I spent the better part of my shop time last week and this past weekend trying to get the shop cleaned up and organized.  It is amazing how far out of hand something can get before you really stop and say enough.  So I took the time to get things under control and take care of some basic housekeeping type projects before committing to my next full-fledged project.

I organized the wood pile.  (I’m too ashamed to show you a “before” photo)

I used some scraps and built a free-standing rack for my turning tools.

I also flattened and leveled my workbench.

Now that I have the shop in decent shape I can turn my attention to building the sewing table that management has been nagging patiently waiting for.  It took me a while to understand exactly what she was wanting.  She doesn’t so much want a classic sewing table.  What she really wants is a work table.  A table big enough to accommodate her large cutting mat (26″sq) and still have room to set up the sewing machine on one end.  So the top needs to be roughly 30″x48″.  It also needs to be portable so that it can be moved from the spare bedroom to wherever I’m told to move it to.  Usually with little or no prior notice. 😉

I looked at a lot of options, folding tables and drop leaf tables, but in the end I came back around to a staked style table much like the dinning tables that I recently built.

Basically a scaled down version with a few minor tweaks.  The most glaring is the addition of a long stretcher running from the single leg to the short stretcher between the pair of legs at the other end of the trestle.  This stretcher is not needed for structural support, but will serve as a place to hang storage pockets.  At least that is the plan.  I’m also going to give the “bamboo” themed turning style a try on this table.

Anyway, the only progress on this build, other than the design drawing, is that this evening after work I made some pattern sticks for the legs and stretchers.

I hope to get all of the stock milled up over the next few evenings and start turning the legs before the weekend.

Greg Merritt Part 2