First Light Woodworking

"The Move", Next Steps

2012-01-18T06:15:00.000-06:00

Well, it's a new year, with a new house, closer to the family which has been great, all, or most, of the curtain rods and blinds are hung, so now it is time to get serious about setting up the shop in it's new location. This house has a very large basement, but I chose the corner with the one window in the foundation. The builder insulated the walls that are above and a few feet below grade, and I am surprised how comfortable it is even when we were in the low teens last week.

As you can see, I have "roughed in" some lights to get an idea of where I want those, and the builder was generous enough to add one, count 'em, one 110v outlet box on the unfinished side of the stair well wall. Later today, I have my cousin who is a retired electrician coming over to layout the electric service (he will do anything for beer). I debated as to whether I should frame in the walls first, finish the ceiling, or just get this unpacked, set-up, and get back to using the shop. I chose the latter, and there isn't that much stuff to move around should I choose to do so later on.

The two benches are temporary in that they will be replaced with the Benchcrafted Shaker Bench which is the first project intend to build.

When I started packing in mid-December, I was amazed as to how much "stuff" I had in the shop in Tennessee. I am even more amazed now that I have to unpack it all and figure out what to do with it in a new configuration, but that is part of the fun (I guess). I will post more as progress is made.

It's good to be home.

Packing Up...Moving Back

2011-12-04T06:27:00.001-06:00

For those of you that follow this blog, and others who stopby from time to time, I thought I would let folks know that it will be awhilebefore I post another project. We have sold our home, and shop, in WestTennessee and moving back home to the Greater Cincinnati area after being herefor the last 9 years. I moved herefor a work transfer and have been retired now for 18 months.

The big draw ofcourse is family, 3 children, 4 grand children, brothers, sisters, nieces, andnephews. We were fortunate in thiseconomy to sell this house so quickly (less than 3 weeks) and the home we arepurchasing was under construction and we’ll be moving in Christmas week.

So fornow, my “projects” involve packing tape, boxes, and filler paper, but as othershave said, it is giving me a chance to clean out and see what exactly I havecollected over the past 9 years.

As mentioned in previous posts, some of the power tools are gone. Theworkbench as well, that will be the first project in the new shop, theBenchcrafted Shaker style bench so I will post when that project gets underway.

I will be back in the basement again, and have alreadymarked my space. The type of workI do and the increased use of had tools will allow me to set up a nice area tobuild the things I enjoy, and the best part is I will be able to teach mygrandson’s the joy of working with wood.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year toall!!

Table Saw Finds A New Home

2011-11-13T07:11:00.001-06:00

Along with the jointer, the table saw has now found a good home and I have no intentions of replacing it. As I continue to change my work habits, I found I can do everything I need to do with my 14" band saw and my array of hand saws. I have started building another saw bench using this method and I am really enjoying it. Along with the table saw, the buyer also purchased my workbench. It was a fine work bench patterned after the Essential Workbench plans in FWW a few years back. It was big, and very heavy. Since we decided to sell the house here in Tennessee and move back to the Greater Cincinnati area, I saw this as a great opportunity to build the Benchcrafted Shaker Bench and will do so as my first project once we are settled in up north. I have the plans, and the hardware is on order. I intend on keeping my DeWalt 3 head planer for shop use when needed, and some other associated power tools used for home improvements and for the kids to borrow :) Anything else I sell will be some excess hand planes and some wooden planes I don't want, don't use, and don't want to move. I will post those later.

Goodbye JET Jointer

2011-10-29T07:06:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I said goodbye to my JET 6" jointer watching it go down the driveway in the back of it's new owners truck. Though I considered my woodworking habits to be "blended" I found that I still relied on the power tools more than I liked and with the encouragement of others, I have decided to make turn around the corner to going unplugged.

The table saw is next, it is listed for sale, that leaves me with a Dewalt 13" planer, a Delta 14" band saw, a Delta dust collector, Rikon lathe, and a Ryobi drill press. The planer would be next, I think I will keep the band saw, lathe, and the drill press for work outside the shop.

I have an almost full arsenal of saws, sharp, and ready, a nice selection of hand planes collected over the years, also sharp and ready.

I will be selling some of the planes that are duplicates.

