The virtual T-shirt that I was awarded in the last challenge (3D printed out & perfect for our Ken doll) is in the wash yet again- worn, torn and aniline dye stained. The resident Barbies are thrilled at this bare chested development but I find it somewhat unseemly, unsafe in the shop as well – splinters and such you know. So this is my entry angling for a replacement.

The current contest or challenge is to build something out of one square foot of wood. That’s the limit. Add anything else you like but otherwise be frugal and inventive.

I missed the weigh in, the photo in, but here is where it came from. My rip from the side of this Zebra-wood board was 5” x 28 3/4” x 1”. I left the gnarly parts behind as one can have too much challenge nu?
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I took as an additional challenge to use as close as possible to 100 percent of the given stock. That’s pretty funny in a way for almost 50 percent of my chunk went up the dust collector pipe through ripping, planing, drum sanding & final light trimming and never did see the light.
In the end I had a handful of tiny mitre cuts left over.

This is a re-creation from memory of a wooden light that my father made in 1965 or so. It hung in our family room for years and was a silent background fixture of our lives.(bad pun yes, but yet it is funny how you remember certain physical things when growing up). His was made in walnut with a picture frame bulb (hot dog shape) and a somewhat unfinished interior.. His project (the plan or idea) probably came out of Popular Mechanics or the like and was very modern looking for the time. I always liked it.

A quadruple row of LED’s illuminates mine. I think they are an almost ideal substitute for the original lamp as they will last forever, are cheap to run and most importantly are not going to dry out the wood or affect the finish.. You do however give up some of the nice things that incandescent bulbs provide. Maybe we like them so much because they’re human scale, with human seeming light, the orange yellow glow of something burning. These alternate strips are warm white, 3200K. Shown here with the comparison bulb.
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Commercial aluminum channels & diffusers held around a wooden core hold the light strips, with a power brick and dimmer down at the floor. I used a new system put out by LV, quite comprehensive in scope and not terribly priced though shopping on e-bay will run you less for sure. What you might miss is LV’s super service and solid guarantee.

Finishing took “waaay” over half my time. Because of the tough equilateral shapes and the dissimilar finishes (water based & oil) that had to come together in a crisp hard line, any thought of spraying was out. Sand, brush on, scuff sand, rub out and do it again & again etc. The Barbies heard many new bad words escape me during the process, much tittering ensued.

The interior walls were double coated with gesso and then twice painted over with Titanium white acrylic. Acrylic high gloss varnish tops it off for I wanted it as bright as as can be. The exterior is Minwax Tung Oil (wiping varnish) x2, with three top coats of Tried and True with varnish. I fully finished each piece before double notching and assembly. Goddard’s wax completed it.

There is a fashioned Plexiglas spider at the top, with all lighting components held together with an old brass lamp nipple ( !! more twittering from the Barbs – that does it! out of the shop!!).
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This will hang in my daughters bedroom and I hope she’ll like it over the years as much as I did his.
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Carefully climb cutting the notches on our super sled. Besides needing positional accuracy measured in thousandths to make everything line up, 180 TCG blade cut notches had to be 4 times Exacto knife trimmed to achieve a square flat gluing surface.
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Repetition is an interesting if usually silent teacher but this time she said “My, my, that took a whole lot longer than you planned, didn’t it?”

Ken awaits.

16” x 10 7/8” x 10 7/8”
About 32 long hours.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

A simple floor standing kitchen shelf.

Eastern white pine and the same buried under plastic laminate.

Double notched construction, brass screws in cups. T&T oil, shellac and wax.

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Pine is the wood that other woods kick sand in the face of down at the beach,
and this will get beat up too, pretty sure.
Oh well.

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24” x 42” x 16”
About 30 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

It was late, late at night when the Munchies stealthily attacked Toothache Hotel. All of the guests were sound asleep, not even dreaming of what horrors lay in store…....

Lounging in Suite 1 were Mr. and Mrs. M & M, a colourful couple albeit with a very shopworn alias. Nutty they were. “You just melt in my mouth” was often overheard when they murmured to one another.

Residing in Suite 2 was the young, exquisite and very fashionable Ms. Dark Chocolate, and crunchy old Mr. Espresso Bean III. Lest you demur at the impropriety, they were cosseting, consenting adults (but only grudgingly consented to by my daughter as she hates coffee).

Finally in Suite 3 we have the Smarties family, fresh from what was described by one of the kids as being “A really dark, crinkly bag of a place, an epic fail for anybody’s digs!.”.
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So help me out, I’m confused, what is the moral here??
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This is not an original design but a compendium of web images and LJ projects. You can easily find many great candy machines posted by Lumberjocks.

I made two of these, this one and one that was donated to a silent auction fundraiser for Hincks Dellcrest, a children s mental health service. It was bid up to $400 by several crazy adults so I was quite amazed at their mental health but really pleased for the agency.

To build it I used a bunch of different woods, all of the usual dramatic suspects – because if candy isn’t flash then what is?

Doweled and grooved construction, Plexiglas and leather.
Plus a shellac finish!, which is, quite interestingly, what hard shell candy is often coated with.

7” x 4 3/4” x 15”
About 14 hrs (2)
Build on LJ’s.
gene
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I would have thought that the LJ community was very well balanced and happily true following the last contest, yet here we are again, gruesome death to all Politics & Religion notwithstanding. For the current contest is to once more build something that balances, and yet again with not even a T shirt for a prize; it’s just for fun. So what, I had to do it anyway (though I do covet that shirt).

