This bench was built using reclaimed lumber from a factory in Brookline, MA (which is basically in Boston). Built in the 1870’s the factory used to provide the pretzels for the Boston Red Sox stadium, prior to being bought out, at which point the building became a nail factory.

The lumber I was kindly given was 2×8’s, dressed to a generous 1-7/8” x 7-3/4”. These were floor joists, complete with tar lines between where the floorboards were lain upon it, along with many nail holes and other signs of the passage of time. Even had to remove some concrete from them, but it was worth it.

This board was cupped significantly so a good amount of planing was required. I turned my cheap old
coffin plane into a jack plane for heavy material removal, it works quite well.

Then on to my trusty #5 for a relatively flat surface. I don’t have a jointing plane, so with knots that size, this was as good as it gets.

Then, cutting tails, and paring off the waste.

And, all fit together for a glue-up!

Several coats of tung oil later, and after a relaxed waxing…a finished piece. On one side, I left on the original aged and worn edge, only cleaning and sanding it lightly before waxing. The other side is planed down to clean wood, other than the dado that was cut into it while it was still a part of the factory.

Dimensions are 18” x 39”, a comfortable size for two reasonably close adults, or three kids. I have another piece like this, and am thinking about making this a pair. Would probably be great at the dinner table.

I enjoy paring “ugly”, aged wood with robust joinery and simple but elegant geometry. The wood has so much character, that ornament/decoration would compete with it. Instead, I tried to keep it simple and let the lumber speak for itself.

Thanks for looking, comments welcome.

Another gift for my lover. This was a pretty quick and simple project, a 7”x10” pine cutting board/serving board. Cheese and crackers, peanut butter sandwich, etc. It’s my first cutting board.

The medallion is a 1” dia. poplar dowel stained with my blood (my 1/2” bench chisel is deeply attracted to my left thumb). The color is, well, bloody…a rich dark red/purple, though I imagine it will lose its ruddy hue and darken up over time. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen blood used intentionally as a stain, other than in a film titled “The Red Violin”. Worth experimenting with animal blood on larger projects I think. Dry end-grain drinks it like a vampire.

The 1/2” wide leather strap is cut down to 3/8” wide, and is glued into a 3/8” by 1/4” mortise in the dowel. Should hold up well, leather takes on wood glue really well.

Finished with beeswax.

For the general aesthetic, I must give credit to the creator of these:

http://www.jaysonhome.com/leather-strap-cutting-boards.html

Thanks!

The house I live in has a carriage house behind it. The previous owner left a bunch of rusting cans of stain and finish there, which I commandeered. There were damaged and odd sized containers though, which aren’t good for saving space. Twelve glass bottles solved the problem, but they needed a new home.

The rabbeted, glued and stapled bottom is cut from a piece of wall paneling, sides are 1×8 pine, and handles are scrap molding. All hand-cut. Finish is one layer tung oil, then wax.

The bottles are 6-3/4” tall, so there’s a comfortable 1/4” of clearance between the bottle tops and the edge of the box. It holds 12 pint bottles, a can of paste wax and some small square rags.

The use of bottles seems much more convenient than cans; the finish can be poured with no mess, you need one less tool around to open it, and there are less fumes while working with the open container. Also, when the apocalypse comes, I’ll have all the fixin’s for 12 Molotov cocktails in one box.

When my girlfriend asked that I made her a coat hook rack, I figured I’d respond by providing a traditional option, as well as something a little more creative.

The first image is the more interesting option. The branch used for the “hooks” fell naturally after being quite well eaten by some organism. I could only find one dried up carapace, it was about 3/4” long and had about ten abdominal sections, each with a pair of legs; some form of centipede perhaps?

The forms that the infestation had created under the bark were visually quite interesting. I used a light acrylic paint wash, sanding lightly afterwards, to give the piece a distressed look and to emphasize the network of eaten away channels left by the creatures. Gift from them to me becomes a gift from me to my lovely lady.

The second coat hook is pretty self explanatory: some classical profile, with a bit of a lip above for some potentially attractive shading.

This is primarily made from 5-6oz leather, however the lid and base are both made using oblong 1/4” thick elmwood branch cutoffs.

It’s a pretty basic design, 2”x2”x7”.

I included a photo of a leather sheath I made for my hatchet, using some of the remaining leather. Finished both the leather and wood with Sno-Seal and paste wax.

Thanks for looking!

After working at night with only back lighting for about one month now (just moved to a new apartment), I decided enough is enough, because my young eyes were feeling old.

This is quite a simple design. A 3’ long boom is attached to a hinge, the axis of which is perpendicular to the ground plane. The fixture is attached to a wood sheath which, with the aid of a tapered cylindrical handle, can slide along the boom.

The hinge pin is a stainless steel rod I salvaged from a junked toaster.

Being able to swing the light to the left and right about the pivot point is particularly useful for cutting with the miter saw, when you can have cut lines on either side of the blade.

Of course, simply having a well lit space is preferable in a shop, but this is my bedroom, so I’m keeping the double 48” fluoro tubes out of the equation.

