"Keep it like a secret...."

Lest one think I'm not doing much these days, but 'aye!,' a bookshelf be in the making! Each section was built separately, and then fastened together on-site here at the London Underground in Ames. Like the built-in booth, all of this is comprised of 3/4" birch ply and trimmed in 1x choice pine.

The top picture shows a green arrow pointing to the "secret." This "secret" door will be used to conceal cleaning goods and probably a few empty beer cans until we put a padlock on it. I'm still trying to think of a clever way to hide a latch and/or pin that isn't too conspicuous.

The hinged door comes from my love of old TV shows and films that utilized this "structural chicanery." For instance, "Clue" had a bunch of them including the walk-in cooler to the parlor. Or, that one episode of "Webster" when Web, George and Ma'am moved into that big house from the high-rise apartment. I think the grandfather clock led to a secret passage that led to the basement dwelling where the older couple that owned the house lived...they were Russian if I remember correctly.

Okay, behind this door is a dead end...but it would've been cool if it was a secret exit to the back alley. Maybe next time.

Cheers...

"Tennessee" stump table

The Ringgenbergs of Madrid, Iowa gave me a stump last November and told me to make a table out of it. Actually, Shona told me it was for Denny and that she wanted a "T" on it for Tennessee, where they (and the tree) resided for a few years. "No hurry" I believe was uttered then. So, after a long, cold winter, I finally finished it this past weekend. The top and bottom were leveled, sides sanded and the entire thing hit with a coat of semi-gloss polyurethane.

What the hell is a "Vol" anyways?

Chalkboard

Here's a little project I did for my folks last weekend. I had some leftover 14 ga. hot roll laying around, so I finally got around to cutting out a magnetic chalkboard for them. The day before, I measured for all of the cut-outs; telephone jack, light switches and granite counter top. With the measurements, I made a template out of contractor's paper to check the fit on the wall before tearing into the steel. Unlike wood, there wouldn't be a chance to "file" and "shave" the steel if the holes were a little bit off. In other words, each measurement had to be "dead nuts" on. After transferring the lines to the steel, I cut it up as it looks above.

I failed to grab any pics of the chalkboard paint applied to the steel. Seriously, it would have been like watching paint dry. And to be honest, I can't really say I'm a big fan of said paint. Don't get me wrong, it's passable. The fine folks at Valspar failed to give any hints or directions with regards to application of said product other than prepping the surface like any other paint. I applied with a roller, but ended up getting a raised texture. I called the 1-800 number on the can to grab some of the aforementioned "left-out-tips." Ends up, a finer textured roller would have been better (or foam) and a HVLP spray the best option. The gentleman at Valspar also informed me that one shouldn't repeatedly work the paint as it has elastic qualities and continued coverage would only make it worse.

I'll get a shot of the installation as soon as the sun cooperates. The chalkboard is right next to the front door and the glare is horrendous.

Hero

Joe

London Underground - booth completion

"Yes...good day."

Here's the completion of the London Underground built-in booth. A few tables, some new flooring and a small bookshelf is still to come. But, most importantly, the back room is once again functional and looking for some patrons tomorrow. If you're so inclined, stop by tomorrow for a pint or two and give the booth a spin.

London Underground
212 Main St.
Ames, Iowa

ISU - Institute for Physical Research and Technology

Here's an article on the Rosenberg residence job that was completed last fall. Many thanks to Iowa State University's Institute for Physical Research and Technology.

"Yes...good day" - London Underground

This past week has all been job site work, as you can see. For this job, I was playing the part of Stewie Griffin. Playing the part of Brian Griffin was my buddy and former Sticks co-worker, Terry Reeves. It cannot be overstated how important Terry was to this job. I can't wait to work another installation with ya...




Here we are at the London Underground pub in Ames, Iowa. Our job was to remodel a space that was formerly a kitchen area in one of the former incarnations of the building. This entailed stripping the walls of their greasy stainless steel sheets, facing the walls in wood and fabricating a built-in booth.




