Sawdust in Cyberspace

OK so Microsoft yelled at me and said that if I want to keep this blog I should probably post something.  I have neglected this space for some time, partially because of life in general (work is busy, kids are growing, etc.), and partially because I had to slow way down on the kitchen.  I do however have some news to report so here is an update:

Finally got ALL the cabinets in, including the ones around the fridge.  These were a pain for several reasons.  First, I had to re tool my shop and move my 500lb table saw in order to get enough room behind the saw to cut the long strips for the face frames.  Second, the tolerances from the wall to the window made it so that I only had 1/4" of wiggle room.  Blessedly, after MUCH wiggling, I got the cabinets to go in and fit like I wanted them.  The cabinet over the fridge came out crooked (twice!  I have no idea how... It's just a box...) so there are gaps at the top where the face frames join together that I just didn't have enough clamps and strength to straighten out.  But it's in and I'm done with it.

The countertops are on and the backsplash is in.  I installed the under cabinet lighting and put all the trim on.  Now the cabinet boxes just need a couple more coats of clear and I can forget about them.

I bought a Porter Cable dovetail jig and knocked out all 4 of my cabinet drawers in about 45 minutes.  I will never go back to any other type of joinery... I LOVE it!!!  Stupid simple and self squaring?  Are you kidding me?  I'm in...

Currently I am planing several hundred feet of oak to begin cutting into panels for my doors.  I am making simple raised panel doors but I have over 30 of them to make so it is going to take a while.  I got a great little program for making raised panel doors.  You just measure your rough openings, tell it what the offset for the doors is (how much you want them to cover the opening by... mine are a half inch all around) and what the depth of your routed cuts for the panels is (mine are 3/8") and it gives you all the measurements you need.  It's beautiful.

Once I get the doors on and finished I can finally kiss this project goodbye.  It has been fun but I haven't been able to give it all the time it really needs so it has dragged on way too long.  Thank goodness for a patient wife!

Six hundred and fifty square feet of disgusting carpet and nasty old tile has finally been converted into 3/4" solid oak hardwood floor...

...and despite all my best efforts to screw it up, it came out within 1/4" of straight even though I had to span over 30 feet in width, go around a fireplace wall and deal with 35 years of other idiots remodeling screw ups.

...damn...

I discovered that this floor has been through a lot.  From my efforts to cover it with hardwood, through smelly, dog pissy carpet, to tile, linoleum and, at some point in the past, BRIGHT red, shag carpet.  I can't even imagine how nasty that must have looked.

But now... as of 7pm this evening, the only thing on this floor is wood.  I also managed to get some of the cabinets installed and even stuck on a piece of trim around a window, just for good measure.  I'm pooped...

The next time I get a wild hair that tells me it's a good idea to nail down over 650 feet of flooring 2 1/2" at a time...?  Hit me...  hard... but not in the head... that doesn't faze me... obviously...

I'm going to crawl off to bed now and nurse my aches and pains.  I'm too old for this...  People my age usually have one tool in their remodel toolbox...

...their checkbook...

1. A scribing tool.  After trying to use a regular compass, I recommend getting one of these, or something very similar.  It's the best $100 you will ever spend... I really wish I had gotten one or made something like it.
2. Heavy card stock, no bigger than 14"
3. Scissors
4. Marking pencil
5. A scroll saw

For my wall, I knew that the fireplace wall was not only not straight but it was not square to the opposite wall (or anything else, for that matter) so my only choice was to start on the straight, square wall and work my way over to the fireplace.  This meant that my last row was essentially just nailed into the floor (I angled my nailer at different angles, hoping that this would help hold the flooring down tighter) and I had to knock the tongues off the next to last row with a chisel in order to get them squeezed in, but it seemed to work.  I don't see this last row getting a lot of traffic (it was about half a board wide, for the most part) so I am not too worried about it.  In any case, this was the best solution for me because of the shape of the room and the shape of the fireplace wall.  So here is what I did:

1. Place a piece of your card stock paper (I said no more than 14" long because I found that anything more than that became unwieldy) even with the edge of the last row of flooring you have nailed in.  Tape it down lighly to hold it in place.
2. Set the width of your scribing tool equal to the width of one of your pieces of flooring (2 for narrow width like mine, one should be enough for anything over 3 inches)
3. Now here is the tricky part... Place the scribing tool at the height of your flooring (mine is 3/4").  Put the scribe point on the wall and the pencil on the paper and pull down the wall, keeping the scribe point in constant contact with the wall.  The key here is to KEEP YOUR WRIST STRAIGHT!!!  If you turn your wrist to try to help the scribe follow the wall, it will screw up the pattern!!  This takes practice and patience, but saves wood.
4. Now cut the pattern out of the paper with the scissors. 
5. Take your pattern and line it up with the wall to see how you did.  Shave it where necessary to get a snug fit.
6. Once it's snug hold the paper pattern against the wall and mark the edge of your last piece of flooring on both ends.
7. Mark a line between these two points and cut it out.  You should now have a paper  pattern that looks like the wood piece you want and fits the hole.
8. Line up the flat part of the pattern with the edge of the flooring piece to be cut and then trace the pattern on the opposite side.
9. Using a scroll saw, cut along the pattern.  Because of the way my wall was put together (fieldstone and mortar) I found the best way to cut the pieces was to set the scroll saw bed at a 30 degree angle and UNDERCUT the flooring pieces.  This allows for the natural undulations of the wall but still provides support.  Also, cut the tongue off the end of the piece
10. Use a chisel to knock out the tongue on the adjacent piece.  Slide the piece into place, check it for fit and then nail it into place with AT LEAST 16 guage nails and a pneumatic nailer.
11. Fill the nail holes with touch up putty.

I would love to say that my cuts were perfect but I made plenty of mistakes.  All in all, though, I'm pretty pleased with the result.  I think the most important thing for me is that, even after all those goofy cuts and tweaking, I came out on the other side of the wall straight and true.  Whether it was skill or luck, I'm not sure...  All I know is that it looks right... and it's almost done!!!!