June, 2013—I was inspired by a pen rack that I saw while surfing the web. The arch is made from a piece of oak, pruned off a tree in the yard. After trimming it up to the approximate dimensions of 2×3 lumber, I drew the arch on the side of it. But before cutting the arch on the band saw, I used a forstner bit to drill the holes. That way, no tear out!

The arch is attached to an oak base with two recessed screws from underneath. Then I marked where the pen tips touch the base, unscrewed the arch, and drilled holes in the base for the pen tips to rest in. Those little holes are about 3/16”’ diameter and 3/16” deep.

Everything is sanded to 220 grit, and then sprayed with three coats of gloss lacquer. My goal in finishing was to keep the display rack as “vanilla” as possible, so as not to distract from the beauty of the wood in the pens. Thanks for looking.

June, 2013—Problem: Computer monitors sitting too low on the desk, making it uncomfortable to see them. Solution: Build a stand to raise them up. Been wanting to get this done for months!

Wood for this project is maple 3/4-inch furniture-grade plywood, edge-banded with the iron on birch edging. Sanded to 220 and then followed by Minwax Pre-Stain, General Finishes’ oil-based “Warm Cherry,” and 3 coats of water-based gloss poly. Joinery done with the Kreg pocket hole jig, course screws, with maple plugs (see last photo). Wood glue used in this project only to hold the pocket plugs in.

June, 2013—This is my first pen turned from an acrylic blank. The pen kit is called “Elegant Sierra Two-Toned Copper Pen Kit Style B”. The pen kit and blank came from a friendly on-line store I discovered called Bear Tooth Woods.

I used a carbide-tipped tool to rough it out, then followed with a mini roughing tool, followed by a mini scraper. Then sand paper down to 1200 grit. Then 0000 steel wool. Finish is a couple of coats of Briwax.

Since I’m new at pen turning, all tips, tricks, and suggestions eagerly accepted! :-)

May, 2013—Making pens is fun to do with a small lathe. After making a few I realized I would need a way to store them and showcase them. Of course there are ready-made options available at Woodcraft and other stores. But as I wandered through a local thrift shop I noticed an old jewelry box for $4. I decided to buy it and make two trays to hold my pens.

The trays are about 10×7 x 7/8 inches overall dimension. I used scrap 3/16-inch plywood. The “slats” are spaced so there is at least 5/8-inch space between slats. It worked out to 12 slots in each tray, or a total capacity of 24 pens. I stained the plywood dark walnut (Minwax) and gave a coat of poly over that. But you really don’t see much of the plywood.

After the trays were built I covered them with a thin foam rubber product, which comes from the local hobby / art supply store in sheets that are 12×18 inches. I needed two sheets at 89-cents each. The sheets were cut to the inside width of the slots, and carefully pressed “over and under” across the slots. I used the Gorilla Super Glue to secure the foam rubber. By the way, it really sticks well.

To help cushion things, there is a piece of sponge-like foam padding glued to the inside of the lid. This came with the box, already in place.

I’m very happy with how this turned out, and I’m ready to make some more pens! Then I shall return to my first love, the band saw boxes. :-)

May, 2013—This is a glue-up of narra with oak on the back. Knobs are walnut, turned on the lathe. This was my first time working with narra. It is easy to work with and smells good too!

Finish is spray satin lacquer.

May, 2013—My first top, made from my new mini-lathe. It’s very simple, and nothing special, but to me it was an important milestone. :-)

Made from a chunk of oak that I pruned off the tree in my front yard. Sanded and buffed with wax. It works very well. Two of the photos show the top while it was spinning.

April, 2013—Spotted an old knife block at a thrift store when they were running their 50-percent off sale. The lighter maple strips fill in the slots where the knives would have been. I decided to have the stripes going horizontally, instead of vertically. The overall shape is just something that popped into my head.

One technical problem. This box is taller than my 14-inch band saw can cut. (About an inch too tall.) Therefore I could not slice off the back! So I used another decorative wood for the back.

The knobs are home made on my new mini-lathe. Finish is tung oil, which makes the various grain patterns pop. I’m happy with how this turned out.

April, 2013 – Many thanks to “Sawdust Tom” who discovered this previously owned lathe listed in his wood turner club’s For Sale list. I am the happy new owner of a Jet 6-speed mini-lathe with stand. Here are photos of it, after I cleaned it up.

On the first day it became very clear that a tool caddy would come in very handy. First I made a wood “beam” between the struts, using existing bolt holes. Then I fabricated a piece of 3/8-inch plywood to fit. The plywood is about 33-inches wide by 16-inches front to back.

There is a lip around the edge to keep tools from rolling off. In the rear on the right is a thicker piece of wood to hold tools upright. I had some cherry-red paint, which matches the red in the Jet logo, so I used it over primer.

Time will tell how useful this is. I have not had a lathe in about ten years, and I really wanted a mini lathe like this. I’m looking forward to making knobs for my band saw boxes, some pens, and maybe some other small objects.

March, 2013 – Another band saw box. These are fun to make. This one is unusual in two ways. First, the back is oak. This is what can happen when you forget to cut off the back before cutting out the drawers!

The second thing that is different: I cut a curve in the face that is not aligned with the X nor Y axis. This gives the front a rather subtle, random look. Was my first time trying that.

The wood is very pretty so I didn’t clutter the face with drawer knobs. The finish is water-based poly satin, brushed on.

