This project i made about 3 years ago for my father. he was traveling around the world regularly with a buisness he works for. he began to collect small trinkets and souveniers from different countries and cities around the world. i decided to make him a small case where he could display all his items on the wall. i designed a downsized version of what we call a curio cabinet. the cabinet needed to be small enough to not overwhelm the tiny items being displayed inside. the cabinet is made form african mohogany and hard maple. it stands about 32” tall and 14 ” wide. the case is simply joined with box joints. the back of the cabinet and door are frame and panel construction . i finished the top and bottom of the case with a cove moulding that i made. the cove moulding was made by running the stock paralell with the table saw blade to create the radius of the cove that i desired. with a stainless contemporary handle and glass shelves this cabinet was one of my fav’s. yesterday my father asked me if i could re apply a coat of linseed oil. i took this opurtunity to take photos of it. i also wanted to see if the cabinets joinery had held up over the years. being a fairly new woodworker at the time that i made this cabinet i expected my knowledge of wood movement to minimal. i thought joints and panels would be seperating. suprisingly everything was still holding strong as if i had just made it. my faith in modern day adhessives and glues are great

Buisness has been slow recently so i have had the chance to help my mom and dad fix the home up. small impovements such as patio’s, fireplace mantles and wood top surfaces improve the look of the home dramaticly.

the fireplace mantle and stairway ledges i finished n a weekend. they are both made from honduras mahogany hardwood and plywood. for the mantle i simpley made a box out of plywood. i then tacked the box with pre fabed mahogany crown moulding.

the stairway ledge is done the same way as the mantle but with a large surface of plywood on top. the duck tape you see on the drywall is covering a hole. i had to cut a whole so that i could secure the plywood surface from underneath with screws. my mother wanted a darker aged mahogany collor. to achieve that age i aplied a mix of potasium dychromate and water to the surface. the chemical enters the wood fibers and reacts with the tanic acids in the wood to darken the fibers. it is a great way to darken cherry, and mahogany. it does not give the fake look that most collorants and pigments do. after the potasium dychromate was aplied i put down a few coats of linseed oil and tung oil for protection and luster.

in the yard i put up a pergola. all i can say about this project is that it was a pain in my ass working with semi green building lumber. we didnt have the money for kiln dried clear doug fir or cedar so we went with construction grade building lumber. this thing was cupped and bowed in every wich direction. meanwhile i am tring to work with the same tolerances that i make my furniture with. put it this way, the nieghbors all heard they’re share of profanity for this year. i came to my senses and settled for a less then perfect arbor or pergola. besides it will be covered with vines in a year

Some of you may know I have spent the last few months designing and building a Maloof style rocker. Now when i say designing. I do not mean that i designed anything that has not already been thought of before. What i mean is that i had no plans, dimensions or templates to work from. Wich made this a verry challenging project to say the least.

Before starting the project i spent weeks reading all of Sams books and movies. I also spent a great deal of time looking at chairs made by other people. I came across more than a few that were exceptionally pleasing to my eye. Especially one chair that was made by a Lumberjocks member his name was

Mark A. Decou http://lumberjocks.com/projects/84 I thought that his chair was one of the most atractive chairs i had seen yet. Besides Sam Maloofs chair that is. I recieved allot of guidance from Mark when i was stuck on certain things. He was a great deal of help and i want to thank him once again. i have also recieved allot of help from many different people on this site. its verry satisfying to know that there are so many people out there all over the world that care and share interest in the things that i am doing. especially
TODD http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/toddc hes the nicest guy ever and a verry talented artist. when someone of that caliber compliments your work its a verry overwhelming felling. Thanks TODD. another man who was of great help to me was bill Kapell. Bill is another verry talented rocking chair maker. when i needed to know something he had the answer and i thank him for that. anyways enough with the shout outs back to the chair

the rocking chair was a gift to some friends of mine who just recently had a beautifull baby girl. this project was a great opertunity for me to give the the gift of everlasting comfort to a new family. it was also a great way for me to challenge my woodworking skills. my fiance and i dropped the chair off at thier house just a few hours ago. i watched them sit in the chair for the verry first time as they rocked thier newborn girl. it was the most gratifying feeling in the world to see that. it was hard to let go of something that i worked so hard on but i new it was going to a family that was more then deserving. besides i can go look at it whenever i want. lol

It was made from 2 large slabs of figured walnut. all the seat joints were done the traditional way. the seat and legs were first dadoed, then rabbeted and pegged with 3/8” Padauk dowels. i went so far as to even turn the dowels on the lathe. everything was first rough cut on the bandsaw. then eventually shaped with rasps. after rasping with my finest file i used a cabinet scraper to take out all the visible crathches. i then sanded thru all the grits ending with 600 grit paper. the rockers were done by laminating 3/16” strips of walnut and padauk into a bending form. i used urea formaldehyde resin glue for the bent lamination procces. as for the finish i laid down base coat of linseed oil. i then aplied a thin sealer coat of formbys tung oil. after lightly sanding with 0000 steel wool i laid down the final 2 coats of tung oil mixed with a touch of varathane and beezwax.

