# Shoe cubby.



## woodtickgreg (Mar 1, 2020)

Building a shoe cubby for the back door landing. Entire project will be made from salvaged , scrap, or found wood. There wont be any fancy joinery, just but jointed, glued, and Brad nailed. Quick and efficient. Will be plenty strong to store shoes on, lol.
The salvaged maple plywood scraps.....


 
More scraps.......


 
Ripping to 12" wide.....


 
I used my shop made crosscut sled to cut to length. Clamped a stop block on for consistancy.





 
It's a good idea to clip the corner on the stop block to prevent sawdust from building up and preventing the workpiece from stopping against the block.


 A stock of 3/4" maple plywood 12" squares.


 
Starting to make the boxes........



More to come later.......

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## woodtickgreg (Mar 1, 2020)

I got it all assembled, I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the top cube yet. It does kinda look Japanese tansu ish. Top cube would make it 5' tall, and it's going to sit on a ledge that's already about a foot tall, so it might not get used.


 This is why I need a shoe cubby, to get things off the basement stairs, safety issue.


 This is the ledge it will sit on.


 
Next thing I'll do is mill up some thin strips to cover the plywood edges.

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## ripjack13 (Mar 2, 2020)




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## woodtickgreg (Mar 2, 2020)

I got a little shop time in today after work. Took some measurements and decided not to use the extra top box, it would just be to tall.
I picked out some wood to cover the edges of the plywood. Nice curly stuff.


 Warped, twisted, and bowed. Doesn't matter as most of it will get cut into 12" lengths.


 
I ran em through the planer.


 
You can't see it in the pics, but there is some really nice curly figure in these. Not bad for free wood.



Right now I'm at 3/4" and I need to take em down to 1/2" more planning later. Good start for tonight.

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## ripjack13 (Mar 2, 2020)




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## Gdurfey (Mar 3, 2020)

darn, late to this thread. @woodtickgreg , I was going to suggest keep the top box and put a pretty picture in it of the family or something like that. Just something to remind everyone what is important...….or something like that.

Reactions: Like 1 | Creative 1


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 3, 2020)

@Gdurfey I probably am still committed to not using it. Where it's going in my side entrance landing it will just be way to tall, plus it will be easier to trim without it. I'm going for quick and simple on this one, not fine furniture, just a utilitarian place to put your shoes and gloves when you come into the house, lol. But thanks for the input, that's always appreciated.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## barry richardson (Mar 3, 2020)

Very cool Greg, I get a kick out of those kinds of projects too, low stress, lots of fun...

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 4, 2020)

Got most of the trim boards planted down to 1/2" I might have to do 1 more. I'll start cutting and nailing these on next time I get in the shop.
The boards look kinda plain now that they are surfaced. I might have to apply a light stain of some kind to get the grain to curly figure to pop again.


 

 
These will get brad nailed on next time I'm in the shop.

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## ripjack13 (Mar 4, 2020)




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## woodtickgreg (Mar 8, 2020)

I got the cubby trimmed out today, nothing fancy here, just covered the edges of the plywood.
Looks better now with the maple trim. It is curly even though it's hard to see in the pic. Glued and brad nailed on.


 
This side won't get trimmed as it will be against the wall.


 
This side will be exposed so it got trimmed out.



I chamfered the ends so you wouldn't get a scrape if you bumped into it.



To get the figure to pop a little I used a minwax oil based stain, natural color, so it didnt change the color to much. I only did the faces of the trim.


 
Before the stain.


 
And after the stain. It did just what I wanted it to.


 
So here it is all assembled, nail holes filled, sanded, and stained.


 
Some of the maple trim looks very nice, not bad for free!



Now I need to give this a few days to dry completely as I want to use a water based poly to seal it. You can top coat with water as long as the oil stain is completely dry. I'm pretty happy with how this project is coming along since it was all built with salvage and free wood.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 6


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## ripjack13 (Mar 8, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Mar 8, 2020)

Greg that looks soooooo good.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 8, 2020)

ripjack13 said:


> Greg that looks soooooo good.


Not bad for free wood and scrap eh.

Reactions: Agree 3 | +Karma 2


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## ripjack13 (Mar 8, 2020)

woodtickgreg said:


> Not bad for free wood and scrap eh.



Not bad, not at all. Great score. Great project. Great finish....well, almost.
I cant wait to see it all shiny!!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 9, 2020)

I'm thinking a satin finish, or semi gloss. I have to see what kind of finish I have on hand. I bought some close out water base poly from home depot awhile back fairly cheap, so I'll use whatever it is, lol.

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## T. Ben (Mar 9, 2020)

It’s looking pretty good,I like it.

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## woodtickgreg (Mar 9, 2020)

So I made my selection and got all my supplies and tools ready for applying the finish. It will be a water base semi gloss. I have used water based poly before but not this brand, at the price I got it for I had to give it a try.



This tag says its amber but I dont think it is, I'll find out when I open it. Even if it is amber I'll probably use it anyway.

