I recently needed to make some wall-shelves. I needed three, they needed to fit on a specific wall, and they had to be made of a light-coloured wood. I didn't have any other criteria or requirements. The piece of wood I chose to use was a yellow birch cant about 4 x 6 x 36 … Continue reading When Curves Are Easier Than Straight Lines
Now that Valentine’s Day has passed, I can share this fun little project. After finding a suitable scrap of hardwood, I printed a template and glued it on with a thin coat of wood glue. I let it dry for about ten minutes, then used a small plunge router with a ball nose bit to … Continue reading Carving A Heart-Shaped Dish for Valentine’s Day
Things have been busy for me over the last few years and I've been very active in the shop with regular things like organization, maintenance, and tweaks to the shop layout. The focus has also shifted towards product development, although I'm approaching the testing phase (if you're interested in being a tester, subscribe to my … Continue reading A Simple But Practical Storage Project
An experiment to see how quickly a wooden cutting board is rendered unusable I made this cutting board and designed it to fail, but it didn't fail as I expected! Here are the "bad decisions" that I made in an attempt to accelerate the failure of the cutting board. Low density wood I used butternut, … Continue reading When Something is Expected to Fail but Doesn’t
Much of my education in woodworking has been from what I describe as the relentless push to fail. That is, coming up with an objective that pushes the limits of what I can do, what I feel is possible, or what is possible. I came up with the objective to tie a knot in a … Continue reading Tying Knots in Wood
Recently, I needed to trim 50 protruding dowels flush with the surface. I started by using a flush cut handsaw to trim any that were sticking out more than 1/16”. Now, in my experience, flush cut saws are good at making cuts against a surface without damaging it, but they actually do not work well … Continue reading Making a Flushing Plane
I get some ideas that feel crazy, but are intriguing enough that I want to pursue them. This is one of them. It started yesterday morning with a conversation with my wife. I don’t remember what exactly we were discussing, but I commented that it’s a crap shoot. It’s an expression that I’ve found myself … Continue reading Developing a Product in a Day: it’s a Crap Chute
Stains, dyes, and even most “clear” finishes change the appearance of the surface to which they are applied. (For the clearest finish, a water based urethane or super blonde shellac are among the best choices.) Decorative finishing effects can be applied by using a combination of stains, dyes, paint, or other means. Recently, I had … Continue reading Painting, Staining, Dyeing and Burning Wood
I'm very excited to announce that my Apex Cribbage Boards are now available! The final steps of cutting, installing, and finishing the Signature Inlay Tokens in the bottom of each have been completed so the cribbage boards are now ready to ship. They are available for purchase on my Games & Puzzles page, and through … Continue reading Now Available: Apex Cribbage Board
I am excited to announce that my Apex Cribbage Boards will soon be available for sale. It started as a crazy "I wonder if I can..." idea about two years ago, and it feels like I have been working on this project for an eternity. There have been many moments of frustration, questions about whether … Continue reading Available Soon: Apex Cribbage Board
