I made this desk a year ago in a Continuing Education course at a local art college, the Minnesota College of Art and Design (MCAD). I just recently completed it by fixing the facing edges on the top and then applying a dye-tinted shellac finish.

It was exhibited this past weekend at the 26th Annual Minnesota Woodworkers Guild exhibition known as Northern Woods. For more information on our Guild and some of the past works exhibited, visit www.mnwwg.org

I started a blog on the design and build process that I will now finally try to complete after a long hiatus.

Materials:
Mahogany, Basswood, MDF
Aniline Dye
Shellac

It’s been a while since I made a project contribution to the site but after a little consideration I decided this reclamation project was a good candidate for “One Man’s Junk”. My father-in-law had an old steel desk from the 60s or 70s hanging around and asked me to post it on Craigslist and get rid of it and outta the spare garage (half of which houses my shop). Well, after two listings we had no takers and it just sat on its end on a dolly and I had to wheel it in and out every time i worked in the shop.

Flash forward to this spring and my plans to build an all-in-one outfeed table, work station, chop saw stand, planer stand, router table. I have some plans I heard about here on the site but they call for quite a bit of MDF and I’m not convinced I want to deal with all the toxic dust it creates. The other problem was what would I do with the old desk to make room for the tool/work station. Then, it dawned on me I had the basis for the tool station in the old desk. I talked to my FIL about letting me take the desk off his hands. He said that would be great and wouldn’t even take a penny for it.

I figured I could get some plywood and bolt it too any surface that I wanted to use as a surface to attach shelf mounts, hooks, etc. I also figured there was a way to get it onto some casters even though the legs were only 1 inch square. A little work in SketchUp and I was ready to go.

It’s not quite fully enhanced as per the SU plan but I was so happy to have it operational that I moved on to other projects so I could put it to use. I have some ideas for ways to incorporate some movable platforms (anchored in T-tracks) to function as outboard platform extensions for my chop saw and planer. The t-track approach would allow me to securely lock down the platforms with toilet bolts and knobs thus avoiding the handles of clamps getting in the way. This modification is “under development” for now though.

As for the table saw outfeed usage, I really lucked out. The height of the table is just a little less than 3/4 of an inch shy of my saw’s height. Just perfect for using another ‘salvaged’ item. I recently picked up two 30×42 x 3/4 drawing table tops for $25 total cost from a local surplus and salvage store. These are nice tops with the white super-slick laminate. One of them is used to take up the gap between top of the desk and the table saw. It works really well.

Materials:
1 Steel Desk – FREE
2 4×8 sheets 7/16” OSB – $8 each
6 linear feet of construction lumber – FREE leftovers from the New-Fangled workbench project
4 3-inch casters – about $25 – purchased at big sale at Woodcraft earlier this year
Various lag, machine, and hex bolts and their washers and nuts for attaching the OSB and casters – about $35 (some new, some on hand)
Increased storage, mobility, and flexibility in my small shop – worth it!

This is the other project I made as a gift to take to a co-worker when I was at the Portland office last week. The last photo shows it next to the box I made at the same time.

I had something completely different in my mind’s eye but was winging it… I like the way this came out though. I think I will play around with this lap joint variation I have going. The pins/dowels are 1/8” brass that I cut to 1” lengths and tapped in. The are intentionally left proud and the edges were deburred and left unpolished. The goal was for this to be less refined than the desk organizer but still illustrate some craftsmanship. I think I met that goal.

There is a 1/8” piece of hardboard as the bottom of the actual cavity about an 1” or so from the table top. This is so pens don’t disappear. It seats in dados cut on the router with a spiral bit. Shaping of the rounded corners was on the drill press with a small sanding drum. They were then touched up with 220 and I broke all the edges just a little at the same time too. The coolest part is that I used no glue and it is quite solid. Another reason to explore this joint in different types of boxes.

Padauk
Brass
Approx. 3×3 x 5 1/2
Two coats Watco Danish Oil

I spent last week at our Portland office for work. I knew about the trip for a month prior and decided I would take a few small projects as surprise gifts for my boss and a co-worker I’ve known for 3 years now. It was a nice diversion from what I had been doing in the shop not to mention rewarding. I used keyed miter joints for the first time. I also had an idea for the handle and it actually worked as planned! How often does that happen?

I made this organizer for my boss and a pencil & pen holder for my co-worker. The groove at the front for the a writing instrument was really well received. It was an afterthought that I stuck with from when I sketched it.

It’s very simple and will accommodate post-it notes as well as plenty of paper clips, binder clips, or other desktop minutiae. The center divider can be removed if desired. The lid is simply rabbeted all around and sits flush on the box.

Figured Cherry, Padauk miter keys and handle
8×5 x 2 1/4
2 coats of Watco Danish Oil

Thanks for looking.

Originally published as project in the Nov/Dec 1999 issue of Fine Woodworking, this bench was developed by John White, the shop manager at FWW. It was recently revived when the folks at the magazine put out a video as an update due to several inquiries about the bench over the years. For links to the video and the public-domain PDF file with the plans, please check out my blog on the build process. The blog contains some Sketchup shots as well as an idea for making the bench more of a knock-down type bench for those with limited space and/or seasonal considerations that would require portability.

Materials:
Fir construction lumber (be sure to check out the article for suggestions on the milling)
MDF
1/2” Galvanized pipe
Jorgensen “Pony” pipe clamp fittings
Lag bolts and deck screws

Thanks for taking a look.

P.S. My apologies for the fuzziness of the photos. I didn’t realize until I saw them blown up they were shaky. I need to use a tripod in the future.

