Saturday, November 30, 2013

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.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

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:

Friday, November 8, 2013

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.