Just for you Bob!!

And of course for anyone else who might be interested in seeing a few more details of Jason's cabinet!
Here's a better picture of the top which is actually 3 pieces of 2x6 T&G pine glued together. I used a can of stain as a pattern to form the radius for the 2 front corners. Next I used my router to round over the edges.
This picture shows the raised panel door a little bit better as well as the joinery. I used my biscuit jointer to hold every the door rails & stiles in place. I glued all joints and clamped them overnight. The white knob looking thing is actually the magnet that is required to activate the latch allowing the doors to open. Again I used my router with a chamfer bit to create a softer edge around each door.
I chose blue pine for this project because of it's interesting color. I believe it's caused by a microscopic fungus in the wood but does not cause any structual damage. Also 1x12 pine is very inexpensive down here and easy to work with.
The doors were hung with European style hidden hinges which I like to use because they are strong and also fully adjustable making installation easier.
Lastly here's a picture of the inside which is backed with some leftover T&G pine paneling that I had from a previous project. Thanks for looking and for being interested in this project. Stay tuned for a pair of bookshelf/cabinets to be mounted flush into our bedroom wall. After that hopefully I'll be constructing a 7ft water wheel for our front yard. Take care.

Dave

Bookshelf Project for Jason

It always feels good to complete a project and this one was no exception! A couple of months ago Laurie asked me to build a bookshelf for Jason's room. Seems that too many books and toys were too inaccessible because they were too high up on a wall shelf. This project would have to not only be strong but would also require doors to protect its contents from curious hands. I started out with the top which was made out of 2 in. pine...strong enough for an average adult to stand on. The shelves themselves were dadoed into the sides for extra stability. Thanks to Marv for his help in squaring the whole thing up and gluing!

Anyway after mounting the top I began to think about how I wanted the doors to look. I had researched manufacturing a raised panel door with a table saw and I wanted to give that a try. Often I use a woodworking project for an excuse to tackle some new building technique that interests me. So this is was my first effort at this type of door and I must say that I am pleased with the outcome! Some log handles helped to match this piece to the rest of Jason's furniture. The filler in the middle with the tree cutouts also contributes to his "woodsy" theme. After mounting the hinges and hanging the doors I installed some cool safety latches which require a magnet to release the latch allowing it to open. No more torn up books as long as everyone remembers to keep the doors shut when not in use!

Here you can see the cabinet in its final resting place. Now Jason has a wider platform to stand on instead of the window sill when he's looking out his window. (He's definitely a climber!) More importantly his care providers and his parents have a secure (screwed to the wall)cabinet to store learning aids that should get used even more now!

Where were you when the lights went out!

Yesterday as usual I thought I had my afternoon all planned out but circumstances proved otherwise. At about 2:00 pm I was out in the garage doing some anticipated woodworking when my electric drill suddenly went quiet and all the lights turned off. At first I thought I had just blown a circuit breaker but a quick trip into the house proved otherwise. We had no electricity.
Shortly thereafter Laurie went into Jason's room with him as she unsuccessfully tried to coax him into taking a nap. Meanwhile Annalie and I played a game of "Chutes and Ladders" using the fading light coming through our front window to see. Afterword I decided to drive into town with Jason to see what I could see. My hope was that it was just a local outage that would be back on in less than an hour. I turned on the radio and discovered that this outage was much larger than just our neighborhood. All of Gold Beach and Brookings were without power. Eventually our local electricity coop located the problem to a sub station north of Gold Beach. Great news! Then the bad news. The problem was on the Bonneville Power side of the sub station and would require their own crew to be dispatched to make the repair and restore the power. By the time I heard that I knew that we had better start making some preparations before it got dark. We began to gather flashlights, candles, and lanterns. I retrieved our camp stove from the attic and set it up out in the garage. I also hauled 15 gals of water from the creek so we could flush toilets as needed. We ate some warmed up leftover soup with sandwiches for supper. Fortunately the house was warm since we had the pellet stove going for some time before the power went out. Later I took Annalie and Jason into town for another look at Gold Beach when the power is off. Except for the courthouse and the hospital it was mostly just a few windows with small lights flickering in them. I explained to Annalie why they needed auxillary power so they could continue to deal with emergencies should there be any.

Back at home we entertained ourselves with a game of "Hide 'n Seek" since a mostly dark house provided lots of hiding places. At about 9:00 pm we had the perfect excuse to call it a day. Sometime around 10:00 pm the power returned and must say I was glad to see it. Even so we made the best of things and made some good memories as well!!