It was strange watching that jointer leave the shop, I used it off an on probably for the last 8 years or so, but it is being replaced with a very nice 30" wooden jointer plane, and since I have been doing a lot of the work lately with hand tools, the conversion doesn't seem as scary as I thought. The tables you see in the post below were made using hand cut mortise and tenons, the tops and shelves fiished with hand planes, and the inner drawer supports cut by hand.

So off I go taking one step closer to the quiet, and safer, side of working wood, perhaps making less dust and mess, feeling more connected to the work, and enjoying it a lot more in this phase of the journey.

Finished Tables Delivered

2011-10-21T19:00:00.001-05:00

The craft table order is now complete and the tables have been delivered to the clients home to her sewing area. The lower table is 60"x30"x30" with one drawer in the center. The other two are 42"x30"x36" and have two drawers each.

Three craft tables in sewing room

Since she wanted them painted I used poplar. Tops are glued-up panels. These tables are my design and it is really one of the few times I've built a project of this size without a preprinted plan. A skill builder for sure and I did enjoy doing this project. She really liked the finished product and that makes it all the better.

You're Getting to be a Habit with Me....

2011-10-15T17:15:00.001-05:00

A couple of recent tool purchases have changed the way I do work, and as the song goes, you're getting to be a habit with me. I first received the Evenfall Studios Shooting Board a month or so ago and other than just trying it out, I really didn't have a project that would require it's use. While working on the project you see below, I bought Capt. America, a beautiful 16" tenon saw made Bad Axe Tool Works at the WIA this year, used it cut tenons of course, but also to x-cut the frame pieces. This is where things changed for me, an epiphany of sorts.

Though I have tried in the past to make my own shooting board, I never could quite get it right, some things are best left to the professionals. I have always made my x-cuts on my table saw thinking the blade was square, it is close, but not close enough. I used my #3 Stanley souped up with a Hock blade, and it squared up the ends of each piece perfectly. Works great, I have also used my low angle block plane on this board.

The project is three tables for a client's sewing room, I have delivered one, working on the second, and one more of these to build. It is now almost second nature to reach for the saw, instead of the table saw, cut the piece, square it up, move on. One step closer to going "cordless". :)

Evenfall Studios Deluxe Shooting Board and the Capt. America
16" Tenon Saw from Bad Axe Tool Works

Bottom frame drawer support

Sewing table 42x30x36 - One of two

Adirondack Settee

2011-08-03T15:23:00.000-05:00

A client in Cincinnati ordered this settee after considering two separate chairs. Here is a shot of the finished product. I applied French Gray Milk Paint with the outdoor additive and chose General Finishes Environ 450 outdoor poly finish for added protection in the harsh weather up north. I though I would share some of the step by step construction photos to encourage those to jump in and give this type of outdoor furniture a try. I chose pine for this project verses poplar.

Having built one of these about a year ago, I made patterns for all the curved parts in anticipation of building another. This saves a lot of time when repeating a project just by tracing the pattern to the wood. Adhesive is Titebond III with galvanized bolts, nuts and washers.

Carrying the pine tree theme from the back slats to the center support section of the table.

Lots of curves in the back braces. The wedges on the ends get trimmed with a handsaw after assembly.

Back slats attached to check spacing and fit. Second from right needed to be "adjusted" a little. These will be removed to apply the finish. All visible screw holes will be plugged and sanded flat prior to painting.

Back and seat slates pre-drilled and removed for painting. I found that doing it this way saves some time, and a certain amount of frustration, when painting between the slats.

Everything assembled, and ready for paint. The solid front seat rail is made by making a series of angled cuts and finishing with a #4 smoother and a block plane.

This style of furniture never gets old and I keep telling myself I am going to build one for my yard but there just seems to be so many projects and so little time. Thanks for taking a look.

Quilt Display Case

2011-04-26T12:15:00.002-05:00

This case was commissioned by a customer who wants to display and protect her keepsake quilts.

The case is 29" wide x 19" deep x 21'H and is constructed of Red Oak and finished with General Finishes Shaker Maple and the New General Finishes Water-based Urethane. If you haven't tried this finish yet I can highly recommend it.

Frame and panel construction (glass on front and both sides, oak ply on the back and bottom).

The plugs you see on the front are only decorative.

The beautiful quilts you see in the case for the photos were made by my wife Kathy who is a very accomplished quilter and craftsperson in her own right.

