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Those of you who have read through the “Finished Projects” section are aware that I took a break from my entertainment center design in order to bring a huge smile to a lovely daughter of mine.  That toy horse stable continues to be one of her favorite toys, and the Christmas decorations that formerly adorned the stable are now being replaced with a Spring theme as we gradually progress into warmer weather here in Maryland.

I will eventually get back to the entertainment center, but out of necessity for storage space I began building a utility shelf to hang on the wall in the shop.  This one is made out of #2 common pine purchased from our local Home Depot store.  Clearly this is a departure from the projects I’ve done to date, which have involved cherry wood, and most of that purchased rough-cut from a lumberyard.  This project also involved, in addition to wood glue, the use of wood screws to fasten the primary components together–something I’ve purposely avoided in the other projects.

I was amazed at how difficult it can be to find straight and flat boards at local home centers!  But a little time spent rooting through the stacks of lumber paid off, since I didn’t need to (or want to) spend a tremendous amount of time building this shelf.  Jointing and planing rough-cut lumber would have certainly added to the time and complexity of the project.

Sometimes it simply pays to go “simple.”

We recently discovered a significant drawback with having a wood shop in the basement of our house. No, it’s not the late night roar of the table saw or the high-pitched whine of the router reverberating through the house. It’s called water.

To our dismay, the sump pump plumbing failed on us and allowed the basement to flood with about 2 inches of water. Unfortunately, some of my wood – including a partially-built entertainment center – sat in that water for a short duration before we discovered the flooding. Hopefully, with some careful prep and finishing work, I’ll be able to recover from any permanent water marks on the entertainment center and won’t lose too much from the edges of boards that contacted the water.

We’re in a hiatus at the moment awaiting replacement of the padding under the carpet in the finished section of the basement, followed by a professional steam cleaning. Everything has dried, but the wood shop is filled with everything that was on shelves in the finished area, rendering the shop completely unusable for a period of time.

I’m just chomping at the bit, so to speak, to get back in there. May God grant me patience… 🙂

Finding sources of wood can be a little bit daunting at first if you don’t know where to look.  As a beginning woodworker I naively assumed the big home centers such as Lowes and Home Depot would have everything I need.  The moment I truly began to look, however, I quickly discovered that to be far from the truth.  I then began my hunt for good sources with reasonable prices nearby our residence in Southern Maryland.

I found three primary sources:

• Exotic Lumber, Inc., Annapolis, MD.  This place is absolutely amazing with the incredible selection of different types of wood they have available.  And the prices are very reasonable.  I’ve spent much of my time so far building with cherry wood.  Exotic Lumber’s prices on cherry, for the shorter segments I need (5 to 6 foot long “shorts” as they are called) have been running around $4.50 per board foot.  Some of their shorts are quite wide — as much as 10 or 11 inches at times.  Just be selective when choosing the wider boards to look for cupping.
• Hardwoods, Inc., Frederick, MD.  This is the first place I visited in my search for 3/4″ cherry plywood.  Thiis supplier has a smaller selection than Exotic Lumber, but has some nice furniture-grade plywood, some standard domestic hardwoods, and some exotic woods as well.  The staff is friendly and helpful, and will plane one or more sides of your boards upon request for a nominal fee.
• Herbine Hardwoods, Luckett, VA.  Rick Herbine runs a small sawmill operation in Northern Virginia.  He specializes in Appalacian hardwoods.  His prices are the best in the area, although the selection is more limited than the other two locations.  Most of Rick’s sales are to commercial establishments, Rick does a lot of direct sales to commercial establishments in the area but will sell direct to consumers.  Call him first to make an appointment.

Lowes, Home Depot, and Sears are a good place to drop by to pick up consumer-level power tools and basic hardware.  However, if you need higher quality equipment, specialty hardware, and good finishing supplies, look for a Woodcraft store near you.  The closest one to our residence is in Springfield, VA:

Concord Shopping Center

6123 Backlick Road

Springfield, VA  22150

703-912-6727

In the same plaza is an amazing hardware store: Fischer Hardware.  These guys literally have every type of hardware, paints, and finishes imaginable and a bunch of other things as well such as cooking utensils.  Their staff is also well-trained and will go the extra mile to help you find what you need.