Several years ago we purchased a commercially built pie safe. (this was before I got interested in the hobby). It has had a predominate place in our kitchen for a number of years. A very well made red oak piece which we truly love.
Then as we have all come to expect from our partners, something needs to change. She wanted a shelf to occupy the space beside our old friend “pie safe”. We agreed on a design and I set out to try and produce an acceptable friend for our pie safe. This is the result after getting LOML’s input on what she wanted and several consultations with my mentor “sarge” here are the results.
The rest is history.

Yes, this one is for me.

I am experimenting with this one. I bought some cottonwood…yes, thats right cottonwood. I didn’t know you could use this wood for making things. Well, I have tried. It works ok i guess, but I am trying to stain it and it is a “Bear” as you can see by the pictures. I will post additional pictures as things progress. May have to abandon the plan of staining it and paint it before its said and done….WE WILL SEE.

I sealed the cottonwood, stained it with dark walnut stain and then applied four coats of tongue oil, and “wa-la”

It was an exercise in , learning, and experimenting…and it ended up being fun. “I suppose thats what it is all about”

Well, here it is. It found its home in front of my basement shower.

Well, after talking the project to death, I finally started and finished it. My wife and I are both “vertically” challenged and our age dictates that a dining room chair should no longer be an option for rummaging through the high cabinets and shelves in our closets.

Our solution was gleaned from one of the wood magazines (with a few modificatios) some planned, some necessary if you know what I mean.

Well, here it is finally.

I saw this project in one of the magazines and decided to give it a try. It looked interesting and forced me to try something new, I had fun doing it, now LOML wants me to make a “bunch ” of them for gifts. By the way, she did not buy into me telling her I needed a new power tool in order to make them…oh well, can’t win them all i suppose.

I little fine tuning left, but for all practical purposes its finally done…
Made entirely of MDF (she wanted it painted to match the woodwork)..what was I to do?
Opppsss…the desk top is made from a peice of 1/2” Corion
Does this count as a woodworking project?
On to something else I guess.

Grandma LuLu likes to do craft projects with her two granddaughters. This project was one of her innovations. A picture frame with a mirror instead of a picture, and then paint the frame and the mirror creating a piece of art.
(And grandpa gets to participate by making the frames.

I was inspired by the post yesterday talking about making our own jigs and fixtures. It brought to mind one of my first attempts. Just thought I would share it with anyone who is interested.

Youngest son and his beautiful wife joined the world of “hot tubbing”. They didn’t buy the steps to enter and exit…they thought (dad could build them), easy for them to say. I took a few measurements, studied a bit, and then skillfully copied the design of the steps i bought. Here is what I came up with. I had fun and makes me feel needed….
Some left over treated lumber
a few (no..a bunch of screws)
A little exterior glue and
WALA…

This is the first real project I ever built. I just happened across the pictures while trying to organize my woodworking pictures. (My pictures are messier-is that a word?- than my shop)

Summer Entertainment:
Started refinishing my deck, and responded to an urge to build a shelf to mount next to the hot tub that resides on our deck. Is refinishing your deck a woodworking project?... well I wasn’t taking any chances so i threw together the pictured shelf.