Recycling Cabinet: Side panels

First, I have to say it’s my lucky day, since I was just informed that I won a salt lamp from the giveaway over at aimeeroo.com! It seems like something perfect for my office here, as I need all the wellness I can get sometimes.

That was tons of fun, so I’m considering a giveaway of my own, but you’ll have to check back for details later this week. For now I have to say there has been some exciting progress on the recycling cabinet…

I decided to use these knotty pine bead-board/wainscoting pieces (I don’t know exactly what their true purpose is, only that they fulfilled mine) to make the side panels for the cabinet. There were two reasons for that, first, they are more interesting than just a flat piece of wood, and second, I could cut them to fit with my miter saw. (I have access to a table saw, but it’s not in my basement and if I have to go outside of my immediate area to finish a project… well, lets just say it could have been postponed indefinitely)

Mind you, these aren’t exactly meant for the job I’m using them for, so I experimented with simply gluing the pieces together to make a panel.

Which… actually worked out just fine. It’s generally a 50/50 shot with my experimenting.

I made sure to use a screw to attach each board even though I’d glued them all together.

I don’t consider myself an artist, because while I can paint and draw and sculpt just fine, not only do I never use anything resembling proper technique, I also don’t attribute any meaning to what I do. I make stuff because I like the way it looks. Similarly, I am obviouslynot a woodworker. Other than as older men wearing flannel shirts I always picture woodworkers to be very meticulous people. The very personification of “measure twice, cut once” and all that. Do you know what I am? I am the MacGyver of the powertool world. My entire life is like one big rig-job. Which is probably the only reason I can take “plans” such as these:

And actually end up with something that looks like this:

But, it still needs side panels (which are going to be a bit more tricky)  and a lid. Slowly but surely.

Some of you may be wondering what the hell happened to the DIY wine rack. It’s still rumbling around in the back of my brain, but it looks like I won’t get a start on it for another week or two. I’m making sure the cabinet gets done first and doesn’t become another one of those unfinished projects that end up in the workshop purgatory.