These were the second pair of boxes I have made this year (at least before the snow fell). They are made of walnut with bird’s eye maple slab lids. The keys are actually dovetail keys made with some leftover bird’s-eye maple. Once again, my joinery is improving but getting better. Finished in tung oil/varnish blend.

The details of its construction are covered in my blog.

Again, I am disappointed that I will have to wait until spring before I can get out to my shop!

These boxes were made of lacewood (silky oak) with mitered joints and birch keys. The top is opened by pressing down on one end, which makes the other end flip up an inch.

Was a great learning experience, and the path is detailed in my blog

Yes, the miter joint is awful in the closeup (I would have shot a different corner if I had noticed at the time), but I’ll cover that up eventually ;) It’s one of the lessons I learned…

Many lessons learned, and I am only disappointed that winter came too soon, since I have to shelve my woodworking until spring!

Completed around 2001

Was not much of a technical challenge, however this turned out rather well, I think.

It is essentially a slice of a redwood log, planed smooth, and varnished with a gloss finish. The impression it gives when hung like this is that it is actually a “tree”.

I had finished this some years ago, actually while my mother was in the hospital fighting cancer (she’s still around!) and it was a gift for her since she had found the slice of wood some 20 years earlier during a trip through California.

Made out of a single burl of Cucurbita pepo (aka ”orangewood”), I removed the bark then proceeded to carve the figure…

OK, so it’s not made out of wood… but it is in the spirit of the season

It did let me work on some carving techniques. This is from last year’s halloween (2006), and I will probably do the same this year (If I still have time). Everything is one piece, and the forehead gash is actually gouged deep, with the stitches being suspended over empty space (delicate pumpkin carving!). The mouth is hollowed out as well, with teeth and a tongue.

Though this photo does not do show it, I had a fluorescent blub inside to illuminate it. It made the eyes, forehead crack, and mouth glow.

Last year’s was a dragon atop a mountain peak with the wings partially extended, with a moon in the background, but I can’t seem to find the picture at this moment ;(

[EDIT]
Here are some pics of my 2005 pumpkins.

Sorry, no carving for 2007 was made :(

This is a simple shop-made router table fence that I made. It is very tall so that I can rout the ends of taller boards, and it gives stability for bigger blocks that are standing on their sides.

There is plenty of open spaces along the sides for clamps, clamping is the primary means of attaching it to my router table.

The dust port is a male-male 2-1/4 connector from Ridgid, intended to connect two hoses together, but here it is a great way to connect the shop-vac to my fence.

All-in-all, I find it was a great investment of my time. It is very square and very strong, and once clamped to the tabletop, will not move. Everything you could ask for in a table fence!

Built: 2000

This router table was built to be functional, not beautiful. I also wanted it to be CHEAP. I had just bought my router and the project I was working on required it to be table-mounted.

It is made from a single sheet of 3/4” MDF. It is essentially a box formed by butt, rabbet, and dado joints, with a center shelf supported in dado grooves on the sides. The top is a double-thick layer of MDF to prevent it from deforming with the weight. I did this because I was concerned by the “sag” I saw in the MDF when it was a full sheet, but in hindsight, I’m not sure it was entirely necessary. I added a track for a miter gauge on the top. There is even a kick-plate / support below so I can stand right up to the table when I work. I used corner brackets to add stability, and the top is further supported by a beam of MDF located behind where the router is suspended.

The router is held in place by a Freud router plate that I recessed into the top, supported by a ledge all around, but with a hole in the middle where the router hangs down.

The “door” is the only non-MDF material, since I didn’t want the door to weigh 20 lbs. It is held shut by magnets, and it has an additional magnet to hold it in the open position. I store my router bits and associated tools in the enclosed cavity, which helps to keep them dust free.

Being over 6’ tall, I made the table rather tall (I don’t have the measurement handy) so I would not have to lean over so much when I am routing. I may put my tablesaw on wheels someday to bring it to the same height, but that’s a low priority nowadays.

As for functionality, it’s very good. The only complaint I have with it is the router plate is sunk a little too low, probably 1/32”, maybe 1j/16”. Doesn’t sound like much, but as I slide a long board across the router bit, it gets “raised” slightly as it cliimbs the far side. It’s not noticeable to the eye, but it is to my hand, and I’ve been unable to “shim” it correctly to compensate. I may raise the ledge a fraction by using putty all around, and re-routing it, or I might cut strips of paper/tape to size and apply it to the bottom of the router plate to add height where needed. The nice thing about an MDF construction is that it is HEAVY. This adds stability to the table so things don’t bounce around when I’m using it. Of course, this also makes it more difficult to move around the workshop.

• One 4×8 sheet of MDF $30?
• Angle brackets 6 @ $0.50
• Magnet door holder 2 @ $0.50
• Plywood door – FREE (scrap)
• Door handle – $0.50

Built 2002 – 2006

This pair of nightstands was taken from Woodsmith Magazine #76, however I modified it for hight since the original was only 22” tall! I started the project while living at a house that had a double-car garage for my workshop (ah, nice to be spread out), but then I moved mid-project, then got married, and never picked it up again at the new house that only had a single-car garage and hence no real workshop. The project gathered dust, and I was actually ashamed that I had started since it was always one of those projects that I considered a failure since it was never finished…

Of course, about 3 years later I decided enough was enough, and in a flurry of activity I finally finished the project!

And since finishing this project, I have bought a planer… I got tired of hand-planing the nightstand tops and I was dreading having to do the same to the dresser I wanted to make next (still haven’t started…)

Wood: Cherry
Finish: Tung oil, then shellac, then wax
Hardware: handles from Lee Valley Tools
Techniques: The only really interresting technique were the half-blind dovetails on the drawers… router cut

The first two photos show the finished nightstands from different angles, one showing off the dovetails. The last photo shows the drawers all aligned in a row, in-between coats of shellac. I had to dry these in my basement since it was too cold and humid (it was late fall).