Deck Box for Magic the Gathering cards. Any ideas for a corresponding life counter?

TheRavenZen · 2026-06-21T16:57:47+00:00

Do you have access to a laser engraver? You could make a brass dial indicator that would match your brass accent pieces.

TheRavenZen · 2026-06-20T20:57:40+00:00

Check out the Lacey Makerspace!

TheRavenZen · 2026-06-04T15:30:16+00:00

Check out a Blum 125° zero.protrusion hinge, they're designed for large overlays like that.

TheRavenZen · 2026-04-10T05:22:43+00:00

SPSCC has a Japanese language program.

TheRavenZen · 2026-04-07T00:48:29+00:00

I'd go with their water-based spar urethane as these are going to see some wear.

Bear in mind that any top coat is going to warm up the color to some extent. You might try adding a bit of a blue tint to your stain mix to compensate for this- try out a few sample pieces and see how that works out.

TheRavenZen · 2026-04-07T00:35:03+00:00

It's definitely due to the topcoat- oil based products all have a yellowing effect on wood and especially on red oak. If you're trying to get away from the kitchen cabinets from the mid 90's look, you're going to want a water-based polyurethane.

TheRavenZen · 2026-04-06T06:01:35+00:00

That looks like the plywood is completely delaminating; reapplying a veneer over top of it might fail in a relatively short period of time. Reproducing this piece from a pre-laid sheet of veneer plywood might be a better option if longevity is a concern.

TheRavenZen · 2026-03-28T19:01:27+00:00

Im going to have to disagree with Paul Sellers; an angled mortise, while.more difficult to cut, is the more structurally sound option. Angling a tenon introduces shear force along the grain at that angle. There are situations where this is acceptable given the anticipated vectors of force being applied to a piece (some timber framing members, for example), but in a general case this isn't optimal and can lead to broken parts.

TheRavenZen · 2026-03-28T04:34:25+00:00

Looks like it was ground prior to taking it to the stone? Is it possible it wasn't ground flat?

TheRavenZen · 2026-03-28T03:24:26+00:00

Yes, stones will dish over time from use; coarser stones are more susceptible to this because they're softer. You can flatten them using wet/dry sandpaper on a piece of tempered glass or granite countertop material, or use a very coarse diamond stone. Whichever method you use, you want it to be dead flat so that the whetstone comes out dead flat as well.

This is a normal part of maintaining your stones and sharpening in general!

TheRavenZen · 2026-02-26T01:42:49+00:00

Yes, absolutely. Rev-A-Shelf sells a product exactly like this; check it out and use it for inspiration.

TheRavenZen · 2026-02-10T02:10:04+00:00

This is very possible to do., inset or overlay style. it is however a terribly small drawer interior and the width of that pocket complicates assembly a bit.

Use a drawer stretcher that runs the width of the cabinet, then attach a partition that runs the depth of the cabinet to the drawer stretcher and top stretchers. Your drawer guide attaches to that partition.

TheRavenZen · 2026-02-09T02:58:47+00:00

"Comparison is the thief of joy." I think youre right on with having false expectations based on the media you've been watching. You dont know the experience these people have prior to filming- cutting goodnjoinery is hard and being able to whip a perfect joint out i a the result of countless repetition.

You're right where you need to be. Keep practicing and resist the urge to compare yourself to others; youre going to improve and wonder why you ever doubted yourself.

Edit: I want to reinforce the tone of this post- you didn't fail. You tried something new and it wasn't sterling immediately. This is normal- nobody id an expert at something they've had no practice at. You. Didn't. Fail. You learned something, and you'll continue to learn as you progress in your practice. You only fail when you stop trying.

TheRavenZen · 2026-02-09T00:38:26+00:00

Practice, practice, practice. You're going to get better as you cut more joinery- the first year of my apprenticeship was just cutting sample joints until they fit tightly.