I just finished this bookcase last week. i have to say that i really enjoyed this project. the customer wanted something that looked verry traditional without all of the itriquit carvings and appliques. it needed to fit into a somwhat contemporary eclectic livingroom. So the design needed to be simple and large enough to acomidate plenty of books and decorations.
the case work was verry simple with only one fixed shelf in the center. everything above and below that is adjustable as she wanted.
after the casework was finished i dressed it up with an arched face frame. i installed a light in the top of the case to give the top shelf light for eclectic decorations. once that was finished i made the bracket feet. making the bracket feet was a verry fun procces. it took time to come up with the right hieth, shape, and bend of the knees to fit my particular project. i found a whole bunch of diferent foot designs on the internet but i had to make my own template to acomidate for the wide and tall case.
the crown moulding i made from 8/4 stock. i ran it through the table saw at an angle to acomplish the radius of the cove that i was looking for. i tacked it to the case with brads and glue. i then added aditional router bit profiles above and below the cove to add character.

a fun project indeed it was finished with nothing more than linseed oil and a buff coat of clear shellac.

this is my third commision and i am staying busy so i cant complain. however i must say that woodworking for a living just isnt as much fun as woodworking as a hobyist. on this most recent job i found myself complaining more than a few times. my mom had to pull me asside and remind me that woodworking for a job is what i had always asked for. i pulled myself together and finished the job. as i stood back and took a wide glance at my finish product the gradification was overwellming. i was very happy. the credenza was made from hard maple. the turned posts and bun feet were turned on my new oliver lathe. the casework was made with dadoes and the top and bottom mouldings were made by layering diferent router profiles to create an ornate profile. the wood was then stained a redish poo poo collor. but came out just how the client wanted it. but anyways i used anyline dyes, orange glaze and a gel stain to achieve the collor. i finished it with a thin coat of shellac and beeswaz. worked out magnificently. mad props to the wood whisperer,”marc” for help on the colloring.

now before anything i would just like to say that i got this design from a similar table on this site. i forgot the gentelmens name but i will find it. i liked it allot and i love chess so i made a few changes and chose mohagony and maple as the woods to be used in this project. i enjoyed this project verry much.

This is my first big job. i finished it last week. since i have had several requests for custom comissions. now i spend time in my shop just as i did before except i am making money while i have fun. it is truly a dream come true.
this is a cherry entertainment center with raised panel doors. it is still unfinished. i was saposed to do the finish until i found out what it was that he wanted. a dark dark red/brown fake looking finish with a thick layer of glass like laquer. he should have just done it in a maple or something a little less expensive but some costumers just dont understand the naturaul beauty of the wood. anyways i told him i was uncomfortable aplying the finish he was after. i am by no means a proffesional finisher and i could use allot of help in that field. i found him someone else to do the finish. i got home and emediatly sighned up for a finishing class. i start that next month and i hope i can learn from it.

well i know there is nothing better than getting an inside look at sombody’s elses shop. well its that way for me atleast. i took a few pictures of my home shop last night to post up for people to see. as you can see its not verry big. only a one car garage believe or not. i have plenty of space for everything and im only a drum sander short of a fully equipt shop. i have people tell me that they have 3-4 car garage home workshops, and they say that its just not enough room. i usually tell them to get rid of all the crap lying around that they have never used and never will use. when your done with something put it back where it belongs and utilize your wall space. ya know us woodworkers can be pack rats and we never want to throw anything away. haha. im hear to motivate those of you who cant find that plane, bit, saw, or chisel when you need it. organize!!!!!!!!! “everything has a home” is my mattow

This sirloin cutting monster is on its way to becoming a much needed tool in my shop, with a 2 inch blade, a 16 1/2 inch resaw capacity and a 16 inch throat this saw had all the things that made restoring it worth while. this is the saw i was talking about in the forums. well heres a picture of it. new bearings, fresh paint job, and all sandblasted parts its almost ready,i need to weld on a lower bearing guide. and put the table back on. the motor on this thing is damn near the size of a V6 engine but is only 1 horse, haha, and if you look the wheels and the infeed is on the right side rather than the left like on most traditional band saws. from what i hear that is the norm for meat cutting saws. anyways theyr’s the pic i said i would put up. if thiere is any suggestions let me know.

