TV Stand Part IX - And that's a wrap...

The TV Stand is finally complete. I am pleased with how it turned out and want to thank all those who gave me design and construction advice.  In particular Chris Wong, Matt Gradwohl and Scott Meek from Woodchat as well as Mark Spagnuolo.  Thanks also to everyone who has spent the time to create great woodworking instruction and content online.

Now for the good stuff.  This is an original design and is constructed from solid cherry and maple with a few walnut accents. Everything is finished with shellac and a wee bit of paste wax.

100+ individual parts.

60+ mortise and tenon joints

~50bf of Cherry and Maple

The same board was used for the drawer fronts as well as the panels on the sides and back, with the best bits used for the drawers.

The top is split to allow cables from the TV to pass through into the case.  I trimmed the sapwood, following the grain, to mimic a live edge and provide clearance for plugs. The amount of figure in the top was a pleasant surprise.

Breadboard end worked well as the two boards are not connected to each other.  

The entire case is frame and panel construction.  I like the way this looks but it certainly made this a much more complex piece.

The top is held on with screws through the top blade at the front and a dozen shopmade wooden cleats.

I made the drawer pulls from some scrap walnut. They are a simple design but I didn't want anything that would distract from the figure of the drawer fronts.

The drawers are a dowel reinforced rabbet construction and ride on a center guide made of maple. All of the drawer sides and backs were re-sawn from 6/4 maple stock. (Note- It is possible to re-saw just over 7" on a std jet 14" bandsaw)

The back is of the same construction as the rest of the case and I tried to use as nice a wood as possible as the location that this piece will be in leaves the back visible.

The back panel for the center shelf is vented, as is the shelf above it.  This is to prevent the receiver from overheating.

Wiring is accommodated by the split top and by oval holes through the back edge of all the shelves/dust frames.

All set up and ready to go.

TV Stand Part VIII - Almost There.

Hopefully the next post about this project will be the last. This has been my most ambitious project to date.  The final count is just over 100 individual parts and several new techniques for me. Another milestone is that I think I actually spent more on wood for this project than on project specific tools.

I am pleased with the way the drawers came out.  They all operate smoothly enough and the figure on the fronts really looks nice with some finish on it.

The end that gets a bit of sun through the shop window is already starting to darken.  I am looking forward to seeing the colors develop in this piece over the next year or two.

The dowel reinforced rabbet construction for the drawers worked out well.  I think the look fits the piece better than dovetails would have and they are rock solid.

The breadboard ends for the top went smoothly.  I ended up with a full width 1/4" long tenon with two narrower 1" long tenons on each end of the two top boards.  The outer tenon on each is glued and pinned and the inner one is pinned with the hole in the tenon slotted to allow for movement.  

 Any movement should be toward the center which makes makes mounting a bit easier as there should be minimal movement at the mounting points.

I've started working on designs for several new projects.  I think the highest priority is probably a side table to go with the TV stand.  Also on the list are a sideboard to go with the whiskey cabinet I made last year and possibly a Morris arm-chair.  

TV Stand Part VII - Drawers

After finishing off a hardwood floor installation at my father in law's place...

..and in between taking advantage of the new snow,  I have been getting some time in the shop.

With the case complete, I've moved on to the drawers.  First thing on my list was to fit the drawer fronts to the openings in the case. 

Christmas gift cards were well spent on a Veritas Low-Angle Jack with 25 deg blade which worked wonderfully well on the shooting board. The tenon saw has a nice balance to it.

The drawers are a simple rabbet construction and will have dowels to reinforce them.

I can't wait to get some finish on the lower drawers.

Tonight the first of the drawers was fit to the case, so far so good.

Tonight the second drawer was fit. I really like the look of the dowels in the rabbets.

Two more drawers and it's time to move on to the top.

The OPUS hut...

Let's start of by clearing up one thing. The OPUS(Ophir Pass Ultimate Ski) hut is certainly relying on the Euro definition of  a "hut".  This place is  about he same size, and much nicer, than our house. I would be incredibly impressed with the design and build quality if this place were in mtn village in Telluride, thankfully it isn't.  It's built a 1/4 mile off of the Ophir pass 4x4 road at almost 11,700 ft. If you want more details on the hut check out their website and read through the scrap book when you make it there.

