Carved this from an old oak plywood cabinet door. I finished this on my 60th birthday this year. I used a crooked knife (from Japan), wood chisels and Foredom chisels and grinding stones. Even used a 50mm #3 sweep Ashley Isles gouge. This was really helpful to take light controlled slices on curved surfaces. I had to make sure the knives were sharp to carve the plywood. I had a few unexpected areas where there were voids in the wood. I had to use putty to overcome that. The paint is airbrushed with an Old Masters Dark Walnut stain rubbed on/off. I first woodburned the image. This is a carving that a client from Japan commissioned me to make. I hope that she likes it. She is a music teacher and wanted something to hang up in her music room. She will be in the USA next week on a vacation and will get it then. She doesn’t know what music icon I was carving. I wouldn’t suggest using plywood as a first carving project. It is unforgiving and splinters unless you have very sharp tools and you carve on the bias. Additionally, I was unexpectantly running into small brads that were used to hold two 1/2” boards together. I didn’t notice it when I trimmed the edges to make the frame. All-in-all, I’m glad I made it. I choose plywood because it was there in my shop and it was free. It is about 18” x 18”. I have another one but it is 18” x 30”. I might make this with an Alice in Wonderland theme.

I have been working on a Japanese GO game for awhile. This game is made of poplar mahogany and maple. The grid is woodburned and so are the images which I airbrushed. I still have to make the legs and bowls to hold the pieces. This is a very heavy game. It is about 22” x 20” x 5”, without the legs. I made it large (the grid is standard regulation size) so that it can be used whilst sitting on the floor. There is a difference in the size of the squares depending on whether it is Chinese or Japanese. Chinese use squares but Japanese use slightly rectangular grids (to appear square from the end of the table). The pieces are also different, one having a flat side and the other being convex on both sides. I purchased the pieces in Japan. Just cheap plastic one. The pictures were pieced from different Japanese lithographs. I don’t know how to play this game but have always wanted to make one. I plan on using Western Red Cedar for the legs.

I made this cabinet for my son back when the Seattle Sonics were around. He was a big fan and especially of Gary Peyton, as we all were. Finally decided to take a picture of it. It was alot of fun making considering I just had a jigsaw and sander back then. I hope I don’t get sued using their logo. We sure miss our Sonics!!

I made this chess set from cheap fir leftovers. I used a scrollsaw to shape them (dutch-turning). I developed a way to make it look like marble. For the green pieces I painted them black and while the paint was wet I sponged on some various shades of green. I then took a fine paint brush and made some “marble fissures”. I used acrylic paints and sprayed a sealer. The board is plywood. I am in the process of putting a red oak frame around it. I haven’t decided if I am going to make it into a table or a gameboard. The pieces really fool people. They lift them up and then get a puzzled look on their face since they are so light. The game has a little too much color contrast for me. Certainly adrenalin level on concentration to this game.

I made my first dollhouse for my granddaughter for Xmas. It was a labor of love. Used about every woodworking skill I had. Somebody gave me a huge amount of 3/8 hardwood plywood so I figured I would try to build this. I woodburned some of the floors to simulate wood. Doors were attached with leather strips for hinges. I used a variety of woods including, maple, red oak, white oak, cherry, Cocobolo and mahogany. I actually cut the molding on my 5hp PM66 tablesaw. The front door used stained glass. This is a scaled dollhouse. My granddaughter loved it. I built some furniture for it but then her mother found some beautiful scaled furniture at a garage sale, enough to fill the house.

This is a series of photos that I took of a didgeridoo that I have been working on for awhile. It is from a fallen Elm tree grown in Eatonville, Washington from my son’s neighbors house. Not the traditional wood (should use Eucalyptus) that you should use. I stripped the bark using a drawknife then split the log. I used various tools to hollow out the wood: European chisels, not-so-crooked knife, scorp, hollowing adze, etc. After hollowing it I sanded it then coated the interior with Cabot’s Gloss Marine Spar Varnish. After I glued it up and used a pushknife to thin out the diameter being careful not to get to thin and cut right through it. I painted the whole thing with Mustard Seed yellow Tulip brand Milk paint. I then sanded it and stained with Old Masters Dark Red Mahogany and Dark Walnut. After sanding it I Spiralled some tape around it and painted it with Milk Paint black. I then spent many, many hours adding dots and painting geckos along the length then finishing it with spar varnish. I spent last night forming the Natural Beeswax mouthpiece. I’ve never played one before but it was always something that I wanted to make. When a good-looking tree came along I decided to go for it. I have been practicing playing it. It is very difficult. I have been going to websites trying to learn how to play it. I painted colorful in case I couldn’t play it I would at least have a piece of art. You can see more pics at my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.252190498188616.59402.100001930028886&type=3&l=b387fce65d

This is a Rummikub game I made for my new Japanese daughter-in-law. Weird…I made a Japanese game for my son (her husband) and an English game for her! She loves this game. We bought a wooden one about 35 years ago and love the game. When we wanted to buy a wooden one for a gift there were none around – so I made it. I used hard Canadian maple for the pieces. Each piece was carved with a Foredom. Since I am a retired draftsman I know how to letter so I just drew the numbers freehand. I then had to paint, sand and buff each one with HUT wax. The case is made from Pine and Mahogan. The racks have hand-formed copper supports, which you don’t see. I made this the same time as the Shogi game that I entered a few days ago. There are four colors from 1-13 with two copies of each. 104 tiles plus two jokers. Took forever to make. I drew and painted the top based on the set that I have. It is an exciting game if you play the Sabra way.

This is a Shogi game I made for my son. It is a Japanese game similar to chess. Most pieces have another side that is painted red. I made two sets: one is the standard Kanji characters and the other is a Universal/English set. The Universal set shows movement and direction of pieces along with their rank. Each rank has a different size (i.e. thickness, width, height). The pieces are made from hard Canadian Maple. I used slats from used crib parts. Some are planed down to 3/16”. I woodburned/carved the characters into the pieces. The foldable case is oak plywood and solid white oak with routed lines. The pieces are held in compression-type containers: Japanese on one side and Universal on the other. There is no distinction between opponents only the direction of the piece shows whose piece is whose. This was a very difficult game to make and took me more time than I thought. I was making this at the same time I was making a Rummikub game. Both games took 2-3 months of tedious work – but I loved doing it and the gift was a hit.