I finished this back in September. It’s not perfect, but it is 100% better than what I was using. I had an old hollow core computer desktop supported by some slapped together 2X4’s. Which does ok, for my outfeed table, but for a hand tool bench it wasn’t sufficient. And since I am slowly starting to work with hand planes and other hand tools I figured it was my turn to build a good solid bench.

I read both of Chris Schwarz books and looked at all of your postings as well. The bench is loosely based on the Popular Woodworking $175 bench plan. I decided not to go with bench dogs at this point, and decided not to go with a tail vise. Since I am left handed I put the vise on the right side. So far it has worked fairly well and has done everything I need.

I went to Fine Woodworking Live back in August and was talking to Matt Keaney. He said if this is my first bench, just finish it and work with it a little. Chances are he said it won’t be the last bench I build. I can always build another one or add features. Best advice I had through the hole process. I was trying to way over analyze the bench build. I have built a planning stop as an accessory so far.

Thanks for looking.

I was playing around with the lathe this weekend. I’ve wanted a solid wood mallet for awhile. Saw a couple of articles about it and decided to try my hand at it. Not quite the conventional design, but it works pretty well.

Couple of pens I turned today.

It’s been a long time coming, finally got all of my uphosltery supplies together. My wife and I made the cushions last weekend. We decided not to go with a traditional look with vinyl or leather. I think for the first time of doing any kind of upholstery work I think they turned out pretty good. Took us a good part of Saturday and Sunday last week, but well worth it I think. They are very comfortable. The plans for these were from a 2004 issue of Woodsmith. Our entire living room set will eventually be A&C style furniture. I’m working on a side table that I have designed to go between the chairs. Then I’d like to build the accompanying foot stools for this. I think I have enough material and foam for both.

This is the bench I have blogged about. It’s not a full size bench as you can see it’s intended for display of some of my wife’s bear collection, but you can sit on it for short periods without it being too uncomfortable. It’s about 13”X24”. Made from mahogany and finished with Minwax Mahogany gel stain and 3 coats of poly. The design itself is not truly original, but favors a couple of pictures I have seen of these benches. I drew it up in Sketchup before hand. My wife has always wanted one and I think this fit the bill pretty well. Thanks for looking.

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post a completely finished project. My first official commision job. 3 walnut rocking chairs for a guy I work with. These are modeled after an small rocking chair he had growing up. He wants to give these to his grand kids that hopefully they will pass on. I made a few changes to the design of the chair, the arms were not sturdy and over the years had been repairs multiple times, so I did them entirely different. I also changed the shape of the legs a little, the length is still the same but the shape came off the lathe a little different. He liked the prototype I blogged about several months ago, so these followed the same basic principles and design choices.

Thanks for looking

2nd piece of my bedroom set finished finally.

I made this one a little over a year ago. Built from plans in Woodsmith magazine. Only change I made was the finish. Instead of dyes I used different woods and then finished it with Minwax tung oil finish.

The drawer fronts and door panels are from cherry and the case is mahogany. The back is poplar. I ran out of poplar so used some cherry for the drawer sides and back. 1/4” ply on the drawer bottom. First time I tried dovetails. My jig is Craftsman pro dovetail jig. They turned out ok, but not outstanding. I definately need additional practice on them. Case assembly is all mortise and tenon. The plans came from a Popular Woodworking book titles Buidling Traditional Country Furniture. Theirs was made from tiger maple.

Overall it turned out ok. Lots of things I learned and maybe should have done differently, but my wife is happy with it.

Thanks for looking!
Dave

No in process pics, but my first attempt at a rocking chair. Wood magazine had the plan a few months ago. Simple design with nothing overly complex for joinery. Routed round tenons with round mortises. The magazine used oak, but I decided on cherry since it’s what I had on hand, plus my customer (step-grandson/shop helper, who is 6) ordered it to be made of cherry to match the cradle I made awhile back. I did shorten all dimensions by 2 inches. Excuse the poor pics, I was experimenting with my camera (didn’t work as well as I had hoped). The finish is polyurethane.

Thanks for looking

My wife wanted a table for the kitchen, to make mornings go a little smoother. Some place we could drink coffee and have breakfast without going to the dining room or living room. I did some browsing on the internet of different furniture sites and found a picture of a table we liked. I designed the table to be as close to the picture as possible. The oval section folds for storage and is on casters so we can push it out of the way when not in use (not that it happens, but the theory sounded good). Underneath is designed to store the stools (sorry I don’t have pictures of the finished stools, but the plans for those came from Wood magazine’s bistro table and stools). I sketched my design in Sketchup. It’s made of ash, finished with Minwax Classic American stain and several coats of spar urethane. BTW the stool in the picture was a size comparison. It is actually my shop stool. Thanks for looking!

This is the start of a new bedroom set. Set will include bet head board and fooot board, armoire, a dresser and this night stand. The plans are in Woodsmith, modified slightly. In their article they used to stain to create the contrast. I decided to use walnut for the top and base. Main body, door and drawer face are cherry, drawer interior poplar, and the top and base walnut. The finish I am not totally satisfied with, but nothing a couple of top coats of polyurethane won’t fix. The product I used was from Minwax, with tung oil in it. It feels really nice, almost like silk but it’s not as durable as the can claims it is. I think a mild buffing and then some poly on top will correct it. Thanks for looking.

Cradle plans are from from furnitureplans.com. Made from cherry with 1/4 ply bottom. The sides were a bit of a challenge to get glued up since all spindles are attached with M&T’s. Finish is 2 coats of tung oil with 3 coats of polyurethane. Thanks for looking