I know! It’s just a chicken coop! I wanted to jump into the “Backyard Chicken Craze”. You know, raise some chicks, watch ‘em grow, lay some eggs, hear them cluck, free fertilizer, etc. Well, I love to build, and this project was alot of fun. I used the design as you build method which I thought turned out okay but turned out more expensive than planned. If I have it figured right, it will only take about 17 years of collecting “free” eggs to re”coop” my cost of building materials, chicks, feed, etc. The size of the building is 4’ x 8’, with 3 nesting boxes hanging out the side. There is a small section at the end approx 18” x 48” for garden tools and storage. The fenced in chicken-run is 4’ high x 6’ wide x 10’ long. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in for breakfast – eggs of course. If the girls don’t lay any eggs, then stop in for some soup – chicken noodle of course. Now it’s time to get back to a serious project like maybe a Morris chair, or a cedar stripped kayak, or a custom made tool tote, or a…....... ???? Thanks for taking a look.

The hand tool collection started out with a few planes and scrapers that had been my great grandpa’s that he had given to my grandpa, who gave them to me. They(the tools, not the grandpas) had been setting around for years collecting dust in my shop. I decided to sharpen the plane irons to see how well they worked….shavings from a sharp hand plane are sort of fun to make. I was hooked. So, the collection slowly grew. From auctions, flea markets, and eBay, I have brought this collection together. I have admired many of the hanging tool cabinets here on Lumberjocks as well as a few I’ve seen in Fine Woodworking magazine and others I have found online. I wanted a cabinet that was both functional and nice to look at. The main cabinet and doors are made of 3/4” Birch and 1/2” Maple plywood. The trim and most of the tool hangers are made of cherry we had dropped, sawed up, and dried from 2 years ago. The drawers are Poplar with spalted maple fronts(saved from the firewood pile).
There is a little room left for a few more additions inside the cabinet. Once that fills up, I guess there is more wall space for another cabinet. I have used some of these planes in the recent past; they’re not just for show. A few of them need disassembled, cleaned-up, and sharpened, then they will be ready to use also.
This was a fun project to see come together. If you ever make one for yourself, take the time to layout the tool locations on paper first before deciding on a final size for the cabinet. It is surprising how fast it fills up.
Overall dimensions: 11” deep x 32” wide(closed) x 42” high. Finished with ZAR brand poly.
Thanks for looking.

I thought my fellow Lumber Jocks could relate to a day at the sawmill. My version of the “Old Mill” actually has 8 seperate rooms in it for the birds. Projects like these are great for using up some of the scraps of wood laying around that were too good to toss. I hope you like the L.J. Lumber & Feed Mill. Thanks for looking.

As many of you lumberjocks know, it doesn’t take long before you begin to accumulate a vast supply of extra stuff such as hardware, knobs and drawer pulls, extra drill bits, small hand tools, etc. I had coffee cans , peanut butter jars , and boxes full of all different things. I wanted to build some kind of a storage cabinet that was easily accessible and able to use as a bench or workstation, since I’m short on shop space. What to build??? Last Spring my boss tells me he’s ripping up an oak floor in his house and was going to burn the floorboards. He said I could have them if i wanted. The trouble was, when the boards were taken up they were pretty busted up – (cracked, broken) not reusable for flooring. It was beautiful oak, just very short usable pieces. I pulled the nails, scraped off the finish, then ran them through the planer. I built 35 drawers from those floor boards, 3 1/2 high x “7” wide x 20” deep. You can stiill see some nail holes in some of the drawer pieces. I then built the cabinet box from some recycle kitchen cabinets I had, then built the bottom 3 drawers from the plywood cabinet’s doors. The only purchased items for the project was a piece of oak veneered plywood for the top, the polyurethane for the drawers and 24 of the 41 knobs (17 knobs were in the vast hardware supply I was talking about before). The green paint was leftover from another project. Less than $55.00 invested and lots of storage. Overall dimensions are 56” long x 36” high x 21” deep.
Pity the fool who tries to move it.

I’ve wanted to make a desk like this for a long time. I made this one for my wife for her birthday. I just finished it yesterday….her birthday was in January. She is happy with it even if it was late. The desk is made of cherry except for the drawer boxes and runners. The finish is just ZAR brand satin polyurethane. Overall dimensions; 21”deep x 47” wide x 30.5 high.
Much of the design credit goes to my fellow Lumberjocks. I have tried to take what I liked in other similar projects posted here and incorporated into this desk. So, thanks to all for the ideas and inspiration.

