After finishing my shop last year, I fell into a slump. Not because i didnt feel like building anything but because I was having a difficult time finding inspiration. I knew what i wanted to build but was not sure about style. Fortunately I came across a post by Darrell Peart and fell in love with Greene and Greene. I purchased one of Darrell’s books and explored a few other sources. E-mail me for specifics. Fellow lumberjock, ocwoodworker was also kind enough to answer a few questions by email. Lots of thanks to both of you.

Lots of mahogony, a little ebony and 200-300 man hours. I spent most of my spare time over the last six months building this. If i did this again, i could probably do it in half the time. This build gave me a chance to use every tool in my shop. I lost track after a while, but I cut about 40 mortises by hand and there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 ebony plugs on this thing.

I used a brown mahogany die and a wiping varnish for the finish.

Great learning experience, but i am relieved to be done. It will be moved into our living room tomorrow.

During November and December a made several of these boxes. I think im done with this type of box, at least for a while. This was fun, but im wanting to tackle some bigger projects.

This table measures 3’6×5’1. I used 3 sheets of 3/4 baltic ply, some scrap walnut for the edges, a sheet of laminate and leg levellers. I also used some scrap walnut for the miter sled holder on the side. It is very heavy and solid.

The bottom shelf is higher than my dust port so if I ever get around to installing a dust collection system it will not be a problem. The extra storage is nice and i liked the idea of having a dedicated spot for my miter sled. I intend to make some kind of holder on the other side for my crosscut sled. I normally keep it on the saw but it would be nice to have a place to put it when i dont need it. Im also thinking about installing a power strip somewhere underneath the table because the table doubles as a work surface.

The downside to this project: I spent alot more time and alot more money than I had intended.

Overall, i think it will make my time in the shop more enjoyable and take some of the stress out of cutting sheet goods and longer pieces.

thanks for looking

This jig is based on some plans I found in woodsmith magazine. I dont remember what issue, but it is one of the more recent ones.

I got to try it out last week on some legs i made for a table, and it worked nicely. The great thing about this jig is that it is fairly simple to make 4 sided tapers.

Rockler sales a similar jig and it would have been about the same price to buy as it was to build. The hardware on this added up.

thanks for looking

My neighbor asked me for advice on building a table and a few days later we were in my shop building one. I tried to talk him into doing the whole thing out of cherry, but he insisted on a tile top. Looking at the finished product, i think the tile has a nice look and i am very pleased with it. Everything else with the exception of the plugs is cherry.

Originally the apron was going to be curved, but we liked the figure in the cherry, and decided to keep it rectangular.

The legs are tapered on all four sides.(First time i got to use the taper jig) The joinery is mortise and tennon, glued and screwed. I made some square plugs out of walnut to cover the screw holes. After drilling the pilots for the screws i chiseled a 1/4” recess for the plugs.

Finish—1 coat tung 6 coats wiping poly 1 coat paste wax

We are working on ideas for a bench and some chairs to go with it.
Thanks for looking

I have wanted to get into box making for a while now, so i made these two prototypes in order to test the water.
I made the bandsaw box out of some cedar pickets i had left over from my fence. This was my first time to ever use a band saw and i think im hooked. The pulls are made from curly maple and purple heart. (cuttoff that a friend had laying around) Thanks Big D.

The other box is made out of pine and walnut. I never intended to complete the box, (which is why i chose pine) I was just trying my hand at miter keys and barbed hinges.

On the bandsaw box, I am totally open to suggestions on sanding. I purchased a sanding drum kit for my drill press that worked pretty good, but i would like to explore alternatives. (spindle sander is not in my budget)

thanks for looking

I made these mallets a few months ago but never got around to posting them. I am slowly getting into handtools and it seemed like the right project. It took me most of a day. The mortises were a little challenging but the real challenge was turning the pegs to the perfect diameter.

Wood used— heads— hard maple handles— bubinga purple heart pegs— walnut

I made these boards as last minute christmas gifts for my mother and mother-in-law. I saw the Wood Whisperer’s video and for the most part followed his plans.(thanks Marc).

I managed to get them done in 3 days. Very simple project other than all the sanding. My table saw left some deep burns in the end grain(blade is starting to dull) This gave me an excuse to buy a new sander. I purchased my first ros which worked great but somewhat slow.(very happy with it kent)

Wood is hard maple and purple heart.

I have been tryin to come up with a way of organizing my sandpaper other than keeping it crammed in a drawer. I have also been interested in starting to use more hand tools and have recently aquired a few planes. Im not very good with them at this point but i now have a place to keep them.

case is made from 3/4 birch ply and 1/4 in mdf. I added a little walnut to make it look a little nicer. The little chingalettas on the shelves are going to be labeled according to sand paper grit.(Havnt done it yet)

i built this primarily out of cheap framing lumber. My main goal was to provide our new golden retriever pup with shelter for days that she is home alone and the weather is bad. I also wanted it to be a skill building project. Until this project i had no experience with mortise and tenon joinery, and i thought given the cheap material i was using this would be a good place to start. The entire frame is put together with mortise and tenon joints.(a little over kill for a dog house, but it was good practice) My wife did most of the painting. She requisted some stencils and the third pic shows what i came up with. I printed a coupld of pics off the net and taped them to 1/4 in ply and used my scroll saw to cut out the shapes.
thanks for looking.

