Silver Medal Shadowbox Wall Display

Well, I am just about ready to begin my upstairs full bath renovation to complete our major home remodeling project after phase one...last years kitchen remodel came off successfully and now, the bathroom will bring our home up to our liking and what we have been waiting to do for many years.  I had completed the furniture for the bathroom (vanity, mirror frame and a wall cabinet) and was not willing to take on anything else for anyone since my attention would be devoted to the bath remodel.


 Well, while I am just about ready to get on with the project....I have had a small amount of time to squeeze out a small little display frame that my Brother Dave asked me to make.  Apparently, a nephew of Dave's recently won a silver medal along with the rest of his ice hockey team and Dave asked me to build a nice display to hang it on a wall.  This is what I came up with.  I wanted the frame to be as light as possible, so I thinned down the walls of the shadowbox to like 5/8" to shave off some weight.  This frame would have normally needed two recesses milled into it.  One for the glazing on the front of it and one for the back of the box to fit into.  This would not have left much meat on the back of the box to mount needed hardware.  I solved this problem by tacking on some thin walnut strips to the top of the box and extending into the "field" of the viewable portion of the framework.  This not only served as a decorative effect being used with the naturally finished red oak, but it also served to hold in the glazing.....this way, I eliminated one of the recesses needed.  Custom milled up moulding was rabbited around the outside of the box, now with a walnut feature added to it, and features some beading around the perimeter.

   Dave wanted a white background in the box and I think that was an excellent choice since it really highlights the red, white and blue colors of the medal.  Some foamboard is behind the fabric and then some 1/4" luan ply serves as the back.

A bed fit for a "King"

I was contracted by a friend to build him a king sized bed.  I was a bit hesitant because of the size of the thing.  It was massive to say the least.  Oh, I knew that it could be done.  This project didn't really present any construction problems....it was pretty much straightforward in its design and fabrication.  The biggest worry was actually getting its girth to the bedroom to which it would be assigned.  I took measurements....even made a mock up of the size of the headboard, which would be the largest single piece.  It appeared that it would fit, but it would be close.  After mulling over my options, I went ahead and began building it. The problem with the home was a complete 180 degree turn from the top of the stairway around and into a hallway that led to the master bedroom.  In the end, it did fit.  I had worried for what turned out to be nothing, but it WAS close.

  It is constructed of red oak, by far my favorite species to build with.  I usually finish my red oak naturally and let the grain and the natural appearance of the wood to be the star.  However, the customer had a handful of pieces in the home that he had purchased from an amish source and he wanted the bed to match the rest of it.  I took one of his dresser drawers to obtain a good match and I got a pretty close resemblance with some stain I had on hand.  Finished it with Deft brushing lacquer which I cut by 20% with thinner so that I can spray it with my HVLP air gun.  Makes for a very satiny to the touch finish.

Completing the kitchen renovation

There has been one last thing to do to completely finish the kitchen reno project that I did back in the springtime.  We have been using this corkboard to pin up notes and reminders for years.  It hung above out kitchen table.  Also on the wall is a phone jack box for a wall phone that we have long ago stopped using.  There is also a thermostat for our electric baseboard heat.  Along one side of the cork board...we had a hanger in the wall that we hung a monthly calendar on and from taking the calendar off and on from its mounting, well, it became worn and the hole became a nuisance.  I had built this pen and pencil and bill holder that hung over the old phone jack box, so that was hidden, but everything as a whole just made the wall a challenge.

   So, when we remodeled, I was determined to build something that would alleviate the problems.  This is what I came up with:



Now, the calendar is still on a hook, but the hook is mounted into a backer board and cleat and is all wood, so it is much stronger and can the calendar can be taken off of the hook and replaced back on with no fear of the hook loosening up.  The corkboard is new and is replaceable when and if it is ever worn out.  It would be a simple one day project to make up a replacement board.

