So a good friend of mine is having a baby and she asked if I’d build a cradle for her. Of course! After some deliberation about different cradle designs, she picked a cradle from wood magazine. I got to decide on the wood type. I have wanted to use wormy chestnut for awhile, so this gave me a great excuse to buy a bunch. The cradle was a relatively easy build (especially having plans from Wood). The slats though required an unfortunate amount of sanding. The other difficulty I had with the cradle is that the wormy chestnut is well, wormy. I had to take several creative liberties in order to work around the various voids and splits in the wood. Finished with 2 coats of Minwax natural stain and 3 coats of satin wipe on poly followed by a coat of wax.

I have to ship the cradle out to my friend; this involved building a very large crate and some creative packing with bubble wrap! Hope it will arrive intact!

This coffee table was very little “woodworking” in the traditional sense and a lot of sanding, smoothing and more sanding! I started with a large redwood burl slab that I thought would make a great living room coffee table. The problem was that the live edge was very irregular, fragile and splintery and there were a number of soft punky areas. With the input of some LJ’s, I used several coats of thinned epoxy on the edges and top/bottom surface to harden the soft wood and then sanded, sanded and sanded some more to round some of the very sharp edges.
Next step was to design a base; I had a number of different ideas; in the end I opted for something simple. I’m still not sure if the base is the right design for the top, or the right wood. In hindsight, I think that a darker wood (rather than the cherry) would have been a better fit for the top. Oh well. I used an oil finish on the top, followed by gloss poly (with the help of several LJ’s who gave advice on how to achieve an even gloss finish.

Bench #2 of my ongoing task to build seats for my elm slab table (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/78137). I decided on benches because a)they’re easier to build than a bunch of chairs and b)it fits with the rustic character of the table. Unlike my last bench (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/79880) my wife wanted this bench to have a back on it. The slab I used had a taper to it which would make it uncomfortable to have a back on the narrow end. I contemplated cutting the slab in half and just having a back on the wide section, but after playing around with a few different ideas (and some inspiration from Nakashima) I came up with what you see.
Slab and base is elm, slats are cherry and tenon wedges are walnut. Finished with 6 coats of Minwax “Tung” oil.

First of several benches I’m making for the elm table I just finished (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/78137). The bench is elm; but there is an interesting contrast between the wood slab for the top and the legs. The top is much darker wood compared to the legs which took on an ugly yellowish tinge with the Minwax “Tung Oil” finish I used.

Like so many of my projects, this started off with my wife wanting to buy a piece of furniture. She’d been bugging me that we needed a new kitchen table and started sending me pics of tables from stores…I told her that there was no way I was going to pay money for something that I could make. I’ve admired the slab furniture on LJ’s and really wanted to try making a slab trestle table. I’ve used elm before and I really admire its rich grain figure; as well I grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba which unlike most of the cities in N. America still retains most of its elm forest, so I have a certain nostalgia for elm. When planning this table, I thought it would be relatively simple to make; a couple of weeks of casual work to throw it together. As I started the work though I realized that this was a huge undertaking. The joinery is simple; basic mortise and tenon construction for the base and only one glue joint for the top, but it presented several serious difficulties due to the size of the pieces. The bookmatched slabs for the top came “planed on on side and jointed on one edge” but in reality the top was not flat and the edge was not at 90 deg. After several very awkward attempts to feed the 80lb slabs through my 6” jointer I gave up and used a #7 plane which was still awkward given that the top is almost 3” thick. After I got the edge jointed as best as I thought possible I glued the top together; which ended up with an almost 1” cup from edge to edge. Time for more hand planing. And more hand planing. And hours of sanding. Then filling most of the cracks with epoxy which I dyed black. Finally, almost 3 months after I started the “two week” project is done!
Finish is 8 coats of Minwax “Tung oil” aka wiping varnish progressively sanded up to 1000 grit. The bowties are walnut. Now comes the fun of making benches and chairs….

