Wednesday, November 18, 2015

For my Granddaughter

I made a unit for my Granddaughter.  It is cherry, The middle section can be pulled out to get into the closet behind the unit.  My son's house in a cape code, so the rooms have an angled ceiling.  The bottom of the unit is about 26 inches deep, so there are turntables to get the back.  The other side has a desk unit, that changes in height, along with bungee cords to put her stuffed animals and such... so they do not fall our.  The drawers in the middle unit are plywood, dovetails.  All experts tell you that you cannot dovetail plywood... but i wanted to prove them wrong... and you can with enough backer boards to eliminate chips... not for the beginner woodworker.  LED lights are recessed into the shelves and the bottom units.  You can see the rafters in the top shelf.  Also I turned cherry spindles and put a railing across the top.  There are sliding doors on the right side of the unit.



Owl knobs
Spindle rail

Control panel for lights

Lighted unit


Sliding Doors

Turntables


Top Shelf with rafters, close fit!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Recycle Containers

I built my son a recycle container.  There house is small, so to make the most of every room items need to be fitted into spaces.  I made this two container recycle center to meet that need.  It fit, not as well as I would like, but it is usable.  We will see if he uses it.  It is maple, painted.  The panels are also ambrosia maple.

Turning Bowls

I was taught how to turn a bowl.  The wood was green.  I wanted to know if I enjoyed doing it, so I went to a two day class.  I did manage to turn two bowls, one is cracked around the edges, due to the wood drying faster than I could turn the wood.  We will see if turn another bowl, I may.  To get the equipment and tools I need to spend another $300, and am not sure I will turn enough to warrant that money.  I do have a lathe and did clean up these bowls on that lathe.  I had trouble in the class because the distance of the tools on the bowl did not match my focal length.  The teacher at one point, when I asked him again to get my tools started at the right angle, asked if I needed a time out... I told him no, I just need to get started with the tool and then  I can feel my way through the rest... he took the time out and left the room.  The other student came over and we got the tool at the right angle and all went well!  Oh well, I have never been a good student.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Wacky Door Collection


Maple panels -- worm holes or ambrosia
This is part of my wacky door collection, I have been wanting to do something a little more unusual, so since these are in our den, it gave me the opportunity to do that.  The main wood is walnut and the door panels are ambrosia maple, worm holed.  The doors have a 93 degree angle to make them look uneven.  The finish is just shellac and wax.  The wood is natural, which is the way I like my woods.  The wood is from Indiana, where I get most of my wood.   I started with a set of pulls on the doors that I made and went more traditional.  I angled the panels at 93 degrees also, you can see that in one panel, the other it is hard to see.  The legs have a taper and are solid walnut about  1 3/4 inch square.  All panels are matched, as you can see both with the maple and the burl walnut. 
Walnut Burl