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Tuesday, January 15, 2013


 
Here is another chronological pictorial. It shows a set of beds I recently built for my nieces twins. Twin twin beds for the twins, if you will.  Follow closely, the frames move quickly..................

 
 
 In the beginning we  start with this pile of sticks.  Clear grade hardwood which will be stained to match the existing furniture in the twins room.

 
  
The plan that was agreed on, has sides that match the head board and foot board and go all the way to the floor.  No toys or lost dragons under these beds!

 Lots of clamps and lots of measuring and lots of cutting and lots of glue.  These parts are going to be kid tested so they have to be strong.

 The two side panels look accurate and are square and level. 

 A dry fit shows that the final glue-up will work well.  The proportion looks good.  Now to figure out how the mattress will fit and add a bit of engineering that will allow me to take these apart and assemble them in the room.

The last thing is to subject them to the kid testing division.  I think they are going to work pretty well.  Another satisfied customer.  On to the next project!
 

Monday, January 14, 2013

Many of you woodworkers might have a workbench like mine.  My end vise has a single screw and rides on two pipe pieces.  It is a simple mechanism but when clamping anything on the corner of the vise the jaws won't remain parallel.  This idea came to me to help keep the jaws aligned when I'm using just the corner of the vise.



I made a stack of 1/4 x 2 x 3 inch pieces and used a carraige bolt and wing nut to secure them.  I then put the number of blocks in the opposite end of the vise that matches the thickness of the board I'm trying to clamp. 

  
 
Now the jaws of the vise are parallel and will hold the work solidly.