We’ve been making again all week! This time we stepped even further out of our comfort zone and completed our biggest project yet!
Welcome back to Maker Break, where we share our favorite maker videos of the week, and then challenge ourselves to build a project of our own! This week we have a modern Adirondack chair, some amazing furniture and a really big cookie! Let’s get to it!
Our first video is with Jonathan Katz-Moses who took a maker break of his own, to teach us the ins and out, and slides and bumps of Squares! If you’re just getting started in woodworking, Jon makes a really good case for making a quality square your first purchase, and best of all, he even points you to Taytools, where you can buy ultra high-quality squares for dirt cheap, just because they have a small visual blemish.
I have no idea what’s being said in this video, but fortunately, you don’t need to in order to be blown away by the craftsmanship. This guy is a MASTER woodworker… and he walks us through a very complex build process, for one of the most beautiful, and adorable baby chairs I’ve ever seen. It’s so nice in fact, that not only will I never be able to build its equal, but I doubt I’d ever be able to afford to buy one.
Next, we have the Rogue Engineer who built a modern Adirondack chair, and he does it in only an hour! We’ve seen countless Adirondack chair build videos before, but this really stood out due to its simplicity and ease of assembly! It only takes a couple of weather-treated boards and looks really comfy. I don’t know that this would be a Maker Break project, but I will definitely attempt one in my free time.
Our last video is from Ana White, who spent the afternoon with a couple of younger helpers, teaching them to build a beautiful bird feeder that automatically dispenses the seed thanks to the clever use of an orange juice bottle! The boys eventually lost interest, but I sure didn’t! If you wanna feed the birds too, you can learn how at Anna White on YouTube!
Over on Instagram, we have a dog over at Urban Timber right here in Columbus, who was promised a cookie.
Erin Spain shared a photo of the very first project she posted on YouTube, this really interesting storage bench. Now I have to go find the video!
Don’t adjust your televisions… or your tablets… or more likely your phones. This table is NOT moving. It’s just drawn that way. Shaun Boyd shared this moving coffee table, and claims it’s the fastest table ever made.
Why would you doubt Shaun. Ever. And finally, Meghan of Sweet Aloha Designs broke out her scroll saw for an upcoming project and decided the best way to get back on the bike is to go for a ride! She used it to cut out a beautiful wolf howling at the moon! If you haven’t been following Meghan, you can at sweet aloha designs on Instagram.
Project Challenge
It’s Project Time! This week we used a video from Mike of Modern Builds as inspiration from 2016 and built a bench!
Alright! This was our biggest piece yet, and our first piece of furniture. Now it’s worth noting that we’re still working without a planer, jointer, or even a belt sander for that matter, so we were really at the mercy of the lumber we chose. We just did our best to choose straight wood, and did a LOT of sanding. But first we started by cutting all of our 2x4s to length.
Based on Mike’s plan, we had to cut two different long lengths for the top and two different short lengths for the legs. We decided to make our bench 6 feet long, and 18 inches high, so we did a bit of math and started cutting!
We once again used a stop block to make sure all of our cuts were consistent. Next we laid them all out and sorted them by color variance and knot location.
Once we had a layout we liked, it was time to glue and nail it all together. We started by gluing two of the long seat pieces together, and then using a square, lined up the first leg piece, glued it, and then used 2-inch brad nails to hold it together.
After that, all we had to do was repeat each step until all 9 rows were done. So far, it was looking great!
Next we did a boatload of sanding, and used our 6.5” HART circular saw to cut all of the leg pieces to size. Our saw didn’t go all the way through, so we had to measure and cut from both sides, and then sand it down.
Time to make it pretty! We used the same Dark Walnut that Mike did, and the transformation was significant! To make sure the bench survives it’s new outdoor home, we used some spray-on water sealer to protect the wood for many years to come.
When all of that dried, we screwed in our feet, and we were done! We built a bench! It looks great, and it’s incredibly strong.
Next Week’s Challenge!
While it was really gratifying to finally sit on the bench we made ourselves, it was still a LOT of work. So this week we are choosing a smaller project inspired by Shannon from The Daily DIYer.
And remember guys, if you want to build along with us this week, we’d love to see your work. And there’s a chance you could win a couple of tools from HART! To enter all you have to do is share a project photo on Instagram this week, using the hashtag, maker break or if you don’t have an Instagram account, you can also share it on Facebook with the same hashtag.
We want to thank the amazing team at HART for sponsoring us this week, and reminding us that we can anything if we do it with HART!
Alright! Break’s over! Lets make something!
