RICK FITZPATRICK
New member
Fantastic Myriad. Congratulations!!
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Just an update. I spent a big part of the day today out in the shop working on the racks. Some parts I'm happy with...other parts, not so much. Mainly my cutting accuracy with the jig saw leaves a lot to be desired. Lucky for me I have a sander and the inconsistencies are so small that it doesn't matter. I should have used a straight edge instead of free handing it but I didn't think about it at the time.
Anyway, here's some pics what the happenings today.
The rack rails with some blanks on them for spacing purposes. Below that are the tops for the racks.
Drawing it out before cutting...this is one of the sides.
Went ahead and went with biscuits for this piece. I'm not a fan of screws but other parts of the rack will likely get screws instead of biscuits. The oak piece above it is just for a spacer so I know it's square. I had to stop here and get cleaned up due to being forced to go out to eat by the wife.
Anyway, here's some pics what the happenings today.
The rack rails with some blanks on them for spacing purposes. Below that are the tops for the racks.
Drawing it out before cutting...this is one of the sides.
Went ahead and went with biscuits for this piece. I'm not a fan of screws but other parts of the rack will likely get screws instead of biscuits. The oak piece above it is just for a spacer so I know it's square. I had to stop here and get cleaned up due to being forced to go out to eat by the wife.
RICK FITZPATRICK
New member
Hindsight is 20/20, and I've learned the hard way too
Hey, I see you already have some edgebanding.
You might already have one of these, but if not..man do they save a bunch of hassle. VIRUTEX TOOLS
I have both of the ones at the top of the page. They work great, although the little orange one is my favorite...but watch out for splinters as you guide it...especially with oak. I learned the hard way on that one too
And btw, you might consider "joining" off the jigsaw cut with your router..like I showed you above. Edgebanding requires a good flat/square edge to work correctly. And usually, a jigsaw won't CONSISTENTLY cut an edge 90deg to the face. Anyway, good luck with the cases. You're doin MAHVALOUS DAHLING!
Myriad_Rocker
New member
I could have done some stuff with the router...but I did some test routing today and I SUCK. It was bad...and I mean REALLY bad. I'll take a picture and post it. There was no way I was going to put my router skills (lack of) to the test on oak that I had to use for the racks. F that.
Yeah, I did some edge banding...and I don't care for doing it, either. It's boring and kind of a pain in the ass. The edge banding was only slightly wider than my oak so I just used a sander on it to make it even with my surface. The picture above where I used biscuits...well, I wish I wouldn't have. That particular piece was too wide and the rack rails wouldn't fit. They were a whole 3/4" longer!!! F*&K!!!!!!!!!!! If I had used the pocket hole jig, I could have taken it off and just trimmed it. With biscuits and Titebond III, that thing wasn't going ANYWHERE. So...I had to get out the jig saw and free hand a section off of it. What a pain in the ass.
I had to trim that up with some oak strip to hide the f*&k up after sanding it a bit. Turned out alright and you won't see it with gear or blanks in the rails. The rest of the rack and ALL of the other rack got the pocket hole jig and screws. Went together much faster that way. I won't even tell you the other enormous screw up I made but let's just say it involved a plate joiner and a visible surface. Another "F*&K ME!!!" moment. Filled it in with some putty and glued a thin strip of oak on it. Let it dry and sanded it. Luckily it's at the bottom where the rack angles in so it won't be noticeable.
I actually just got in from staining both racks. Well, the majority of them. I learned that oak is a bitch to stain...much harder than whitewood, which is all I used for the slat absorbers. I totally F'ed up two sides with the stain. All splotchy and uneven...lucky for me, one side is on one rack and one side is on the other...and they're on opposite sides so those two sides will face inward and not be seen.
Tomorrow I'll finish up the stain and start on the first coat of poly. Then it's time to mount the rack rails and start putting gear in. Finally...
Oh...and after I assembled the racks, I set them side by side. I was curious if they would line up and be the same height! LOL! They were! That's called winning.
Yeah, I did some edge banding...and I don't care for doing it, either. It's boring and kind of a pain in the ass. The edge banding was only slightly wider than my oak so I just used a sander on it to make it even with my surface. The picture above where I used biscuits...well, I wish I wouldn't have. That particular piece was too wide and the rack rails wouldn't fit. They were a whole 3/4" longer!!! F*&K!!!!!!!!!!! If I had used the pocket hole jig, I could have taken it off and just trimmed it. With biscuits and Titebond III, that thing wasn't going ANYWHERE. So...I had to get out the jig saw and free hand a section off of it. What a pain in the ass.
I had to trim that up with some oak strip to hide the f*&k up after sanding it a bit. Turned out alright and you won't see it with gear or blanks in the rails. The rest of the rack and ALL of the other rack got the pocket hole jig and screws. Went together much faster that way. I won't even tell you the other enormous screw up I made but let's just say it involved a plate joiner and a visible surface. Another "F*&K ME!!!" moment. Filled it in with some putty and glued a thin strip of oak on it. Let it dry and sanded it. Luckily it's at the bottom where the rack angles in so it won't be noticeable.
I actually just got in from staining both racks. Well, the majority of them. I learned that oak is a bitch to stain...much harder than whitewood, which is all I used for the slat absorbers. I totally F'ed up two sides with the stain. All splotchy and uneven...lucky for me, one side is on one rack and one side is on the other...and they're on opposite sides so those two sides will face inward and not be seen.
Tomorrow I'll finish up the stain and start on the first coat of poly. Then it's time to mount the rack rails and start putting gear in. Finally...
Oh...and after I assembled the racks, I set them side by side. I was curious if they would line up and be the same height! LOL! They were! That's called winning.
