Well I didn’t have any projects planned this year, but my “friend” compelled me to build this for her. Sadly, all the time spent from rough stock to finished project didn’t warrant a phone call from her the entire time I was building it for her. Needless to say, ignorance is bliss. She has no clue it is finished, and now part of my friend Al’s new apartment!! Oh well, lesson to all you ladies out there. When a man builds you something from scratch, he wants your attention!!

Now on to construction. The sides are glued up panels, the shelves and bottle supports are biscuit joined to the sides. The half circles holding the different radii of the wine bottles were made with a 1.3/8” and 3.1/4” forstner bits on the drill press. The glass hangers are a little different from the plan, as I cut them from 1.1/2” squares. The beveled cuts closely match the angle of the glass, and were cut from the solid on the table saw. The upper back crest is also different. After asking my “friend” if she preferred the decorative crest, or just a back board, I was answered with silence. So Al and I came to the conclusion that less is more, and that the decorative crested board was more feminine looking. I think it is simple, and elegant.

Sanded to 180 grit with garnet paper, and finished with 3 coats of ArmRSeal, with light sandings between coats with 320 grit, then waxed to perfection!! I am really proud of this piece, even though my “friend” ignored me through the whole journey from rough stock to finshed project. Enjoy!!

Well I had more pics of the bed in progress on my smart phone. The images were too big to post, so you guys will just have to take my word that it is curly maple! I’ll post more pics later.

This bed started out as a take my time project, since the online mattress company quoted me a three week delivery on the mattress. Nine days later, they were on the phone ready to deliver!! So I had to get busy!! It was a platform bed building marathon!!

The show wood is all curly maple from Rockler. The secondary wood is poplar. All of the lumber is 4/4 thick, except the legs, they are 1.3/4” down from 8/4 stock. The bed is supported by angle iron that is screwed to a 1” nailer board, and the head and foot boards are double mortise and tenon joints. I purchased a shoulder plane a few years ago, and have never used it. Although I did put an edge on the iron, and tested it. The mortises were cut, and the tenons were then cut to fit. I left the tenons oversized, in order to shoulder plane them to a perfect fit. The side raills were installed with bed hardware from Woodcraft, with special thanks to Dorje’ for his beds inspiration and the heads up on the hardware!! I would’ve bought the hardware from Rockler, but they were having a sale on cherry that week!! Cherry is my weakness!!!!

The finish is once again, Transtint medium brown, BLO, and garnet shellac, and then two coats of furniture wax. The mattress is a Simmons Beauty Rest Firm Pillowtop. My first night’s sleep was AWESOME!! Enjoy!!

Well this Winter storm has really kept me from installing the back boards, but other than that, this project is finished. I had originally had it planned to finish the back boards, until I got all that curly maple blogged earlier. I can’t get my table saw out because of all the long boards, and my new lumber rack is all filled up!! My new rack is snow bound in Kentucky!! Oh well.

This chest is constructed in the same manner as the walnut one, with one exception. I hate nails. So instead of nailing the upper moulding to the case, I chose to drill a pocket screw hole through the pins of the dovetails on the top, in order to attach the upper moulding to the sides of the case. The front upper moulding is just glued since it is long grain to long grain.

The finish is something new for me, and I’m very proud of my official first stained project with a dye. The color is Transtint Medium Brown. Then after drying a day I applied boiled linseed oil to the piece and let it stand wet on there for 10 minutes, then wiped dry and allowed to dry for 24 hours. Then 6oz’s of garnet shellac was sprayed on in 3 different applications, which really made this piece’s color come alive, in my opinion. Then hand wet sanded with 400 grit and mineral spirits to level the shellac, and then sanded with 1200 grit and mineral spirits, then finally rubbed out with a grey super fine scotch brite pad with mineral spirits and 2 coats of wax. The hardware is once again, Horton Brasses. It is the same size as the walnut version.

I had a few repairs already to this chest. I had the drawers off the floor on my jointer while I was working on the finish of the case, and 2 of the drawers fell off, and both suffered cracks. One drawer I was able to glue back perfectly, the other has the appearance of repair. There was also an issue with my dovetail jig while dovetailing the half blinds on the upper drawer. I managed to cut out the bad rout, and glue in a block, sand it flush, and re- milled the half blinds (I’m very proud of the repair!!). More pictures to come. Enjoy!!

