Quickie Work Bench : A table from six scraps

Last year I pulled these six scrap boards from of a dumpster behind an old Ingles. They're pretty badly cupped but otherwise solid, hard yellow pine 2x12s.

 

It's amazing what people get rid of during a tear-out.

I squared up the boards and made some rips.

All of the wood for this project is stacked on the left. The only scraps are on the right.

You may have noticed that for way too long I have worked without a bench. Cuts were made out on the deck and most pieces were assembled on the floor.

So this is long overdue. 

 It's a simple design from scrap lumber and it went together quickly. If every project could be like this...

 I won't be making any more cuts out here.

This helper really digs it.

 He also helped me install additional bracing from the leftover cutoffs.

Little known fact about furniture biology: tables asexually reproduce more tables. It's a fascinating life cycle.
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Mystery hardwood revealed: it's an end table!

Don't be confused; it's not the world's smallest end table. It is the most engaging of the 96 little tiles I sliced from an old timber.

I kept that timber for a reason, but for a long time it was unremarkable, waiting for the right moment to speak to me.

While organizing the workshop, I saw some mold on one end and went outside to cut it away. That's when the timber spake, "Behold, my intoxicating fresh end grain and sawdust like a terra cotta murder scene."

 I decided to slice it into tiles. Wanting to preserve the distinct rough-sawn marks on either side, I ripped them off first.

I liked the little slats, so I sliced the timber into three sections to cut two more at the same width.

  Any subtle change in the light or the surface reflects in the coloration and natural luster.

(first layout attempt)

 (from Reboot)

 This end-grain wood floor was the original inspiration.

 I'll be going with the layout below:

(six tiles shy)

I can now see an end table coming together. The tiles will be wrapped in rails, those four slats ripped from the same timber. From the house where I found the timber I also salvaged some old tongue and groove flooring painted a pale aqua and various weathered boards. The T&G will serve as a base for the tiles and from one weathered board I'll create legs.

With excess irregular tiles, I can also form bookmatched coasters.

It really doesn't smell like Cedar. It's rich and earthy and behaves more like Walnut, besides the purplish cast and clay colored sawdust. The man who built and lived in that house milled the wood from his own land; I can't imagine it's not indigenous. Despite looking different in every photo, the tone is consistent throughout so it can't be stained. I'm still not sure what kind of wood it is, but I am sure I love it!

Hutching a Plot: Clover's Rabbit Hutch Pt. II

In case you are wondering, yes I have a contract with Clover.

We left off with an array of boards reclaimed from Sierra Nevada.

From the first stack of wood I salvaged from smaller pallets, I set to making structural members. Using the rip fence on my trusty little circular saw, the heavy duty supports were ripped in half.

This yielded twelve sticks at 42" to use for framing.

As I went, selecting boards to fill in a complete sketch and ripping where required, the wood was painted to finish prep.I chose a dark purple from the return section of a local mega-chain hardware store. I usually try to snag my paint from these racks at a big discount.

 The idea is to provide a complete base coat on all surfaces of the untreated lumber, even unexposed end-grain cuts when possible. The final coat will come from only half a quart of a brilliant red, which should create a streaky, rustic finish as it fights to cover the darker purple.

Basic framing is completed before transporting material to the site. I painted hidden end grains and countersink holes on the front and back walls of the covered portion of the hutch.

 Here is the rough framing for the covered section of the hutch.

 Now with siding complete, it begins to feel like home.

 The open section is connected and the front door is tested.

The front and back door function with simple block latches.

The metal roof was cut from a piece of scrap. Most of the fasteners were leftovers or salvage from previous projects. Rubber washer screws, elevator bolts, mesh and fence staples were purchased new.

A big thank you goes out to Don Schjeldahl of Sierra Nevada for the opportunity. And also to the Rimer family for trusting me to build this fun and fulfilling little farm house. If anyone has a truck and an idea, I would love to gather more wood from Mills River and build another dream . . .

Adventures in Sierra Nevada Land: Clover's Rabbit Hutch Part I

In my ReBoot, I offered a dedicated post to Clover's rabbit hutch. I have so many fun images that I've split it into two parts. The story begins in Mills River, North Carolina where Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is busy constructing the largest 'craft brewery' I could ever imagine.

Through Kitty Love of the Asheville Area Arts Council, I learned of a call to local artisans: to collect and make good use of abundant crates and pallets before they should be turned to mulch!

These pallets are built with a 17-foot diameter arc to transport 60-foot tall stainless steel fermentation tanks from Germany! You can see some of the tanks towering in the background.

 

(no shortage of plywood scraps)

 

It just goes on and on. These images don't even show everything. Don, the Site Manager, took me around from pile to pile so I could see what was available. Along the way he educated me on Sierra Nevada's green building initiatives. However, I wasn't permitted to take images of the actual building sites.

We joked that the stack pictured below is only lacking a few posts and drying in and you have an instant cabin with a deck!

 Unfortunately, two standard sized pallets was all that I could fit into the Love Machine that day.

Back home, I set to the task of deconstructing my scrawny pallets. The larger one contained some decent boards and lumber. Virtually all of the wood available was heat-treated and so dimensionally stable and (relatively) free of insects.

 (below you can see the 'HT' stamp)

(the Juju jar is quickly filled with scrap nails)

The next day, I lured Justin into the fray. He came for a short visit with Charlie.

 Yup, almost Nine-Inch-Nails.

 

We grabbed three long pallets similar to the one below. The largest was a couple feet longer than this one.

Cutting the boards loose proved to be the quickest way of disassembly. Someone in Germany went overboard with the ring-shank nails . . .

 We agreed that for the use of his truck, Justin should take the choice material: straight clean pine timbers.

We had two other helpers along that day and they were thrilled to tour the Brewery site. After all, they were required to wear hard hats. This one is destined to have his tongue carried away by birds:

 They did a wonderful job of neatly stacking the boards upstairs in my workshop.

Just kidding; I had to do that part. But they did happily bring it all upstairs while Justin and I were busy cutting and whacking away.

The next day, I graded and stacked the wood; now I am ready to get to it!

How's this for synchronicity? Sixteen prime boards (relatively uncupped, unbowed, unchecked & untwisted) and the number sixteen randomly appears twice. In the end I needed exactly these sixteen boards for siding on Clover's rabbit hutch . . .

I might make a cutting board from the top piece there. I wonder, would that knothole be annoying or useful?