If you really just want to see pictures and skip my wandering dialogue I've got the full set posted here. Link 

This year for Christmas Natalie and I decided that we wanted to do something a little different and started looking at options for a hut trip.  I had been in contact with Bob, of the OPUS hut, several years ago but hadn't made it down there.  Their schedule was pretty open over Christmas with only one other couple staying there so we decided to make it happen.

The weekend before christmas we had people over for dinner and then began packing.  This was a relatively simple affair as all we needed was our ski gear, hut cloths, sheets and daytime snacks.  Skiing in for a four day hut trip with my normal ski pack was pretty awesome.

Monday we skied Monarch Mtn and then stayed in Montrose.  Tuesday we drove south, into the San Juans.  I will always love the sight of that mtn range coming through the windshield.

We got the trailhead and made our way up to the hut.  3.5-4 miles on the summer road.

Wicket was very curious about our new home for a few days.

Another view of the inside of the hut.  The post and beam structure if salvaged from a barn from PA. Quite a bit of the other building material is also "salvaged" but the place can barely be called rustic. Hot running water at almost 12,000 ft???

 A couple shots of the view from the hut, not too shabby.

Our objective the first day was a tour across the basin to ski a feature called the nose.  Wicket still can't figure out why it takes us so long to get ready to play in the snow.

After a pretty easy skin we booted up to the ridge above the nose.

Christmas day was a beautiful, sunny, San Juan day.

We skied a large, low angle  bowl up high...

..and then rolled over onto the nose proper for some really nice turns.

The ridge above Ophir Pass on the way back to the hut.

We were greeted at the hut by  soup and appetizers.  This was followed by leg of lamb for christmas dinner... to be completely honest, I've had much worse food at some pretty nice hotels.

The following day we took a nice warm up lap from the hut with Don and Brenda and then toured over to the lower portion of the nose with Don for a couple more laps of the goods.

It didn't disappoint.

It seemed like each lap the snow kept getting better as the sun softened the top a little bit, allowing better access to the creamy goodness within.

Wicket made sure not to get left out of the action.

Don testing out the snow a bit further left....it was good too.

Having the camera gives me an excuse to stop and not have to keep up with her..

Back at the hut again we met our new hut keeper, Miriam, and enjoyed more delicious soup an excellent dinner.

After dinner we were all pretty cached so we called it a night, after some time in the sauna.  This was certainly a memorable christmas spent with some new friends and skiing some outstanding terrain.

Happy New years everyone.

TV Stand Part VI - Slow and Steady

The last month has been as busy as usual with Christmas parties and skiing.  I have managed to get some time in the down in the shop.

I finally got all of the parts pre-finished and the sub-assemblies glued together.  This was the last dry fit of the inner shelf assy before I finished the front edges.

The glue-up went pretty well, a couple rehearsals were key.  Using a glue that sets pretty slow (Old Brown Glue) certainly didn't hurt either.

In preparation for  a Christmas hut trip I picked up a fisheye (15mm equivalent) lens for the camera.  Here is the TV stand case all glued up and just about ready to go.  There are just a couple more details to wrap up on the case.

With the fisheye I can finally get  a decent shot of the shop.  It's cozy but I am settling into some routines and find it a rather pleasant place to be.  Last year I was running a propane heater while I was down there, but found it to be loud and smelly.  This year I have been trying out a small electric heater that I leave on with the thermostat set around 55.  This seems to work much better as it keeps the shop from getting so cold in the first place and things stay a much more constant temperature.  With the cost of Propane I think running the electric heater on low might even be cheaper than blasting the shop while I'm working.

I've started milling the boards for the drawer fronts, saved the best for last.  These have some really nice curl and should be a nice touch.

The top is also in its early stages. With a little cleanup the boards for the top are looking quite nice, they even have a bit of curl as well.  I am still trying to decide on how wide to make the breadboard ends.

And a couple pictures of my shop helper.

I had to run to the lumber dealer for some baltic birch to make drawer bottoms and this little guy snuck into my car.  It is a beautiful 10' long by 14in wide piece of walnut.  There were a couple big knots right in the middle so I had it cut down to fit in the car.  The other half isn't nearly as nice as the one top, but is still quite usable.  For the price it was worth it for just the one shown.  I've managed to collect a bit of a stash walnut at this point so I think my next project might have to make use of it.  I just need to figure out what that is.

We are off to the Opus hut for some christmas skiing.  Pictures will surely follow.  

Merry Christmas