Building shelter for my WSM


 
Consider the bowed-ness and any other "things that bug you" contribute to the uniqueness of the piece and that you added them as a personal touch. You did better (based on pics) than I think 90% of the people on this forum could do.

Congrats!
 
Hello again.
I have been very busy and even managed to get a little more done om my WSM cart.
On an unrelated thingy, on Tuesday our dog had to have ACL surgery on it's back leg. Darn dog. Oh well its only money, right ??
I also had the opportunity to sharpen my wood fence building/repairing skills over at my sister-in-law's haouse. Darn sister-in-law. Oh well its only two days working out in the sun, right ??
I am not really grousing (at least not about fixing the fence)...darn dog.

Ok on to the good stuff.

I cooked this Sunday and Monday.

WSM low & slow 19 hours by chashint1, on Flickr

WSM low & slow 19 hours #2 by chashint1, on Flickr

Here are some pictures of the base with the dados cut for the side panel planks.

Base dados 3 by chashint1, on Flickr

Base dados 2 by chashint1, on Flickr

Here is my jig for making repeat cuts, its good enough for this project.

Poor man's cutoff gauge by chashint1, on Flickr

These pictures show the 2x4 with dados that will become a corner post.
All of the dados are .5" x .5", I am ripping 1" off the edge and will glue it with the dados at right angle to form a 'L" shaped post.
I am doing this so the profile of the post will be very similar from front or side view.

Corner post rip 1 by chashint1, on Flickr

Corner post rip 2 by chashint1, on Flickr

Corner post stack up by chashint1, on Flickr

The next picture here iturned out to be a happy mistake.
In my exerbuence over figuring out how to make my corner posts I made 4 of them.
Seems reasonable enough right ??
Well...not so fast, two of them are face frame posts and do not need two dados at a right angle. I really don't want to buy more material so I sat around and scratched my errr head and figured out this solution.
My router was still set up for the post dado cuts so I cut another dado, ripped 1" strips off one of the side panel boards and glued that bad boy together.
Not that it needs a stronger joint than a sinple glue up would provide but this joint is about as good as it gets.

Front post stack up by chashint1, on Flickr

This picture shows how the side panel boards fit into the corner post.

Mock up 4 by chashint1, on Flickr
 
I wanted to get a feel for the actual size of the cabinet so I cobbled this together.
The cabinet is going to end up being pretty deep compared to how wide it is.
It is also going to be fairly short since the top of the work surface is going to be below the temp probe groment.
My initial design was to just have it an open space with a door.
Now I am thinking one or two fairly cooking tool drawers and one drawer deep enough for a chimney to comfortably sit in.
Drawers would be a big addition to the project in time and would cost some money for good full extension drawer slides. The plus side is the cart could be used with the cabinet open while the drawers are being built.
Since I apparently had enough money for the dog's ACL surgery...darn dog...I guess I should have enough money to buy drawer slides.

Mock up 2 by chashint1, on Flickr

Mock up 1 by chashint1, on Flickr

This picture is the inside corner of the cabinet with the side panel boards seated in all the dados.

Mock up 3 by chashint1, on Flickr

Another big job I still have to do is the work surface panel glue up.
I am going to try and figure out a way to get this panel a lot flatter than the base panel turned out.
For the base panel glue up I used biscuits, I was initially very impressed with the biscuit jointer and using the biscuits, but I guess I expected the biscuits to do more to help align the boards than they did. Probably just user expectation vs design parameters of the biscuit joint.
I really liked the way the 1"x.5" strip worked when I did the front post glue up. Even though that was fixing a mistake it went together really well.
Right now I am leaning towards doing that to reinforce the edge joints for the work surface panel glue up.

I inadvertently managed to dodge a big got ya. I had initially planned to glue the side panel boards together to form a solid panel. Well the fence repair project happened and all my milled wood sat around for two days. A lot of the side panel boards were badly cupped, if they had been edge glued together I would not be able to fit the panel into the dado, the individual boards can be flexed and they will fit. The new plan for the side panels is to install the boards with ~ 1" gap between them and cover the gap with a (an) overlay board. I did a mock up of this and I liked the way it looked.
 
Hi again.
I have been working on the project on the weekends but progress has been kinda slow.
When I built the bottom base panel I used biscuits to enhance the edge joint glue up.
The Ryobi biscuit joiner I bought works fine I have no complaints about it at all, but after doing the biscuit joint technique it seems more like a novelity than a real enhancement to the joint.
I like the technique where I cut a dado in each piece and use a spline that runs the whole length better.
The downside to the spline/dado method is that it is very time consuming compared to using the biscuit mrthod or just using a straight up edge joint.

The vertical planks on the base cabinet are cut 1" longer than the corner posts.
1/2" fits into the base panel dado and 1/2" fits into the bottom side of the top work surface.
After the top panel was glued I cut a 1/2" x 1/2" dado to match the three sides of the base cabinet.
I glued the the work surface to the the base.
This is another picture of the base showing the dado, sorry there is no picture of the dado in to bottom of the work surface.

