Dough Box

I had long wanted to attempt to re-create the antique "Dough Box" that my wife owned and had been passed down through the family.  A dough box, for the uninformed, is a piece of furniture used in the olden times to put freshly made bread dough and other similar concoctions in to allow it to "rise" before baking.  The inside of the piece of furniture provided a warm and dark environment for the dough to "proof" and become ready for the oven.

   For the longest time...I was sort of intimidated by all of the angles and tapers involved in the project.  However, with time, I became much more a believer in my woodworking talents and I finally reached a point where I was confident that I could manage such a thing.  As it turns out, it really wasn't hard at all.  The picture above shows both the dough box that I made on the left and the original antique on the right.  They are identical in every measurment.

Lazy Susan Picture Display

The same buddy that had me build 3 Hope chests recently, also wanted me to attempt to to fabricate some sort of revolving picture display using some locally purchased 4'X6" double sided picture frames from Michaels Craft stores.  Getting to the diameter that was needed...I sketched out the plans for what I liked to call, "the picture carousel", and determined that we could get a total of sixteen frames comfortably fit onto the carousel....meaning a total of thirty two different pictures on display.

   The project intrigued me as it would definitely require some jigs to be built specifically for the task, but also offered me the opportunity to build some other jigs that I could use, but were needed for this project also.  So, I not only got to build the project, but came out the other end now having some additional help in the shop in the form of reusable jigs that will serve me for a long time.

  After some ideas being thrown back and forth and settling on an idea and size...I sketched out a final plan and went at it.  Gotta say, I really liked the result.  However, for what I would have to charge for the thing, in relation to the amount of work put into it....not quite sure if many people would want to pay the tab for something that just displays pictures.  Still, I was quite proud of it and obviously, since it spins in a lazy susan mode...it must have a bearing in use and it does...that is sandwiched between the two bottom discs, using a routed trough in the bottom disc for the bearing to sit within.  Thanks to one of those reusable jigs I spoke of.

Bi-Fold Pantry Doors

  For as long as we have owned our house and I worked for a living ( I am now retired) I have always wanted to remodel our kitchen and build my own cabinetry after having seen the kitchen of a racing friend who's Dad had done the same.  I was impressed and knew that I wanted to do the same.  I knew that I had to wait until I was retired and had much more time per day to dedicate to the build and remodel.  Once I stepped away from my 40 hours per week, I took care of an open heart surgery that was needed and that took up the first summer.  The second Spring of my retirement, I set about to do the kitchen.  However, I left the original pantry doors, which now stuck out like a sore thumb as they were much darker.

   Now, I don't know why I waited so long to get around to making new bi-folds that matched the naturally finished quarter sawn red oak cabinets I constructed for the kitchen.  But I did.  I guess it has been three years now that I got around to getting them done.  Simple frame and panel construction and quite honestly, a stupidly simple jog - just adding to the question why I waited so long?  Anyway, I went into this winter season with two projects on the "must build" list.  One of them were these doors and the other was/is recreating an antique dough box piece of furniture that we have in our family room.  Some time this winter...that will be posted up above somewhere.  So, I got around to the doors and it took basically four days to create them...that includes the finishing steps.  Used the same 1/4" walnut dowel treatment and also the edge beading detail as I used with the cabinetry to zero in on the style of everything else in the room.  Purchased all new hardware for the build and while it was a bit expensive...it works great.....smoooooth and quiet.

Splining Jig

The previous post shows the hope chest that I built for a friend.  A necessary part of that project was building a splining jig so that I could cut spline grooves in the 45 degree corners of the box and other applications.  I had never done splines in my projects, and was excited to finally be doing so as splines are an unusual, but decorative element of corner reinforcement and it would add another design option for the projects that I build.  In essence, the splining jig holds a piece of wood that has an edge cut at a 45 degree angle.  This wood is clamped to the jig with the 45 degree angle registered to the surface of the table saw and situated to have the table saws blade in line with where you want the spline groove to be cut.

  Here is the jig:

  

    The jig is built to sit over the table saws fence in a snug fashion, but loose enough to allow it to be moved along the fence so that you push the material to be cut through the blade.

Small Hope Chest

I was contacted by an old racing buddy in regards to his wishes to have a hope chest built for a young lady who was a girlfriend of his son.  He was aware of my woodworking and in fact, had purchased some picture frames from me in the past.  When he hit me up about the project, I had some free time open and told him that I was willing to get right on it.  He drew up some plans and emailed them to me and after a little bit of communication back and forth between us in relation to the design...I set upon building it.

 











    The picture frames that I had fabricated and provided to him were a combination of red oak and walnut...(one of my favorite combinations) and he liked that look and wanted the same look with the chest.  A simple, straightforward project in design....it did provide me with a new concept that I had never incorporated into any past projects.  He wanted reinforcing splines in the 45 degree corners of the chest.  I was intrigued and welcomed the new challenge.





  I used walnut as the upper and lower trim of the box, as well as the panel insert in the lid.  Walnut was also used as the "floor" of the box and the cleats that supports the movable tray inside and the bottom of that same tray.  The splines in the box, the bottom oak trim and the oak tray were all walnut also.  As a finishing touch, I also added four decorative walnut dowels in each corner of the lid.

Trestle Style Dining Table

 I had never attempted to build a dining table, so I was intrigued, and ready to give it a shot when a friend asked me if I was interested in building one for him and his family to go into the home that they had recently purchased.  I fabricated it from poplar....a hardwood species, but one of the softer ones and in hindsight, it was a learning experience.  While I have always enjoyed working with poplar due to its fine texture and its stability in regards to expansion and contraction with moisture conditions and also its ability to mill very cleanly, I still will have to think about using it again for the main wood for large projects.  Just a tad to soft for my liking.  The entire project took five or six days from procuring the lumber to wrapping up the build of the table.  The staining and finishing of the table and the chairs took a few days more.  Customer chose Minwax Jacobean stain.  I thought it would turn out very dark, but it actually was pleasing to the eye at the end result as the "green" of the poplar mixed well with the tint of the stain and the result was a pleasing shade.  Topped it off with several coats of Deft satin brushing lacquer, sprayed at a dilution of 20 percent.  Just a few pictures of the process:

The chairs were purchased unfinished by the customer and I stained and finished to match.

Laptop writing desk

A number of year ago...I made this laptop writing desk for our neighbors high school aged daughter.  I had wanted to build one just because I had never done one and there were simple elements of the build that I wanted to try.  So, I killed two birds with one stone with the project.  If I have any regrets about the project, it's that it is a little heavy since all of the components are 3/4" thick and I could have gone thinner and still maintained good overall structural integrity, but hey, you never stop learning and becoming a better woodworker, so it served a purpose.  I like it...I think it came out nice and I like the simple design.  I hadn't taken a picture of it back when I built it.  I document all of my projects with pictures and I never got one of this one.  I have wanted to approach the neighbor about getting a picture of it, but I just never got around to it.  Today, coming in from picking up the mail...I saw the neighbor in the yard and asked about it.  Simple as that.