This keepsake box contains alot of firsts and alot of new challanges.
First off the box base is hickory, first time I had ever used hickory for anything, that’s a do again.
First time I had used splined miters … (made the jig so that is a do again).
And now … fanfare here … my second and third wood Shipwright hinges. The first one was a prototype of pine. Paul (Shipwright) and Andy (gdfdvm) inspired me to make these, and I used Andy’s no glue meathod and bored a 7/64 hole and used a bamboo skewer for the pin driven in, the hinges looked clunky so I sculptured them on the OS sander and my right thumb with sandpaper. Hinges are QS white oak.
Splines are from a piece of rosewood that I have had since I was in Highschool … circa 1962.
The little trim under the curley maple top is walnut.
I sanded it to 320, and finished it with BLO to make the grain pop, and topcoated it with shellac (HVLP spray) and finishing wax.
Added felt buttons fo the feet ahd Wholla!
The biggest lesson I learned here are THESE ARE FUN!
Comments Welcome

This was really a fun build, I knew how long the top needed to be and how high she wanted it. But the rest was quite vague and I had to guess at alot, but she wanted to match some of her other furniture. That kind of made it a challange. one piece was QS white oak and another was red oak.
The White oak piece looked like it was ammonia fumed and the red oak piece had some kind of stain … hmmmm.
Well, I got the basic table cut out and decided that the legs looked to clunky so I tapered them, not really an Arts & Crafts thing but it lightened the look alot, so I beveled the top to lighten that line. now the lady wanted rounded corners … OK, on the front.
So now I’m ready to finish; I liked the looks of BLO to bring out the grain, and I had come up with a shop mixed stain that looked real close to her other furniture, so here is the delema, do I oil first or stain first?
I went to the LJ’s forum and was told that “BLO was only good for starting fires in barrels full of stain” but I did get some positive replies, and I made a LJ buddy so it was a win.
I oiled, stained, sealed with amber shellac, and topcoated with WB urathane and of course finishing wax.
The legs are QS red oak to help match the White oak piece and the remainder is flat sawn to match the red oak pieces.
This is all mortise and tennon construction, sanded to 320. I did have one joint that wasn’t a real tight fit, but mostly, only I know where that is.
OH yea … She loved it.
If I had it to do over again, after seeing the result the only thing I would change is the shellac … I would use the clear. The amber snuck in a orange hue that I’d rather be without.
Comments Welcome.

This tool cabinet is one that was aired on the Woodsmith Shop PBS TV show. I made some modifications to suit my needs. The sliding doors gives two layer storage that facinated me.
It’s consructed of pine and BORG pegboard. I chose the white pegboard to reflect the light better as my aging eyes need all the help they can get.
I used some dado, pocket hole,rabbit, and good old butt joints on this piece. everything is glued and screwed together. I changed the top cleat on the back to a french cleat so that i can move ti to the new shop (comming soon) when it’s built. And I think that it is a bit sturdier.
The stain on the frame and the stain on the door frames are leftover Minwax that I mixed together to use up the little bits leftover from other projects. I can’t repeat it but it looks good and it used up stuff that would have been thrown out.
This was a fun weekend build and as you can see by the photos I am just now adding shelves and moving into this sliding door cabinet.
I special ordered the pegs on line because these won’t fall out as you remove a tool … I will post a tool review later on these … a must have if you use pegboard. ... Comments?

I wanted a coat rack to go in the entry way and I couldn’t find an existing plan for what I wanted, so I combined some ideas and here is what I came up with. (Yes I believe in plagiarism) :P
I wanted to play with some bridle joints, and a home-mixed stain; I was trying to make it look like ammonia fumed, but it looks like … well, stained oak, but I like it anyway.
I did learn that if you scratch the black stuff on the back of the mirror everyone will try to wash it off from the front, so I replaced that mirror panel.
It is BORG red oak, bridle joints with some Ace Hdwre coat hooks. a simple weekend project.

This is a proto type clamp rack that I will rebuild in my new shop slated for 2013. I brought a bunch of Pine 1X4 and 1X6 material from Missouri to our new home in Surprise Az. ... well Surprise! as soon as the sun hit it it all warped and twisted. Seems to be a humidity thing. (I could have made some really nice propellers). Well being the Yankee that i am, I won’t throw it away, so I cut them up and used the Kregt jig, clamps, and a bunch of glue for assembly.
I have seen these racks on the net, and Stumpy Nubs made one, but I had no drawings or dimensions, so I set it up using the best SWAG engineering for 15 clamps to the tier. Habitat RE-Store had the hinges. I ended up with 45 clamps in the rack and a bunch of squeezy clamps on the sides of the rack and room for some C clamps along the bottom stretcher. Total cost … $5 for the hinges at the Re Store.
The next one I build for the permanent shop will not have the mistakes that this one has, but it was fun to do anyway. Oh, by the way, after I built this I did find that there are drawings available on Stumpy’s web site.
Thanks to all of you for being here.