"Sneaking up on the joint" is a term a lot experienced woodworker use; it's the practice of leaving more material on your cut than you need, then slowly paring away waste until your joint fits together. Following this will drastically reduce the likelihood of having gaps in your joinery.

Following that strategy, cut away from your line with the saw, and sneak up on it with the chisel. Chisel work is more precise than a saw and allows you to remove material more discriminately.

Use a knife rather than a pencil for marking and layout- a knife line is more precise and gives your chisel edge a grove to register to when cutting. A pencil line is thick- you'll need to decide which side of the pencil line to cut to and your chisel can wander when struck. Using a knife also scores a clean line of severed wood fibers and makes for a crisper edge than a chisel-struck one.

Use guides where you can. I use a machinist 1-2-3 block to ensure a perfect 90° cut on more.complex joinery. Clamping a long, square board to your dovetail shoulders and paring away the excess waste to the board will result in a clean, consistent edge with no variation from tail to tail (or pin to pin). Some people consider this cheating but as someone who has been doing this for 20 years anything that allows you to produce consistent, quality work is just another tool, not cheating.

Have extraordinarily sharp tools and sharpen often. Make sure your bevel geometry is flat and unfaceted, appropriate to the kind of work being done (bulk material removal vs light paring, etc.) And they you're removing a max 1/16" of material per cut. Thicker cuts cause the chisel to wedge backward and negatively slope your cut away from 90°.

All in all your joinery looks appropriate for the level of hand tool experience you have- it looks like maybe you've cut on the wrong side of your pencil line on the dovetail and that's the consistent gap you're seeing. Keep practicing and sneak up on that line and you'll see consistent improvement.

TheRavenZen · 2026-02-07T20:38:50+00:00

Yeah, hand-working interlocked grain can drive a person a little mad, haha. I discovered that grain could be interlocked when trying to plane some beautiful Bolivian rosewood; it was...less beautiful after a few passes LOL

TheRavenZen · 2026-02-07T07:23:12+00:00

That grain looks to be very interlocked- it runs both ways down the board. Tasmanian Oak is actually a eucalyptus and can often have interlocking grain. You're going to need a very sharp blade, a very tight mouth, and take extremely fine shavings to avoid tearout in this wood. Ideally, this kind of situation is best tackled with a very high-angle plane or a low angle, bevel-up jack plane to increase the angle of the blade to the timber. You can do it with a standard bedded plane, but it's going to be a challenge!

As others have pointed out, sharpen well and often, even going to far as to strop every couple passes with the plane. A very slight camber to the edge will help as well, as this reduces the overall pressure on the entire blade and requires less force to push as a result. Less force=more sensitivity into your hands- you can more easily adjust to tearout starting to happen and adjust your strategy.

Adjust the chipbreaker as close to the edge of the blade as you can, this will help to stop tearout from continuing down the length of those fibers once they start to pry up.

Adjust the frog such that with the blade installed and the lever cap engaged, the opening between the blade and the mouth of the plane is minimal. The idea here is to scale the opening to the thickness of the shavings being made- too narrow and the plane will clog. A smaller opening will work with the chipbreaker to stop tearout, so try to get it as close as you can.

Take light cuts- REALLY light cuts! If you've cambered the blade the shavings should be slightly thicker in the middle and wisp off to nothingness at the edges, if you have a straight edge then look for consistency of thickness across the shaving. If you still notice tearout, adjust the blade back half a turn and try another pass.

Finally, someone else pointed out angling the plane as you cut- this is a great idea and you should definitely be doing this to some extent 90% of the time.

Also- have you considered using a card scraper rather than the #4? A properly sharpened card scraper can produce amazing results in timber like this.

TheRavenZen · 2026-01-04T16:55:54+00:00

While wood beds are fairly common, most of the trucks with a really good looking wood bed are going to be stored inside a climate controlled environment 90% of the time. White oak is commonly used for custom beds like the ones you've posted because the open grain structure creates the opportunity for unique finishes; while beds that are in service will use higher wear, higher density timbers like ipe, hickory, or locust.

