Some Christmas gifts for my in-laws. My son-in-law sent me an e-mail with a photo of a wood clipboard that he thought looked good. Hope it’s what he wants!! Ash, cherry, maple

The stacking blocks for the grandchildren came from the book “Making Toys that Teach” by Les Neufeld. Not as easy as it might appear to get those square blocks to line up every way possible on the pyramidal post, but it was a learning experience and will be different from the usual Toys R Expensive store fare. Oak and maple.

A Chris Schwarz DVD-class project that was fun to build and which I expect to be quite useful. VERY sturdy, compact and stable.

Plus I learned a lot about hand-sawing and measuring by “showing” the piece to the work, instead of being a slave to the tape measure.

A bench I started on the 4th of July and completed in mid-October. Turned out to be one of those BIG projects. But now I wish I had built one of these 40 years ago.

Mostly laminated Doug. fir and with a design that is basically a compilation of many ideas borrowed from C. Schwarz and R. Lang in “The Workbench Design Book” along with a nod to S. Landis’ “The Workbench Book”.

All in all it was a fun project and is extremely satisfying to use. You can hold just about anything very securely somewhere on it’s surface…or side…or end.

Top is 20”W X 3.25”T. All laminated from pieces ripped from 2X12’s and hand-planed to square and flat, which was a first for me and something that amazed me with it’s do-ability. Note that I did not say it was “easy”. It’ll put hair on your chest. But it is quite do-able.

I made my bench dogs from hickory dowel using a design by Schwarz in the WDB…using bullet catches on the sides to keep them in the holes while still allowing them to slide up and down…sort-of a Whack-a-Mole arrangement.

Veritas Twin-Screw vise for the face vise and a 9” quick-release from Rockler for the end vise, both with maple chops. So far I have no complaints about either. I deviated from the recommended installation procedure from Lee Valley on the twin-screw…something that they issue dire warnings about on the first page of the manual…but with some careful thought and close measuring it all worked out fine.

If anyone out there is vacillating about building a proper workbench, I say, “Start doing some research and formulating some plans. Then get to cutting wood.”

You’ll be very happy that you did.

A simple little project. (Yaaay!!! A “simple” project that didn’t take a month and a half!!) Made out of HD pine. I was going to use oak so it would last forever but the weight would have made it a bit difficult for a three year-old to carry. I made templates from hardboard and used a router table to finish the sides. Lots less sanding that way!

From a PW “I Can Do That” article.

Minwax Cherry stain and Polyurethane Satin.

Got the design from a Woodsmith book called “Weekend Woodworking” and built these at my wife’s request. Now she’ll be the only one in her office, etc.

My only comment on this is that I don’t know how many hours there are in a weekend at the Woodsmith offices, but apparently there are a lot more hours than there are in my shop!

Cherry and maple.

Made this with the inspiration of an Internet article and the patient advice of a buddy in my ship modeling club in 2008. I had an old reliable 1 h.p. working motor remaining from a table saw that I had junked and this was the ideal new home for it.

The body of the sander is almost 100% 3/4” Baltic Birch ply (used up a good-ish bit of a 5 X 5 sheet) and the drum is laminated oak. The table is covered on both sides with Formica.

This project was my first real endeavor at making a motorized tool of any sort and I learned a wealth of things from doing it. Turning the drum was a unique project and it required a somewhat bizarre, but effective setup on my 20” lathe. Necessity being the mother of invention and all that.

I designed the tool so that I can sand wood up to 5” thick. Don’t ask me why. I have yet to try sanding down a railroad tie in the thing. :) There is a coarse adjustment on one side of the table and a fine adjustment on the other end that will allow moving the table in the thousandths of an inch at a time. Dust collection is almost 100% effective with the enclosed little Quonset hut-looking thingy on top. What little doesn’t get sucked up is just lying on the table.

A fun project; very useful and very satisfying.

Got just a little carried away with this one. It’s over 5’ long when all assembled, but he enjoys it. Mostly maple with oak railings, store-bought wheels and smokestack. I turned the headlight from some sort of mystery wood that was only labeled as “dark turning stock” at the elegant-wood store. I drilled the blank and glued in a birch dowel before turning.

Made this last year (2008). Again, made from oak for durability. I’m sure the parents will thank me after it has connected with the legs of the new dining room suite and the walls of the new house a few times. :)

I’M HELPING!!! :) :)

This is a simple little toy that most kids find fascinating. I made mine entirely of oak. It doesn’t do a lot other than roll and make a pleasant little clacking noise. No suggestions on dimensions as they can be anything you like. My “wheels” were about 5” in diameter.

This is another from the Mackowicki book. Maple body and 1/4” Baltic Birch surfaces, birch dowel engines, oak landing gear for a little durability. Only took an afternoon to shape and assemble.

I also do ship modeling and was in need of a table to set one of my completed models on. Found plans for exactly what I needed on the WWJ site and built the table from oak with poplar secondary. Modified the dimensions slightly from the plans so that my model fit the top of the table. This table was the reason that I built the router table so that I could do the sliding dovetails on the aprons and legs (Well, it was a good excuse to build the router table anyhow!) and was my first attempt at building some “serious” furniture. I learned a lot and am ready to try more now. Tremendous boost to my confidence.

Norm Abrahm’s design with some ideas borrowed from Bill Hylton’s books plus some modifications of my own so that the thing fits me. Cabinet-grade birch ply with oak facings. The top is a lamination of two 3/4” MDF with Formica on both faces and oak 3/4” edging.

It was a fun project and is already proving to be incredibly useful.

A cute little pull toy that I made last week for our new (10 months) grandson. Plans from the book, “Making Heirloom Toys” by J. Mackowicki. Western Maple and Oak.