My entry is an analog math balance beam (no batteries required, no digital readout in sight), a simple visual teaching aid for very young children that shows them the relation between numbers. With it, a teacher can easily demonstrate the concepts involved in ordinary (small number) addition, subtraction and multiplication, or have the students try by doing it themselves.

Steel washers on the left must equal (proportionately) steel washers on the right - or the beam goes tilt.
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This is an adaptation (and I am indebted to Jim Makowicki) of a project from his book Making Heirloom Toys.

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I did take some small liberties with the design and materials but stayed true to his overall plan.

My own build is with ebony veneer covering solid cherry, beveled throughout and with the tapered beam done in quartersawn stock to stay true. Cherry pegs marked with Letraset numbers (anyone remember?) complete it with a mixed bunch of polished brass fittings.

As usual, I wanted to make it a bit prettier than plan but I also had to build it somewhat sturdier too because it is for school use – that is to say by unknown pint sized assailants. Still, by design, it must always be a rather delicate piece so some supervision is required. The overbuild is mostly in the case for I could do little about the tremendous leverage possible in those arms.

Outside of the indicator to pivot block joint there is no glue in the assembly, just long screws in cups. Somewhere down the road it may have to be worked on by others so I left it so.

The pivot ball bearings riding on the brass axle are triple sealed, 3/4” x 5/16” class 5 type, rated to 25,000 rpm. A bit overkill maybe? but Grade1 kids can really get going sometimes you know.

To preserve it and store in the supply room I made a fitted BB plywood case with inlaid solid hickory edges, leather padded retainers and a small interior cherry box to hold the washers.

Detail showing how the main pivot block is adjustable for that critical centre distance and showing the overall balance adjustment bar mount.

It is interesting to note that any variations in weight of the components are of no account in this type of device as you may easily correct errors with the sliding adjuster. What can never be corrected for are the distances between the weight points (posts) so there was a whole lot of very careful layout and drilling involved.

Even still, with minute differences in weight, slop on the posts and inertia friction in the bearings the indicator will often not point perfectly to the true north strong and free. Canadian made, eh?

A locking pin on a keeper wire holds the beam steady while you or the students add weights. Pull it out to find if your answer is correct! Anti slip material covers the base and rubber O-rings sit at the bottom of each post to allow you to get your fingertips around the lowest washer. Steel glides are nailed on 4 box sides.

When finishing up, what was amusing to me was that the very last operation on the build was to attach the carrying handle to the case with the beam inside – not at dead centre of course but at the combined balance point.

This will be a lasting (hopefully) contribution to my daughter’s small school as I’m not very good at baking.

Shellac followed by pre-cat lacquer.

37” x 7” x 5 1/2” Beam
39” x 8 1/2” x 7” Box
About 38 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

Only 4 entries in the challenge so far, so let’s see many many more (and all the previous contestants for sure!). I’ll arm wrestle anybody for the t-shirt if there ever is one.

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This was a recent collaborative project made at my work in conjunction with a master leather worker from the same building. He was the recipient of my Reifelholz and has supplied me with the leather used on many of my own projects shown on this site. The desk was for a client in Germany.

I was responsible for the under structure, trim and assembly while he made the covering panels. The basic construction was with three mdf torsion box’s, mitre joined with internal hardwood “L” reinforcement brackets and a mitred facing strip applied around the perimeter. The main panels were 1/2” maple veneered PC while the 1/4” ones were BB plywood. Macasser ebony trims it off. A 1” x 1/4” square steel tube is epoxied inside the top over its length.
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Parchment is an very, very old material, dating back to about 2500 BCE. Basically it is goat skin which has been flayed, limed to remove hair and then soaked, stretched and dried. To make furniture panels with it the veneered boards are first covered with multiple thin coats of gesso and sanded smooth. Because parchment is mildly translucent, colour may be added to the gesso and thereby tint the overall appearance. The skins are then soaked and stretched over the panels with staples holding them in place on a back bevel. The adhesive most commonly used is rabbit skin glue.

While the skinned panels were still wet I full glue spread and clamped them one at a time onto the torsion box’s with cauls and mdf pressure pads. About a 4 hour curing time. This is done because the drying skin will contract smooth and tight but the panels will warp horribly if left unrestrained.
The wood finish is shellac, oil and wax. Drawers are lacquered BB plywood running on hardwood strips with false fronts. Coved undercuts on the drawer carcase bottoms allow for a pull.

The rear of the desk shows the same as the sitting position with identical false fronts.

Try an inlaid parchment panel on your next box lid or drawer front. It is uncommonly beautiful with a visual texture and feel like no other material.

24” x 30” x 60”
About 44hrs.
Build on LJs.
gene

Detail showing the side trim construction. Ebony on softwood then mitred.
In looking at the rear of the pictured piece (left side) you may appreciated with me the virtue of tightening the shaper fence before turning on the power feeder. There is nothing like the sound of a rapidly increasing cut, to snap open your eyes and tighten your gut.

Parchment at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parchment

.....one sharpening at a time.

Pencils in Brazilian Rosewood and Gabon Ebony
Staedtler Mars Lumograph 2mm 3H lead and glass shelf pin bling.

9/32” x 7 1/2”
About 2 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
Gene

Credit to Kookaburra and Woodpezzer for getting me thinking about this project. Now only 38 species to go.

