Category: Woodworking

DIY The Mandalorian Nativity Set

Posted on December 11, 2020 by jared - Piquant, Woodworking

The Child is Born

This project was a lot of fun to do, not only because The Mandalorian is an amazing show, but because I had the extra challenge of keeping it a secret from my family while I built it so it would be a fun Christmas surprise.

And not only that, in true Ultimate Scrap Challenge fashion I only used leftover wood in my garage to make it!

So let’s dig into the steps I took to make this Mandalorian Nativity Set:

First, I got the season 1 Mandalorian toy figures and laid them out on an old coffee table I’m going to upcycle into an entryway table. I spaced them out where I wanted them and measured for what size of a base I’d need.

*High quality figures at about 4 inches high, they’re perfect!*

Once I had those measurements, I poked around in the garage and luckily found a base piece that was the perfect size!

The base piece was a tiny bit uneven so I used my electric hand planer to even things out. I then looked around at the wood available in my garage for the rest of the nativity set.

I found several pieces that had been cut off from the sides of 2×10 boards I’d used for the top of a farmhouse style kitchen table I’d recently finished for my sister, and when placed together on theirs sides it would look rustic which was perfect.

*I know, I know. What a beautiful mess!*

I cut them down into front, size, and back pieces using my miter saw (use a guide so you get perfectly matched cuts) and then glued the first layers onto the base piece.

*This is a dry fit; before gluing I sanded the top of the base piece to look nicer*

Once they dried I kept gluing more pieces on until I had all of the walls done. I also decided to changed things up slightly mid-build to add windows on the side:

*Rustic windows are perfect for a Nativity long ago in a galaxy far, far away*

I then set up the figures again to make sure the spacing was what I wanted, as well as to dry fit the roof pieces (I didn’t want Mando to hit his helmet on the ceiling).

For the top, I found an old cherry piece that would cover the top perfectly when cut into 4 pieces which were then grouped into a rectangle.

Since the angle was going to be tricky, and the length a tiny bit less than ideal, I found a thin piece of leftover oak and used that as the apex of the roof:

*Plus I love the contrast of cherry and oak*

I used my orbital sander with 80 grit sandpaper to give the roof pieces an angle by clamping it and going to town.

*This clamp saved my hands from the 80 grit sandpaper*

I put supports under the roof pieces and glued the roof together (but not to the walls yet).

*Supports and pencils and screwdrivers oh my!*

After the roof had dried, I placed it on its back side on top of some spare wall pieces which I’d glued together and then traced the outline of the roof onto those wall pieces. I then used my jigsaw to cut the outline which gave me a piece to fill the gap between the walls and the roof on the back wall.

I then glued everything together- but Baby Yoda needed a manger!

For this, I grabbed the leftover cherry from the roof cuts and cut it down into the manger pieces, legs, and side supports.

*The Child reaches out with the Force for Mando*

I glued them all together and then sanded down the bottoms of the legs so it would sit better without tipping over.

*This new ‘glamping’ is all the rage: “glamorous clamping”*

Once the final touches were done I sealed everything with a few coats of Minwax clear satin polyurethane (I used the spray since I wasn’t up for doing all the nooks and crannies with a rag).

I did a final test fit and was blown away by how good it looked!

*“I can take you in warm, or I can take you in cute.”*

Then I grabbed some hay from a bush in the backyard and set it up inside the house for the family to see!

*I added the Star of Alderaan to the top*

Here’s a close-up view of The Child in his manger:

All in all, making this Mandalorian Nativity set took less than a week and needed nothing more than scrap wood and tools/supplies I already had from previous projects.

This is the way!

DIY Wood Google Home Mini Stand

Posted on October 8, 2020 by jared - Woodworking

Adding some style and utility to our Google Home Mini

I won a Google Home Mini from a raffle at work and it’s been a huge hit with the family. Who knew a robot could make fart jokes?

The only downside to it was our struggle to find an optimal location; it seemed designed to sit either flat on a table, desk, or counter, or to be mounted vertically on a wall.

However, we preferred to place it at a 45 degree angle on the kitchen counter so we could better see its aesthetic design, have it in arm’s reach, and avoid adding holes to the wall.

