Matt’s Weekly Shop Update – Dec 27, 2016

Let’s review 2016 while milling a 11′ long, 16″ diameter box elder log!
The Logo Sign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhrxL8XU2tI

Check out some of my postsfrom the past year: https://www.mattcremona.com/posts

Wood Talk: http://www.woodtalkshow.com

The Wood Whisperer Guild: https://thewoodwhispererguild.com/

Making a Serving Tray with April: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZkMY9RZUXQ

Viewer Projects

A Card Box for Ann by Donny

Jewelry Box by Wesley

I am a 17 year old woodworker who has been woodworking for just over a year now. I recently made a large jewelry box for my grandma for Christmas. It is something that I am pretty proud of. So here is a description of the project along with some pictures!

So I actually started this project back in October and I’ve worked on it off and on since then. I really did a lot of the building over the last couple of weeks before Christmas. The box is mostly made out of white oak with some pieces of ash also. The ash is actually pretty cool because it was originally meant for an outdoor deck. The wood went through a process that removed the sugars out of the wood and changed the color to a dark brown. If you look closely, the wood still has the distinct grain like a normal piece of ash.

The main box is one inch thick, and the tray pieces are about ⅜ of an inch. The bottom panel is actually removable and allows you to clean out dust every once and awhile. It is secured with a rabbit on the two longer sides and held in with a screw and a larger washer on one side. The panel is a bookmatched piece of the ash with a thin strip of oak in the middle.

The sides of the box were joined together by hand cut dovetails. I free handed the cuts with a hand saw and used a chisel to take out the waste. This was my third project using dovetails. They are so fun! The sides looked a little plain, so I carved out what looks like a raised panel using a wide chisel. This took a little bit of extra time, but it really makes the box look much better!

White oak was also used for the little compartments that hold the jewelry. The trays were just glued and nailed together with a shallow pilot hole so that the wood would not crack when the nail was pounded in. These are removable and top two trays rest on side rails that were screwed in. I put a round over on each side to make it easier to slide back in.The trays were finished with a food safe cutting board oil.

This was my first project using a polyurethane finish. I think it turned out pretty good. I used an oil based, semi gloss, Minwax polyurethane finish. I sanded up to 320 grit before applying it. The semigloss was just what I wanted!

Lastly, I got a gold colored chain along with some hinges. I also added some felt pads to the lid so that the lid wouldn’t be loud when you close it. Overall, I am very happy with the end result and my Grandma really loved it too! This was the most complex project that I’ve done to date. I learned a lot and I enjoyed trying some new techniques.

Trapezoidal Door by Brian

A custom door with Trapezoid glass accent panels integrated into a built in book shelf.

The door and bookshelf are made out of Hard maple, stained with the customer’s choice in color.

The door is a 36” wide opening, and the bookshelf as a hole is 13 feet wide, and 10-1/2 Feet Tall

The whole build took just over 500 board feet of maple.

Loft Bed by Josh

I used the plans from Ana White’s Camp Loft bed and used the design of the legs and bed slats from Jay Bates’ bunk bed. The construction was pretty simple, but where it got challenging was the finishing. I got some good tips and advice from the guys on The Dusty Life podcast on finishing as well as watching your finishing techniques video. I originally planned on sanding up to 220 but after doing some test pieces with the stain, I found that 150 looked better.

I started by applying a coat of Boiled Linseed Oil to make the grain pop and seal and yellow the pine. Then I applied General Finishes Georgian Cherry Gel Stain. Then finished it with three coats of a homemade wipe on poly. I used Minwax poly and thinned the first coat down with Mineral spirits with a 1 to 1 ratio. Second coat was a 2 to 1 ratio. Finally the last coat was more like a 4 to 1 ratio of poly and Mineral Spirits. I sanded with 400 grit between each coat.

I’m very pleased with how well the pine looks, but man was there a lot of sanding! I thought I was never going to finish it in time for his birthday.

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Upper Cabinets and Range Hood Surround

Welcome back to our home renovation.  Today I am going to be working on this wall. It needs some upper cabinets and the surround for

One Response

  1. good job on the band saw glad it worked and the welds held up. i think you could make a log holder system similar to a end vise and dogs on a workbench, it would be a lot simpler and easier to use.

    garry

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