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In 1974, the now noted Italian architect and designer Enzo Mari published a small book of furniture designs, some 19 pieces in all, and gave it away for free – to anyone around the world – just by sending him a S.S.A.E. The pamphlet was titled “Proposta per un’autoprogettazione” (a proposal for self design). Still available as a reprint in Italian and English, it was made to encourage people to build furniture for themselves with whatever modifications they wished.

From a later interview with him he stated “In 1974 I thought that if people were encouraged to build a table with their own hands, for example, they would be able to understand the thinking behind it. This is why I published ‘Proposta per un’autoprogettazione.” and later added “these objects are not intended as alternatives to industrial ones, their creation is intended as a sort of critical exercise on design, and this is the reason why this experiment was called home design, not home production. The user, in repeating the operation, which can never be a slavish repetition…the designs have no measurements and while you are making them you can make changes, variations… when making the object the user becomes aware of the structural reasoning behind the object itself, therefore, subsequently he improves his own ability to assess the object on the market with a more critical eye”.

All of these furniture pieces would have appealed at that time and beyond to young couples starting out or to students with a free afternoon, for they were simple designs (almost rustic) and involved no joinery to speak of. All elements of the build could be made with cheap dimensional lumber from the big box store and very simple tools (read hand saw & hammer).
Some are more refined than others though.

This is the “F” or “effe” table. All overlay joinery.
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I liked everything I saw about the pictures and plans of my table, but having left my younger days well, well behind, having now a few skills and more than a free day available I built something a little more upscale. I translated his design for a dining room table into a coffee table sized one, verbatim (and credit to him as I managed to do so without altering the proportions), but I did seriously alter the surface materials and maybe altered its longevity compared to those very lighthearted and enthusiastic first efforts. Maybe not.
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My construction is ebony veneer over BB plywood with colour matched solid mahogany edging buried underneath and used for the inlay and end caps. The leg frame assemblies are fully glued together but in a nod to the simplicity of the original construction I have only screwed together the support structure.

The finishing schedule for this was a bit of a departure for me. T&T oil (2) for colour and penetration, sanding sealer (2) for hardness and smooth surface sealing (heavily cut back) and T&T (2) very light for luster and colour renewal. Watco Liquid Satin wax (Natural). This was a bear of handwork because of the interior surfaces but it does show real promise.

I owe the inspiration for this project to a fellow LJ, JAcker, who started a web-log on this design some five months ago but hasn’t been seen since. Pity, I was waiting for him to do the heavy lifting on a sketch-up plan and solve any build problems. But I guess now I can return the favour.

Oh yeah, the first picture is my idea for a new girlfriend for Wall-E. A bit skinny compared to Eva, but who knows what robots like. The wide set eyes?

18” x 20” x 52”
About 42 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

Many beautiful images of his work and their plans.
http://www.timbouckley.com/news/?p=196
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A delightful documentary video of an older Mr. Mari talking about his design approach interspersed with sections of him actually building his iconic chair.

(Fixed, with subtitles in English)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV5unU-59Rk&playnext=1&list=PL0EC49046EACBB47D&feature=results_video

627

This is my last project at the end of one full year here, a simple one but one of my best.
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Sometimes the last 5 percent of a project takes half your time to finish, sometimes you can’t remember where it began. This is a little of both.

After all the smaller things I’ve made recently, this is something more substantive though again quite belated. It being a cabinet to house my photography equipment. Open the doors, decide what you want for the day and go.

It is full frame and panel throughout, with quarter sawn bubinga trim taken from a single 8/4 board, wrapped around eastern white pine solid raised panels. Brusso hinges and threaded brass shelf pins. 28 dowels hold the sides and solid bubinga caps it with pine trim. Doors are shallow tongue and groove, shelves are a banded lay-up.

It’s a little hard to see but all solids are pattern matched too, side to side and top to bottom. Quite useless to the causal view. I guess we do it for ourselves.
The proportions are exact, 2 to 1 and 1 to 1.618. Thought I’d try using and combining some of the so called perfect proportions and see how it looked.

The pine is very heavily mineral streaked and was laid up from a small bundle about 22 years ago. I had only one spectacular board so I sawed very heavy slices from it and bonded them on to the lesser ones. (This is very evident from the interior shots.) I forgot about it and dreamed and forgot again and again for a couple more decades. Then I attacked it in a fury.

And then, then, the box languished on the bench for 6 weeks while I fooled around with handles. I’ve got a pretty good idea where a cabinet’s going in the build but when it comes time to figure out how to open doors or drawers I’m often paralyzed. What handles or pulls, where are they placed and what are they made of? I’m sure this is a common ailment and please write if you’ve found a good way to manoeuvre here.

After making shaped pieces in both pine and bubinga and photographing them placed dry in every imaginable position, I knew they were simply wrong.

I could have gone on trying different shapes in wood but finally, I got it. Wanting above all to leave the door faces undisturbed I cut small blanks from brass bar stock, machined a 2mm very sharp groove top and bottom for your fingers to grip and let them into the bottom edges.

The interior loose box was made with off cuts of the pine and stores the myriad batteries, cables, filters and small fittings that seem to collect. Drawers are mitred Baltic ply with extended masonite bottoms, covered in split leather, riding in saw kerfs. Really low mileage and weight when you think about it so no concerns about wear. Polished masonite is a fine little runner for small things.

