Feels good to be inspired again. 2012 was so nuts I had no time to woodwork.

Just finished a fly rod wrapping jig and took it out for a spin at the Kentukiana Fly Fishing show put on by the Derby City Fly Fishers. My good friend Gary Krebs and I represented our local fly fishing club Tippecanoe Fly Fishers. Gary is a very talented inventor and fly tyer. Here’s a link to his instructional videos and his fly tying products.

I have been building many fly rods lately and wanted a nicer rod wrapping jig. It’s modeled after the Flex Coat wrapping jig but I added brass hardware and gave the rod supports a way to slide. Finish is Watco medium brown and Watco satin poly. There’s a rare earth magnet in the lower right to hold a razor a ruler.

Just finished my first commission! Box is curly soft maple, cherry for the tray and dividers. The inlay is black dyed pearwood. Finish is french polished shellac. Tray is lined with suede. Had to buy a 1/16” chisel for the tray dovetails. Feels good to get this one done.

I actually found some time to turn some Christmas presents before it was to late!! Main wood is paduk. Inlay is 1/16” maple sandwiched between two 1/32” black dyed veneers. The ellipse is cut on a table saw sled at 25 degrees. I don’t cut all the way through the blank so I have some alignment when clamping. All glued with :30 minute epoxy for better end grain adhesion and to reduce glue creep. Turned them with a jacobs chuck, dowel rod and a live center. When I had the boiled linseed oil and super glue finish where I wanted I mounted the turning in a four jaw chuck and cut the stub off and finished.

One down, seven more to finish.

Built this TFO professional series 9 weight rod for a fellow Tippecanoe Fly Fishers club member. The grip is Macassar ebony, paduk and maple. The guides are American Tackle solid titanium ring lock guides. It’s a bit heavy and might be tiring casting it all day but it sure looks pretty. The finish on the grip is super glue.

Credit for design goes to Mark Blabaum.

I was inspired by an ad I saw in Fine Woodworking for shaving brush and razor hardware kits. One is african blackwood and the other is cocobolo. Finished with super glue. Got the hardware from the golden nib.

All credit for design goes to Mark Blabaum

Wood is Paduk, maple and black dyed veneer. Finish is superglue. Auctioned the rod off at our Fly Fishing clubs annual fund raising auction.

Wow this chair is finally done! My first blog post was 547 days ago! Won’t make those millions selling furniture at this rate.

Found the plans from a book “Wood Magazine Arts and Crafts Furniture”.

Here is a link to some of the blog posts.

Hello LJ’s. Just finished a shop air cleaner. I had some work done on my furnace recently and it got me thinking about what does the hvac company do with old furnaces when they remove them. “We just scrap them. Would you like one?” So that how I got this free blower and motor. I had the plywood laying around the shop and I had to buy an electrical box, two 10amp switches, eye bolts, chain and a couple filters. All in all I think I have $40 in this. The blower has four windings for four speeds. Even on low this thing cranks out some air. On high every piece of paper in the shop gets blown around. Fun little project.

Found the plans for this in Wood Magazine Arts and Crafts Furniture

It was very simple to build and has no play in it. I have not tested it though. Hopefully this weekend if we don’t go canoeing.

Hello. I completed this last summer but didn’t think to post it until now. Not my idea and can’t remember where I found it but credit to the original designer whomever that may be. I was tired of having to move my tool box every time I wanted to get a sheet of plywood so I built this thing. When I need something it just rolls out from the wall. The hinge point is right by the garage door track. Three heavy duty wheels and two heavy duty hinges for the hardware. I used two sheets of cheap cdx plywood for the frame. One sheet was cut from corner to corner to make the back and middle partition. The other sheet made up the bottom, front partition and side. Can’t remember the dimensions but you get the idea. Glued and screwed.

Finished this a while back but didn’t think to post it. The table came out very flat, I was pleasantly surprised. Used metal full extension drawer slides for the drawers. I used two sheets of Maple plywood for the door and drawer fronts. I like having the clamps hanging off the end of the table.

Got the plans from the Wood Whisperer dude at Fine Woodworking. Here’s a link. And the second half.

Hello everyone. Just finished a cutting board that will be a wedding present for some friends of ours. Dimensions are 2”x14”x19”. First time using this finish and so far so good. Heated it up in my glue pot filled with water. Put on four coats and it seems to be finished absorbing any more. This board went a lot faster than previous ones. I used clamping cauls to keep everything in line and that minimized leveling. I used my new Lie Nielsen low angle jointer to plane it level. I was really impressed and tired after using it. In the past I used a belt sander and that took forever and made lots of dust. For the grooves in the board I used a 3/4” core box bit. This time around I double stick taped an mdf template guide with rounded corners to the board. I found that whenever I would pause the bit would burn the wood so I kept the router moving at all times. Even when making depth changes. Worked like a charm. No burning at all. I just love the way end grain looks with a finish on it.

My Mother in Law asked for a paper recycling bin to hold a paper grocery bag. I wanted to make dovetails but my stock wasn’t wide enough. Finish is watco satin wipe on poly.

Haven’t spent much time in the shop so I’ve been making some small projects to dust off the cobwebs. The sides are 1/4” thick book matched quartersawn white oak panels. The corners are 1 1/4 square. All sides angle out 6 degrees from the bottom. I haven’t done many projects of my own design and learning as I go.

My sister just commissioned a built-in bedroom furniture set. It would be the largest project to date and I have to get it from Indiana to Florida. Looking forward this project.

Had a production line going in December to give them out as Christmas gifts. Think I made ten of these. Recipients said they like them. Hard maple was dimensioned into square blanks about two feet long. Glued up eight book matched blanks at a time. Crosscut them into strips. A pass or two over the jointer going cross grain to flatten them then glued them into cutting boards. You have to be very careful jointing cross grain cause its easy to blow off the trailing edge corners when your finishing a pass. The best glue ups with the least amount of surface leveling afterwards were with three pairs of cauls to keep it all straight. Finished with three or four coats of Generals Salad Bowl Finish.

Started this project late in 07 and then the holidays came around. Just got around to putting the 3rd coat of Watco danish oil in med brown. When that drys I’ll put some satin poly on it to match the rest of the bedroom furniture. I’m leaning towards an oil and wax finish in future projects because I like the minimal look of just the oil. The whole thing is quartersawn white oak.

These were some projects we worked on in Steve Lattas Decorative Details class at the Marc Adams School. We made our own tools for the line work. The bell flowers were cut with a gouge.

Based on Norms but made on the fly. Face frame is walnut I bought at an auction. I have a Jessem lift. Love it.

A friend of mine asked if I could restore a table made by his grandfather from a walnut tree on there farm. His father liked it so much that he brought the second table over. The finished table looked as bad as the beat up one.

Maple butcher block finished with tung oil