all my bits, chucks, spindles, drills, and chargers at arms reach from the drill press. best thing i ever buit in my shop. everything stays organized and i dont have to search for the right tool to do the right job. i got a plan for this in a Fine Woodworking article in a past issue. the heavy doors that store all my bits are held up by piano hinges, anything else wouldnt hold up to the wieght. the drawers hold all my bit sets like expensive forstners and hole saws. i never realized how important drills and accesories are to a shop untill i made this case

new router table + old router = good as new. i finaly made a router table that would better suit my needs and store all the extra crap lying around

i made this box for a client who will be carving grapes in the lid. she is going to be displaying it at the loose goose wine festival.

another bridge inspired box with the long arching base and handles. the carcase made with spanish cedar and drawers, maple. the insides of the drawers are lined with aromatic cedar wich gives off a beautifull smell when opened. my mom likes the smell. i think it smells like a hamster cage

I browse thru the internet on a regular basis to get ideas for my projects. as i was browsing i stumbled upon a few pictures of modern brigde designs. i incorporated it with a box i had seen a while back on the internet. this was the result

this is my most recent project and it was a ball of fun to work on. i had yet to incorporate drawers in any of my boxes so i thought it would be a great opurtunity. its made with curly maple and honduras mahogany. the very top is made of cherry. dont ask me how i got the legs atached to the box because that was not fun. haha. i put a small V groove on the inside of the leg to fit snug on each corner of the box. i am sure thiere were beter ways to atatch it but thats all i could think of at the time. i reinforced the joint with screws from the inside of the carcase because i was concearned that the glue joint just wasnt suficient enough to hold. the drawers run in and out on a sliding dado. each drawer will be lined with velvetine. i used boiled linseed oil and a coat or two of paste wax to give it a dull sheen. this as well as most of my other boxes will be taken to a craft fair some time this year. if they do well enough is the question? i am having a bit of a pickle in deciding what i will price these boxes at. any help would be great. i just dont have the slightest clue.

when me and my woman moved out last summer we had a pool in the back yard. i was bored and thought it would be fun to do a project together. so we went to home depot and got some doug fir 2+4’s, then took off to the beach and picked up some bamboo. we had no clue what we wanted to build yet. she insisted that we build a stupid tiki bar for the pool area so we got to work and this is what we ended up with. a pretty cool looking rustic hawaiian tiki bar. boy oh boy did that thing get used. every night we had people over and that was the hang out spot for most of the drunks including myself. haha. but that was then. i am sober now and the bar sits in the sun rotting away.

i made this clock about a year ago as a gift for my fiance it still sits unfinished in my shop. haha, maybey i should finish it one day. perhaps put a clock in it.

this box was one of the first real boxes that i ever made. ited was for my mother in law’s birthday. excuse my spelling im horrible. anyways my mother in law had so much jewlery it was rediculouse. she tossed all of it in a glass bowl in her room. for anyone who has ever made a gift for someone they know that its a perfect opurtunity to experiment with a few things that you would never try if it was for a paying customer. this was long before i discovered i could do box joints on the table saw with a box joint or dado blade. i used the router table with a straight bit and a jig. lets just say it wasnt to succesfull and i ended with allitle gap in every joint. that was because i didnt use i spiral up cut or down cut bit. i used a two fluted straight instead and got allot of chip out. once again this is before i knew. i also found out how to make the checkerboard patern on this box. wich was actually really easy and became something that i love to do just because of that reason, i also wanted to incorporate mitered splines in the lid in base with contrasting wood. that was also an experiment in that i learned you should use a flat bottomed toothed blade instead of one with a set in the teeth. lets just say that i had v grooves in all my cuts,,,, bad…. haha. but thats how we learn. all in all it didnt come out that bad and she loved it. besides this box brought me to realize that i love box making. oh and this is when i found that when using nice wood it is well worth it. this box got me out of the pine, oak, and poplar rut that i was in. i know work with nothing but domestics, or exotics for that very reason. not that thiere is anything wrong with oak or pine, some people love oak, especially those who like mission stlye furniture but those woods just werent for me. i like collor and contrast.

this box i made recently was not my dsighn. it is a replica of a box made by someone who i cant remember thiere name. ill get that and write it later but i stumbled upon it while searching the net one day and just had to build it. at the time i was researching asian or japanese inspired boxes because i was so interested in thiere style and way of woodworking. this box had everything i was looking for in that the lid resembled a buhdist temple of some sort and the legs were so eye catching. all in all i enjoyed it very much and give all the credit to the man who desighned the box.

this is a basic box i made to look a litle more dressed up. with a checkerboard lid and box joints to give it some
character. it was made with honduras mahogany and maple. the lid was sawn from the carcase to give a clean draditional look. ill write more on it later but thats the basics