I made this simple little box out of maple with a 1/4” cherry skin attached on 5 sides. Then with a very crude homemade router jig, I cut the arcs into the box on 3 sides with a radius sign/lettering bit, breaking through the cherry skin into the maple to give it a two-tone look. Finished with Formby’s Tung Oil. Thanks for looking.

Back in early November, my son asked if I thought he would have enough time during his Thanksgiving(4 days)and early Christmas break(starting Dec. 18th) from college to build something for his girlfriend for Christmas. He sent me a picture he had found of a cherry chest and had a rough idea of the size he wanted it to be. We spent time at Thanksgiving sketching some ideas and cutting out some pieces. Because it was his project, I didn’t touch it or work on it until he came home for Christmas. My shop was a flurry of activity that week before Christmas day. He was busy with his project(with some help and guidance from me), and I was trying to finish-up some cutting boards that were promised as gifts. What fun! The last coat of finish went on the chest at noon of the 24th. The chest looks great. His girlfriend loves it. But the best part of the whole thing is being able to share some skills and some time with one of the kids in the woodshop. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year, with lots of shop time.

Cherry with Watco Danish Oil. Approx 18”H x 18”D x 35”L

Hundreds or more have already been posted but I had to jump on the LJ bandwagon and try my hand(and skills) at making a few cutting boards. I will have to agree with many of the past comments; they are fun to make. Also, like snowflakes, no two cutting boards are the same.

I used cherry, black walnut, maple, and a few pieces of white oak, glued together with Titebond II. The 2 larger boards are 12” x 17” x 1.75” thick. The small board is 9” x 12” x 1.25” thick. I made a simple sliding router jig to use to finish the flatness and thickness. After a short time of sanding with a palm sander and a R. O. sander, I gave it a couple coats of mineral oil followed by a generous coat of Butcher Block Conditioner. WOW! does that bring out the colors and the contrast.

I may try to make a larger c. board in the future, but for right now its time to get back to some cabinets or furniture or ??? Thanks for looking.

A couple of years ago, I cut down an apple tree in my yard. It wasn’t dead it had just blown over in a storm. It was approximately 9” in diameter. I was impressed how light colored the wood was inside and thought I’d keep a piece to make a box. I roughed out a rectangular hunk from the trunk and set it under my bench to dry. I was surprised how bad the piece cracked and checked in just a couple of months, but yet it took on some character that made it more interesting. After about four more months I cut a section for the lid and roughed out the inside then set it aside for six more months to dry. When it seemed like it was dry and finished cracking and checking, I cut the outside to a finished size of about 4’’ x 7’’. I cut the inside pocket so the wall thickness was about 1/2’’ thick then set in a cherry liner and cut the lid to fit. A few of the large splits and cracks I filled with epoxy to help hold it together while machining, but most of the stability comes from the cherry liner. I wish I had taken more pictures of the box before I gave it to my mother for Christmas last year. Even with all its faults it was still a nice looking chunk of wood. A simple little project that didn’t cost much but seemed to turn out nice. Thanks for looking.

Around 15 years ago, I made a set of adirondack chairs out of white oak. Very solid, very heavy, and very uncomfortable! The plans came from a magazine I subscribed to at the time. The chairs looked great, but were stiff as a board(pun intended). I kept them for a couple of years then they ended up with my brother in law. I always wanted to try to build another set but never found any plans that i liked up until last summer. I purchased the plans for these chairs online. One big difference between the old design and the new is the curved back which makes them more comfortable. The purchased plans came with prints with full size patterns for tracing onto the wood. I made hardboard templates for use in the future to make more chairs. I also made a few design improvements for more strength and rigidity; basically adding a few extra braces on the back and beneath the arms. Like the first set I made, these are also made of white oak. They should stand up to the weather and won’t blow away like those plastic chairs from Wal-mart! I used Tite-Bond 3 and stainless screws where needed. I wanted to stain them green yet still be able to see the woodgrain. I can’t remember the brand of stain. There is 3 to 4 coats of Minwax Spar Urethane over the stain. Thanks for looking.

The table and mirror frame are solid cherry, and cherry veneer on the front of the table. The legs are tapered from 1.5” at the top down to 7/8” at the bottom. Overall dimensions are 32” high, 34” wide, and 8.5” deep. The finish is Watco Danish Oil stain and an occasional coat of paste wax. Thanks for looking.