A few weeks before we received it, I had been looking around for a phone stand and came across this version that resembled a Viking chair:

I thought this wooden phone stand design looked awesome, and decided to make a version of this for the Google Home Mini to rest on.

I started out with two .25″ thick pieces that I intended to stain later on. I sanded them down and then made a .25″cut on both going halfway through and combined the cutouts on each piece like this:

After placing the Home Mini on it, I realized that the power cable would look messy just hanging out the back:

*Don’t let the cable management folks at PCMR see this*

So I decided to make a box to go on the back that I could use to route the cables into, then back out again to the outlet:

Then once it was glued together I put it on the counter for a test:

Some of the sharper-eyed among you might have noticed a cut into the front where the Home Mini sits or rests. I did that after worrying that it wouldn’t sit on a flat surface and could potentially roll off.

However, tragedy struck when I dropped the holder and it broke right where I’d made that cutout!

*The broken piece on top of some replacement pieces*

After briefly considering glue, I decided to just start over. I luckily had some nice-looking dark brown wood left over from a toothbrush holder project I’d done a few months before that would be perfect.

I cut the dark brown wood down to the same dimensions as the original holder and then cut notches into both sides.

*I think it looks even better than the first one!*

The test fit was encouraging:

Once the main holder part was done, I cut more pieces down to fit the cables in the back and drilled holes in the front and back to thread the power cable:

After letting it dry it was done! Here it is on its new home on the kitchen counter:

*OK Google, who made the best Google Home Mini stand?*

Looking good!

I’m really pleased with how it turned out, and am providing a list of the pieces I cut so you can make your own:

Cut to:	#	Part/Reason/Placement:	Cut?
58in x 8.5in	2	Bottom part of stand
23.75in x 8in	4	Middle parts of the supports
?23.75in x 3in	1	Top of cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	2	Side pieces for the cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	1	Back piece for the cable holder box on the back

Scrap Wood Bench

Posted on June 11, 2020 by jared - Woodworking

Remember when I built the sturdiest chair in the world, and then the subsequent tactical cancellation of that project? I was able to re-use a bunch of the wood from that project to make this bench!

When we bought our house the garage wasn’t finished. A few months after moving in I installed insulation batting, but it was a few years before we finally had the drywall done.

Once the drywall was up I started various organization improvements, like installing garage shelves from scrap wood and designing my own movable miter saw stand.

However, one area I’d overlooked was various outdoor supplies that were haphazardly grouped in one corner.[1] I decided to make something that would organize the space while looking nice (well, nice for a garage at least).

This was very soon after I had cancelled my kitchen chairs project and while I was in the early stages of building my custom-designed bird cage stand for our parakeets, so there was a ton of wood to choose from:

The leftover 4x4s from the kitchen chair project would serve as great legs for the bench, plus they were already cut to about the height I was thinking of.

*Just barely high enough to fit the fertilizer bags underneath*

After dry fitting a few possible combinations, and debating the exact form and function I wanted, I settled on using six of the leftover 2x6s and one of the 2x8s from the chair project, since they were the perfect depth of 16.25 inches that I needed to fit in the space between the concrete stairs.

Spreading these pieces out gave me 40.5 inches in length, which was perfect since the maximum space was 45 inches.

I decided to raise the bench’s top height a bit by adding 2x4s across the side corners, which also added stability:

*Notice the extra holes? Reusing wood FTW!*

I screwed these in with 2.5 inch Spax T-Star drive screws. These require no pre-drilling, which makes projects like this a breeze.[2]

I then cut two 1×6 pieces (which I’d gotten for free on Craigslist) to 40.5 inches each to go across the front and back corners. This way I could put the top pieces on:

Then I placed all of the top pieces on for a dry fit:

And notice the trimmed corners? These are the same two seat pieces from the prototype kitchen chair that I built! Plus I thought it was a nice touch design-wise.

I clamped 2x4s across the top to hold things in place so I could go underneath the bench and use 1.5 inch Spax T-Star drive screws to attach the top pieces to the front and back 1×6 supports without having the screws show on top.

Note that I had considered using pocket hole screws to attach the top pieces[3], but ultimately decided it wasn’t necessary for a garage bench. I might have gone ahead with pocket hole screws for the whole project if the bench was destined for inside the house (e.g., front entryway or family room) but it’s fine for a garage.

