Cabinetry is not something that I do very often, but when we decided to redo our half-bathroom, I decided to custom-build a cabinet with a live-edge counter top and a shelf to better utilize the oddly-shaped space behind the door. The cabinet was pretty standard, but I didn't have any edge banding. With all the … Continue reading A Built-In Cabinet with Live-Edge Counter Top
This weekend, I am opening up my once-private wood shed to all my readers and the public in a bid to reduce inventory levels so I can finally finish moving out of my old shop space. 1114 Barberry Place, Port Moody... wood shed around the right side in the back Friday September 29, 10-4 Saturday … Continue reading More Wood Uploaded, Big Sale This Weekend
The latest addition to my catalog of air-dried slabs for sale is Elm (Ulmus americana) A medium-density wood with pale sapwood and warm brown heartwood, elm often exhibits a coarser grain pattern. Most elm trees do not grow very large and consequently it is rare to find elm mature enough to exhibit a substantial amount of darker … Continue reading Elm – Pleasant to Work and Full of Character
Since 2005, I have been stockpiling local hardwoods. These are full flitches (entire logs) milled to my specifications for furniture making and stacked on pallets. All of this material has been slowly and patiently air-dried. It's a process that is not widely used commercially due to the time requirement, but the quality of the material is … Continue reading Local, Air-Dried Wood for Sale
The large majority of the wood that I have is sawn in slabs. While the live edges allow more design possibilities, there are times when I don't need them. Layout To process this slab, I start by aligning my straight edge just inside the bark. This results in the straightest grain with the least amount of waste. … Continue reading Breaking Down Slabs
This weekend, I am demonstrating Festool power tools at Lee Valley Tools Ltd. in Coquitlam. To generate interest and demonstrate what can be done with the tools, I am turning this seven-foot-long slab of cherry into a coffee table. By the end of Thursday, I had made some good progress. To make the legs, I used … Continue reading Single-Slab Cherry Coffee Table, Part I
A couple of months ago, a local couple approached me looking for a characterful table top for a metal base they were having made. I invited them to visit my shop and they picked out this slab of elm. I flattened the top side of the slab and filled the voids with resin. I inlaid … Continue reading Elm Table Top
Some of my recent designs have involved complex angled joinery, such as the base of this table inspired by a sketch by Vic Hubbard. I was having a hard time visualizing in my head how the joinery would work, so I built a prototype to help me understand. Since it's only a prototype to explore the mechanics … Continue reading The Value of Prototyping
On the morning of Sunday, April 15th, Morton and I exchanged ideas about trestle tables, spurred on by a recent sketch of a table on which he was working. That got me yearning to build a trestle table. I documented my progress live on Twitter which was useful because each update had a time stamp so followers could … Continue reading Maple Trestle Table, Session 11 – Straight Lines on Wonky Surfaces
On the morning of Sunday, April 15th, Morton and I exchanged ideas about trestle tables, spurred on by a recent sketch of a table on which he was working. That got me yearning to build a trestle table. I documented my progress live on Twitter which was useful because each update had a time stamp so followers could … Continue reading Maple Trestle Table, Session 10 – Curvy Legs are Always Good
Sculptural Woodwork by Chris Wong 