Cherry Ridge Woodworks

In this post, I promised to provide an update on how my plan worked for using a threaded rod to anchor a newel post.

Overall, my plan worked, but not without some minor nuisances that always seem to happen in a home improvement project. I drilled a hole through the upstairs floor tile to accommodate the threaded rod I had epoxied into the bottom of the newel post. I shoved the rod into the hole then trekked down to the basement. Darn! The threaded rod was too close to the joist to install the large fender washer I had wanted to install. And after reviewing the situation a little closer, I decided to add some blocking to allow me to keep as much length on the threaded rod as possible. I figured this would provide more stability for the post.

You can view and download the SketchUp model below that illustrates what I did.

So I spend about a half hour cutting up some scraps of plywood to add as blocking under the post. After gluing and screwing the blocking to the joists on either side of the rod, I installed a washer, split locking washer, then a nut and carefully tightened it down. I had some help upstairs to keep the post from twisting while I tightened the nut.

It worked as planned. The newel post was solid and the customer was happy. All I had to do was glue the handrail back in place.

Stairs and Railings Step-by-Step Projects Book
Creative Homeowner presents this step-by step guide to designing and building various types of staircases and railings, including straight stairs, deck stairs and L-shaped staircases with a landing. A host of color drawings and photographs illustrate the directions. Stairs and Railings Step-by-Step Projects Book

Those who know me at all know that I’m a big fan of SketchUp. It’s a free, powerful, and easy-to-use software program that lets you design in three dimensions. You can see some of the models I’ve created by clicking here. I’ve also created a most of the SketchUp models you can download as Online Extras for ShopNotes magazine.

There’s a blog (knockoffwood.blogspot.com) I ran across that uses SketchUp to create free plans of “knock-off” furniture. Ana White takes her ideas from Pottery Barn and other catalogs and creates plans so that you can recreate the same style in your garage or basement workshop. And she uses SketchUp to generate the plans. Go take a peek at what she’s done.

And if you find something you like, let me know and I can build it for you! Just use the contact form and we’ll see what we can do.

Gorilla Wood Glue

It’s bad enough that I have to pry off old, dried wood glue from the bottle tip before I use it. But during a glue-up, the last things I want to see are chunks of rubbery goo come out of the bottle.

I had recently tried another brand of wood glue made by the same folks that make Gorilla Glue polyurethane glue. I thought perhaps that I had purchased an old bottle of glue. But when the second bottle of glue still had small chunks in it, I began to wonder.

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I received a phone call the other day from a gentleman in his 70’s. He went into a lengthy discussion about how technology has replaced craftsmanship. He was referring to a lot of magazine articles and TV shows that use digital calipers, digital angle gauges, and other high-tech devices for measuring and machine setup. To paraphrase his comments, “When I was working in the shop, we cut to fit. We didn’t need a measuring tape.”

He has a point. One of the mistakes a lot of beginning woodworkers make is cutting all their parts to the exact dimensions shown on the plans. Then as they assemble the project, they wonder why their joints have gaps or the parts don’t fit.

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When I was a youngster growing up, my dad had a Sears Craftsman radial arm saw, a Rockwell radial drill press, and some old table saw. And they were all in a very wet, and sometimes flooded basement. But he and I managed to do a lot of woodworking in that basement.

When I was first married, I moved into a small 1½-story home with a basement. No garage. Guess where I decided to put my shop? Yep. In the basement. But I couldn’t afford a lot of tools. I did manage to buy a new Craftsman table saw. (In the small town where I grew up, the only source for woodworking tools was Sears.) But the table saw was the only new tool I owned.

My first router table was a 2×4 base with a plywood top. I think it was in one of the first issues of Woodsmith magazine. Oh…my Craftsman router was the one other new tool I eventually purchased. (more…)

I got a call from a family that needed to know how to fix a loose newel post on their stairway. This is the post at the bottom of the stairway that anchors the handrail. It’s a pretty important structural component in the handrail and baluster assembly.

Actually, the post was more than loose…it had been removed. They had put in a new ceramic tile floor and the contractor had taken a reciprocating saw and cut through the screws that had secured the post to the floor. They wanted the post put back in place. But the problem was, there was a ceramic floor tile located where the post needed to be. How would I go about anchoring the post securely?

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My ten-year old is participating in Royal Rangers. It’s a lot like Boy Scouts but with a biblical emphasis. If you have younger children, either of these organizations are a great way to instill some great life-long values in your kids. They both provide hundreds of opportunities for earning merit badges through a variety of activities and learned skills.

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Every once in a while I run across someone’s personal web site that keeps me coming back. Matthias Wandel has one of those web sites that is not only entertaining, but educational. And he comes up with some crazy contraptions to solve some practical problems.

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Of all the hardwoods, I think poplar is the most misunderstood. It has traditionally been used on insignificant internal components of furniture as a secondary wood.

A lot of folks get turned off by the green and brown streaks sometimes evident in the wood. But this can be overcome. Or you can use it to add visual interest to your piece.

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In a previous post, I mentioned the bed rails I was making for a couple to replace their broken ones. I created a slot for the bed rail hooks by laminating 1/8″ Baltic birch plywood between two layers of poplar hardwood. This worked great except that the slot was visible on the top edge of the rails.

I cut some thin splines from a scrap piece of poplar to fill the gap. I glued them in place then trimmed them with a small gent’s saw, like the one you see here.

Crown Brass Back Gent’s Saw
Manufactured by Crown Hand Tools, these saws keep a thinner blade stiff by reinforcing it with a brass back. Crown Brass Back Gent’s Saw

I left them a little proud so I could trim them flush with a hand plane. (more…)