I then sanded everything down and prepared for finishing:

View from the side:

Note that I had to sand down the corner wood a bit since I didn’t account for the trimmed corners on the top pieces, but it looks fine to me!

I finished it using some Minwax polyurethane spray I had laying around; if this was a more formal or interior piece I would have used something else.

Test fit of the finished product!

And here it is in use:

If you are interested in building this for yourself, here are the cuts you need to make (along with a column you can use to check off as you make each cut):

Cut to:	#	Part/Reason/Placement:	Cut?
58in x 8.5in	2	Bottom part of stand
23.75in x 8in	4	Middle parts of the supports
?23.75in x 3in	1	Top of cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	2	Side pieces for the cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	1	Back piece for the cable holder box on the back

[1] Yes, I know storing gasoline and fertilizer so close together isn’t a great idea. They’ve since been moved.

[2] Spax T-Star drive screws are my absolute favorite screws. No, I am not sponsored to say that…but I’d be open to it if you’re listening Spax!

[3] They’re so awesome, so why not?

Making a Simple Miter Saw Stand from Scrap Wood

Posted on March 20, 2020 by jared - Woodworking

“What good is a miter saw if you’re unable to saw?” said in the voice of Agent Smith to Neo

Last summer I was swamped with projects, including the bird cage stand and super sturdy kitchen chair. I didn’t have a ton of space to work in the garage, and was constantly moving things around to have a work surface.

For example, if I wanted to cut wood with the miter saw then I had to move the wood on my desk that was being glued together somewhere else, and later move the saw onto the floor to make room for the next stage of a separate project.

It was clear I needed a dedicated place for the miter saw, and started thinking about making a miter saw stand.

I had recently added this RIDGID shop vac to the list of things on the garage floor, and there was a perfect spot for it next to my work desk:

As I planned out my miter saw stand I realized I could save space by placing the shop vac under the stand. I then looked around at what other folks had done and found a few ideas for inspiration:

My other requirements were pretty simple:

I had to be able to remove the shop vac easily (so I could vacuum out the car or use the vacuum’s blower function after mowing the lawn)
be able to move the stand around for longer cuts, and
it had to fit in the space next to my work desk.

I also needed 4 inches of clearance from the bottom of the miter saw stand because of cinder blocks that stuck out partway from the garage wall (see the above picture). Since the wheels are 2.75 inches tall I decided to use 2x4s (with an actual height of 1.5 inches) bolted to plywood so the base would sit higher than the cinderblocks.

I had about 2 feet next to my work desk so I started with those dimensions and worked my way backwards.

I grabbed some extra plywood that was laying around and cut one piece to 23×22 inches for the base and another to 24×22 inches for the top (I wanted a bit more space at the top, and this gave me an extra half inch on the right and left sides).

I screwed in the 2x4s to the bottom piece of plywod with Spax screws:

*I screwed in from the top of the bottom piece, then flipped it over for the next step*

I then added these awesome rolling wheels with locks to the bottom so I could move the stand as needed:

I did a test fit and things were looking good:

For the legs on top of the base, initially I thought I’d use 4x4s (left over from the ultimate chair project) for each corner, however there wouldn’t be enough space to take the vacuum out from the front of the stand:

Instead, I ended up using 4x4s in the back and 2x4s in the front which allowed me to easily get the vacuum out.

I then used pocket hole screws to connect the 4×4 legs and 2x4s with some spare 1×6 boards:

*I have an unhealthy love for pocket hole screws*

I then attached the legs using even more pocket hole screws to the base:

*Hooray for kettlebells! Keeping things sturdy since the 18th century[1]*

After the legs were on, I attached the top with more Spax screws[2]:

I then added some 2x4s and a scrap 2×6 underneath the top piece for additional support:

Then I placed the miter saw on the stand, tested the wheels and locking function, and it worked!

I love that I could easily move the miter saw stand out to make cuts and then back into the corner when not in use.

