My neighbor’s cousin is getting married and they couldn’t find candle holders that they liked. They asked my neighbor, who is a contractor, if he could create the holders based off of a candle holder that they had purchased from a craft store. He couldn’t because he doesn’t have a lathe so he offered my services.

Their request was that the holder for the unity candle be a little smaller than their sample from the craft store and that the other two candles be proportionally smaller. I used poplar for the wood because they are going to be painted. It was a little nerve racking getting the two smaller candles to match but I think they turned out fine. My neighbor’s wife is now going to finish sanding them, paint them white, and put roping or beading around the base.

This was my first “commission” project. They asked how much I wanted paid but I left that determination up to them. I really don’t want any money, I think it’s just neat to have something I made be a part of their union in matrimony.

I carved this chipmunk for my wife as a Christmas present in 2008. I’m not really sure if it’s a chipmunk or a squirrel. The reason why I don’t know is because I purchased it as a rough-out, it came with a few pictures of what it’s suppose to look like, and although the picture labeled itself as a chipmunk, it had more squirrel qualities in my opinion. Anyway, my wife likes it so that’s all that matters.

After carving it I burned in the hair, applied a base coat of paint and then dry brushed the rest of the paint on.

I did this project at the Wood Chip Shop in Des Moines where I was taking a carving class. If you’re in Des Moines, that’s the place to go to learn carving. Inside the store, there are many completed carving projects which is inspiring. Some carvings are the owner’s and some are the student’s. It’s neat to see what other people are working on and what can be done with a lot of practice.

Hello everyone, it’s been a LONG while since I’ve posted anything on LumberJocks.com. Probably about 1 1/2 years. Quite frankly, my excuse is that I’ve been extremely busy—it’s a long story which I will have to post about later. At any rate, during this time away from my fellow LumberJocks, I have been doing some woodworking and have picked up woodcarving as well. Actually, I’ve been doing very little woodworking and a lot more woodcarving.

I can only speak for myself but I find that there is a paradox with woodcarving. In one way it is very relaxing; however, there is something stressful about it as well. For example, carving the eyes of an animal or a human can be tense. Not getting the eyes right can bring the entire project to a halt. This is especially frustrating if you’re doing the eyes last. I try to start the eyes first but this isn’t always possible. Maybe it’s the semi-tense nature that I enjoy because it makes it challenging. When the hard part is finished and is done successfully, there’s a sigh of relief at the end with a lot of joy.

This project is For Sale.

I found this piece of driftwood at Saylorville Lake in Iowa. Saylorville Lake is a man made reservoir and is connected to the Des Moines river.

This is my first carving done in driftwood and working with driftwood was a learning experience. If you look closer at the picture, you’ll see that around the eyes and some other areas, the wood is somewhat jagged. This is the nature of driftwood. The sharpest knife cannot solve this problem. The wood is so soft in some places that it actually brakes off. The only thing that one can do to avoid the softer part of this wood is to continue shaving off the softwood until the denser material is reached. However, the caveat is that if you shave off too much, you may not have any wood left to carve. Since I wanted to carve a face in this wood, I had no choice but to work with some of the softer material.

Actually, I kind of like the jagged edges because it makes it look more rustic. I affixed the carving to a walnut base and the base is finished with three coats of thinned polyurethane.

This is the first piece I’ve ever tried to sell. Everything else I’ve completed I’ve given away. Even if I don’t sell it, I’ll enjoy leaving it on my entertainment center. Please contact me if you’re interested in purchasing this. I can be reached at programmeranalyst[X]hotmail dot com. Please replace the [X] with the at symbol.

Thank You.

A few years ago (about six or seven) my wife and I made this end table for two friends of ours that were getting married. They still have it today and I requested that they send these pictures to me so I could post it. It looks like it might have a couple of scratches in the finish now (top left) but that’s expected since they’ve moved a lot.

These are good friends of ours and at the time we didn’t know what to get them for their wedding. Since we were in college, I hadn’t been able to do any woodworking for awhile and was having withdrawals so this gave me an opportunity to cure my itch. My wife and I faced three main challenges with this project. First, we didn’t know what to make them, second, we didn’t have any plans, and third, the only woodworking shop available to us was 20 minutes away at my uncle’s house.

Even though the end table now sits over 750 miles away from us (Are friends now live in Dallas, TX), it brings back good memories for my wife and I. The 20 minute drives back and forth from my uncle’s shop allowed my wife and I to have great one-on-one times. Also, it was a joy to work with my wife on this project and take our mind off of school. She is a great helper.

