This is a variation of the Wood Whisperer’s plans. My rack has one less row of supports, 16 total, and no sheet goods storage space. I hung my 200 pound body off of each and bounced up and down, then had my 280 pound older brother do the same… I think the wall studs would snap before the rack supports! Also, this is literally the first project I’ve ever done that I can honestly say was easier than expected haha. I have the link to the full plans if anybody wants it. Comments and critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

This was a new thing for me… you put the chalk stick in your pocket to keep the chalk (to be connected via chain) used on the end of pool sticks close by while playing. It was a simple little turning, but it was the first time I used bloodwood. I’m still amazed at how nice it was to turn despite it feeling much, much heavier than oak, or any other common hardwood for that matter. Comments and critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

This was another late Christmas gift. The plastic (but sturdy) shutters were given to me, and all I was told to do was make a shelf… I just ran with the idea. With a good sanding and washing, some crackle paint in my high-tech spray booth, and three new distressed white oak shelves, the shutters were reborn as a rustic shelf! Comments and critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

My girlfriend tells me I’m always late, and she’s usually right. But, as the old saying goes, “Better late than never, so quit complaining!”... I may have added a little :). This is a bracelet I turned for her as a Christmas gift, and it’s my first lathe project worth the wood it took to make, so I figured I’d put it up on here. It’s walnut with cherry in the middle and two copper inlays. I learned a lottttt from this one, and I don’t believe my lathe will be standing unused anymore. Critiques and comments welcome… thanks for looking!

I know I already posted a single display rack, but the finished products you see here are a different material, different dimensions, and have all the finished hardware on. I have been busting my butt, along with my brother, the last two weeks to get these all built and done before we head back up to school. We built 60 of the 120 total racks and put the hardware on all 120. As I said before, they’ll be displaying our family’s peanuts in Weis Markets all around the country, so keep an eye out! If anyone would like detailed plans, drawings, jigs, tips, etc, just ask and I’ll try my best. And trust me, after building this much of anything, you really gain some helpful knowledge and shortcuts haha. In the pictures, you can see a few of the jigs and hardware we used on the racks. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

About a month ago, my best friend asked, “Ty, how hard would it be to make a gun cabinet,” to which I replied “Probably not that bad.” Now I don’t think it was necessarily hard, but boy, did I learn a lot. This is a solid cherry ten-gun cabinet that I designed and built from scratch, using only a few preliminary measurements from our own gun cabinet. It is probably my biggest project so far, and I think it came out alright for a prototype.
My first lesson learned was in squaring out the rough-cut lumber; use the JOINTER first, then the planer haha. This was also the first time I used a biscuit cutter between the boards I was gluing together to make the tops, sides, etc. I also learned to use the face clamp you can get with the Kreg jig to keep your pocket-hole joints nice and flush. I used the Kreg jig to assemble the face frame and to attach the top sides to the face frame. After I got the body together, I went to work on the drawers, another first for me. After a look at the assembled drawers, a family friend pointed out that because of the drawers’ deepness, things would just get piled in there, so I added the sliding shelf in each drawer (picture 5) to try to keep it organized. I figured the bottom of the drawer would be perfect for ammo storage, and the slider would be good for smaller things like calls. So after all that, I had to educate myself on the selection and installation of drawer slides; this went relatively smooth. My next seemingly daunting task was the six concealed hinges I needed in those big doors… BUM BUM BUMMMM. They turned out to be probably the easiest part of the project haha. After installing the door knobs, pulls, and locks, I went to work with that crown moulding (picture 6). I ended up gluing together two pieces of wood with a Roman ogee edge, and actually liked how it looked in the end.
After putting a darkish stain on all the cherry, I finished it with four coats of brush-on lacquer and a good hand waxing over the whole thing. Critiques and comments welcome… thanks for looking!

