And here are the next four that I thought came out well. While the two slimlines on the right were made for coworkers, I’m hoping to keep at least one of the cigar pens on the left.

From left to right
Cigar pen made from Holly cut from friend’s yard.
Cigar pen made from Lacewood
Slimline pen made from Amboyna Burl – not 100% positive
Slimline pen made from Padauk

I built this as a gift for a co-worker. I’ll talk to his wife tomorrow to see what would be a better gift, a humidor or a tea chest.

If a humidor, I’ll pull out the dividers, line the inside with spanish cedar, and add a hygrometer. If it is destined to be a tea chest, then the project is complete.

It is made from curly maple and cedar that I had laying around the shop.

While I doubt this project will make it to be one of the Daily Top 3, its always fun to get down to the workshop and play, especially when it results in a gift for a friend. And always nice to working on keep the skills fresh.

Opinions and critique of my work are always welcome.

Thanks and happy New Year.

I made this leg lamp for my brother a few years ago. Will admit that I felt like a pervert when I had to put my hand up this great trophy and turned it on.

My only regret is that I had to use a shoe with such a bulky heel to drill and snake the cord through. Besides, they were the least expensive shoes at the store that day, and I wasn’t going to spend a lot on this.

The day after I gave it to my brother, I went over his house, and it was in the middle of his window, and was the only light on in the house. I was laughing so hard that I almost drove right through his garage door.

Let the jokes begin!

Made 16 pens. They are curly maple, and was fortunate to buy all of the Kits from Rockler when they were getting rid of them in the clearance box for $1 each. Finished with 8 coats of Boiled Linseed Oil and CA

Here are the next 5 pens that I’ve made, and actually my first ones without any guidance.

The two end pens are curly maple,
The second from the left is bubinga (I think)
Middle is purpleheart
Fourth one is zebrawood.

I know that these are very simplistic pens, but it is really relaxing, and the people I give them to are amazed! The middle one was for my twelve year old daughter, and for 10 seconds, I once again was the coolest guy in the world.

Now I just need to move on to the more challenging pens, styles, etc. My 7 year old son wants me to make a large fountain pen from deer, elk, or moose antler.

Can anyone direct me in a good directions on how to move forward? I would like to learn more about dying and stabilizing, and down the line, maybe casting.

Thanks.

At the age of 11, this was my entry into my Cub Scout Pack’s Pinewood Derby. Back in 1980, it came in 1st place in my pack, and 4th place at the council level. This year, my son joined cub scouts, and I took this off the shelf where is was collecting dust as a decoration, and entered it in the parent’s division.

Despite adding additional weight to bring it exactly up to 5.0 ounces, this once former champion finished third in the parent’s division. But in the most important race of the day, it did beat my son’s car. Sorry, but can’t allow my 7 year old to beat the old man in such an important race just quite yet. But, I’m sure he’ll beat me within the next year or two. Not bad for something that has been on different shelves for last 30 years!

It’s sad that all kids don’t get the opportunity to do this!

I’m deeply concerned that making this was so easy and enjoyable, that I might be looking at the beginning of an expensive addiction.

My son has already asked for a pen made from deer antler. But that’s a post for the future.

This pen was a slimline made with Kingwood, both purchased through Woodcraft.

Wife loved it as a Mother’s Day gift. (Yes, there were other gifts as well).

My office was using a system of cheap shelving as mailboxes, that someone probably purchased at Walmart. It did not give the impression of “a group of dedicated professionals work here” to anyone that walked by the “mailboxes”. And I hated all of the metal, industrail-strength, institutional style of mailboxes available from all of the office furniture stores. So,.... I finally got around to building this.

While I’m overall happy the the project, I wish I made the table top portion a bit longer, and REMEMBERED to attach the top plate. Well, I’ll just bring it in tomorrow and glue it on.

The mailboxes are made of hardwood plywood with a poplar face.
The table top is red oak stained
And the legs are oak.

It may not be the prettiest piece of furniture I’ve built, but it’s not bad for being a rush job, and FAR better than what it is replaceing (the last photo).

I made this for the church a few years ago. Unfortunately, in my rush to get it completed, I forgot to take photos of it while I was in the process of building it. You can see the impact of the use and abuse it has already taken. It looks like there are bleach stains on it. I have no idea what caused that. They weren’t there when I handed it over to the church.

It is built from oak plywood and boards. It is octagonal, so all angles of are 45 degrees. It was a relatively quick project once I got all key players to agree on where it would be located in the church, the basic size, and shape.

While I enjoyed building it, I especially enjoyed setting the depth at which the donations would hit the internal basket. It needed to be deep enough to prevent the wandering hands from reaching in and grabbing a fistful of money, but not too deep that it would be a pain for Outreach Committee member to bend over to collect the donations. Eventually, the I chose a level that was deep enough that results in a nice drum-like sound when you drop coins into the box.

I’ve been told that it is considered a huge success for the Outreach Commitee. The donations placed in it are the main source of revenue for the committee to do all of activiites for the church and community. Always glad to help, especially when I can help by doing something I enjoy.

My 7 year old son has become more and more interested in archery. So, in order to keep everything in one place, I built him this bow case. It is significantly more compact than ones available for sale. In addition to the bow, the necessary tools and trigger strap are stored in the box in the upper right corner. The case can also store up to four arrows, information booklets, targets. There is still room to build an area to store the various arrowheads. However, the most important feature of the case is that locks, just in case a visiting friend tries to convince him that they should play with it without Dad or Mom supervising.

The bow is held in place by two dowels coming up from the bottom of the case and goes through two small holes in the bow. The other pieces of wood surround the countours of the bow so that it does not move at all. The arrows stay separated by 1/8th inch dowels from the bottom of the case, with a small piece of wood that rotates over them to keep them in place.

While I know that this case will receive its share of wear and tear at the hands of a 7 year old boy, I decided to build this out of pine in order to keep the weight down as much as possible. I knew that if I made it with a more durable wood, I would be the one lugging it around for him.

A small brass plate has been ordered with his name, that will be nailed just below the handle.

This was a trunk that I made for my sister a few years ago for Christmas, hence the all the wrapping paper on the floor. It was made from poplar with oak trim. All of the hardware was purchased at Rockler.