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## barry richardson (Mar 9, 2020)

Wow, great price for a gallon, I woulda bought it too, ....

Reactions: Agree 4


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 10, 2020)

For those that have not used water based poly this is what it looks like. Like milk or watery white glue. Brush it on, dont use a roller or you'll get bubbles, when it's clear its dry. 


 First coat is on but you probably cant tell. First coat soaks right in. It'll probably get 2 more coats.

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## woodtickgreg (Mar 11, 2020)

2nd coat done tonight. I cant believe how fast this stuff dries. I'm brushing it on 1 cubby at a time, by the time I get the last one done the first one is dry. By the time I get the brush and plastic bucket cleaned out the whole thing is dry. If this was furniture I would be sanding between coats, especially after the first coat. Being that it's a water based product it really raised the grain after the first coat. I think this stuff would be really nice sprayed with a lphv sprayer. I have used other brands of waterbased poly before, so far I like the stuff for floors the best. Seems more durable and builds quicker. But for what I paid for this stuff I have no complaints. Dries super fast, you could get multiple coats on in a day, no odor, not flammable so applying indoors is not a worry, hot water for cleanup, and it's absolutely crystal clear and doesn't change the color of the wood or muddy it. And a little bit goes a long way, so it's actually economical. And you can use synthetic bristle brushes with it which are cheaper. One thing you do have to be carefull with is vertical surfaces because the product is thin it will run if you put it on to heavy. Bottom line is it is way easier than oil based products once you get past the simple learning curve. Good for indoor stuff but not for outdoors. My workbench is finished with waterbased poly and it has held up very good to all the abuse I put it through and still does not need a refinish, I would use it again when I build a new bench.

Reactions: Like 2 | Informative 1


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## rob3232 (Mar 11, 2020)

Looks great Greg! I like oil based on darker wood but water base on light colored wood to not yellow wood too much? Cool thread!

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## Tony (Mar 12, 2020)

I've used stains and an oil based poly from Varathane, I really like their products. Need to look for the water based stuff.


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## FranklinWorkshops (Mar 12, 2020)

Looks great Greg. I've used that Varathane product several times and it does the job as well as any other water-based product. The only thing I do differently than you is that I apply a coat or two of super blond dewaxed shellac as the base coat for the Varathane. I've never tried an oil product base coat but it seemed to work well for you. An old timer taught me that shellac will stick to anything and anything will stick to shellac. That's why it's been around for like 3000 years.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1 | Useful 1


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 12, 2020)

@FranklinWorkshops I agree that a sanding seal coat of shellac probably would have been a good idea, it wouldn't have raised the grain as much. The only reason I used the oil stain is because I had it on hand, it was a neutral color and very transparent, and all I was trying to do was get the figure in the maple trim to pop a little and not look so plain. It worked out good.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## William Tanner (Mar 12, 2020)

Michael Hosaluk was scheduled to conduct an all-day woodturning demo at our club this Saturday. There was to be hands-on training sessions Sunday and Monday. Michael called today and we both decided it best to cancel his visit due to COVID-19. After months of planning and preparation this was a tough decision but probably the correct decision. We plan to reschedule when appropriate. We want to protect our members and Michael. Shuckins.

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## woodtickgreg (Mar 12, 2020)

I picked up a couple of these cheap clamp on lights from home depot today. I dont know what happened to the ones I had, maybe there in the garage somewhere. Anyway this gives me good raking light so I can see what's wet and what's not when brushing on the finish, kinda hard to tell with this stuff.


 I'm calling this done, 3rd and final coat of finish.


 I'll get a pic of it when I get it set in place.

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## woodtickgreg (Mar 14, 2020)

When I moved in the house 6 years ago I installed a new side door, never finished trimming it out on the inside because each piece had to be trimmed to make it fit. Not a big deal, just never did it. Well it came to the top of the to do list today. I figured I better do it before I set the cubby in place or I'd never do it.


 I love these old Stanley scrapers! Made quick work of scraping the painted surfaces flat.


 Trim is up so I cut a new board for the ledge. When I removed the old one I found the remains of a hinged lid, and a complete newspaper from 1991.


 Layed a couple pieces of peel and stick floor tile on top of it. You'll never see it again anyway but it was quick and easy.


 And the cubby is in place. Betty will probably put a fake plant on top, lol.


 It does what it was supposed to do. Gives a place for my shoes when I come in the door, and a place for gloves too.

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## Eric Rorabaugh (Mar 14, 2020)

Well, if anybody wants to know what to get @woodtickgreg for a gift, it's gloves. I don't think he has enough. He needs more.

Reactions: Funny 4


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 15, 2020)

Eric Rorabaugh said:


> Well, if anybody wants to know what to get @woodtickgreg for a gift, it's gloves. I don't think he has enough. He needs more.


Every job I've worked gloves where free, lol. I have a collection of work gloves for just about any task. Leather, rubber, cloth, whatever!

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## Nature Man (Mar 15, 2020)

Congrats on a completed project! Always a great feeling! Looks terrific! Chuck

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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