Here’s a list of cuts so you can make it (and adjust for your own space as needed):

Cut to:	#	Part/Reason/Placement:	Cut?
58in x 8.5in	2	Bottom part of stand
23.75in x 8in	4	Middle parts of the supports
?23.75in x 3in	1	Top of cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	2	Side pieces for the cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	1	Back piece for the cable holder box on the back

As a final detail I got some ruler tape and attached it to both sides to make measuring for quick cuts a lot easier:

In the future I might add collapsible sides, but so far I haven’t needed them (plus the saw came with some removable side supports). If I do add collapsible sides then I’ll probably make a larger top piece so there’s space on each end for the collapsible ends to fit underneath.

Let me know what you think!

[1] It’s true: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell

[2] I love both pocket hole screws and Spax screws. I know, it’s weird.

DIY Bird Cage Stand (with Storage)

Posted on December 2, 2019 by jared - Woodworking

Another ultimate scrap challenge success!

My kids have been asking for a pet for ages. We tried a few weeks each of a rabbit, baby chicks, bees[1], and a dog without much success, and we were almost ready to call it quits.

Then one day this summer my daughter asked to go to the pet store right next to the hardware store[2]. Because she was so sweet to have tagged along with me for the trip to the hardware store in the first place, I agreed.

After looking at fish, dogs, cats, and rodents she saw the brightly colored parakeets and fell in love. A few weeks later the family decided parakeets were the right pet for us 🙂

Before we got the parakeets, I ordered a wide parakeet cage and decided to build a stand for it. I had a lot of extra wood in the garage that I needed to use up anyway, so this was the perfect project to use some up:

After the cage arrived I measured the width and length of the base (the white plastic rectangle in the photo above), and added 2 inches to each side for extra space. For this cage that meant the top piece would have to be 20 inches wide by 32 inches long.

For the legs I was able to re-use 4x4s that were meant for kitchen table chairs I had designed, but their project ended up being cancelled when I got several free Ikea chairs instead.

So I cut four of the leftover 4x4s to 35 inches tall each and cleaned up the sides a bit on the surface planer, taking off around .25 inches on each side.

This made the legs look a lot nicer:

I then cut dados and rabbets into them for all of the 2x4s that would be used for supports:

*I love cutting rabbits! – Every woodworker, ever, has made this pun*

Now for cutting the support pieces. I cut two 2x4s each to 15 inches for the top side pieces, 31 inches for the top front and back pieces, 18 inches for the bottom side pieces, and one to 31 inches for the support going across the middle in the lower back section.

When it came time to actually make the top piece, however, I didn’t have a ton of great options. I considered joining together several 2x4s with pocket hole screws but I didn’t have enough to fit across the entire top. I also had several other boards of different widths, but I worried combining them all wouldn’t look as good as I wanted.

So I decided to search for free wood on Nextdoor/Craigslist and luckily saw this post:

The 9 inch wide piece would be perfect for the top, so I arranged to pick the wood up and then cut that board into two pieces that were 32 inches long each, giving me 18 inches in width. I then got a 2×4 and cut it down to 2 inches wide, which gave me the full 20 inches I needed across the top when all three pieces were combined.

Then I planed the three top pieces to 1″ tall each (so the total stand height would be 36 inches tall), cut the 2×4 down to 32 inches to match the length needed for the top, and joined them all together for a sweet-looking top.

I also realized I could add boards across the lower side supports pieces to serve as storage for things like bird food bags, toys, etc. There was just over 11 inches of space on the support between the legs, so I grabbed one of the 5.5 inch boards I’d gotten for free from the same Craigslist post (woot!) and cut two pieces off at 31 inches each. Now I had storage!

I might add doors and side/back boards for an enclosed storage space, but will wait and see how things go and whether it’s really necessary after we’ve had the parakeets for a while.

I also added a piece of wood going across the middle, underneath the top wood to serve as extra support.

To finish it off[3], I made a mixture of equal parts boiled linseed oil, Minwax satin polyurethane, and mineral spirits. I applied three coats of that and then two coats of just the poly, and I love how it brought out the color in the wood:

Once it was dried and we had let it air out for a few days (so as to not harm the birds), I moved it inside and set up the cage on the stand:

This was an awesome Ultimate Scrap Challenge project that didn’t cost anything other than electricity, screws (which I already had), and gas to pick up some free wood. The result was an amazing bird stand which should last a long time.

