a somewhat productive day ...

I haven't been out in the garage playing with wood for a while. Yesterday that changed.

I needed to build a "subfloor" for the kegerator that would help keep the CO2 tank and kegs where they need to be. I took some measurements and the plywood piece fit in the fridge perfectly -- just a bit snug, but that's good.  Getting the holes aligned was a bit tricky and I wound up cutting up some more of the rack that I had been using to help keep the CO2 tank upright to make it work.

However, with this configuration, I can fit 3 kegs in there as well as the tank, if I ever get to that point. As of right now I have parts in transit to do a 2 keg setup. I still need the second keg, but once I get it, the system will be all plumbed and ready for it.

Upon finishing the "subfloor" I went to close the refrigerator door, only to find that now the keg is too close to the front and the plastic shelving piece on the door is not allowing me to close it. I was hoping to leave that in there, but it has to come out.

I set about removing the doorseal and then unscrewed the metal trim pieces holding the plastic shelving mold on the door. I had a piece of whiteboard leftover from when I made my fermentation/lagering fridge. It was big enough to work, so I just cut it to size and screwed it back in. Here's what I got so far ...

My parts to finish it should be in tomorrow evening so I can go ahead and finish it up then I hope. The keg is filled with a smoked porter. I have never had a smoked beer so anxious to see how it turned out. It has been on the  CO2 for about a week so it should be just about ready to tap.

I have to remember to unscrew the light bulb (when I use it) as the panel I put in doesn't have an extension to activate the doorswitch. Or I could setup some kind of slide that will put the switch in the off position. Not sure if it's worth d*cking with since I will hardly ever be using the light anyway.

So once that was all buttoned up, I found a piece of scrap wood in the garage and sanded it down smoothly. I have the notion of making a shelf to hold beer bottles of some of my more favored brews to add to the whole "bar" environment.

Added some stain and secured the shelf mounts we bought a long time ago for another purpose. Here is the shelf ...

This will expand as time goes on, so will need another 1X8, but it was a perfect fit for the bottles I had on hand.

Feeling pretty good about the progress I had made, I kept rolling. I had a piece of rosewood mounted in the lathe that I had started on (basically shaped it) and never finished. I decided to tackle that to close out the evening.

I was planning on making it into a lidded box. I had the top of the box, with handle, turned as well as the body of the box. All that needed to be done was to split it at the point where the lid would meet the box, clean up the inside of the top, and hollow out the center of the box.

The splitting went fairly easily. I am always nervous when parting a piece, as I have ruined a few in the past. But history is a good teacher. I have learned to slow down my lathe speed while parting, then finish off the part with a backsaw. This worked rather effectively.

All I had to do now was hollow out the box. No biggie, done this many times before!

I had taken a different approach when chucking this piece. Usually I cut a tenon and use that to hold the piece in the chuck. This time I tried to mount it to the chuck using a recess. It would've worked fine, except I didn't take into consideration the less material in the bottom well of the box.

I got it hollowed out and was trying to clean up the tool marks on the bottom when the last cut, was just that. I wasn't trying to take any more off, just smooth it out some. Then the piece flew off. GAH! so close!

So now I have a hollowed out "box" with a hole in the center. What to do?

I know Melissa is more of a right-brained creative person than I am, so I took it inside and asked her her thoughts. It was too pretty to just throw out.

She didn't let me down either. She suggested I could make it into a small picture frame. Coolness!

I spent the next hour or so, just chililng out drinking a couple beers and listening to some tunes in the garage. Next project besides getting the Bandit going, is to build a bar. Plans have been drawn out, just need the materials.