I actually managed to accomplish a few things this weekend in the shop. The temperature outside was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit so I was able to get the shop up to about 60 degrees. I cleaned up most of the shop except for the lathe area and the lumber storage area. I don’t know if I will ever get the lumber area organized to my satisfaction unless I start burning some of my scraps.
I even did a little woodworking. Just a little. I made a couple more clamp racks and attached them to the wall. Many of my clamps have been laying on bench tops or just clamped to the sides of a bench, so the additional racks will really help in staying organized. I did not get back to the mission style lamps that I wanted to work on, but hopefully I will soon.
A lot of people tend to be seasonal woodworkers, especially for the hobbyist. Many people head to the shop in the fall and don’t come out until it is time for the summertime fun to begin. I generally tend to be a little different than the rest of the crowd. I like to head out to the shop in the early spring, when the weather starts to warm up a bit, and then I will be out there until late fall, or early winter, when the weather gets too cold to work comfortably. Continue reading Seasonal Woodworkers
Sometimes the best workmanship that a woodworker does is never seen on the final project. It sits in a corner of the workshop and collects dust until it is time to make another of the same project. I am, of course, talking about templates. In these cases, the final project is not much more than a copy of the template. The amount of care and time that a woodworker puts into creating a template will certainly show through in the final product, but if a template is done correctly, it will save you time and make your project look very impressive. Continue reading Template Crazy
Many times when I begin to design a project, I start out with a pre-conceived image in my head of what I should end up with. Before I ever put pencil to paper to create an initial sketch, I have already locked myself in to a particular look or style. Sometimes this is not a problem because the idea in my head is easily translated to paper and is a very nice design. Continue reading Designers Block
When I first began woodworking, back in the late 1990′s, Norm Abram’s “The New Yankee Workshop” was by far the most popular woodworking show on television. Once I discovered the show, I couldn’t get enough of it. Here was this regular joe, (ok, regular Norm) making such beautiful projects that almost anyone would want in their home. And Norm made it look sooo easy! Of course, nothing is as easy as it looks on television. But that didn’t matter because I had been bitten by the “I can build that….” bug. Continue reading Homage
I finally found a couple of hours this weekend to cleanup my garage/workshop. It had been slowly becoming a disorganized mess over the last few months. I haven’t had enough time to start a real project, so most of the work done in the shop had been quick little fix-it or modify-it type of work. Continue reading Unfinished Projects
This is a fishing net I made several years ago. I made it from plans out of the June 2001 issue of Wood Magazine.
The frame for this net made out of laminated Walnut and White Ash. The inlaid fish is also made out of Walnut. The plan called for 3/32″ thick strips, but mine were closer to 1/8″.
Continue reading Bent Lamination Fishing Net
Sometimes woodworking and art become one. Sometimes they are two very separate things. Woodworking, I think, is always a skill or craft. But how often does it actually become art? Where is the line that a wood project crosses in order for it to become art? Continue reading Woodworking and Art
Front View (Click for larger view)
Here is a quick update of where I am on the workshop design. If you remember from my first article, the footings and frost wall already exist so I cannot modify anything with them, but every thing else is fair game.
Continue reading Workshop Design #4
Mary Kay Give Away Display
A couple of years ago, I had a client who sold Mary Kay cosmetics. She wanted me to build her a display that she could place near the cash registers at local businesses. People could fill out an entry form and place it inside the display in order to win prizes.
Continue reading Mary Kay Give Away Display