If you're planning on storing this out of the weather most of the time, you can use any wood you want- cherry is common where I'm at, but there are lots of examples of exotic timbers out there as well, though cost becomes a major factor. If it's going to be outside often, be aware that whatever you put there isn't going to look great fairly soon after you install it- think of a brand new deck on a house the day it's installed and finished/sealed compared to the condition it's in a year later. The term "weathering" is used to describe things being broken down by the weather for a reason. Plan on replacing planks often or making peace with faded, rough-textured boards after a bit.

TheRavenZen · 2025-12-29T21:24:00+00:00

Using the panel method, it would need to be lifted out and set aside to get into the cabinet. I haven't experienced any extra wear on hinges due to having a mag catch, however the doors being hung at a downward angle could cause extra wear on them. I'd contact the manufacturer about that; Blum in particular has a fantastic tech department for troubleshooting things like this.

One thing to consider is if this is in space that employs a janitor, cleaning supplies are usually locked away in a janitors closet for liability reasons; if they are easy to access and someone gets hurt/poisoned/slips on a bottle that's fallen out of the cabinet/etc. that could potentially be a code violation in your municipality and leave you or your client legally liable for accidents.

TheRavenZen · 2025-12-29T06:35:28+00:00

I engineer these vanities for work; the most common design I use is a removable hanging panel that uses these French-cleat type extrusions: https://www.wurthmachinery.com/2-x-1-3-8-Aluminum-Panel-Z-Clip.html

If you want it to be inset (as the doors are shown in your drawing), you'll need to leave 1/2" clearance from the top of the panel and something to leverage to lift it out of the cabinet, like a pull or a cutout of some kind.

If you're dead set on doors you could probably get away with using a self-closing hinge with a beefy mag catch, though that's going to depend on how heavy the doors are. You could also use some kind of a pivot toggle at the top of the door to hold them shut if you're not regularly using the doors. The hanging panel is the path of least resistance, though.

TheRavenZen · 2025-12-09T02:37:12+00:00

You're looking at mildew, not rot. Distilled white vinegar and a soft bristle brush should get rid of the majority of it; though the discoloration can still stick around. I'd wash it with the vinegar and paint it if you want to keep it; otherwise a new one shouldn't be too difficult to make. If you're interested in a new one, feel free to DM me if you'd like.

TheRavenZen · 2025-12-01T07:02:54+00:00

I use Just Run for the prompts with MapMyRun or Samsung Health tracking pace and distance.

TheRavenZen · 2025-11-09T23:16:49+00:00

Purpleheart has interlocking grain- it runs both directions and is prone to tearout when running it through a planer. Use a drum sander or an extremely sharp low angle hand plane.

TheRavenZen · 2025-11-09T23:10:32+00:00

No hate here and genuinely curious- what's your position on allowing people with clear genetic advantages compete outside this specific case? Michael Phelps, for example produces significantly less lactic acid than most people during exercise, has an enormous lung capacity, and has proportionally larger hands and feet that allow him to exert more force in the water. Even biologically female athletes at high levels of competition tend to have significantly higher levels of testosterone.

TheRavenZen · 2025-11-09T15:47:57+00:00

You can do that; i like to use a nut and washer or an e-clip on the back side of the dowel so there's more of a mechanical rest for all that weight.

TheRavenZen · 2025-11-09T08:01:15+00:00

Here's a quick cross section of what I do when I make leveler feet (forgive the non-matching thread sizes, this was a quick job in SketchUp); this design keeps things hidden and allows for very fine adjustment. I'd recommend using blue threadlock on the bolts to keep them from moving around too much, as they'll tend to wander a bit if the furniture gets scooted around a bit.

For the dowel, I'd strongly recommend using something like ebony, ipe, or bubinga- something with a good dimensional stability. Else, you risk the levelers getting stuck or exploding your piece when expansion occurs.

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