Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Cherry Bookcase - Design and construction.

Earlier this year a friend asked if I would be willing to build a bookcase for her.  She has an old bookcase in a hallway and wants to replace it, though she couldn't find something shallow enough. We talked over what she was looking for and I did some sketching.


After getting feedback on the sketches I built a quick sketchup model.


This let us play with thicknesses. We decided to go with 5/4 material for the case so the top would finish out to 1 1/8 and the sides 7/8.  The shelves are finished at 3/4 from 4/4 material.  We met up at lunch and went over to CS Woods in Denver.

They have a good inventory or really nice, unsteamed cherry.  These boards were tempting but way too wide for this project (18-24 in wide, 5/4).  


First up was to get the stock broken down and milled close to final size.  I finally found a good deal on a small jointer on Craigslist.  Some handwork we still required as the 6in jointer only got 2/3 of the wider boards.


Then the case boards and shelves were cut to final size.  I clamped them all together to get an idea of how the different thicknesses worked with one another.


After cutting all of the joinery with the domino I cut the profile on the underside of the top.


Finally the case was ready for a full dry fit.


Next up is the skirt.  Here is one option for an arch, layed out in blue tape.


The side skirts are cut from the same board so the grain will wrap around the case.



The corners of the skirt and chamfered and joined with a small domino.


The back edges of the case pieces were rabbeted to accept the back.

All that's left is to get feedback on the edge treatment for the front of the shelves and then sand everything before glueup.





Sunday, August 3, 2014

Birthday Hike

For my birthday this year we spent a couple days in the Holy Cross wilderness.  


We hiked in from the halfmoon trailhead and up the fall creek drainage.


It was a nice, mellow, 5 mile hike in.


With plenty of distractions.


Wicket enjoy a log bridge.


We got to the lake and found a campsite a little ways up into the trees.


Cooking dinner.





I got some fishing in at the lake, decent luck with the brookies.



Sunday we went for a hike up and over Fall Creek pass.






One of the Seven sisters lakes where I did some more fishing.


Some of the locals.


Natalie's favorite flowers.


Fall Creek Pass.


Whistle Pigs.



That night it rained for awhile, luckily we had a great spot to set up the tarp at our site.


Wicket slept well.


Probably from guarding camp against the natives.


Monday we packed up camp and head back to the car.



This was a beautiful area that we plan to revisit soon.

12 Turns.

Natalie and I decided that this year we would ski all 12 months.  We had a power day at A basin in May, June we rode the lifts at the basin again.  They didn't make it to July this summer so we went up to Jones pass and skied a decent 700' couloir.



The best part about summer skiing is that you can drive pretty close to the run and then hike on dirt.


There was still plenty of snow.



Natalie making turns.


Wicket doesn't bother with turns.


The middle section was steep (40+ deg) and thankfully not sun cupped.



View of the run from the drive back down.

We decided to get our August day this first weekend.  After our successful July day we decided to head back up to Jones pass, being 30 min from the house helps.


A lot of snow has melted in the last couple weeks.  The road up over the pass might even melt out before too long.


We decided that in honor of the twelve months of skiing we had to make at least 12 turns for a run to count.  This one fit the bill.




Wicket enjoyed herself as usual.


As did our newest addition, Lady (Bug).



September might be more of a challenge.  We will likely try and head up to St. Mary's Glacier, although if we get an early season storm at the end of the month we might be able to break out the rock skis and get some fresh turns.