Fresh off my success of building two CD shelving units, I set my sights on what else I could do. I have plenty of resources available to me in both time and money, so I have a desire to use both of them up. It’s a well-established habit of mine to try lots of different things and generally abandon them shortly afterwards. In most cases, the abandonment leaves behind some investments in the hobby.
Looking back, I have some photography equipment sitting idle. I could certainly pick that back up at any time again. I have a decent GPS unit from my geocaching times. I have a vinyl cutter and heat press from the derby days. I actually have a vinyl sticker designed for one of my cars that I want to cut, but haven’t taken that step yet. I have a sewing machine that’s been still in the box for months planned to help me hem my curtains and maybe for some other craft projects someday. I have plenty of power tools, which actually were used in building my shelves. Do I have all the tools yet? Of course not. So when I get a fresh idea, I have to buy the tools to execute that idea.
Before the shelving unit project, I did the most basic of woodworking projects: a rack for my sunglasses. And when I say basic, I mean it. Literally, cutting six pieces of wood, sanding the edges and screwing them together to look like:
As time has gone on, I have grown my sunglass collection and outgrown my storage. Now I need a bigger rack. Fresh off my success at building shelves, I figure I can build a nicer storage unit. I did some research and found a design that I like and I should be able to replicate.
To have someone make this for me is $132. It’s about $10 in wood, if even that. The construction is interesting, using joints of some kind (dado? box? rabbet? Hell if I know). I have plenty of tools, but the ones I have are way too robust for working with wood this thin. First, using a circular saw on 1/4" plywood would probably just shred it. A jig saw would probably work, but in both cases, I have to consider that I’m losing a bit of wood each time I do a cut. When your target size is only a couple of inches and you’re sawing away 1/8", that’s a fair bit of waste. Additionally, the holes for the joints are pretty precise. Too much for the jig saw. I researched using the Dremel for this, and it probably would work, but it’s not the ideal tool for the job.
The answer to these problems is another tool, the scroll saw. I am actually not a stranger to the scroll saw. It’s probably the first power tool I ever used, way back when I was probably about 10 years old. Maybe I used a power drill first, but the timeline is really close. I have no idea how the Craftsman scroll saw came to the house or if it was even meant for me. I can’t imagine my dad bought it for himself. Regardless, my parents had just had the kitchen flooring redone so there was a lot of scrap wood around that I was able to saw up into nothing of any interest, since I had no goals or plans. But I did learn how to use the saw, so I will be able to apply that old, old knowledge for this project. Humorously enough, at the time, I never knew what the saw was called, so when I eventually broke all the blades, I couldn’t get any replacements because I couldn’t explain the device to the hardware store people. All they offered me were jigsaw blades. And with no blades, that ended my time with the scroll saw.
Scroll saws don’t have to be expensive, but they can be. I bought the cheapest one I could find for $115 since I was not someone who would require a $500 tool to make a $10 sunglasses case. The other tools I would need are a drill and I think I’ll be using files to square off the holes and make the openings precise. I have both of these needs covered.
While I’m waiting for the saw to be delivered, I planned out my design. The design I’m copping needed the sizes boosted a little bit to accommodate the cases my glasses would be stored in. Even so, I can still get all the pieces out of one 24"x24" sheet of wood, with a second sheet for the back. Total size: 14" x 14.75".
So, to recap. This is a $132 handmade item. I’m spending $115 on a new tool and maybe $10 in wood. I’m going to spend less money, test and expand my crafting skills, plus acquire a tool that I can use at any point in the future (like my camera, GPS, vinyl cutter, or sewing machine). That’s what a hobby should be about – acquiring skill and junk.
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