swt61

Happy Birthday!

I just thought something funny... These women are Al's Sister in Laws, a lesbian couple. They and their gay carpenter seem so excited to put up closet doors, even though we spent a good portion of time knocking them down. Just caught me as ironic.

That's fantastic!

Thumb is almost fully healed. And the homeowners knew that I had to do a lot more work than what we originally talked about, because their contractor wasn't supposed to build out the opening, so they agreed to pay more. Enough to cover the cost of the saw blade and cartridge. Hurray for Saw Stop! The handles for the doors and vanity are supposed to be in sometime in October. Then I can completely finish up.

I think that I already mentioned that the floor is out 1/4" just in the span of the two doors. You don't feel it, and certainly can't see it. However, if I had cut the door bottoms straight across, it'd be very noticeable. So instead the left side is 1/4" longer than the right side, and I cut that angle to match the floor. That gave me a perfect 1/4" gap at the bottom of the doors. I hate when interior doors have a giant gap at the bottom. As these solid Oak doors are heavy, I installed 3" brass screws into the hinges on the framing side. These reach into the studs and not just the jambs. Then I used two inch screws on the door side of the hinges. This will guarantee no sagging over time.

Installed the doors this morning. I aborted the installation last Sunday, because I didn't want to take the chance of scratching/denting them trying to reach my lumber rack by myself. Today I had the owners help and her pickup. I'm always nervous, even though I measured three times. There's just no room for even 1/16" of error. Luckily they fit perfectly.

Have the best day ever Jim!

Feel the heat Disney!

Any circle hole cutting involved?

Well today we drove to Napa and went to a winery that he orders from regularly. Tasted some good wines, ate some good food and had some good conversation. Hard to beat that. He even fell in love with my dog Maki, who traveled in the car with us.

I have a Cousin that I've talked about on here before. He lived in San Antonio, and thought he was an open minded liberal, but was anything but. He voted for Trump in his first term. We had a falling out over gay marriage. He tried to act like he was gay friendly around me, but was very opposed to gay marriage. I had no luck getting him to understand how insulting some of his opinions were to me, so I just checked out of that relationship. This was several years back, while living in Texas. His wife tried to smooth things over a few times, but knew it was a losing battle. Monday, out of the Blue he called me up. He said he was driving to visit his estranged Son ( his Son and I have a great relationship, full of mutual respect ), in Colorado, and was thinking of driving on to California afterwards. He wanted to get together tonight. I really had mixed feelings about seeing him at all. But he told me his wife had passed 3 months back. I attended their wedding in 1979, and really liked her. She sought me out at family gatherings and was somewhat of what we used to call a fag hag. So I felt somewhat sympathetic to his loss. We had dinner at Rancho Nicasio. It's 1/2 a mile from my house, should I need to make a hasty exit. All in all it went well. We didn't touch on politics or social issues, though I must admit to wondering what his political stance is today. My Mom always had a good relationship with him, and for that reason I consented to dinner. He'll be headed back home soon, and that'll be that. We're planning to get together again tomorrow, after I install the doors I'm working on. I think it would have made my Mom happy. Just have to avoid certain conversations one more day. It was fun talking about our grandparents and mutual family members. And I had some great fish and chips.

I didn't really show it, but running the doors through the table saw would have been a PITA. It's too cumbersome and would have left scratches in the already finished flat sections. So instead I opted for the track saw. One thing that I love about the track saw is that you just measure where you want your cuts, set the track right on those lines. No adding inches or subtracting inches. Set your track right to the cut line and that's it. 3 of the tool review shows that I watch have tested all brands of track saws. The Makita topped all except two. Those two are the Festool and the Mafel. Those are about three times the cost of the Makita. On two of those three reviews, the Makita tied with the Festool. The Mafel edged both out just by a hair. But I do love this Makita. So well thought out, and easy to micro adjust. One of my best investments. And if you're working alone it's the only way to go. Add in your wealthier buddies Festool dust extractor and even the cleanup is easy. That doesn't mean that the shop is clean. It's a disaster. That's next weekends project, but it saves you breathing in a ton of sawdust! More pics tomorrow.

Another tidbit... Finish the bottom and top of the doors too. Wether it be paint or stain and sealer. You'll never see them once installed, but it keeps the doors from warping in the future. Whatever you do to one side/edge of any wooden object, you want to do to all sides/edges. We knew that the length of these doors would have to be cut for final install, but didn't know that measurement yet. So now that I'm doing the final cuts, all surfaces will get the hardwax finish. Both doors cut, milled for hinges, sanded and refinished. Tomorrow will be installation. And then I'm done until dresser and door hardware arrive. Hopefully my measurements are correct.

I had to cut all four edges of both doors, because the contractor didn't listen and built out the doors jambs. I got a little nervous when I pulled out the track saw and discovered a thin curf blade on it. I learned that thin curf blades on a track saw cutting hardwood can be a disaster. The thinner blade will actually bend into the track, destroying your project and your track. I've been buying specific Makita track saw blades, but no time to order one now. So instead I just went very slowly, watching the edge of the blade the whole time. Made four beautiful cuts. One door down, one to go. Then it's hinge recessing time.