Unfortunately, I have 120 of these bad boys to make, and since this is the latest prototype (practice) model, I don’t even get to say, “Only 119 to go!” It’s made out of white oak, all with but joints, brad nails, and screws. If you are familiar with Weis Markets grocery stores, you’ll be seeing these racks holding some peanuts in the future! Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

I made this cover for my drill press a few weeks ago, but today I got sick of seeing my old wooden block for my plug cutters (picture 3) sitting in the way, so I made a new cutter stand attached to my table. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

So I have to credit the inspiration for this one to LJ member SirFatty (Dave) because it was a great idea. Mine’s a little bulkier, but I used what I had on hand. I also wanted to experiment with using neodymium magnets instead of latches. I was a little worried they wouldn’t hold, but those little suckers are strong. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

This table I redid for my aunt was a diamond in the rough. It had about 5 layers of different colored paint over top of the beautiful solid walnut base. The top was venered (and falling apart) and the side aprons were maple, so i made new of both. My uncle is a professional painter, so he’ll be finishing it himself. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

This was a quick, simple project that i thought came out pretty nicely. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

My brother and I made this circle scribe today because I always needed one and never had it. We decided to go fancy with some scrap walnut. It’s a simple design but works very well. The inlay (spelling?) you see is actually walnut, also; it’s just the side grain instead of the darker end grain. I needed it there because I screwed up… who’da thunk it? haha I sawed all the way through the sliding part instead of half way, but I’m glad it happened that way. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

I saw this in a couple places on LJs and decided that it would fit my needs rather nicely. I got the plans from Fine Woodworking; they were decent plans, but there were a few spacing dimensions ignored that I had to figure out myself. After only a few minor hiccups, I came out with this. The side tables hinge up very nicely to align with my miter saw (pictures 2 and 3), and the sliding fences (pictures 4 and 5) work very well. I was surprised to find that this small unit is over ten feet long when everything is extended. My Shop Vac fits in the cabinet to provide dust collection, plugged into (along with the saw) a 15 foot extension cord that runs outside the stand. There are four casters, two of them with brakes, mounted under the unit for portability. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

I got this idea/design from another project on LJs (http://lumberjocks.com/followyourheart/blog/19359) and added my own little tweaks. I only used three, but wider, back boards (as opposed to four on the other project), I turned the mirror so it was square, and didn’t cut any dados; I felt the small shelf was plenty sturdy without them. I also added a few wrought iron nails (seen in picture 3) for decoration only. They couldn’t even hold a feather, so screws were used to attach the cross bar and shelf to the back boards (picture 5). Today, my girlfriend and I finished it out by making and mounting the rabbeted frame for the mirror and putting the wire on the back for installation. It’s being donated to a Chinese auction our small town is holding. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

Here’s another project I made back in high school. It’s built from red oak using only biscuits and glue (except for the hinges and latch, of course). This one was a bit of a pain, but it was a great learning experience and I was really happy with the finished product. I believe the finish was simply a few coats of lacquer. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking!

As you can see, this thing gets a lot of use haha. I also built this in high school wood shop and it really suits my needs well. I believe I made this out of cherry with a three-coat lacquer finish. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking.

I made this candle holder a few years ago in high school. The body is made out of red oak and the feet are mahogany. I saw the character this piece of “scrap wood” had with the worm holes and burr grain, and I think that’s why I like it so much. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking.

This was just a small box I saw in a restaurant one morning that I decided to make. The box was pretty simple; the only new part to me was turning that handle on my lathe. I wanted the handle to spin so I just made the middle part thicker than the ends that fit through the holes on the side of the box (picture 2). Both the body and handle are made from red oak. Critiques welcome… thanks for looking.

My dad asked me to make this for him to hold a bunch of binders where he works. I was confined to a 12 inch space and one day to make it. I figured I would make it tall and skinny. I made the dados with a 3/4” bit in my router and a straight edge; they came out surprisingly well. To keep it from falling forward, I put a cleat on the wall and another that hooks onto it on the top of the shelf. I finished it with tung oil. Thanks for looking.

I had to quickly make these mini greenhouses to protect some raspberry plants that have budded from an upcoming frost. Although they’re not too pretty, they serve their purpose, and I was able to build them very quickly from mostly scraps. It is simply a bottom board with a hole cut in so it can be easily dropped over any small plant. Thanks for looking!