I have finished the second coffee shop project – this one I’ve had planned since before we opened!

I knew I wanted to build a stand for the iPad we use in our coffee shop as our POS (Point of Sale) Square register. I’ve spent months trolling the web for pictures of stands others have made and for the longest time didn’t find much at all.

I recently came across a version made by the guys over at TinkeringMonkey.com and knew I found what I was looking for. I wasn’t crazy about all aspects of their design, so of course I made my own little changes.

Materials used in mostly just oak-veneered plywood I had left over from other projects. So a little time, a little edge banding and a lot of excitement later, it’s in use and getting great reviews from our customers! Finish is natural with some wipe-on polyurethane to match the rest of the coffee counter.

One of our regulars actually did a little write-up about it in his Tech & Design blog, http://solidsmack.com/design/the-diy-wood-ipad-stand-that-screams-styleprevents-tablet-jabbing-violence/

My wife and I run a small coffee shop in our church. Since the inception of it, there have been several small projects I knew I would want to build for use in the shop. One of which was this coffee sleeve holder/dispenser.

The coffee shop has been open for over 6 months, but I only now have the first project completed. It took some time to build up my confidence again after an accident I had in the wood shop that left me 1 & 1/2 fingers lighter – but that’s another post in its own right :-).

There was nothing complicated about the design – I just knew it would drive me crazy using a cheap plastic version bought online.

I forgot to take pictures during the build, so I’ve uploaded screenshots of my pre-build SketchUp to show the [simple] construction.

I used 1/4” oak for the sides, 1/2” oak with a 1/4” chamfer for the base (to match the oak used for the shops counter) and asked a friend for some scrap mahogany he had on-hand for the corners just to make it pretty.

Just a few coats of polyurethane finished it up.

Some of my favorite projects are ones which I get to put to good use – and this one fits the bill.

Next coffee shop-related project: iPad stand (we use iPads w/ Square Register for our POS).

This is one of the 13 pens I made this past Christmas for the guys at work – I kept this one for myself.

It’s a slimline walnut pen with a Celtic Knot made of 3 blood wood rings & one maple ring.

After making one of these for his grandfather a year and a half ago, my brother-in-law asked for one himself as well.

Now, if I had only remembered more than a week ahead of time, it may have gone a little smoother ;-)

It took a little creative adjusting after realizing my 15 degree miter cuts were off by a tiny fraction, creating a gap between the final segments.

No biggie though – just cut & fit a wedge, creating an ideal spot to affix a retirement coin.

First attempt at a Celtic Knot pen – quick Christmas present for a friend. Made of Purple Heart with Maple rings. Turned out pretty well, I think.

I didn’t have time for a good finish (given what I had on hand and the time to do it in) so a I’m not really pleased with that part, but over as far as the knot is concerned – that was fun!

I was asked by my boss [too long ago] if I would build a whiteboard for the new office. And of course my answer was, “Sure!”.

Well I finally finished it and got it installed.

Made of pine with a dark brown stain & 73” wide x 54” tall, it has one main whiteboard with four smaller whiteboard areas on the inside of each door panel.

At the top of each inner door panel is either a strip of corkboard material for pinning documents, should the need arise or a stip of sheet metal for magnets.

Each set of doors folds over on each other and fits nicely within the remaining wall space to either side of the cabinet when the extra whiteboard space isn’t needed.

There is also a pull-down projector screen hidden at the top-inside of the unit for meetings or presentations.

We moved into our first purchased-home back in November – loving every minute of it.

In the livingroom, there was a recessed section of the wall, next to the fireplace, presumably for the occupant to put their TV (not a fan of builders who dictate where they think you should put your ‘stuff’).

Well, firstly, we dont’ watch that much TV, and when we do, it’s on the small(ish) flatscreen which we hang above the fireplace.

So… what to do with the recessed wall section? Well, build the first (of many, I’m sure) custom pieces for our very own home… a built-in bookcase.