Base dados 2 by chashint1, on Flickr

These photos shows the cabinet and work surface detail.

image 5 by chashint1, on Flickr

image 6 by chashint1, on Flickr

image 3 by chashint1, on Flickr

image 1 by chashint1, on Flickr
 
In this photo I am doing a fit check of the door.
The door is built using the same construction technique as the cabinet.
The frame perimeter is constructed with hidden mortise and tenon joints and the frame perimeter has a 1/2" x 1/2" dado cut into it to capture the vertical planks.

image 4 by chashint1, on Flickr

Since this project is just for me and I am using it to learn how to do new (to me) techniques and tricks I have been trying to make my own wooden hinges for the door.
Through the miracle of YouTube there are several very good videos of how to do this.
Just like watching the old New Yankee Workshop it looks like anyone should be able to whip out a couple of fine custom wooden hinges in 10 minutes or so.
I have really struggled getting this done.
It has been over 5 years since I have done a woodworking project and I have had to do maintenance on every power tool I have tried to use.
The latest hiccup is when I tried to use the bandsaw it spit the blade, turns out the tires on the wheels have decayed.
I should have ordered a pair last weekend but I thought I could cut out the parts I need using a jig saw and the table saw.
I really should have ordered new bandsaw tires a week ago.

These pictures are examples of what I am trying to do.

wooden_hinge 3 by chashint1, on Flickr

wooden_hinge 4 by chashint1, on Flickr




This does not look like it should be so hard for me to do but after many failed attempts this is where I am at right now.



image 1 by chashint1, on Flickr

image 2 by chashint1, on Flickr

I have two of these that match.
They still need the dowel for the hinge post to be installed and they need to be shaped.
I plan to install this on the face frame of the cabinet using a mortise and tenon joint.
This is made out of white oak that I reclaimed from a discarded end table leg.

image 3 by chashint1, on Flickr


As always thanks for looking.
 
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Looking good so far but:

Have you tried putting the whole put-together WSM in the temporarily put together box yet? I know you put the base in on page 4 post #40 but not the whole thing. I find that when I put together something in a dry run, I find that oh, that's not quite right and need to change something.

Just a thought before the final install.
 
The cabinet is for storing the chimney, ash pail, and other small accessories.
The WSM will sit on the platform to the left of the cabinet.
 
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While the hinge I wanted to use appeared to be the most simple one I could find as a reference, I never could make it all fit correctly.
There was too much offset between the hinge post and the door frame which is recessed ~1/4" from the cabinet frame post.
When I was evaluating the different hinge designs I didn't think this one would work, but out of a little desperation I tried it and it is going to work great.
There is still a little bit of shaping to do but this is what I am going to be using.
Now I just have to build another one.

I built a hinge by chashint1, on Flickr
 
Hi again,
I took this this picture Friday afternoon...this will be (was) Saturday lunch.

Saturday lunch by chashint1, on Flickr

The end of the WSN cart build is in sight.
Today I built the second hinge, installed the door, and applied the first coat of stain.

This is what I need to duplicate.

Hinge 1a by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 1b by chashint1, on Flickr

My piece of white oak is left over from the first hinge so it is square and the correct width.

Hinge 2 layout a by chashint1, on Flickr

- - - Updated - - -

hese pictures show the markups for the cuts.
I will use the table saw to make the cuts for this hinge, and hopefully I can get the fit a little better than the first one.
I am marking a backer board, this is what I will see when I push it through the blade.

Hinge 2 layout b by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 layout c by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 cut a by chashint1, on Flickr
 
The oak piece will be clamped to this board.
I will run it through the table saw multiple times, moving it over a blade width each time to cut away the slot.

Hinge 2 cut c by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 cut b by chashint1, on Flickr

This is what I ended up with.
The cutouts are very square and the pieces fit together real nice.
The hole is drilled through both pieces at the same time.

Hinge 2 cut d by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 cut f by chashint1, on Flickr

- - - Updated - - -

Cutting the profile on the bandsaw.

Hinge 2 cut g by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 cut h by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 cut j by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 cut k by chashint1, on Flickr

- - - Updated - - -

Oh yeah, remember lunch ??
Got this at Costco just to try a prime brisket, I like the Walmart sale price of $1.99/lb on the selet and choice grade briskets but this one was a real winner in every sense of the word.

Lunch is served by chashint1, on Flickr
 
After some shaping and sanding this is what the hinges are looking like.

Hinge 2 a by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge 2 b by chashint1, on Flickr

I had some stain so I dipped them a couple of times and I think they turned out pretty nice.

Hinge final a by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge final b by chashint1, on Flickr

Hinge final c by chashint1, on Flickr

- - - Updated - - -

So this is what I have now with one coat of stain on the whole thing.

Stained 1st coat by chashint1, on Flickr

Stained 1st coat by chashint1, on Flickr

I should be able to get the wheels mounted and another coat of stain on it tomorrow and it will be done unless I think of something else it needs.

As always thanks for taking the time to look at this.
 
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