Chair - Repaired

2011-04-11T06:41:00.003-05:00

I was ask to duplicate two table leaves for a client, a former co-worker, and when I went by his house to take a look at the table, I saw one of the chairs from the set in his fire wood pile. He said he had tried to glue it, but it continued to break where the bow goes in the seat. Typical of these types of chairs, most of the critical joints were glued with screws, not through tenons.

Cut off ends of back bow and tapered

Holes in top of bow to hold spindles

I drilled through holes across the top of the bow to accept the ends of the spindles, but also to compensate for the fact that now the bow is shorter and needed to go through the seat.

Drilled the holes careful to keep the original angle of the back. When almost through, I flipped the bow over and drilled through the top to minimize tear out.

Tapered the spindles to allow the bow to mount properly in the seat.

Everything glued and assembled. The spindles as well as the bow are wedged to be sure it stays together for quite a long time.

Finished chair with the black touched

up with some General Finishes Black Stain.

The chair is better than new now.

Shaker Step Stool - Unplugged

2011-01-12T14:58:00.000-06:00

Starting off the new year with a project I have been wanting to do for awhile now and I finally got around to it. This is my version of the step stool featured in the Jan/Feb 09 issue of FWW. (I believe this was also shown on Rough Cut Woodworking with Tommy Mac). This is a milestone of sorts for me as I built this entire unit with hand tools, the only power involved were the lights in my shop. It is constructed from Cherry and Maple.

The Parts

The parts are cut and ready for assembly. All of the dovetails are hand cut of course, the boards were ripped and cross cut with hand saws, the pieces planed smooth using hand planes. One challenge I had was jointing the edges of the longer pieces and keeping those edges square. Not shown in the photo of the tools I used in the Stanley #6 plane I used for that task. I think I will need to add a #7 or #8 to the tool chest for that task in the future.

The Tools

The tools I used are shown above with the except of the aforementioned #6 and my saw bench.

The finish is General Finishes Vintage Cherry Dye stain and that tamed the sap wood that was throughout the cherry I had on hand to build this. I added a top coat of General finishes Arm-R-Coat. Overall dimensions are 20"wide, 14" deep, and 20" high. Slightly smaller that that shown in the article.

I really enjoyed building this project. While this isn't the first time I have cut dovetails, this is the first time I started from scratch with hand tools. While I am happy with most of the joinery, I thought back to the saying "Better is the enemy of good" (If you been to New Hampshire you know where I learned that) and was satisfied that the next time I cut dovetails there will be an improvement. I also was reminded that sharp tools make the task much easier. Am I ready to sell the table saw yet?, no, but I think I am one step closer.

Student Desk / Christmas Gift

2010-12-05T07:37:00.000-06:00

Full extension drawer slides

This desk was made for our oldest granddaughter for a Christmas gift. The entire desk, with the exception of the side panels, is made of soft maple. Mortise and tenon joinery throughout. Top is 26" x 51".

Desk with drawers closed

The desk is finished with General Finishes Vintage Cherry dye stain to best compliment the colors of the other furniture in her room. I had used a sanding sealer but still had to deal with some blotching in some areas of the desk, but overall I think it came out okay. This desk is very solid and very heavy, I'm sure it will be around for a long time. I used a plan from WOOD and made changes along the way.

Windsor Chair - Repair

2010-11-19T08:21:00.002-06:00

A local lady contacted me to see if I could repair a chair she became attached to over the years. Best I can tell, it was originally built as a rocker with a shaw or comb back and was converted to a chair for reasons I can't determine. She bought it at a collectables dealer. The bottom of the legs had been cut with a dowel installed and another piece added (front legs). I replaced the two broken back legs, the back stretcher, glued and wedged the other loose joints, and glued the large crack running front to back on the seat. If you look at the seat in the "before" pics, you will see a large burn mark. I tried to sand that mark out and math the finish color. The finish is a mix of General Finishes Salem Maple and Minwax Oak. Photos with captions follow.

"Can you fix this please"? This is how the chair arrived to my shop.

There was something attached at one time, looks like the spindles were cut off.

Bottom of chair with what is left of the legs broken off in the seat. Looks like a spoon

bit was used since the legs holes were not drilled through the seat.

One way to fix a broken leg and a cracked set at the same time I guess

Burn on lower left front of seat, crack down the right side

Finished Chair -turned back legs and stretcher from hard maple, repaired burn mark on seat.