G
gsasics
New member
Great Great Great Great
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Today's discovery: I can't stain worth a shit
RICK FITZPATRICK
New member
Well Myriad, you've discovered what most woodworkers discover sooner or later. Staining is all about the wood..and indeed it is not as simple as it seems some times. Oak, especially. Very few "consumer" stains work well on Oak. Here is some pictures of an Oak unit I built a few years ago. We had the stain professionally mixed by a local Sherwin Williams dealer. This stuff was so dark and worked so well I couldn't believe it. After that...well, all the consumer stuff was a joke to me. And believe me...I tried them all.
One thing that helps though is Lacquer. Once you lacquer over stain it tends to even out the color. But hey, don't worry about it. Once you put everything in them, and finish up the room...and start recording..you won't even think about it. I've had so many things that I was disappointed with...well, just move on. Live and learn.
Myriad_Rocker
New member
That's some amazing work, fitz! How'd you do the arches? And how'd you keep them so consistent? A jig of some sort?
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Yeah, it looks a lot better after I put some on it. I've done two coats of clear on the cabinets. Just finished the second coat on the tops. I may put a third coat on the tops.
c7sus
Disenfranchised Member
Damn Rick that is some fine work there!
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
WTF is it? A display case for vintage Les Pauls? Religious statues? Guns?
lou
lou
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Funny you say that, Lou. This is what I thought when I first saw it. More Greek kind of statues, though. It's really amazing work. I could never pull it off.
Here's some pics I took yesterday. I didn't take any today but the racks are totally done. The rails are in them and all. Next up is the desk. Went and got the lumber for it earlier today. While I was there, I also got the lumber for the speaker stand legs. I'm going to make the speaker stand platform and feet out of scrap that I have. I'm going to plate join some boards together until I have enough and then cut to the size I need. I'm stealing an Argosy design for them.
Anyway, on to the pictures.First up, here's a picture of that screw up I was talking about where I had to jigsaw an already glued in piece. You can see here that it messed up the wood pretty good. On a side note, it's ridiculous how much they charge for a sheet of this stuff when SO LITTLE of it is actually oak. Kind of pisses me off...
The pocket holes that saved the day for me. Makes it all easy to put together.
The case without the top. You can also see, again, how much that bottom visible piece is messed up here. The blue tape is holding on a glued in strip of oak that is covering the "plate joiner incident".
All assembled (this is actually the second case). In this one, you can see what I did to fix it. I thought the angles on the cover piece dressed it up a bit.
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Oh, and for anyone cruising through this thread...a page or two back, I posted a picture of a cut sheet that I did for the racks. Well, it's wrong. Just FYI in case you're wanting to do your own. If you notice, I included two tops for both racks but only ONE set of sides!
Here it is...
It's clearly wrong. Luckily I caught it while I was planning for Lowe's to do the rough cuts for me. Here's the one I actually ended up with. Worked out perfectly with very little waste. HOWEVER, there's one change to this...the pieces that are 3.5" wide should actually be 2.75" wide. Otherwise, the 12 space rack rails won't fit. See above post for clarification. Also, the tops should be 1' 10.5"...not 1' 10". I changed it at the last minute.
Here it is...
It's clearly wrong. Luckily I caught it while I was planning for Lowe's to do the rough cuts for me. Here's the one I actually ended up with. Worked out perfectly with very little waste. HOWEVER, there's one change to this...the pieces that are 3.5" wide should actually be 2.75" wide. Otherwise, the 12 space rack rails won't fit. See above post for clarification.
Also, the tops should be 1' 10.5"...not 1' 10". I changed it at the last minute.
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Just finished up this diffuser drawing. I'm going to build it into the back wall treatment. Just to give it some interest.
D
daytripper
New member
Congratulations. It looks like a major undertaking, so i wish you the best of luck. I just signed in to this forum to say this. Besides, I just bought a house that has a room with similar dimmensions...I am going to follow this thread and use some of your ideas, many thanks in advance
Myriad_Rocker
New member
I've been thinking about how to do the curves on the desk...the only way I can really think of is to put a nail in the exact middle and then use some string and a pencil. Other thoughts?
B
bigtom
New member
You can make a giant compass out of scrap wood and some duct tape. I've done in a pinch and it will work. I try to use cans and trace around the bottom. Any cans will work. You can use paint cans, 5 gallon gas cans, the bottom or top of garbage cans or even the lid. It just depends on how big you want your curve. Hope some of this will help.
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Look at the desk drawing and you'll see the curve. Way too large for a lid of any kind. I'm thinking the nail & string will be the way to go with this.
On another note, here are the bases for my speaker stands. Finished them up yesterday. They are made from scrap wood that has been left over from cutting other things. I plate joined & glued them. The bases for my second pair of speaker stands are setting up as of last night. Going to cut those today after work.
Myriad_Rocker
New member
Does anyone read this?
Finished the speaker stands yesterday and just finished edge banding the desktop today. I'm taking the rest of the day off unless the wifey feels like helping me stain later. If not, I'm not staining either. I'm getting burnt out fast and there's still the back/front walls and the ceiling. Suck. And fuck that diffuser. I'm not doing it. I don't feel like it and it wouldn't really serve any purpose (not in my room) other than looking cool.
Finished the speaker stands yesterday and just finished edge banding the desktop today. I'm taking the rest of the day off unless the wifey feels like helping me stain later. If not, I'm not staining either. I'm getting burnt out fast and there's still the back/front walls and the ceiling. Suck. And fuck that diffuser. I'm not doing it. I don't feel like it and it wouldn't really serve any purpose (not in my room) other than looking cool.
c7sus
Disenfranchised Member
You gotta do the diffuser, man.