Walls are bare, and here's our canvas. The one thing that was a challenge on this job is that absolutely nothing was square, plumb or level in the area. But, that's to be expected with old buildings and renovation work.




The exhaust hood has been sheeted and the booth has been framed.




Car siding has been installed; this really warmed up the area.




Here's the "inside" of the exhaust hood after it had been sheeted with 1/4" birch ply. All of these seams require custom-made trim pieces I'll have to do in the shop this coming week. Yep, none of those angles are the same...not even close.




"Yes, good day," says Terry. He's framing up the corner of the L-shaped booth. The backrests of the booth are reclined approximately 5 degrees. This angle is carried through the curved transition. Getting this to work took some trial and error and a whole lot of patience. Unfortunately, the bartenders will be cleaning up dust from our kerfing session for many months to come. I'm thrilled with how this portion of the job came out. It's a nice detail you really don't see too often. Good job, T-bone!

Terry could also be smiling due to the fact that we ate at Great Plains Sauce & Dough everyday this week for lunch.






The other really nice detail of this job is the scribing of the booth cap to the car siding Terry did. Talk about meticulous...

Next week, everything will get stained and receive a coat of polyurethane. Tables and a "hinged" bookshelf remain to be fabricated. Right now, the focus is to get the space back to a functional state.

Many, many thanks go to Jess Clyde and Brian Dingeman at the London Underground. We totally appreciate your trust and vision on this project.

The Factor II Fabrication website

After a bit of delay (my self-imposed waiting period), I'm thrilled to announce the "debut" of the Factor II Fabrication website. If you've been visiting this blog for a while, great, keep visiting! It's more than likely this blog will end up being updated far more than the site...'cause it's a blog...duh.

Please direct any interested parties to the new site for estimates or general inqueries. AND, after a piece or job is commissioned, they can jump over to the blog and follow its progress just like we normally do. Besides, the URL is a whole lot easier to jot down compared to this blog URL.

An infinite amount of thanks go to my college chum, Randy Webb for the implementation and "nerd-work" of said site. I'm not very good at the alt.nerd.geek.com stuff, Randy, so I envy that you can do "nerd-work"...it's a compliment, dude. Randy's witty nature, and surname, came up with the clever name Webb Development...hopefully he has some time to get his own site up and running.

Inaugural BlueCat Motors Illegal Pinewood Derby Race = FUN!!!!

It cannot be overstated how awesome this event was. Okay, I guess it can. But for a bunch of gearheads left to freeze in our shops during a long, cold winter, this was a great way to spend WAY too much time on a car shaped in pine. Again, big thanks go to Blue Cat Motors in St. Paul for the facilities...AND...the Minnesota chapter of The Lucky Bastards C.C. for the coolers of beer! Couldn't have made the cars go without fuel! Pictured above is Blue Cat co-owner Ryan Scott weighing in cars.




Here's a post-race shot of my cars. Yes, I was fortunate enough to take home two trophies. First place in the Vintage class and second in the Stock class. "Shotgun" Shelley Barnes, Jordan Dickinson and Jesse Dickinson are pictured in this photo.




Race action in progress...I don't remember the tracks being aluminum when I was younger. The right-hand lanes were definitely faster.




...And here's your author. Give a grown man an overwhelming sense of pride and a few beers and he WILL start acting like he's 10-years-old again.

Thanks to everyone who took these photos. Send me your name if you want credited for snapping them...

Delivering tomorrow...

I'm quite happy with how these turned out...my wife has already polled me of the possibility of a set winding up in our living room.

Check out the last few entries from the last couple of weeks for the low-down on this build. Big thanks to Daniel Hyland on these...

End tables

Here's one of two matching end tables to go with the Daniel Hyland ensemble. Please see a couple of entries below for the extra large centerpiece console table.

Solitude...

I don't show my face a lot on this blog. There's no need. I don't want what I do to revolve around my "image." But my wife came over to the shop with me last week to shoot a few shots of the shop and what I do. Being totally modest, she even makes me look somewhat toleable...