I made a really stupid mistake adding fresh clear pine for the cabinet back and shelves without colouring it first (I ran out of wood). I know in time it will age and be fine and the gear will hide it for the most part but it’s glaringly wrong. That paneled back is simply tight fitted and screwed on, with it also being recessed to allow for a thin french cleat hanging rail.

Because of the raised panel side construction with rebated narrow stiles, shelf pin holes had to be pretty much at the extremes of the cabinet depth. Routing capturing eyebrows in the shelves will give piece of mind if you ever run into this.

Woodworking equipment is a lot like photography equipment as anyone in the know will tell you, You start off making mistakes, some big, then you get better and want and need better gear. You’re hooked. You buy good stuff, bad stuff, and stuff that might be good but mostly sits on the shelf. You get much better at what you’re doing and buy the ‘final’ stuff that will last you for many contented years. Then, in photography just like in woodcraft, the most comfortable and accurate of tools help smooth your daily endeavors.

Strangely enough though, I had to do several sessions of photography with different lighting before I could get the colours to come out even close to right. Even in Photoshop it eluded me. Wood is weird.

The title comes from a phenomena I have only seen twice in my life. It is late evening, the last half hour of the day. It is raining very, very, very hard with thick black clouds overhead and all is midnight dark around you. Then you turn and lift your eyes and off in the far west you see a small ellipse of bright blue sky appear on the horizon, sunny clouds and a light that simply pierces through the rain right up to your feet. Lift your eyes again and you see brightness and darkness together, all with no break. That is what I saw figured in the pine.

An alternate title for this work was the Convent at Dusk, because there in the streaked pine is one single drop of red grain, like a tear.

Finish is two coats of Minwax Tung oil (wiping varnish) for depth and clarity, followed by four applications of Tried and True oil with varnish. Goddard’s wax

10”x20”x32 3/8”
About 58 hrs. of foolin around.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

lock and load

I had three things in mind for the final game in my collection. It had to be a classic, I wanted it to look elegant and I wanted to conjure up the game complete, with storage, all into one integrated piece. Open and play.

This is my self contained tribute to a venerable game that was probably created around 1400 BC. Long before chess, long before Monopoly.

So what can you say about a game that is this old and is still enjoyably played by very young and very old alike whenever they see and try it? It speaks I think to our simple love of order and competitiveness. Place your pieces in a straight line, smile, slay your opponent.

The rules are simple. Each player places their pegs alternately, trying to form three in a row. If they succeed, (and you may block them), they get to remove one of your players. Pieces are placed but not moved until all are on the board. Then they may move straight down the lines only.
The end game is the exception. When you are reduced to three pieces, you may “fly” to any point on the board. You have a last chance desperate attacking mode available to you.

The woods are flame figured mahogany veneer laid up over commercial board with ipe used everywhere else as piece holders and trim,. I love commercial veneered board to build on. We go through about 500 sheets of board stock at our shop in any given year, giving up many, many offcuts, some of which are dead flat and ready to perform. Check your local dumpster or ask at the shop if you want great material.

Ipe is a real treat to work with too in smallish quantities. It polishes up like glass, machines like a dream to close tolerances most times and stays put and stable.

The procedure for the square holes was detailed in my review here.

When separating the top from the playing box I didn’t want a captured or loose lid and instead opted for clock case hinges. These have a natural open angle stop built in.

Tiny magnets up front keep the lid in position. Playing pieces are commercial cribbage counters in solid brass and nickel plated steel. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=32777&cat=1,250,43313

This game has been claimed to have being solved by a computer long ago but who of us has a quad core processor behind our eyes, and who of us wishes to use it all the time? Games are for fun and this one’s perfect, in spite of its apparent age.

8” x 11” x 2 1/2”
About 28 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

great links for keeners with reviews & online game play
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/30493/user-review

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/125303/a-portrait-of-the-koala-as-a

http://www.ludoteka.com/ninemenmorris.html

details, still trying to get the photos right

some interesting grain structure

and a piston fit centre piece yields a tidy hidden compartment. but
anything put in here must, like your thoughts, be very quiet .

thanks to knickknack for helping me figure out how to use this site efficiently.

I’ve never been much for making projects from plans (get quite enough of that at work thank you) for I like to experiment and design on my own or build in part on others ideas. Just small stuff you know.

About 90 days ago though your honor, a little cutey beckoned me with her little finger from GBishop’s project pages, for G had made a real nice Craftsman’s style book rack in white oak.

As mentioned by him, it was made from a plan from Woodsmith magazine, issue 171, so I downloaded a copy and was pleasantly surprised by the publication. Not all hoity toity like Fine Woodworking sometimes is but with personal, comfortably written build articles containing clear diagrams and instructions. How nice not to have to think at all (a cutting list!), and though I made one minor modification to allow a fully housed joint, it was a case of relax and just do it.

My copy is made in walnut and though the article enjoined you to try making carved end panels I couldn’t quite do it. I chickened out. Instead I used Tamo ash veneered raised panels bordered in walnut, and I also departed from the plain shelf by inlaying the veneer there as well.
Tamo ash is also known as Japanese ash, a rather expensive veneer (I had a huge free sample) It is not generally available in solid stock cause they keep it to themselves it seems. But the veneer alone has magnificent movement with changing light and viewing positions. This really does not show up well in these photos. I wonder how it’s done.

