I really love making rustic looking furniture. I made this quilt rack a couple of years ago using 3/4” pine boards, a 3/8” countersink bit and some wood plugs. I cut the hearts on my scroll saw …I’m not very good with the scrollsaw, so don’t look to closely. The rest of the pieces were cut on the bandsaw… I love the bandsaw. I stained it with a mix of walnut and mahogany and coated it with polyurethane. Now that we’ve moved to a very small house this is more useful than ever. The next thing I’d like to make is a piano bench. I just have to find the right style.

A few years ago, while my husband was working out of town, I discovered my love for woodworking. I was browsing through the Country Sampler magazine and came across a couple of pictures of pine furniture and thought, I can make these. With no plans, I sat down and drew a few pictures, took a few measurements and this is what I came up with. I used 3/4” pine boards from Rona , a 3/8” countersink bit and wood button plugs. I sanded everything with a belt sander and finished it with early american stain, antiquing rub and polyurethane. The painting is yet another hobby :-) When my husband came home from his trip, he was very surprised at what I’d made…I had never done any wood working before. I now think I was meant to put wood together because it came very naturally to me. I’ve also done a very little bit of turning, but I much prefer creating things on the bandsaw.

This is my very first pen. I used a grizzly mini lathe and turned it out of spalted maple burl. The finish is Crystal coat friction polish. It took about a half hour to turn this from start to finish. I really liked the contrast between the black slim line pen kit and the wood. I’m very proud of this one :-) I’m going to try and turn some cigar style pens next.