Shopsmith Forums

heathicus wrote:It's not the mechanics of making the cuts, it's making the assembly accurate enough! I could just see myself cutting the diagonal brace to fit the cutouts perfectly at each end, but being 1/4" short. Or my wall may be out of square (I haven't even checked that yet) making the triangle not exactly a right triangle making all the joints be just a little off. I'm just thinking too much can go wrong and I'll be fighting with it all day. I think I want to try something a little more simple.

I like your new concept also, but it did strike me that accurately fitting JPG's struts could be done pretty easily.

1. Cut the posts and cross-members, including notches, to size.
2. Rough-cut the diagonal struts, leaving some extra length, and ignoring the end detail.
3. Fasten the posts to the wall (square or not).
4. Fasten each cross-member at the rear, adjust the front to level, and clamp on a rough-cut strut (to both the post and cross-member) alongside its eventual location.
5. With a pencil, trace the notch profiles onto the struts.
6. Cut the ends of the struts as indicated by the pencil lines.

That should get you a perfect fit, with almost no measuring.

Finally got the desk surface installed Sunday. My parents were visiting and I had my dad help. He says I over built the support for it. He said it with pride - if he says something is over built, then it is REALLY over built! But it is as solid as a rock.



I thought the reclaimed cypress looks beautiful. I love all the knot holes, old nail holes, etc. I ended up using almost the whole bottle of epoxy that nuhobby suggested. To finish, I started out using the tung oil / spar urethane mixture that Mickyd used on his ER boards. I ran out of the tung oil after a few coats, so the last two were spar urethane only. I think it could have used a few more coats, but my time was limited, I was out of brushes to apply it with, and my wife was growing impatient.



They've been using it the last couple days and my wife says it has made a world of difference for them and has made the school day much better.



Still need to add shelving above the desk. And I left room at the end of the desk to add some storage under it. I wish I had enough cypress to do the shelving in the rest of the room with.

Looks good!



The kids are a nice project also!;)

Not sure what the dolls do for larning!

Great job, Heath!

I was thinking of bumping this thread since we hadn't heard about it for a while. Super-looking setup!

Well done! That wood looks wonderful and the girls looks very happy.

Thanks! I had taken some better pictures of some of my favorite "character spots" (aka knots) in the wood, but I can't find them now.

And, jpg, Zoey (the youngest, on the left in the pic) is very attached to all several hundred of her stuffed animals and dolls. She doesn't let anyone take a picture of her unless she has one of her beloved stuffed animals posing with her!

Here's a pic of all 3 of our kids, taken on a weekend trip we made to Hot Springs earlier this month.

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Very nice, Heath!:D Job WELL DONE:D