If you are interested in building this for yourself, here are the cuts you need to make (along with a column you can use to check off as you make each cut):

Cut to:	#	Part/Reason/Placement:	Cut?
58in x 8.5in	2	Bottom part of stand
23.75in x 8in	4	Middle parts of the supports
?23.75in x 3in	1	Top of cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	2	Side pieces for the cable holder box on the back
3in x 4.25in	1	Back piece for the cable holder box on the back

[1] Yep. My kids would catch bumblebees and make little homes for them. Adorable!

[2] I’m curious to know which store was there first, and why the second store decided to set up shop by the other.

[3] Pun intended

Scrap Wood Garage Shelves

Posted on September 13, 2019 by jared - Woodworking

This was a fun organization project that ended up being kind of an Ultimate Scrap Challenge without even meaning to.

We recently put up drywall in our garage, and while painting I realized we had a storage problem: there were three standing shelf units on the floor of our garage, and that was probably two too many.[1]

*After painting the walls- still a mess!*

I found someone on Nextdoor giving away several 2x4s and decided I could join a few of them together with pocket hole screws and glue to make the shelves, and then use the leftover pieces as supports.

After picking up the 2x4s I noticed they’d been used in previous projects and had several nail holes and glue marks, so I made a mental note to sand them down that weekend before I started any cutting.

*Can’t complain how they look when they’re free!*

I’m glad I waited to cut them down, because the next day I saw a nice wood desktop with a “free” sign on the side of the road. I drove by two or three times before finally stopping to load it into my CRV.[2]

*The table top with some of the free 2x4s in the back*

I re-did my design for the shelves to use this new wood. Instead of joining 2x4s together I decided to cut the desk wood into 3 pieces that were each 11 inches wide (the desktop was about 34 inches wide by 6 feet long):

*The three pieces of 11 in x 72 in wood stacked against the beautiful new drywall*

I also looked for a new way to support the shelves; initially I considered buying metal shelf brackets, but instead changed my design to use the 2x4s for supports. This way I could still use the wood I’d gotten for free, and wouldn’t have to buy brackets!

*“It’s like looking inside the mind of a crazy person!” – you, probably*

After some more thinking and measuring in the garage, I decided to keep the tallest (and nicest!) floor shelf unit, which meant the wall shelf to the left of that unit could be 6 feet long and the wall shelf to the right of that unit could be 4 feet long (there’s a door on the right side of the wall, so there wasn’t enough space for the extra 2 feet).

I also decided to make the left-side shelf into a corner shelf for added storage space, and have the adjoining wall’s corner shelf be 4 feet long to match the shelf on the right side of the floor unit.

Once I was comfortable with this plan I made the first round of cuts:

I cut one desk piece to 48 inches (for the shelf that would go to the right of the door)
I cut a second desk piece to 37 inches (for the adjoining wall’s corner shelf; note that I had to accommodate 11 inches for the corner shelf it would join)
Also note that the third shelf piece didn’t need cutting since it was already 72 inches long

I know this corner shelf stuff is probably confusing, so I made a quick render in AutoDesk Fusion 360 to illustrate how I cut things for the corner shelf:

I then cut the 2x4s to size:

one at 72 inches
one at 48 inches
one at 46.5 inches (to accommodate the 1.5 inch depth of the 2×4 piece that’s in the adjoining corner)

After finding studs[3] I put in screws to get the first support piece up and then screwed in the first shelf piece (use a level!)

I then measured for the diagonal support pieces and cut several of those on my miter saw.

I also decided to use several leftover 45 degree-cut pieces as additional supports where the wall didn’t have studs:

*Reusing these was much better than throwing them away, and it’s more stable too!*

Putting up the corner shelf:

*2x4s are up followed by the long desk piece*

*Adding the second part of the corner shelf*

Once I put up the diagonal supports underneath the shelves, I got a ladder and added in additional screws from the top, both into the main 2x4s as well as the diagonal supports. This made the shelves feel a lot more solid.

The shelves looked amazing. I started putting things up and was able to clear out one of the floor shelving units!

*I love being able to see things at a glance*

A day or two later I decided to put up two more shelves on a third wall using the leftover desk wood pieces:

You’ll also note that I installed bike hooks and put a few more things up that way:

As a result I was able to get rid of two large, ugly plastic shelving units and freed up a ton of floor space. The whole garage feels much roomier and organized now!

