a commuting bicycle hanger in reclaimed redwood and doug fir

This project originally began as a built in construction that seemed too intrusive to integrate into the space we wanted to use for stowing our commuter bikes. The unused sketchup model Here. I instead tried to do something a bit lighter weight, using the studs as the main load bearing component. sketchup here.

I wanted to experiment with new joinery technique so the shelving carcass involves dadoes with stub tenons on the lower tier, and a mitered half blind dovetail on the top. Since this piece is for our commuter bikes it has low pressure associated with the joinery and I felt like I could be a bit more loose with the saw. Redwood is nice and soft and i've been working with it a lot recently, but it's so fragile that i am looking forward to using stuff that is a bit more resilient.

project photos ensue. apologies for the photos, the shelf is intended to hold helmets for la Femme and myself. also maybe a few extra doo-dads that make bikes go. chain lube, spare mags, etc.

the hardware came from someone who has the audacity to call it "Leonardo" and while it is OK, I do not think the original dude would be happy with the crappy welds. port side has two 3/4" doug fir pegs for hanging coats and such. Might have some more aiming inboard.

First step was to try to optimize the arrangement of bikes. Horizontal space was premium in this application, so a staggered,overlapping formation was chosen and sorted out on my garage wall. Please remind me to never clutter this wall so that such experiments can continue.

I mocked up a support board as proof of concept and it felt "right". We have Lath and Plaster hell here, so no modern stud finder reliably divines the stud. I resorted to what my hero Nassim Nicholas Taleb would charitably regard as "stochastic tinkering" to drill tiny probing holes into the wall near the baseboard to verify stud location, and then run these findings up along the wall using blue tape.

Shelf unit is attached with two housed bridle joints. I had performed a lot of tinkering and verifying to get the placement right. The japanese square was an invaluable tool, even though the non empirical units on the reverse side drive me crazy.

42 years in 6/4 doug fir

i've had this stick of dense and old doug fir. really old stuff. used it as a brace in the trestle of an experimental desk some years ago. here now as the main support beam for a new project, a bicycle hanger for our commuting rigs. we have about 32" of wall space next to the door where the bikes will go. Still, breathtaking grain density here going on. And to think I'm 42 years old:

between projects, i tend to carve propellers

some 1" square redwood sticks were on hand from a gardening project. the wood is soft, not quite like balsa from my youth, but approaching.

bench and cabinet in reclaimed fir

Part of the remodel of our bungalow, a built in cabinet and bench system leading out onto the south facing side of the house via French doors. Details:

• 12'long, 36" high cabinet tops, 18" bench with angled back.
• Finish is Watco Danish Oil.
• Frame&Panel construction atop birch ply carcass.
• laminated quartersawn pieces for the cabinet tops using breadboard ends, 7/8" thick
• Seat back and sides milled from doug fir sent here from my dad up in the Seattle area. Tree came down in a bad wind storm some years ago and he had it milled on site. had a few nice planks for me to use.
• Rest of the wood came from reclaimed doug fir that I scrounged around for. Urban Ore and Earthsource Lumber
• I'd never done built in work so had no idea how much fun it was to match up the theoretical straight boards with the empirical geometry of a 1911 bungalow.

winging the miters for the base moulding with my ryoba was not much fun. perhaps a miter box would be a nice thing to have

Here's a foto roll of the work in progress Worked weekends from end of March through today

plywood substrate

I milled this fir from earthsource lumber in san leandro.

the ring density on this stick was too nice to pass up, although i had to chisel out each one of these inch spaced 16penny nails.

Some drawer pull ideas I had. Ended up using the ones integrated into the drawer front

The blum hinges work really well. Thanks Tim for lending my your 35mm forstner bit :-)

The angled frame/pannel sides were a bitch

I don't have a concave making plane so I did this using my plough plane to define the shoulders and then a block plane to round out the interior space.

for every band saw box on Lumberjocks...

south facing deck in redwood

we had a hard to enjoy aft section of the house, and after a few years living in it, decided to hire an architect to assist with the zoning and design, and carpenter to do the heavy lifting, and myself to do the delicate fussy stuff. Here's where she stands now.

My hired carpenter took care of all the hard stuff, excavation for footers, demolition and establishing the deck framing

half-bath addition:

Meanwhile, I took care of the fine work, using timber framing joinery for the trellis cantilevers. The corner one was exceptionally difficult to lay out:

45degree

I decided to hang the bench footings off the posts using A34's but the legs are mortised into the rails in the usual way

Installation of the trellis on the deck was an exciting day, as the carpenter and myself combined our respective work to establish the whole. Since the posts were part of the deck structure, everything had to line up perfectly, and for the most part it did.