Back around Christmas I made my wife a cabinet for her sewing supplies. This cabinet led to a sewing table, fabric storage, and an office converted into a sewing room. My wife is happy, everybody else is happy, but this did create a slight issue.

I no longer have an office in which to write, surf, etc. I’ve been making do with a laptop and one of those wretched laptop carts that never seem to be right height or have enough space to accomplish much at all. To that end, I decided to build a new desk that would fit the living room, and slide up next to the couch. I wanted a larger desktop, and some storage for the bits and sundry that accumulate around command central in the living room.

I worked for about three weeks on this. The wood used is ambrosia maple, walnut, and some birch ply on special at my local Woodcraft. I took the lumber from rough sawn to finished stock using my new to me jointer, and my fathers hand-me-down planer.

The top was glued up using dowels to keep the planks aligned and add a little strength to the joint. Everything else is glued and screwed with some contrasting color plugs to cover the screws. The finish is ‘brushing’ lacquer on the top with a slight coat water-based poly over the top as a final finish. The rest of the desk is finished with tung oil and paste wax.

All in all, I’m pleased with the way this turned out. I’m enamored with the way the contrasting wood looks. It took a bit to make sure the plug holes were lined up symetrically instead of my usual higgeldy-piggledy screw placement technique. While the pictures don’t show it, there is an interesting geometry to the contrasting plugs that I really like.

I’ve had a lot of luck with the Ambrosia maple lately, my local Woodcraft got a bunch in at a great price. The Walnut has been drying in my father’s basement for about ten years now. All in all an inexpensive project for me, but in the living room it looks like about $35 at least. The stamp of approval from the wife was when she says, “That’s how you’re going to make the coffee table look when you build one.” I wasn’t aware I was building a coffee table, but it’s good to have guidance.

Thanks for looking.

I started this about three weeks ago, working when I’d have a chance between day job, house projects, and other tasks.

It is made of Ambrosia maple, with pegboard painted with a hammered copper rattle-can paint. Its 24” by 36” and about 6.5” deep.

The little tray on the bottom is more ambrosia maple and grenadillo.

A few months ago I’d converted my “Office/computer room” into a sewing room for my wife. She has gotten back into that hobby now that our daughter is older, and doesn’t require as much entertaining as she once did. I was happy to give up the space to give her a sanctuary for some joy. Part of the deal was, she’d let me build her things that she needed for the room. This was listed in her, “Nice to have” column. She was hoping for a simple frame with some peg board in it to hang her things like scissors, rotary cutters and the like from.

The cabinet will hang from a french cleat on the wall of her sewing room.

THis project was another major step for me. The lumber started rough, and I milled it to size. This was a good trick, using a router table to joint the edge, and the planer to take it down to 3/4 from 4/4. It was a very satisfying process, and the tools worked wonderfully. The price difference between rough sawn and dimensioned lumber is night and day, a jointer is now sitting in my garage, just awaiting knives and a tune up.

The other firsts were stub tenons for the door, and tongue and groove joinery for the carcase. It was square, the maple is stable and I was very happy with the end result.

Any comments are welcome.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I’ve been working to organize my shop, finishing walls and getting ready for a summer of wood working. When I saw this, I thought it might be the answer to an unspoken prayer.

This was from ShopNotes 122. It was supposed to have doors in front of the shelves, and some moulding along the top.

As suggested in the magazine, it was made from No. 2 common pine from the big box store. I spent 45 minutes going through the wood to find the stuff that was straight. It sure didn’t stay that way for long. The plans suggested that most of this case be glued together with a few screws used where they are hidden. I finally decided that screws were necessary, as I didn’t think glue would hold.

Cupping twisting and cracking was the only thing this wood seemed to be good for, but after some patience, cursing, and judicious application of a mallet, it came together. I knew there’d be no chance that the shelf areas would be square enough for doors, so they’re open shelves now.

The whole mess was sanded, and finished with BLO. It’s hung on the wall with french cleats, and long screws to back up the cleat. Hopefully it’s not going anywhere, especially when the tools and everything else is loaded up.

I’m excited to utilize the pegboard that’s been in my shop for a couple of years, taking up a lot of valuable space. THe openings in the bottom have always been intended to hold plastic screw bins, and the ones I had fit beautifully.

Thanks for looking.

I took some time off from the garage to shop project to put my new ProShop table saw to use. I saw a box like this on the FWW website, and decided to simplify it a bit more.

The box measures 4” by 10” The sides are ambrosia aaple, the bottom is red oak, the top is purple heart with a maple strip running down the center.

The sides are simple half laps, and just shy of 3/4” thick I cut and ripped the sides on the table saw, and cut the half-laps with the band saw, cleaning them up and squaring them with a micro-plane rasp and sandpaper.

The bottom was just cut to size, and glued on, roughly. The top was cut down to size, then split in half and re-glued with the maple strip between. Then the dado was setup on the table saw to cut a rabbet 3/8” deep and a bit more than 3/4” in. It makes for a very loose fitting lid.

The sides were shaped to a roundish shape with a combination of my low-angle block plane and a belt sander, to take care of the tearout from the plane. I’m still learning the finer aspects of plane work…ok, I’m still learning the grosser aspects of plane work.

After that it was finished with padding polish, and Renaissance Wax.

This was my first attempt at anything close to woodworking hat didn’t involve a lathe, and had some actual ‘joinery’ in it. Unfortunately I’ve learned that my bench, while nice, isn’t sturdy enough for planing, the box and lid both took tumbles while I was planing, adding a bit to the ‘distressed’ look.

Since I joined LJ about 10 days ago I’ve commented on posts, posted blog entries, and shown known proof that I’ve ever made a single woodchip. So, here’s proof that I know how to turn a pen at least.

The first is a Pen and Pencil set from cocobolo, my personal set that I carry with me every day. I prefer a pencil for notes, etc, and the pen for signing legal like stuff.

The second is a single-tube kingwood ‘inlayed’ with maple dowel. I actually needed to patch this one when one of the dowels flew out on a minor catch.

Third Pen is Bloodwood

The fourth pen is, I think, cocobolo with laminations of acrylic sheet.

With the exception of my personal set, all these have been sold over the previous summer. Just on my way to becoming a millionair a few bucks at a time.

All pens were finished with behlen turner’s finish, and buffed with a Beall three-on-lathe buffer.