That’s one favourite made, a couple hundred to go.
90 days I got.

8 3/4” x 20 3/4” x 11”
About 20 hrs.
Poorly finished
Build on LJ’s.
gene

G_Bishop’s version.
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/63605
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loaded for bear

I’ve noticed that many projects here start out with a spectacular piece of saved or found material and then only finds its expression in due time, as the design somehow suggests itself. Sometimes it takes a while for it to come to fruition and this one certainly did.

These bedroom pieces started off not with wood but from a few pieces of a sea foam green laminate left over years ago from a job at work, i.e. somebody’s bathroom vanity. I hoarded it for its colour, celadon by name, and for its interesting texture.

Celadon “has been described by ancient Chinese artisans as having a quiet elegance whose colour is “beyond description,” in that it must be experienced to be understood”. Also done in a sort of Deco style to be very restful, perfect for my bedroom.

The mate to this material is walnut for the most part, done in my favourite technique of veneer over solid. Building this way allows for a flowing grain match and a uniformity of colour not possible with solids alone. I also appreciate how your design then has fewer limitations. Don’t want flashy grain? Done. Want a bold symmetrical pattern to build on? Done.

For the laundry cabinet it was laid up over red oak for many of the verticals, interspersed with solid walnut at different levels and with solid walnut corners. The profiled edges of both units are walnut veneer over walnut.

One piece routed and dadoed frames made in Baltic birch form the structure. The glue up was a pig to do as clamps were pretty much useless for the most part. Each strip was held with hand pressure for a minute or two, followed by an arduous removal of the squeeze out.

I inlaid a feature strip of padouk all round to suddenly offset the green, and fitted it slightly proud to help protect the walnut from cross grain scratches

and ground a custom knife for the shaper to profile the edges.

This is reversed on the base of the laundry cabinet. I’m not super happy with the strap hinges but honestly, nothing else would work given the voids everywhere.

The bookshelf is a through dowel construction and the design is based on a very old idea from IKEA. The cantilevered shelves are strong enough that one could sit on them.

The mystery material at the top of the hamper opening is that most humble of sheet goods, Masonite. To me it looks far better than it has any right to.

Spray shellac finish by clayton on the hamper, Tried and True on the bookshelf. Watco liquid satin wax with 0000 steel wool. Machine threaded knock down bolts on both pieces act as levelers.

Laundry hamper 25” x 17” x 36”
Bookshelf 42 1/2” x 33” x 11 1/4”
About 62 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

A little bit of a lighter post than 1948 as I get back in the saddle and put my game face on, for here is Entrapment, a marvelous maneuvering game for all ages.

There are at least two things I look for when making a wooden game for my collection. It must promise engrossing play (and here I rely upon the evaluation of others initially) and it must be an opportunity to kick up the build quality from the original to make it a visual and tactile treat. Entrapment satisfies beautifully on both counts though somehow the build was a real bear and was riddled with mistakes and elaborate tryouts. Some scrap wood became scrap wood yet again.

The basic construction of the board is a figured hard maple egg-crate with end grain mahogany squares pushed through and a thin (3mm) BB bottom glued on.

The playing pieces and fences are again in maple and mahogany with an oil finish and a waxing session on the buffing wheel.

Mid century Soviet apartment blocks? Perhaps. Mine just might last longer. The 25 fences per side were grooved all round with a 1/32” wing cutter.

The original game as model was fairly simple as befits a fairly low cost production item.

This game is easy but thoughtful. Your goal is not to arrive anywhere but to defeat your opponent by boxing in their pieces as the name would suggest. Game play begins by each person randomly placing their roamers, or pawns, and then moving them to escape capture or else placing fences to trap your opponents pieces.. An unusual twist is that you may hop over your own fences just once as you make your escape, but then they are rotated vertically and become impenetrable. The game may also be played with a barrier stick inserted to reduce the board to 6×7 squares. This makes for a faster more aggressive play once the basic game is learned.

I made two serious blunders on this project. First, for a few extra minutes work I could have had an 8×8 board, just right for chess, checkers or anything else. Real dumb.
Secondly, I wasted my time building the exacting half lap maple base. I could have simply glued flat squares onto plywood for the same effect. The only consolation and giveaway now is that it weighs in at about 5 lb and has the look and feel of solid.

The handles are project heritage wood and my revenge on the mistake. With a couple of trial strips left over from the grid I put a gentle curve on the length, a quite a bit tighter one on the width, a finger scoop in the centre and then designed the storage box around them. Loose dividers with the barrier strip down the side.

I do love a fitted single purpose box.

5mm mini wonder hinges were used, with a shellac finish rubbed out then lacquered and waxed. The game board is done with sanding sealer, lacquer and Goddard’s wax.
This can be a real fun build if you like games. The sky’s the limit on board style, pieces and storage with an absorbing play promised for you in the end.

Board 15” x 15” x 1 1/2”
Box 6 1/8” x 14 3/4” x 2 5/8”
About 32 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

Video tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2U8PrSRtU

Online play
http://www.boardspace.net/english/about_entrapment.html

A very nice review
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/721688/block-corral-capture-and-kill

In 1948 my father proposed to my mother, with roses. They married, had six children and lived a long good life with fondness for each other till the end.