Adirondack Settee

2010-10-07T07:09:00.001-05:00

Adirondack Settee built for one of the guys in the weekday golf group. Made of Poplar, stainless steel screws and waterproof glue used during assembly, and finished in a good quality exterior latex. I enjoyed making this and he and his wife are enjoying it now that it has found a home on their deck.

Finished Sack Back Windsor

2010-09-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

This is the Sack Back Windsor chair I made during my week long class at the Windsor Institute in late July. You can read about my experience in a previous blog posting. I chose the traditional milk paint finish and the color is a deep Windsor Green. Once the paint was dry, I finished it with danish oil to give it a nice sheen.

chair sanded and ready for the milk paint

Another view

Child's Table and Chairs

2010-08-31T19:20:00.001-05:00

My son and daughter in law asked that I build a chair and table set for our grandson for his play room. The table is 24" square and is made of white limba, a wood I haven't used before and chose based on the recommendation of my lumber dealer. It works very much like poplar or soft maple. It is also only $1.80 bd. ft. There is also black limba, a beautiful wood, and is a little more.

I built two chairs and added a walnut strip for a little detail in the seat. I will deliver the set this weekend on our next visit north this weekend. I enjoyed building this set. I had built an identical set for our grand daughter about 7 or 8 years ago.

Jewelry Box - Curly Maple and Wenge'

2010-08-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

Just completed this commission piece for a client who had made a previous purchase. The box measures 14"w x 9"d x 6 1/2" h and is constructed from soft curly maple, also known as ambrosia maple, and wenge' (wen-gay). The drawer liners are craft foam and worked out surprisingly well. I wanted something different than the traditional felt.

Shown with the lid and drawers closed, note the shape of the front and rear legs.

The curve of the drawer pulls match the curve of the lid handle giving the viewer the impression that there are 3 drawers.

Walnut Chess Board w/ Drawers

2010-08-02T11:58:00.000-05:00

Now that I have some more time to catch up on projects since I retired 7/1, I finished this chess board I promised my daughter to give her husband as a gift for his birthday.

Overall size is 16" x 16" x 3 1/2".

The board is constructed of wenge' and maple and is set in the frame with clearance for wood movement. There are 2 support rails for the board and I drilled slots in those and mounted the top with screws like a table top. This should allow for wood movement without damage.

The pieces are held in a drawer on both ends of the board. Walnut dividers keep the pieces organized, green felt drawer liners in each.

I applied 2 coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal gloss with a coat of wax.

The Windsor Institute Road Trip

2010-07-19T08:49:00.001-05:00

I left Jackson, TN Thursday 7/8 and headed off to Hampton, NH and the Windsor Institute to take the 7/12 Sack Back chair class offered my Mike Dunbar and his team of instructors, Fred and Don. It is an intense, physical class, as there is minimum use of power tools (a drill, circular saw, and instructor operated bandsaw) in the preparation and assembly of this chair. I believe you can find a direct correlation in Tylenol sales in the NE and the dates of the chair classes. I was in with a group of great people from as close as Maine, from Canada, PA, NY, OH, OK, and as far away as Seoul, South Korea. We had a young man who just turned 11 years old in our class and he did an outstanding job. His father and instructors guided him along, but he didn't need any more help than the rest of us. I have a ton of photos I took to help me for the next time, but I will summarize the assembly here to give you and idea of what "start to finish" looks like. I can say this, if you every wanted to build one of these classic chairs, learn about the chair itself and the "whys" of the design elements, you will not find anything better than attending the Institute or anyone more knowledgeable than Mike Dunbar. Mike and his crew demystify as they teach so you not only understand what you are doing, but why you are doing it.

The Windsor Institute

Mike will send you a list of tools he recommends you need once your registration is completed. Show up on Monday with your tools, and you will get your bench location and that's is were you work for the remainder of the week.

Getting organized and ready to get going.

Seat blank, spindles, and stretchers

Believe it or not, what you see here will be a completed Sack Back chair by the end of the week. Yeah, I know, I didn't believe it either :)

Smoothing the seat blank. This seat is Eastern white pine. The blanks are glued up and ready to go, but you need to pay attention to the grain as it is very possible it will run in opposite directions. Got to love those shavings!!

