My journey with power tools was an interesting, and at times, trying exploration. The original excitement mixed with fear of not mastering the technique, and the idea of finally getting to use wood mixed with uncertainty of what to do with it. I knew that I wanted to get on it right away and begin exploring everything I could and come up with something that would be very successful for me. As soon as it was possible I got it together and began this quest for harmony with my 18" piece of 2 x 4.
As you can imagine I did not have the prettiest of starts. I had an idea of my jointing techniques and I wanted to get it down and let the wood decide where it wanted to take me. I started off using the bandsaw, and it was okay at helping my cut the wood into the smaller pieces that are displayed above, but when it came to getting it as exact as I wanted it, it would not have happened in the time given. I decided to work with in anyway, and during the time that I practiced on this machine I came to realize that I wanted to make something that I would be able to use as time went on. This fact led me to go out and get another 2 x 4 so that I could have a number of 18" pieces and GO TO WORK.
On my next piece of 2 x 4 I was still unsure of what I wanted to do with the project, but I was 100% sure that I wanted to use tongue and groove joints, so I decided to work on that and get it down pact. This is when I discovered the table saw. It made cutting the grooves, as well as the tongues very simple, and all I had to do was decide the level that I heights that I wanted it at and push it across the saw. However, the pieces were not as perfect as they could be, and because I was doing it mostly by eye it was hard to determine the exact locations of my grooves, which made it hard to decide where to put the tongues. Although they did not line up the way that I had hoped, the fit together very nicely, and made a few heavy duty beverage coasters.
After the last 2 x 4 and all of my uncertainty of location, I discovered something that made life wonderful. MEASUREMENTS! Yes I said it, measurements. By using the measurements on the table saw and planing the wood down so that it was even all around I was able to accentuate the beauty of the cuts. I played around a lot with this, and during this play time I came up with an idea of what I wanted to do.
I decided to create an organizer that I could use at my desk as a place for my water bottle, pencils and erasers, ruler and scale, and of course, my cell phone. The pieces above were pieces of my first attempt at this organizer. While I was creating it I learned more about the wood, and support, and midway I realized that I needed to simplify my cuts in order to have a better supported system.
In order to achieve this simplification I adjusted a few measurements to ass extra support room to the sides, and removed one of the slots that were set to have a the possibility of moving the wall that would allow everything to be contained. By doing this, everything became much more supported. It also resulted in much less complications. The end result is an organizer that can be placed in more than one way and holds itself together very nicely.
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