The cost? A box of 2.5 inch t-star screws[4], some hooks, and electricity for the miter saw and drill. Not too bad!

[1] Haha, he said tutu! – My daughter, probably

[2] CRVs really can fit anything. And no, I was not paid to say that by Honda…but I’m open to it!

[3] It wasn’t that hard, I just had to look in the mirror! – No one, probably

[4] A note about the torque screws I used: I wasn’t a huge fan of them. I should have made an extra trip to get Spax brand screws at Home Depot (which I’ve been very impressed with in past projects) instead of just grabbing the Power Pro brand that Lowes had in stock (no, I was not paid to say that by Spax). Compared to Spax, the screws I got didn’t sit flush with the wood, they slipped when trying to start them, and they split some of the 2x4s more than I’ve seen with Spax, so I may as well have just pre-drilled for use with normal wood screws.

The Sturdiest Kitchen Chair in the World

Posted on July 18, 2019 by jared - Woodworking

I set out to make a set of chairs that matched the farmhouse style kitchen table I’d made. I ended up creating the sturdiest chair in the world.

Over the past year I’ve gotten into woodworking as a hobby. During my sabbatical last fall I made a farmhouse style kitchen table, and the family loved it.

But the chairs weren’t a great fit. They didn’t match the table’s style or finish at all, plus they were starting to fall apart. I made a note to make new chairs and then forgot about it.

A few months went by and the kitchen chairs were really starting to need replacement. So I picked the project back up again.

I wanted to use the same wood (4x4s, 2x4s, 2x6s and 2x8s) in the same pattern I’d used in my farmhouse kitchen table build. Further, I wanted to assemble them the same way as I’d done with the table; namely, using pocket hole screws.[1]

The issue with that approach is we don’t move a table very much, but chairs need to move all the time in addition to reliably supporting more weight than a table. That meant having four 4x4s attached to 2x4s with pocket hole screws as originally designed was going to cause issues.

So I updated my design to use rabbet and dado cuts:

*The adjusted design with dados in the 4x4s to support the 2x4s. Good luck reading my handwriting!*

I didn’t know it then, but the result would be the sturdiest chair in the world.

After finding usable scrap in the garage and getting the remaining materials, I went to the table saw and cut my dados and rabbets.

*I promise no rabbits were harmed in the making of this project*.

Things got a bit crazy with the back legs; I had multiple dados on each leg as well as a 3.5 inch dado right below a 1.5 inch dado (for the seat):

*It kinda felt like playing Jenga or Tetris*

With the legs done it was time to dry fit and correct any major issues before moving forward:

*My wife is a saint for allowing me to keep the wood in the kitchen*

Not bad! I had to make some adjustments to a few dado cuts but nothing major.

I then cut the other wood (2x4s, etc) to size. Here’s a closeup of the chair’s front right corner so you can get an idea of how I placed the top supports:

I then used these screws from Lowe’s to put things together:

Here’s the backrest; I planned on using 2 screws on each side for each backrest piece but it ended up being really sturdy without them:

And here’s how I screwed in the sides:

*Sand before you screw these in, or add painter’s tape to the screws before you sand, otherwise you’ll rub off the paint as I did.*

I decided to add two support pieces underneath the seat for added stability since the seat pieces were attached to each other using pocket hole screws:

I spent extra time sanding down the edges and corners so no one would get hurt, and here is the result:

Sitting on it was actually not bad; the next step was to use the bandsaw to cut a curve in the backrest pieces to be more comfortable.

But before I could do that we got a nice surprise: someone gave us five really nice Ikea chairs!

*The three chairs for comparison: Ikea in front, original in back, and the one I made on the left.*

As a result, the chair I designed and made was now obsolete; I wasn’t going to turn down five free $70 chairs when I still had to make 3 more by myself.

