The finished coat rack

So, here it is, in all it's glory. Besides a couple of coats of varnish, the only addition is the coathooks (which I had picked up on sale quite some time ago).
Wife and child are both happy- now I just have to get them into the habit of using the thing!
I'll add some hooks on the side for umbrellas and such later- and if it turns out to be "tippy", even with the extended feet, I'll simply screw it to a stud with a 3" screw. Not high art, but a satisfying little project- useful and cheap, just how I like it :)


I was on vacation last week, and spent as much time as possible working on my shop. When I get some time later, I'll do a post on how I prepared an old laminated countertop and made it into a built in workbench.

Finished Packing Crates

Here's a finished packing crate, with the components packed into it. It works well- these are not tubes, but machined from solid stainless steel, and quite heavy. The crate holds them perfectly.


The bottom pic is of the other four crates,with the tops screwed on. Note the different colored woods- these are one-use items, so they didn't have to be pretty- just strong. I didn't purchase any of the wood for this project, and the customer (my brother :) was quite happy.

A Cutting Guide for A Skilsaw

A year or two ago I found an entire sheet of 1/2" plywood that had been in use as a sign. I've used that wood for tons of things, including shelves in the house and other stuff. I had one little piece of it left in the shop, and this is what I decided to do with it-

Here, I've attached it to a piece of 1/8" masonite, leaving a large overhang, and clamped it to the end of my bench, being careful that I won't cut the bench.

Here, I'm simply cutting the masonite with my circular saw, using the plywood as a guide. Yep- it's an old saw. It was old when I got it about twelve years ago. One of my better $20 purchases! :)

The complted guide- in use, I will simply line up the edge of the masonite where I want my cut, or alternately, use it to line up a longer guide relative to the edge of a piece. I'm planning to use this to make some templates for things that I'll be making a lot of, like shelves.

Finally got some time (and a non-rainy day) to start getting into some of the wood stacked in my trailer. It's been under a tarp for over a week now- it's been raining almost every day- a real rarity around here!

These are a couple of the nice old pine board that made up that collapsed shelf unit- they are heavy and dense, and mostly pretty straight! I'm almost six feet tall, and look how long these things are! I'm gonna be able to make lots of nice things out of them- nine altogether, just like these two. The thing in the middle is my favorite ongoing project, our daughter Kehaulani. My face looks wierder than usual here, because she kept saying "cheeeeeese" and making me laugh :)

This was taken in the alley behind our house- I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what all the hammering was about (was pounding nails out- *lots* of nails!).

Our New Coat Rack!

Here's the coatrack I mentioned in my last post- I got tired of having those big ol' boards taking up space in my shop, so I made a point of getting it assembled this week.


It stands 5'8", and is about 3 1/2' wide. After it's got it's finish coat of polyeurathane, I'll add the hooks. The top crosspiece in back will hold jackets for my wife and me, and the middle one will also get hooks for our daughter's jackets. The top is intended as a shelf for library books- I am forever forgetting where I left the things, and ending up with late fines. Hopefully, this will help with that :)


The sides and feet were made from old waterbed sides that I salvaged, and the crosspieces were ripped from an old pine tabletop that I found somewhere years ago. That table top has had several lives- first it was a table for someone, then I cut it down a bit to make a top for the kitchen island in our old house, and now I've made it into a coatrack. If that isn't recycling, I don't know what is!

Everything is held together with 2 1/2" self drilling pocket hole screws, which are a *very* effective method of mechanical joining. They also allow me to dissasemble if necessary. I bought the top of the line Kreg jig pocket hole kit several years ago, and it was a very worthwhile investment- I use that thing constantly!

Once the wife finishes with putting on the varnish, and I get the hooks on, I'll post a pic of this item in use. Oh, and by the way, I was planning to paint it- but Tina insists that she likes it just the way it is, so it's poly instead of paint for this one!