Hey everyone!

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, but unfortunately work and home life both have been extremely hectic as of late. But, this past weekend the wood was calling me and I just had to break away for a little while and make some sawdust…

You know, sometimes it is nice to do fun, “easy”, projects. I find that when I have time it seems like I always gravitate towards large projects that start to bog me down after awhile. Every now and then it is nice to just whip something out on the scrollsaw in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks.

This is what led me to the pistol grips. After I made this pistol case I got to thinking it would be nice to have some pistol grips that matched the wood in the case. Well, the first set I made were from cocobolo which matched the lid on the case. While I thought they looked good, I also thought they wood look better on a darker (black) pistol. So, I just decided to make some out of the other types of wood I had laying around in the garage which included walnut and bocote. I liked the looks of both of these better with my pistol, bocote being my favorite.

I sent pictures of these to a friend of mine who runs a mall kiosk in San Antonio. He wants me to make a bunch of them to sell. So, my first projects for profit.

Each set of grips takes about two hours total to make. Easy enough, just cut with scroll saw, shape with belt sander, dremel out the recesses (required for slide release, safety, grip pin), sand to 1000 grit, and finally burnish with 0000 steal whool and mineral spirits. The only set I actually put a finish on where the walnut grips which I applied 4 coats of danish oil to.

So, that’s it for now. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hopefully it won’t take me so long to get back here next time.

Here are some more pics for you all…

Well, I decided to get in on the winter contest action. I know my box making skills aren’t up there with a lot of the LJs, so I decided to try something that I hadn’t seen posted here yet. I enjoy shooting and I own a variety of different pistols. My “prized” pistol is a Kimber custom gold match .45 stainless that I purchased prior to them installing the dreaded grip safeties. Anyhow, the gun came in a plain jane plastic box and I just had to have something better to display this beauty in. So, after an extensive search of LJs didn’t produce another gun box, I knew I had my project for the contest entry…

On to the box…The box is made of walnut with cocobolo inlays for the lid and keys. As you can see, I also adorned the lid with a Texas ranger star concho than my buddy who works with leather suggested. The finish is 3 coats of de-waxed shellac, 1 coat of amber shellac, and 2 coats of paste wax.

The hardest part of this project wasn’t actually the making of the box, but rather the cutting of the foam. I refused to go spend money on a wire foam cutter for a one time use project, so I ended up cutting the dense foam with an exacto knife. Without the pistol in place, the edges of my cuts are jagged and ratty looking, so someday I will try to re-do it when I figure out a better way to cut the foam.

Another interesting tidbit is that I ran out of cocobolo, hence the walnut strip that splits the lid. I wish I could say that was planned, but it was actually because my hand was forced… But, in the end I’m glad it was because I think it just adds to the character of the box.

Well, I’m about boxed out, so I think this will be my last small box for awhile. I hope you all enjoy and thanks for taking the time to look!

Well, not a box in the typical sense…A very good friend of mine collects knives and wanted a case to display them in. He does leatherwork and created saddle bags, a sissy bar bag, and a tank bra for my motorcycle, so I guess you could say that I owed him big time.

The display case is made out of red oak. I stained it with minwax dark walnut and finished it with 6 coats of wipe-on poly. The only problem I had in the making of the box was with the lid. After I cut it from the rest of the box, it fell apart on me. The glue in the miters got sucked into the end grain, which didn’t leave enough to make a good bond. I couldn’t cut it and key it like the box part because of the lexan. So, I ended up re-gluing it and then buried some finishing nails in the corners. After the fix up, everything else went smooth.

Anyhow, enjoy the pics and thanks for looking! And by the way, the knives in there are mine for testing purposes, his knives are much fancier…

Well, I originally posted these as a blog series but things have been hectic around here, so I wasn’t able to finish bloging the creation of these boxes. Luckily I have had the time to finish the boxes though…

Two boxes, first time I’ve done boxes like these, and the first time I was able to find and utilize wood that didn’t come from Lowes or Home Depot. I must say, these were a pleasure to build. I really like doing the keyed corners and will probably create many more boxes this way.

Anyhow, the first box for my step-father is made from walnut and zebrawood. I finished it with 8 coats of Formby’s low gloss tung oil.

The second box for my mom is made from padauk and bubinga. I finished it with several coats of Watco danish oil and then 3 coats of minwax paste finish wax.

I have never used any of the oil finishes before these projects. I learned that I really like the tung oil and that I’m not too fond of the danish oil. I think the danish oil is hard to predict the kind of results you are going to get. It takes forever to dry and then still you might get some spots that are too dry and others that are too oily. Maybe it’s just my lack of experience. The tung oil on the other hand was about as easy as any finish I’ve ever used. It really made the grain on the walnut pop out and the varnish mixed in made for a good protective finish.

Anyhow, here are a couple more pictures. Thanks for taking the time to look!

None of these pictures really do the Padauk and Bubinga box any justice. The purple of the Bubinga really compliments the reddish tones in the Padauk.

Well, here it is, my first box. You can see the whole story about it and many more pictures of it in my latest blog

It has been a long road of learning, but I am fairly pleased with the results… Thanks for taking the time to look!

Here is my idea…I will post some of my previously build projects so you all can see what kind of work I have done and where my current skill level is at. Unfortunetally, I haven’t kept a good digital photo record of all my past projects (including some that I felt turned out really well), so I guess I’ll just post what I have.

Here is an example of some of my scrollsaw work. This is this type of woodwork I have done the most of. I absolutely love my dremel scrollsaw!

This was done on red oak plywood and attached to a popular plywood back for contrast. The finish was done with a sealer and a polycrylic semi-gloss spray.

Here is my idea…I will post some of my previously build projects so you all can see what kind of work I have done and where my current skill level is at. Unfortunetally, I haven’t kept a good digital photo record of all my past projects (including some that I felt turned out really well), so I guess I’ll just post what I have.

My wife likes candles. She keeps a couple of them in our master bathroom and wanted a shelf to keep them on. She liked the brackets I made for the TV shelf and wanted the same type done for the bathroom shelf. She also wanted the same finish. Well the problem I had was that it had been at least a year since I built the tv shelf, so I couldn’t remember which router bits, etc. that I had used. But I winged it and here is what I came up with…

Again, cheap Lowes wood, pickling stain, and wax finish.

Obvious mistake: I but-joined and screwed everything—I should have taken my time and cut dados and glued adjoining pieces. But, in my defense, the boss was impatient and wanted this shelf up in a hurry (she thought she was going to burn the house down having the candles on the windowsill).

Here is my idea…I will post some of my previously build projects so you all can see what kind of work I have done and where my current skill level is at. Unfortunetally, I haven’t kept a good digital photo record of all my past projects (including some that I felt turned out really well), so I guess I’ll just post what I have.

This project was done about a year or so ago. I purchased a flat-panel television for our bedroom and decided I wanted it hanging on the wall. The problem was I wanted my dvd player and cable box in very close proximity to the television. So, being unable to find a store-bought solution, I decided to build this shelf.

With the weight of the tv and the components, I thought better of having the shelf sitting on the brackets and instead decided to have the shelf hanging from the brackets. This was different than anything I had done in the past, but I think the design turned out okay. The wood is the very cheap, very knotty whiteboard you can pick up at lowes. You see, another problem I have is that I do not have a good store to purchase my wood from here in Montgomery, AL, so I’m pretty much left with Lowes and Home Depot…

Anyhow, I used a pickling stain to help it to “blend” with the wall (my wifes idea).