My mother was a careful saver of sentimental things. I have all the 900+ cards that they gave each other through the years and when we sorted out and went away with all the many other things they accumulated in that 63 year span I found a picture frame containing my mother’s drying and pressing of those flowers. They were quite faded and found to be as delicate as a butterfly’s wing. I built a dark and quiet display case in their memory.

To help bring back the colour and give them some protection I dusted them from a distance with shellac and then sprayed two coats. The colours are still only a faded approximation of what anything is while it’s alive. Imperfect memories are all we have of many things.

The construction of the box was done with walnut veneered industrial panels (pc), lipped with thin solid after pressing and mitering, over to the shooting board and then taped together. I wanted the least break in the wrapped pattern and the most light tight so I mitred the lid as well. Because of that choice a lid stay was impossible, and I’ve no real love of chains so an exterior elliptical stop came about.

As well, I thought long and hard about those mitred gaps on the back, but there seemed to be no way to do them honestly and I was past my only chance when I thought about it properly. So they live.

This is elm burl with various shades of similar grained mahogany trim. Split leather lines the interior and the underside of the top. The handles and feet were what I imagined to be evocative shapes from that era and were also drawn from those very real flowers.

Ordinary butt hinges, polished. Spray shellac (2), Tried and True with varnish (5), Goddard’s wax.

11 3/4” x 8 3/8” x 5 1/8”
About 36 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

I recessed the bottom to allow for a photo vault and to hold written papers.

details

A couple of years ago I made two tall cabinets in ash for my little one. They were to be bookshelf, utility, stuffed animals, you name it – for you really don’t have much say in the use of your work when it sets sail into the world. These are part of a future furniture project for her in later life and as such were designed very narrow to fit even the smallest wall somewhere and in a left/right door pairing.

Construction was from a single 12’ timber, 6” x 8”, resawn and book-matched with mortise and tenon throughout. All surfaces were simply planed and scraped with no sanding anywhere. The Minwax tung oil finish (x5) was padded on and cut back with a card scraper. So yes, there are a few plane tracks evident but the finish shows the clearest wood grain without muddiness.

The backs are a little bit interesting as I made them as frame and panel style to align with the fixed shelves but used veneered panels glued hard and flush to the solids in a long run. Shan’t do that again as it was very difficult to level without cutting through.

Here’s the fun part to these units. Behind the door is a shelf and behind that the back panel. Remove the shelf and shelf pins, reach under a false brace below and discover a loose magnet pull. Apply the magnet pull to the back and open it on Soss hinges to reveal a 3” deep compartment with dividers. Her mom still doesn’t know of its existence and I’ve promised to never look again.

The motif or pattern displayed is one that I’m fond of though I don’t know its proper name or origin. Perhaps someone can help me out here. What I do know is that it involved a whole lot of careful, one chance stop/start routing with some 224 interior corners to be chisel squared and cleaned. All edges were left razor sharp so that changing light makes it quite dramatic.

12 1/2” x 16” x 52”
About 65 hrs.
Build on LJ’s
gene

details

Sharp eyes will notice how I managed to drill and install the handle on the hinge side! (left unit). What a maroon.

When you walk into a Japanese restaurant, ideally, you want the sushi chef to take one look at you, quietly put away yesterday’s fish and reach for the ones that were swimming that morning. For you’re either really rich or he saw that you really mean business, that you came here to eat and nothing says it better than your own handmade chopsticks in an elegant wooden carrying case.

I made three of these at Christmas, gave two away as gifts and gave one up to be put in a charity silent auction. The cause was in aid of children with mental disabilities and it fetched $200 so I was pleased for them.

I had as a model for this easy build a box made some years before,

a little plainer perhaps but with some lovely lacquered sticks. Materials are qtrsawn mahogany with a subtle flake, equally fine grained Douglas fir and Macasser ebony for the rests and the little feathers.

The chopsticks themselves are pretty easy to make with an inclined rest and a sharp plane, for you’re always working downhill and the ebony rests too are a snap with a drum sander. Fiddle to your hearts content – contemplate the shape.

The hardest part was the finger pulls in that miserable fir and you only get once chance before you ruin a perfectly good lid blank. A scary, scary sharp forstner bit (tip removed) running screaming fast in the drill press snugged up quill and phew, done.
The finish is minimal, some sweet oil and wax.

11 1/2” x 1 7/8” x 61/64”
About 9 hrs.(3)
Build on LJ’s.
gene

Kitchen shelves, I made one then another of these. It’s always easier when it’s fresh in your mind to make two.

The cherry one was a wedding present for a favourite niece. I used fresh clean figured stock with minimal finishing, so it should colour up & darken real well. Grain patterns pop over time too. On this and the other I ran traditional grooves at the back of each shelf to hold photo’s, plates or other thin standing objects.

Since she and her husband own not even a hammer, I positioned the cleat holes exactly 16” on centre, provided screws, a pilot drill, a miniature level, a magnet to find the studs and a brief installation guide. I jokingly told him to do a pull-up on it before they placed their first valuable thing. He did. Kids.
And yes, there is wood storage everywhere.

The second shelf, mine, came from a really nasty mahogany board culled from a huge shipment we received for a project at work. Pure firewood it was with cross grain checks and fossilization everywhere. Punky in places. Almost unworkable but what grain, what colour!

I left the cup and cracks in.. The best part is the edges you see are not live edges. but internal splits broken apart under light hand pressure.

Finish is high gloss tung oil which gives a great elastic durable surface. No wax. All joinery is, well I’ll let you guess.

