Our former Pastor asked me to make her a riser for the flower vase that goes on the alter. She was looking to have the flowers about 3-4” higher. Knowing I didn’t have much time to do this as it was Christmas time. I ran to the HD and picked up some 1×4 oak and some molding. I had some 2×4 poplar on hand.

So, I biscuit joined the poplar to form the base. Then cut the oak 1×4 and edged glued them together to form the top. At that point I was thinking I would like to use my RAS to cut the side molding but, knowing that many people claim that you don’t get good miters on the RAS I was thinking of using the miter saw. Well, I decided to use the RAS because I had just tuned it about a month ago and it was cutting very nicely. I think you can tell by the pictures that it did cut them perfectly. I planed the base with my new Dewalt 735 planer. Sanded with 320 and assembled the molding with glue and brad nails to the base leaving about a 1” rise inside the holder so the vase shouldn’t slide off. Filled the nail holes and sanded lightly with 320 again. The finish was 1 coat of shellac and 2 coats of brush-on lacquer and sanded lightly between coats with 400 then a coat of beeswax. The final dimensions are 7” x 7” x 4 1/4”.

This by no means was a difficult project except that I did not have much time and could not afford to make any mistakes. I was very happy in the results and the Pastor was thrilled. It now sits on the alter at her church in East Hampton, NY.

comments and/or advise welcome.

I made a few of each of these cutting boards as gifts. One went to the UPS driver that brings me my wood from the internet as well as tools. Another went to my chiropractor that keeps me as straight as possible so I can continue to make things. I guess I shouldn’t forget one for the Boss (my wife) ;-) and others.

Size 8.5” x 14” The first board is cherry, maple and curly maple.
The second board is walnut, cherry, maple, blood wood.

Sorry the pictures are not that good but when my son is on Christmas vacation from college, I will have him help me with it.

I refinished these Red Mahogany dressers about 10 years ago. They are about 55 years old. The tall dresser was mine and the smaller was my sister’s. She had painted hers 6 times. Mine was left as is. I stripped both and sanded with various grit paper ending with 400. I did use a dental pick to get onto the small pieces, mixed the stain to match the original color that had a lot of red. I used minwax red oak as a base then added a dark red paint and stain tint. after some trial and error it matched perfectly. The finish was about 6 coats of oil poly sanded between coats with 400. These dressers have been for my wife and I since completed. I must say I was very proud of these although you can’t tell from the bad quality pictures. Sorry about that. The red tones in the pictures look more orange but they are not.

Feel free to make suggestions.

This was done at about age 12 or 13 In Jr. High ( that’s what it was called back then) about 40 years ago. The old wood shop class. The wood is walnut. I don’t remember what finish. But, it didn’t come out to bad. It still hangs in our spare room. I keep it because it brings back good memories. You know the first real project, the first girlfriend, we’ll maybe we should keep this about wood…. SORRY, I mean wood shop. Hope you enjoy as much as I do.

This was my first project as a kid, done all by myself, about 12 years old. Now it’s not that great but, this was about 40 years ago and my son who’s 20 still uses it as a night stand. It was made out of pine and if I remember correctly I used a poly finish.

We’ll, I finally got my son to help me post this project. This is my first posting although I have been with Lumberjocks for a while. I don’t have a digital camera. We’ll here goes.

This is a cutting board for our Pastor that was transfered. She is very special to us and I wanted to do something for her from the heart. This is the Methodist Cross and Flame. It started out as a cutting board but when she saw it she said she couldn’t cut on it. So, she is using it as the Communion Plate that serves the bread. This was my first attempt at an inlay. Not close to perfect but not too bad for the first time. It is Hard Maple, Purple Heart and the cross is Walnut. The finish has three coats of salad bowl finish that I got from Rockler. Advise always welcome.

I have some more boards to make for friends soon.