Well here she is in all her glory! I really like the way this project turned out. When I originally saw the 16” wide walnut at Rockler’s, I knew this piece was destiny! Now on to construction.
The case is dovetailed at all four corners. The draw dividers are dovetailed into the sides, and the runners are mortised and tenoned to the dividers, then just squared to the frame, and screwed in place. The base is mitered in the front two corners, and squared in the back with a straight piece of pine (this was a Frankenstein!!) mortised and tenoned together. The feet were rough cut on the bandsaw, then the concave curves were sanded to the line. I have trouble with my spindle sander when it comes to convex curves, so those were final shaped with a #49 and #50 hand rasp, mill file, and finally sandpaper (how about that Chuck!!). The feet were then mitered on the tablesaw, and glued together, then glued to the base. The rear feet were rabbeted to the back feet, then glued to the rear case.
The base is then routed on the edge with a classic bit, then the transition moulding is routed with a larger classic bit, then installed inverted to the base. Since all the parts of the base were in the same direction as the mouldings, they were all just glued and clamped in place. The case is then just screwed to the base. The upper moulding was routed with the same bit I used on the waist moulding of the Highboy, then installed inverted to get a different profile. The drawers are rabbeted half blind dovetail, and through dovetail construction done on the Leigh D24R. The finish is Watco Danish Oil Black Walnut, “fogged” on shellac and wipe on polyurethane. The brasses were from Horton Brasses.
If you look closely in pics one and three, you will see my top and side panels glued up for the tiger maple version of this chest. This was a very fun project, and I am quite pleased with the outcome. The plan was from Glen Huey’s DVD which is very detailed, and has tons of tips and techniques for this project, that will easily transfer to other projects. I hope you all enjoy! Now it’s back to work for me, vacation is over. : (

Updated 11/30/09:
Thanks for all the kind words everyone! Just an update on the dimensions. The chest is 28.3/4” tall, 27” wide, and 16.1/2” deep. The brasses were from Horton Brasses.

I recently bought a 1” travel indicator and a mighty mag to try and get my saw blade perfectly aligned with the miter slot on my Delta contractor saw. After seeing the Forrest Saw Blade display at the Houston Woodworking Show a few weeks ago, and seeing how well they had their Delta contractor saw aligned, and the scratch free cuts they were producing I have to tell you, I was jealous!

I’ve always had good results out of my Forrest WW2 blade, but after checking the run out on the blade, and finding 0.10” run out, I thought I could get it a bit closer with a travel indicator. Well after a couple hours of trial , error, and adjustments both with and without the belt on, I got it to 0.002”. I discovered that my contractor saw experiences a pull to the left of .002 with the belt on resulting in a 0.004 total front to back. So I had to adjust it to .002 on the other side of 0.00 to compensate for the play in the bearing. Now the blade is 0.001 on each side of 0.00 front to back.

Once I had it adjusted out, and my blade at 90 degrees, I ripped and cross cut these pieces of cherry with no scratch marks! I am happy, and no longer jealous!

My indicator came in a styrofoam case, and the Mighty Mag came in a cardboard package. Being a woodworker, and recognizing the value of my new acquisitions, I decided to celebrate my achievement by building this case to protect my new investments! All the boring was done on my new 17” Jet Woodworking drill press, with various forstener bits, and hand chiseling, and shaping on the case. The lid has a hand carved relief for the crystal on the indicator. Finished in 3 coats gloss polyurethane, with felt feet on the bottom. Hope you guys like it!

Well here is another installment of Lolling Chair 2.0! I decided that this design could easily be expanded out into a two seater earlier while I was building the Lolling Chair. After looking online for one, without success, I emailed Chuck Bender and described to him what I was building. He enlightened me that a two seater Lolling Chair should be called a “Lolling Settee”.

So here it is, in more of that scrap Honduran Mahogany. Once again, poplar secondaries, and this time a different fabric, and a different upholsterer. I contacted Lee Industries for innards, and the initial price was just under half of what I paid an upholsterer to cover this piece. He had just recently been laid off, so it was a no brainer for me….....everybody’s got to eat!!

