Ok, your first bowl is like your first child…maybe the ugliest kid in the nursery, but its yours and you love it. LOL Made of Popular and result of a lathe class I took at the local Woodcraft Store. Good class for a guy like me who’s never used a lathe before. I learned good basics on tool use and technique, but what I really learned was…..”I never want to sand another lathe project off the lathe again!” Way too much work there. Anyway, out here because its my baby and hopefully later when I get some other projects caught up I can try some more…it was great fun.

A project for a friend who had major surgery. The design came from a Wood Magazine article Issue 192, the one with Norm on the front (boo hoo, good bye Norm..sniff) Anyway, the main box is Honduran Mahogany with walnut splines, handle, handle insert, and feet, and a Birdseye Maple top. Finish is mostly French Polish…my first attempt and after redo a couple of times came out quite well. the inside and bottom are just brushed on shellac. the music came from Klockit, and hinges from Rockler. Fun to make and came out great. Definitely my best piece to date. Thanks to all those who have french polish lessons/instructions on the web, I think I read them all and it helped a great deal. Now with practice the next time will be much easier.

Well, it’s finally done! Took me forever to design and build but just in time for her to take home as she leaves after visiting on Thanksgiving. She gets to take this Christmas present home early.

All solid cherry, with an applique I bought (sorry carving not one of my talents). Measures about 18” X 25” overall. Finish is shellac, General Finishes Warm Cherry stain, and three coats or spray on minwax ploy (satin). The stain was a quick five minute application just to add some red and even the overall color but also allow the real color come through. Overall I think it came out quite well. All the miters came out very well…and that makes me feel good..lol.

Designed from a picture on the internet of an old french antique and just kind of felt my way through it adding my own modifications to make it look how I wanted. First time with no plans and its definitely harder than I thought it would be, but I learned a lot.

Just a short entry, you’ve all seen dozens of these tables now, but had to get mine in too. After all, I haven’t shown any progress since our move to the new homestead. Anyway, typical Wood Whisperer torsion box assembly table with under storage. Sides of the top are red oak, and the bottom oak plywood. Nothing but poly for the finish. I made it a little taller than Marc to use as a infeed/outfeed for my table saw, and it works great for those big sheets of plywood and MDF with my little saw. Only a couple of views, one of the table itself then from behind the saw (which now looks really small now…lol). You can’t see all the mistakes, and that was on purpose…LOL, I made some boo boo’s here and there but that’s what happens when you hurry. Now, I should be able to take my time on the next projects that I have this great table to work on…and thanks to Marc for the idea.

Hi Everyone, your probably getting a little tired of seeing all my projects and I wasn’t going to post this one, but my 14 yr old son told me I should and as everyone with a small shop, like me, knows we are always looking for new storage ideas. So, here is one of mine. I got tired of all my sanding supplies being in several different places around the shop so it was time to consolidate. Lots of cuts for all the pull outs, but I’m an organization freak so it works for me. The bottom section with the rolls has a MDF plate for the sanding blocks and where I cut off the PSA sand paper for the blocks. That MDF is just screwed in so I can replace it later. The sections are used for nylon scub pads, sanding disks, drums and supplies, and all the other misc. stuff. The whole cabinet is about 30”H x 24”W x 14” D, cabinet grade plywood and popular face frame, rails and styles. Not made to be too pretty, but functional. Maybe it will give you some ideas too.

One more then we wait till I make the next one. This was a quick and easy to make gift box I made for my Mom for Christmas this year. Now, you see, those old nasty jewelry store boxes just were not good enough :>) So, I found this article on the FWW site and with a new stock of QS Oak and African Mahogany on my floor well…... As you can see it came out great. I especially have pride in this one because the miters came our “perfect” right off the TS. As, much as I move and bang around my TS perfect cuts are greatly appreciated when they happen (see my shop pics I’ll post later this weekend and you will understand). Anyway, two coats of Bush Oil and the figure was beautiful. The pictures don’t do it justice. Simple, easy project, but fun and it came out great. I recommend it if you need a quick gift, they take very little stock and we all have those small pieces laying around looking for something to do ;>)

Ok, here is another project. This was a practice piece really…I’d just bought a new hollow chisel mortiser and tenoning jig and was desperate to try it out (you know how it is…lol) Anyway, the mortise and tennons came out great and in the end so did the rest of the table. My first furniture piece, very simple, but it came out well. Very happy with the drawer, except the dovetails. I have a harbour frieight dovetail jig which I’ve had a few years and now officially “hate” the thing. I’d have been much better off learning and cutting my own dovetails. The color came our much more red than my sample, but again just a practice pieceso it was Ok. The top is oak, the bottom is all pine, legs from an old 2×10 I had laying around….got to love what you can do with stains and finish…lol. My son uses it as a bedside table so even the prototypes (as Norm calls them) can be useful.

This is a quick project I did early this summer for my granddaughter’s 2nd birthday. Wood Magazine again, but this one was really fun. No, I didn’t make all the parts, but the ones I did make were out of popular…because of the painting. I did get to do some techniques and practice some things I don’t usually do (i.e. circle cutting). But I had a lot of fun and it came out great. I saw on someone’s projects the made the same ones, but with natural finish. If you have a little one around I recommend making one this was a blast to build and my granddaughter loved it.

One of my first real serious projects. Plan out of…I think Wood magazine. Made out of ash and stained with minwax cherry (I think) and topped with satin poly. the tile in the lid was very thick and very heavy. It definitely added heft to the box, but I think maybe a little too much. Anyway, not too bad for a rookie :>)