Needing a stand for my drill press, I experimented with joints and finishes. Most joints are mortise and tenon. Drawer boxes are dovetailed. I cut the draw pulls rather than buying them. 2×4’s are the main pieces (there were some in the corner of the garage).

The project became more complicated – making side pieces so the drawers go in only straight; putting in pieces to keep the drawers from tipping when pulled out a long way. Adding stops in the back to align the fronts with the carcass. Experimenting with edge banding the top.

Finish is another experiment. The draw fronts are rosewood stained pine with a gloss polycrylic topcoat. The case is natural minwax oil with varathane top coat. The edge banding is rosewood stained hemlock with varathane topcoat. Amber shellac is interesting in the drawer boxes, but I’d use clear shellac next time.

Overall size is about 26” high, 13” wide, and 25” deep.

With the drill press I can make holes for euro style hinges so I can eventually make my kitchen cabinets. That’s the plan. This helped in figuring out what I need to do in the kitchen, plus I got another tool!

This rooster heralds the beginning of my woodworking experiences. It was the weather vane in Dad’s backyard raspberry patch many years ago. After Dad passed on, the rotted post collapsed, and the rooster began to rust. I found it in a pile of stuff in the garage, and refurbished it.

With a couple shelf brackets from the home center store, I cut and designed the shelf to resemble a marine deck. This was one of my first router experiences. The edge is reversed ogee. The shelf wood came from a childhood bookcase that used to be in my bedroom. The hardest part was mounting the brackets into studs in the wall. The paint is metallic gold so that it shines on sunny days. The warm white shelf matches all the trim work in the sun room.

Now every time I enter the sun room I remember Dad.
Probably not every house on the block has a weather vane inside.

The old 1950’s narrow brick fireplace just didn’t fit with other projects going on in the home. This is the new mantel made from select pine and stained rosewood. It has three coats of gloss polycrylic finish.

Pocket screws hold everything together in the fields. The escutcheon boxes are edge-beaded and attached within sliding dovetail slots. A 45 degree lock miter router bit made all the right angle joints. There are 62 painstakingly cut dentils glued to a small trim board under the crown molding so that the dentils stay off the surface by 1/8 inch so as to cast a shadow. The inside corners of the moldings are coped for a good fit. The base molding hides the faces of bricks in the hearth, and was routed with a special bit, and matches all the base molding in the house.

The marble pillars were tough. They are made from 2×4’s and routed pieces of mdf and drywall mud. They structurally support the escutcheon boxes and mantel shelf, which was raised 6” and extended out 3 1/2 inches so that Grandpa and Grandma’s clock could have it’s rightful position.

Never did faux painting before, so had to get a book. It took four tries. Three types of left-over house paint was mixed and used to match the tone of the green slate hearth.

I changed the metal and glass fireplace doors to metallic gold to match the mirror. The pillasters in the over mantel are made from mdf. The cornices are blocks of 2×4’s. The sconce lights are from Rejuvenation, and I had to wire them down from the attic on a separate circuit. The mirror came from a place on the east coast because I couldn’t find an oval one around the northwest. It cost more than the rest of the project combined.

Total time was two and a half months. (The living room survived all the plastic sheets, paint, tools, sawdust, etc.).

This rolling, convenient newspaper recycling stand I made a while ago to simplify and organize part of my life. It’s beside the couch in the sun room. When the pile of papers gets high, I can pull the sides up to 30” and clip the little hooks to hold more papers.

When the stack of papers is 30” or more, I just roll it over to the back door of the garage, load the papers into the trunk of the car, and head for the recycle station. In the meantime, it’s great as a foot rest while I sit on the couch and read the papers and sip my tea. I can push it easily over into the corner because the 2” rolling casters swivel in the front and are non-swiveling in the rear. The papers are neatly stacked. They are ready for recycle, and I don’t have to handle them until putting them into the car.

I did a “show & tell” speech about this at my local Toastmasters club. It created lots of excitement! Several people wanted one. Others were adamant about NOT having one in their homes!!! Turns out that because it is technically “not a piece of furniture”, some spouses would not allow such a contraption into the home. If you like this idea, make it at your own risk! Be sure that you have your spouse’s permission!

The most complicated part is assembly of the sides so that they slide next to each other when extended. It is a couple boards jointed with metal and glue; 1×2 pieces of medium density fiberboard (mdf); and some pan head screws; some metal brackets; and a couple screen door hooks.

The base is 19”x15”. It’s 3” off the floor; has routed round-over edges so as to not scuff any ”real furniture”. ENJOY!

This was a ”do-it-three-times-to-get-it-right” project.

The first time..... was focused on making rail and stile shutters with recessed panels that were pretty and enhanced the garage. However unfamiliarity with hinges resulted in uneven spacing and non-parallel shutters.

The second time..... was an education in placing butt hinges and using a hand chisel to mortise the hinges. Patience was practiced, but the shutters were unhappy.

The third time..... I jointed the shutters with the router and shims in the outfeed side of the router fence; made all corners 90 degrees; created a hinge mortising template with mdf; bought a workmate bench where I could clamp multiple shutters on edge while mortising the hinges with the router; ripped out and replaced the spacer bars on the left and right sides of the windows; re-installed spacer bars with a level; carved out part of the wall with a reciprocating saw to create enough space for the shutters; rabbeted the center post to make a tight fit; and painted and painted and painted (two coats of primer and two top coats).

The Victorian style casings are made from 1×4 mdf with an ogee edge along the reveal. The backband is 1×2 mdf on edge. A base molding top cap is glued to the 1×4 and against the backband. Corners are mitered and jointed with biscuits. The edges of the sill match the curved ogee on the 1×4’s. The apron is routed with a special 1 1/2” profile bit; and the returns at each end of the apron are 90 degree returns glued together.

One happy garage!!!

A few years ago, I converted the old patio into a sunroom. The vinyl siding was pretty plain, and the overhang of the roof above the door looked unbalanced. I spent the whole summer out under the big tree in the backyard routing rails and stiles in clear cedar.

The pediment over the back door was the pattern. I sized all the others to be in proportion to the one over the back door. However, I didn’t figure on how difficult the little ones would be to raise the panel in a piece so small.
All the panels float within the rails and stiles.

The bracket is made from five pieces of cedar that I cut to the same shape using a straight pattern cutting router bit. I made the curves match that of a piece of crown molding. The edges are beaded.

The backyard sure smelled good that summer! Cedar sawdust!