Dollhouse

A coworker came to me a week or so ago and asked if I could fabricate a dollhouse for his daughter using some left over cabinet grade prefinished plywood. I said sure and took what lumber he had and ended up using some scrap I had laying around the shop. Put this simple, straightforward dollhouse together and will be handing it over to him in another day or so when he stops by to pick it up on his way home from his current job.

I used some half inch thick ply for the inner partitions and some 1/4" oak beadboard for the back wall. He also found some 3/4" red oak shelving that he had torn down years ago and brought that to me to use for the roof of the house. Took roughly four or five hours in total to construct this. I laminated some thin oak strips to the faces of the raw plywood to dress things up and used some walnut to trim out doors inside the rooms and their thresholds. I hope she likes it!

Candle Holders

With Christmas rolling around soon, I figured that I should get started on making some gifts for family and friends. My "Wood" magazine always has something in it around the Fall season that is relatively small enough for mass production, yet is nice enough for gift giving. This year, it was these candle holder sets. Designed to hold the long, slim, "taper" candles, the design was easy to run out and with the aid of just a few simple jigs, the process was a snap....though I still grow weary of the mass production process.

Per my usual mode of doing things...I made these out of walnut and red oak. I just like the way the two species compliment each other. I simply needed to order enough of the brass ferrules from Rockler Woodworking for the number of holder sets that I planned on making. I believe I made a total of 25 sets with each set containing three holders, each a different height.

Occasional/side table

Just finished up this table and it was built as a companion to the coffee table just a post or two below this one. Story behind it....we have needed another table in this corner of the family room and we plan on using it for a twofold purpose. First, we plan on storing our laptop computers in it and second, it will serve as a dedicated place to recharge our various electronic gizmos such as phones, I-pods, camera batteries and the like. Up until now, we have done this charging on the kitchen countertop and the devices seemed to always be in the way of things. Now, this won't be a problem.

The table was made to be similar to the coffee table. It is a bit smaller, though it is the same height. It has the same walnut inlay pattern in its top surface and it has the same walnut edging around the top. Also, I used the same pattern of walnut slats on the sides, walnut raised panels around the aprons and the front of the single drawer in this one is walnut with dovetailed joints. There is no lower shelf on this table like the coffee table has. This project took me roughly two and a half weeks to complete from start to finish in my spare time.

TV cabinet

While not a completely accurate title, this project was constructed to accompany a television. A TV will not be sitting on, or, of course, in this cabinet. I understand that the TV is mounted on the wall of the persons home. This cabinet will be used to house the additional electronics and associated VHS tapes, DVD's etc. that will be used in the entertainment aspect of using the TV. The customer wanted it built out of pine and that isn't much of a problem. I usually don't work with pine for one main reason....it is rather "resiny". That means that when milling and cutting the wood, you end up with a pitch/tar type resin that coats your tablesaw blades, the inside of the tablesaw, your router bits and anything else that is used to cut, shape and work with your pine. It adds up to extra work with the cleaning of the tools and machines. But that is what the customer specified and you know the old saying....."the customer is always right!".

Nothing unusual about this project. Pretty straight forward and an easy project. One thing that was a first with this project was the installation of sliding glass doors in the top portion of the cabinet. Had never done that and it turned out to be an easy installation. Just needed to order the track that the glass would slide within and special order the glass. The customer chose to do the finishing himself. The cabinet measures 47 inches tall - 16 inches deep front to back and 30 inches side to side across the front.

Well, here it is

Coffee table is finished and set up in our family room. Just thought I would post a picture of it.

Coffee Table update

Just checking in to post a picture of phase one completion. I worked quite a bit this past weekend on getting the end assemblies completed and did just that. Here they are.

Stay tuned...a new project is underway

The shop was sort of out of commission while I was waiting for my new Jet JJ/P -12 jointer/planer combination machine was on its way to my humble abode. I had quickly sold my old Delta 6" jointer on CraigsList and was without any "jointing" capabilities, so work was sort of at a standstill up there.

Well, the machine has been delivered. I have gotten it upstairs to my shop and it is set up and running and working like a charm. The delivery of the machine held up a planned project for a couple that we are friends with, but upon letting them know that their project can get underway, I was informed that something had changed and it would be a little bit before they were ready to have it made. That freed me up to get underway with something I have long wanted to do....a new coffee table for our family room. I am making the table unusually tall and for good reason. Both my wife and I like to watch television (Law and Order and L&S SVU) while we eat our dinners. However, the current coffee table sits so low, it is a pain to bend over to eat over your plate and sitting on the floor to get closer to the plate has become a non-option. So, I am raising the table up to where it will be comfortable to eat at WHILE sitting on the couch.

Constructed of red oak with walnut features worked in, it will match the existing television armoir that I built a few years back. This is the second of a trio of furniture that I want to build to complete our family room. The third is planned for the future and will be an occasional table that will sit in the corner of the room. It will have two drawers and will serve as a place to charge our various electrical gadgets and gizmos. So, stay tuned....I'll be posting some pictures soon detailing the construction process of the coffee table.

Music boxes

I just recently finished up making a pair of these music boxes. I made one for my mother for her upcoming birthday and while I was at it, I decided to make a matching one for my wife. Red oak and walnut. I purchased the musical movement from Rockler - who I get quite a bit of my woodworking supplies from. Simple little project and I was looking forward to it since I had never built music boxed before.