Showing posts with label an. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

An update on SawStop and keeping us all nice and safe

Remember when that guy sued Ryobi and won $1.5 million? Well, our friends at the Consumer Product Safety Commission are once again trying to keep us all safe from our tablesaws.

I like the first line of the article: "As pressure to address table-saw injuries builds..." Pressure? By whom? Ah, I see...Stephen Gass, the inventor of SawStop. Follow the money trail on this one.

As an aside, I kinda think hammers should be padded. Ive smashed my thumb a number of times. And think of the children we might protect.

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CPSC wants to stop daily table saw amputations

As pressure to address debilitating table-saw injuries builds, the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission says she will call in the power-tool industry and the safety standards group to find out why more hasnt been done to address the problem. Read the complete article...

Sunday, February 23, 2014

HOW TO UPHOLSTER AN OPEN CHAIR BACK STEP I

Ive received many messages asking for this next tutorial, so no more need to pass by these chairs.

Im going to show you how to get the back of this style chair upholstered.

We are going to start at the point after all the stripping and frame is already refinished.

I use a hand held, arm powered stapler with 1/4" staples.

I do have an electric stapler but because of the safety feature

it will not work with the tight ledge of this chair.

Here is a close up of the frame profile.

You can even see where the old staples were.

Start by shooting 3 staple in the top edge to start securing your fabric.

Figure out the best angle for your stapler to be used with your chair.

Here is a close up of where the staples are actually going into the frame.

The next place to attach your fabric is directly opposite of your first three staples,

down on the bottom edge.

Then across from each other.

Hold your fabric taught each time you shoot every staple in.

Once you have your 4 points of contact, simply go around attaching your fabric

with staples ever inch, continue to pull the fabric taught.

Once you are finished stapling, trim your fabric to 1/2 inch excess, I use small scissors cause

they are easier to work with in close corners.

Tip and turn your chair so everything you are doing is comfortable for your hands.

Make sure to pick a good work surface, I use my bed every time.

This overhang of fabric will simply be folded in and hidden inside of STEP II

You can bounce a coin off the fabric like a drum if done well.

Step II Filler and Front Fabric:

http://blogspot.ca/2013/06/how-to-upholster-open-chair-back-step-ii.html

Monday, February 10, 2014

An Art Deco Bar Cabinet

We delivered a nice Art Deco influenced sideboard/bar last week ... It was a fun and challenging project. Someone referred to it as Dean Martins Bar ... I lived in Palm Springs in 1970 for a winter, and it would have been right at home in the house we rented for sure ... The design was a quick sketch I doodled off after a series of rejected CAD drawings ... Sometimes the quickest drawings are the best ... Anyway, there was more to building this then first meets the eye when you look at the sketch. Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

Trevor fluted the legs on the cnc ... we stopped the detail at the tops and bottoms of the door/panels

Will then mortised the legs and created the back and side panels

We couldnt come up with any way to easily do the concentric squares, so we filled the micro pin holes with hide glue and walnut sawdust and sanded them off the next day ... worked sweet and even took the stain and paint ...

Panels finished and case parts ready to assemble

Assembly without the panels

After we applied the moldings to the 1/2" mdf doors, we had to rabbet the door edges and install solid wood edges ... hence the masking tape in this photo

Corner and door close up.....stainless steel knife hinges from Brusso Hardware

Trevor put the lights in even though they were cut from the budget ... We had them on hand from another project and it didnt seem right without them ...

Then we mocked up up the metal end pieces and mirror frame size and got those dimensions all finalized

The finishing process for this piece involved applying a coat of fairly strong brown/red aniline dye, sanding that pretty aggressively and then applying a second coat of the stain along with some black latex paint at the same time ... That mix was sponged around until it looked right and then polished about a half hour later with steel wool and paper towels ... This paint/stain mix makes a nice durable finish as is, but we always add a couple top coats of oil varnish mix for a little shine ... I finished my kitchen with this finish 10 years ago and with a little damp spongeing it comes back to looking pretty much like new ... I have reoiled once or twice in the last 10 years ...

Before the oil coats

after

With the steel galleries by Sam in plce. They had threaded rods welded to their bottoms and were bolted on from under the frames ... We REALLY liked this piece and felt it was one of the most differect and strongest designs for the year ... Happy New Year !