Dining Table

 I fabricated this dining table for a friend.  I used some beautiful quarter sawn Poplar.  In hindsight...I probably will not make furniture such as this that will need to stand up to daily use, out of Poplar.  While its stable and works beautifully,  it's a bit to soft for such use.  But, it finished up beautifully.  Nice trestle table project.

Recipe File Cabinet

My Aunt requested if I could build her some assemblies to hold her multitude of recipe cards.  Most of the time....you have to hit me at the right time to get something done fairly quickly thereafter.  However, she hit a break in my schedule and making something like this sounded like fun.  I rolled the idea around in my head for a little while and about a week later, pretty much had a basic idea of what I wanted to do construction-wise.  Next step was to layout a sketch to fill in the dimensions.  From there....I "wing it" without plans...because basically, I have never used plans...I let the project guide me with the measurements.  I just follow the direction.  I love the way red oak and walnut play together.  I love the look.  I dug out my Incra I-jig to say hello to it.  I haven't had it out in ages...and I wanted to use it to fabricate the box joints for the corners of the cabinet.  Just a really fun project and it was simple from start to finish.  

 Check out this short video of the finished product.

Interior Gliding Barn Door

 I had a former co-worker ask me if I could fabricate a gliding interior barn door for his Son's new home that was being either built or remodeled....I forget.  I was intrigued by the idea and quickly accepted the job.  These doors were popularized by Johanna Gaines of cable TV fame and her Magnolia Industries.  Honestly, it was quite a simple job...but there was one sticking point in how to construct the field of the door...the section between the framework.  I conferred with a fellow and trusted woodworking friend on the subject and he actually came up with a great idea.  Two minds can sometimes make all the difference in the world! 

   The entire project is constructed from maple lumber.  The field is actually made up of a 1/4" baltic birch plywood core.  Baltic birch is a very stable type of plywood thanks to its multiple layers of plys over standard plywood.  That makes it much more stable after construction, meaning it won't shrink and expand due to relative humidity.  Over the core....I applied laminations of maple that were slightly under 1/4" in thickness...both sides and matching in their orientation.  Used glue and pin brad nails.  Came out awesome if I have to say so myself.

Bat Houses for our property

 I had long wanted to build some bat houses for our property.  We get mosquitos...no more than usual, but if we could help the bat population at the same time as we are taming the mosquito problem,  all the more nice to finally get around to building these things.  I made back to back bat houses and designed and fabricated a tilting mounting bracket that was sunk into the ground in a considerable amount of concrete.  I loved building these bat houses and I hope to eventually have a huge populations of bats inhabiting them.  

Wall hung jewelry cabinet

Had a former client ask me to build a wall hung jewelry cabinet for his son to give to his girlfriend for Christmas.  He supplied the picture of what he wanted and I set about to building it.  No problem...very simple project that as a ton of fun to build!

  The inside was to hold earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets.  No problem!  Here is the inside of the cabinet in its finished condition, but before it was attached to the cabinet.

Mailbox post

Our mailbox got knocked over last Winter by snowplows...or more correctly, the snow that they pushed to the side of the road.  I was not about to attempt to install a new one in the middle of Winter, so I splinted up the broken one and limped on with it through this Summer and finally, over the past week or so...worked on a new one.  Now, I could have taken the easy route...the one that would have taken much less time to build and install.  But I am a woodworker.  I take pride in my work and love to show it off.  So, with that in mind...I decided to fabricate one that would highlight my woodworking skills and have it on display each and every day to all of the cars and drivers that zip past our home each and every day.  Came out beautifully if you ask me.

  I put together a short photo essay of the build to document the process.  If interested in taking a look...you can access that essay here:

https://imgur.com/a/6ej05xN

My Pride and Joy Project.....and More!!

My Pride and Joy Project!!!

For the longest time.....I had wanted to build a roll top desk.  When I began to dabble in woodworking...it represented a level of woodworking that seemed miles and light years away.  I would have accepted that I may never reach the level of craftsmanship that was needed to fabricate one of these popular old time pieces of furniture. 

  Well, over the years, I have acquired much knowledge and have done lots of reading and watching of woodworking videos.  It has helped me to gain knowledge and confidence in my abilities in the woodshop and within the last year or so...I began to notice that things that were once a big deal to accomplish are simply everyday or somewhat common practices.  It occurred to me that I was stepping up levels in my accomplishments.

The photo above was the style that I found that talked to me.  I love the color...the layout...everything about this roll top desk.  This is what I wanted mine to turn out to look like...or as close as possible.

  Well, my wife and I decided that we wanted to keep some of the dimensions of our old, store bought roll top...basically in the drawer inside widths.  I had mulled over the idea of making my own tambour, but the router bit set I wanted to build it with was to pricey.  Trouble was, the widest tambour that I could find was around five inches shorter in width than what I needed to match our old desk.  Well, the router bit set was never purchased, we kept the inside drawer diameters and it promoted a notable difference in the look of the new desk.  The knee well is much narrower in our new desk.  A result of the wanted drawer measurements and the tambour availability.

  The difference is noticeable, but not a problem for us.  We have never used the desk as a desk per se.  That is to mean that we have never used a chair with it.  We use it more for storage space for the things you would keep in a roll top desk....bills, property information...stamps....the usual stuff.  No chair.  So...really, this little difference is no bother to us.

  So here she is opened up and showing off the cubby assembly I fabricated for inside of the top section.  I love the way this turned out.  And you know...looking back at the project....I truly had nothing to worry about as far as making it.  It was a piece of cake.  Yes, there were methods of fabrication that I had never done before....but I knew what had to be done...so execution was simply a case of taking my time and paying attention to detail.  Like I said...piece of cake!  This project makes me realize that yes, I have obtained a nice level of craftsmanship in my work.  This project represents a milestone in my hobby of woodworking.