March, 2013 – This might be Norfolk Island Pine, I’m not sure. It is a pretty wood, and easy to work with. So as not to distract from the natural beauty of the front, I used finger holes in the back to allow the drawers to be pushed out. Ajax can for scale. Multiple coats of brushed-on satin poly, water-based.

March, 2013 – I’m not sure what kind of wood this is. It might be Norfolk Island Pine. We got it from a tree that had been cut down. The first tool I used was a chain saw!

Has multiple coats of water-based poly satin, brushed on. On this one I decided to put holes in the back to push out the drawers, rather than mar the beauty of the front with knobs. The Ajax can shown for scale.

January, 2013—Another honey-do project completed. The idea here was to make a display for some sea shells that could hang like a picture.

Wood is plywood and poplar. Tools used: planer for the poplar frame, router for the plywood cut-outs, power miter saw for the corners, table saw for a slot in the frame to hold the plywood, hand-plane to ease the frame edges, and palm sander. Water-based primer followed by latex paints, then a water-based satin poly over everything.

Shells glued on with hot glue and two-part epoxy. Lettering by Victoria. This is now on display in the bedroom, on the display shelf I made some time ago.

January, 2013—Old kitchen cutting boards are great raw materials for wood craft projects such as this band saw box. This one has three layers of wood sandwiched between two cutting boards. The front cutting board is kind of fancy, with stripes of various hard woods.

Old cutting boards are usually very beat up, with knife marks and food stains. So the first step is to run them through the thickness planer until they clean up.

The handle for the drawer is made from a piece of the cutting board that was cut off. I crafted it such that the pattern would match the drawer front itself. This box is sanded to 220 and finished in tung oil. This project was fun to make and the end result exceeded my expectations. Thanks for looking.

January, 2013—This box is a glue up of glue ups. Some spalted silver maple is glued up into boards that are then glued to each other, along with a bamboo board in the back.

The front face is curved, but not on the X-Y axis. I wanted to try something different and curve the face along the diagonal. Hopefully the photos will show this effect. If I were to do this one over I would make the drawer handles a little smaller. Otherwise I am very happy with the final result.

This is finished with tung oil, which really helps the grain “pop.” Thanks for looking!

December, 2012—Small scraps from larger projects are often tossed in the trash. However when I can I try to glue up small pieces to make “chunks” of wood large enough to make small boxes. These four boxes are about 3 to 4 inches in the longest dimension. I use a 3-16ths 10-TPI blade in my band saw. These are finished with satin poly.

These small boxes are handy for storing rings, coins, thumb-drives, or anything small.

December, 2012—These are made from a glue-up of three difference hard woods. The smaller heart box is made from the scrap from the larger box, so they nicely “nest” together (see last photo). These are finished with tung oil.

December, 2012—Isn’t wood amazing? So many species; so many variations! This started out as a piece of a log given to me by my neighbor, Sawdust Tom. We think it is spalted maple. But whatever it is, this is an interesting specimen.

A chain saw was used to carve out a rough piece that would conform to the cutting capacity of my band saw. Then the band saw was used for all cuts. The front face is curved to add more visual interest. The knobs are cut from the same wood, and attached with dowels and glue. There are runners on the drawer bottoms to center the drawers within their openings.

After sanding to 220, tung oil was used to make the grain really pop. This box stands about 5.5-inches tall. I really enjoyed making this box. I also enjoy holding it in my hands and inspecting the grain.

December, 2012—Florida cypress is a nice wood to work with. Looks great with some interesting color variations, while also being on the softer side and easy on the tools. I’m happy to have some boards that were left over from a neighbor’s home construction project, so she gave them to me.

The inspiration for this design emerged from a story told by “Sawdust Tom”—a neighbor and fellow woodworker. I’ve named this piece Rosalie, after a high-school girl of the same name from ~40 years ago. Those were the days!

All contours and cuts were done with the band saw. The rear edges were eased with a round-over bit in the router table. The knobs are made from oak dowels. There are runners under the drawers to center them in their openings. After sanding to 220, the finish is multiple coats of water-based satin polyurethane.

October, 2012—I had some maple left overs and decided to make a small table. After the top was made I found these nice legs at the Sarasota Architectural Salvage store, and also bought the decorative carvings on the ends.

This has a light amber stain followed by multiple coats of satin polyurethane. Many thanks to my woodworking pal, Sawdust Tom, for the suggestions on how to do the trim. My wife says it turned out nice.

September, 2012—A neighbor is a retired radio engineer and is now active in the amateur radio hobby. He requested some help from me to make some nice shelving for his radio shack. We decided on maple with a dark stain. The shelving is 3/4-inch maple plywood from Anderson Lumber (‘the beast”) in St. Petersburg, Florida. The plywood edge is banded with maple edging from Woodcraft in Clearwater, FL.

The shelf supports with the square holes are completely movable to accommodate any equipment changes or rearrangements he would like to make. There is felt glued to the top and bottom of the uprights to help them slide easier, without scaring the finish on the shelves. All shelving was first prepped with Minwax Wood Conditioner followed by two coats of Minwax Dark Walnut stain. Once dry, Satin water-based polyurethane was applied by brush in three coats. Joinery is a mix of biscuits and pocket screws.

We are both happy with how it turned out. It is a very comfortable radio shack to sit in. I had fun working on this project.