This is a box I made for my dad on a whim for Father’s Day. Me being in MN and him in TX, he never gets to see the stuff I’m working on. He and mom only use dial-up so I seldom send photos. I felt it was necessary to give him a taste by making him (and mom) something that could be put on the mantle.

The box is made of Rustic Cherry and is finished with two coats of Watco Danish Oil. Please see my blog series if you would like more details.

This is a design I worked up a while back and it’s actually still a work in progress. I’ve seen so much great work of the Arts & Craft style by the other Jocks that I’m hoping I can get some helpful feedback from folks.

The single drawer chest is actually intended to be removable and would interlock with the stretchers (not drawn in yet) of the base. It would be sort of like big tongue and groove joints I guess you could say. I think it gives a nice balance to the whole thing and lessens the extreme height. It would be about 23” wide x 78” tall x 20” deep as drawn now. The joinery would be mostly mortise and tenon as seen in the ‘x-ray’ version pic.

I would like some feedback on the ‘chest’, the arcs (should they be a little more flat?), and any modifications that might better drive home the a&c influence. Admittedly, I have not done much research on the subject of Arts and Crafts mirrors as of late.

The weird shape on the front of the drawer has something to do with how SketchUp draws the textures. It is not meant to look that way. Thanks for looking!

I created this out of necessity because the old brownstone we live in is lacking sufficient closets. KT and I have a good deal of open-air space and high ceilings but we sacrifice storage space. The loft has a small 5 foot wide (only 22” deep) closet augmented by an unfortunate particle board armoire. Previously, this closet had only one shelf spanning the length of the closet anchored to one stud and the corner joints. If you want the whole silly story, visit my blog on the closet.

I mistakenly estimated the sturdiness of the shelf and built a case to house my sweaters, shoes and miscellaneous items. I built it out of 1/2” Baltic Birch because I wasn’t totally oblivious to weight concerns. I just underestimated the installation skills of the previous owners. I am learning many things the hard way. But, I won’t easily repeat my mistakes.

Lessons Learned:
- Baltic Birch is great to work with;
- finger joints in BB are very strong but hard to fit if they are just a little tight (easy to rip out top layer);
- BB is very sturdy if the ol’ closet collapses… this case was very minimally damaged but the closet wall had to undergo significant repairs. The basic rabbet joints glued with Titebond II suffered NO negative effects from the wrenching and shifting required to get the case out.

Construction:
- Slotted interlocking shelves for easier portability;
- drawers have box/finger joinery in the front for aesthetic purposes and rabbet joinery on the rear of the drawers;
- there are no runners or mounts for the drawers as they are meant to be loose in the case and easily and quietly pulled out while others are asleep.

This design is from the Working with Tablesaws book from the “New Best of Fine Woodworking” series published by the Taunton Press. At the time, I was reading article after article and books specifically about jigs and fixtures. I’m a real geek that way I guess. Maybe I should have been an engineer or something of that nature…

Anyway, this is an MDF jig and is pretty substantial due to the density and size. It is ‘micro’ adjustable by virtue of the threaded rod and crank. The other advantage is the ability to lock down the movable part of the jig to the base that slides in the TS miter gauge slot once you have it where you want it.

Lessons learned:
1) Threaded brass inserts put into MDF require the workpiece you are threading the insert into to be sandwiched tightly between two other dense materials to eliminate swelling of the MDF. Thus, the use of a scrap of Padauk. Even at that, I threaded that insert slightly off from 90 degress and had to make a slight cut with the TS on the support to put the brass insert perpendicular to the base;
2) ensure, with much attention to detail, the face of the jig is perpendicular to the base (and your TS miter slot. Otherwise your tenons will not be square to your mortise;
3) ensure your material for the miter slot insert/slides are a snug but freely moving fit;

Materials:
- 3/4” MDF
- “milkboard” or UHMW (found at Woodcraft, Rockler and other locations)
- Heavy-duty adjustable hold-down (I got mine at Rockler)
- Finely-threaded rod material
- Knob (design or your preference) and Crank handle.
- Misc nuts and washers per the design specifications

This is the ‘jewelry’ box I was working on and made reference to in my blog about neighbors that don’t like woodworking. Unfortunately, it is still not complete because I’m debating a do-over of the lid. In my ignorance, I executed an ill-conceived design. That said, it’s square in the horizontal plane but I did not allow (or know to) the movement of the wood. Thus there is a bad gap of about a 16th of an inch between the ‘insert’ and the lid frame. You can see in the overhead shot. My perfectionist side wants to do it over but my more rational half (KT) has sworn to my face she will beat me if I do. She loves it as it is. A smart man will stop here and put the finish and hardware on. I’m dumb but not stupid so I guess I’ll finish it as soon as the weather warms up.

Lessons learned:
1) Use miter joints in the corners instead of the ‘reverse breadboard’ approach I used;
2) Measure the moisture content and account for wood movement OR don’t mill the stock in the most humid part of the season;
3) make sure you don’t overclamp and force your work out of square in the vertical plane;
4) how to make a finger/box joint jig and cut them ‘close enough’ to assemble a box that doesn’t look too ridiculous;
5) how to use my low angle block plane to fair up the fingers;
6) how to use my low angle block plane to mess up an already well-planed surface thus forcing more sanding than one should need to do.

Thanks for looking and I honestly welcome your constructive criticism as that is the only way I can improve.

The woods used are Curly Maple and Padauk. The rough dimensions are 10×6 x 3.