I put the finish and hardware on the jewelry cabinets. I’ve made two of them for my two nieces getting married this year, plus a couple of extras to sell. The cabinets are made out of cherry, with hard maple drawers. It is based on a design from the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, and consists of …
Once a month, usually the first weekend of the month, I try to do a “shop project” or shop improvement. It might be a jig, it might be a new type of storage, or just general preventive maintenance on tools. The idea is to continually improve the function and flow of the shop. In this …
Often when you are working in the shop, you need to create some sort of apparatus or “jig” to control the item while you are cutting, routing, drilling or generally working on the item. It helps to make the work more accurate and/or safer. Oftentimes a woodworker will have a host of jigs in their …
One of the more stressful parts of making wood projects is the glue up part of the project. You have all the joinery cut (in this case box joints) and you’ve done some test fits to make sure everything works. You have gathered together your glue, clamps and cauls (wood pieces to help apply pressure …
So I’ve got the boards milled down to the proper thickness, cut to length and width for the cabinet top, bottom and sides. Then I cut box joints in 2 of the cabinet sets, and then 45-degree miters for the other 3 (trying two different methods). Added dado (4 of them) in each side for …
One of the things when starting a project is to try and mark out your rough lumber to ensure it looks good and to optimize the use of your wood (its expensive). In the case of this cabinet, I want to have the grain lines continue from the sides to the top and back over …
With the Craft Show season over, and heading into the winter, its time to clean up and reorganize the shop to get it ready for winter projects. Provided your shop has heat, the winter is an excellent time to build items and prepare for the new year. Typically, after I get done with a major …
With the Farmer’s Market and Craft Show timeline winding down, I’ve got only two more for the year. Based on some feedback from customers and other interested parties, I developed several new products to sell that were in a smaller “price point” for the show. Once done, I’ll post them in the products page if …
Well the injury is somewhat healed and I can take the big bandage off. Still don’t have much feeling in the top third of that finger, but the doctor believes its going to heal close to 100%, so I’ll take that! Now its time to start working on the next project, which involves laminating …
One of the issues with any sort of hand labor (carpentry, automotive, etc.) is there is a danger from the tools you use. You need to always be on guard, especially with powered equipment (like Table saws, miter saws, etc.). Whenever I’m working with powered equipment, I make sure the guards are on, and I …
