three "Hey Man" jobs in quick succession

[Crazyraceguy]

As woodworkers, I assume we all get them, from time to time. You know, the little project that friends/family would like to get accomplished, but they really aren't equipped or capable of doing. They give you the "Hey man, can you help me out with....."
Thursday, I agreed to stay after work and help on of the guys in the assembly department, make some angled end panels for a guitar pedal rack. It started as just cutting some slots for some LED strips to shine through. (He had cut the parts earlier) Turns out that the parts were a mess, the taper was wrong and uneven/wavy. I re-cut the angle (with the TS) then routed the slots on the router table, teaching him how to do stopped cuts, on matching parts, with stops. This took about 1 hour.
One of the project managers saw us out in the shop and came to see what we were doing. This must have put the idea in his head, to do a project the next night? (but said nothing about it)

Friday at quitting time, he pops up with this Burbon barrel stave shelf unit. He wants to add a secondary shelf underneath, to display some corks and rock glasses, matching the curve. I dug out some White Oak scrap and got to it. You can see it in the background in one of the pics from the feature wall job.
That's where we left it last night. (2 hours)

This morning, I intended to finish my Sysport drawer foot pocket routing. I got set up, cut one, and another "hey man..." walked in. The General manager's son-in-law needs a "paint grade" MDF cabinet to go above a wall-mount microwave. It's just a simple 5 sided box, with some sealed edges....until the idea of a bottle rack comes along. I just did a quick through-Domino job on the main case sides and a few in the back too. He was really amazed to see how an MFK700 can flush-trim the 3/4" back and the protruding Dominos completely dust free. We sealed the edges with drywall spackle while deciding on the divider pattern. The cardboard tubes were just for a visualization

While this was happening, the other guy came in to stain and finish the lower shelf section.

I don't have a pic of the pedal brackets or a good one of the unfinished shelf.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I was disappointed when I read that the project manager, late on a Friday afternoon, came in with a Bourbon barrel... stave shelf unit and not an actual nice bottle for you in pre-payment for help!

Sometimes those projects can be fun, like the theater-eque and puzzle box projects for a friend's escape-room start-up. Other times, they can make you distance yourself from some people.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=3513]PaulMarcel[/member] he always has a few bottles around and shares well. Several of the office guys are quite into their Burbon. There is a small group of long-time employees that are close enough to the big boss that we gather at his house for occasions. He has a very extensive selection at the bar I built for his basement. Lately he has been messing with making lamps from some of the higher end brand's bottles, using Edison-style bulbs.
The barrel stave project came first and this is one of the last batch. He has a very nice shop at home, for this kind of thing, weekend fiddling.
This modification in particular is for the corks of Blanton's bottles. They have a cast racehorse on top. Each one has a letter on the casting, that spells the company name.....if you have them all. The trick is, you don't know what letter you get when buying it, since it's in a box.

Reminds me of Led Zepplin "In through the out door" where they did the same with album covers, wrapped it plain brown paper. There were only 6 of those though.

I'm not drinking 20 miles from home on a Friday night. Not a single drop. When I go to the boss's house, i ride with someone else. A couple of Stouts 5 miles away on a bicycle is a different thing  [wink]

 

[PaulMarcel]

This modification in particular is for the corks of Blanton's bottles. They have a cast racehorse on top. Each one has a letter on the casting, that spells the company name.....if you have them all. The trick is, you don't know what letter you get when buying it, since it's in a box.

Reminds me of Led Zepplin "In through the out door" where they did the same with album covers, wrapped it plain brown paper. There were only 6 of those though.

Ah, yes, the Blanton's racehorses. I bought a bottle long before they became allocated an unobtainium around here.

I didn't know that about the Zepplin album. Cool idea. Wonder how many extra they sold because of that idea  [scratch chin]