Here is a present I just finished and gave to my step-dad. We’re both big fans of Calvin and Hobbes, and this seemed the perfect father-son type gift.

The frame is from one board of wenge that I bought off a guy for a great price in Boulder who was clearing out his shop before moving. I wanted a handsome wood, and I think the dark tones in the wood go well with the black lines of the comic strip. Overall dimensions are 27 7/8” x 20 1/4”. It turned out a lot heavier than I thought it would—I had to beef up the hanging mechanism. I spent a lot of time on Sketchup finagling the dimensions, only to have the comic print bigger than expected. I still think it works, though, for sure.

For a finish, I cleared the oils with acetone and applied a clear wax.

A note about the glass: So Micheal’s wanted me to pay $36 for a piece of ~12” x 16” glass. Instead, I went to the local flea market and bought the cheapest framed print with glass that was bigger than 12×16 and cut it down. The print (which was awfully ugly and trashed along with it’s cheap frame) cost me $2.00. Even if you include the ~$16 glass cutter from Hobby Lobby that I bought years ago and have used on many projects, I still came out way ahead.

There’s a guy here in Boulder County that lumberizes trees in the area that are felled for construction or whatever.

This is from one of those walnut trees.

Not too much explanation needed. I just wanted to try making something with a live edge, and needed a place to hang my jackets. The shelf is held on with glue and screws, and the hooks are from Lowe’s.

Here’s my simple laundry room shelf. I went cheap and easy. It’s made from un-dimensioned pine 1x lumber from Home Depot, before I got hooked on salvaging pallets. I stained it with an Antique Maple gel stain (the flavor that was the most on sale) and finished it with spray-on lacquer. It’s put together with drywall screws.

My goals for this project were for it to be cheap (I’m renting and leaving it when I move) but presentable. I also wanted to explore this shape with cheap wood, and to see what happened when I made something from only a simple pencil sketch, and not a full 3D Sketchup mock-up like I like to sit around and waste time doing. It also needed to hold three roomates’ laundry stuff up off the dryer and out of the way. I think I succeeded on all counts.

This was my first woodworking project. I made it in Spring and early Summer ‘09.
The first two pics are after, and the third is before.

I had this crappy old ‘70s pine dresser with some heavy dark finish on it that I “inherited” from my dad when I moved to college. I thought it would be a good first project since if I completely futzed it up, I’m just out a crappy dresser.

My goal for this was to use only wood from the dresser in the project and to make mistakes so I can learn. I succeeded in both. The only thing I added was hinges, glue, stain, and finish.

• Four drawers went to 3 shelves and 1 drawer.
• The thicker drawer fronts became the rails and stiles of the doors.
• The drawer sides and backs became the floating panels in the doors. Notice the creative clamping (read: use of gravity) involved when you have no tools.
• The drawer bottoms became the shelves. Because they were slightly smaller than the frame, I ended up making them floating, too.
• The handles became the handles.

Luckily, Moms love what you make no matter what :), so now it’s at her house.

This is my version of an overhead lumber storage system.

My goal for this project was to to have it strong (expensive tools + sometimes my head right below), cheap (made from 1×4s and 2×4s from HD), simple (always better), and I wanted it to look cool. Also, I’m renting, so I need it to be removable.

I may have overbuilt it, but that’s OK (see above). I at my 185 lbs can hang on one of these with no problem.

I’m quite happy with the way it came out. I think they have a nice architectural look to them.

• The “horizontal” 1×4s are actually tilted 10° toward the wall. I made a corresponding 80° cut on the butt end so it’d be flush with the wall. It was extra work, but it really looks nice.
• The pointed ends of the 1×4s looks cool, but it started as functional. Offsetting the cuts allowed me to get more pieces out of one 1×4.
• The jig was screwed to my MDF workbench and was very useful, but I still had to adjust each one individually since I didn’t dimension the lumber.
• Installation was fairly easy with a long level. I just had to make sure both the front and back of each one was level with the other ones.
• The 2×4s are cut with both ends at 45° to simplify construction.
• I used two 3” screws in the jig to hold all three pieces together, two more to attach it to the stud, and one “toenailed” into the bottom of the 2×4 piece.

Thanks for looking! Let me know if this inspires your lumber rack.

Hi all,

So I’ve never been a big fan of miters, at least as far as glue-ups go. I found this site and thought I could simplify it without losing any of its usefulness and also minimize human error.

Their version requires you to drill perfectly-evenly spaced holes in four pieces of hardwood. In mine, it’s already perfect.

The perforated metal bars were ~$5/ea at Home Depot. With the turnbuckle and the bolts, I think I spent about $30 total. The flat bars are galvanized and I don’t think they’ll react with tannin or anything, but if you’re worried about that, you can just cover the metal with clear packing tape.

I decided to use some leftover 1×4 pine that I dimensioned for the corner blocks. I figure the small flex the soft wood will have might be helpful. I may switch them out with hardwood in the future.

I also marked the bars with sharpie every 5 holes since I never learned to count past 5.

UPDATE: I had a problem with the nuts loosening and the bolts slipping, so I switched all the nuts to nylon lock-nuts. This tightens the whole system.

The frame in these pictures fits a map that’s 27” x 39”. (I’ll post that project when I’m finished with it.) I cross-measured the corners, and it’s square beyond my ability to measure it.

Let me know if you make one or if you have any ideas for improvements.