If you are interested in building this chair for yourself, here are the cuts you need to make for each chair (along with a column you can use to check off as you make each cut):

# pieces:	Wood:	Cut to:	Part/Reason/Placement:	Cut?
3	2×4	16 in	Back rests & front support
2	2×4	17.25 in	Side supports on the bottom
2	2×4	15.75 in	Side supports on the top
2	2×4	13 in	Supports underneath the seat
2	4×4	40 in	Back legs
2	4×4	16.25 in	Front legs
2	2×6	16.25 in	Seat top (sides)
1	2×8	16.25 in	Seat top (middle)

Note that the two 2×6 and one 2×8 pieces give a total of 18.25 inches in seat width which was perfect for us, but you can adjust as needed by either using smaller wood combinations or cutting them down.

[1] I love pocket hole screws. They’re magic.

Making an Outdoor Side Table from Scrap Wood

Posted on June 3, 2019 by jared - Woodworking

Solving a need with stuff we didn’t need!

The previous owner of our house left a fair amount of wood scraps in the garage. The really good stuff I cut up for various projects and the bad stuff I burned as part of our summer and fall fire pit evening extravaganzas.[1]

That left the mediocre stuff. The stuff you look at and think, “I’ll definitely use it eventually, but not today- and certainly not on this project.”[2]

I mean, the distressed, rustic wood look on a farmhouse-style kitchen table is cool but not if the wood looks like it came from a haunted house!

My aversion to using mediocre wood scraps resulted in me doing two things I typically detest:

Spending money on things I don’t technically need. With the exception of a few planks of premium pine given by a friend, all of my projects last year used wood purchased from a store.
Holding on to things that don’t have a clear use. It’s part of what I call “The Hobbyist’s Curse” and the clutter drives me crazy.

So with the days growing short and my scrap pile increasing, I set out to reverse these bad habits and use up before I paid up.

I decided to call this project “The Ultimate Scrap Challenge” after actually looking closely at the scrap wood I had; it would be a lot more difficult to make something than I had expected![3]

I had a few 2x4s that had seen better days, some oddly cut plywood and 4x4s, some very small leftovers from my dresser, shelf and various desk projects, and some seasoned logs that were intended for the fireplace.

I mulled things over for a few days. I thought of building a birdhouse, a bird bath, an art project[4], or just throwing in the towel and throwing the scrap in the fire.

But one evening, sitting in a hard plastic Adirondack style chair by the firepit, I realized I had nowhere to place my craft root beer and fire-licked hot dog. And thus, The Muses sang.

Ultimate Scrap Challenge #1 would be an outdoor side table.

I grabbed the nicest 2×4 pieces and sized them up. I didn’t have enough 2x4s or 4x4s for legs, and decided that logs for legs would be sweet.

*There’s a 95% chance I was muttering darkly to myself during this picture*

I did some dry fitting and some placing in my head. You can see the evolution of the design in my planner:

*It started out pretty well, and ended up…well…*

With a final design in mind, I went to the wood shop and chiseled off as much bark from the logs as I could. I then sanded the logs and the 2x4s with an orbital sander. The logs ended up looking kind of marbleized which I did not expect:

*I guess whatever pest had started eating them was an artist too!*

After cutting the 2x4s to size I used pocket hole screws and wood glue on the 2x4s to make the top:

I decided to sand it down a little to provide a smoother table surface as well as to prevent splinters:

Unfortunately, when I went to dry fit the legs I realized that one leg wasn’t going to work: with the bark on it had looked fine, but while taking the bark off I found a large section had gone soft and the log was too bent and misshapen to balance well.

After getting ideas from wood shop folks[5] I decided to cut the offending log in half and attach the pieces onto the side of the table for a “log wrap around” look. After cutting the semi-rotted log on the bandsaw I used an electric hand planer to trim it down so it lined it up with the table top:

I then used nails to attach the remaining three legs in a tripod fashion and boom, we had a table!

*It even balances on three legs. Science!*

The extra space from the side logs was a welcome bonus; admittedly, the original top lacked adequate space but that was fixed once the log ends were attached.

To finish the patio table I doused the whole thing (legs and all) with several coats of tung oil. It gave the wood a nice uniform color that tied the patio table together:

Eight months after finishing the table it’s still looking great, so I declare this Ultimate Scrap Challenge a success.

A closing note on care taking: I leave it out during the rain, but during winter I brought the table into the garage since we aren’t on the patio very often in winter. I also plan to re-apply tung oil each year to keep it looking great.

[1] No really, they’re THAT amazing.