36” x 30” x 5”
23” x 23” x 5”
About 14 hrs.(2)
Build on LJ’s.
gene

Warning! Please put on your $400 sunglasses before viewing this post. Otherwise you might be blinded! or deleted! – but most likely not offended.
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It all began when we were cruising the project pages quite recently, sweetcheeks and I, with me showing her your many, many wonders in wood. Eventually we decided to navigate over to SPalm’s page (for she likes his stuff).

Flipping the pages she stopped and pointed to one, the Mobius Cutting Board, and somehow without reading the title said “Dad, why is his box on a stand?”
“Why that’s because it’s not a….....uh, that’s because he wants to show it off better” I said, and we gazed and marveled for a little longer and moved on.

Project by SPalm posted 666 days ago 3130 views 48 times favorited 36 comments
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The idea was born. For with that board Steve had rendered in 2D what was 3D or maybe even 5 or 6 dizzying dimensions and I wanted to turn it back; make a box that looked just the same.

But not so fast, not so simple for my dull brain. I started out by making a diamond shaped top and sides, for that’s what I could see, but the assembly geometry and veneer dimensions defeated me – me with my degree in philosophy and failing grades in math.
How was I going to make this make this ”without a lot of fancy measuring and cutting”? Couldn’t be done I thought. Fast forward to a dream last night and it hit me upside the head. A 2D object looks the same from any position (like the photo above) while a 3D cube is ever shifting. But from one perfect unvarying point they will merge into one and look identical. But only one point.

The Zen dream would have it this way: You are walking through a Japanese garden, making your way by stepping on stones placed in the manicured dirt. The next stone in front of you is somehow awkwardly placed and as you reach out your hand to steady yourself on a post, you lift your gaze and in the middle distance discover a small opening cut into the bushes and through it see – a perfect flower, visible from nowhere else in the garden. “Ah, grasshopper, this is the ur flower, the picture in your mind, existing only for you, only for this moment”.

From there it was easy. I made a square box, scaled the photo and veneered it. It’s quite remarkable, perspective that is, and how your eye and brain play tricks. For the broad bands of veneer are 1 3/4” wide while the parallelograms are only 1 1/8”. In SPalm’s board, all are the same.

Using photography I then turned it back into two dimensions and the ur moment. With the camera on a tripod carefully adjusted for that single point of view and adding 2500! watts of light from six directions to eliminate shadows and depth of field, it returned to its maker, 666 days later. (Scary number, this is where some of you pathetic non-believers go poof and are deleted).

It was some real bright in that room (I worked with my shades on) and when I was done I thought, sheesh, idiot, are you crazy? What a lot of work just to pull someones leg!
But then I remembered Russell Crowe (as John Nash) saying to a friend in the film “A Beautiful Mind” “There’s no point in being nuts if you can’t have a little fun”.

5” x 5” x 5” About 4 hrs.
Same woods, shellac and wax.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

my homage of the source

the starter and finisher

As yet another wood game comes screaming off the assembly line here at Vipond woodworks, I fancy I hear some of you saying to yourselves “Haven’t I seen this somewhere before?” Why, yes you have if you’re an old fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation. For this is Terrace, the game often seen being played in the crew member’s lounge. It was a permanent prop on the series.

For their purposes it was made in space age-y “puhlastick” (did I say that right?) and featured brightly coloured hemispherical playing pieces.

Not being a big fan of petrochemical products I have re-done this attractive playing board in stone age wood with slightly higher risers and, having taken a vow in my youth never to consort with tempting hemispheres or shiny seductive paint (but still trying to be true to the spirit of the show), made the men out of wood as well, but in a menacing Borg cube style.

Back to the future, back to reality.

Playing this game is simple with only four basic rules so it’s good for kids too and it may be thought of as a combination of checkers and easy chess. The object of the game is to move your specially marked smallest piece from one corner diagonally to the other, capturing or avoiding your foe along the way. The difference from those games is in the levels or terraces, as you have capturing power only from above. Larger pieces over smaller, higher ground over lower, that’s really quite intuitive.

If you decide to make this board, there are three possible approaches. One is to cut individual squares and glue them together (tough but do-able), another is to cut varying length strips and profile them to make squares, or, you may lay up planes of wood as I have done here with notching and grooving. You might like to use different woods for a traditional checker board effect. My board has all outside surfaces veneered to conceal the layers and grooves.

Hemispheres are really at your own discretion (though turners may delight!) You could also substitute machine nuts, lithium cells or buttons for the pieces but probably not Federation super magnets no matter how cool they would look.

A comparison:

The wood used here is a fabulous rich Honduras mahogany, formerly the drawer bottoms from a very old desk that I re-configured at work; they were marked by the original wood shop as being made in: “Niagara Falls -1926” (in the local space-time continuum). The playing pieces are maple and ebony.

The appropriately terraced and mitred holding box(s) are made with snug fitting recesses and have a crown of heartwood with sapwood streaked ebony.

Finally, in the repetition sweepstakes that I so gamely play, this one’s a real contender. 696 miniature rebates to be cut, sanded and edges broken, with somewhere around 2960 movements altogether including fitting of the cubes. Don’t talk to me about why I didn’t round over each little corner. I suppose there’s a limit to the universe somewhere out there, but you know I think Steve Palm may have a good case here.
All detailing was done with a 10”x250 tooth x 2mm, hollow ground, HSS metal cutting blade.