One of my best friends got married last week. I’d been planning for about 5 months what I wanted to give him and his wife for a gift. After being inspired by other LJ knife projects I decided that I’d make them a knife set and knife block. The blades are “Damascus steel” from Janz knife supply and the handles are African hardwood, sanded to 2000 grit and then with 3 coats of hemp oil and two coats of paste wax. Knife block is birds-eye maple with African hardwood, finished with Danish oil. The knife handles were epoxied onto the knife tang and then I roughed out the shape on the bandsaw (BTW, hitting the knife tang with the bandsaw blade = buy new bandsaw blade. I won’t tell you how I know this…). I refined the handle shape with a belt and spindle sander and then hand sanded the handles. It was a satisfying project and turned out good, but I’ve vowed to never do it again, for the amount of sanding I had to do!! Sorry about the crappy pics, I took them late the night before I wrapped up the gift.

This has been my ongoing project for the past 4 months. It’s kind of nice to finally have enough hand tools to justify building a cabinet for them! The cabinet is a combination of several different plans/designs from ww magazines, and what I’ve seen some of my fellow LJ’s build. It was important to have enough room for my growing plane collection, but also room to grow my collection of “other” hand tools. The cabinet is solid walnut and cherry, with exception of the back which is 3/4 walnut ply. Initially the whole cabinet was going to be solid walnut, but partway through making the carcase I ran out of walnut and decided to use cherry as a contrast. I’m glad that I went with this combo; it is sure a pleasure using walnut and cherry! It was a difficult to decide what joint to use to attach the sides to the top and bottom of the carcase. Dovetails would have looked classy, however I don’t own a dovetail jig, nor possess the skills yet to attempt them by hand. I came very close to buying a dovetail jig, but I just couldn’t afford the jig I wanted (a Leigh jig), and didn’t want to buy something cheaper that I’d only use for this cabinet. As you can see, I went with box joints that I purposely made slightly proud and then beveled the edges. This was over 1000 edges to bevel! I realized that if I would have had any competency with dovetails, it would have been way quicker to cut them by hand than to do all of the box joints. Assembly was not fun. Dry fitting the carcase and the shelves was perfect; somehow though once the glue was applied the shelves decided not to fit properly…result was 4 square corners on the carcase but the sides bow out slightly where the shelves bind…in hindsight it would have been easier to glue up the carcase and then fit the shelves in after… Finish is several coats of danish oil with several coats of wipe on poly on top. Final comment is that it is a heavy SOB! My wife and I just barely were able to carry it from my bench to wall.

I’ve had strep throat this past week and haven’t felt like doing too much in the shop. I’ve been wanting to make a mallet for a while so I put this together during the few hours that I was able to muster enough energy to get outside. Head is walnut and purpleheart, handle is cherry. Finish is hemp oil.

I’ve had the wood, plans and brass for this project for awhile, finally got around to putting it all together. The wood is African hardwood, finished with a coat of hemp oil. The brass is…umm…brass. I just need a project to use a sliding bevel on now!

So, my wife asked me if I could “attach a couple of boards” to the wall for her to use as a desk. She wanted it to fit into the closet in her study as the rest of the room is taken up by a large loom…I wanted to give her something a bit nicer than “a couple of boards”. We went to the lumber store so that she could pick out the wood; which she insisted on maple…and the rest is history… Inlayed the top with a couple of strips of oak, just to break up the look of plain maple. Finished it with 3 coats of “tung oil” (the minwax brand) and 5 coats of wipe-on poly. I think it turned out ok, although I can’t get over the thought that it looks like a giant chopping board…my wife loves it though…

Entertainment center made of walnut and pine; finished with 3 coats of shellac and a layer of paste wax. I’m not sure what convinced me to use walnut and pine; I certainly had my doubts about how it would look when finished. I like the look though and the contrast of the two woods. I tried a bunch of different finishes; several different shades of Danish oil; wipe on poly, and finally tried shellac. It was my first time using shellac, and I’m hooked! It is a really easy finish to use and gave the wood a nice warm look and an even sheen. Also was my first project in which I did the majority of wood prep with hand planes. I’m trying to use less and less sanding in my woodworking; I still had to do a small amount of sanding for the top, but putting in the effort with scraping and handplanes really reduced the amount of sanding I had to do.

