Forgot about these items

  I had for a long time wanted to build some outdoor tables to hold some planters for in front of our garage.  In doing a project for a co-worker a number of months ago...in return, besides paying me for building the project...he also gave me a darned good load of white oak that he had cut up on his property in Pennslvania.  I gladly took it and it was some very nice clear stock.  I made the tables and also the planters out of this stuff and I still have more of it left.  I also incorporated some walnut into the planters for visual interest. 

Walnut and Oak Picture Shelf

I had wanted to build a nice walnut and red oak picture shelf unit for quite a while.  But I never got around to doing it.  First, I had to wait for the supply of walnut that I had, to dry to a level where it was low enough to work with.  Then, other projects took over importance and the shelf just got put on the back burner.  Well I finally found time to do it and after literally weeks of churning around ideas in my head as to the design (which I am STILL not completely happy with) I finally got to building.  I did incorporate some new stuff in this project.  Wrapping the doors with an oak trim...using some spalted maple panels in the cabinet portion doors and sides and the most important element...I tried sliding dovetail joints for the first time with a relative degree of success.

  I finished the project and it sat around the shop - in the way - for about a month and a half.  Reason?  Because I told myself that it wouldn't be hung until we redid the family room where it was to be hung.  So, Karen and I finally got around to doing just that.  We wanted to rip up the old carpet and replace that and also sponge paint the walls.  Both of which ended up being a great choice.  The sponging turned out quite well and we are so happy with it.  I made a new walnut threshold for the entry doorway to the room and the room just feels like a completely new room.  We love it.

  So, here is the picture shelf hanging in its place.  Now all we need is to get some pictures on it.  I will probably end up making some picture frames such as the ones in this blog.  You can see them if you go back and search for them.  I am sure they are included in th archives.

New Address sign for our home

Another of my recent projects had me fabricating up a new address number sign for our home which would be hung out along Rt. 31 where we live here in Ringoes,NJ.  I had made one many years ago, but I made it out of wood that wasn't very durable for exterior use.  I painted it well to protect it from the weather, but weather is an everyday enemy and eventually, it caught up to it and it began to fall apart.  About two months ago... a co worker gave me a nice amount of white oak in partial payment for a project I had built for him.....see the nightstand down below.

   White oak stands up to the weather very well and I knew that this sign was going to be one of the things I used some of that white oak for.  I recycled the black plastic numbers from the old sign and finished this sign with Minwax Helmsman exterior finish and it really laid down a nice coat of finish on it and I am confident that this sign will last a long time signifying where we live.  I purchased a new post mount since the old one was just about rotted out of the ground and when I had the sign up and proud....I went a step further and mounted two solar activated spotlights on the crossmember above the sign and shining down on it.  They light it up nicely in the evening hours and now, visitors at night should have a relatively easy time of it finding us.

Remembering a Veteran

A co-worker who knew I dabbled in woodworking asked me if I could help him with something.  A relative of his...a veteran of one of the countries armed services had decided to throw out his service jacket and hat after it had been damaged in a flood where his basement had been under water.  The co-worker and his wife secured the jacket and hat...had them dry cleaned and they came out just fine.  He wanted me to build him a display unit for hanging on a wall that would feature the jacket and cap, along with a picture from back in his military days.  I was proud to help him and the project would be a simple one...with the exception of how to secure the items in the unit.  That problem was solved and it turned out fairly nicely.  Here it is just before I presented it to him.

A few more pics of the Jewelry Chest

Jewelry Chest/Night Stand

A co-worker recently asked me if I would be interested in building a piece of furniture for him. His timing was great as I was sort of idle in my shop and was looking for something to build. He told me he wanted a jewelry chest that would also serve as a night stand. The idea sounded sort of funky, but once I began to talk with him and
got his ideas about what he was looking for, I was rolling ideas around in my
head and knew that the project was going to be a fairly easy one.

I still thought the idea was sort of off the wall, but hey, he was footing the bill and as I have
always said…the good thing about custom woodworking is that you can build anything that anyone wants….well, up to a point.

So, here it is…red oak. The first project built from some red oak lumber that I bought out in Pennsylvania. I think I will email the supplier a picture of this to show him. Anyway…the project
was a good opportunity to use my dovetail jig for the drawers and also to get into the tapering of legs. I had done it in the past, but not for a while, so I was jonesin’ for the opportunity to do
so again.

The surface of the table stands thirty inches off of the floor and the upper part that will be used to hand necklaces within raises it another foot. This project also allowed me the practice of keeping the grain orientation of the face skirt of the table. If you take a look at the front of the piece, look at the drawers and the surrounding framework above and below the drawers. You can see that the grain pattern flows as it was all cut from the same piece of wood. For this purpose.

I made my first ever drawer divider with this project and although it wasn’t anything difficult…it was still my first attempt at it and it really makes the drawer it’s in look great. And while I am talking about the drawers…I have to say that I am not that elated about the flocking in the drawers. I have flocked a number of other things and this product simply doesn’t do a good enough job in my opinion. “Flocking”…the felt like lining in the bottom of the drawers is a new innovation whereas you “paint” the surface that you want the lining and then pour powdered felt onto the wet paint and cover all of the wet spots and let it dry. When dry, you empty all of the loose material and you have left a nice edge to edge coating. Trouble is… you really don’t get a satisfactory lining thickness. The search goes on for a better answer for this.

For some reason, I had a bear of a time getting the dovetails just right on the drawers! Don’t know exactly why. The Leigh jig is one of the more exacting jigs and yes, it takes some hit and miss trial and error corrections before you are dialed into the fit, but I just couldn’t hit the mark this time for some reason.

All of that is water under the bridge now though as the project is done and will be delivered within the next few days. Hope everyone is happy with it!

Old Toybox

Interesting story behind this toy box. This is one of the first things I ever built. Built it way
back in my high school years. Didn’t use any fancy wood…just plain old plain Jane pine that didn’t have any character at all. Well, I think I remember building it for my youngest brother Mark. But over the years…I lost track of it and just plain old forgot about the darned thing.

Fast forward like thirty or more years and I am helping Mark clean out his home and garage down in the Cape May, NJ area and tucked back in the corner of his garage is this old forlorn looking box. All beat up and finish faded. Got a bit closer and I recognized it. It was the toy box!!!

Wow..talk about a blast from the past. It was a mess. Humidity and heat had wreaked havoc with the base trim and the trim around the lid. It was shot to say the least. And the original clear finish was completely gone and the stain was even faded quite a bit. Now, I normally would have chucked the thing. But after taking a good look at it, I determined that it could be saved. My wife Karen suggested that I take it home…refurbish it and give it back to Mark with the express purpose of it being for his impending newborn baby. Sounded like a great idea and it came home with us from the Jersey shore and I set about refurbishing.

First…off came the old trim. Both the bottom trim and the lid trim. Both were completely
shot. The corner joints needed regluing and the entire thing simply needed a sprucing up. I completely sanded the inside and outside down to almost bare wood, but kept its patina for old times’ sake. I used a heavy paste type stain so that it would sit on the wood and penetrate well
into the old wood. Once that was done, I made up new trim for the bottom and the top and attached them and stained them a slightly off color of the box for contrast and then when it was all dry…shot some finish on it.

No, it’s not one of my greatest projects, but it wasn’t meant to look like a new piece. That would have destroyed its beauty and disrespected its heritage and age. The recipients were very happy with it and the story that goes with it….that being that back in the early seventies, this toy box was built for Mark and after years of use and neglect in its later years, it was brought back to life with a little work by its original builder and now it will enjoy a new life serving the daughter of
the original user.