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Custom Woodwork : Furniture : Cabinets : Millwork

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End of the week, and the cabinets are in. They took some extra effort, and there are plenty of lessons learned. The important thing is that they are in, and they look great. First time I ever had damage happen during install, and bad enough that I had to bring and upper and lower section back to the shop to be repaired. Fortunately, the bit of time spent helping in an autobody shop taught me plenty of touch up tricks. The project still has a bit to go - baseboard (a.k.a. skirting, thanks @bearandfoxuk for getting that term stuck in my head) and the mantle, along with skim coating and repainting the wall between the cabinets. The end is in sight, as is my next project (more walnut!) Happy Friday! #customcabinetry #customcabinetrytoronto #customcabinets #customcabinetstoronto #walnut #blackwalnut #airdriedwalnut #madewithosmo #valspar #osmopolyx #customfurnituretoronto

Interior cabinet details. The walnut edging on the Baltic birch plywood adjustable shelf is an offcut from one of the shelves in the open upper shelving (still following?). Just little things to tie it together. I like that the edging transitions between heartwood and sapwood, giving it an overall lighter appearance, and blending in better with the cabinet interior. The shelf itself is 24mm thick, also tying in to the upper shelves. Did I actually consciously do this? Nope. I just rooted through my offcut options until I found the one which looked best. As for the thickness, I just happened to have had a partial sheet of 24mm ply. That being said, I may start making my internal shelves 24mm - less deflection and it looks better, especially with faceframe cabinets. #customcabinetry #customcabinetrytoronto #customcabinet #customcabinettoronto #builtincabinet #customfurniture #customfurnituretoronto

Finally mounted the #Whackamajig in the tool cabinet. Walnut offcuts from the current cabinet build, and through mortises. Another reason I'm keeping my hollow chisel mortiser, even though I now have a handheld mortiser for slip tenons. I thought I was doing well with making my toolholders #whilethegluedries, but obviously @aklein2303 has smoked me this week. #walnut #airdriedwalnut #handtoolcabinet #toolholdertuesday #toolholder #fancytoolholder #malletholder

Little block to pad out the hinge plate to be even with the overlap face frame. Easy to make, and easy to customize to the exact thickness required. #customcabinetry #customcabinets #customcabinetstoronto #customfurniture #customfurnituretoronto #concealedhinges

It's #flatironfriday! What? That's not a thing? Hrmm. For years I've used my mother's cast off clothes irons in the shop for steaming out dents, activating glue, and more (and once upon a time, for iron-on edge banding). I made the mistake of using my previous steam iron to melt wax into some endgrain. The wax also melted into all the steam holes on the bottom of the iron. So, it had to go bye bye. I found this one at a thrift store - no temperature control other than the on off switch attached to the removable cord. This is a huge bonus because I no longer have to work around a cord. And it holds the heat for a really long time. And, it has a nice, smooth bottom for easy cleaning. Definitely worth the $10. #iron #clothesiron #shopiron #whyisthereaclothesironinmywoodworkingfeed #itsapressingmatter

I need another plane like I need more clamps, right? Picked up this Veritas apron plane with the @leevalleytools gift card my parents gave me for Christmas. What nice little plane. It's lighter and smaller than any of my block planes, and fits my hand comfortably. It will definitely become my on-site plane. I ordered it with a PM-V11 iron. These are the first shavings I took with it: hard maple. It cut through easily and left a nice finish. On endgrain it is an absolute dream. My only sniggle is that the iron does not fit in my Eclipse-style honing guide. Fortunately, I was gifted a Veritas Mk 1 honing guide, which does work. Oh, and looks like I'm buggering up #woodshavingwednesday and #handtoolthursday for the second time this week. Go me! #veritasplane #blockplane #apronplane #handplane

Thought I would show how I set up my handplanes after sharpening. This is a collection of techniques which I've gathered and integrated over the years. Much comes from the most excellent "Handplane Essentials" by Chris Schwarz @lostartpress. Tapamajig made by @lineschiselsandbrayers Satan's Sole Wax made by @satansdogg Plane is a Stanley n°4 type 19, with knobs and tote stolen from a Groz, and a @leevalleytools PM-V11 iron and chipbreaker. #handplanesetup #planesetup #stanley4 #handplane #planehammer #woodshavingwednesday #handtoolthursday #thisweekiammixingupmydays