  Inside the shallow cabinet on the end opposite the calendar, there are two shelves.  One will hold a bin that will hold pencils and pens.  The other will hold a bin that will contain household bills that need to be paid.  The cabinet serves also to hide the former phone jack box, so it's out of sight.    The cabinet is comprised of all quarter sawn red oak just as the rest of the cabinetry in the kitchen is. 

  Getting the new corkboard spurred me on to go through all of the crap that had found itself cluttering up the corkboard.  Plenty of trash didn't make the grade and now, it is much easier to see what is on there and it is just that much nicer to look at than the confusion that was on there previously.

Prayer bench donated to a church

   During my long 37 year career as an industrial and commercial insulator...I had made many friends...however, only a special few I would say became really good buddies.  Not that we get together or anything, just that we formed a working bond while on the job...enjoyed each others one of a kind personality and our funky sense of humor.  One, I will only refer to him as Joe here in this  blog....was/is one of those special guys.  Away from the insulation trade..Joe did some nice tile work. 

   When I got around to renovating my kitchen after retirement, I knew that I would want Joe to do his magic to our kitchen project with a great backsplash.  He was thrilled that I wanted to enlist him for the job and honestly, I would have had it no other way. 

 Anyway, when it came time to talk about payment, Joe beat me to the punch and offered me a deal.  He had a friend that

 wanted to donate something to her church.  He mentioned something about a bench of some sort.  I had no idea at the time just what he was looking for, but we shook hands on the deal and I figured that it would be another opportunity to do some designing of a piece of furniture.  I have really enjoyed designing furniture over the years and continue to enjoy sketching out and fabricating furniture from scratch. 

  Well, he eventually got back to me with a picture of a prayer bench and it seemed pretty easy and straightforward to build.  I saw some design flaws in its construction so I made some minor changes in the area of adding strength.  The pictures alongside is what I ended up with.  Hope they like it!

It's "Keezer" Time!

Now that I am retired...myself and a former co-worker who is also retired have breakfast each Friday morning to shoot the shit and stay in touch.  Besides that...it gets us out of the house and maintains a social life for us.  Matt asked me to help him with a  project he wanted to build.  He is big into beer and wanted his own beer tap set up at home.  He didn't want to buy the pre-made beer keg refrigerators that are on the market.  He searched the internet and came up with a set of plans utilizing a chest freezer..hence the name "Keezer"  Keg freezer I imagine.  Anway...the project necessitated that the lid be removed...a riser collar be installed on the cabinet of the freezer and then reattach the lid.  The collar would allow the placement of beer taps without drilling holes into the actual chest.  I did do that and I free handed box joints on the collar corners.  A mistake in measuring by Matt resulted in my needing to cut the depth of the collar and losing one of the teeth of the box joints.  Still, the collar fit amazing and it looked great once attached by silicone caulk and it works well. 


He went a step further and asked me to fab up a nice hardwood top to dress it up.  I had a length of white oak sitting around the shop for quite a long time...not knowing what I would do with it since I basically work with red oak.  This project would be a great way to get a use out of it.  Kept it simple with a minor bead detail circling the perimeter of the top on the sides and applied three or four coats of full strength polyurethane and then a couple more thinned coats for a good application that smoothed out in the cooler shop and left no brush marks due to a slow settling in of the finish.  The difficulty level of this project was minimal...but still, it made the Keezer look really nice and will be proudly used for years.

Rackin' Up the Fishin' Poles

I have to give lots of credit to my wife!  She has been putting up with my storing my fishing poles in our coat closet in the house.  Had some spare time today and was inspired  by the fishing pole rack my brother Dave has in his garage.  It is a simple design really, and I spent about two hours today erecting this one.  Problem solved.

A Captains Bed for a Little Girl

This is the second such bed that I have built in this fashion.  If you take a look through the archives of this blog, you will find it.  That one was for my niece.  This bed is for a buddy's daughter who was in need of a bed.  I was happy to build it.