And once again, compound angled mortise and tenon joinery on the seat rails to legs and stretchers, and angled dovetails on the long front stretcher. I am a little upset that he covered up my front leg to arm support joint, I had worked so hard at getting that perfect, but all in all it is still a beautiful job on the upholstery. If you need an upholstery guy here in Houston, I can give you his number! Enjoy!!

Well fellow Lumberjocks, here it is. I must admit that I had to hire a professional upholsterer to finish this chair. One thing is apparent, upholstering is a skilled trade!! It is nothing you can just walk up on, and do without a great deal of experience!! Making the cuts on the arms proved to be very frustrating, and after ruining 2 perfectly good pieces of fabric, I had had enough!!

I found an upholsterer while in Hancock Fabric getting more fabric, and decided to give him a call. I think he did a beautiful job! I did manage to do the seat, and do all of the underlayment, but the chair back was all his!!

Now on to the lumber, and joinery!! If you are looking for a serious woodworking challenge, this chair is for you!! Compound angle cuts, and tenons. Compound dovetail joinery on the front cross stretcher, man even clamping it up was a challenge!!

Once again, I used more of this scrap mahogany lumber I got from the local guy selling it on Craigslist that I blogged about earlier this summer. The only lumber I bought was the poplar for the covered wood.

Here is the chair next to my beloved Cherry table.

Here is another satisfied customer (ma-roww)!!

I hope you guys like it, I LOVE IT!! I’m very proud of my new edition to the family!! Enjoy!!

Here is the larger cd display in flamed birch. Enjoy!!

Before I had any joinery tools, all I had was my tablesaw and my Kreg pocket jig. I went to Clark’s here in Houston just to admire the 100+ species of wood. I found these 2 exceptional pieces of lumber(actually I found 3, one was a $75.00, 8’ stick of beeswing aniegre that I just absolutely fell in love with but couldn’t afford it, and these 2 boards!).
These 2 boards sat in my garage for a few months, before I could buy a jointer, and a planer, and frankly more lumber to work with. Well you know a guy with a tablesaw, a Kreg pocket jig, 2 great boards, and a whole bunch of time is gonna make some sawdust!! Here is a cd display I made one weekend. Finished in Tung oil.
In retrospect I should’ve saved this board for a few draw fronts on the Highboy. I had no idea I would be building one soon!! Enjoy!!

Well guys, here is the candy box I made for my favorite Aunt. It’s made from the last of a piece of flamed birch, and some beeswing figured Honduran Mahogany. Just a mitered corner box, with a raised panel flamed birch top. In the third photo is the piece of strangely figured Honduran Mahogany I was telling you guys about in the Ambrosia Maple candy box post. It looks like it’s melting. I wonder if anyone has ever seen figuring like this. I sure would like to know what it is called. I know someone out there in LumberJockland will know, and can tell me!

I just commented on dmann’s ambrosia maple box, and felt compelled to share this project, and story with you guys!
After I sold my Strat and bought my tablesaw, I needed a plain straight forward project to soothe my woodworking itch. While I was working at a 18 wheeler manufacturer, this chasis came in on a long pallet. Well the short cross boards weren’t too impressive, but the long ones were! They had some curl, and mineral streaks to them. So on my break, I wen’t out to the chassis, and cut all the short boards from the long ones, and proceeded to take them to my ‘95 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi. That car was big and long, but only had a ski opening in the rear seat. I carefully guided the boards through the hole, and managed not to tear up my leather seats. I brought them home, and sanded the fuzz off of them with my belt sander. Lo and behold they were maple! I showed them to my woodshop teacher, and he identified them as curly ambrosia maple. He enlightened me that the color change was due to different minerals in the water the tree grew next to. I thought they were gorgeous, and that along with my new tablesaw was what truly sparked my woodworking craze!! I still have some of this maple!!
Here are a few boxes I made with them. The first one has a padauk raised panel top. The second has a bloodwood raised panel top. The padauk topped box is my mom’s, the bloodwood is her sister’s. They are both finished in tung oil. The third picture are the “boards”!!

