Not So Famous…

This whole woodworking project has been quite a process, let me tell you. Here’s how it all began.

Almost 2 years ago, I was at a Celtic Festival in Angels Camp. I found this wonderful little font which allowed one to design wonderful Celtic Knotwork. Now, I’ve been looking for something like this for years, and since I had a wedding coming up, I convinced my then-fiancée that we could design the wedding invitations etc with this wonderful font, though I had more elaborate designs in mind. We purchased the font, and I began messing with it. It really is a wonderful tool. On the website for this nifty thing, I saw an arts and crafts section, and lo and behold, there were TONS of applications for the font! The application that really caught my eye was pyrography! (Decorative Wood-burning.) I thought and thought about different ways to utilize wood burning that wasn’t just a slab of wood with nice knotwork on it.

Then, I saw a project on the knotwork website that was a CD-Rack with knotwork burned into the sides. Suddenly, I had it! A useful way to use pyrography. I would build a CD cabinet. I went to the site of the CD Rack. It was really nice. But then I realized that I needed more than a CD cabinet. I needed one that stored CD’s and DVD’s. So I bought the CD-Rack plans with the intention to modify them a great deal to have CD shelves, DVD shelves, and doors on the front. Not a problem. I planned and calculated measurements, etc for about a week. Then, I was done with the planning phase. Kim and I went to Home Depot to buy the wood necessary to complete the project.

Now, this project called for ¾” boards to be used for everything but the backing, which was ¼” plywood. No problem. However, I know absolutely nothing about woodworking. I go to Home Depot, and all they carry is 1” pine! No ¾” boards in sight. What am I supposed to do now? I go looking for someone, but since Home Depot’s service in Modesto totally sucks, I can’t find anyone, and the line at the service desk indicated that I would be standing there for 2 hours to get helped, so Kim and I left.

I go to my brother’s house and he sympathizes with me. He says that Lowe’s carries pretty much the same stuff and that if I wanted to try there, I would probably find exactly what I wanted. But I was tired, and had one more stop to make before I went home, so I thanked him and left, saying that I would visit the lumber store on the way home. On the way to the lumber store, I stopped by my mom’s house, and my mother and stepfather start showing me the difference between 1” and ¾”, but I tell them that my plans call for ¾”, which means that I’ll have to re-do my entire plans if I buy a different thickness of wood, but thank you. The lumber store was closed, and closes weekdays at 5pm, which is the time I get off work. Now I’m really annoyed. It wasn’t entirely a wasted day, however; I planted my vegetable garden.

So now, it’s Monday, and I come into work, and vent my problems with wood-gathering to my co-worker, woodworking expert, Art. He then replies. “Well, Chris, you know that when they say 1”, they really mean ¾” don’t you?”

Excuse me? He assures me that the wood at Home Depot would have been perfect for what I needed. Let me get this straight: When I go into Home Depot, and pick up a board that is labeled 1”x6”x8’, it’s really ¾”x6”x8’??? “Yup”, he says. Apparently the board is cut, and then is dried, treated, and planed, all of which drop the thickness by about ¼”!!!! Well, what kind of crappy measurement is THAT??? I call my mom and ask if she knew that, and she said she was trying to explain that to me when I was over there. She apparently didn’t do a good enough job, because I never even stopped to think, “You know, I know that it’s labeled at 1”, but I bet they’re lying to me.” I mean, why would I?? I call my brother, to ask if he knew that, and he says, “I never even stopped to think that you wouldn’t know that…” I know he didn’t. It’s an industry standard, and anyone who knows anything about woodworking should know this, but someone who has never done anything with wood would have no idea about this little measuring convention.

So here it is, Tuesday afternoon, and I’m getting ready to go to Home Depot and buy some 1” / ¾” wood…and this time, I’m taking a tape measure!