My apologies gents, I’ve found the coolest girl in the world and I’ve decided to keep her for myself. Awhile back she hinted a bit that she might like to have an engagement ring made of wood. I started drawing it up what it might look like and how I might go about making it, and this is what I came up with. It’s made of Ebony and Sugar Maple, and contains 43×1.5 mm rose cut diamonds. Let me tell you, I have a new respect for jewelers. Handling these little guys was nothing short of nerve racking. I’m pretty pleased with the outcome, and so is my new fiance. Thanks to all those who posted their ring projects here on LJs, and listed information regarding their processes.

Yep, its another Woodwhisperer cutting board. Its made of cherry and maple and works great. Many thanks to Marc Spagnuolo for the inspiration and the plans.

My girlfriend is a graphic designer, and needed a new portfolio. She drew this up and asked if I could make it. It turned out pretty nice, and she says she gets a lot of compliments when she goes to interviews. This was my first time working with veneer and I just went with the pre-glued iron on stuff from the big box store. I’ll more than likely never go down that road again, but I’m going to have to look into some other means of veneering as the budget’s a little too tight to be splurging for a vacuum press. I added a little diamond inlay (made of padauk) in the front, so the front could be distinguished from the back.

My parents have finally gotten to the point in their lives where they can afford nice things, and not have to worry about us kids breaking them as soon as they arrive at the house. Last year they treated themselves to a much deserved cherry bedroom set. My mom thought it would be a great idea if I made a mirror to match my dad’s dresser, which didn’t come with one. As chance would have it, I had just seen the Woodworks episode in which David Marks makes a circular mirror with keystones, and thought it was the perfect fit. His mirror used wenge for the keystones, which I changed to mahogany and stained a deep red to match the jewelry box I’d given my mom a few years prior (posted in my projects). The two look pretty good together. Thanks David.

I had a friend leave town a little while back and made this as a going away present. She was traveling from Iowa to L.A. and had to fit everything in her car, so I thought it a good idea to keep the present small. I found a nice piece of maple with a little curl to the grain, and used some padauk for inlays and for some details on the back. Finished with tung oil, and Fuhr water-clear acrylic varnish.

This was my first major project, which when I look back, am shocked that it turned out as nice as it did. I found a fantastic piece of Quilted Maple at a place in Oregon just off of I-5. I believe the town was Jefferson; the lumber mill was family owned and the folks were happy to show me around and help me pick out a great board. I wish I could remember their name, but maybe someone else can post it if they know. Anyway, its made of Quilted Maple, and Mahogany stained a dark strawberry red. I recall building this thing in my apartment in Chicago. We had a dining room that we weren’t using, so it became my workshop. It was way before I had any idea of the mess involved with seriously milling a lot of wood. A few days later, my roommate confronted me about the thin layer of sawdust covering every inch of the kitchen. I spent I fair amount of time cleaning up the mess, and made the unfortunate decision that this would be my last major project at that residence.

So my girl and I have one of those typical college town apartments in which the lighting in the living room consists of an outlet connected to a light switch. We have some decent lighting on one side of the room, but the other was pretty bad, and certainly inadequate for working on sudoku puzzles which is the lady’s favorite past time. She was after me for a little bit to remedy the situation, which I kind of put off…until she threatened to install track lighting. I asked her to give me a month to come up with something, and this was it. I’m pretty pleased with it, and man does it kick out some light. I rigged up a dimmer switch as well, and it looks fantastic at about 1/4 max output.