Here are the last remaining pieces of Mahogany from my Highboy project. I had a few days of cool weather in March, and decided to make this table. It features a one piece, 16” wide top, and the frame is around 22” tall. The top is the scrap from the Highboy scroll board. Finished in Armor Seal.

Here is a coffee table that I made. I had a piece of red oak veneered plywood, and some scrap pieces of oak, so I made this table from scrap. Here it sits in action.

Here is this years pride and joy! After I finished the Lowboy, I was ready for another challenge. I originally wanted to build another lowboy, in a different species, but started contemplating a Highboy. So I ordered the plan from New Yankee, and a set of legs, and here it is. Every aspect of this project was meticulously planned out. From the bookmatched side panels (upper case, and lower), to the one piece, 16” wide scroll board, to the bonnet moldings that originated from a solid piece of 12/4 Mahogany. The lower case is constructed exactly like the Lowboy, with the exception of the dust frame in lieu of the 2 piece top. The upper case is joined with through dovetails. The drawer dividers are dadoed, and dovetailed into the side panels. The bonnet top is formed with Italian bending plywood, and veneered with mahogany veneer. All of the drawers are rabbetted half blind/through dovetail joinery, in Aspen and faced in Mahogany. This is my first project to apply carving. The center of the scroll board, and the 2 middle drawers feature a carving. And a not too bad of a carving if I do say so myself. The finials were turned by Bruno Wesolek, the famed Houston woodturner (thanks, Bruno!!). Bruno loves this piece, and coming from him, it means a lot!! I went all out on the solid brass hardware on this piece also. I stared at a picture of a Highboy all summer, wondering if I could do it! I guess I can!

This piece is very similar to the Lowboy. The one piece, 10” wide sides are glued long grain to long grain to the legs, with biscuits. The drawer dividers are dovetailed to the front leg posts. The drawers are rabbeted half blind, and through dovetail contruction. The top is bookmatched. The secondary wood is Aspen, from Lowe’s. The plywood drawer bottoms are also Aspen. This wood is becoming my favorite for drawers, due to the fact that the plywood matches the sides, and are very inexpensive. This is also my first project using gel stain.

Here is the right side of the sofa! A mirror image in Pecan of the cherry end table. Same bat size, same bat descriptions!

This time last year, this was my pride and joy! I ordered the Lowboy plan from New Yankee, and a set of legs! I spent over a month building this piece. I took my time, and made sure all my joinery was tight. I think I used every tool in the shop on this project. The sides are one piece, 13” wide figured cherry. The top is 2 wide boards. The top, and the 3 lower drawers are faced from 2 matching boards, and are constructed with rabbeted half blind, and through dovetails. The secondary wood is oak. The finials were turned by a friend out of state. I don’t own a lathe yet…...maybe this year? This piece very proudly sits in the living room! I admire it every day!
Revised: Here are the 2 one piece side panels on the Lowboy. Look at that crotch grain!!

I started on this end table, and stopped to start working on my Lowboy. I found a guy who sells huge pieces of lumber here in Houston. He had a 12/4 piece of curly maple that I resawed on my bandsaw, and made a bookmatched top, framed in that dark figured cherry!! The legs are tapered, the drawer is drawer lock bit construction. The draw supports, and guides are pocket screwed and glued. This is a very pretty end table, once again influenced by David Marks!
Revised: Here is the board that I used on the table top. It’s the front one. I still have the back one!!

This is my 3rd table Once again, mortise and integral tenon joinery, one piece 13” wide top attached with figure 8’s, tapered legs. I really love the color, grain, and figure of this deep red cherry. This was destined to be a gift for another relative, but I just couldn’t let this one go! This table also sits proudly in the living room!!
Revised: Here is Squeaker’s adding a little cat wax to the top, and buffing it off.

Here is where the artistry begins! This is my coffee table in figured walnut. The top is a crotch grained, bookmatch piece of walnut, framed in Bubinga. I got this color scheme from watching David Marks. Once again, mortise and integral tenon joinery. The top is attached with figure 8’s, and the frame is biscuit joined, and mitered to the top. This table proudly sits in the living room!