Seat blank cut and ready to shape the inside. The cut in the middle is made by a circular saw set for a target depth of the seat in the middle.

"swing for a single-not a bunt" was the saying you heard over and over through out the room as we took the gutter adz to start shaping the seat. I guess a "home run" would eliminate one toe!! Chop, chop, chop.

Compass plane starts the smoothing process, after the scorp, this work will last a good part of the morning.

Ready for layout lines and drilling at this point

Getting busy on the 7 back spindles, rough shaping "green" red oak so it can dry for the final shaping on Thursday.

This steam unit is one of two that prepares the arm and bow for bending. Each student pairs up with a partner to bend these parts,

Arm and Bow in the furnace room where the conditions are set to dry these parts quickly enough that we can use them on Thursday and Friday.

Seat drilled and ready for leg and stretcher assembly

Legs and stretchers installed - nice stool you have there!

Arm stumps and short spindles dry fit, now this is starting to look like a chair.

"Hey...you got 10 minutes to get this done, we need you outside"

Remember what we started this process with? All that remains is to fit the bow over the spindles. Holes are drilled, spindles are cut to length and wedged.

The happy graduating class of the 7/12/10 Sack Back class.

Everyone got there chairs completed and ready to head for home or where ever else they had scheduled for their trip. This was without a doubt one of the most memorable weeks I have ever spent in woodworking and I am looking forward to going back in the Spring to take the Writing Arm chair class.

I loaded up the chair and headed off to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. When I get back to my shop in TN, I will finish cleaning the chair up and get ready to apply the Milk Paint finish. On the last leg of the "Windsor Chair Road trip" spending a week in Cincinnati, so it will be a week or so before I get to doing that. I will post some pictures of the finished chair

Adirondack Chair - Part One

2010-06-24T13:01:00.000-05:00

A good friend and previous customer ordered her second Adirondack chair and I thought I would take some step-by-step photos as I started the project. Maybe this will be helpful for those who haven’t tried to build one of these great chairs, or is curious about how they go together. My design is a modified version of Tom Begnal’s chair from Fine Woodworking. I have made some subtle changes with each one I build, mostly with the seat slates and the arm shape/width.

Chair parts cut and ready to assemble

First I cut the parts required for the chair. Having built a number of these, I have a set of templates made of hardboard to speed up the layout of most of the curved parts.

Chair base complete

Take the two sides and attach the front seat slat, drill and counter sink the holes. I use waterproof glue and stainless steel screws and bolts in my chairs. Once the front seat slat is installed, and the lower cradle and attach the same way you did the front slat.

Glue the leg assemblies now, I find this easier than bolting the chair to the body and then trying to add the arm support parts. Again, SS screws and waterproof glue. I drilled the holes for the arm attachment later in the process.

Clamp the front leg assemblies to the base. Mark and drill the bolt holes to attach the front legs. The angle of the chair is determined by the cut on the bottom of the sides so when you lift the front, it will be clear where to drill the holes to attach the legs. Quick clamps help out here.

Front legs bolted to the chair frame with 3/8” SS bolts, washers and nuts. Next step is to prepare the back risers.

Determine the angle to cut the back risers. This is where the upper cradle attaches and determines the slant of the chair back. In this case the angle is 25*. Anything less and the back may be more upright, more and the back will lay back. A personal preference, but this angle seems to be most comfortable.

Attach back risers in the same manners as the front legs. Glue prior to bolting the risers, unlike I did the first time I bolted these to the sides :)

Add a temporary spacer at the top of the risers to get the proper spacing for the upper cradle. Drill and countersink the holes for the cradle and attach with glue and screws to the top of the risers.

Completed base assembly

The base is now complete. All of the back slats and seat slates have been cut, sanded, and ready for the finish. This chair will receive 2 coats of Porter Paint's exterior latex enamel. In the past I have either brushed or sprayed the paint after the chair is complete. I found it very difficult to get into all the tight spots after so this time I am going to paint everything before attaching the slats and arms. Look for the results in the second part of this post. You can see the templates I mentioned earlier on the right edge of the photo.

