One of my other hobbies is oil painting. I do custom orders of people’s cars and hot rods. I don’t like to just hand over a painting, gotta have some bling. Cherry frames and easels provide just that. I added the easels because they like to display the art when they bring their cars to the strip and shows. Second pic is a close up of one of the “almost” finished paintings. Third pic kinda explains what I do. It is one of my promo paintings. I go to car shows and drag races and set up a vending booth with display paintings. These paintings were ordered last year so you can see how far behind I am. This Sunday is delivery of four….....yay! It takes 3-4 months for a painting.

OK, on to the frames and easels. Nothing special in construction, rabbit in back of frame for painting and a couple of round overs on the front. Frames are screwed to the easels from the back. 3/8” hardwood dowel for the tripod pivot point. Nice brass chains at the bottom to prevent legs from expanding too much. Clear satin poly finish over cherry stain with steel wool between coats of poly.Plans are for two ten pound checkered flag bags of sand to go on top of chains so the paintings won’t blow over in a gust of wind.

I recently made another batch of frames and easels, but this time took pics and plan on a blog soon. Sorry I haven’t been on in a while guys, been extremely busy….....

this project is a couple years old i think. most projects you see me post are experiments or first runs. i think i was building a 3/8” box joint jig and playing with my new 3/16” round-over bit. in this one i made the mistake of gluing the bottom in, in subsequent trays, i dado-ed the ends and the bottom is free floating. leftover walnut from previous projects and nothing special in construction…....i use it all the time, like last night watching the never ending daytona 500.

A lady friend of mine bought a house with what I call ‘a production remodel’. Generic box cabinets were all that was installed, and not plumb or level. She wanted to put some bling into the cabinets so I built/added the two end cabinets on the sink side with the smoked glass doors, added valance with light over sink, added crown mold on both sides made on table saw, built/added end cabinets over refrigerator, and built floating shelf with leftovers. There is also indirect lighting over the cabinets but I forgot to turn them on when I took these pics….....doh! Project was done last year in 2011. The smoked glass came from an ancient stereo that she had been saving for years, thus the huge gap between the doors. I had to build the cabinet doors around the glass. Hardest part was matching the existing finish, think I got it a little dark, but she is happy. From now on, I will take a ‘before’ pic.

I actually made the box in pics 2,3,4 first. My homemade box joint jig had gotten ‘outta whack’. The further I went in making the joint, the further off it was. In other words, I couldn’t ‘flip’ the piece and get the joints to match up. I had the idea of making a box where you couldn’t tell which was the bottom or top. That came out ok, but I always leave the joints a little proud for sanding purposes…..then, I got the idea of making the joint proud on purpose with a little more definition, hence the project in pic #1. The stock is milled to 1/4” and the box joint is 1/8” proud. The material is American Chestnut and projects are unfinished in these pics. Projects are now finished and in some friends home, not sure who.

Here is another of my cases. This is probably one of my first attempts as it does not have safety glass. American chestnut milled to 1/2 thickness. Nothing special about the construction of this case except I was trying for that ‘thinner’ profile. Native american knife made by my LJ buddy terryR.

Vanity, mirror frame and shelf made from left over red oak flooring from building our house. Nothing special about the construction, basic cabinetry. Doors are half lapped, satin poly finish, $3 mirror, $5 faucet, $15 sink, $3 hinges….not that I am cheap or anything…......<g>

Walnut shower ‘honey do’ bench for our upstairs bathroom. I call’em ‘happy wife projects’<g>. I wanted to use tapered pegs for the tenons, but somehow they got too short and had to glue the frame, not sayin…, but it works well. Top is attached with screws and slotted angle brackets.

My wife gets the mail before I see it and one day she plopped one of my Woodsmith mags down in front of me and said I want this…...OK, here it is dear! Actually, it is a year or so old now. Nothing special about the construction, just basic cabinet construction with a face frame. Of course I changed it a little from the pic. I did use plywood for the large panels. Crown molding was made on the table saw. I opted for glass doors instead of solid wood panels. My glass company special ordered the beveled glass. I keep the TVO and DVR in the bottom center section. There is a small fan mounted in the back of the center section keeping the electronics cool. That is a Catch 22 there…..brings in tons of dust. Of course the entertainment center is next to the fireplace. Three way touch lighting in top and bottom sections, should have put lights in middle shelves.

Another ‘combined’ project with my LJ buddy terryR. Case is American Chestnut salvaged from a barn demo. Bats and cave scene are from Kay Co. chert, wherever that is….terry? Nothing special in the construction, maybe the splined mitered corners. Splines are walnut. I use only 1/4” safety glass in all my cases. Didn’t realilze this one was from ‘08…...my, how time flies! Again, I can see there is an art of taking pics of projects. The black felt in this one acted like a mirror.

i had been looking around the house for a project to display, but projects dont last long around here. but, right there if front of me was this bubinga display case. my LJ buddy terryR made the points and gave me the wood. well, he also gave me the latches,90 degree hinges, felt and foam. all i came up with was the glass. maybe he can get on here and describe the points and the rocks they came from. he gave me all this stuff to make him a case for his points but he gave it back to me and thats why its still in the house, not for sale! i didnt realize that part of becoming a member of LJ was learning how to take pics of my projects. catch y’all later around the sawdust pile…...millzit.

Six piece sectional solid walnut entertainment center. I built this for a friend on the mountain here in exchange for him sawing some storm downed cherry trees for me. He supplied the walnut, which was also storm downed trees. I came away with 1500’ of nice cherry now drying in my homemade kiln:)