Yes, yes you can have enough clamps. I was recently gifted 24 high quality clamps: Bessey K-Body, UniKlamp, H-style pipe clamps, and heavy duty F clamps. After tripping over them for a few weeks, I finally gave them homes on the clamp wall. This meant adding an additional 32" in width, which meant moving the hand tool cabinet, as well as making new holding fixtures. The rearranging which took place made me thankful for making the whole rack modular. They're all up, and now I can clean the aftermath. Then get back to work. #happymonday #neverenoughclamps #toomanyclamps #maybejustenoughclamps #clampstorage #clamprack #modularclampstorage

My family got hammered this Christmas, so I figured I should show it off on #handtoolthursday. I picked up the small mallet and the ball peen hammer from the classifieds. The ball peen is a Garrington, made in England. If you've been following along, then you know the next two mallets were made for my daughters. The last, and largest, is my favorite. Handmade for me by Luke @cyclocrosscutter, I've been unable to put it down since I unwrapped it on Christmas Day. I'll do a post focused entirely on Mjølnir once I take some good pictures. #Whackamajig

Finally managed to return and finish up this job for some friends. We used their leftover hardwood flooring as a backsplash/accent wall in their kitchen. The last piece were the Peruvian walnut window jambs. They wanted a very minimal look, which made for a good challenge. #accentwall #peruvianwalnut #midcenturymodern #kitchen #backsplash #maple #flooringonawall

What a year it has been. Thank you for following along and, well, (to quote @robszabomusic) giving a shit. New and fantastic clients, interesting projects (both work and personal), lots of growth (oh, the lessons learned...), and new friendships. Our family lost a pet, and adopted a new pet. I got married to the most amazing person (@mindfulmamatoronto). The coming year is already looking to be fantastic, and I'm excited. Many of my most liked posts were either videos or contained multiple pictures, so I've added them to make it easier to see them again. And again. And again. Wishing you a fantastic coming year. And thank you again for following along. #topnine2018 #hiddencleat #tenoncutting #edgegluing #edgebanding #mortiseandtenon #boxmaking #stopmotion #workbench #mattsmonsterworkbench #coathook #coatrack #customfurniture #customfurnituretoronto

Fully reassembled and ready to make shavings. This Made in Canada Stanley Bailey n°6C type 16 was a gift from @jjjjayhawk (scheming with @bearandfoxuk). He did a fantastic job restoring it, including repairing the tote (see if you can spot it). I finally took the time to strip it and repaint it (Jay chose the colour). The knob and tote have been finished with Osmo Polyx. I like the satin look, and the silky feel, as opposed to a traditional shellac finish. It doesn't turn the rosewood black the way tung oil does, either (lesson learned and many regrets there). If you ask me what a n°6 is good for, I still can't give you a definitive answer, though I can say it gets as much use as my n°7 and n°8 (which is considerable). #stanley6 #stanley6C #madeincanadastanley #stanleyhandplane #handplanerestoration

I love pissing off the purists. A gift from @jjjjayhawk, he also chose the colour. I may have changed his mind on custom painting planes. But probably not. #stanleyhandplane #stanleyplane #bailey #stanley6 #bluerthanblue

This may not be the smartest gift idea..... After seeing my lignum vitae #whackamajig, my daughters asked for their own. The eldest, 10, chose walnut and oak; the youngest, 7, purpleheart and walnut. And they insisted on the endcaps. The walnut head was far too light, so I asked Mark from @woodchuckers_artistic_wood to stabilize it. It weighs much more, and should withstand dishing. The oak handle didn't look right, so I took a cue from the #tapamajig from @lineschiselsandbrayers, and burnt it. My wife said that they seem to be a perfect representation of their personalities. Here's hoping nothing gets smashy smashed when the hormone monster rages. #mallets #custommallets

Right side up and upside down. Carved feet on a small serving platter. All scrap maple and walnut. Decided to leave the facets left by the spokeshave, plane and chisel. The feet are attached using a tightly fit sliding dovetail, no glue. #lastminutegift #cheeseboard #handmadegift #slidingdovetail

That's one way to flatten a rough sawn board on which you want to keep the texture on the show face. A whole slew of saw kerfs, clamped flat, and filled with thickened epoxy. Now we wait for the epoxy to cure.

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