mrrrk.net

Why am I doing this?

Elspeth (my lovely wife) remarked lately that the shoes on the kitchen floor were getting a bit out of hand and we wondered if we needed another shoe rack like the plastic affair we have in the front porch.  That idea was quickly followed by my resolution to build a wooden one.  I don't do a lot of woodwork because my past attempts have met with mixed success.  My dad was once a joiner and when I was little I was fairly in awe of his Jedi-like wood skills.  To some extent I think I naturally assumed I would somehow inherit these skills, perhaps genetically, and would demonstrate my own mastery without putting in the required effort.  Needless to say it doesn't work that way!  Anyway, this time I have an electric, circular mitre saw to help make neat cuts and a determination to take the time I need and not rush things as I'm prone to do.

So, off to Wickes to buy a load of wood.  I'm using 34mm square planed timber for the frame and lengths of Ø15mm dowel for creating the shelves.  I tell you what though, it might grow on trees but it's not cheap that stuff!  I reckon it'd have been cheaper to buy a bloody rack, ready made.  Mind, I suppose that's not the point as this will be made by me and to my specifications.

First task was setting up the fence on my cheapo mitre saw as the angles are not right as it comes from the factory.  It was pretty tricky to measure 45° accurately against the blade so I just made a couple of trial 45° degree cuts and put them together to see if they made a nice square 90° degrees.  Took a couple of goes but after that, I decided it was close enough.

After making all the mitre cuts I needed, I set it to 90° and cut all the straight bits.  I clamped a bit of wood onto the end of my 'bench' so that all the peices were the same length since consistency and precision is more important than accuracy here!

Here are all the cut 34mm square pieces:

To join the two side assemblies, I just used glue and 6mm dowels.  It's tricky to get holes drilled accurately.  I just used ordinary HSS drill bits rather than the 'brad point' bits made specifically for wood - and the general purpose bits do wander a bit on wood.  I don't have a drill press - which might have been handy.

One tip I learned off You Tube is to always do a dry fit before glueing anything:

Now for the front and back 'bars' that will support the shelf dowels.  I ordered a 15mm forstner bit (pictured) from Ebay for this.  So many holes...

And now the dowels that will form the shelves.  I could have used my circular mitre saw again but I went old school and got the mitre box and tenon saw out.  Quicker, safer and just as accurate in this instance.

To do...

Concusion

I'm no expert but here are my tips - more for my own benefit than for anyone else:

• Use a propelling pencil for marking.  Ordinary pencils get blunt quckly on wood and before long, you might as well be using a lump of charcoal!
• If you're unsure of your marking out, put masking tape on the piece and tear if off if you mess it up rather than making several sets of marks.  Better still, plan it properly and mark it once!
• Have a specific safe place (or places) to put small stuff down like your pencil, glasses, square, etc. - and stick to it!  Cumulatively, I must've  wasted days of my life looking for stuff that I've mindlessly put down on the first surface that came to hand while doing stuff like this.  My dad always used to (and presumably still does) stick his pencil behind his ear. I am unable to do this as it keeps falling out.  My failure to be able to store my pencil in this way annoys me to a disproportionate extent - probably more because I'm unable to emulate my dad than for the lack of amenity it affords!
  
• Don't glue anything until you've dry-fitted it first - even if it is a pain in the arse to assemble everything only to pull it all apart again.  It might seem like a waste of time but it isn't!
• Unplug the mitre saw the second you're done cutting.  It's easy to forget it's on while your lining the blade up with a mark you made for your next cut - and it can steal your fingers.
• Take your time.
• Think, plan and measure carefully.
• Don't cut your fingers off - or any other bit of you if you can avoid it.