February is always a crazy month for me since a good number of folks I’m directly related to (both my parents) have birthdays in that month. For Christmas I made Mum her cutting board, which I’m happy to say she uses every day.

Now it’s Dad’s turn.

Being short on ideas, I thumbed through a few of my project-idea binders (more on that later) and found inspiration in a simple wooden box with a river rock inlay.

Back to my binders: I found an ad online for what was described as a “bunch” of old woodworking magazines that “my husband hasn’t read in ages” for free, as long as you box em up, and take em all.

Fast forward to me carrying about 600 lbs of old Fine Woodworking, This Old House, Wood, and Fine Homebuilding magazines from the mid eighties to my poor car, which after filling the backseat with them the wheels of the car rubbed the top of the fender wells. Marvelous. I’ve since taken pages from the magazines that I like and recycled the rest. I know, I’m a horrible person.

Either way, I made the sides last. That’s right, I did this ass-backwards.

The first set of sides I made out of hard maple looked rather nice, look at the last pictures at the inside and bottom and you’ll see how nice a piece of wood Lowes can sell. Either way, I made the walls, the bottom, and then managed to mess the walls up and glued them off-kilter.

Rather than break the walls and fix them, they’re sitting in my designer-kindling box until I get a chance to really work them square.

So, here comes the top. I took a nice piece of poplar and traced out the “river” rocks, some of which came from a nearby river, others from my driveway. Busted out the scroll saw, cut out and then routed the edges.

Ended up gluing everything in place, shout-out to Titebond II, broke out the chisels and made mortises for the hinges for the very first time, and finished everything with two nice coats of tung oil and then two coats of lacquer.

So, Sunday night my Dad unwraps it and for the first time in the twenty-something years I’ve been alive… is speechless.

I think it came out nice, I’m open to suggestions and look forward to everybody’s input. I’m still very much a novice and looking to improve.

All the best,

-KennyBuildit

So I saw a similar project here and thought that it would make a great Christmas present for a family member of mine with a warped sense of humor.

Measures about 9” long, 5”x5”, simple Michaels clock kit, closet rod from Home Depot I trimmed to size, wire I found in the back of my desk, and a poplar board.

Overall, I like this project. Next time I’ll try with some better woods and maybe a nicer clockface.

Looking for any tips for improvement.

I don’t think I’ll be putting any more projects up until after the holidays so until then Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy New Years, and have a good one.

Here’s a “pencil” box I’m building for my fiance’s sister for Christmas. Why? I’m cheap, that’s why.

Now before I get the “think you used enough dynamite there Butch?” reaction to it’s size: she’s an artist and therefore has a lot of stuff she can keep in it.

It’s made all from poplar, the dowels are some species of whitewood that Home Depot didn’t see fit to specify.

All butt-joints with thru-dowels, this project was more to practice doweling on and I think it adds a nice touch. That’s me though.

The stencil patterns I got from Jo-Ann’s and i think they came out alright. I have an alternating pattern for the top and bottom of the lid because I couldn’t decide on which one i liked better. Interior is plain, finished but unadorned. Whole box was finished with tung oil and a polyurethane since that’s what I had laying around.

Again please let me know what you think, any and all comments are appreciated. If you see an area for improvement please tell me, I’m here to learn.

Box measures about 6”x6”x14”

Please let me know what you think and where I stand to improve.

Thanks for playin along,

So this is my first attempt at making an end-grain cutting board, which all things considered I think came out rather nice for an intro project.

Little back-story: I’ve made a lot of frames, boxes, combs, nick-knacks and the like for the past few years but in reality this is one of my first seriously functional pieces.

In support of local businesses I bought the wood from Boards and Beams in Fairfield, NJ (http://www.woodboardsandbeams.com/ ) and found them to be both patient and helpful. Good folks and good prices, I’ll be going back there soon. Much better than buying from Home Depot or Lowes.

Anyway, I made this without the use of a table-saw, band-saw, thickness or hand planer. I used my trusty miter saw, table router and belt sander with 80 grit paper and a watchful eye to level the wood once the glue dried. It’s sealed with two coats of salad bowl finish, and it’s smooth and without any burns or dips from the belt sander.

Last week I acquired a rather nice antique table saw, cleaned it out and installed a new blade and it made cuts so perfect it brought a tear to my eye. The next board will have a much more complicated pattern and will be made exclusively with the table saw. I also plan on investing in a surface planer and serious dust collection system (now using a shop-vac) in the Spring.

Dimensions: about 8”x12”x1-1/8” thick, I also burned my fiance’s and my initials into the end, as it’s going to be a gift in a few weeks.

Looking for comments, good and bad i’ll take em all, only looking to improve.

Thanks,

Kenny