There are many ways to cut captive rings and specialty tools are sold to accomplish the task. I decided to make my own captive ring tool from an Allen wrench, the tricky part being the shape of the grind. I tried many different shapes without success before hitting one that worked. The various grinds were…
Preparing turning blanks at the band saw from logs can be dangerous because the log wants to roll when the blade enters the timber. I have broken a band saw blade trying to cut a hand held log and fortunately was not injured in the process. Carter Products makes a log mill that I have…
March 30, 2014 marks the day we started cutting wood for the kitchen remodeling project. Oak was selected for the wood to somewhat match all the moulding in the house. Stephanie directed the design phase by establishing storage requirements for her cookware. Additional cabinetry will be added to the kitchen area to increase the overall…
Over the years, we have accumulated several electronic devices that require frequent re-charging. My office desk looked like a snake pit with wires lying all over so I decided to make a dedicated charging station that would tidy up the place. The box has a removable top with partitions to hold several devices, the interior…
I have made various gluing jigs over the years but never one specifically for pipe clamps. I have several of these versatile clamps but sometimes they are unwieldly because the handles hit the table, they are hard to align and they like to tip over. I saw an article in a magazine about a guy…
After the kitchen remodeling was completed, Marilyn wanted a backsplash behind the stove and stove counter tops. Off to The Tile Shop to learn all about tiling. They have an enormous selection of tiles in a wide variety of materials and all of the stuff to make them stick to the wall. They also have…
Before I purchased the Tormek T7, I studied YouTube and manufacturer videos, read discussion forums, looked at PDF documents and the like to be certain that I wanted to make a significant investment to have sharp tools. I have enough experience with my wood lathe to know the importance of sharp, reproducible gouges, skews, parting…
My cabinet saw’s stock inserts are metal castings with 4 set screws used for leveling the insert with the top. I like to make my own Zero Clearance Inserts (ZCI) made from 1/2″ thick MDF which rests a tad below the surface of the table when resting on the tabs supporting the insert. I made…
It’s been nearly a year since I began the design phase of our kitchen remodel project. The summer was consumed with cabinet construction and finishing and the fall was spent doing demolition, reconstruction and shopping for floors, counter tops, lights, plumbing fixtures, and hardware. With any large scale project, you run into surprises that must…
My favorite sister is moving to Henderson, NV so I wanted to give her a little gift with a Southwestern design. Using Lamination Pro software, I made a design using white maple, walnut and blood wood. The software is amazing and allows designs up to 5 generations. The strips were cut and glued together to…
I wanted half blind dovetails for my kitchen drawers because they convey craftsmanship in addition to being a solid joint. Every time I use the Porter Cable dovetail jig, I have to check the manual because setup and orientation are critical for success. Once I have cut a few, orientation becomes second nature and the…
Call me slow but it took a long time for me to figure out the difference between a “pin” and a “tail” when looking at half blind dovetails. When I look at the outside corner of a drawer, the pins and tails look identical in shape, so which is which? After years of study, I…
Some might say that the cathedral door look, or even using Oak, is outdated. I don’t care because I like the look and I’m the one who has to live with it every day. Constructing the raised cathedral arch proved to be quite a challenge for me because I could not use a fence when…
The kitchen remodel project is extensive because it involves making the cabinets, replacing the floor, removing soffits, drywall, new counter tops and anything else that pops up along the way. This post shows the before and after of the project and other posts detail some of the construction. We started planning the project in January…
After purchasing my Excalibur 21″ scroll saw, I decided to order plans for a wooden clock from Clayton Boyer. I selected the “Number Six” clock because Clayton’s website indicated it was for beginners with no clock experience. Most of the clock components were made from Baltic Birch plywood because of it’s stability. The plans were…
Now that Marilyn has retired, she wants to spend more time in the garden and she has been studying composting. The order was put in to the manufacturing department (me) for a cedar compost bin with 3 compartments that she saw in a magazine. I used SketchUp to draw the bin and made it using…
I’m just too cheap to purchase templates so I will share a method I used to make my own cathedral arch templates. My top rails are all 6″ in height which provides plenty of room for a nice visual on the arch. The tricky part was designing the templates for a consistent look for various…
Our kitchen is sadly outdated so 2013 is the year we are doing a major renovation. The pantry had dark louvered doors and we wanted the new ones to match the cabinets I will build soon. We love the look of oak and it’s reasonably priced so that was our choice of material. I took…
My first intarsia project made from plans by Judy Gale Roberts. This is considered a beginner project but it was challenging for me because I have never attempted anything like it before. It is made entirely of Western Red Cedar, the color and grain preselected for their place in the project. I made the rose…
I didn’t take many photographs of this project because this website wasn’t on my radar at the time. Intarsia is the art of cutting wood of various species taking into consideration color, grain direction and even imperfections. After the wood is selected, it is cut using a scroll saw to very exact tolerances. Then each…
I have a very nice neighbor Tom who is stuck inside this winter because his left eye quit working. His doctor says it will return to normal but there is nothing that can be done other than let time take it’s course. I asked if he wanted to do a small project in my wood…
Ever wonder what to do with nice logs that you come by when someone cuts down a tree or you find in the woods? How about hollowing it out and making a nice home for our feathered friends? Here’s how this project proceeded from start to finish. …
I had a nice piece of Walnut that was dry enough to try my hand at turning a natural edge bowl. Not just a natural edge bowl, but one that wasn’t round, instead elongated which meant that I would be turning “air” as the cut was interrupted 4 times per revolution until I was deep…
There was an article in the Dec/Jan 13 issue of Woodcraft Magazine describing how to make salt and pepper mills using mechanisms purchased at, you guessed it, Woodcraft stores. This looked like something that would make nice gifts for Marilyn’s side of the family because they were invited to our house for a Christmas party. …
I found the plans for this project on Minwax’s website. This looked like a neat little project that would beautify our yard so off to Kettle Moraine Hardwoods I went. White oak was selected for the bench parts and the entire thing was assembled with dowel joints. I really like dowel joints because, if they…
Now that I am retired, I can make things that I only dreamed of in the past. I have always wanted to build casework but didn’t have the time nor the necessary tools to accomplish the job…
I hate to waste material left over from a project so I try to come up with an idea to use it. When I can’t think of anything, it becomes the old standby, a flower pot! I recently had drop offs from some landscaping timbers that fit into this category. Using a chop saw, the…
Wood flower pots are very nice in appearance and each year they take on a new personality depending on their contents. I wanted an 8 sided Western Red Cedar pot about a foot tall with a 12 degree taper. Consulting compound miter tables readily available on the Internet, I determined that the correct settings…
I was poking around the Internet and came across a Modular Marble Machine designed by Matthias Wandel on Woodgears.ca. Plans for the machine were reasonably priced and it looked like something that would be fun for my grandchildren. I constructed it from soft Maple and Baltic Birch Plywood. I would not recommend this as a…
After living in our home for over 20 years, we decided to fix the place up now that we’re heading into retirement. Marilyn has been nagging me about our main bathroom for years because it was so dated with hanging light fixtures and yellow tub and toilet (yuk). I have been equipping my wood shop…