Finishes:
Board -sanding sealer. Tower box -spray shellac. Cubes -wax only on the buffing wheel. Goddard’s wax throughout.

This is an absorbing game for pre-teens up to dotards and is easy to learn, however it did earn a Mensa award, so, if you’re not real careful, you might find yourself suddenly locked in a tractor beam as your young grinning opponent annihilates your fleet. May the farce be with you.

11 1/2” x 11 1/2” x 2 3/4” Board (1 7/16” squares)
3 3/4” x 3 3/4” x 9 1/2” Box tower
3/4”, 7/8”, 1”, 1 1/8” Cubes
About 32 hrs, maybe more.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

rules, trivia and online game play
http://web.archive.org/web/20060425081642/http://terracegames.com/

strategy
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/419749/space-checkers-excitement-for-2-4-players

Download the game.
http://www.old-games.com/download/5621/terrace
This is very old but it works just fine. Amazingly, with it you can play a friend over a phone line if you have a 1200 to 9600 baud modem! You’ve got to love and thank the people that keep this stuff alive.

I’m rather well into my long term project of making an even dozen or so games in wood and I guess you had to see this coming, a chest of drawers to store them in. This is also part of a further long term project, that of making furniture for my daughter’s eventual foray from the nest. Today and for another ten years or so it will hold mostly playthings; tomorrow and beyond perhaps socks, underwear and T-shirts. It will leave my hands then as will she.

For the form, ever since I can remember I have admired mid century Danish furniture and with this piece have incorporated some of my favourite elements, mixing traditional and modern construction. The legs and drawer handles are key.

The wood is Red Gum (American Sweetgum), an under appreciated rather soft hardwood that was used everywhere in houses some 60 to 100 years ago in Southern Ontario. Doors, baseboard, casing and all sorts of interior trim were fashioned in this warm lovely wood and years later, unfortunately, often painted over and finally going to the curb on endless renovations. Very sad.

I prefer to use veneer on larger pieces as it allows careful matching and harmony of grain and colour, giving you much more creative freedom while limiting you of course at the very same time. Laid up over solid edges, you may shape, protect and profile while giving nothing away if the colours are right. I had just six leaves from two different flitches to work with as well as one long plank of highly figured solid stock. In truth I would not normally be drawn to grain so dramatic, loud even, for it says “Look at me!” and that’s not my style, but this worked out fine.

The substrate is maple veneered particle board panels, allowing wood on wood gluing with a core that is superior to MDF or plywood in every respect IMO. These were vacuum pressed to begin with and then put in the hard press to cure. They’re even & flat, with great dimensional stability, combined with a double lamination of veneer over solids, modern adhesives and a thorough finish. With care, this will last.

The four drawers are qrtrsawn white oak riding on and between maple frames (side-railed) with simple rabbet joints, rounded undercut sides and false fronts. Two drawers have interchangeable and rotatable sliding trays, all have full leather bottoms over Baltic birch plywood.

One new thing I tried is using UHMW low friction tape on all bearing surfaces. Waxed hardwood on hardwood has been the norm for most traditional drawers I have built and you know how they work very well indeed if properly constructed and maintained. This material added a lack of sticking on the first pull, a uniform smoothness on no play fitting, and are easily renewable if worn.

The handles were a bear to make, involving equal amounts procrastination, router table setups and handwork. Probably four or five hours apiece.
The legs were half lapped into the frame then sculpted and discretely reinforced behind, with knock down bolts machine threaded into the bottoms to serve as levelers.
Finally, carcase construction is by doweling with a screwed on back panel and everywhere else with a bunch o tasteful brass screws.

The finish is Minwax Tung Oil (x2) followed by Tried and True with varnish (x6) with Watco liquid satin wax.

35” x 35” x 21” (Chest 26”) About 120 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

Unfinished

Details


the tree

If your kith and kin, the younger portion thereof, hath groweth up and fain would be tired of simple blockes,

or

If you as a builder and real lover of simple forms and devious play never really grew up and tired of them at all!!

Then have I, (and Gigamic), got a game for you.

This is Skybridge, which has you and your opponents adding apartment blocks to the righteous city, right to the Blade Runner end.
Each player receives 4 tall apartment blocks, four small ones, 2 roofs and two bridges (or double this for a two player game).

Build the city by alternately placing blocks at the lowest possible level but not on your own colour. Each block scores points to a finished tower that you have captured with your roof, with connecting bridges extending your domain. But be careful, for the building you so carefully construct may be taken over by your sleazy landlord opponent at any time! And you to them too, so there! Kids get this one real quick. Adults will be challenged.

Game pieces are teak, walnut, mahogany and some sort of red tropical wood, all hollowed out as it became enormously heavy. Even so it weighs in at 16 lbs. If you build it, it could be scaled down somewhat and not lose much, or use pine and paint/stain the pieces.

The storage box / platform is maple veneer with mahogany trim. The tower board is white oak with mahogany elements and leather lined pockets to locate the first row.

Compared to the original, there are also 640 hand drawn windows, and I really, really don’t know why I do these things.

15” x 15” x 4 1/4” (box)
3” & 2” & 1” (blocks)
Minwax Tung Oil
About 32 hrs.
Build on LJ’s.
gene

A great instructional review
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/478161/skybridge-a-detailed-review

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/305749/rule-clarifications-scoring-and-bridges
The original game

Rules