project 01 pt. 1 - knee wall cap

for christmas, to my excitement, i received 2 sets of router bits. i was very glad for this because up until that point i owned a grand total 1 bit for my router and i have had plans to redo all the molding in our house. upon excitedly telling some close friends about my new toys, our friend, steph, said "want to play?" apparently her and her husband had just finish, for the most part, building a knee wall around the opening of their 3rd floor stairwell but were still in need of a nice looking cap for the wall. they offered to pay for materials, as well as feed me and my wife when we were there, if i could bring my tools over and make the cap for them. this was, of course, a great chance for me to try out my new router bits and practice for doing the molding in my own house at the same time. we decided on regular, knotted pine for the wood because steph and her husband, tommy, liked the rustic look and also because it was more cost-effective. they had also asked me to do some trim work which i will talk about in the next post, but altogether what i thought would only take a couple of weekends ended up taking 6+ weekends to complete. may job was to design, build, and install the cap and trim and i left the sanding and finishing of the wood for my friends to complete. below are some photos of the knee wall cap, once my part was done.





as i am a beginner, there are some things i learned, of course.
1) if you have to use cupped boards, pay attention to which way they cup. for the actual cap pieces i neglected this, instead paying more attention to which side of the board looked prettier. the result was that the mitered corner of the wall had opposing cups that makes an ugly, bowed ridge at the joint (see below). unfortunately, only some hefty planing and sanding will make it disappear.




2&3) coping cuts are harder than they look... and any tips on how to make sure you line your mitered ends up properly when it comes time to nail boards up? (pardon the blurriness of the photos)

the woodworkers paradox

up until recently i have had nothing more than magazines and books to satisfy my growing interest in the world of woodworking. i have found a paradox that exist not only in woodworking but also in nearly every design field. because this paradox is found in many fields of design and not just woodworking, i will be referring to it from now on as the paradox. being such a far-reaching phenomenon, it is difficult to concisely put the paradox into words but i will do my best. for now i will state it merely as it relates to woodworking.

the paradox
1. in order to be able to produce good furniture -- or any other wood project -- one must have the proper tools.
2. in order to justify -- or even be able to -- purchasing the proper tools one must be able to produce good furniture.

it seems that one is not possible without the other, making it very difficult to get started in woodworking (or any other design field) and can, at times, be discouraging. to be honest, it is the sole reason i have had to wait until i was 30 to begin practicing my hand at woodworking. To use a practical example: in nearly every woodworking magazine i own there is at least one article/plan for a jig to help streamline your woodworking, or for a nifty workshop add-on. unfortunately, even for the most basic of these projects, it seems a full wood shop is required to make it, or the project itself is needed to be able to properly make the project.

for myself, craigslist and other online classified ads have definitely helped in finding tools that are in decent condition, but still i encounter the same problem time and again. i would like to hear what others have done to resolve the dilemma of the paradox.

what are your tips and solutions for the paradox?


[edit] i think paradox is too lofty of a word so i'll probably just refer to it from now on as the chicken and the egg problem. i know, it's more wordy, but i think more people will understand what i'm getting at without having to refer back to this post.

introductions

hello all,

my name is eric lawshe and i am a bit of a lignophile. ever since i was a kid i loved the smell of working wood and anytime my dad needed to build something -- even just a 2x4 frame for pouring a concrete walkway -- i was down in the garage with him, ready to help. now, at the age of 30, i finally have a job where i can begin to delve into the wonderful hobby, craft, skill, and art of woodworking. until now i have had to satisfy my curiosity with only books, magazines, and online resources. the head knowledge is there but my practical knowledge is lacking. as you can imagine i feel like i am trying to take my driving test when i have only read the driving manual.

i hope that those who are in the same boat as me will enjoy this adventure alongside me and we can learn together. and perhaps we may encounter some who have traveled this road before us and can point us in the right direction or even stay with us and guide us along the way.