[2] Admit it, you do this too.

[3] This name is probably already taken by some group or another, but I hadn’t heard of it and thought it sounded just over the top enough to be fun and serious.

[4] I am NOT artistic. So this would have been a real stretch for me.

[5] Some solicited, some not.

Making a Mew Drain Cover

Posted on May 10, 2019 by jared - Piquant, Woodworking

A fun Easter egg for the next family who moves in 🙂

Our basement has a strange, almost exactly 12 inch x 12 inch hole in the cement floor that, as far as I can tell, is only there for air conditioner drainage. It was “covered” by a hard plastic grate with large slits.

A few months after moving in we noticed small gnat-like creatures appearing in our basement. Research pointed to the drain as their source, so I smothered the drain with Boric Acid powder and covered the opening with foil tape (it was left in the garage by the previous owners, was rigid enough to cover the space without collapsing, and I was lazy):

*Foil tape cover (after a few years) in all its ugly glory*

No more gnats!

A few years passed and all was well…until the beetles came. Like the gnats that preceded them, they starting showed up in the basement. Research again indicated their source was the drain.

Pulling up the foil tape I found several beetles stuck to the adhesive where they had tried to get out of the drain. Bingo.

I set out for a better drain; a drain that let a pipe in, but didn’t let bugs out. Several hardware stores and even the mighty Amazon.com let me down.

It was time to go rogue.

At first I thought of 3D printing my own drain cover. I designed the cover in AutoDesk Fusion 360 (which is amazing, mad respect) and included an entrance for the A/C drainage pipe. I even beveled (chamfered?) the edges to match the concrete opening for that 10/10 fit:

I decided it needed something…more. Something both unexpected and exciting. No sir, this would not be your Average Drain Cover. It needed an Easter Egg.[1]

After some debate and soulful Google Image searching I found the ultimate Easter Egg: the Mew carving from ‘Pokemon The First Movie‘ (1999):

I found a way to embed the carving into the surface of my 3D model and we were ready to go:

However, I tried and failed to find a 3D printer with a large enough print bed. I experimented with a slightly scaled down version (closer to 11 inches) on the largest printer at the local maker space, but had issues with bed adhesion so scrapped it.

I debated a re-design that would make an interlocking set of 4 pieces…but ultimately decided laser engraving wood would be easier.

I found a few leftover wood boards that fit the bill, fired up Photoshop, and got to work.

First I had to convert the Mew image into a bitmap. Going back to the source image I traced out Mew, removed a lot of the fuzzy details (for a cleaner engraving), and then added in some marks with the brush tool to improve the “old stone engraving” look:

My first laser engraving attempt was a huge fail. The laser cutter was an 80 watt beast and my settings were way too high, resulting in a brown mess:

*I’m also pretty sure I had the grain the wrong way*

I took a huge step back and looked at engraving tutorials. I ended up using this one for my remaining engraving attempts: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Laser-Engraving-Photo/

Using the tutorial’s settings gave me a much better result, however it looked too washed-out for what I had in mind:

*Yes, I re-used the first piece of wood. I’m frugal.*

I tried again. Keeping in mind it was an 80 watt laser cutter I got another board and adjusted the settings to:

And it gave me this:

Comparing side by side:

*I test-fit the first one to make sure it would work, hence the hole in the side*

Once I had cut the engraved board to the right dimensions I lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper and gave it several coats of Minwax satin finish polyurethane. I normally don’t use spray poly, but did this time as I wanted to avoid missing crevices or it pooling unevenly.

To protect the bottom from moisture I found the original roll of foil tape[3] and applied it in overlapping strips, making sure to bring it up the sides as well:

The final step was to run weatherstripping foam around the edges for Extra Sealing Power(TM). Luckily I had leftover weatherstripping from a previous weatherproofing project so we saved a few bucks:

And here’s the finished result!

I’m not going to lie, it turned out much better than expected.

If anyone else wants to do this I can upload the bitmap and RDWorks file. Please share a pic if you use them so I can see your cool Easter Egg too.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

[1] Not the colored bunny kind

[2] Yes I know Mew isn’t a cat. But that tail! And that face!

[3] I actually have no idea if this will work in practice, but my research said it should. Guess we’ll find out the old fashioned way!