Been awhile since I’ve posted any projects…here’s a couple I made a few months ago. The outfeed table was taken from a FWW plan; I added the sawblade holder, which is a vast improvement from the nail in the wall where I used to store my sawblades…The colour scheme…I like to use my shop projects to try out different ww techniques; this time it was experimenting with dye and stain. My goal was to try and highlight the grain of the maple ply that I used. Didn’t turn out quite as I expected, and I decided to just go with the red/black design. The plane holder keeps my small plane collection at hand (eventually will finish restoring the #8). Keeps them on a slight angle, while the magnet keeps them in place.

So, after abandoning my plans to make a king sized bed frame (lack of tools, experience, patience etc.) I came up with this plan for a platform bed. Due to height limitations in the loft where the bed is, I made it to sit on a “platform” of 2×2” wood, and have this covered by a frame, as you can see from the pics. The frame is oak with cherry 3/4 ply. Each section comes apart. Finish is a Minwax pre-stain conditioner followed by two coats of oil and two coats of brush on poly. I have mixed feelings about the result. It is my first large scale project as a ww, and took a lot more time and effort than my other small projects. As well, the design was completely my own. I was able to learn some new skills with the router and used a newly tuned up handplane for the first time. However, I see a lot of areas that I could have improved; the frame is not as tight to the boxspring as I planned, and I am not very satisfied with the way that the finish turned out; the brush on poly turned out uneven and slightly blotchy, despite a thorough sanding b/t coats. Anyways, it is a good start for me, although it gives me some things to work on for the future.

My kitchen has limited cupboard space, and my wife had been asking for me to build some sort of pot rack, so when this plan came out in a recent woodworking mag. I had no choice but to make it. I got the chance to learn a couple new skills along the way; it was the first time that I really attempted mortise and tenon joinery, and I got to play around with dado blades on my TS for the first time. The pics of the project are actually my 2nd attempt; the first maple frame I made turned out so horribly that it got moved to my scrap pile. Second one went a bit easier. Am now having to make a spice cupboard to hold all the spices that used to sit on a cheap shelf above the stove…
Inner slats are cherry; project is finished with Danish oil.

End grain walnut cutting board. 1 1/4” thick by 12”x 16”.

Limited space+ 90lb “portable” planer =need for stand. Doubles as a small outfeed table for the TS. Made of 3/4 birch ply and stained with clear polyurethane. Thanks to the many other LJ’s that have done similar projects and provided me with the inspiration!

Another cutting board for a Christmas gift. I think that it turned out a lot better than my first couple of cutting boards. Making these things is addictive!
The board is rock maple and purpleheart.

My first two cutting boards; both will be Christmas gifts. The first one is rock maple and walnut, the second is purpleheart, walnut and cherry. Unfortunately, you’ll see I didn’t line up end grain on the last row of the second board. Oops. Hopefully my family will be so dazzled by the exciting colours that they won’t notice.
Both finished with Watco Butcher block oil.

Simple set of shelves I just finished. Unit is made from oak ply, finished with 3 coats of Danish oil; the upright is finished with Minwax ebony. I realized as I built this that I really hate applying veneer!

Finally finished this stand tonight. Like most of my projects I finished about 90% of it then ran out of motivation. I made it based on some plans from FWW. The wings fold in for room in my very small shop. Eventually, I’d love to attach a track and measuring system to the fence, eg. the Kreg Trac. I came up with the dust collection system after seeing what some of the other LJ members have done. As you can see from the pics, I attached the “Big Red” dust hood from PCI to a wooden bracket that slides along a bar at the back of the stand. This allows me to be able to pivot the hood when I cut mitres. Overall it sucks up about 70% of the sawdust, which is not ideal, but is 70% better than what I had before. As usual, I’ve made it out of 3/4” Baltic birch plywood, with exception of the fence which is MDF.