Jewelry Boxes

2010-06-17T07:03:00.001-05:00

Travel has kept me out of the shop and off the blog for the past couple of months, but I was able to finish two jewelry boxes for a friend at work who wanted these for his daughter. The one shown is Walnut and I used Cherry for the other. The lighter wood is Ash. There are 2 mirrors on the left side, one in the back and one in the center divider. The plans came from Wood Magazine. Most of the material was either 1/4" or 3/8" so I spent a lot of time re-sawing thicker pieces. Overall size is 12" H by 11" W by 6" D. These were a pleasure to build and I understand his daughters really liked the gift from their father.

Walnut Quilt Rack

2010-04-10T07:32:00.001-05:00

Quilt rack 31"x29"x10"

Catching up on postings, I have a number of projects going and that has kept me away from the computer, that and it is warming up here, so the golf clubs are getting more attention that the L-N #4.
This quilt stand is made of walnut and ash and is 31"w x 29"h and 10" deep. I turned the 7/8" rods from ash I had on hand.
The rods and stretcher are wedged through tenons and those were all cut by hand.

Applied quilt block design

The applied quilt block design is made up from a number of different exotic woods (actually some pen blanks).

The finish is my standard General Finishes semi-gloss and I topped it off with a coat of Mylands wax.

Quite an Honor...and a surprise

2010-04-07T17:42:00.001-05:00

Checked my email this morning and opened the latest Fine Woodworking e-letter and saw my rather modest shop called out as the Shop Of The Week. There are some pretty kick-butt shops posted there, so it is a honor to be considered one of the best. Just had to share the news.

Shop of the week

We've had a bunch of great photos and videos posted in our new shop tour gallery, some of which approach the status of dream shop. But we're kind of partial to this stand-alone shop in West Tennessee.see more shops

Sewing Center

2010-01-30T18:11:00.000-06:00

Here is a sewing center I made for my wife for her craft room. It is constructed from solid cherry and cherry plywood. When closed, the cabinet measures 48" wide by 18" deep x 28" high. To open, the longer section of the top flips back to the left and is supported by the left door, the shorter section flips forward and is supported by the door for the surger . The machine lift is supplied by Rockler.

Finished Chairs - Delivered

2010-01-07T19:36:00.001-06:00

Delivered the 6 chairs in time for Christmas, my daughter-in-law chose the fabric she wanted, and we got busy covering the fabric over the foam I cut and brought with me. The silver/grey looks real nice with the colors in the room and the chairs are very comfortable. I think the chairs turned out better than the photo but they both were pleased with the outcome and that alone was worth all the work. Happy New Year to everyone and create a bunch of shavings in 2010!!

Chair Progress - A 6 Pack

2009-12-13T17:11:00.001-06:00

After returning from the great Thanksgiving trip, and back to my day job, I was able to hit the shop hard and finish all six chairs up to the point of upholstery. I finished the chairs with 2 coats of General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint. I had not used that product before and I was pleased with the coverage and performance straight from the can. Top coat is General Finishes Hi-Perfomance semi-gloss. We'll deliver the chairs next week and will apply the 2" foam and the fabric my daughter-in-law picks out.
If you don't like mortise and tenon, don't build these chairs :) The are 22 of them per chairs so I cut a total of 132, not counting the ones I screwed up. I think overall the chairs came out well and I will post some photo's of the upholstered chairs after we return from the Christmas trip.

Saw Bench

2009-11-01T17:16:00.000-06:00

Catching up on posts after spending time in the shop, and figuring out how to D/L photos on this new iMac, I wanted to share my version of the saw bench on Dan's workshop. 48" long, 15" wide, and 19" high, I added an additional feature of the bench hold fast hole. I had to add a thicker block underneath for a better grip, works great. Thought a lot about the overall length and settled on 48" based on space in the shop and the typical sized rough boards I cut. Made from scraps found around the shop.

A Good Days Work..

2009-11-01T17:05:00.000-06:00

Prior to leaving for a trip back home to visit family, I glued up 2 chairs and finished getting the remaining parts cut, edged, tenoned, and mortises cut, to assemble the remaining 4 of 6 chairs for my son's eat in kitchen table. These chairs are being built using poplar and I am going to try General Finishes Milk Paint (Black) with coats of their High Performance top coat. I had the opportunity to meet a factory rep at a recent woodworking shop open house and he recommended milk paint over the GF Black stain I had been using for my son's furniture. These chairs will replace the one's that came with the set produced in some overseas country of wood that I can't figure out what it is. I have repaired two chairs for them on recent trips, I believe these will last a while. Intended to be a Christmas present, I think I will have them done in time. I will of course post the finished product.