This isnt as pretty as some of my other jigs. I threw it together in about an hour.

I attached the auxillary fence to my miter gauge a while back and the other day i decided that i wanted to incorporate dentil molding into my next project. I thought it easiest just to make another fence that could slide onto the one i aready made. The good thing about this setup is the fence is adjustable so i can change the spacing of the kerfs. (the back of the dentil molding fence has a t-slot) The key is 1/4 in. which i establish with my dado blade.

There is nothing impressive about this project, but i thought it may spawn some ideas. The third picture is an unfinished project that im working on in which i used the jig to make the molding. The last picture is the same fence without the attachment.

I made these thingmabobers hopeing they would assist me in keeping my panels flat in the glue up process. The wing nuts were all i could find at the hardware store, i plan on replacing them with something that will allow me to torque the clamps a little better. Im thinking about turning some handles and going that route.

I laminated the inside of both sides with famica to prevent the clamps from becoming glued to my work piece. The additional holes are there incase i need to glue up a smaller panel. In that case i can reconfigure the clamps.

I used ash because i thought it would be stable and it is relatively cheap. I have not used these yet, but im pretty sure they will get the job done.

I just bought this grinder a couple of days ago and i built this jig yesterday. It seems to do really well with my gouges and skews. Im contemplating what to do on the other side. I have yet to figure out how to sharpen some of my other lathe tools.(im very new to turning) For some reason, i really like my roundnose scraper, but have not figured out the best way to sharpen. I also thought this jig would be good for my parting tool, but i was wrong. The concave of the grinding wheel was jacking up the shape of the parting tool. Any suggestions? I also need to get some finer wheels. Can anyone recommend what i should use and where i can get a little bang for my buck. (This hobby is hurting the pocket book)

I didnt explain how the jig works. It’s just my version of many others ive seen and i think its self explanatory. Its fairly simple, and i am totally open to suggestions from the more experienced turners.

Nothing special here, I built it out of necessity with scraps. I originally had my planer on a big table but soon got tired of walking around every time i ran something through it.

I did a blog a while back while this bed was being built. If your interested look at the pics from that blog, there really isnt enuff space in his room to take good pictures and in the blog i explained more about the construction.

I made this display case for my dad for father’s day. It took longer than anticipated, so he didn’t recieve it until a week after father’s day. It is solid cherry with a 1/4 inch mdf back that i flocked. I used sliding dovetail joints for the shelves and it has a groove in the top back that hangs on a wall mounted cleate. This is the first time ive used that sort of hanging mechanism, and definately wont be the last. (very easy to hang, and very sturdy) The two golf balls in third pic, i picked up at monticello and mt. vernon while on vacation last month. I envy those of you who live in the Virginia area. (It was about a thirty hour drive to get there)

These are my first turnings. I made the gavel for my wife who is currently in law school and the other thingymabob is a candle holder that i made from some scrap poplar, i was mainly just trying to figure out how to use my lathe and tools. The gavel is made from mahogany and maple.

This project has taken my garage from being extremely cluttered to just simply cluttered. I was going to work on a project today and i became frustrated at the disorganization of my clamps so i dropped what i was doing and worked on this. Its nothing fancy. I used some scrap mdf that was also in my way. (two birds with one stone). I spent the biggest part of the day on this, but it was well worth it. This is actually in a little closet in my garage which limited my ability to take good pics.

the auxillary fence is based on plans i saw in woodsmith magazine. It took me a total of 45 minutes to make. I knew i was soon going to attempt some raised pannels, and it worked nicely. The insert plate was something i realized i needed after i attempted the pannels without it. Fortunately i did not sustain any injuries. Once my first pannel was about half way across the blade it slipped in between the blade and the insert plate causing my workpiece to almost jerk out of my hands. My saw bogged down and came to a stop. Thankfully neither my saw or myself suffered any damage.

I had heard of using a zero clearance plate, but didnt really understand the point. I learned an important lesson. To see pannels check out my book case posting.

This is a project of many firsts. It is the first project i have built for my wife, the first project for the house, first time to do raised panels, first time to glue up panels, first time to make molding, first time to add hardwood edging to plywood shelves, first time to use analine dye, first time to use wipe on varnish, first time to use red oak. All in all i worked on this for about 2 months and learned alot.

My wife is a first year law student and was tired of her books being scattered all over the house. She asked me to build her a book shelf and this is what i came up with. Since im still fairly new to woodworking; with each new project i try to include elements that i have not yet done in order to learn some new skills.

I included pictures of my tall auxillary fence and 0 clearance insert plate which i built out of necessity for building the raised pannels.