It took a while to complete – not because of complexity, so much as available time. We have two little boys (3 1/2 & 1 yr), so there were times when I quite literally had to build this one cut at a time – in between naps, play-time, work, etc.

This is what we had before – when we first moved in…

This is what we have now…

and in case you’re curious – it’s Batman Begins playing on the TV ;o)

And if you’re wondering why such a large space before the first shelf (as well you should be wondering) – this will be eventually filled with…

...the 46 gallon bowfront fishtank my wife has been wanting.

And since we have our TV hanging above the fireplace, I was able to route the wires/cables through the wall and to a panel that houses the speaker wire terminals and a pass-through for the power/audio/video cables…

As you can obviously see, the whole thing is red oak – but I also added a small touch of inlay on the cabinet top of a cherry stripe and a walnut diamond… mostly to cover my mess-up ;o) (I’ll post a picture later).

Anyway – first project completed in the new house – next one will be in the master bedroom. On the other side of that livingroom wall is our bedroom. There’s another recessed section of wall on the opposite side of the fireplace – I’ll be making a built-in desk this time.

Several months ago, my brother-in-law approached me and asked if I’d be willing to make a shadow box for his grandfather (a Navy Pearl Harbor survivor). He let me know that it would need to be done by Thanksgiving Day, as that is when his grandfather would be in town, but as I am too accustomed to doing, I put it off and put it off. Until crunch-time came and I only have a couple days to get it done.

After a couple sessions in the workshop, and some last-minute (literally) placement of medals, my brother-in-law was able to present the Ship’s Wheel to his grandfather while the whole family was gathered for Thanksgiving.

I had never really experienced it before, but it really was humbling in a way for someone of his generation to seek me out in the crowd of people to shake my hand.

I made this for my wife… consisting of Bloodwood, Walnut & Zebrawood

She always carries around a small glass bottle of her favorite perfume and thought she might like something a little dressier for her purse.

I was right :o)

I must admit – I thought I was being clever with this one… until I saw a real cross pen!

This one is Walnut & Bloodwood.

This was a quick and easy, last-minute gift for a friend this past weekend.

I had already decided several weeks ago that I wanted to make a pen & pencil set for my friend’s birthday (Dr. Sam as my boy calls him). But as the day prior ended, I realized I hadnt gotten around to it yet. So that night I glued up up the oak/bloodwood & oak/walnut and finished the set up the following morning before we left.

I sure do love making these things – by far the most enjoyable, instant-gratification items I make!

I think the next pens I make, I’m going to give the knot/ring pen a try – Gary ’s is inspiring!

Not too much to say about this one…

Our backyard isn’t terribly large and has a downward slope to it… so we decided to do a little weekend project (OK – 2 or 3 weekends by the time we got ourselves outside in the Texas heat) to give ourselves a little more useable space for entertaining and relaxing.

So between my in-laws and I, we threw this together without too much headache.

Turning pens on the lathe is new to me… and now I’m addicted!

I made about 12 of these a couple Christmas’ ago – I don’t think I saw my family for about a month while making these things!

I made two of these – one for me and one for my wife – finishing them the day before our Blackbelt exam!

I made these little things for the ladies in the family based on one my mom & dad brought home from a trip to Brazil or somewhere.

I love making these – not because they’re terribly difficult to make – they’re rather easy – except getting that angle “just right” – but because they’re actually made from used wine barrel slats from Napa Valley, CA – you can still smell the wine that’s soaked into the back!

I built this before we even had kids so we could have a place to keep all the toys we had for when family visited.

I was tired of having a plastic tub in my living room (see far right in the picture) so I made this pretty quickly just out of pine from Home Depot.

Made of Maple & Walnut

Just something I found in a project book or magazine or something… thought it would be fun to make.

It still sits on my desk, holding change, keys, etc.

You ever get asked to make something for a family member that you wished you’d never agreed to? To be fair – they didn’t ask for this exactly – they just asked if I could make them a stand for their small rabbit cage… I kind of went overboard and made a three-level cage/cabinet – with storage underneath and false drawer-fronts that swung down so they could pull out the tray for cleaning.