My uncle’s shop was pretty basic. He had a table saw, drill press, chisels, and miter saw. I purchased new saw blades because his weren’t very sharp. I also let him have the blades as a thank you for letting us use his space. The plans were drawn up all in my head. I measured a couple of couches’ arm rests to get general height and depth measurements. I started by creating the top first and that gave me the parameters for the base. After the top was done, I dimensioned the base to how aesthetically pleasing it would be to the top. Once the base measurements were done, I knew the measurements for the drawer and bottom shelf.

The top squares were not designed to be a checkerboard—people usually ask. I actually wanted diamond shapes but I had to save time somewhere and would’ve had to make jigs for accuracy. The oak squares overlay 5/8” pine plywood. The oak trim that fences in the squares were tongue and grooved and glued onto the squares/plywood. The top was fastened using the Kreg system. The legs and sides were joined together using mortise and tenon joints (drilled & chiseled). The drawer is dovetailed using the cheaper Craftsmen dovetail jig and it worked great. I used Minwax Golden Oak stain and semi-gloss poly sprayed on with a Wagner paint sprayer.

During my junior and senior years of high school, I gladly began taking independent study in wood shop class. During those two years, I made a few projects that I gave to my mom but this one I made for myself and it is my favorite thus far. I started it at the end of my junior year but was interrupted by summer break. I finished it the beginning of my senior year after I returned. I submitted it to my district tech fair and won a gold medal, then advanced to the state fair and won another gold metal. That was almost twelve years ago. Yikes, I’m getting older way too fast.

Although it is my favorite, you think I would hang it on one my walls at home. Nope. My wife is hogging the walls with girly things that read, “Welcome to our home”. Actually, in all fairness to her, I don’t even think this will match our home decor at this time. I hope to finish the basement using a North woods hunting theme someday, then, it will match. Now it sits in the basement collecting dust waiting for its day to shine. So, please don’t mind the dust as you look at the pictures.

Anyway, enough with the goofiness. This project signifies what a driven high school student can do in wood shop. The plan came from a book that I found in the shop’s book case. I received absolutely no help from the shop teacher on this project. I planed the rough sawn oak to thickness. Used the jointer to straighten and smooth the edges of the oak. Cut to size, routed, etc, yada, yada. The plans were my guide. This is where I also learned that not all plans can be trusted. I had to compensate for some incorrect measurements but it didn’t halter the project any.

O.k., back to funny business. The last day of the state tech fair, my friends and I were returning to school hauling this very archery rack in the trunk of my first car; a maroon 1984 Ford Tempo. The archery rack was too big to fit entirely in the trunk of the car so the top had to hang out of the back a ways. I carefully sandwiched a blanket between the trunk lid and the rack while it was firmly held in place with some type of tie down.

The school that hosted the state tech fair was only 20 minutes away from our school so we weren’t too far away from home. After leaving the tech fair, we made our way down the four lane highway with the windows down while sharing a sense of freedom and independence. Not more than ten minutes later, we were behind some 50 year old scruffy dude driving a small, white, 70’s style, Nissan pickup truck.

I can’t say how I provoked him exactly because it was a long time ago, and for some reason, those particular details are a little vague. All I remember is that I had a temper and wasn’t a very patient driver at the time (some things never change), and I cut him off really bad and on purpose! (some things do change). I don’t even remember why. Anyway, I remember looking in my rear view mirror to see his reaction but what I saw was kind of peculiar.

He was leaning towards the passenger seat trying to get something. I remember thinking, I wonder what he’s doing? Holy Crap! The next thing I know, a golf club is dangling out his car window and it’s attached to his hand! This nut was wielding a three iron while mouthing superlatives at us! I knew this for sure, this guy was no golfer because everyone knows you can’t hit anything with a three iron. I quickly put two-and-two together—He wanted to kill my archery rack.

To make a long story short, we lost him after he chased us down some back roads and we came out unscathed. I learned this very important lesson that day: Never risk the lives of your wood working projects and put them in jeopardy again.

I made this lap joint jig for a future project that I’m going to make for my wife. The jig was made using scraps out of my shop so I didn’t have to purchase anything new. The jig itself is made out of 3/4” plywood, screws, plexi-glass, and glue.

When cutting the lap joint, the jig slides along the table saw fence while the jig itself keeps the wood square with the assistance of the spring clamps. The plex-glass at the end acts as a stop and helps keep the wood square when clamping the wood to the jig.

I worked very diligently this weekend to finish the router table top. I added the formica veneer to the substrate, trimmed it. White veneer for the top and a dark veneer for the bottom. I did this so I would know which side is up! Just kidding—I needed the rest of the 4×8 white formica for another project so I used a different piece of veneer for the bottom.

Added dadoes for the t-tracks. Cut out the hole for the router table insert. Used a 1/8” round-over bit for the top edges.

Writing it down doesn’t seem like it should’ve taken so much of my time. I will post the process and additional pictures in my router table series sometime this week.