Dimensions: 33”H x 29”W x 4”D (at shelf)
Wood: Quarter-Sawn Walnut
Finish: 3 Coats – General Finishes, Arm-R-Seal, satin

Simple mitered mirror frame with 80 degree tapers on the side and top rails. 3” deep shelf. Joined with domino’s and attached to wall with a 3/8” French cleat.

Dimensions: 26”H x 14 1/4”W x 12”D
Wood: Birch & Walnut
Finish: N/A

Taking inspiration from Kaleo's stool, I built this prototype to evaluate dimensions, scale, proportions and joinery aesthetic. I used Birch because it’s cheap and the Walnut was what I had laying around. I milled the 8/4 Birch down to 1 1/4” for the legs, then tapered the parts on the bandsaw. Once tapered, I cut away the profile bevels on the tablesaw. Pre-glued the miters and then cut and installed keys for strength. I hand shaped the front edge of the seat slats with a heavier round-over in the center tapering out to less on the edges for entry/exit and sitting comfort. I am still toying around with several other options for the seat but this was what I came up with for this version of the prototype (others include slung industrial felt or tooling leather or a solid carved wood seatpan….). Because it’s a prototype I probably won’t put a finish on it. My original concept was to make a down and dirty version, tweak as necessary and then make a few out of all walnut but now that this version is finished, I like the mixed wood species….. we’ll see how the final version comes out.

Dimensions: 40” tall x 62” wide x 3” deep
Wood: Walnut
Finish: Finish: 4 coats Oil/Varnish blend (per FWW Hot Rod Your Varnish article)

Here is the last piece of our new bedroom set (until I get the courage to tackle new dressers). The top section hides strips of LEDs that are controled with custom walnut push-button switches mounted to either side of the headboard. The fabric is wrapped around a poplar and plywood sub-frame that encapsulates 1” of high density foam. The walnut fascia and backpanel are matched pieces and all joints were assembled with dominos.

Dimensions: 18” tall x 15” deep x 18” long.
Wood: Walnut and maple ply drawer parts
Finish: 4 coats Oil/Varnish blend
Top: Honed Limestone

One finished, one waiting for varnish and paint. These are the latest addition to our bedroom furniture upgrade. Bench? Check! Side Tables? Check! Headboard? coming soon.

As simple as they look, they challenged me at every turn. The only drawers I had built, assemble and installed before this were for my workbench and those didn’t require near the tolerance these did. The walnut panels are 4 piece glue ups and they were hand planed, scraped and hand sanded. I spent countless hours getting my jack and smoother dialed in but because of my efforts I am a lot more comfortable with the tools. Painting the drawer interiors was an idea I played around with and did a bunch of samples for color and sheen. The blood red is where I ended up. A total of ten coats of spray on primer, undercoat color, finish color and clear. It made wipe on varnish seem super easy. The drawer guides are a bit heavy duty for this application. #100 pound 14” full extension self closers. The drawers are just too light to make the operation smooth. If I were to do it over I would probably use wood runners.

Dimensions: 16” tall x 16” deep x 63” long.
Material: Cherry/Walnut/1/4” Aluminum rods
Finish: 4 coats Oil/Varnish blend (per FWW article this month)

I finished this table about 4 months ago and it’s been sitting waiting for finish. I guess I was dragging my feet because I had seriously burned out on it. Upon completing the design I dove in to production and assembly. As the table came together in real scale, I started to dislike the proportions. Although now finished, I’m getting more comfortable with it. The legs and short stretchers were originally cherry, but I botched the stretcher mortises and ended up cutting the legs down and reattaching walnut. The cherry got a little blotchy and that exaggerates the mismatched color on the top. Hopefully it will all darken to approx the same color. I did learn a lot designing and building it and that’s the goal for me a new woodworker.

Dimensions: 16” tall x 16” deep x 62” long.
Wood: Walnut
Finish: 4 coats Oil/Varnish blend (per FWW article this month)

Yep, I dominoed and glued the bench panel cross grain to the legs. It’s an experiment to see if it fails. If it does, lesson learned. If not, I’ll have a better sense of cross grain limitations. There are 2 (3/4”x3/4” aluminum angles set in grooves and screwed to the underside to help support the span.

Here’s the bevel ramp to accompany my recently finished shooting board. Again, inspiration came from Mot. I added a hook on the bottom to align square with the shooting board’s edge and when it’s pushed tight to the shooting board’s fence, I just have to add a quick clamp and it’s off to the races. I’m thinking about adding a threaded insert to the edge of the shooting board and running a threaded knob through the bevel ramp’s hook to alleviate the need for a clamp.

Read the article: http://www.whitemountdesign.com/BenchDog.htm and make a handful for yourself.

10 pack of 1/4” ball catches – $9.99
3/4” x 36” Walnut dowel – $5.99
Total = Way less that store bought.

I was still using the junky plastic dogs that came with my junky bench. These are very usable, simple & satifying to make and cheap!

I was inspired by the video Tom (mot) posted about shooting boards and decided it was time to make one of my own. It’s 12” x 17” has 2 layers of 3/4” Birch ply with a 3” runway. The fence and hook are 1 3/4” x 3/4” walnut. No glue, just screws. I promised myself I’d plug the screw holes, but i bet if you ask me in a couple years if they are filled the answer will be no….

What are your thoughts on finishing these things? maybe just wax for ease of use and slight protection?

Thanks for the inspiration Tom! I’ve got the parts cut for a bevel ramp so that will be next! Then a miter fence.

as a side note….. this is another one of those tools (i guess it’s a tool) like the card scraper that is so simple in function but is such a joy to use and makes the process fun!

I made this cutting board last Sunday. It’s a birthday gift for my sister. It’s pretty straight forward. 3/4” Zebrawood, 11” x 17” with 1/4” eased edges and a 1” hole rounded over 3/8” on both sides. I sanded to 220 and finished with mineral oil.

The utensils I call “Spatuloons”....... kind of a small spatula and spoon combo. They are just ripped walnut, bandsawed to shape and sanded. Nothin special, but they work great for most stovetop tasks.

The inspiration for this project came from a pile of left over wood from a previous project. The Claro Walnut slats are dadoed to receive 1/8” brushed aluminum cross members and the legs are attached with bridle joints. I pre-finished with 5 coats of Tung oil prior to final assembly. Dimensions are 16W x 26L x 12H.

The inspiration for this project came from the July 2007 issue of American Woodworker. I loved the form of the three legged slat top music stand but I wasn’t quite ready to take on the steam bending process. I modified the design to allow use of simple joinery and straight milled lumber. In addition to a music stand I also needed a guitar stand so I simply added two wood dowels that I dipped in tool handle plastic to add some cushion. The wood is urban harvest Claro Walnut and the finish is 3 coats of Watco wet sanded per Ray Lancon’s instructions (here).