Made this for my Uncle who is a retired Army SFC. He had 48 challenge coins lying around the house and I thought this would be good for him to keep them all in one place. It holds 50 coins. I made it from scrap 8/4 red oak with red oak trim. Transtint dye and a gel seal. Trim is simply mitered together. I added felt to the bottomso it wont harm his desk at work. Solid and heavy display.

I did this for a friend of mine who just got back from Afghanistan. This flag was flown over the FOB in his honor and the certificate was signed by the Commanding General. This is made of maple with half blind dovetails on the sides (for practice mostly). I also made the trim with left over maple. I decided to add rope trim as well around the certificate since he is in the Navy like I am. The two coins are challenge coins that were given to him by the SGTMAJ and the one star General. Lexan for the flag case and laquer finish. I dont think I will be using the laquer again though. It is hard to air out the garage with this stuff and I think I might get a similar look with something else. Now if I can only figure out what that is…..Any suggestions are welcome.

I made this for my father who flew U-H1’s in Viet Nam for a few years. He found out about it though and told me he had more medals and ribbons for the 35 years he did as a San Antonio Police Officer. So I guess he is going to put those in this instead. Whatever, as long as he has something to show off. Should have taken the pictures away from any other art projects my kids draw on and paint.
This is a simple project (since that is all I can do right now) and it is made of red oak with several coats of spray laquer. I am not convinced that I like this type of finish yet. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I will read some more and see what else i can do to make this better next time.
The joinery is half-blind dovetail (which I had a blast trying to make perfect) and the trim is made on my router table. I put blue felt on with a 1/4” foam backer for the pins to stick into. Next time I am going to try Maple and tung oil for the finish to see how that comes out. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I made this for a GYSGT who works for me. He had some momentos from when he was a drill instructor at Paris Island. He had one and it fell off the cabinet and busted so I built another one that was better and stronger. It is made of walnut with biscuit joinery. I created the trim on the router table, but he said he did not want glass this time so I didnt add it. The actual sword holder is also made of walnut. All of it finished with several coats of poly. Not too happy with the finish since it came out a little bit like thick plastic, but he liked it so that is all that matters. I think next time I will try a gel or wipe-on poly. The back is just a red felt attached with spray on adhesive. Any suggestions for next time I do this?