I generally work alone...and love it. I work at my own pace. I work when I want to. I listen to the music I want to listen to, as loud or as quiet as I want to. I don't blame anybody for the mistakes I make, but thank everyone that lends me a hand when a job is complete and turns out better than planned. I start and end my day as I like - as short or as long as I want. I give myself no limitations as to what I can achieve, but never scorn myself about shortcomings or misgivings - they're simply lessons to be learned. The paycheck isn't always the greatest, but there's no monetary value that can be placed on this kind of freedom...True. Solitary. Freedom...



Looking at these pictures makes me realize a happiness that would in most circumstances be unattainable in any other environment. Many thanks go to my wife for her unending support, encouragement and love. And many thanks to my dear friend Bob Wagaman whose level of generosity is seldom seen by most individuals these days. Funny how solitude can bring one closer to the ones he or she loves.

"Freedom is..."

This table is not short on character

I fabricated the frame on this lengthy coffee/sofa table this afternoon. The cupping in the wood will go away when mounting to the frame with some lags. Here's the mock-up of how it look after a forced-rust finish....

...time for football.

Sandblasted wood

I picked up a few pieces of wood from powder coating today that were sand blasted last night. Surprisingly, there is no trace of any of the blasting media imbedded in any of the cracks or crevices. Thanks, Pauly, for turning these around in quick fashion! This particular board is going to end up as a lengthy coffee table...almost 10'.

BlueCat Illegal Pinewood Derby Race - '49 Merc...

Here's my modified entry...'49 Mercury. The car is being sculpted out of a purchased, standard pine block that was built up with additional wood. Car is approximately 1/25 scale.

Heroic Ink - open house

Now that all the crappy weather has hit us and passed, come out Thursday night 6-9 to Heroic Ink. If you aren't acquainted with them, meet Mump and Hugo and see some of their work in "live and in-person" walking portfolios. Afterwards, it's over to the London Underground for libations.

Table in the pic above was delivered today. Good luck guys.

Gift

"Heritage" lumber...

Here's the beginning of what will be three tables that are a collaboration with interior designer, Daniel Hyland. Daniel and I took a trip down to Winterset this past Saturday to visit my friends Scott and Beth Henderson. They deal in reclaimed barnwood...LOTS of it. This was the first piece we looked at and it may as well have been the only one. We were told this came from a barn near Pella. It was a floorboard in a cattle barn. Everything about this piece of oak screams character: the patina, texture and knots. Dimensions? Yeah, 2" x 18"(!) x 15'.

When's the last time you saw an 8/4 oak board this wide and long?...

...Didn't think so.

Thank you Scott and Beth. We'll be back soon.

Lil' Hutch's oil tank

After "hard-tailing" Lil' Hutch's Sporty frame, he thought it'd be a good idea to send his aluminum oil tank down to me via UPS. With a well thought-out letter of instruction, some taped lines and notes written on the vessel, I set out to fulfill his desire to achieve "chopper stardom." Zzzzzzzzzzz.....

...anyways

I started with the cut-out notch for chain clearance. Unfortunately, all I could get my hands on today was 3" x 3" x 1/4" 6061 alloy angle. The alloy was fine, but the thickness proved to be just a little too much girth for what I needed to do. I'll make it work, but I'm making things harder for myself than I need to.

In addtion to the chain alteration, a 2" pipe is going to be cut in half and welded in to create a tunnel for some frame clearance. Only then will I drill out two bungs, plug with aluminum slugs and relocate the oil bungs to the other side of the bag.

Wagaman Residence - stringer installation

This stair stringer and treads were installed before the holidays. I finally captured some photos of it today. Bob initially finished the walnut treads with linseed, but then resorted to polyurethane after the linseed oil's resilience to foot traffic was less than desirable. Bob claims the treads were cut from a piece he'd had on the wood rack for the better part of four decades that was given to him by his father, Fred. I believe him - upon further inspection you can see the buzzsaw marks from the mill. Pretty sweet. It was fun to collaborate on an installation piece with him that not only serves a much needed (read OVERDUE!) purpose, but also has a lot of history behind it.