I may modify this slightly by adding a hinged half-cylindrical shade, as the light is in my eyes a bit much. Not an issue if I keep my eyes on the work I guess!

Pine scraps with a light tung oil finish.

I was given some American elm branch cuttings of various diameters, this was the first of it I’d ever handled. Initially I tried to split it to see if I could take some smaller board from it…no luck! (Incidentally, in both episodes of the Woodright’s Shop that I watched since, Roy mentions that elm can’t be split.)

The mallet I posted previously was given to a friend for use as an ice crusher for cocktails, so it’s now in frequent use in Brooklyn, NY.

This mallet is its bigger, better replacement. The head is elm, with just the bark stripped. The 1” dia. handle is of poplar, in a hole bored through a branch knot on the elm. I secured it to the head by driving a cherry wedge through the peg. One of the striking surfaces is flat, the other is slightly convex.

Finish is “walnut” stain, which I’d never used before, followed by some beeswax.

Easily made in about an hour without power tools or a firm plan. It has decent heft to it, elm weighs about 35 pounds per cubic foot. I’m curious to see how the end grain will hold up.

At the request of my sister, I went about building a small milking stool for her. We grew up in China, where a low stool is a traditional and, though we’re quite tall, makes for a comfortable seat.

So, this piece measures 12” x 10.5” at the feet. The corresponding seat sides measure 9.5” x 12”, and the height is 14”.

The seat is built up from three 2×4’s doweled together; the legs of 2×2, reclaimed, and the (~ 1×2) rails are select pine cut-offs.

The legs are morticed for the rails. The seat attaches to the legs using four 1/4” oak pegs and eight toe-nailed 1.5” finish nails, just to be sure.

The celeste green painted stripes indicate where there was a knot in the legs and rails. I like using color with some logic behind it, it keeps things more in the realm of design and less in that of art.

The (roughly tooled) top is finished with tung oil and beeswax.

What would people suggest for a transparent finish over the paint?

Thanks,

- J

This table is 24” wide, 22”high and 11” deep. It was built for my parents, from the last remaining piece of lumber that I surfaced my workbench with: ~100 year old softwood boiler shipping crate parts, from England.

The legs unfortunately are just construction grade pine, nothing special. The finish is a technique I’ve grown accustomed to using: one layer of tung oil, a second layer wet sanded with 800 grit paper, and beeswax mixed with Johnson’s paste wax. Works well, relatively durable, just don’t put a hot coffee cup on it.

It’s somewhat of a cousin to my cross-cut saw bench, Iwouldn’t be surprised to see them both disappear when I deliver this summer.

Thanks for looking,

-J

A not quite life-like carving of a bird’s skull, using various images as a guide.

Tools used: hatchet, knife, chisel.

Skull is pine, post, is 1/8” hollow square brass dowel, base is brass from door kick plate and mystery wood from a package of Japanese fish-cake of all places.

This was a gift for a former lover who’s a bird-watching enthusiast. So the unofficial title is:

“An ex bird’s head for my head ex bird.”

This has been on my to do list for a while, after some awkward crosscutting at the workbench.

The top for this is a 1-1/8” x 5-3/4” x 24” piece of the same wood that my workbench surface is made from…some form of pine, sent from England eighty or so years ago. The legs are cheapo 2×3’s with 1/4 select pine bracing.

After realizing that I was a little short on material, I had to use some improvised joinery to create on of the legs from two cutoff pieces.

No trestle/stretcher as I want to be able to store stuff between the legs, and it feels sturdy enough as is.

Height is a hair under 20”, lower than recommended for a 6’-2” person I guess, but it felt about right when I was testing different heights so I’ll go with it. This is a pretty comfortable sitting height as it turns out.

Took one afternoon to make using hand tools only. I highly recommend spending an afternoon making one of these, extremely handy to have around.

This is a 2nd attempt at a previously posted box. Same dimensions but 2 inches taller, and with i.m.o. much better proportioned dovetails. Bottom is 1/4” ply rebated into sides (photo #4).

It happened to the the perfect length for holding 12” ebay clamps, so that’s it’s current temporary function. It is 9-1/2” wide. I really should have made it 9 or 9-1/4, so that 1×10 stock could be used for a lid…next one I guess.

This is a small chest of drawers of 3/4”pine, with 3/8”cedar and 3/4” pine drawers. The drawers are through dovetailed front and back, and have cedar beveled-block handles.

The top and base of this piece are rebate joined and nailed through the top (three per side). Supports for the top and center drawer are bridle jointed (I think?) front and back, with a half-lapped connector between them (visible at the front).

Finish is three layers of tung oil finish with some sanding to 320 grit. No power tools.

Total dimensions: 10”x7.5”x12.75”h

Overall I’m pleased with the piece, but there were some problems I encountered:

- The cedar I used was 40 or so year old tongue and groove paneling, and despite being quite knotty, was also quite brittle, which was to be expected I suppose. It lead to a good amount of chipping which I was only partially able to repair using a glue/sawdust mix.