Adirondack Chairs

2009-10-30T06:54:00.001-05:00

A pair a chairs made following plans I saw in FWW recently by Tom Begnal. I made a few modifications, most significant was adding an additional seat slat curved to match the angle of the back to fill in the. Poplar with two coats of primer, and two coats of exterior latex. Very comfortable design and light weight because of the wood I used. Lots of space on the arms to hold the beverage of your choice!

Blanket/Toy Chest

2009-10-04T05:41:00.005-05:00

This chest was built for my 7 year old grand daughter. The significance of this project is it an exact duplicate of a chest I built 20 years ago when I first started working wood. Made of pine with a coopered top, the finish is water based stain mixed to match the furniture in the room. The hinge is "child safe" and the drawer simply slides to either side to access larger items below.

The first chest I built I had 3 tools, a bench top table saw, a router, and a jig saw in a 3 car garage.
When I delivered this to Cincinnati, I sat it next to the original (the oldest granddaughter got that one when we moved to TN) and I can not tell the difference other than the color, and you see the shop and the tools I have in other posts. Probably completed the project a lot quicker than the first time, maybe improved on my technique somewhat, but you don't need a shop full of tools to produce an item that put a smile on a 7 year olds face.

A Little Fun With Scraps

2009-09-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

Found some hard maple, ambrosia maple, and some walnut in the scrap pile and made this Double 9 Domino set for my son and his kids. Each bones is 1"x 2" and is the ambrosia maple, the box is hard maple and assembled with finger joints, and the lid is walnut. No real design or pattern, just let it evolve as I went along.

Cutting Tenons by Hand

2009-08-22T16:27:00.000-05:00

The new saws in the post below couldn't have arrived at a better time. I am building a quilt stand and it calls for a through tenon on the stretcher. I couldn't wait to do these by hand verses setting up the tenon jig for my table saw. For those of you that have done this before, there probably isn't anything new, but for those, like me, who have never tried it, I thought I would document the steps I took to finish the tenons. Not sure this is the "right" order of cuts, but it worked for me.

(1) Once I marked the dimensions on the stock, I began my cut by tilting the saw back for the back edge, forward for the front, then cut down through. (2) Once those cuts are completed, rotate the stock and cross cut on both sides, flips the board and repeat. (3) Cut each side of the tenon following your markings and clean up with a chisel to fit.

The tenons came out great (better than the photo) and I didn't compare the time difference between the machine and the hand saw because I did take time to shoot the photos.

The newest additions to the hand tool arsenal

2009-08-22T15:54:00.000-05:00

Waited for the UPS guy to deliver this week and deliver he did! A LN #4 Bench Plane plus a Rip Cut carcass saw and a Cross Cut carcass saw are the newest additions to the hand tool arsenal. First the plane, I have never felt anything like this in my life!! I have Stanley planes sharpened and set up and I thought they did a good job until I used this #4. For those of you that have one you know the feeling, for those of you that don't, save your money and order one when you can.
Now the saws, it is a real pleasure to work with hand tools that are set up and sharp. I have a LN dovetail saw, so I thought I knew what to expect when I handle these carcass saws. Again, I was quite surprised as to how easily these saws cut.

Cherry Settee with Hand Woven Seat

2009-08-16T05:56:00.000-05:00

This soild cherry settee was built a few years ago and was my first attempt at using hand tools to build furiture. A band saw was used for the legs, everything else by hand. Stock was rough diemensioned using a #40 scraper plane and finished with #5 and #4 smoothing planes. The seat is hand woven from 5/8" wide ash strips. Cherry darkens with age so the applied finish is danish oil.

Oak Tall Case Clock

2009-08-16T05:48:00.000-05:00

Tall case clock with 8 day mechanical movement chiming at the quarter, half, 3/4 and hour. Case is quarter sawn white oak .

White Oak Computer Desk

2009-08-15T18:18:00.000-05:00

Built from plans found in Fine Woodworking, this desk is constructed from solid white oak and finished with General Finishes Salaem Maple stain. This desk has full extension drawer slides and a door that looks like a bi-fold door, but swings out of the way of the drawers. All the drawers we made using hand cut dovetails.

Inside views of the workshop

2009-08-15T16:23:00.000-05:00