly apply to the next project.

For now I will be tackling some more shelves for my workshop so to properly store my planes that are resting on the workbench and taking too much space.