- The half-laps visible from the front, and the drawer handles, should have been better composed so that they related at least in width. But I wanted to use cedar for them, and I literally had nothing left from the one scrap piece I started with.

- Some addition to the piece, such as stout legs or a heavier base may have added to it by distinguishing top from bottom; as it is, it could be presented upside without being too visually different. That being said it’s currently being used for pens and other stationery, so using the drawers upside would be a messy reminder as to which way is up!

Thanks for looking, comments welcome.

...is where I sleep.

This means that I have to keep things preeetty clean.

After about nine months of using the same diagonally bisected raisin box as a dustpan, I decided to use some scrap stuff to make a more suitable replacement for a tool I use daily.

1/4” ply sides, masonite base, and riveted aluminum flashing for the leading edge. The flashing works great because it has a good amount of flex to it, so it makes good contact with the uneven hardwood floors I work on.

I conjured up a (for me) novel way to add ties to handles, because I don’t really like the tie extending from the sides of a handle through a single hole; they flop around and don’t stand to meet whatever dinged up nail you plan to hang it on. You could just cram the loop into the hole and glue it, but that’s P.I.T.A. bread when it comes to replacing it, so instead I drilled a hole, in the end of a handle, and a second smaller hole for a dowel through the handle. The tie loops around the dowel.

Nothing a like a useful shop project, right?

I post this not to say that this is the best way to make a dustpan, but to show that it’s pretty damn simple project that saves a few bucks and prevents the birth of one more plastic product.

A little a while ago I started and have now almost completed my first workbench.

The pairs of legs are made up of laminated 2×3’s, stretchers are slightly larger 2x stock. The surface is from some free 1”x 6” tongue and groove pine (I think) boards that I believe were used to ship the boiler/furnace for my apartment building. Some have “made in England” stenciled markings as well as gross weight (1200 kg), and had been sitting in my basement for 80 years or so. Unfortunately I had to remove the markings because the boards were all so badly cupped. They are glued together, and attached to 1/2” plywood, which was also free. Not quite as heavy as I’d like, but it does the job.

The vice was and is a bit of an ongoing experiment. The moving jaw was built up using 1x stock, for a total thickness of 2-1/4” and width of 10” or so. I don’t have access to turned products, so I had to improvise somewhat in making the hub that connects the handle to the 1’1/4” threaded dowel. The vice opens to a totally unnecessary 16”+ inches, however that will be reduced as I find a better handle solution. It slides on 1” dia. poplar dowels, and has a total depth of about 5” from bench height to rails. My general opinion is that the vice is too large for what I use it for.

A bit too light, a bit too much slop, and lower quality than I will eventually be looking for, but for now it works fine.

Thanks for looking

EDIT:

The only moving parts that are glued together are the rails to the moving jaw. Everything else is screwed, so it’ll be easy to replace individual components.

This is a wall mounted shelf for a cable modem and DVD player requested by the girlie. Time spent in workshop > time spent driving to ikea.

This isn’t really my style at all, but as far as she’s concerned it could have been made of plastic. I used MDF because I had it, as well as some pine pieces. Finish is black spray paint (again, to finish off a can of it) and polycrylic. Shelf is 3.5” x 10” x 28”, leaving some space underneath for wires to be hidden.

Is currently mounted and in use. Happy to build it, and happy to get it out of my place!

Not the biggest fan of Valentine’s day, or saintly things in general. But…the girly is, so she’ll be happy waking up next to me and a wood gift surprise tomorrow morning.

First true carving project. Tools used: coping saw, dovetail saw, 3/4” paring chisel, pencil, knife.

1×6 pine, w/ one coat “red oak” stain.

This is my first attempt at dovetail joinery (handcut), came out ok considering the amount of care I was taking. I chose relatively similar tail and pin sizes, mainly to see what how I feel about less stylized DT joints.

Hopefully I’ll get rid of the rest of this scrap soon, so that i can get on to some higher quality projects with more interesting types of wood.

Pine handles and sides, generic base. 5-3/4” H x 9-1/2” x 17”

Thanks for looking

Being somewhat intrigued by the Japanese toolboxes I’ve seen here and elsewhere, I had a shot at building a box with a similar type of lid. But…as my girlie immediately identified, it’s pretty useless, as it’s only 1” deep. Oh well, I’ll call it a chisel box and be on my way. Pine 1×2’s with 1/4” plywood.

I have way too many small pieces of cut-off laying around, and other than clamp pads they aren’t of much use, so I decided to use some of them to make this cutting board type of thing.

I intended it for use as a cutting board for bread, but wanted to add handles so now it’s more of a tray for eating at my desk (a.k.a workbench). Finished in three alternating layers of tung oil and poly-something.

On the underside I inlaid some 1/8”x1/8” basswood dowels to help hold everything together, as all of the joints are simple glued butt-joints. Might have been aesthetically pleasing if they were on the top surface, but it didn’t really make sense structurally.

Once I’ve used all of this scrap wood I can justify buying and finally working with some higher quality hardwoods. Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.