Walnut trestle table with breadboard ends. Four coats of Danish oil & Bioshield ‘Furniture & Floor Hardwax’,, which smells delicious by the way…

The f#$%ed up story that goes along with this one: This table was designed by my boss to go in a custom $4M home he is building for a VERY wealthy client. Not only did the owner sign off on the design, but so did the interior designer and the architect. Once delivered they all immediately thought it did not go with the design scheme of the home, claiming that it is ‘too Scandinavian’ and looks too dainty to go with this monstrous southwest adobe-style home. They all agreed that it should be BANISHED TO THE ROOFTOP DECK to weather & deteriorate, and it should be replaced with a more appropriate design. I was heartbroken. -The End

Regards, JM

P.S. By the way, the pics kind of suck, but I did the best I could with the lighting conditions and the crappy editing program on my laptop…

Small side table of cherry with tapered legs, curved aprons, and a floating top. Hand-planed to a finish-ready surface. Again, a test-run with the Leigh FMT. I am really trying to nail down a couple pieces that I can punch out in small production runs and hopefully sell at some local retailers/galleries. Based on the results I achieved with this table (in terms of time, material, overhead, etc…) I figure I can make them in batches of 4 and make a good profit at $350-375. Finished with shellac-polish.

Regards, JM

A pair of Krenovian saw horses; these are typically one of the first projects undertaken at COR and Rosewood Studio. This was a first-run, try-out type project for my Leigh FMT. Let me just say…that thing is sweet.

Horses are built of mostly rift-sawn red and white oak, and finished with shellac-polish, another Krenov favorite. I pegged all the joints with Walnut dowels. Start to finish time is roughly 4 hours… Again, the FMT is sweet. Before, this would have taken me a day and a half just to cut the joinery.

Anyhow…

Regards, JM

Not alot to say about it. It’s just a 12” x 18” piece of 8/4 Sugar Pine. I started a carving class at UNM-Taos about a month ago, and this is my first project, and first ever carving. It is a Nicolai Fechin inspired design, based on a carved door panel documented in the book “Fechin: The Builder”. I really enjoyed the process, and look forward to continuing the program and doing more carving. Next up: Relief.

Regards, JM

Let me preface by saying I know about homerefurbers.com; I prefer it here. It’s a little more cozy. I may post there too, but maybe not. Who knows…?

Anywho, this is what I just finished building. Got my contractor’s license back in January, spent the summer working for another guy, and then this came along. My first project as the HMFIC. It is a 221 s.f. addition in Angel Fire, NM intended to be used as a jewelry maker’s studio. It took a little over 2 months with all the weather delays, and I was in Barbados on my honeymoon for 8 days, so little progress then…

Anyways, it’s a house, and most of you know what it’s made of: (with a little hint of sarcasm…) it’s primarily doug-fir, with secondary woods of cedar and LVL. It was constructed with butt-joints (no-glue) and framing nails. The finish is oil-based stain on the outside and sprayed-on lacquer on the interior. It has accents of glass and metal.

Hope you enjoy. I did.

Regards, JM

Another cabinet job in Taos, NM: Maple solids, natural finish with WB conversion varnish topcoat.

Regards, JM

Here is a recent cabinet job I completed for a new condo development in Taos, NM. Cherry solids (custom stain made to customer’s spec, topcoated with WB conversion varnish) with natural Maple interiors. Not much to say about it…

Regards, JM

So, it’s not really a box, but it does have a drawer and it holds jewelry. So, for today it is a jewely box….

At any rate, this is a gift I am building for my wife. I asked her for some ideas the other day; some things we could use around the house. One of her first responses was “a place to hang necklaces and a shelf to put my perfume on…” So, while I was working in the shop the other day I came across some Walnut that I salvaged from a dismantled project from early on in my ‘career’. I started sketching some ideas and this is what I came up with. I didn’t do any detailed drawings; just took the sketches and started playing around until I came up with some dimensions I liked. The corners/dividers are mostly butt-joints with dowel reinforcements.

The jewelry will hang from an inset length of 3/16” stainless steel bar stock that was polished with 0000 steel wool and wax.

Finish is an oil/varnish blend and wax. The drawer sides/bottom are Lyptus, and the interior is finished with a homemade polish made from ultra-diluted shellac (ala JK).

Pics aren’t so hot; I plan to take some better ones when I get it on the wall…. Let me know what you think.

Regards, JM

Here is a pic of a storage cubby I built for my fiance’s yoga studio. A couple days before the grand opening she asked me to build something ‘quick & dirty….and cheap’ that would serve as clothing/shoe storage for her clients, plus divide the office/retail space from the studio space. Here is what I came up with; it took about 2 sheets of 3/4” MDF, and a sheet of 1/2” for the back. All told I have about 4 1/2 hrs in it including design and layout. No finish yet…I plan to coat the tops of the shelves with something to protect againt water/snow/etc… but have not done so yet.

Joined with a combination of biscuits and confirmat screws; all butt joints. I used eCabinets software, and so I call this a ‘modified base cabinet’. :-)

http://www.santoshayogataos.com/

Enjoy.

This is my first attempt at a Greene & Greene inspired piece; it is a coffee table measuring 40”long x 18”wide, x 19”tall, made of Cherry with Walnut accents. The design was inspired by Gary Rogowski’s side table from the July/August 2004 issue of FWW.

All surfaces are hand-planed. The legs & aprons are joined with hand-cut mortises & tenons, and reinforced with 1/4” dowels which are concealed with square Walnut pegs. The bottom shelf utilizes through-wedged mortises & tenons.The top is joined with buttons.

The finish is an oil/varnish mixture.