DGM Woodworks

Today’s Activities

I finally got the custom board done today.  These extra large boards are a challenge for me because I am set up for smaller ones.  For example, my drum sander is 16” wide, but is an open end style so I can do up to 32” wide by making two passes.  This method requires me to take very light passes each time so one side doesn’t get ahead of the other.  It also takes a real steady hand to make sure it starts through the sander level.  At 28 pounds, a good grip is warranted.  It turned out smooth and perfectly flat, so I was very pleased with my efforts today.

My next challenge is to figure out how I am going to package it to ship to California.  I carry shipping boxes for my standard boards, but not one for this size.  Like everything else, I am sure I will come up with something.

Learning New Things

I’ve been a full-time woodworker for almost 8 years, so I’m pretty experienced in most areas.  Over time, projects become easier because in many cases, I have done that same type of project for other customers.  It’s kind of like when I started selling custom closets.  The very first one took twice as long to install as they do today, because I have a better and more efficient process.   I use to take a long time to resolve an unexpected challenge during installation, but there are very few unexpected surprises today because I have seen most of these problems before and know immediately how to correct it.

The same holds true for cutting boards.  I have made hundreds of boards over the past couple of years in all different sizes and patterns.  However, the current one I am working on has presented new challenges.

This is a commission piece that is 25” x 32” x 1.5”.  It is a monster of a board and the largest one I have made to date.  Because of the size, I had to make the strips up in sections.  In fact, I have had to do just about everything in sections.  I probably stared at it for about 30 minutes today, trying to figure out the best process to apply the glue.  I knew it would be a longer process than I was use to with my normal smaller boards, but I needed to make sure the glue didn’t start drying too quick on the front end before I got to the tail end.  I can’t use my regular clamps and cawls, so I had to break out the long clamps and piece together cawls to keep the strips from slipping when applying pressure.

Tomorrow will be the defining moment when I run this monster through my drum sander.  I have a Jet 16/32 sander so I will have to use the open end function and make double passes.  The big challenge is holding the board steady during this operation.

This is the board drying in the clamps today.

Large Glue Up

The Pressure Is On

It’s a week before my first show, and I’m getting nervous. I have enough products, but my new booth display is still not ready. It’s been an on-going project for the past couple of months, but I keep getting side tracked by other jobs. I have a basement renovation that I have been working on for the last few weeks, causing me to loose three days in the shop.

Today I got all day with the display and got a lot done. In fact, I should be able to start staining all the wood this weekend. I could have gotten a little further today, but I ran over to Home Depot early this morning to get some more bolts and they had a big sale on cypress mulch. Normally, it is $2.25 per bag, but today they had a sign out front advertising it at .99 cents per bag. Not being one to pass up a deal, especially when I needed about 30 bags, I loaded up the truck. Consequently, I knocked off a little early so I could get the mulch spread out. It’s always something pushing me back.

Working on Shelves

I have a delivery of closet material coming in tomorrow morning, so I am going to hit it early before the freight truck comes in. Once, I get the truck unloaded, I have to start cutting and fabricating the material for a closet installation next Tuesday. Fortunately, all my yard work is done and I can concentrate on staining the shelving system this weekend. I also have to get more cutting board care instruction tags printed up. There always seems to be something that still needs to be done. I was sort of hoping to pressure wash my deck, but it’s not a high priority right now.

The Dipping Board Saga

We are a veggie family.  No, I’m not a vegetarian.  There’s nothing better than a good ribeye, but we eat a lot of raw veggies with dip.  As a result, I make these veggie trays that have much more character than the cheap plastic ones you see in most homes.

I also wanted to use the same board for serving bread with a dipping oil.  SInce the well was sized for store-bought veggie dip containers, I needed to find a bowl that would fit the well.  Now this didn’t seem to be a big deal, but after searching for two months, I couldn’t find one that fit exactly.  Being an Etsy seller, I searched their pottery artists and found a set of three dipping bowls that appeared to be the correct size.  They also looked nice.  Unfortunately, after receiving them, they were just a hair too big.  I  loved the bowls though, and contracted with the artist to make ones custom sized to fit my boards.

Here’s the result.  I think they turned out very nice and really enhance the board.